Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Of course, it was impossible for Zhang Lisheng, who had just completed half of his foreign world conquering journey and had just returned to the Earth, to know how New York was like now after leaving for more than a year.
After a moment of bafflement, he speculated based on the currently known situation. “Oh, the situation is not very good. The streets are full of patrolling policemen and soldiers. Oh, also, refugees from other cities. The prices are extremely expensive now and in short, everything is very bad.”
“Hah, it’s about the same as Boston.” Bob sighed under his breath, unlike his carefree attitude just now, and no longer said anything.
The car sped forward in silence. Not long after, the skyscrapers in the distance began to enter their sight.
When the car was just a junction away from New York City, Zhang Lisheng stretched his head out to look into the distance but was surprised to find that the road ahead was blocked by a few hundred meters of steel torrents.
“What the f*cking hell? The road going into the city is obviously so empty, so how can there be so many cars blocked here?” The young man blurted out in astonishment. The instant his words left his mouth, a black young woman beside him who had not spoken a word before frowned in frustration. “Are you an idiot? This are the cars coming out during the day and have not passed the inspection yet. Damn it, judging from this situation, the people in the small towns around New York must have fled away. The situation must have worsened.”
“Jenny dear, calm down. The situation is not as bad as you think. Even if the small towns can no longer hold it out, the metropolis is still very safe. Besides, the federal government still has Noah World, doesn’t it?” The girl beside the black lady took her hand and consoled her in a whisper.
“Noah World? Rubelli, don’t you know how hot-selling the plane ticket to Noah World is now? Besides, even if we’re willing to pick up customers 24/7 in Manhattan, we won’t be able to get enough money to buy the plane ticket too…” The black young girl said in depression.
“Whoa whoa whoa, Jenny! Your boyfriend is just in the front row of the car! You actually wanted to go to Manhattan to pick up customers in Manhattan? Have you ever thought about my feelings before?” Bob regained his noisy mode and interrupted unhappily from the co-driver’s seat, getting a rare laugh and a kick on the backseat from his girlfriend in return. “Shut up, Bob! You’re an idiot!”
Within the laughter, the car slowly queued at the end of the traffic, moving forward inch by inch. Upon seeing that the atmosphere in the car had become much more lively, Zhang Lisheng took the opportunity to ask, “Mr. Bob, what is the situation in Boston now? ”
“It’s similar to New York. It’s full of police, big soldiers, and fleeing people. Even a hamburger is more expensive than a gold bar now. Those guys who used to rob the banks have now changed to rob McDonald’s instead.”
“You said that the Tuen troop has been defeated so would the situation become better from now on?” The young man tried to pry some info from him.
“Perhaps, but since the Tuen people have already locked Boston as a target. Even if the environment did improve in the future, who knows what would happen in the future? It’s for this reason that we came to New York.”
“Is Boston’s internet still working?” Zhang Lisheng thought for a moment before asking again to pry for information. The instant his words left his mouth, Jenny who was next to him immediately asked back in shock, “Internet? Dear God! Don’t tell me that New York still has an Internet connection? How is that possible?”
The young man instantly realized that he had asked a wrong question so he shrugged and said, “Of course New York has already become a ‘network-less desert island’, I just thought that the situation in Boston would be better since it’s a city of universities.”
“Ever since the gods of the Shrimp World No. 1 have teamed up to destroy all of our satellites, the newly launched satellites can only be used by the military and their emergency contacts. All the cities on the planet have actually become a ‘desert island’ now. It’s not only New York.” Darwin, who had been driving silently for a long time, suddenly chimed in a low voice.
When Zhang Lisheng, who had almost lost his life in a brief confrontation with the Shrimp World No. 1’s Sovereign of the Truth, heard that the gods from a foreign world actually teamed up to invade the Earth, horror dawned on his expression. No longer caring about covering his tracks and he asked, “Mr. Darwin, do you know which gods from the Shrimp World No. 1 that attacked the Earth’s satellite?”
“Ordinary civilians do not know about the specific situation of this matter but we still have some inside information. The attack came very suddenly. It is said that in some areas where the satellites just so happened to crowd together in their orbit, there were all sorts of a colorful flash of light all over the sky…” Bob smugly beat him to it and replied. After a few moments of babbling around, he finally mentioned more than ten gods’ names—Thunder Tyrant Somuel, First Ray Elder Sabonier, Faith of Ashes Flopheet and so on—but the name of Sovereign of the Truth was not in it.
The car had now reached the checkpoint, more than ten exhausted heavily armed soldiers and Atlanteans looked into the car routinely as the first lieutenant ordered, “Alright, fellows and beautiful ladies, take out your documents.”
Darwin seemed to have gotten used to this identity check, as he took out several pre-stacked passports and driver’s licenses out of the glove compartment and passed them over.
