by N. Heller
If she did not have her Keen Senses ability, she might think that this was just a dream. She cursed silently as she held on to 【Ren Nan’s Corpse】, not really knowing what to do. She did not want to place a corpse into a body. After she thought about it for awhile, she simply slid it into her pocket.
Ren Nan’s card had clearly explained his abilities. She wondered if her own card would introduce her abilities and explain more about the so-called “New World”. Even though this was her plan, she could not possibly transform herself into a card. With quick thinking, she plucked a strand of her hair, and said quietly, ”Store this!”
With a flash of white light, another card appeared on her hand.
【Hair】
Condition：Black, healthy and a little dry on the ends
Function：It is annoying when it gets stuck on a broom.
Note: According to the condition of roots, the owner may start balding around forty.
[What the heck. It was totally useless.] Frustrated, Lin Sanjiu gestured her hand in the air. A white light flashed, and the hair disappeared into the darkness. [Is this a New World with a high-temperature climate?] She was preoccupied with this thought.
56°C… It already felt unbearable for a person like her who had evolved and gained Heat Resistance Adaptation. She wondered what it was like for other normal people.
Suddenly, she shuddered and jumped down from the sofa. Zhu Mei! How did she almost forget her friend? Thinking that Zhu Mei could be in danger right now, Lin Sanjiu ignored the fact that she was still injured. She searched hastily for a backpack and rushed into the kitchen. She stuffed all the bottled beverages and drinks she could find into the backpack. Then, after changing into a more comfortable sports attire, she searched for the keys for the emergency exit and ran into the dark stairway.
After she had run downstairs, she found herself quite breathless; it was 38 floors after all. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, drank a mouthful of water and continued toward the bas.e.m.e.nt.
Ren Nan’s car, or rather the car that belonged to the man he had eaten, was parked at bas.e.m.e.nt 1. As Zhu Mei apartment was a twenty minutes drive away, there was no way that Lin Sanjiu would choose to walk in such a high temperature.
Once she stepped into the carpark, Lin Sanjiu was surprised by the heatwave that hit her. As she looked around, she switched off the phone’s flashlight expressionlessly.
At this moment, every single car here had their headlights on. All the cars had their engines running. The rumbling sounds of their engines assaulted the entire space as the acoustics in the carpark amplified the noise by ten times. With hundreds of exhaust pipes spewing out hot air, the half sealed carpark had truly turned into an oven which was at least 3°C to 4°C warmer than the outside temperature.
Everyone who could make it to the carpark was here. Due to the power outage throughout the city, the people who could not endure the harsh high temperatures naturally hid in their own cars where they could find working air-conditioners.
Barely walking just a few steps in this hot stifling space, Lin Sanjiu could feel that the clothes on her back were totally drenched in sweat. When she walked passed each car, she could see the terrified faces of strangers behind every car window. Some of the people were continuously attempting to make calls; some of them were crying uncontrollably as they hugged their children; some people had already lost consciousness, perhaps because they were already dehydrated when they reach the carpark. There were even some people who were staring at her flabbergastingly, apparently unable to understand how she still had the strength to walk around.
Despite the cool air in their cars, many people’ faces were faintly shrouded in despair. The air-conditioners in their cars could only merely prolong their time. Once they ran out of petrol or electricity, with the terrifyingly high temperatures outside their cars, there was little chance for anyone in this carpark to survive this.
Lin Sanjiu knew very clearly that she did not have the ability to help these people who were in their cars. She only had five bottles of mineral water, three cans of cola and a few packets of plasters. With this amount of water, she did not know how long she would last. Gritting her teeth, she suppressed the sympathy she felt and concentrated on looking for the familiar Audi. When she did, she rushed into the car as if she was escaping.
She gave it some thought and decided not to switch on the air-conditioner. She only rolled down the car window. In any case, she would not die from the heat. At most, she would only feel some discomfort. She decided to save the precious petrol and electricity for Zhu Mei. Lin Sanjiu wiped her sweat away, held on to the steering wheel and drove the car slowly out of the carpark.
