Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After listening to Trish’s explanation, Zhang Lisheng nodded in slight astonishment. “Oh, I see!” He then continued to eat his tomato sirloin pasta.
When the three girls saw his response, they just shrugged at each other chuckling and continued their topic just now.
After spending two to three hours at the Goose Pond Restaurant leisurely, it gradually reached the time of separation.
The young man drove the three girls to John F. Kennedy International Airport and after having a longing farewell kiss with Tina in the VIP lounge, he watched the flight heading to Boston taking off and disappearing into the clear sky.
“I’m finally free now…” Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows in the VIP lounge, he was showered with the hot summer sun as he muttered to himself, before proceeding to call his chief legal officer. “Edward, I’ve heard that the route to Shrimp World No. 2 is officially opened today.”
“Yes, boss! If you’re willing, I can arrange a seat for you on the ship at 3.30pm. Not only that, Charlie, Miss Maddie and I can even accompany you there.”
“What are you three going there for? The supernatural realm is very dangerous!”
“Boss, we’ve already booked this voyage earlier than you! Everyone is curious. Since young, my childhood dream was to become a traveler traveling the world. Now that I can finally realize my dream, how could I possibly miss this opportunity!”
“Then how about Charlie and Maddie? Don’t tell me the three of them actually share the same dream? Ah, forget it. It’s your freedom to do whatever you want! It should be nice, too, having someone accompany you on the ship. Tell me, where will the ship set sail?”
“The new New York Harbor, just beside our factory.”
“Oh, what a coincidence!” Zhang Lisheng who had already walked to the airport’s parking lot opened the car door and entered the car. “Then I’ll go to the factory now. See you later!”
After he finished saying so, the young man hung up the call and started his Explorer to drive out of the parking lot. Turning left and right as he drove on the New York streets, he finally turned into the road heading straight out of the city, all the way to Mutteslow.
At this time, the lakeside wasteland had already become as bustling as a flea market. Thousands of various vehicles were parked at the wilderness beside the road, with many strange people sitting on the roof of the cars holding slogans that read:
“The supernatural realm is our hope!”
“If we plunder other people’s land, everything that belongs to us will be taken away by other people one day…”
“Dear Jesus Christ, I know that these are Your holy trace, so please bring your devout believers away from this ugly world….”
Most of them were slovenly dressed as they drank chilled beers and ate hotdogs or burgers they bought from the hawkers while enjoying themselves in the afternoon that no longer had a scorching sun and shouting their ambiguous slogans out loud.
Some of the people who were tired climbed down from the roof of the car and set up a barbecue stand beside their cars. They then proceeded to stop the cars coming out of the slaughterhouse and buy the cleaned raw meat before starting their barbecue in high spirits.
After living in the US for two years, Zhang Lisheng had become accustomed to these rather baffling demonstrators. After slowing down, he drove his Explorer onto the junction heading straight to the slaughterhouse. When he passed by the factory gate, he stopped his car and told the head of security guard who was on duty, “Inform all farmers who are slaughtering their livestock in the factory to watch out for those demonstrators. I saw them stopping cars to buy meat to barbecue directly and they look very drunk so be careful of accidents, please. Also, don’t let these people get too close to the factory. After drinking, they would want to find someplace to vent, so don’t let them make our slaughterhouse as their target.”
“Don’t worry, sir. These few days all of our security guards are armed with guns during the day,” The head of the security patted the gun belt on his shoulder and replied confidently. “If those madmen don’t listen to our warnings and intrude into our factory, I’ll open fire and blast open their heads.”
Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a moment before looking at the cool look on the square-shaped face of the head of the security guard who had quite a sturdy body before nodding in approval. “Good! I like your tough attitude!”
Then, he proceeded to step on the accelerator pedal and drove the car into the factory.
After reaching outside of his two-story office building, he parked his car and walked into the reception hall. After seeing that Maddie was already waiting at the desk, he proceeded to open the metal door leading to the second floor and asked at the same time, “Maddie, I heard from Mr. Edward that you’re planning to go to Shrimp World No.2 today as well?”
“Yes, boss.”
“It’s very dangerous there!” After Zhang Lisheng opened the metal door, he walked up towards the second floor and sat on the sofa positioned in the middle of the huge office. “To be honest, I’ve been there before, and it’s very desolate with nothing to see.”
“You’ve been there before?! Ah, forget it. You’re so mysterious. Heck, perhaps you have even been to Mars before! I shouldn’t be too surprised over this.” Maddie opened the refrigerator and took a can of iced Coke before opening it with a fizz. Placing it in front of the young man, she continued, “The Shrimp World No. 2 is the LS Group’s next developing target, so as the secretary of the chairman of the board of directors, of course, I should go there to take a look first.”
“The Shrimp World No. 2 is the LS Group’s next developing target? Why would you suddenly have such strange ideas?”
“Well, it’s because you’re born as a restless man who is ambitious and has a powerful power! That kind of desolate supernatural realm is the best stage for you to show off your talent, no?” Maddie stared at the young man and said solemnly.
