by N. Heller
"You should rest. It must have been quite an experience out there, right?" Douglas looked gruff but was actually quite caring, "I will wake you up in the afternoon for lunch." After he said that, he closed the door and left.
"How long has it been since I slept on a normal bed?"
Furthermore, this room had been tidied just before the arrival of the apocalyptic event. It was clean, the bed sheets were neat and the blanket was soft... Lin Sanjiu exhaled deeply and jumped into the bed, planting her head on the soft pillow.
Even though she was almost engulfed by her exhaustion, she got up with a hazy struggle and took out her [Teru Teru Bozu Defense System]. She stood on a chair and hung it on the ceiling. Seeing it quietly hanging from the ceiling, Lin Sanjiu finally felt safe. She took off the flowery jacket and kicked off her boots. When she crawled under the blanket, she felt as if all her bones were celebrating. She wrapped herself in that soft blanket and quickly drifted off to sleep.
The curtains were drawn, and she did not switch on the lights, so it was dim even though it was still daytime. But, even if Lin Sanjiu was awake, she wouldn't detect anything. The Teru Teru Bozu hanging from the ceiling slowly turned its body and its marker-drawn eyes suddenly opened. It stared Lin Sanjiu, who was fast asleep, with its void-like eyes.
Chapter 186 - A Steaming Chicken Fried Rice
"The weather seems to be getting colder."
Lin Sanjiu woke up from her sleep because she was too cold—she felt as if her bones were contracting and her blood had congealed. When she half-opened her eyes hazily, all the muscles on her body ached from shivering.
She got out from the blanket which still held a little heat and shivered as she wore that flowery jacket and wrapped it tightly around herself. As it was later in the day, the room she was sleeping in also became darker. She could only see the vague outlines of the furniture around her. It was quiet outside. She couldn't even hear a single sound. It was as though the world had forgotten this small hotel room.
Lin Sanjiu switched on the light and looked at her Teru Teru Bozu. Seeing that it was not reacting, she left the room and entered the corridor. Waking up alone in a dark and cold place, she longed for someone to talk to. Lin Sanjiu knocked on Douglas's door and called out, "Douglas, are you in? What time is it now?"
She called out for him and knocked on the door, yet she could only hear silence from the room. She waited for some time and called out again. Again, she heard nothing.
"Did he go out?"
Lin Sanjiu remembered the various oddities about this world and she started growing anxious. She twisted the doorknob and found that it was locked. She wiped her fingers together and some dust particles fell from them, it seemed like no one had touched that doorknob for some time.
She went down to the lobby and walked around, but she didn't see any sign of Douglas or Greenie.
Lin Sanjiu didn't know what happened during the apocalyptic event. Half of the red carpet in the lobby had been flipped open. The couches meant for the customers to rest were strewn all about the lobby messily. There was a thick layer of dust all over the tables and the desk at the reception area. This place had obviously been abandoned.
The day of the apocalypse must have arrived very sudden. There was a woman's clutch bag in the middle of the lobby, her foundation and lipstick were lying on the ground. There was a pair of male leather shoes under the reception desk, but the owner of the shoes was nowhere to be seen.
It was dusky and desolated outside. Lin Sanjiu could feel her confidence wavering just by being in this environment. " Did I really meet a man called Douglas? Was that just a dream I had because I was too tired?"
Doubtful thoughts, which she usually wouldn't have, started forming stealthily in her head. Lin Sanjiu sat down heavily on one of the couches. A layer of dust stirred as she sat there in a daze. She frowned and thought for some time but she discovered that she couldn't prove that she had really met Douglas
Even though the story about Kisaragi Station was in her head, that didn't mean much since she had heard that story before and just forgotten about it momentarily. Just when she was truly about to doubt herself and plan to go upstairs to check, she heard grumbling voice outside, not far from her: "Why do the people here throw their shoes everywhere?"
"Thud." That sounded like someone kicking something hard.
