Chapter 19: Your trusted pest control partner

Jumping Hotpot Restaurant (Complete)

The chef first stared deeply at Jiang Mang, then curled his lips into an inscrutable smirk.

“You really want me to hand over this restaurant?” He deliberately dragged out his tone, “Miss, you’ve got some nerve.”

“But unfortunately, this restaurant doesn’t belong to me.”

“I’m merely a humble agent, a servant under someone else… Transfer ownership? I don’t have that qualification—”

The chef’s smile twisted oddly, madness flickering in his eyes.

“…” Muttering so much, Jiang Mang clearly felt the rule she had just stated take effect.

—Debt Collection

Strength drained from her limbs, leaving her body weak and limp as she silently leaned against the door panel behind her.

Supporting the chef with one side, she began quietly absorbing the eggs.

She was well aware that even avoiding the eggs came at a price.

Now the restaurant was hers, so the eggs were hers as well.

“Who is ‘Zhi’?” Jiang Mang tugged at the thread.

The chef’s expression turned crazed and raving: “Zhi is my lord! The supreme god!” His eyes locked tightly onto Jiang Mang.

Jiang Mang’s indifferent reaction displeased the chef. “Your attitude is very rude.”

Jiang Mang: “7”

“Don’t you believe in gods?” The chef chuckled wickedly, a venomous hate almost dripping blood from his eyes.

“Fools like you who live in honeyed cages, carefree and ignorant of pain… hopelessly ignorant!”

Carefree and ignorant.

A flash of insight shot through Jiang Mang’s mind like lightning: “You say your lord is omnipotent, what can he do for you?”

“Zhi can—bring your son back to life?”

“…” Pain surged in the chef’s eyes. “My son isn’t dead! He has merely become a devotee of the lord!”

“…Once you’ve offered all your flesh and blood to the lord, then he will let your son return to me!”

—A lie.

Jiang Mang’s first reaction was that the chef had been deceived.

…Isn’t that just a conman’s spiel?

She glanced at the monsters outside.

“So that’s the god?”

“No.”

The chef’s smile twisted strangely.

“That’s just the god’s subordinate.”

Subordinate… Jiang Mang confirmed the chef wasn’t a fallen one; he was a brainwashed cultist.

Since the chef wasn’t corrupted and the monsters outside weren’t mother bugs, yet a bug nest had formed here with eggs supplying energy, then… where was the mother bug?

“All right,” the chef’s voice suddenly dropped to an icy chill, interrupting Jiang Mang’s thoughts.

“If you can feel a bit of divine miracle before death, then your death isn’t in vain.”

Her gaze passed through the back kitchen window.

The monsters had already devoured the mother and child; their bodies ballooned like inflated balloons, sprouting eight additional legs—four slender and four short and thick.

The woman’s despair, the boy’s terror, and the man’s agonized expression all pressed together, seemingly stitched forcibly onto the monster’s flesh.

That grotesque monster loomed at the kitchen door, its forelimbs occasionally lifting as if searching for something.

…Looking for women, Jiang Mang coldly watched the chef.

From the very start, he never intended to let any guests leave.

Even if they paid, the monsters would intercept them.

Upon first entering the kitchen, the chef immediately secured the door.

Like in Apartment 524, the space behind the door acted as a safe zone.

Egg energy flowed steadily into Jiang Mang’s body, warmth spreading from her feet up to her diaphragm… She estimated her current strength.

“All existence…” she barely uttered a few words before a powerful force pressed down on her, as if a giant hand was clutching her heart.

The chef only urged, “Get out now!”

“…” Jiang Mang lowered her eyelashes, “Fine.”

She yanked the kitchen door open, but didn’t leave; instead, she braced the door and slowly said, “The guest is God. All existence must not harm the guest.”

—Rule Ten of Hotpot Restaurant; 【Always remember the identity of your guest. The guest is God.】

Time weighed down like a mountain, her bones cracking under unbearable pressure, her body seeming to bear tons of weight.

At this moment, Jiang Mang no longer restrained herself and released the eggs she was absorbing.

“You’re crazy!” the chef shouted, his previously composed demeanor collapsing instantly as he screamed and rushed to close the door.

“Foolish woman, I don’t want to die with you!”

The two wrestled fiercely over the door panel, Jiang Mang’s foot stubbornly wedged in.

During their struggle, a monster with twelve abdominal legs, having devoured three people, suddenly burst into the kitchen.

Its huge brain squeezed into the doorway, the three pairs of eyes atop its head all fixed on the chef.

“No!” the chef screamed. “You should eat her! Not me! The lord will punish you…”

The monster ignored the chef completely, swallowing him in one gulp as he screamed.

Taking the opportunity, Jiang Mang dashed into the corridor, waving to her three roommates crouching by the railing.

The group sprinted away from the Jump Mi Hotpot Restaurant.

