by N. Heller
In the distance, a car that just joined the line quickly made a turn and escaped.
Apart from Marcie, who was totally unaware of her surroundings, the two of them in the car sighed. What choice do they have now? They could only abandon the car and continue on foot.
The sky was now a hue of green, just like duck eggs. It certainly wasn’t as bright as being in broad daylight, but it was bright enough for them to see everything.
“How much water do we still have?” Luther licked his dry, chapped lips, feeling uneasy.
Lin Sanjiu looked at her backpack. Actually, she knew even without looking. There was not even a single bottle of mineral water left. She only had three cans of cola, and they were even warm.
Considering the condition of both their bodies, she threw over a can of cola. “There are only three of these. Just drink it quickly! Even if it doesn’t hydrate you, at least you get some sugar. We will probably need quite a lot of energy to get there.”
Unexpectedly, once Luther drank a mouthful, he paused. As he burped, he asked, “What’s this?” Apparently, in his original world, the Coca-Cola Company did not exist. Looking at him smack his lips savoring the last bit of the beverage, Lin Sanjiu finished hers as well. She threw out the empty can and asked, “Are you ready?”
Chapter 9 - Everything in the Supermarket is Free on Doomsday
It was too hot.
Unless one could experience it himself, the heat was totally beyond imagination. Just as her sweat appeared, it immediately evaporated, then, it was followed by the next bout of hot perspiration. She felt as if her entire body system was struggling to keep her alive, just like an old dog on its deathbed, rapidly panting amidst the blistering hot air.
Comparatively, Luther looked much stronger. Even though he was carrying Marcie, he was definitely doing better than Lin Sanjiu. He noticed it himself, he asked loudly, “Hey... You… body becoming stronger?”
“What?” Lin Sanjiu raised her voice and shouted. The engine sounds around them were too loud. Luther was just on the other side of the car, but she had difficulty hearing him.
“I said...” Luther went around the car and walked toward her. Marcie was taller than him, so while he carried her on his back, her feet were dragging on the ground. “Have you experienced your body becoming stronger?”
She had only said a single word just now, yet Lin Sanjiu could feel that her tongue was totally dry. It was so dry that she could feel the dryness in her larynx. She did not dare to open her mouth again. She only shook her head, hinting to Luther that they should quickly continue walking. Luther’s face showed his surprise, he wanted to say something… but how was this a good time for idle chatter? He quickly nodded his head as they continued traversing through the queue of cars which were spewing hot air.
Lin Sanjiu had to wipe her eyes every few steps. She was sweating too much, her sweat had just entered her eye. The hot stingy sensation was unbearable. She couldn’t refrain from doubting herself. Was there a time limit to the effectiveness of her Heat Resistance Adaptation? Otherwise, what could explain why she didn’t feel as hot when they started, yet she was perspiring so profusely right now?
If this went on, could she even reach the supermarket before dying from dehydration?
The two of them looked around in silence. There was a median barrier in the center of the road which separated the two direction flow of the traffic. However, in times of crisis, there were only that many people who could still abide by the traffic code. Currently, the cars were tangled in a messy disarray. Some of the cars were in the right direction, while there were others that were trap against the traffic...
If they had to climb over that barrier, it will not only take a toll on their body, and carrying Marcie was also a problem. Furthermore, they had to continue walking through that burning hot car queue again. That will definitely kill them.
Without even discussing, both of them walked towards the end of the queue.
The person who drove the Land Rover was a skinny woman; when the both of them walked passed, Lin Sanjiu noticed that the driver had fallen over in the car. The driver had sunken eyes and was already unconscious — she was probably already dehydrated and was succ.u.mbing to the confusion due to it. She must have crashed her car in that state.
As for the tiny car whose hood had been ruined, it was certain that the air-conditioner in the car was probably unusable now. Miraculously, thanks to the cool air that was retained, the fat middle-aged man in the car was still alive. Ever since the two of them left their car, he had been eyeing them closely.
When Lin Sanjiu walked past the side of his car, the fat man suddenly faced her direction and rapped on his car window quite a few times.
Behind a sheet of glass, the fat man’s voice was muffled and unclear: “Outside… hot… can we still walk?”
Lin Sanjiu could roughly guess what he meant. She shook her head indicating that he could not. After that, she continued forward. The hot exhaust that was spewing from the car made the bad situation even more insufferable. She really could not stand not moving away.
As he saw her leaving, the fat man became angry. He pulled open his car door, “I am talking to you. Stop right there! Aren’t you walking just fine, I—” Before he could finish his sentence, he abruptly burst into an ear-piercing scream.
That soul-numbing scream was filled with agony, it was even louder than the engines. Lin Sanjiu turned her head quickly. She noticed that a series of blisters have appeared on parts of the fat man’s skin which was directly exposed to the exhaust outside.
The scarlet red blisters on his skin burst open. They were all over his face and hands; it was as if he was scalded by hot boiling water. It was a ghastly sight seeing the blisters burst and revealed patches of damaged skin. His painful screams continued. Lin Sanjiu could not take it any longer. She held on to Luther to stabilize herself. She lifted her leg and kicked the man back into his own car. After that, she slammed the door.