"Douglas!" Lin Sanjiu eyes brightened. The white fog which clouded her mind and her vague fears evaporated in a second. She leaped up and greeted him, "You're back!"
The man with a round face and head was carrying a large plastic bag. When he saw her in the lobby, he was a bit surprised, "You're awake? Did you wait here for me?"
Lin Sanjiu instantly felt a little embarrassed. "Well, not really... It was just that you weren't back..." Lin Sanjiu didn't know what she mumbled but she quickly changed the topic, "That's a lot of food. Where did you find it?"
Her lips were so cold that they had turned purple, so she was wondering if she should eat now to get some calories to burn. "Yeah, I've eaten everything in this hotel. I found these food items from the residential buildings nearby. In any case, there is food in this world and it isn't dangerous, so I think it is pretty good." Douglas was happy when he talked about this. He rolled up his short sleeve and showed Lin Sanjiu what he collected, "Look. I have rice, noodles, luncheon meat... I can even use the fire in the back kitchen. There are all sorts of seasoning and spices there."
This wasn't the best part of it. As the water and electricity were still running normally, there were a few pieces of hard, frozen chicken b.r.e.a.s.ts in Douglas's plastic bag. Lin Sanjiu, who couldn't even remember the last time she ate a warm bowl of rice and a plate of hot dish, could feel her stomach growling.
She clapped with her stiff cold hands, "Let's cook! It would also be a good way to warm up..."
"Aye." Douglas replied and headed to the back kitchen with his plastic bag. While he walked he laughed, "I feel alright. When I first arrived here, it felt really cold. But right now, I think I have adapted to it..."
Both of them were feeling high-spirited. Douglas even joked about the flowery cotton-padded jacket that Lin Sanjiu was wearing. They soon reached the back kitchen. As they worked individually, Douglas realized that his cooking skills were way stronger than Lin Sanjiu's. In the end, he got her to wait by the side. He used the chicken, luncheon meat and some chopped onions and cooked up a plate of fried rice with chicken which he quickly placed in front of her.
White steam rose from the rice which had a sheen of oil. The fragrance which wafted into her nose was extremely tantalizing. Lin Sanjiu immediate ate a mouthful. Once she swallowed that mouthful of warm rice, it suddenly changed into a bone-chilling coldness which spread through her body. She felt as though even her organs were frozen. Her face turned green. She couldn't move her body for some time. It took a while before she felt her heart struggling to beat despite the cold. It pumped for a few times and she felt a slight warmth. Lin Sanjiu fingers trembled, she was in disbelief when she touched the bowl which was still a little warm
She looked up and saw Douglas looking at her with his pair of small eyes.
"Why aren't you eating?"
"I..." Lin Sanjiu wanted to speak but her teeth chattered instead, because of the cold. The chattering prevented her from speaking. Even if she wasn't cold to the point she couldn't speak, she would have realized that something was wrong. Douglas's round face was red and lively though he ate the fried rice cooked from the same pan. As he ate too quickly, he was even sweating a little.
Lin Sanjiu knew without asking that he couldn't see the problem here. "I don't know why but I felt cold when I ate that rice," she forced herself to smile. She could even feel her blood slowing down and the blood vessels on the back of her hand had turned purple. "Did you experience the same situation before?"
Unexpectedly, Douglas nodded. "Yes, but it didn't last for long. At that time, I didn't have any food with me. If I didn't eat, I would starve to death. Even
though I felt cold, I forced myself to eat... Somehow, I felt better after I finished eating. So go on, eat!"
"Is that so?"
Chapter 187 - The Reason Behind Kisaragi Station's Formation
Lin Sanjiu felt worse after eating that meal. She couldn't finish that small bowl of rice because she was getting a headache from being too cold. She only ate a few mouthfuls and pushed the bowl to aside. Douglas didn't seem to mind. He poured her portion into his own bowl and gulped it down. This dispelled her slight suspicion toward him. Even though she watched from a side as Douglas cooked, and didn't see him doing anything weird with the food, seeing him eat her portion finally convinced her that it was alright. She even felt a little guilty for suspecting him.
