Chapter 5: I Believe In Science!
After finishing his lunch, Song Shuhang walked towards the nearby book renting store to window read.
[TL: Basically he goes to the book shop to read but not to buy, similar to window shopping, and so, window read]
He liked to window read, not because he wanted to save the money of borrowing a few books, but this was his hobby. Song Shuhang found crouching at a corner of the book shop reading to be incredibly pleasurable!
Of course, in order to avoid the boss from hating him, after reading a while, he would rent a book or two. A person must have integrity, and anything done must not be too extreme, things must be worked on little by little! This way he can avoid the boss hating him, and chasing him out.
After all, for a book shop as large as the one in front of him, with a large variety of books not just limited to novels, rather all kinds of genres novels were available. This type of book shop was a rare nowadays.
To be put on a blacklist, in the vicinity around JiangNan University, one could not find a more impressive bookstore.
They say that a person’s name is important and the person becomes like their name. Song Shuhang really liked reading books, and had no bias against them.
[TL: The word ‘Shu’ in Song Shuhang means books, while ‘hang’ refers to boat/vessel/ship.]
No matter if they were fiction novels, classic literature, classical works, or even works on theories that can make a person’s head spin, he enjoyed all of them.
These days, he had been reading books on car driving techniques and important knowledge. He plans to obtain a driver’s license while classes are still easy during his first year. Taking the test at school rather than outside was a lot cheaper, a difference of 7 to 8 thousand yuan.
……
……
While window reading, time would always fly by quickly.
In a blink of an eye, the time reached 3PM.
“So fast…..I need to prepare to go back already. I also need to go to the nearby supermarket to get some snacks for a midnight supper, so I can pull an all nighter on Saturday night.” Song Shuhang laughed.
Done muttering, he randomly chose a book, walked towards the checkout counter, and checked that book out.
The checkout counter was located at the exit of the bookstore. Today, the awning outside which provided shade for the store was broken, so the lady boss took refuge in a shaded spot, avoiding the scorching sun.
“The sun is so bright, it already feels like midsummer.” Song Shuhang said as he used one hand to cover his eyes and looked at the sky.
The lady boss was a classic Jiang Nan beauty, as if she was made of water.
Like Song Shuhang, her interest was also getting a book and reading it all day. From her attire, it could be seen that her quality of life wasn’t low and opening this bookstore was merely a hobby for her.
Normally, she would be sitting down and reading in a gentle and refined manner. Simply picturesque, the sight of this was warming to the heart and pleasing to the eyes. To watch this scene of the painting-like beauty, many youngsters would forcefully change their hobbies from being rebellious youths to literature youths.
However, it was said that this picturesque beauty side was just her peaceful side.
With a peaceful mode, there would certainly be a PK mode or berserk mode in her. Only, in this half-year, Shuhang had not seen this side.
“Alright. Within 2 days, you must remember to return it. An additional day will add another yuan towards the fee.” The lady boss completed the procedures for renting books, then waved her hand to signal Song Shuhang to get lost.
Although they had only interacted for half a semester, this moocher that would stay for more than half a day left a profound impression on her. If it wasn’t for his tact in checking out a few books to help her business, she would’ve used a broom and drove him out ages ago.
“Hehe” Song Shuhang laughed as he took the books and took a step exiting the store.
Boom!!!
At this moment, an ear-splitting sound exploded out.
This noise had scared everyone in this store, and regarding Song Shuhang who had almost taken a step out of the store, he fell flat on his face!
”Fuck!”
“Hey, what the hell!”
“Thunder from a clear sky?”
“Scared me to death.” In this bookstore, all sorts of exclamations could be heard.
Raising his head towards the sky, Song Shuhang found that the endlessly clear sky had changed. In the horizon, there appeared a black cloud quietly condensing. In a blink of an eye, the cloud covered the horizon, giving the feeling of storm clouds approaching.
[TL: Bad omens]
“It seems like it’s about to rain?” Tch tch. They said that a few years ago, weather forecasts were inaccurate and we must do the opposite. When the forecast states it will be a clear day, you need to bring an umbrella. I expected that after all these years, the weather forecast would’ve improved. To think that it would still be this unreliable.” Song Shuhang sighed.
It would be better if it was back then. Back then, you just needed to follow the opposite of what the forecast predicted. Currently, you need to predict and gamble whether the forecast is accurate.
