Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It only took three to four minutes from the dispute between Zhang Lisheng and Michelle, until he finally left with the black men’s black jeep. It was so fast that nobody could react in time. After calming down, a sane person would realize that there were many unreasonable clues if one carefully thought about it. The way the young man walked right into the net was just too strange.
Shocked by Michelle’s increasingly frightened nervous breakdown, Deborah comforted her for a while as a bad premonition arose in her heart.
In the harsh winter season, the hot sun that only existed in the desert area shone on the body of the tall girl wrapped in the thick woolen cloak, but slowly, it no longer could warm her up.
Unable to stop replaying the image of that black-haired young man who maintained a smile in front of her, Deborah’s heart turned colder and colder. “D-Don’t tell me that your brother is those type of psychopathic killer cum cannibal doctor in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ right, Michelle? Even if he was, there were many people in the ‘hotel’… ”
“Everyone will die…” The psychological trauma caused by that horrible experience a long time ago; the grievances and despair accumulated by the drastic changes in life caused by the sudden wars since more than a year ago; and the inexplicable great sense of shame violently erupted, causing Michelle to murmur under the same sentence over and over again as tears gushed out of her eyes.
“Sh*t! This is so f*cked up! Eslee, Annie, come to look after Michelle. I’ll go back to the ‘hotel’!” Deborah shouted at her two stunned companions beside who were at loss of what to do and forcefully flung her wrist that was tightly held by Michelle, before finally running towards the slum in the distance.
Relying on a healthy physique that was common for a professional athlete, she quickly crossed the busy streets and stepped into a completely different world of exhaustion, poverty, and evil.
Without giving a care to the sneaky gaze from the people hiding in the car and tattered cardboard house, as well as the raggedly dressed young man wandering around idly along the streets that looked like a garbage dump who had an indescribable decadent and despair in their eyes but starting to shout with excitement again when they saw the beautiful running girl, Deborah finally reached a three-story concrete building while panting heavily.
The exterior wall of this low-rise building was mottled and rough. The windows were not quite round nor square and even though they were covered with colorful paint, they still looked very crude, as though the construction of this site was halted abruptly before it could even finish.
Even so, it still appeared to be eye-catching amidst the ‘houses’ that used scrap cars as frameworks and newspapers as walls.
“Angel, are you in there?” Catching her breath, Deborah calmed herself down and looked at the signboard written with ‘Paradise Hotel’ above her head. Tentatively, she pushed open the wooden door and shouted.
Only silence responded to her.
After a moment of hesitation, the tall girl lightly entered the door and looked around carefully. She could see the log counter on the right, with a rooftop solar power generator leaning against it and a refrigerator filled with expired drinks that were still being sold at a high price. All of the decorations such as the two long sofas on the left side against the wall and the round sofas surrounding the marble coffee table were still in the same place as usual. The only difference was that the sexy blond girl in charge of collecting money who was supposed to stand behind the counter waiting for ‘fishes’ to be hooked like in the past and the brawny men sitting on the sofas chatting while showing off their muscles were now gone.
The unusually quiet environment seemed normal, but the instincts peculiar to women made Deborah’s inexplicable anxiety to grow more and more. She staggered and took more steps forward but did not have the courage to continue inward.
Her ‘thump thump thump…’ heartbeat resonated louder and louder in her ears. The heavy mental pressure caused her to suddenly burst out, screaming out all the names that she could think with her now was almost as blank as her mind. “Angela! Assania! Doron…” Are you guys there? Oh god, can anyone answer me?”
After shouting for a while, a quiet voice suddenly resonated from the corner of the stairs above into Deborah’s ears, “Miss Deborah, why did you come back too?”
“M-Mr. Lisheng…” Turning around to look at the black-haired young man strolling down the stairs, the girl froze. Forcing the fear in her heart down, she randomly made up an excuse, “I-I seem to have a little fever so I-I plan to go back to my room and rest for a while b-but I found that there’s nobody in t-the ‘hotel’ at all…”
“Oh, I already noticed that nobody is here when Mr. Apler brought me in.” Zhang Lisheng shrugged, and said with a smile, “Then, he said that he’s going to look for them and has also left. I’ve been waiting until now and you’re the only one who returned. I have no time to wait any longer so I plan to leave now. Speaking of it, it’s indeed pretty bizarre that a hotel with 34 strong security and waiters would suddenly become vacated, isn’t it? Then again, it’s a strange era now so any bizarre could just take place, isn’t it, Miss Deborah?”
Upon hearing the meaning implied in the words of this black-haired young man who was walking towards her, and seeing the look in his eyes that were filled with a smile but with no trace of warmth at all, Deborah only felt as though an invisible horrible palm had reached into her chest and held her heart.