After she stopped eating, her body gradually stopped trembling. Wearing a thick jacket did help a bit.
"You don't look that well. Do you want to rest more?" Douglas wiped his mouth and burped after he finished his food.
"No... I want to take a look around. Maybe, I will even meet a few survivors." Unfortunately, after she said that, she started shivering again. She jumped on the spot trying to generate more heat to keep her body warm.
"Okay," Douglas answered, and he didn't seem to mind. "I already searched a few times. There isn't anyone around. But you can go ahead, I am going back to my room to play some video games."
Supposedly, the first stop he saw when he was on the train wasn't Mausoleum Elementary Station. Instead, it was some Electronics Street. Since he was bored, Douglas filled a bag with all sorts of games, so he could spend his whole 14 months playing them.
Lin Sanjiu was quite impressed by his carefree attitude. She nodded and walked out of the hotel.
"Ah, wait!" the man suddenly called her from behind.
She saw him standing on the stairs leading to the second floor, with half his face covered by the shadow.
"Don't go to the Bamboo Grove Mountains," he said sternly.
Lin Sanjiu questioned him but he only answered, "It is too far. It takes more than two days for you to go there and come back... If anything happens, I can't even find you."
That was true. If Bamboo Groves Mountains wasn't that far, there wouldn't be these hostels and hotels here. She agreed and thanked him before she walked out of the hotel. According to Douglas, she slept for only four to five hours, so it was now about two o'clock in the afternoon. However, the sky was dark and overcast. There wasn't a single glimpse of sunlight. It was as if she was seeing everything through a gray filter. It was more like the moment before a storm or evening time.
Even though Lin Sanjiu did not plan to go to the Bamboo Grove Mountains, she took the same path toward it. There were many shops at the sides of this street. Almost half the convenience stores, snack kiosks and souvenirs stalls must be on this street. As such, it retained some of its liveliness.
To keep herself warm, Lin Sanjiu exercised while she walked. She leaped and bounced along the road. Someone who didn't know better would definitely think that she was very happy if they saw her. After bouncing past two stalls which sold almost the same souvenirs, she stopped in front of a convenience store.
Standing on the street and looking in from its windows, Lin Sanjiu could see that the store has been ransacked, as there were only a few remaining items, lying in a mess. Things like tobacco, alcohol, food, and lighters had all been taken. Even the door to the staff room was opened. This destruction was probably left behind by the survivors who came before Douglas.
There was a life-sized standee of a beautiful air stewardess standing outside the convenience store. There was a bright smile on her oval face and the position of her eyes just happen to face the train station. A crooked signboard in the shop read, "We help you book your tickets, rent your car and organize your trip." The words were still clear and readable. Apparently, the convenience store also provided services like a travel agency.
After looking around casually, Lin Sanjiu saw a row of items that were untouched. Lin Sanjiu's heart raced as she walked over. It was a magazine rack. The people who had focused all their attention on looking for survival supplies naturally weren't interested in newspapers or magazines. On the other hand, this was different from Lin Sanjiu. Ever since she read that article which featured that scientist, Le Bon, the words "dark matter" had been on her mind. She just couldn't get over it.
"Perhaps, I can find some relevant information from these newspapers or magazines... " She thought to herself and randomly threw the few of the entertainment magazines on the top-most shelf on the ground.
"Isn't there a newspaper around..." she grumbled. She threw all the useless magazines on the ground first. Information from a newspaper would be to-the-point and comprehensive, so that was the most ideal. Unfortunately, all the newspaper here were entertainment tabloids, which were not helpful at all.
Lin Sanjiu finally found a magazine at the very bottom of the entire shelf. Its front page was a little old. Compared to the magazines which were mostly the May and June issues, this magazine was from December of the previous year. Its name was "Science and Technology Frontier".
"No wonder they couldn't sell it even half a year later."