After letting his imaginations run wild, he grasped his rented books and prepared the race back to the dorms while the rain hadn’t fallen yet.
Not waiting till Song Shuhang’s second foot stepped out.
Boom…..
Yet another thunder roared out, making the people’s ears buzz.
Song Shuhang’s raised leg once again returned back to the ground.
In the horizon, the area with the black cloud started to distort in a peculiar manner. Lightning in the shape of snakes began shooting out from the cloud, forming a “net” of lightning and exploding with rumbles.
Song Shuhang had seen lightning before, but in this lifetime, he had not seen thunder and lighting this concentrated—-almost as if it was the apocalypse. The thunder and lightning didn’t strike one by one, but rather struck in a coordinated manner.
The boom from the thunder was also not ordinary.
In the past, the thunder would only have a loud boom with some reverberations afterwards. But right now, it sounded just like when a huge amount of gunpowder was added into firecrackers.
Boom boom, bang bang, boom boom.
With so much noise, even the echos were blocked out.
Supposing someone got struck by this, how much power would that guy unlock?
Moreover, what made Song Shuhang even more apprehensive was that the black cloud did not move. It stayed at the horizon, chaotically bombing that area, without the intention of spreading over.
The cries of thunder surged on for about ten breaths, continuously.
This gave people a feeling that a fierce storm was approaching.
“How unfortunate!” Song Shuhang sighed. He spoke in his heart, “Why not I return to window read some more?”
Generally speaking, regarding thunderstorms, those that arrived quickly, departed quickly as well. However, if the storm lasts longer, couldn’t he read another book?
Thinking of this, he once again returned to the bookstore preparing to once again stay for a while.
As if God was playing a joke on Shuhang, upon turning around return to the bookstore, the rumbling seemed to have suddenly stopped!
At the same time, the black cloud covering the horizon and the lightning shaped like snakes also vanished into thin air! It was as if a mighty hand was using the sky to paint, and upon becoming dissatisfied, he effortlessly erased the black clouds and lightning snakes.
Once again, the sky turned back to endlessly clear, the sun shined over everything! Similar to the recently occurring blasts from the thunder, the sky full of lightning snakes seemed like an illusion and simply fantasy.
In the store, there were people muttering, “What kind of situation is this?”
“There can’t actually be someone who sinned so much that they got struck by lightning, right?”
“Superstition! This thunder and lightning is merely a natural phenomenon…..”
At this time, next to Shuhang, a brat raised his head, his left hand clenching a kids manhua, his right pointing to the sky. Loudly, with an air of heroism, he yelled, “Ahh, I want this sky, to never again cover my eyes. I want this ground, unable to bury my heart! I want the sky covered in black clouds, to disappear without a trace!”
The corners of Song Shuhang’s mouth twitched, certain that once this brat grows up, upon recalling back this memory, he would be rolling on the ground in shame. Moreover, this type of dark history will haunt this brat for his whole life. After that, with great difficulty towards forgetting this memory, he couldn’t say for sure it would not appear from a nook in his brain, prompting him to yell: “Drop dead, so shameful!” and so on. Also making him wish that he could go back in time, and beat himself up.
Because he himself had tons of experience.
Only not knowing why, seeing this laughable brat, Song Shuhang suddenly thought of the Nine Provinces (1) Group and all the chuunibyou in it.
“H City, 3rd Stage-Houtian Tribulation.”
The chat record of the group flashed through his mind.
He once again assessed the location of the event. Just a moment ago, the area where the thunderstorm took place, seemed…..to be right at H City’s location?
Even though Song Shuhang had a big heart, his heart skipped a beat
Could it be? It was true?
The weather forecast displayed clear skies, but before his eyes, countless explosions from thunder had suddenly appeared.
“Hahahaha, how could this be possible! How could there be stuff capable of moving the heavens. It should be coincidence?!” Song Shuhang calmed his heart down.
But, when the thought arose, it was impossible to get rid of it. Were there really such coincidences in this world? Those lightning snakes were extremely strange, as if they weren’t natural.
H City, Tribulation. These few words unceasingly resounded in his mind.
Forcefully, Song Shuhang shook his head, throwing this possibility out of his mind.
This worldview, that he had used 18 years to construct, told him to believe in science and refuse superstition. Those thunderclouds were only a strange natural phenomenon and were not from the tribulation!