All of a suddenly, the painful screams quietened. Seeing that the fat man’s burns were not worsening, Lin Sanjiu panted then exchanged a panicked look with Luther.
The effectiveness of her ability did not decline after all. The truth was that the external temperature had already reached a terrifying level— it was at the level that a mixture of heated exhaust and the surrounding air was sufficient to cause burns to a normal person...
“Stop thinking about it. Let’s go!” Even the talkative Luther was speaking sparingly.
The two of them walked hurriedly out from the car queue. After they left the hundreds or thousands of running engines, they finally felt a little better. They crossed the road and walked onto the sidewalk which was lined with trees. They did not dare to delay and headed quickly in the direction of the shopping mall.
No matter how strong she was, this was the first time that Lin Sanjiu saw that many dead people. Feeling somewhat fearful and nauseous, she tried swallowing her own saliva a few times, but her mouth was dry; there was not even a hint of moisture.
“Let’s drink that last can of cola!” Luther’s hoarse voice came from behind her.
Lin Sanjiu considered for a moment before taking the can of cola out. Even though the cola may not be that hydrating, there was more than enough food and water in the supermarket. She saw no point suffering outside and torturing themselves any further. In the past, she could never finish a can of cola in one go, but now she even felt the amount was simply too little. Without caring about the taste, they shared the hot cola and finished the can.
After they had thrown the can away, they walked for a while before the front door of the shopping mall finally gradually appeared clearer and clearer to them.
The fountain which previously never stopped was now so dry that it had cracked open. It was as though no water had ever flowed through it. Nevertheless, the few bodies in the fountain which were facing downwards proved that the fountain was once their last ray of hope. Dead corpses with burnt skins littered the grou
nd creating a grisly scene.
Lin Sanjiu lowered her head, carefully avoiding the corpses on the ground, leaping ahead as she advanced. When she occasionally look up, she found that Luther, though carrying Marcie, had managed to walk ahead of her somehow.
Just as she wondered how he could walk that quickly, she immediately got her answer. As if it didn’t bother him, Luther stepped on the back of a body which appeared to belong to a young mother. He strutted forward into the shopping mall as if he was walking on normal ground.
Lin Sanjiu hurried over, and manage to chase after him. She hit his arm angrily, “Can’t you have more respect for the dead?” A single sentence made her throat so dry that it hurt.
Luther was startled by her. He looked slightly perplexed for a moment before he reacted, ”Oh, oh! That… I’m sorry. I must have seen too many dead bodies. I’m probably somewhat desensitized to that.” He looked a little sorry as showed one of his buckteeth. “In the beginning, I was like you.”
Luther nodded. Next, he scanned the shopping mall and sighed lightly: “This is a really beautiful place…“ Without stopping, he followed behind Lin Sanjiu as they headed for the supermarket.
It was reported that the shopping mall was designed by a famous French architect. It was five stories high. There was a hollow in the center of the mall, and a dense foliage of tropical plants was planted there. Probably due to a stratified structural design, the tropical trees grew up till the position of the 5th story lift. Walking here was as if they were strolling through a primitive forest.
But, this was not the time to admire all that. Lin Sanjiu took a quick glance of the tropical forest, sensing that something was wrong but she could not tell what it was at the moment. She shook her head and rushed down the escalator.
Yet, when they saw the supermarket, both of them could not help gasping.
The situation was worse than what Lin Sanjiu had anticipated. She knew that she would not be the only one that thought of the supermarket. But the situation here was definitely beyond her expectation.
As the temperature soared last night, the supermarket was obviously still operating. It was filled with people. Naturally, all the people were dead now. Their motionless, speechless corpses laid on the floor. The seemingly “frozen” scene captured the chaos that ensued last night. There were empty bottles everywhere. Bottles of mineral water, beverages… There were dried up patches of splashed fruit juice all over the beige floor. The beverage section looked ransacked as the last few bottles of water lay haphazardly on the shelves. Many of the dead bodies on the ground, hugged on tightly to bottles of beverages covered in blood and body fluids.
The most shocking thing was that the death of a cashier was clearly not due to dehydration. There was a deep dent at the back of her head. The cash register in front of her was opened wide, and it was empty inside.
Luther clicked his tongue twice, disapprovingly. “The robber must be feeling stupid right now!”
“That’s if he is still alive.” Lin Sanjiu was extremely thirsty. She grabbed a bottle of water from one of the corpses that was at the entrance. She drank half the bottle noisily without caring about any taboo, then passed the bottle to Luther.
Lin Sanjiu rested at a cashier counter with no dead bodies. Hearing that, she asked inquisitively, “I wanted to ask earlier… Marcie was around just now, so it wasn’t convenient. When the duoluozhong commented that she was made of false flesh and blood, what does that mean?”
“She is one of my personalities that had taken corporal form, in some sense, she is an independent human being,” Luther explained and drank from the bottle at the same time. “But, the degree of her ‘realness’ is controlled by the strength of my ability… My ability isn’t that great right now, so many aspects of Marcie are not that... umm, lifelike.”
