After they flew for only two or three minutes, the spaceship landed on an empty, crumbling street.
This was a wide crossroads. Chen Chen remembered that the movies from the East China Sea Continent would always begin with an opening shot of crossroads like this one during rush hours.
The massive traffic flow and the heavy crowds on both sides of the road created a bustling, fast-paced scene.
As the green light flashed, the traffic that was as majestic as a river appeared to be interrupted by an invisible force. The flow of people, packed like sardines on both sides of the road, suddenly surged past like a flood, moving out of this thriving city scene.
Only now, the endless traffic that used to be there was no longer there and the throngs of people had disappeared, leaving only the dilapidated streets and vines spreading everywhere.
As Chen Chen walked out of the spaceship, he immediately saw a skeleton on the side of the road. It was practically a part of the soil.
This corpse had been dead for a long time and only the jumble of white bones was left. Due to the long-term effects of the weather, it was half-buried in the soil. It was likely that in a few years, it would completely sink into the soil and vanish.
The bones looked like they had been frequently gnawed by animals.
When he saw this, Chen Chen could not help frowning. With a corpse like this, there was nothing to learn except for the fact that this person had been dead for a long time. “X-112, are all the skeletons like this?”
“Yes. It may be because the search range is too small and the drones aren’t able to search inside the buildings, so no well-preserved corpses have been found for the time being.”
“Expand the drones’ search and try to ascertain the conditions within a hundred kilometers by today.”
As he said that, Chen Chen looked at the dilapidated house fronts on both sides of the road. He reconfirmed that there were no forbidden red areas nearby, then led the Black Knights toward the house fronts.
These street-side houses were all shops. In Tokyo, each inch of these shops would be worth an inch of gold, but now they had long since declined and became the homes of wild cats and dogs.
Those small counters selling snacks had long been raided and Chen Chen even noticed the shattered glass smithereens and a hammer on the ground. These were all traces of the plundering.
The same thing had occurred in clothing stores and tool stores. Conversely, the ones that nobody was interested in were the most expensive jewelry stores and the banks that used to be filled with people.
Chen Chen simply asked the three Black Knights to explore on their own. As they searched through the shops, Chen Chen soon found what he was looking for.
A well-preserved dried male corpse.
When he heard this from X-112, Chen Chen walked into an office building and found a corpse that had turned as dried as bacon long ago, in a room on the third floor.
Nonetheless, it was different from the exposed corpses outside. This office was sealed shut and there were no windows open, so the corpse that had been dead for many years still remained as it was before its death.
The corpse remained sprawled over the desk, seeming to be asleep, but it was wearing an outdoor jacket. The clothing itself had withered to tatters long ago due to the liquid seeping out of the decayed corpse. Beside the table, there was an opened package with a coil of rope, as well as daggers and other tools scattered on the ground.
There was even an open military canteen by one side.
This corpse entered this office alone when he was alive, then took a nap on his desk, but unexpectedly, after falling asleep, he never woke up again.
The closed office had preserved perfectly the scene of the corpse’s death. After a brief evaluation, Chen Chen promptly figured out the time when the corpse died.
The person that was once this corpse had died four to five years ago, and the age of that person had only been about 30 years old.
Did he die suddenly at such a young age?
Chen Chen frowned instinctively. There seemed to be something more to the corpse in front of him.
Thinking of this, he made a quick gesture and the Black Knight on the side immediately came forward and began to rifle through the body while another Black Knight looked through the corpse’s package.
Soon, the first Black Knight found a portable tool bag in the pocket of the corpse. In the tool bag, there was also a book that was similar to a diary.
Chen Chen took the palm-sized book, opened it gently, and was greeted by a line of scribbled Japanese.
After taking NZT-48, Chen Chen could easily master various foreign languages. Therefore, he often set aside time to learn some of the most common or more conventional languages in the world including ancient Greek, Latin, and Japanese.
Presently, as Chen Chen looked at the words, he could swiftly read out these Japanese lines:
“26 March 2028. Weather: fine. I must continue working hard today!
“Now is my favorite time — dinnertime. I’m about to begin eating. Today’s meal is the canned beef that Daitetsu-kun brought back from the city. I can’t believe that Daitetsu-kun is so kind. He’s willing to share with us the canned beef he obtained after risking life and limb. I must remember Daitetsu-kun’s kindness!”
After reading the first page, Chen Chen could not help frowning. This was indeed a diary and it was also the thing in which the corpse in front of him had recorded the dates and trivial matters of life. However, it did not mention any information that Chen Chen wanted to know.
Still, seeing that there were a few more pages, Chen Chen turned to the second page and continued reading.
“16 April 2028. Weather: rain. Let’s do this, let’s go!
“After changing to a new diary, I found that I was gradually losing the habit of writing a diary. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been softened by how safe and comfortable life was recently? But there’s no other way. I’m still too weak to help everyone. Fortunately, everyone is working hard to survive!”
On the second page, there was still no valuable information. The only information was that the corpse before Chen Chen had probably joined a group during this time.
Did they band together to survive?
Chen Chen shook his head and continued to turn to the third page.
What followed next was also some daily affairs. As long as there was no vital information, Chen Chen would just skim it. It was only near the end that he was suddenly attracted by an entry —
“2 September 2028. Weather: fine. Let’s do this! Today’s a sunny day as well!
“It’s been a long time since I wrote an entry. Ever since ‘it’ started to happen all over the world, the glorious civilization of mankind has completely fallen. The remaining survivors inherit the will of the deceased and struggle to live on. I’m no different but lately, I’ve suddenly had a bad premonition because I have had nightmares for two consecutive nights. Each night I’ll dream of something terrible…
“Haha, it should be just a coincidence. I won’t have that dream again tonight. I won’t.”
It?
What was “it”?
Chen Chen eagerly read on and flipped to the next page, which was the day after this entry.
“3 September 2028. Weather: fine. I really can’t believe it!
“Why? Why did I have that nightmare again last night? It shouldn’t be. It’s just made-up, right? It must be a coincidence… Ando, please don’t frighten yourself! It must be just a coincidence. I will not have that nightmare again tonight. I must be strong!”