Chapter 1032: About This World
After driving around the landfill a few times, Lin Sanjiu finally found the side where the protective net had been damaged by raccoons. They parked car by the roadside and crawled through a large hole in the protective net to enter the landfill. At this moment, the rain had gradually eased, and amidst the drizzling rain, the deep blue evening sky reappeared.
The junkyard, which had been beaten by the heavy rain and soaked in water, was quite repulsive compared to when it was dry. Blackish sewage shimmered on the ground, emitting a faint, damp stench mixed with steam. It felt like an air-tight film stuck to their skin.
Even Bohemia, who usually wasn't very particular about their circumstances, wrinkled her face and clutched her skirt, tiptoeing and refusing to say a word. Her full attention was on her toes. Following her memory of the directions, Lin Sanjiu led her for a while and finally caught sight of the neatly constructed bungalow in the distance, its windows were dark, so they suspected no one was home.
"Do you have any thoughts?" Bohemia whispered. Ever since they boarded Exodus, she had been on edge, constantly teetering on the verge of crisis. They had just taken a breather in the new world but were startled again without having time to rest. She looked a bit exhausted now.
"I'm thinking about the condition 'six months in advance,'" Lin Sanjiu stood behind a pile of scrap metal, contemplating her answer as she surveyed the low-rise building in the distance. "The destruction of a vast human world requires a gradual process. At least in all the worlds I've experienced, it didn't happen overnight. Some took several months, and others even took several years... For example, the destruction process of this world may take exactly one year. So, the 'six months in advance' for the visa could actually be referring to any of the six months before a specific date within the 'one year.' It could be six months before January 1st or six months before December 31st."
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Although she didn't know at which point in time the influence of the doomsday elements would reach a tipping point, she believed that if it was within the six months before a qualitative change, it could be considered within the scope of the "advance visa." This not only explained why there were posthumans who arrived in this world before them but also explained another more important situation.
After thinking for a while, Bohemia nodded in a daze.
"Suppose we arrived late enough, and six months later this world is on the verge of complete collapse and destruction. Then it's very likely that problems have already started to arise in this world... That's why the old lady's death was so strange."
Lin Sanjiu stared at the low-rise building, but the image of the old lady's convulsing body crawling out of the window appeared in her mind. The command that made her escape must have been her [Keen Senses]. In that case, the source of danger must be something that couldn't be directly confronted with force.
There was only one thing she could think of.
"I guess it could be some kind of virus," Lin Sanjiu sighed and flipped through her card repository, checking the supplies she had accumulated in the Twelve Worlds Centrum. "It not only controls the body after death but also manipulates the corpse to approach us. It's probably trying to infect us."
As for the scene in the rearview mirror, it could also be explained: suddenly, a tornado passed by inexplicably outside the window. Wouldn't any normal person take a glance?
"Similar to a zombie virus?" Bohemia's face turned pale—after all, viruses were hard to guard against, invisible to the naked eye, and most defensive items wouldn't react to them. She began to take off the bracelets on her arms one by one, "But now... these people still seem quite calm. Could it be that the virus hasn't spread?"
"It's possible. Since most people haven't noticed anything unusual, it suggests that this virus is unlikely to be airborne." This was at least some good news.
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As they discussed, they moved closer to the potbelly man's low-rise building—they crouched under the window just like last time. They had initially thought there was no one inside the building, but when they got closer, they heard a low snoring sound coming from inside. Looking through the gap in the curtains, they saw that big round belly on the sofa, rising and falling with each snore.
"We should capture the fat guy," Bohemia said with determination, "and squeeze all the answers out of him!"
Perhaps that wasn't a bad idea.
They moved quickly and lightly. After just a minute or two, the fluctuating whistling snores in the room gradually stopped, replaced by a drowsy "huh?" sound.
The chubby man smacked his lips and blinked a few times. When he realized that his limbs were tied together and he couldn't struggle, his face suddenly changed. As he lifted his head, his gaze fell on the two figures in front of him. "W-who are you?"