Her face that was originally flushed from her overwhelming emotions turned pale right away. She nodded unconsciously, and could not stop her body from trembling as she replied Zhang Lisheng, “Y-Yes, Mr. Lisheng. Y-Yes…”
“Very well, Miss Deborah. A smarter person would always be able to live safer in any era. I believe that you don’t wish to see me again so I won’t say goodbye anymore.” Zhang Lisheng put on his best smile and nodded, before leaving the cement house with light footsteps.
At that instant his back disappeared, Deborah collapsed to the ground weakly and wept for a long time without daring to cry out loud. After a long time, she finally managed to summon her strength to get up, but at this time, the young man had already returned to the center of Feren’s City and brought Michelle away.
According to Zhang Lisheng’s previous plan, he wanted to contact the LS Group that was under his name after entering Noah World and then contact the US federal’s member of parliaments whom he used to financially support as a preventive measure through the group’s contacts. However, now that he had this burden called Michelle with him, he had no choice but to change his plan.
Fortunately, even though the LS Group encountered financial difficulties, it still had a representative office in Feren, which could be said as a political hub in the western hemisphere of the Earth now, in order to show its strength. For this reason, the young man managed to settle Michelle without much trouble. On the early morning the next day, he took the free public bus to cross the desert and smoothly entered the Noah World.
Most of the passengers in the bus were US citizens who were lucky enough to get migration opportunities through lottery drawing. When the bus arrived at the suburban station of the oasis city New Washington—nearest to the spatial door, Zhang Lisheng got off the bus together with a group of raggedly clothed refugees who had a dazed expression on after their pleasant surprise.
He stood for a while under the hazy rain clouds and looked around before walking towards a gray minibus parked on the roadside outside the station.
He opened the car door and saw his Earth’s property representative whom he had not seen for a long time sitting in the car. At once, the young man smiled and said, “Hi, Charlie, good afternoon.” before entering the car.
“Oh, boss, we haven’t seen each other in such a long time so I thought you’d at least give me a warm hug!” Charlie who was originally frowning a little also smiled when he saw his boss whom he had not met for a long time before replying, slightly overwhelmed with emotions.
“You’ll get your hug later, Charlie. But before that, we must solve the company’s crisis first.” Zhang Lisheng shrugged.
“Your appearance has already solved half of LS’s troubles,” Charlie frowned again unknowingly but replied in a light tone, “The oasis cities constructed in Noah a year and a half ago are now full of migrants. A new round of development has been put on the agenda of the Senate so with you here, our company can undertake the construction project of the slaughterhouses in these new oasis cities and get financing opportunities … ”
“Charlie, Charlie, Charlie.” Zhang Lisheng interrupted the representative’s longing and pointed to the crowded traffic outside and said, “Human beings have fallen to the point where millions of people are crouching in a small oasis of less than one thousand square kilometers. Where do we still have the energy to care about those whatsoever ecological slaughter? I’m afraid beef and mutton have already left the supermarket and entered the luxurious market selling luxury goods such as Louis Vuitton. Human beings can turn skyscrapers into terraced fields, but not into ranches. Just how much fund can several dozens of slaughterhouses destined to be desolate bring to us, not to mention Tina’s father’s obstruction.”
“Boss, it’s all because I have been too ambitious. I didn’t expect the situation to become so bad…” Charlie whispered in a weak, frustrated voice after a moment of silence.
“No, I don’t blame you, Charlie. After all, no one can predict the future.” Zhang Lisheng shook his head and asked suddenly, “How’s the order in the Noah World right now? The government doesn’t have a centralized control like the cities on Earth right?”
“Of course not, boss. Our nation is the freest and democratic country in the world.”
Oh, you wouldn’t think so if you were still in New York.” The young man shrugged and said, “That’s not important though. What’s important is that since Noah is a society with order, then it’d be easy for us to solve our problems. Tell our creditors that LS is willing to use gold to pay off the debt. Although it’s crazy to send a plane to New York to pick up gold now, if every ounce of gold can pay off 500 dollars—no, 300 dollars of debt, then I believe these profits should be enough for these banks and investors to withstand the pressure for being an old rich powerful established brand and for them to go crazy.”
“Boss, you mean, you want to use your Golden River in Shrimp World No. 2 to pay off the debt?” Charlie asked in shock.
“Yes, Charlie. I’ll write a document for them. By taking that document to see any native in the Shrimp World No. 2, they’ll be able to immediately harvest tons of golden sand.”
“B-But is this okay? Such matter would inevitably alarm the federal government …”
“It’s okay, Charlie. the biggest purpose of my visit to Noah World this time is to contact the federal government. This trick is called ‘tossing a stone to find out what’s ahead’. Didn’t you say that Noah World is a free democratic place? Actually I don’t need it to be so beautiful, I only need it to be so on the surface, it’s enough as long as those politicians and generals dare not do whatever they want.” A faint smile appeared on the corner of the young man’s mouth as he said with confidence.
