Chapter 37: I'm Just Taking a Walk
Translator: Pluto Editor: Tehrn
This was no small matter—shocked, Lin Sanjiu quickly turned to look behind her.
A bespectacled stranger was standing behind her. He looked like an intellectual, but he had a habitual frown which gave him a stern look, “Did you lose something?”
[It should be okay if I give him a generic reply.] Lin Sanjiu composed herself and gave an apologetic smile. “Yes, I dropped something accidentally, but I can’t find it now…”
Her words sounded normal, but the bespectacled man frowned deeper. Suddenly, he drew his face close to her with a solemn expression. Lin Sanjiu could not tell what was wrong with the man, so she took two steps back quickly and looked back at him uneasily.
Unexpectedly, the man snorted and said, “You’re not being totally honest—I’ve never met a woman that doesn’t lie.”
[Huh?] Lin Sanjiu’s eyes widened.
“But it doesn’t matter. The item does belong to you, you weren’t lying about that…” regardless of what the man said, he kept his solemn expression. “Fine. Since you are the owner, I’ll tell you this. A short man took away that item a few minutes ago.”
[Short man…] She had just arrived at Oasis and basically knew no one here. But if Sister Li and Xiao Yu didn’t discover it, even if some random person took it away, she could just treat as if she’d lost the item! Anyway, Voley gave them more than one set of walkie-talkies from his car.
However, Lin Sanjiu’s focus was no longer on that walkie-talkie. Instead, she scrutinized the bespectacled man from head to toe to the extent that the other party felt uncomfortable. Then, she smiled and offered a handshake, “Hi, I am Lin Sanjiu. Thanks for your information. What’s your name?”
From behind his glasses, the man looked at the hand that she extended and showed no attempt to reciprocate, “My name is Hu Changzai. If a young lady like you suddenly shows affection, you must have an ulterior motive.”
Even though Lin Sanjiu thought of herself as a reasonable person, her smile froze.
[It’s just a handshake. This guy should thank the existence of the New World! If human civilization didn’t collapse, he would have difficulties integrating into society!]
Lin Sanjiu criticized silently as she suppressed her anger and drew back her hand. Hu Changzai did not feel that he said anything wrong. “I’m leaving,” he said with a long face, turning to leave.
“That’s your ability, right?”
Hu Changzai paused when he heard that question.
“You can tell if someone is lying?” Lin Sanjiu walked slowly to his side, she couldn’t help feeling unsatisfied if she didn’t say these words: “It’s quite impressive and rather useful. But if you expose a lie in such an obvious manner, wouldn’t that defeat its purpose?”
Surprisingly, Hu Changzai appeared startled by her words—his spectacles even glided down his nose. He quickly readjusted it and stared at Lin Sanjiu, asking, “Why do you know about these abilities?”
Lin Sanjiu was a little stunned, “Days have passed since the apocalypse… this is just common knowledge, right?”
“Oh, I’ve got it. You must be from the outside world.” Hu Changzai took off his spectacles and wiped it with the corner of his shirt as this dawned on him. He wore his spectacles again and took a good look at Lin Sanjiu. “How long have you been here? How long were you out there? From what you said, I presume that you have abilities too?”
[Why should I be interrogated by you?] Lin Sanjiu found it ludicrous, so she countered with her own questions, “Isn’t everyone from Oasis from the outside world? Do you mean that some people here haven’t developed abilities?”
Just when she asked these questions, she remembered that Sister Li mentioned something about a medicine. [What is the connection between that medicine and people’s abilities?]
Hu Changzai eyed her sternly, “I asked the questions first. Question and response. Don’t you understand?”
Lin Sanjiu found it infuriating to hold a conversation with this person, so she frowned and decided to leave. Even though she knew that there was something strange going on with the people here in Oasis and their abilities, it was not necessary for her to get the answers from him. Out of the 1800 people here, she could easily ask anyone else!
She didn’t anticipate hearing Hu Changzai’s footsteps behind her as she left. He chased her and shouted, “Why are you so hot tempered? Hey, slow down. I still have unanswered questions… Slow down, please. Alright, alright! I will answer your questions. Please stop!”
Lin Sanjiu finally stopped. Despite her above-average physical capabilities, she didn’t even reach 10% of her speed, yet Hu Changzai could not really catch up with her. Her brows knitted as she asked, “You haven’t experienced any physical enhancement?”
