From the very first day she joined Eden Group, Zhou Meng had hoped she would never get promoted for the rest of her life.
But this unambitious wish finally came to an end in the ninth Cycle.
So the boss was finally going to let her step into the Inner World as a cleaner…?
The country she lived in was called Lan Guo, with a fictional social backdrop that differed from reality—its laws and organizational structures were also different… but even so, this Inner World was absolutely not allowed!
So why?!?!
Although she no longer had to work overtime until she went insane, sacrificing all her personal time, drowning her fury in alcohol to numb herself… but a job that hovered on the edge of death was a little too thrilling, wasn’t it?
“System!”
She lunged at the Light Orb in terror:
“System, play that manga’s information for me again!”
The Light Orb expanded in an instant, turning into a muscular Light Orb, and even its electronic voice became sharp:
[Leave it to me!]
The familiar manga content quickly surfaced in her mind.
Because the author, Heigu, hadn’t finished drawing it yet, Zhou Meng couldn’t see the entire plot of the manga, but she could see the parts relevant to her missions.
Her System missions were threefold:
Become the champion of the Latin dance solo category,
Work at the villain’s group,
Become the protagonist’s neighbor.
In the second mission, the boss and Eden Group belonged to a manga called Jacob’s Ladder, a fantasy urban work.
The protagonist was an ordinary high school boy who transformed into a Phantom Thief at night. Surrounding him were excellent police officers, an Electronic Partner of unknown true identity, suspicious forces hidden in the shadows, and so on.
The manga world’s setting was generally close to reality—though it had no supernatural abilities, it did carry a touch of surreal elements.
In short, it was a shonen manga that perfectly fit the chuunibyou aesthetic.
In the manga, the protagonist was monitoring intelligence with the help of his companions.
In the storyboard, the two were shown one sitting and one standing: the seated boy leaned against the classroom window, with soft brown hair and an overly pale face—gentle at first glance, but upon closer inspection… his eyes held strength, carrying a subtle air of leadership; in another panel, the female police officer held a phone in one hand while flipping through documents with the other, her expression sharp and heroic, leaving an impression of calm composure.
Both of their expressions were cool and collected.
The mission description for this manga was very simple—just a single line, spoken by the police officer when mentioning her and the villains:
[“A few of Eden’s employees are children of criminals; the rest are mostly ordinary people marginalized by society, nothing special… The organization’s methods aren’t exactly commendable, but they haven’t violated any principles.”]
It didn’t even specifically mention Zhou Meng—it was just that in the manga panel where this line was spoken, there was a storyboard frame showing some ordinary employees, and among them, a girl standing at the front was her.
She was what they called a child of a criminal.
Innocent herself.
By comparison, this mission didn’t require much effort—she just had to work honestly as an employee at Eden.
…That was how it was supposed to be.
“Why is this job different from all the previous ones?”
Zhou Meng gripped the door lock, her face deathly pale, asking weakly.
The System had given her very little information. Although she had worked at Eden for sixteen years, she had deliberately avoided anything dangerous and maintained the utmost respect for Mikhail’s privacy.
So what the hell was going on now?!
What about the law??
Were labor laws and criminal law being properly followed?
[Dunno.] The System said. [Why don’t you, like, call and ask?]
That would get her killed pretty fast.
She would definitely get a lesson from some unknown mafia member—a cold whisper from behind, something like “You shouldn’t ask too many questions,” followed by a cold blade grazing her neck.
“Shhk—” and she’d be dead.
The System was completely unreliable!
“…”
Zhou Meng took out her phone and calmly dialed the number.
The Light Orb: [Hey! I was just saying! You actually called?!]
‘Hello, has something happened?’
“Mm… mm…” Zhou Meng wasn’t listening to the Light Orb at all, her face turning green as she responded into the phone: “I, um, I yielded to pressure… I was weak… and destroyed the scene…”
The Light Orb: [Are you turning yourself in?!]
“That’s right…” Zhou Meng smiled as she set down the phone, then brought both hands together, fists clenched, and extended them forward: “This is… my justice…”
That gesture… was the handcuff position!!
The Light Orb vibrated: [Pull yourself together!!]
Zhou Meng was about to reply when the System abruptly fell silent first.
In the air, there seemed to come a soft, faint sigh.
“Although I think you’re quite adorable… this won’t do, you know.”
A low, smiling young man’s voice came from behind her head. The phone in Zhou Meng’s hand was plucked away by a hand wearing a black leather glove, which casually pressed the end-call button.
His hand rested gently on top of her head, his figure completely enveloping Zhou Meng, as if he could easily crush her skull.
This immense pressure made her body unable to move, holding her breath, falling into a stress-induced rigidity like a death trance.
“Don’t… bye-bye.”
“Click.” After her self-reporting phone call, before Zhou Meng could see the face of the person behind her, her mouth was covered, black leather gloves pressing tightly against her lips, and a cold piece of metal was pressed against her temple. The next second, an electric current surged through her, and her vision went black.