By now, dusk had passed, and the night was falling. The room was dim and dark. Lin Sanjiu and Bohemia had towels covering their noses and mouths, so when the chubby man struggled fruitlessly for a few times, he finally looked at them and paused, "You... you both look familiar... Ah! It's you two!"
Lin Sanjiu couldn't find any gas masks or similar items, so she had to make do with towels. Her voice sounded a bit muffled, "We have something to ask you. If you cooperate, this thing won't find its way into your stomach."
A short knife, sponsored by Bohemia, faintly gleamed in the dimness.
The chubby man gulped and stopped struggling.
"I'll tell you everything you want to know... but I'm just a lowly worker. I don't know what the higher ups are up to, really..."
He probably thought that the current situation was related to what the garbage collection company did behind the scenes.
Lin Sanjiu grabbed a chair and sat astride it, resting her arms on the back of the chair. The blade of the knife flipped between her fingers, the silver light seeming to brush against her skin but avoiding contact like a playful fish. Bohemia silently and gracefully climbed onto the sofa, crouching on the armrest like a cat. Her pair of bright eyes stared closely at the chubby man in the dimness.
The first question clearly caught the chubby man off guard and startled him.
"Where do you usually get your groceries from?"
"F-from the company... They're delivered by the company," the chubby man said, shifting slightly away from Bohemia on the other end of the sofa, as if trying to create more distance between them.
"Where does the company get them from?"
"Well... from supermarkets, markets, and stuff like that... They are the places that provide these goods."
"You see, I find this aspect very intriguing," Lin Sanjiu smiled at him, and the chubby man involuntarily flinched. "Here, we have companies and supermarkets, which, logically speaking, are products of commercial activities. However, there is no money here... In a place without money, why would there be commerce?"
She paused and deftly flipped the short knife, causing the blade to blossom like silver petals in the darkness.
"Let me simplify this question for you... What kind of society do you live in?"
The chubby man shrank on the sofa, remaining silent for several seconds. After a while, he suddenly let out a low "oh," as if he understood something, and helplessly said, "I get it..."
Just as Lin Sanjiu thought he was about to say something valuable, to her surprise, the chubby man sighed and said, "You're not foreigners... You're just mentally ill."
"At a time like this, you dare to talk nonsense?" Bohemia suddenly leaned forward, her body ornaments jingling like wind chimes. If not for his bound hands and feet, the chubby man would have been scared away by the jingling sound. Just as she reached out her hand to grab the man's hair, Lin Sanjiu suddenly exclaimed, "Wait!"
Her golden-brown eyes turned towards Lin Sanjiu, appearing almost pitch black in the dimness.
"I find it strange," Lin Sanjiu furrowed her brows, "Aside from not understanding certain facts, how are we any different from the mentally ill in the eyes of ordinary people? If it were just one or two people who had this misconception, fine. But why..."
As she reached this point, she turned to the chubby man and asked, "What kind of people do you consider to be mentally ill?"
It took him several minutes to organize his thoughts and words in response to this question. When he finally opened his mouth, his answer surprised both of them.
"I don't know where they come from. They have no past, no family... It's as if they suddenly appeared in this world..." the chubby man gasped for breath. "That's because the mentally ill have lost their memories of the past. They... you all imagine that you came from another world. Of course, when people go crazy, they become exceptionally strong, resourceful, and sometimes cruel... That's why we know how to identify the mentally ill. Once we discover them, we have to immediately report to the police so they can be captured."
Bohemia listened in a daze, lifting her head and meeting Lin Sanjiu's gaze.
So, in other words, the mentally ill are actually just posthumans?
"At least foreigners know that our society doesn't use money... Money is only necessary when doing business with other countries," the chubby man continued in fragments. "As for what you mentioned—companies, supermarkets—they are names that were introduced from abroad. They are just titles, right? Anyway, we still have to work, and we never worry about running out of resources... Oh, as long as we contribute enough."
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"Contribution points"! It must be some kind of substitute currency—
Just as Lin Sanjiu was about to ask another question, she saw the chubby man suddenly tremble on the sofa. It seemed that he had just realized something as he stared straight ahead at the window. "What? The rain has stopped? When did it stop... Release, release me now!"
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