Before leaving, Jiang Mang casually picked up a “Huiwen Mall Discount Coupon” from the reception counter, despite the clerk’s furious glare.

Her skin felt as if it had been coated with a thin water film; fresh air filled her lungs, but her head throbbed as if hammered hard.

Her vision blurred.

Chen Xin’s tearful, hoarse voice entered Jiang Mang’s ears.

“Jiang Mang, you’re bleeding! Where are you hurt?!”

Lowering her head, Jiang Mang saw her entire body soaked in blood, pores filled with droplets, as if draped in a thin veil of blood.

Her consciousness gradually faded; Meng Lingling’s startled cry seemed to come from a distant underwater world…

Countless noisy voices swirled in her mind—

Chaotic and repetitive, as if wrapped layer by layer in a thick cocoon.

The complex sounds overwhelmed Jiang Mang.

What on earth are they saying?

“Hello, Cooperator.”

A clear female voice broke through the other noises, appearing in her mind.

Jiang Mang’s gaze and subconscious shifted toward her.

An unidentifiable pair of eyes rotated.

“Who are you?” Jiang Mang seemed to ask.

The female voice paused briefly, offering no answer to the question.

In that short silence, she seemed to be scrutinizing, pondering, and observing.

Finally, she said—

“So it is.”

“This is your choice.”

“…” Yet again, a riddle.

Choice.

What choice?

Jiang Mang felt her consciousness slow down: “Who are you?”

This time the female voice answered, “Your Cooperator.”

Jiang Mang gasped softly.

She busied herself reading novels when bored.

“Could it be… you’re my system?”

Silence spread through the vast ocean of consciousness, carrying a hint of indescribable stagnation.

The female voice ignored the mention of “system”: “You can ask me your doubts.”

Before Jiang Mang could ponder carefully, the Cooperator seemed to catch the thoughts inside her heart.

“If you want to regain your memory, you must strengthen yourself.”

The word “strengthen” was used subtly. Jiang Mang asked, “How?”

“I can talk to you because you have activated Listening.”

“Being able to activate Listening proves that you already understand the Path.” The female voice’s tone was flat and calm.

Jiang Mang immediately understood what she meant—“Path” meant absorbing eggs.

Through uncontrollable Black Mist Tentacles.

“Humans are creatures easily controlled by fear. Fear often clouds their cognition and influences their choices.”

“You are different from others in any way, so it’s best not to let them see.”

Jiang Mang felt the voice appearing so suddenly in her mind was giving her a calm, thorough final warning.

“You seem about to pass out,” Jiang Mang said. “Before you leave, please explain what Listening is.”

“Listening is one of your abilities.”

“Once you strengthen yourself, you will comprehend how to wield it. But for now, it only burdens you…”

“Our conversation must end here,” the voice seemed to hesitate, then abruptly ended.

“Goodbye, Cooperator.”

Jiang Mang studied for a while before realizing how to turn off this so-called “Listening” ability.

It was simple—if she didn’t want to listen, she simply wouldn’t hear anything.

That conversation was the first time Jiang Mang doubted her own identity. Was she really “Jiang Mang”?

An ordinary 22-year-old recent female graduate would really have an unknown “Cooperator” she could converse with in her mind?

Her brain swirled in confusion, and she desperately wanted to recover her memories.

It was as if something was chasing her silently from behind,

Like a pair of cold, silent eyes.

When Luo Chen came to visit Jiang Mang in the hospital, he brought the latest news about the Jump Mi Hotpot Restaurant.

The bug nest of the Jump Mi Hotpot Restaurant had collapsed, but the mastermind was not caught.

Because when the external patrol team entered, they only saw a massive monster and a ground strewn with severed limbs and bloodstains.

But after investigation, it matched Jiang Mang’s guess.

The chef wasn’t a fallen one; the people he represented had a unique title:

“Cult of the Evil God.”

Luo Chen sat beside her hospital bed, his pale, angular fingers peeling an apple as he explained, “They are a group of fanatics who worship bugs as gods.”

His calm voice carried an almost imperceptible trace of loathing.

“They believe bugs bring rebirth, can cleanse the world’s filth, and bring new hope to the world.”

Taking the peeled apple from Luo Chen, Jiang Mang examined its flawless surface and lightly bit into it.

The crisp sound of the apple was accompanied by Luo Chen’s low, pleasant voice.

“Your roommates have all had their memories erased.”

“This bug nest had no eggs… similar to the bug nest in Building 5 Apartments.”

Jiang Mang bit the apple expressionlessly, her diaphragm slightly moving but her face calm.

“Luo Chen, do you know Huiwen Mall?”

Luo Chen was taken aback. “Huiwen Mall? Where did you hear about that place?”

Jiang Mang: “The Hotpot Restaurant had a Golden Egg Smashing event, and inside the golden eggs were Huiwen Mall discount coupons.”

She reached to show Luo Chen the coupon but found it gone.

…Could it have flown away on the way?