But this magazine was the very thing Lin Sanjiu needed. She flipped to the content page urgently and tried to search for topics regarding dark matter or Le Bon.
Surprisingly, she really found something on it.
Furthermore, she got more information that she expected. This magazine was published when Le Bon's theory was losing credence, therefore it devoted a large section describing Le Bon's published works with the objective of presenting criticism against it by other scholars. Even though there were still many terminologies specific to this world, and other jargons which Lin Sanjiu didn't know, she finally had a general idea.
In Lin Sanjiu's world, no one really knew what dark matter was. But, in this world, though it can't be seen, they have already found its composition and formation process after multiple experiments. The scientists here had even started researching about its uses. Despite being one of the leading researchers in this field, Le Bon announced that he had found an alarming characteristic of dark matter a few years before the apocalyptic event.
Dark matter was corrosive.
Furthermore, the corrosive nature of dark matter had only became active in the recent years. Before this, it seemed that it had been latent. Different materials reacted differently to high levels of dark matter exposure and displayed different speeds of corrosion. This process was very slow, but Le Bon asserted that the materials would all be assimilated, and 98% of the object would become dark matter.
Lin Sanjiu skipped the long paragraphs of complicated theoretical explanation and then looked up while she contemplated about the matter. Evidently, this world had been corroded by dark matter. In these few years, everything here had already been converted to dark matter.
"But, what is dark matter? What harm can it cause..."
Lin Sanjiu's gaze fell on the refrigerator which once held beverages. As she had been thinking hard, she was staring in a daze at her own blurred reflection that was on the refrigerator door.
While Lin Sanjiu contemplated, she suddenly froze. The hairs on her back stood on end.
From the refrigerator door, she could see a vague human outline standing behind her. Lin Sanjiu turned around slowly and came face-to-face with the air stewardess' beautiful pair of eyes.
"Wasn't that thing at the front door just now?"
Chapter 188 - Robbing A Video Game Shop
When Lin Sanjiu used her Vibroblade to cut through that human-shaped standee in a neurotic manner, she suddenly remembered a sentence that Douglas said.
"This world is named after a horror story..." I think this world is related to urban legends and that sort of thing."
The standee of the air stewardess had already lost any semblance of it human-shape. There were still bits and pieces of cardboard shreds, remnants of the cardboard standee, floating in the air. Lin Sanjiu took a few large gasps
of air while she stored her Vibroblade with trembling fingers.
Her heart was pounding like mad and she tried her best to calm herself down.
"Look, it became shreds without even a bit of resistance. There is nothing scary about that thing—"
Lin Sanjiu repeated these words to herself repeatedly. However, there was no way she would continue in this store. Lin Sanjiu did not dare to look at the pile of shredded cardboard in front of her. She grabbed the Science and Technology Frontier tightly in her hand, went around the magazine shelf, then rushed out of the convenience store.
"C ould dark matter be stow the ability to move upon non-living objects?"
Lin Sanjiu turned behind to look at the convenience store. It was still in the same wreaked, post-calamity state. It did not look dangerous at all. Her heart pounded again, and she no longer had the mood to explore. All she wanted was to return to the hotel, so she quickly sprinted back.
Even though Douglas wasn't a relative or friend, his presence was very comforting to Lin Sanjiu.
"Douglas!"
The corridor of the second floor was just the way she left it. It was dark and quiet, as if no one had ever been there before. For some unknown reasons, Lin Sanjiu suddenly remembered the thin layer of dust she felt when she touched the doorknob of Douglas's room. She couldn't help feeling a little panicky so she raised her voice and called out, "Douglas, come out!"
Another room by her left opened with a click. Light and sounds from a voice game instantly poured out from the same room. It was as if someone had revealed a different corner of the world. Douglas peeked out from the room looking puzzled, "What's up? Did something happen?"
Lin Sanjiu immediately let out a sigh of relief, laughing at herself inwardly.
"So, I knocked on the wrong door. Douglas's room is 205 but I tried to open the adjacent room, 207. That's why that doorknob is dusty."