【Rotten Fish Head: D-level pollutant. Can be used repeatedly to inflict mental pollution on people or pollutants. Increases movement speed during escape, boosting speed by 2 to 4 times. For single use only. Please note: using this item will consume health points. Use with caution.】

　　【Congratulations, you have obtained the basic talent: Danger Sense】

　　【Talent Description: Able to sense danger in advance.】

　　【Congratulations, you have received a side quest reward: K003 Explosives】

　　【Reward Description: Miniature explosives, capable of demolishing a thirty-story building within 15 seconds at a designated spot. Can be used up to three times. The user is immune to damage from this item.】

　　Nancy Clark: "?"

　　Wait, why does she need so much explosive? Is she going to destroy the world?

Chapter 8: Changing Skies

　　Nancy Clark opened the system panel and studied her stats again. There were a lot more numbers than before.

　　Name: Nancy Clark

　　Age: 19

　　Education: Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering

　　Status: Fifth-class citizen

　　Talent: Danger Sense

　　Mutation Direction: Unknown

　　Degree of Aberration: Unknown

　　Physical Strength: Not yet enhanced

　　Mental Value: 100 (average person: 20)

　　Health Points: 20 (average person: 70)

　　Luck: 1 (average person: 50)

　　Purification Points: 545 (can be exchanged to increase other stats; every 100 purification points increases health by 1)

　　Purification points and luck were newly activated. Luck was only 1, which made sense—no wonder she ran into the bad luck of a misrated pollution zone.

　　Purification points could be exchanged for rewards or added to other stats. The minimum exchange was 500 points, and each exchange increased health by 5.

　　It was worth noting that her health seemed a bit low—only 20.

　　She now had a basic talent, Danger Sense, which Nathan Thompson had mentioned before. She wasn’t sure how it would work in practice. As for degree of aberration and mutation direction, she had no clue.

　　The rotten fish head sounded even more practical. Before, Nancy Clark could only be polluted by pollutants; now she could pollute others.

　　It was also worth mentioning that she could even inflict mental pollution on pollutants—dirty on top of dirty? When escaping, she could max out her speed.

　　But it would consume health, and her health hadn’t increased yet. She probably couldn’t handle that much consumption. The other reward, explosives, could blow up a building, but for now Nancy Clark hadn’t encountered any missions on that scale.

　　Besides, this thing was so destructive that its use was actually quite limited. Nancy Clark at least had to make sure she wouldn’t hurt her teammates.

　　She summed up afterward: Did she get rewards? Yes. Can she use them? Apparently not at the moment—what a waste.

　　The reward items were nice, but she couldn’t use them, so it was all for nothing.

　　Couldn’t they give her some beginner-friendly items? Giving her such high-level stuff right away just left her clueless.

　　Wait... Nancy Clark suddenly had a guess.

　　With the items being so high-level, Nancy Clark would have to frantically save up purification points and health to use them. Was this damn system forcing her to level up?

　　Nancy Clark: "..."

　　The system had seen through her lazy nature and couldn’t help but intervene? Meanwhile, she was working herself to the bone, and the main quest to purify her home was only 1% complete.

　　Nancy Clark's intuition was right—this was just a big pie in the sky. To accomplish this, she’d have to devote her whole life.

　　But she seemed to have figured out a bit about purification. So, to complete the main quest, she’d have to keep entering polluted zones? And then contain pollution spores?

　　The platform was rotting, the surroundings slowly revealing the look of a sewer, and the polluted area was collapsing as the pollutant died. Nancy Clark let out a deep sigh and stood in silence for a minute, facing the swirling pollution spores.

　　Cleaner’s Work Rule No. 5: Containing pollution spores is the top priority.

　　Nancy Clark took a straw-like tool from her cleaning backpack and, very naturally, began to “pick cotton.”

　　【Ding—Purification Points +1】

　　Every time Nancy Clark contained a spore, her purification points kept accumulating. This wasn’t “picking cotton”—this was saving up health points!

　　Nathan Thompson rushed off the train in a panic. The whole last train was rotting and stinking. The first thing he did after getting off was look for Nancy Clark.

　　Turns out Nancy Clark was perfectly fine, and she was... cleaning up trash.

　　She looked a mess, her work uniform covered in marks from the fishman’s claws, and her helmet was cracked. Even so, Nancy Clark moved steadily, collecting pollution spores bit by bit.

　　Nathan Thompson was dumbfounded. What kind of overachiever was Nancy Clark? She didn’t forget her mission even now? She could fight monsters and clean up trash—like a monk who sweeps the floor!

　　"You—" Nathan Thompson couldn’t help but ask, "Are you working?"

　　Nancy Clark didn’t even look up. "What else?"

　　"Isn’t this a bit much?" Nathan Thompson really didn’t have that kind of dedication. What he’d just seen in the polluted zone was enough to give him nightmares for a month.

　　He didn’t have the mental fortitude. After fighting monsters, his blood hadn’t even cooled, and she was already back to work.

　　Nancy Clark sighed. "It’s all commission."

　　Her mind kept prompting her: purification points +1. It was hard not to be tempted.

　　Nathan Thompson: "..."

　　So what Nancy Clark said on the rail was true? She really was racking up performance!