by N. Heller
Slowly and quietly, Lin Sanjiu picked the anti-theft lock and let Ji Shanqing go ahead of her into the hallway. Just when she got outside and turned around to close the door, the same phrase meandered into her ears again, "It was such a heart-trembling session, I must say! Don't you all agree that? Now, moving forward. Let us welcome with hearty applause our next guest..."
"Hey, that sounds familiar. Didn't it play before?"
Lin Sanjiu instinctively looked up, and she saw an intense gaze hiding in the midst of the light of the television. The man c.o.c.ked his head, staring fixate at her with his yellowish eyeballs.
Her heart skipped a beat; then the man turned his head again.
"Let's leave now," After closing the door, Lin Sanjiu gestured to Ji Shanqing, "This man is fishy."
Ji Shanqing didn't move; instead, he lifted his head and peered into the room.
"What's wrong?" Lin Sanjiu followed his gaze and looked at the hallway. At there she finally saw the reason that had prevented the grand prize from moving forward.
At first, she thought the reason the hallway felt narrow and suffocating was that the building was an old residential building. However, after she had a closer look, she realized that she was wrong. The other side which she mistook as the "wall" was half a hallway worth of cartons that were stacked neatly up to the ceiling.
"This…" She had yet again lost her words, "It cannot be…"
"Yeah, all of this is food and water," Ji Shanqing interpolated. He stepped forward and touched the carton. He still couldn't believe what was he seeing right now, "Oh my good lord, just how many resources have they amassed?"
Ever since she had left the Hyperthermal World, this was the first time Lin Sanjiu witnessed such a massive amount of food reserves. According to her rough estimation, this amount of food was sufficient to supply to a hypermarket for half a year.
Both of them stared at the wall of boxes as they walked down the hallway.
"If we took all these resources back to the Red Nautilus," the grand prize murmured, "We could at least make 300 red crystal of profit."
Suddenly, Rena and Reno butted into her mind, she quickly shooed away the image as she said, "If all of these resources were collected by the residents of this apartment to overcome the apocalypse, why isn't anybody watching them? Like that man we met just now, why isn't he afraid that we will raid him?"
Apparently, Ji Shanqing didn't have the answer to her question, "Perhaps they have too many so that they couldn't care less?"
As Lin Sanjiu strode down the staircase while holding plenty of questions in her mind, she found there were a few commercial refrigerators at the corner of some floors. All of the refrigerators were packed with cold foods such as frozen dumplings, buns, and pizza. As tempted as she was to take some of the food, the issue of ownership of the food was pulling her back. Since she had no idea who the owner of the food was, she pushed down the urge to touch take it.
Even though she had ended up in a place full of mysteries, she wasn't at all disheartened. After all, ending up in a world rich with resources was much better than a world that was deprived of resources.
Both of them were in the limbo of happy and anxious. Taking advantage of the night, they both scurried out from the residential building to do some reconnaissance around and get a better picture of the world.
It seemed like Lin Sanjiu had guessed it right: the apocalypse had befallen this world not long ago. In this district where mostly buildings that looked like old, non-self-contained apartments from the 1980s or 1990s, almost all of the lamp posts were ruined. The vehicles were spread higgledy-piggledy across the asphalt. Some of them were dented while some of them had broken windshields. None of the buildings had doors, and the rooms on the ground floor were vacant. The broken windows and doors seemed like eyes, staring at the duo who were unfortunate enough to barge into this desolated land.
It was more than usual to hear this kind of wailing in the apocalyptic world. Lin Sanjiu brushed it off as her gaze fell on the entrance to this neighborhood.
She was in a hopeless tangle as she still couldn't find the cause that actuated the demise of the humankind in this world. However, when she looked at the door, she somehow had an inkling that the residents here were desperately preventing something outside from coming in.
The two-meter-high iron fence was not only completely locked down, but it was also reinforced with a piece of thick wooden board. Sharp mirror shards and knives were littered densely on top of the archway. As if the residents didn't feel secure enough, they even entangled the wall and entrance gate with thorn-like iron wire.