Compared to the steamer-like environment in the carpark, the 56°C temperature outside made Lin Sanjiu feel slightly better. The streets were empty. There were almost no cars on the road — likely because most people were unwilling to waste that electricity and petrol.
The cars that were parked at the two side of the road were like the cars at the carpark. Their engines were switched on. The people within the cars similarly wore faces of fear and despair as they savored their last bit of cool air.
Just when Lin Sanjiu swerved passed a red Mazda, a sudden black shadow flew towards her from the left. With a low sounding “Bang!”, it hit the Audi’s door violently.
Chapter 4 - The Ten minutes with Mom
“I will kill all of you shameless bastards! Hiding in your own cars, with the air-conditioners… in your cars, while letting us suffer! Huh!”
The loud low thump on her car door was accompanied by an angry inarticulate yelling from the side of the road. Scared by the black shadow, Lin Sanjiu lost control of her car for a moment. She hurriedly stepped on the brake. The car let out a horrible sounding, sharp screech, fortunately coming to a stop before she hit the guardrails at the side of the road.
She turned to look behind and saw a man in a sleeveless shirt. He was sweating profusely and was now throwing bricks crazily at the red Mazda. As he threw the bricks, he scolded, “You, You are all trash… Come out here… Come out...” Before he could finish his sentence, he fell backward and fainted. Clearly, she was caught in a crossfire just now.
She exhaled deeply and turned her gaze away from her rear mirror. She could still feel some trepidation. An insane irritability, comas, hallucinations. These were all symptoms of dehydration due to the high temperature…
She took another deep breath, hit the accelerator and sped toward Zhu Mei’s residential complex.
She had been to Zhu Mei’s apartment multiple times before. After twenty minutes, Lin Sanjiu parked the car carefully and turned off the engine after her headlight shined on the “Rongjun Residential Complex” sign. She took the key, carried her backpack, switched on the flashlight on her phone and headed towards the metal door at the entrance of the complex.
The location of the residential complex was a little remote, so usually, there were very little people nearby. Under such circ.u.mstances, it was now as quiet as a ghost town. Strangely, when Lin Sanjiu was reaching the large metal door, she felt her heartbeat stop for a second. She paused.
She scanned her surroundings and found nothing odd. She waited cautiously for another two minutes. Noting that nothing changed, she breathed a sigh of relief.
It seems that her Keen Senses was not a hundred percent accurate.
Rongjun Residential Complex was filled with apartment buildings that were built in the 1990s. Like all old complexes, there was a guardhouse at its entrance. As the area was not very safe, the metal gate would be locked after 12 am. In the event that one of the residents returned late, they could knock on the metal gate, and the security guard on duty that day would bring the key to open the gate for them.
She looked at her watch. It was exactly 2:30 am. Lin Sanjiu stepped forward and knocked on the locked metal gate. The heavy brass lock hit against the metal gate noisily — the ear-piercing noise only dissipated after a while. However, the surroundings rem
ained quiet, without a hint that anyone was nearby.
“Mr. Security Guard, are you there? I am visiting someone from Apartment 2. Could you please open the gate?” her bright voice traveled over some distance in the dark, silent night. Regardless of how hopeful Lin Sanjiu sounded, there was still not even a single response from the guardhouse.
She sighed. This was as expected. She started to have a headache when she looked at the row of anti-climbing spikes above the gate. The residential complex may be old, but that metal gate was newly installed. It was so sturdy that it was hopeless to get past it.
Lin Sanjiu hesitated for awhile before placing her hand on the metal gate.
“Store this!”
It felt like her body was weighed down by several thousand pounds of metal bars. Lin Sanjiu’s arm started to tremble. Just when she was unable to tolerate it any longer and about to give up, the glow in her palm faded with a “Pa!” sound. The metal gate disappeared and transformed into a card that was now lying on the ground. There was a scribbly kindergartener’s level crayon drawing of two metal gates.