When Zhang Lisheng, who was sitting in the back row saw this, he hastily extended his body to randomly make up a reason to explain why he did not bring his own documents with him during this special period, but the officer just merely flipped through the passports in his hand casually before returning them. Then, he nodded his head at his subordinates and at once, four to five soldiers carrying a big canvas bag behind them held out a probe flashing with green light into the car and swept it around.
After a series of beeping sound, the first lieutenant saw that all of the probes were still flashing with green light so he nodded and said, “you can enter now, young people. I hope all of you enjoy this already empty ‘Big Apple’.”
“Thank you, sir.” Darwin smiled coldly and started the car before driving into the city.
Zhang Lisheng unwittingly looked at the checkpoints that gradually drifted away through the rear windshield and noticed that the soldiers were putting up roadblocks. It was apparent that they had finished up their work for today. While he was secretly counting himself lucky, a low voice suddenly resonated from behind, “You’re lucky, buddy. It’s very troublesome if you’re found without a document.”
“That’s why those friends of mine who left me in the suburbs are just too evil!” When the young man heard that Darwin had seen through his flaw, he casually turned around and replied.
Not long later, the car finally entered New York City. Zhang Lisheng looked out through the window of the car and saw that the streets that were filled with garbage had been lined up with a long queue of cars. There were many iron barrels burning with fire inside on the sidewalk next to the cars.
Around these steaming iron buckets, some people leaned against the outer walls of the building sleeping deeply wrapped in dirty clothes while some people were chatting with beer bottles in their hands as they warmed themselves up by the fire.
“This is so f*cked up, the entire New York has become a large slum…” The young man ambiguously mumbled in great bafflement. Without warning, he heard Darwin asking him, “Buddy, where do you wanna go?”
Zhang Lisheng was stunned. Only then he realized that he was now penniless and had no credit card. His mother had already left New York and the relationship with his girlfriend had now changed. At once, the young man, who had just recently conquered a foreign world mainland that was even bigger than an entire American continent, actually had a feeling of homelessness.
A few seconds later, the name ‘Maddie’ flashed in his mind, so he smiled wryly and said, “Oh, if you know the address, can you send me to Jasmine West Street, Mr. Darwin?”
Of course, he was just trying to attempt his luck. Judging from the current situation, it was most likely that Maddie’s entire family had also moved to Noah World.
“I also grew up near Chinatown in New York so of course, I know the location of Jasmine West Street but it’s too dangerous to go there in the middle of the night. As far as I know, the several blocks around Jasmine West Street have become the battlefield of cults…”
New York City had a large number of new immigrants and communities of colored people. In peacetime, it was usually ignored by the police and became the place where gangsters would run wild so it was just natural that it would become even more chaotic now. However, Zhang Lisheng was still greatly surprised that the role of scrambling for supremacy would turn from a gang to a cult.
Through the light from the street lights, Darwin caught the fleeting astonished expression on the young man’s face through the rearview mirror so he fell into a moment of silence before continuing, “You weren’t staying in Jasmine West Street before this, were you?”
“Yeah, I only have a friend who lives there. I’ve already returned the place I rented last time.” Zhang Lisheng cooked up a lie with a shrug. “But it doesn’t matter. I can take care of myself, just drop me on the side of the road.”
“You don’t have any document so you can only sleep on the street at this time. You’d freeze to death if a big snow falls at night.” However, to his surprise, when Jenny, who was sitting in the back seat, heard his answer, she chimed in kindly instead, “Darwin, let us help him, shall we?”
“Help him? And then give him a down jacket, and a newly made ‘bong’?” Bob who was sitting in the co-driver curled his lips. “Jenny, we’re not those big-hearted philanthropists who eat French meals in some luxurious restaurants while throwing pieces of bread out the window to feed the poor; nor are we those priests and nuns who sing the hymns and eat the holy communion every day till their brains are washed! It’s already enough to help that we let him hitchhiked our car!”
“But maybe he can become our new ‘brother’, can’t he? Don’t forget that we’re different from before now.” Jenny insisted on her opinion with an inexplicable sentence.
Upon hearing his girlfriend’s words, the expression on Bob’s face changed. At once, he no longer could refute and could only open his mouth to reply helplessly, “Stop arguing, baby. Let us vote according to our previous practice. In short, I don’t agree with acting out of the plan at this time.”
“I feel that since we’ve already helped him, we might as well help him till the end.” Jenny voiced out next, “Rubelli, what do you think?”
“I follow Darwin.”
“I knew you will say this. Dear, sometimes you should also voice out your own opinion.” Jenny was somewhat dissatisfied with her friend who had no opinions. Patting on the back of the driver’s seat, she pointed to the black-haired young man beside her and said, “Darwin, you have two votes by yourself. Decide then, are we throwing this poor man out of the car on this cold winter night, or do we continue to help him?”
Before Darwin could reply, Zhang Lisheng already beat him to it and chimed in with a curl of his lips, “Hey, Miss Jenny, I’m not s miserable as you think. Although I’ve lost my documents, I’m a Chinese and have a good brain and I even know Kung Fu. I can survive even the worse environment.”
