STB Chapter 19: Fog

This is machine translated and all copyrights belong to the author. Please note that the translator might take creative liberties for better readability. Thank you for reading.

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If you want peace, pray that you won’t be at an overlapping point.

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“Abandoned World, as the insiders called it, is a particular kind of parallel world.” Jian Hua flipped through the documents left behind by Zhang YaoJin, his eyes stopping at a particular word while drinking a cup of tea in silence.

The sky outside seemed like twilight, but because of the thick fog outside the window, the morning seemed delayed.

After Zhang YaoJin left, Jian Hua stayed up all night and always had the urge to flip through the phone book and call Li Fei.

But first of all, they weren’t close enough to exchange secrets. And second of all, Jian Hua didn’t know if the number last time was Li Fei’s number. The last thing was that they said that the movie actor was taken away by Red Dragon to cooperate with the investigation, so calling was useless.

Jian Hua stuffed two M&M beans into his mouth, barely pressing down the urge to smoke to ease his anxiety.

Regarding the invitation to join Red Dragon’s new abilities team, Jian Hua answered with “still have to consider.”

Monsters and ability holders. Maybe Major Zhang also thought that it’d take time for normal people to accept it so he didn’t push Jian Hua. He left a pile of materials and neatly went out, but Jian Hua felt that he was nearby, which meant someone must be monitoring him 24 hours.

This feeling of being targeted by the National Secret Services——

Rubbing his forehead, Jian Hua reconsidered the documents in his hand.

Insiders, did this refer to the people who knew the truth from different sources? Then that included the girl in Huan Yu Studios’ elevator, the mobs who destroyed the Pearl Hotel, the young man with the mountain bike who died innocently on the street, and even Lu Zhao.

Jian Hua couldn’t help but wonder, is there something he should know, something that he missed?

Everyone knew his introverted character which was not good.

Jian Hua dropped out of high school to work. He taught himself a lot of knowledge afterward but such a big concept like a “parallel world” was not within the scope of his research.

Fortunately, the film and television industry covered a variety of themes, including time travel and parallel worlds. Jian Hua had also seen several movies about it, so he vaguely understood the meaning.

“Using a parallel space to define the Abandoned World is actually not accurate. It’s not like a branch that appeared on a time tree. Most life forms (such as human beings and animals) cannot appear in the Abandoned World, there are only towering buildings; the prosperous appearance of modern society having no vitality and will not change. It may be the afterimage of the drying up of life at the end of time, like a corner of a frozen world. Before there is a specific scientific explanation, the term parallel world is still used, which is easy to understand.”

Jian Hua couldn’t see how this opinion became popular or how it made it easier to understand!

However, the information in his hands was more important than the script, so no matter how ridiculous the metaphor was, he had to read it.

“Special note: Abandoned World is the name of ‘this particular parallel world.’ Certain members (people who have the potential to gain abilities) can enter the Abandoned World in a variety of ways. The point at which it connects with the real world may be very tiny. For example, when your room overlapped with the Abandoned World, you’ll be dragged into that world. So when you open the door, you will fall into fear and anxiety, as if the real world has abandoned you and everyone disappeared.

“Sometimes, the overlap point is very large such as a city.

“If you are a person with the potential and also happened to be at the overlap point, then you will enter the Abandoned World. Conversely, even if you’re an awakened ability holder, if you aren’t standing at the overlapping point between the two worlds, you don’t have to worry about encountering trouble.”

Jian Hua wondered. He felt that the wording was heavily net-based, like a live game commentary, or like a forum to introduce the rules, not like official military information.

The information left by Zhang YaoJin seemed to be explained thoroughly, but Jian Hua felt that there was more hidden behind this report.

For example, using his experience to analyze, the first time he entered the Abandoned World was through the elevator in Huan Yu Studios.

The second overlap was not the clinic but the entire Huai City.

If the third time was him consciously entering the Abandoned World, why did the overlap point have such a wide range of influence? Normally, shouldn’t it only involve his home? Since Jian Hua intended to destroy the evidence, his subconscious wouldn’t let other people interfere with his actions.

According to the written information, if he wanted to live a safe life, he just had to pray that he wouldn’t be so unlucky to be at an overlap point.

But Jian Hua was disheartened at discovering that his ability seemed to be able to open the way to that exciting world on his own——the power is unknown, the range is unknown, the consequences are unknown!

This series of unknowns was about to knock him unconscious.

He just went out to watch a movie but came back with his whole life refreshed——the world is so unreliable, how is he going to live?

——

Major Zhang YaoJin, who had slept in the car for four hours, had his eyes closed when he got a call from Haicheng. He answered with deep weariness in his voice, “En……the two missing girls from Huan Yu Studios, there are clues?”

His confused brain couldn’t grasp the main point, so the one on the other end had to slow down, “Yes. We found a floating body near Huai City’s LinJiang Bridge. Judging by the clothes on the deceased, it’s one of the two missing girls. The specific autopsy report will have to wait until this afternoon.”