“I do prefer to live in a forest more than the city, but I don’t want to show off my strength in an ‘explosive bucket’.” Zhang Lisheng took a sip of the iced Coke and just so happened to see his general manager and chief legal officer walking into the office.
After the four of them had gathered, they took the factory’s common car and headed towards the nearby new New York Harbor.
As a transit point for the ‘new cowboys’ in the new US era that led to hope, the number of people gathered outside of the new New York Harbor—which consisted of those rather baffling demonstrators and the people who were waiting to travel to the supernatural realm—were of course much more than those who gathered around the slaughterhouse.
After making a call to his mother and came up with a lie—by telling her that he needed to stay late in the office to settle some documents before going to university—to buy himself one whole free night, Zhang Lisheng looked at the wilderness that had suddenly been filled with large mushrooms through the minibus window and asked, “So many tents… Charlie, I remember that there are wolves in the wasteland on the outskirts of New York City, right?”
“Boss, if the wolves appear, they’ll only be killed by these people,” the short and fat old man was dumbfounded for a moment before replying with a smile.
“You have a point. What a pity…” the young man muttered.
“Oh, Lisheng, your thought is horrifying!” Maddie, who was by the side, had her eyes widen as she commented in astonishment.
“You’ve misunderstood me, Maddie. I’m thinking that it’s more fortunate for these people to be bitten to death by the wolves in one bite rather than being tortured by the supernatural realm’s aborigines and slowly eaten by them.” When the minibus turned into the new New York Harbor’s parking lot, Zhang Lisheng answered with a blank expression, before standing up quietly and going down from the parked bus.
A gentle sea breeze could be felt outside of the bus. Standing on the flat harbor, watching the huge ships, container piles, cranes, as well as large loading and unloading vehicles along with the blue coastline and the sun-reflecting sea in the distance, the feeling it gave was no doubt relaxing, It could even be better if the bustling crowds around would be removed.
This time, the US government had opened the Shrimp World No. 2 to all citizens of the United States, allowing them to sign up but not through online applications. Those who intended to travel must head to the registration office of the US Department of the Interior in New York and the capital of the remaining 51 states to register had set up.
If one had already vacated their time and plan to leave for the supernatural realm within a month, one would have no choice but to come to New York to register.
However, if one didn’t have a definite date of visiting the Shrimp World No. 2 yet, then they could sign up for the trip to the supernatural realm in whichever state capital. Their visiting date would be sorted according to their registering time with a first-come-first-serve basis. The Department of the Interior will notify them in a month before confirming their visiting time through telephone for confirmation.
Of course, if they were very eager and were rich enough to cut the queue, the government also allowed that publicly. As long as they have a deposit of 100,000 USD in their account as a base fund and were willing to sign an agreement promising to use this money on the development of the Shrimp World No. 2. Only then would they be allowed to go to the supernatural realm for sightseeing in the shortest time possible.
This is the ‘fair principle’ of the United States. If they make a greater contribution, they’ll naturally enjoy a little more privilege, and everybody understood and accepted this.
Zhang Lisheng was the beneficiary of this kind of ‘privilege’. Although he said that the huge island in the supernatural realm was an ‘explosive bucket’, he still took out 5 million USD in the name of the LS group for the development fund of the supernatural realm long ago and had been granted to the right of free passing through Edward’s operation.
Right now, the young man was glancing around with his hand placed on a pergola. He could not help but mutter to himself, “There really are a lot of people here…”
“That’s right, Lisheng! There are so many people here!” Maddie, who got off the bus behind Zhang Lisheng, naturally took his arm and whispered to him, “The things that you said just now are just to scare us, right?”
“The things that I said just now?”
“About the Shrimp World No. 2 having aboriginal cannibals.”
“Maddie, didn’t you watch the propaganda piece of the Shrimp World No. 2 on TV? Didn’t the government keep mentioning about how dangerous it is all day long?” the young man replied without paying much attention.
“But the TV only said that they’re still in a pristine civilization, so they have a lot of weird abilities we can’t understand. They also raise some strange beasts as well. They look short and ridiculous, but they are in fact very dangerous. The sands on the island they’re living on can cut through human skin and I don’t remember anything else. However, how do you know that the indigenous people in Shrimp World No. 2 are cannibals? Have you seen them eating humans before?” Maddie asked nervously.
“Not really.” Zhang Lisheng shook his head and pointed to a passage guarded by police officers in the distance. The passage was blocked with a shiny metal fence and only had a small opening that could accommodate three people at once. Then, he asked Edward who had just got off the bus, “Edward, are we going there to board the ship?”
The LS chief legal officer took out his mobile phone and opened a schematic diagram of the direction. “Yes, boss. There are too many people here, so it’s better for us to go in first and wait inside.”
“That sounds like a good idea. “The young man nodded in agreement and headed straight to the metal fence while saying, “I’m sorry, please let me in. Thank you…” continuously.