"Are they defending against the duoluozhong ?" Lin Sanjiu mumbled under her breath, but she couldn't be sure, "No wonder they keep so many resources in the building, so this is their fortress."
Though crossing the entrance gate was an easy task for her, she wasn't in a hurry to leave at the moment.
The reason was simple. Since the residents here had turned this neighborhood into a large refugee camp, there had to be other people around. The obese man they had met earlier might be a freak, but it didn't mean that every resident was a weirdo. Lin Sanjiu could get more information about this world from the other survivors.
"Good idea, sis," Ji Shanqing was exhilarated when he realized he didn't have to face another unknown world right away. He pointed to a building that was nearest to them and suggested, "Let's go into this apartment. I can see lights from here."
Though there was light coming from some of the windows, that was not in the case for the hallway. An impenetrable umbra seemed to fill every inch of the hallway. Similar to the residential apartment they first landed in, half of the hallway of this apartment was also occupied by tons of cartons stacked up to the ceiling. If one weren't careful, he would trip up. As Ji Shanqing stumbled his way to keep up with Lin Sanjiu's speed, to his dismay, the gap between them grew larger and larger. Just as the grand prize wanted to shout at Lin Sanjiu to ask her to slow down a bit, the shadow he had been trailing suddenly stopped and turned around.
"Sis, you're walking too fast," the grand prize panted. As he was talking, he walked toward the eyes that gleamed in the darkness, "Hm? What are you staring at, sis?"
The owner of the eyes opened his mouth; however, it was an unfamiliar, saccharine voice.
"What am I looking at? I'm looking at you, of course."
Chapter 408 - First Breakthrough In The New World
The appearance of a strange figure turned Ji Shanqing's blood to ice. A chill went up Ji Shanqing's spine and through every nerve ending in his body before shooting up into his brain. His throat felt raw, and as he opened his mouth to scream for help, another shadow appeared behind the person in front of him. Then, through the dark, he saw something rising through the air. The next thing he knew the object made contact with the back of the neck of the speaker.
"Argh——"
A hysterical, pained scream resounded through the hallway. When the figure in front of him fell to the ground, Ji Shanqing saw his chance.
Just as he was turning around to run away, a voice called to him, "Come over here."
"Sis?" The grand prize paused, turning his head and asked with a trembling voice.
A silvery light beamed out, and Lin Sanjiu's grim face appeared in the midst of the light. She hurled the little shiny thing at Ji Shanqing and drew a curve through the air as she spoke calmly, "Grab it."
Ji Shanqing's hand fumbled to catch the gleaming [Ability Polishing Agent]. After he grabbed the [Ability Polishing Agent] in his palm, he stammered out a question, "W-what is happening?"
With the light from the [Ability Polishing Agent], Ji Shanqing's vision grew clearer. Soon, he could see that the hallway, like before, was also loaded with cartons in various sizes. In front of the wall of cartons was a woman wearing a white dress. She wriggled, kicked, cried, and yelled on the floor; however, no matter how hard she struggled, she could not free herself from beneath Lin Sanjiu's feet.
Ji Sha
nqing turned his head to take in the surrounding and he instantly understood the whole story.
The hallway was filled with so many cartons that it made the impression that all of the boxes were stacked firmly on top of one another. However, from the place where the woman in white appeared, there was a gap that revealed the entrance of a unit behind the cartons.
The gap had formerly been a door. Now half-covered by cartons, it looked more like a rat hole than a door, and it was just the right size for the woman to enter and exit.
When she appeared out from the gap, it just so happened that she appeared in the middle of the two, so Ji Shanqing had mistakenly thought she was Lin Sanjiu. Luckily, soon after the woman made her entrance Lin Sanjiu knocked her down after realizing that something was wrong and turned around.
Very soon, Lin Sanjiu had grown tired of the woman's incessant crying and yelling that she frowned so deeply that many creases formed on her forehead. As her patience vanished, she grabbed the woman by her collar and yelled, "Stop screaming! Who are you? Why are you following us?"
