The NO.1 Food Stall in the Wasteland

Shen Lu threw herself against the warehouse door, making it rattle with a loud CLANG.

Even then, the company’s alarms hadn’t gone off. Shen Lu figured the intruder must have disabled the security cameras in this area.

The person who had snatched the nutrient liquid fired something at the window. With a BOOM, the glass shattered, and the company’s alarm finally blared to life.

Shen Lu glanced back at the man and saw that he didn’t leave through the broken window. Instead, he headed up to the second floor.

’A feint?’

Shen Lu got to her feet. She didn’t have time to worry about what someone else was up to. The most urgent task was to get out of the pharmaceutical company.

Otherwise, she’d be caught in the act. After all, she wasn’t the real janitor, and any questioning would surely expose her.

After a moment’s thought, Shen Lu headed for the second floor as well.

She planned to slip past the security guards responding to the alarm and walk right out the back door as if she belonged there.

While on the second floor, Shen Lu happened to glance out the window and saw that the janitor she was impersonating had actually returned!

’Damn it, I can’t use this identity anymore.’

Fortunately, the Nanometer Super Realistic Mask wasn’t fixed to one identity and could be changed at will during use. Shen Lu could just switch to a different face.

The sound of countless footsteps echoed up from the first-floor warehouse, and some were already heading for the second floor.

The thief who had gone up ahead of her to steal the nutrient liquid was already gone. Clutching her wildly pounding heart, Shen Lu slipped into an unlocked room.

It was a breakroom. A table against the wall was laid out with various small snacks, tea, coffee, and other items.

Shen Lu steadied her nerves and quickly thought about whose face she should switch to.

She hadn’t seen many people since entering the pharmaceutical company. The only ones she remembered clearly were the female janitor and the researcher who’d asked her to move the nutrient liquid.

After a moment of indecision, Shen Lu chose the former.

’Low-level staff like that are the least conspicuous.’

There was a security camera in the breakroom, but only one. Besides, the cleaning staff wore uniforms with hats and masks. Shen Lu had deliberately avoided the camera when she entered, making sure it didn’t capture her face.

Shen Lu quickly changed her face, and her physique shifted to match.

The female janitor’s build was similar to the male one’s, just a few centimeters shorter. Without close observation, no one would notice anything was wrong.

Just as Shen Lu finished her transformation, the breakroom door was thrown open.

"Who’s in here!" A company security guard strode in, roughly spun Shen Lu around, and tore off her mask.

"I... I came to clean the breakroom..." Shen Lu feigned fright, her voice trembling.

’I have no idea what the real female janitor’s personality is like. I hope I’m not breaking character.’

The guard frowned and tossed the mask back at her. "Nothing to do with you. Get back to work."

"Yes, of course."

’Looks like he didn’t notice anything was off.’

Shen Lu kept up the act. After the guard left, she waited a little longer, then put her mask back on and walked out.

Carrying a bag of trash, she walked out the back door right under the noses of the searching guards.

Shen Lu didn’t dare let her guard down even after stepping out the back door. Only after tossing the trash into a dumpster did she find a deserted spot and deactivate the mask.

"Phew..."

Shen Lu let out a long sigh of relief. Her forehead and back were drenched in cold sweat.

She had thought this would be a simple, uneventful reconnaissance mission. But then a thief showed up to steal nutrient liquid, and if that wasn’t enough, he had to cause a huge commotion that nearly got her caught.

She couldn’t stay here any longer. Shen Lu prepared to head back to the Lower City District.

She checked the progress of her hidden mission. To her utter disbelief, it was still at 5%!

Shen Lu said, "Hey! Are you kidding me? Is the progress bar broken? Why hasn’t it budged?"

[Host, well... the thing is... you didn’t actually obtain any useful information during your visit to the pharmaceutical company.]

Shen Lu was at a loss for words. That was true, she supposed. She’d been inside for less than twenty minutes, and had spent the whole time either wandering around aimlessly or running for her life. She really hadn’t seen anything useful.

The young woman slapped her forehead in frustration. ’So all that was for nothing?’

And here her heart had been pounding in her throat the whole time she was escaping, terrified of being discovered and caught. Turns out it was all a waste of effort.

In fact, Shen Lu had been lucky to escape when she did. Just a few minutes after she left, the guard who had checked the second-floor breakroom ran into the real female janitor in the fourth-floor breakroom.

After a brief conversation, the guard realized something was wrong. Then the male janitor showed up, and after a few questions, suspicion immediately fell on Shen Lu.

"Someone disguised as a janitor infiltrated the company!"

The head of security quickly drew this conclusion and detained both the male and female janitors.

The pharmaceutical company descended into chaos, which in turn created an opportunity for the thief who had snuck inside.

He couldn’t get into the main laboratory on the fifth floor, so he had to settle for the offices of some junior researchers.

But even a junior researcher’s office wasn’t easy to break into. The thief spotted a researcher opening their door to check on the commotion and slipped inside just as they stepped out.

With no time to tell what was useful and what wasn’t, the thief swept all the papers from the desk into his arms and got out before the researcher returned.

The thief’s movements were eventually spotted. After a chaotic chase, he was hit by several gunshots.

If he hadn’t thrown a mini-bomb, he might not have been able to get away.

The price, however, was being blasted dozens of meters by the bomb’s shockwave, which also happened to fling him clear of the pharmaceutical company.

The pharmaceutical company’s security team suffered heavy casualties, and the building itself was even damaged in the blast.

If not for the quality of the building materials, the entire structure would have collapsed.

Shen Lu hadn’t even left the corporate park when a massive explosion erupted behind her. A powerful shockwave shoved her forward, nearly sending her sprawling face-first onto the pavement.

"What the hell?" Shen Lu steadied herself and looked back. A thick plume of black smoke was rising from the pharmaceutical company building. It had clearly been bombed.

’Good thing I got out of there quickly, or I’d have been caught in that.’

A wave of fear washed over Shen Lu.

A major explosion at the pharmaceutical company was no longer just an internal corporate matter.

Soon, Shen Lu heard the wail of approaching police sirens. She ducked out of sight instinctively, wanting to avoid being seen by the police.

Shen Lu ducked into the alley between Risheng Materials Company and Jianfu Feed Factory, planning to cut through to the other side.

As she made her way through, a large lump of something suddenly fell from above, landing with a thud at her feet.

Shen Lu: (꒪Д꒪)ノ

Shen Lu’s heart nearly short-circuited from the shock. The alley was already pitch-black, untouched by the streetlights, and having something suddenly drop out of the sky was terrifying.

Judging from the shape and the warmth, it had to be a person.

Following the principle of ’minding her own business is always safer,’ Shen Lu decided to pretend she hadn’t seen anything, step over the body, and keep walking.

Just then, the clouds parted, allowing a sliver of pale moonlight to filter down, faintly illuminating the alley.

Shen Lu glanced over and let out a small "Huh?"

’Those clothes look familiar.’ She remembered that the thief’s sleeve had a symbol embroidered with black and red thread, identical to the one on this person.

’This has to be the damn thief, right?’

Shen Lu’s first instinct was to kick him for revenge, but on second thought, she held back. Instead, she bent down and pulled off his mask.

"Zeng Xiaodao?!"

Shen Lu was stunned. She never would have imagined that the thief was Zeng Xiaodao!