At the bottom of the card, it was written:
【Metal gate】
This gate was installed at Rongjun Residential Complex in 2012. Other than its weight, it has no other merits.
Function: Nothing special. It is unable to stand up straight if it is not installed to a wall.
…
Lin Sanjiu was practically accustomed to how useless the stupid card was. She stuffed it into her pocket and hurried towards Apartment 2.
There was still no commotion from the pitch black guardhouse behind her.
When Lin Sanjiu stood outside the front of door 401, she found herself panting like a dog. She used up too much of her physical energy storing that metal gate. Then, a little while ago, she sprinted up four stories. At this moment, Lin Sanjiu could hear her voice quivering as she said, “Zhu… Zhu Mei! Are you in? Open the door! It’s me, Xiao Jiu!”
Not wanting to give up, Lin Sanjiu continued calling out and knocking on the door. She was feeling very anxious. When she was in the car, she could feel that the temperature was still rising. Even with her heat resistant body, she could tell that it was not only 56°C now. Zhu Mei was just a normal person, could she even survive this…
After shouting for some time, Lin Sanjiu felt her throat burning up, she had no choice but to take a few sips of water. After putting the bottle back into her backpack, she was just about to start knocking on the door again, when the door opened slightly with a creak. “Zhu Mei, how are you?” Lin Sanjiu finally felt relieved as she quickly looked with her flashlight.
However, the person that opened the door was not Zhu Mei. It was a late middle-aged woman with an oval face. She was in her fifties. As the flashlight shined brightly on her face, she quickly blocked it with her hand. Those few seconds was enough for Lin Sanjiu to clearly see her.
Lin Sanjiu’s phone fell to the ground with a “pa” sound.
She stared unwaveringly at the face behind that partially opened door and only reacted after some time. She reached for her mobile phone in a fl.u.s.ter. Once again, she held her phone unsteadily as the flashlight shined on the door once more. Finally, Lin Sanjiu managed to find her voice, “Mom?”
She could feel that her mind was in a jumbled mess. “Mom, how… how can you be here? You’re alright? What is going on?”
The middle-aged woman looked like she was about to burst into tears. She quickly opened the door, “Come in, quick! It is great to see that you’re okay! I was so worried…”
In a confused state, Lin Sanjiu was pulled into the apartment. She stood at the corridor in the entrance. As a plethora of chaotic thoughts and questions spun in her mind, she did not know what to say. She stood there blankly, scanning the room. She saw the familiar white waist-height shoe cabinet beside her — this was the cabinet that Zhu Mei bought when she was accompanying her.
Suddenly, she asked a question. “Mom, why are you at Zhu Mei’s apartment? Where is she?”
Mother Lin sobbed spasmodically and continued, ”She was such a good child… I know that both of you were close. Don’t be too upset.” Lin Sanjiu sat motionlessly. She fell silent. She turned off her flashlight. The apartment was once again totally dark.
“I have already prepared myself on the way here… If God decided to take her away, there was nothing I could do about it. Thankfully, you are alright, mom. That’s all I can ask for...“ Lin Sanjiu mumbled in the dark.
Even though she knew that her daughter could not see her, Mother Lin nodded. She wiped the tears from her face and smiled. “Your dad is alright too. He is resting in the room. I will just call him over.” She turned around and walked away.
“I’ll go too.” Lin Sanjiu stood up quickly.
Mother Lin nodded her head as she walked, she reached for the bedroom door and said, “Hey—”
She just started her sentence when she heard a swooshing sound coming from behind her. She did not have the time to dodge. “Crash!” Her head was hit, her body turned limped as she fell to the ground. Lin Sanjiu stood behind her.
Lin Sanjiu held the chair above her, she felt that her arms were giving way. She quickly placed the chair down. Even though she placed the chair down, she did not relax the grip the chair. Instead, she gripped the chair tighter. She stared at the direction of the bedroom as if she was about to confront a formidable enemy. For a short moment, it seemed as if she could only hear her own heavy breathing and nothing from the room.
