“Calm down, I’m one of the living.”
Chen Chen was compelled to give the PK Armor a gentle tap upon seeing the youngster’s reaction. The armor immediately shrunk. Following a faint blue glow, the PK Armor reverted to its armguard form.
After the PK Armor disappeared, Chen Chen appeared in front of the youngster wearing the GS Combat Suit.
“You, you’re a Gantz member!”
The youngster’s eyes grew wide upon seeing Chen Chen’s outfit as he glowed with disbelief. “No way! Wasn’t the savior Gantz troop called off by the united nation a long time ago? How could you be here?”
“You’re certainly correct, I’m a member of the Gantz.”
Chen Chen nodded affirmatively. “The governments of each country never suspended the Gantz troops. Instead, they created countless underground training bases. We received training there in preparation for the arrival of the next calamity.”
The youngster revealed a look of joy which was immediately succeeded by a sorrowful expression. “It’s no use, human civilization has perished for five years now. When the second calamity comes, even you Gantz troops cannot do anything about it…”
There was a subtle change in Chen Chen’s expression. He then said earnestly, “It’s a long story. There have been some issues in our underground base and nobody ever came to fix it so we were stuck and isolated from the surface for five years. This persisted for five years until we managed to pry open the entrance to the base, but we never expected to see this upon surfacing…”
“What?”
The youngster was shocked. “You’re saying that this is your first time leaving the underground base since the second calamity?”
“That’s right. This is only the third day since we’ve left the military base that we’ve been stuck in for five years. Our leader divided us into several teams and our team is assigned to search for clues in the East China sea area here.”
Chen Chen nodded. “And you’re the first living person we encountered. My name is Chen Chen, a member of the Mainland division of Gantz. The three teammates behind me are from the Mainland as well. What’s your name?”
“So, you’re from the Mainland, no wonder your Japanese has an accent to it.”
The youngster lit up and announced ceremoniously, “My name is Fujiwara Aoki, you guys can just call me Aoki for short.”
“Aoki-san it is.”
Chen Chen gave the young man several firm pats on the shoulder before announcing in a serious tone, “This is no place for chatting, let’s find some other place for that. Also, could Aoki-san give us a brief on the current situation of human civilization, please!”
The youngster named Fujiwara Aoki informed them to wait for him briefly. He quickly turned around and blew a whistle into the shop lot, which immediately after, the macaw walked out taking small tip taps.
It looked at Chen Chen and his crew up and down for a brief moment before climbing back onto Fujiwara Aoki’s shoulder following his prompting. After settling down, it began grooming its ruffled feather that was messed up by its previous frantic escape.
After that, following Fujiwara Aoki’s request, they came to the center of the road to continue their conversation.
Before they began, Chen Chen noticed Fujiwara Aoki appeared to have not eaten anything for a long time. He produced several energy bars and handed them over. This gesture immediately won over Aoki’s trust.
“The vision range here is excellent. This way, we can avoid being suddenly ambushed by ‘it’…”
Fujiwara Aoki advised while nibbling the energy bar, “To be fair, it’s hard to get away once ‘it’ locks on to you. Still, you have a good shot at escaping if you’re in a wide-open street. It’s better than being stuck in a desolate corner…”
“It?”
Chen Chen produced a diary upon hearing this mention. “So, what exactly is this ‘it’ you’re referring to? This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of this. I found this diary of a deceased which speaks of ‘it’ as well.”
“Diary?”
Fujiwara Aoki’s expression changed when he saw the palm-sized black leather book Chen Chen held in his hand. A bitter smile greeted his lips. “It seems like you guys don’t know anything at all. Are you really reading something like a deceased’s diary?”
“What makes you say so?”
Chen Chen leaned against the Bugatti Spaceship and raised the question again.
Fujiwara Aoki became silent for a brief moment before starting. “It’s very difficult to explain everything in one go. Let’s start with the second great calamity.”
“I’m sure you’re all aware of the first great calamity which happened in 2000, which was thirty years ago…”
Fujiwara Aoki began recalling the events. “The aliens went all out with their wartime weapons, nearly wiping out the greater half of human civilization. They treated humans as food and turned us into livestock, imprisoning us in cages…”
“After that, our Gantz troops defeated them.”
Chen Chen added.
“Yes. In the end, you guys saved Earth along with mankind.”
Fujiwara Aoki nodded. “But nobody ever expected that just twenty-five years after the first great calamity, the second great calamity broke out. The catalyst of this calamity stemmed from the deepest regions of the Internet…”
“Internet?” Chen Chen was immediately taken aback.
“That’s right. On that fateful day, a picture suddenly appeared on the websites and forums across the globe.” Fujiwara Aoki tipped his head. “It was a strangely-shaped object, a black and white abstract pattern composed of countless spirals…”
Fujiwara Aoki furrowed his brows together upon mentioning this. He tried his best to describe the shape of the picture, “I’m not sure if you’ve seen that picture, but I guarantee you that even if you scribble on a paper a billion or tens of billions of times, you’d still have no luck reproducing it. It doesn’t follow any predetermined pattern or rule. It seems to spiral and blink endlessly. It reaches deep into your mind and stirs something deep inside it. It’s like touching a high voltage cable.”
Chen Chen could not resist asking upon hearing Fujiwara Aoki’s narration, “So, what you’re saying is that a sensory-disorientating image appeared on the Internet. What does this image do?”
Even after having said all that, Fujiwara Aoki could only scratch his head. “I don’t know what it does, but all I know is that all of the people who see this picture die instantly. Only a tiny population can withstand it…”
“What?”
Chen Chen was baffled. “A person who sees the picture dies instantly, is this some sort of joke?”
The imagery of the bizarre death of the several hundred people in the office building suddenly flashed by Chen Chen’s mind. He realized that there was still a clear distinction between the two subjects as Fujiwara claimed that the picture had appeared online, while the people in the office building seemed to be killed by something outside the windows…
“I’m not messing with you, everything I just told you is true and I’m one of the people who are immune to the picture!”
Fujiwara Aoki quickly defended his claims. “But I’ve already forgotten what the picture looks like, the people in my group can’t remember either. That’s because the picture isn’t something that the human mind can remember!”