“Huiwen Mall… that’s a mature A-level bug nest,” Luo Chen frowned. “If what you say is true—”

“Bangjia Hotpot Restaurant is likely a branch developed by the mother bug of the Huiwen Mall bug nest.”

“A branch?”

“Like opening a franchise,” Luo Chen said. “I’ll report this to the organization, but Huiwen Mall is currently under the Special Management Bureau’s jurisdiction.”

Bugs can open franchises too…

Jiang Mang nodded. It was good someone was in charge.

Luo Chen’s indifferent gaze swept across Jiang Mang’s face.

They were now in the Green Shield Purification Bug’s medical area.

When Jiang Mang was discovered, she was covered in blood, as if pulled from a pool of it.

After examination, apart from malnutrition, she had no other injuries.

On the clean hospital bed, the gaunt woman ate the apple, her diaphragm swelling slightly from filling her mouth.

“Squad?”

“Hmm?”

“I want to join you.”

Luo Chen was taken aback, his knuckles white.

“Of course, but are you sure about this job? Our work is fraught with dangers that cannot be ignored…”

Jiang Mang finished the last bite of apple and, with a vacant expression, looked at Luo Chen seriously, “Because…”

“Lack of money.”

Joining an anti-bug-nest organization was a major way for Jiang Mang to get eggs after encountering nests.

Humans can’t live without money in society.

Lack of money was an unquestionable and very reasonable reason.

Amnesia, parents deceased, fresh graduate, nowhere to go—was there anything more urgent than finding a place to belong?

High risk, high reward; Green Shield’s parent company, Wansheng Group, was well-funded, with salaries higher than the Special Management Bureau, provided employee dormitories, and full benefits.

Not only Green Shield, any organization welcomed Order Power Users.

Among all abilities, only Order opposed the Chaos represented by the Evil God.

It felt more like a force inherent to Earth, with no risk of corruption.

Other abilities carried a chance of losing control and becoming corrupted.

Jiang Mang’s entry into Green Shield went smoothly; all of the above was information she learned during training.

That was right—only after joining Green Shield did Jiang Mang learn its full name:

Green Shield Purification Bug.

“A trustworthy partner in extermination.”

“Miss Jiang, we’re very glad you joined us.” Zheng Wen tapped the keyboard as the printer hummed.

As the 80th member, Zheng Wen was responsible for identifying members’ abilities.

After judging Jiang Mang’s ability, he printed the results in black and white.

Jiang Mang stood behind Zheng Wen, looking at the screen displaying her ability info.

[【B-level Ability: Order — Legislation.】]

“‘Level’ indicates the grade of the ability, and ‘Order’ is the category,” Zheng Wen explained. “‘Legislation’—what does that mean?”

Zheng Wen: “From what I can tell, that’s the name of Miss Jiang’s ability. Like a game skill, everyone’s skill is unique.”

“Since it’s called ‘Legislation,’ hmm… maybe it’s related to laws? Of course, it might mean rules—natural law, social law, anything’s possible.”

Jiang Mang showed no reaction.

Zheng Wen hadn’t detected her trivial “Listening” ability.

Nor did he notice her uncontrollable Black Mist Tentacles.

From training courses, most people only awaken one ability; awakening multiple isn’t necessarily good and often increases the chance of corruption.

Whether “Listening” or tentacles, those were the “different from others” aspects the Cooperator mentioned.

“Your info has been transmitted; let me check. You’re assigned to External Operations. No surprise—most Order Power Users go to External Operations.”

“Your team leader is Guan Zifei. I’m sending you his contact info. You should know him; he’s the one who picked you up earlier.”

A golden-haired curly head appeared in Jiang Mang’s mind.

Zheng Wen wasn’t responsible for managing these contacts, but he seemed to have a good impression of Jiang Mang and actively provided all info he could.

“Captain Guan is also Order-type. But your abilities are completely different. When the time comes, ask him. He’ll tell you—it’s not a secret.”

“Probably the reason they assigned you to his team was to have this high-level Order Power User guide you.”

“His Order ability is level 5, very powerful.”

Before training, Jiang Mang might have had no concept of level 5 abilities.

Luo Chen was also level 5, so she seemed to meet level 5 users frequently.

But in reality, level 5 and above made up only about 1% of all ability users—very strong and rare.

Zheng Wen’s tone held some regret. “Miss Jiang, your ability’s nature is extremely powerful, but unfortunately… side effects directly limit your growth, so I can only assign you a B-level rating.”

“It’s okay.” Jiang Mang remained calm.

Zheng Wen handed over her file, stood up, and patted her shoulder.

He took two steps toward the door, then suddenly turned back, “Have you settled your dorm yet?”

Jiang Mang clutched her file, “No. I’m still at the reception center.”

Zheng Wen’s eyes behind his glasses flickered subtly. “What a strange coincidence. You can be neighbors with Captain Luo… Has he told you his cooking skills are excellent?”