Almost immediately after, there was an abrupt sound of footsteps from behind the bedroom door. The bedroom door was pulled open. A broad shouldered man stood at the door way. He was shocked and angry when he saw what had happened. With the faint light that came from outside, one could see that the man’s facial features were like Lin Sanjiu.
There was a cold expression on the face that was in front of him.
“I wished harder than you that she was my mom.” Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath, she could feel the muscles in her arms and t.h.i.g.hs twitching from over-exertion. “My dad and mom died in a car accident ten years ago. Verifying their corpse and arranging for their burial, I did all of that myself. So who are the two of you? And where is my friend?”
Chapter 5 - Incoming Crisis
“Oww..” the woman, curled up on the ground, and gave a low m.o.a.n. It broke the tense atmosphere. “Aghh… that was quite painful.”
Seeing “Mother Lin” standing up, rubbing the back of her head, Lin Sanjiu could even feel the twitching at the corner of her eyes. Things were not going well. Two against one. Apart from the fact that there was a large tall man in the other party, she was so exhausted that her limbs were feeling weak. She did not even have a single ability which she could use to defend herself...
“Mother Lin” stood up straight and cracked her neck. When she turned to face Lin Sanjiu, she had already turned into a young stranger who was about seventeen or eighteen.
“Oh well. What have we done? There are so many people whose parents are still alive, but we had to meet an orphan…” the youth did not even look at Lin Sanjiu, but actually complained to his companion first. “Father Lin” nodded silently as he walked two steps out from the bedroom. After that, “Father Lin” turned into a redhead middle age woman. “Did she manage to hurt you just now?” she asked in fluent Chinese.
The youth grinned showing his set of white teeth, “Of course not, she isn’t that strong.”
Witnessing the two of them talking naturally with each other, acting as though there were nobody else present, Lin Sanjiu felt somewhat bitter. She stealthily edged backward and asked in a trembling voice, ”Are both of you also from a New World?”
Her question seemed to have sudden piqued the youth’s interest. “Huh? So you actually know that much? We really underestimated you. That was why you totally showed no mercy just now. Um. I already noticed just now that you have already evolved a little… your potential growth value must be quite high.” The youth�
��s manner of speaking was particularly quick and lively. It sounded as though he was talking about his favorite game. If the young man did not trick her into the apartment by disguising as her dead mother, Lin Sanjiu would have really lowered her defenses.
“Is my friend… really dead?”
The youth shrugged in an exaggerated manner. “There is a person in the bathroom. Her dehydration seems really bad, so she was probably trying to get some water. But I think there is a drought here? So anyway, not even a single drop of water came out from the tap. Right… she doesn’t look too good, dead. So I would recommend you not to go over to take a look.”
Her tears poured out uncontrollably. Lin Sanjiu quickly wiped them away as she continued staring at the two people in front of her. She took another step back.
She had already met a person like Ren Nan who was an ‘Posthuman[1]” from a New World. Unexpectedly, she managed to meet another two of them. Lin Sanjiu could not help feeling extremely wary of them. “If you two did not kill my friend, why are both of you here? Why did you trick me into the apartment?”
The young man spread his arms out and replied, “It is not as if we could choose where we appear when we get here! We are quite lucky that we appeared in a person’s apartment. There is even a bed here for us to rest… Anyway, when we came here, your friend was already dead.”
“Then, why did you disguise yourselves as my parents to trick me? How did you know my parents?” It was obvious that this youth enjoyed talking. He had revealed quite a lot of information in such a short time. Lin Sanjiu noticed that and purposely chose to ask these questions, as she planned the conversation.
It was unclear if she saw through her plans, but before the young man could reply, the redhead woman gestured in an irritated manner for to stop the young man from answering enthusiastically. “I planned for you to come inside,” she said coldly.