Zhang YaoJin slapped his face twice and pulled his hair to force himself to wake up.

He didn’t say anything and silently hung up the phone.

The Pearl Hotel explosion had no casualties. According to the investigation, the young college student who died on the street had a significant change of temperament in the recent period. His various actions showed that he’s a person who’s ready to join the game.

Or perhaps, a book transmigrator?

But the couple and the two missing female students in the elevator accident at Huan Yu Studios behaved the same throughout their lives. They were innocently involved and might have died without knowing what happened.

What’s more terrifying was that things like this would happen again soon. The crisis from the Abandoned World threatened not only the lives of normal people but also the ability holders trapped in that world. They would have to face life and death choices——kill the monster to survive an attack, or be buried in the monster’s mouth.

“Major, the report to headquarters was detained.”

Zhang YaoJin’s subordinates cautiously said, “There’s news from over there that Colonel Lu didn’t even finish the first page of the report before scolding you and wanting to send you to the mental hospital.”

Taking out a cigarette, Zhang YaoJin chuckled, “I’m not afraid of that.”

Humans couldn’t control the current state of affairs. If the disaster happened as scheduled, the detained report would be forwarded to the Chief as soon as possible. By then, who would dare talk nonsense?

“What about Jian Hua?”

The car had Zhang YaoJin and his comrade-in-arms. They’re people who usually liked to joke around, but now everyone couldn’t even squeeze out a smile. When Zhang YaoJin came out of that house safely this morning, they were really relieved. They didn’t ask about the negotiation process between Major Zhang and Jian Hua.

“Difficult!” Zhang YaoJin smoked and lowered the window to let the morning air refresh his mind.

There was a thick fog outside the car window so nothing could be seen on both sides of the highway.

Zhang YaoJin recalled the person he met a few hours ago, and casually said, “If this guy is a kidnapper or a suicidal person who’s about to jump off a building, he’s definitely the type that would give negotiators the biggest headache.”

It’s not that he wouldn’t listen to persuasion, but rather that he would only listen to what others said.

“Stubborn, vigilant, and probably paranoid……” Zhang YaoJin listed one by one, then sighed and said, “You can’t even tell him the truth all at once. The facts are so ridiculous that it’ll likely cause the opposite effect.”

“What the Major said, did he believe it?”

“No, he just couldn’t find a better explanation to explain what’s happening around him.”

Zhang YaoJin exhaled smoke through his nose and pressed both hands to his eyes, laughing to himself, “I can’t blame him. If it were me, I wouldn’t even believe it.”

The driver suddenly slammed on the brakes. Everyone in the car subconsciously stabilized themselves and quickly touched their waist.

“What happened?”

The driver held the steering wheel with shaking hands while looking at the slowly moving black shadow emerging from the fog ahead. He asked stiffly, “What’s the way to test for potential ability holders? If we’re all in a car, will we……unknowingly pass through an overlap point?”

Zhang YaoJin’s eyes rounded.

A tentacle-like huge shadow was in the fog, just less than 20 meters away from the car and across the highway which disappeared into the thick white fog again.

The people in the car held their breath, pulled out their guns, and listened carefully to the movements outside.

“*Hu*……*Hu*……”

It’s like someone breathing or like something leaking.

Soon, this strange noise disappeared, and there was still white fog all around.

Zhang YaoJin and his men patiently waited for five minutes, sweat beaded on their foreheads, and their highly tightened muscles and nerves were severely tested, before finally being sure that the monster had left.

“What the hell, didn’t they say that the monsters will only appear next year?”

It’s November, and the chat group records stated that it would happen next spring.

Zhang YaoJin didn’t care to study this. He asked the driver, “Old Zhang, tell me what you just saw.”

“I saw a black shadow appear in the fog, and I just stepped on the brakes……”

“Not that! What you just said, when we entered the Abandoned World, how did you feel while driving?”

The driver shook his head. The fog was so heavy that he couldn’t clearly see the highway. He could see some cars at first, but after entering some distance, they’re the only ones on it. Even though he drove very seriously and the road conditions were good with no bumps, people’s eyes were always blinking. God only knew when they encountered the problem.

“Keep moving forward!” Zhang YaoJin patted him on the shoulder.

The men did not dare sit and looked out the window and the back of the car from all sides. The jeep started again, moving forward at a 20kph tortoise speed. They didn’t see any more suspicious shadows. When they got off the highway, they confirmed the bad news about entering the Abandoned World——

Vehicles waited at a long queue at the toll booth station, but they couldn’t see anyone.

Zhang YaoJin leaned heavily on the seat, his head faintly aching.

“Major, this is barely a good thing, at least we now know what’s going on in this damn world, don’t we?”

Zhang YaoJin’s subordinates were still very interested in becoming an ability holder.

“You brought food?” Major Zhang squinted.

“……”

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Last Edit     07-25-2020   3:55 PM

This is machine translated and all copyrights belong to the author. Please note that the translator might take creative liberties for better readability. Thank you for reading.