“Mmgh…”
【…】
【You wake up at home. Aside from a slight headache and fogginess, nothing has happened—as if you inexplicably slept through an entire day.】
【How strange. Did you pass out from exhaustion at school yesterday?】
【Joining Eden: Failed】
【Ending Obtained: School Is So Tiring】
…
…Damn it!!
That suspicious trench coat man really was watching her!!
Zhou Meng sat up abruptly, only to be pulled back into her chair by the weight on her shoulders.
Everything froze, and time rapidly rewound to the very beginning—those dozens of surveillance cameras.
Mikhail: “So you’re the daughter of those two?”
Zhou Meng: “…”
…
Standing for the third time at the doorway of the blood-spattered room, Zhou Meng smiled faintly as she replied to her boss’s message on her phone.
【Mikhail: Can you do it?】
【Zhou Meng: At your service.】
Ha, ahahahahaha.
Ahahahahahahaha.
Dignity—that kind of thing was no longer needed.
Zhou Meng laughed maniacally inside, abruptly opening the toolbox and rummaging through it for what she needed.
Don’t think about anything.
She told herself.
Her colleague was still in the commercial van not far away, probably observing her reaction.
He seemed to be staring at her the whole time.
The faint sensation of being watched prickled like needles on her skin.
If she showed too much resistance, this suspicious trench coat man would judge her as unqualified… She wouldn’t be killed, but the task of working for the syndicate would definitely fail.
Being trapped in the loop would be meaningless then.
So don’t think about anything.
Whatever you’re doing, just focus on that one thing.
“Huff…”
Air flowed into her lungs with the rise and fall of her chest. Her heartbeat grew loud, almost drowning out all other sounds, yet her mind became crystal clear.
Nothing else to consider.
Eden, the comic, the System, the mafia, the surveillance… none of it mattered. Right now, she just needed to clean the room thoroughly and leave no trouble behind.
Zhou Meng took gloves from the toolbox and put them on. The rubber gloves snapped tightly against her hands with a “pop.”
Gloves—gloves would prevent fingerprint leakage.
She tore open a wet wipe and meticulously wiped down the keys she’d just held and the doorknob she’d touched, until even the rust was rubbed clean, reflecting her own dark eyes.
What else?
Would her shoes leave footprints? Her shoe size couldn’t be left behind.
Zhou Meng changed into the rubber boots from the toolbox and put her shoes into her bag.
And hair… if strands fell, in the past it might have just been a matter of poor cleaning, but now it would leave traces of herself, wouldn’t it?
Zhou Meng put on the protective suit, tied up her hair, tucked it all into a hair cap, and put on a mask.
Would this still leave personal DNA?
She wasn’t sure. Zhou Meng didn’t know all the ways a person could leave traces, so she just did her best with what she could think of.
Only when she could think of no other issues did she slowly pick up the tools and walk into the room.
Zhou Meng stood before the bloodstains, frozen for over ten seconds, her breathing gradually growing heavier.
A sea of red and brown, even more glaring up close. Some of it had dried, yet it still emitted an indescribable odor that she could sense even through the mask.
Based on the floor and the scattered debris, she could imagine how the person’s body had been pierced, how the blood had sprayed out.
Zhou Meng’s head felt hot. She had to set down the toolbox, pull the mask slightly away, and take a deep breath.
The smell of blood rushed into her nostrils and slammed into the top of her skull.
“Ugh—!!”
Suffocating—!!
Zhou Meng covered her mask, nauseated.
She probably looked a bit pathetic right now.
…But her mind was perfectly clear.
The more abnormal the scene, the more it pulled her out of that repetitive, oppressive numbness—like an icy creature breathing deeply from the back of her neck, making her scalp tingle with an unusual thrill.
This time was truly different.
Completely unlike the sixteen years of repetition. That stagnant, endless cycle of the past had burst like a bubble with a “pop,” rippling across the water’s surface.
The ringing of phones, client messages, KTV, the lights of the Latin dance floor, the dust and trash she’d cleaned… chaotic images fused into a blur in her mind.
Zhou Meng looked back at the floor.
She didn’t know how much longer she stood there, a thought slowly drifting through her mind—
—It’s just blood.
She really could handle this.
Whether it was bloodstains, dried blood residue, or clotted blood with tissue.
Though different from her usual cleaning work, Zhou Meng had cleaned up plenty of blood before, and she knew exactly how to make it spotless.
Women are born experts at handling bloodstains.
“…”
…Sometimes, having too much experience is a mistake in itself.
Why did she have to be so capable?
Zhou Meng felt as if she had stumbled upon some secret. Her brain and body began to heat up together, and she trembled all over—yet her hands remained steady as she pulled a mop from the toolbox and assembled it, then filled the bucket with water.
Splash—
Clear water filled the bucket. Zhou Meng opened the toolbox, which held ordinary cleaning detergent, hydrogen peroxide, and bleach.