Lin Sanjiu nodded and did not pursue the topic further. After both of them had enough water, they rested for a while. Following which, they felt the uncomfortable hunger pangs from their empty stomachs.
“Let’s take a look at the food section?” Lin Sanjiu suggested.
“Wait,” Luther stopped her. He looked around and asked, “Is there anything around here that we can hold and use as a weapon?”
Chapter 10 - Potential Growth Value and a Visitor
“You don’t know this, but a supermarket is a place full of resources, and most mishaps happen in such places…”
Luther and Lin Sanjiu walked carefully along the aisles of dark shelves, watching each other's back every so often. They both held a red wine bottle in one of their hands. They had no choice since that was the only thing near the entrance which could be used as a weapon; the other items were all pretty much useless. A red wine bottle was not a reliable weapon to use against a duoluozhong, but they could at least throw the bottle at it and run.
They had purposely let Marcie lie flat between two dead bodies at the entrance. At first glance, she looked no different from a corpse. They could not tell if she would wake up unhappy, but that was a problem Luther had to deal with...
“Let’s go to the Ready-To-Eat section…”Luther whispered. Just when he wanted to suggest that they should eat starting from the Ready-to-Eat section, he smelled a strong rancid smell. Unwilling to accept this, he reached out to grab a box of potato salad. Just as he held it, he threw it away. “They’re all spoilt! They’re all in this putrid state!”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Lin Sanjiu asked rhetorically, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
After they had spent at least twenty minutes, the two of them managed to explore the entire supermarket groping around in the dark. Other than the few bodies which were found further inside, nothing else was out of the ordinary. They no longer had to be on alert. Both of them put down the red wine bottles and continued walking. It was tiring to hold a bottle, walking around.
“Even though there is no sunlight, it is really too dark in this bas.e.m.e.nt supermarket… do you know where we can find some flashlight?” Luther was feeling a little annoyed, “Ever since we came to this Hyperthermal Hell, I have only been in the dark.”
“Let’s look for it later. I am not sure if they sell it here since this is a high-end import supermarket.” As they exchanged conversation, they quickly reached the food section. Each of them grabbed a few packets of food item and carried them in their arms, even though they were unable to read the labels to see what they contained. “I remember that they did sell lavender scented candles… it should be fine as long as we have some light.”
As they chatted quietly, Luther managed to open the packet in his hands.
“Oh, these are ch.i.p.s...” he called out being pleasantly surprised. Suddenly, a voice reverberated through the quiet supermarket, “Luther! Come out now!”
It was Marcie’s voice.
“Marcie? Marcie, you’re awake.” Luther heard her voice and quickly pulled Lin Sanjiu along as he ran; they reached the entrance very quickly. Under the light that seeped down from upstairs, he noticed that Marcie was standing in-between two dead bodies, and her face was filled with resentment. Her darkened expression contrasted starkly with that bright red hair of her.
Luther explained himself cheerily and offered the potato ch.i.p.s to her, trying to appease her. Only then did she make a “Humph” and decided to overlook the matter. Subsequently, she turned to look at Lin Sanjiu and hesitated for a moment, not saying a word.
Lin Sanjiu did not know why but she suddenly felt a little anxious. She put down the tidbit she was eating, and asked Marcie, “Is there something wrong with my stats?”
“I wouldn’t call that a problem… maybe I haven’t collected enough samples.” Marcie smiled in a consoling manner: “Your stats are a little different from those I have collected before.”
“What do you mean?” Lin Sanjiu quickly asked.
Marcie looked around and found a place that was darker. She signaled for both of them to come to her. Next, using her index finger, she wrote some words in mid-air — each wo
rd appeared with a golden glow, floating in mid-air.
Lin Sanjiu tried to suppress her astonishment but with little avail.
“Your stats are on the left,” Marcie explained and continued writing: “I will write down Luther’s stats for you to make some comparisons.”
【Lin Sanjiu’s Passive Skills】
Heat Resistance Adaptation： Able to effectively resist environmental temperatures up to 125°C.
Keen Senses： Not always accurate, but the probability of it being accurate is high.
The third skill is currently being developed.
【Lin Sanjiu’s physical stats】
Height： 168cm
Average timing for 100m dash： 11.6s
Reaction time： Considerably quick
Vision： 5.0
Body fat percentage： 18.5%
Muscle mass percentage： 45.7%
Potential Growth Value： High
When Marcie finished writing, Luther was the first one to exclaim “Huh?”, which made Lin Sanjiu even more nervous. Marcie rolled her eyes at him and continued saying to her, “This are not all your stats. I chose some of the more important categories. I will write down the other information after we made the comparison.”
Lin Sanjiu nodded and read through her own stats quickly.
Since she was young, she had been good at sports, being quite nimble. She did well in the Phys Ed classes that most girls hated, scoring a high score for her college exams. Naturally, she had always been teased by boys with phrases like, “All brawn and no...” Anyway, other than her potential growth value, the numbers seemed normal to her.
【Luther’s Passive Skills】
Extreme Climate Adaptation: Able to survive in climates with extremely high or low temperatures.