Chapter 187
Translator: Pluto Editor: WMX
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?"
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login