"Ah, I understand now," She wiped the tears and mucus off her face and revealed her pallid complexion that almost verged on the sickly, "So you guys are like the rest of us? That explains why you guys are being so careful. Don't be scared; I'm on the good side. Thank goodness you guys have made it safe here. Don't worry; you two are safe now."
Ji Shanqing and Lin Sanjiu looked at each other. Both of them shared the same bewildered expression on their faces.
"This lady looks like she's very familiar with what's going on around here…" When the thought came unbidden to his mind, Ji Shanqing, who was the self-proclaimed softer side of the two, went forward and greeted the woman politely with a question, "I'm so sorry, but we have been in a state of apprehension all this time. Just now you suddenly popped out from nowhere; it gave us a shock. Did my sister hurt you? What's your name?"
Truth to be told, Lin Sanjiu could have reaped the woman's life with that strike. Lucky for the woman, she'd pulled her punch; otherwise, the woman in white wouldn't be standing, rubbing her shoulder with her hand, stomping her feet, and repeating the same sentence like a well-trained parakeet, "Your sister is so strong. Your sister is so strong…"
Now that she was no longer hollering hysterically, her sweet tone returned. If it weren't for her scaly skin and dry hair, she might look younger.
Seeing the woman had locked herself in a loop by repeating "Your sister is so strong." for roughly six times, Ji Shanqing finally snapped as well. Grabbing the woman's hand that she had been using to rub her neck since she was freed from Lin Sanjiu's clutches, he forced a smile on his face as he asked again, "What's your name? Is this place safe?"
"Ah, I," The woman immediately closed her mouth the moment those words came out from her lips, darting her eyes between Ji Shanqing and Lin Sanjiu. After a second which seemed like a century, she opened her mouth again; albeit this time she kept her voice extremely low as if she was afraid somebody would overhear their conversation, "Shhh… Keep your voice down. I'm Melor. Although we're absolutely safe here, we still have to be vigilant… Those monsters outside are too powerful… Come, follow me."
"What are those monsters? Duoluozhong?"
Though both of them had plenty of questions, Melor was obviously not the best candidate for them to ask. The monsters she mentioned just now seemed to have cast an indelible shadow over her heart and kept her from answering their questions. Seeing that she had snuck into a carton like a mouse, the two had no choice but to follow her.
Nobody would believe that a human could stay in a house that was full of dust and rubbish if Melor didn't tell them that this was her apartment unit. Under the light of the [Ability Polishing Agent], this place looked like hell. Even a staunch-hearted person like Lin Sanjiu who had dwelled in the apocalypse world for so long that hygiene was no longer a necessity for her, she still couldn't convince herself to sit, let alone the neat-freak Ji Shanqing.
"Come, have a seat. Make yourself at home!" It was as if Melor didn't see their predicament as she ran deeper into the apartment and yelled, "Scholar, scholar! Come out now; we have guests!"
"We have guests? That's rare. Just a moment please, I'm coming out now." Following the sentence, a middle-aged man came out from a room.
The man that was known as "Scholar" wore a plaid shirt. He had buttoned his shirt all the way up to the top, and if he wasn't wearing beach shorts, he would give off the vibe of a professor. As if he had sensed his guest's gaze, Scholar pulled on his shirt and greeted them bashfully, "I apologize for showing you the embarrassing side of me. As the apocalypse has wiped out our human civilization, I seem to have lost my etiquette as well. Anyway, welcome to my house. Let me clean up a little bit so you two can sit."
He shoved the rubbish away. Looking at the layers of grime with the help of light from the [Ability Polishing Agent], Ji Shanqing knew he couldn't escape from the inevitable. He picked the cleanest spot he could find and sat on it. His face was filled with hopelessness.
Unlike Ji Shanqing, Melor was high in spirits. She said, "Scholar is the doctor know-all around here. Talk with him; I'll go and prepare our dinner."
"Having dinner at this wee hour? Is she insane?" However, before Lin Sanjiu could voice out her rejection, Melor had bounced herself into a black hole that seemingly was the kitchen. Ji Shanqing's face instantly became ugly.