…Hydrogen peroxide. Bleach.
Her gaze was calm, yet it seemed to burn with a strange flame.
Anyone with a background in chemistry knows that hydrogen peroxide can destroy the DNA in human blood, and bleach can briefly interfere with the fluorescent reaction between blood and luminol reagent.
Zhou Meng thought for a second, then poured a bottle of detergent into the bucket.
If she were a core employee of the caliber of an important villain character, she would probably help the boss interfere with the police.
But that wasn’t her way of surviving.
With a “slap,” Zhou Meng pressed the detergent-soaked rag onto the bloodstain on the floor and scrubbed hard.
She had expected to be more afraid, more tense. But when she actually touched these things with her bare hands, picked up the bloodstained fragments, and wiped away the dried traces of blood, Zhou Meng found her mind completely blank—no fear, no pain.
The blood smeared onto the fabric, and when she tossed it into the water and kneaded it, the red spread through the water like smoke.
So familiar.
…
The cleaning work didn’t end until late into the night.
At 3 a.m., Zhou Meng finally left the apartment carrying two large yellow garbage bags, walking through the darkness toward the alley outside the building.
Eden’s familiar car was still parked there.
Her colleague had waited for who knows how long, patient to a frightening degree.
Zhou Meng approached, and as the car door automatically opened, she casually tossed the bags into the open doorway.
“Thud.”
The young man who had been waiting in the car for hours didn’t even blink. He caught both bags with one hand. “All done?”
He looked up at the person outside the car.
Backlit by the streetlights in the dead of night, the cleaner’s silhouette was slender. She had just taken off her mask, and her youthful face—still carrying the rawness of adolescence—looked slightly weary, yet her eyes were startlingly bright, holding a calmness that set her apart from her peers.
Zhou Meng nodded.
“These need to be disposed of. I’ve already sent the photos of the scene to your phone.”
Her colleague opened the bag and glanced inside—several pieces of fabric stained with specks of blood.
“…” Wow.
He set the garbage bags aside, sanitized his hands, and checked his phone. The photos showed a spotless scene.
The bloodstains on the floor had been mopped clean, the scattered fragments bagged and thrown away, the toppled chairs and tables righted and arranged, the blood smears on the desk and vase carefully wiped off with a rag, the crooked picture frame straightened…
The angles were perfectly aligned.
Immaculate. The floor, tables, and chairs gleamed—it looked like a newly renovated home.
The young man’s eyes widened slightly, and his gaze toward Zhou Meng carried a hint of newfound appraisal. “You’re quite skilled?”
Zhou Meng pulled off her gloves, still a bit dazed, and answered a beat late. “…Oh… I have a lot of cleaning experience.”
Though… her so-called cleaning experience was nothing like that of an ordinary janitor.
Her colleague didn’t ask further. He held out a disinfectant wipe between two fingers.
Zhou Meng glanced at him. The young man was still wearing his mask, and when his eyes met hers, they curved slightly.
His eye shape looked utterly harmless.
Zhou Meng pinched the wipe with her nails, tore it open, and pressed it to her face.
The cold touch met her burning cheeks, jolting her mind into clarity—but her body only grew hotter.
After a few seconds of pause, she slowly wiped away the damp sweat from her cheeks and hands, then bent down and got into the car.
The car soon began to move.
“Where to next? Do you want to go home?”
Zhou Meng made a vague “mm” sound.
She leaned against the car window, her gaze drifting over the deserted streets in the night, and pulled her cap down a little tighter.
“Thump. Thump.”
Listening to the beating of her own heart, Zhou Meng said:
“…I want to go to the dance studio.”
…
The dance studio was empty in the dead of night. Outside the window was a pitch-black void, as if the world consisted of nothing but the floor beneath her feet.
A faint fragrance lingered in the air, mixed with the residual rubber smell of yoga mats and dance shoes.
It was a familiar scent.
Aside from that, there was only the music—and herself.
Nothing to think about.
Her limbs, having cleaned up the blood, ached slightly.
In extreme exhaustion, the physical shell of the body sinks into a dreamlike, floating sensation.
The body, the limbs, the cheeks, the brain—all slowly heat up.
The drumbeat of the music pulsed, one beat at a time, and the empty dance room vibrated with the thrum of her heart.
In the world raised a notch higher, her hips twisted with suppressed, restrained motion.
Forward—
“Whoosh—”
The dancer’s leg was fast.
A leg like a whip.
The bright, glaring lights shone directly on her face, plunging everything outside the dance studio into darkness and making it seem distant; the smell of sweat; the brown floor, music flooding into her ears; and the crisp sound of heels striking the ground…
Spin—
The tassels on her skirt whipped around with a sharp swish. As she tossed her head, beads of sweat flew from her hairline, catching the light in a few sparkling streaks.
Until the phone rang.
It was as if the outside world only then pierced through the music and reached her ears.
Zhou Meng opened her eyes, dazed as she saw the light streaming through the window.
Dawn had broken.