"Let her be. We have more than enough to eat and drink here," Scholar said as if he had sensed Lin Sanjiu's unwillingness. He studied the duo through his spectacles prudently, and his voice was filled with wariness "Where did you guys come from? Why would you guys come to our neighborhood at this late hour?"
Ji Shanqing's eyes rolled in their sockets as if he was phrasing his words in his mind. Then, the actor in him took the stage. He said softly, "One of our relatives told us to come over here. However, we couldn't find him." Ji Shanqing paused for a moment at this point before moving on with his speech, faking as a forlorn little kid, "We're kinda worried about him, and we have no idea what to do now."
The scholar gave him a "hmm" in reply, seemingly accepting Ji Shanqing's statement, "It's good that you guys have chosen to come over here. This place is the only place that is safe in this world."
Without waiting for the duo to talk, he sighed, "I have long prophesied this apocalypse, to be honest."
"... What do you mean?"
"The government is the one at fault," Scholar smacked his hand onto his t.h.i.g.h as he sighed in sorrow, "I have long realized that some of the people we meet in our daily life are different from the rest of us. They look just like us but they are not human beings at all! They might be aliens or some sort of new species, I don't know. However, after running a series of studies on them, I've found common ground between these people: every one of them has abilities that are beyond our normal human recognition!"
Lin Sanjiu and the grand prize were stunned.
"I'm not sure why they would go so far as feign to be one of us, but one thing for sure is they must be up to no good. No matter how many times I reported this to the authorities, all my reports sank into the oblivion, as the saying goes, like a stone in water. As a result, our world was destroyed by those monsters," Scholar sighed, "It's all too late now."
"Oh my god…"
Lin Sanjiu and Ji Shanqing exchanged glances, and both of them were awed by the shocking news.
Judging from Scholar's words, it seemed to them that the factor that destroyed this world was the posthumans.
As long as the posthuman could get the visa that allowed them to move to a world six months before the apocalypse event, they would end up in a rather safe world. There weren't any written rules in black and white for the posthuman's conduct. Hence, they could do whatever they wanted once they landed in a new world. If a group of posthumans went to a world to destroy the civilization of the world, they could and had the ability to wipe out a planet before the government of each country could come up with a countermea
sure.
Without looking at the two's faces, Scholar continued to say, "The community had already fallen apart by the time government realized something wasn't right. Many people died every day. Perhaps they remembered my proposal as the government quickly gathered all the survivors and relocated us into a neighborhood as you guys see right now. Then, they sent more-than-enough of resources to sustain our daily needs."
"Since you guys are here, I presume you had seen our defensive measures outside, right?" Melor called to Scholar just before he could finish his sentence.
He rose to his feet and said, "Impressive in my opinion, don't you think? Well, I guess dinner is ready, so if you'll excuse me, I have to help Melor set the table."
"A splendid scene? He mustn't be talking about the glass shards and wire at the entrance gate. Mayhap the entire neighborhood was built as a large refugee district, and a military force was sent here to protect them from the invasion of posthumans. I f that's the case, we might need extra effort if we want to get out."
Furrowing her eyebrows, Lin Sanjiu's thought was interrupted by Melor, who was now holding a wooden slab in her hand. After she placed the wooden slab down, which Lin Sanjiu surmised as their dining plates, she said, shyly, "I just whipped up whatever I had in the kitchen. It's not much, but please enjoy it while it's hot."
"Why not turn on the light?" Lin Sanjiu asked. It was such a silly that the power supply was still running, but all of them had chosen to talk in the dark.
"Melor doesn't like the light. She has poor vision, and her eyes are very s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e to strong light." Scholar replied indifferently, "Besides, is there any reason to turn on the light when we have your little thing over here?"
Under the light provided by the [Ability Polishing Agent], they could see the pile of soggy wafers on top of the dirty and old wooden slab. On the side of the plate of wafers were a bowl of instant noodles and a bowl of ch.i.p.s, serving as the main dish of the night. Melor then gave each of them an empty bowl and a set of chopsticks. Scholar didn't wait for them, ladling a spoonful of noodles into his bowl first and grabbing a piece of a wafer to dump into the soup.