Behind Hu Changzai’s gold-rimmed spectacles, his blank expression answered her question.
“What’s going on? All posthumans should experience some form of physical enhancement.” Lin Sanjiu was puzzled.
“What?” Hu Changzai looked bewildered as he panted heavily. “Let me ask you a question first. You must answer me. When did you arrive at Oasis?”
“Just about 30 minutes ago,” Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment and replied. Afraid that he would ask would ask too much, she quickly shot back with a question, “Didn’t the people here develop any abilities?”
Hu Changzai shook his head with a serious expression on his face, “Most of the people in Oasis are just normal people. Logically speaking, they might not have even survived the early stages when temperatures were rising and would have died like the others outside… However, Professor Bai developed a type of medicine which could artificially induce the necessary Heat Resistance Adaptation even in normal humans. But that was as far as it went, and since normal people have zero Potential Growth Value, they don’t gain any new abilities even if they consume more medicine. This is not a secret. If you stay a little longer, you’ll naturally come to know about it.”
[This Professor Bai… must be a super genius!]
Lin Sanjiu was very impressed and quickly asked another question, “What about you?”
“I joined Oasis on the 7th day of the New World.” Hu Changzai gave an uncharacteristic sigh despite his stoic face. “At that time, I had already developed my ‘Lie Detection’ ability, but I didn’t experience any sort of physical enhancement. All these time, I rarely met another posthuman like me, so when you made a remark about my ability, I was really a little excited.”
Lin Sanjiu nodded to his explanation. Suddenly, she realized something and asked urgently, “Wait. If you already developed your ability then… what did they say about that? Do they know about your ability?”
“I don’t think so, not at that point in time.” Hu Changzai pondered about the underlying meaning of her question since she seemed rather anxious. “Oasis provides the same narrative to every new member. This place protects the spark of humanity; it has a great, noble cause. So, what do you mean by that?”
Lin Sanjiu remained silent, she didn’t know why she acted that way either.
“You are making things too complex… I used my ‘Sift Falsehoods from Truth’ ability, and they’re telling the truth. I’ve been here so long and discovered that the people here in Oasis really do not have any hidden agenda. They honestly want to save the humanity.”
[No hidden agenda?] Lin Sanjiu remembered Sister Li’s words: “These three people should be counted as mine...”
[If they were so selfless and dedicated, why do they sound like multi-level marketing salesmen?]
“But…” Hu Changzai suddenly started to stammer a little, “I've got an advice for you—”
“Why aren’t you asleep! What are you doing?”
A furious voice rang out in the main hall, questioning impolitely. Lin Sanjiu turned to look behind her and saw Xiao Yu standing beside the stairway. She looked at them with an exasperated expression, “Miss Lin, why are you here? Do you know that the temperature can get dangerously high in the day?”
Before Lin Sanjiu could react, Hu Changzai quietly exclaimed “Sh*t!” and immediately ran toward the exit. This time, his movements were considerably quick. He pushed open the door and ran out outside into the blazing sun.
“Hu Changzai! I know it’s you! You just wait! I will definitely report this to Executive Chen!” Xiao Yu shouted, chasing after him unforgivingly. When she saw that he was out of sight, she turned to face Lin Sanjiu and said stiffly, “Miss Lin, go to bed!”
She did not understand why Xiao Yu’s attitude could become sour so quickly. Lin Sanjiu followed Xiao Yu to the stairway, and after considering about it for a moment, she mildly explained, “I met him coincidentally, so we exchanged some words. I just wanted to get to know this place a little better…”
Xiao Yu, who was in front of her, walked hurriedly without giving a reply, acting as if she didn’t hear Lin Sanjiu. Lin Sanjiu was a little pissed and decided not to speak. She thought about Hu Changzai’s unfinished sentence… [What did he have to say?]
At the entrance of Basement One, Xiao Yu, whose anger had not fully retreated, looked at her and forced a stiff smile, “Miss Lin, I sounded a little too harsh. Don’t take it to heart. Rules were made in Oasis to keep everyone safe. You shouldn’t leave the basement after a certain time. I am an administrator for Building 42, if someone doesn’t follow the rules, I’ll be punished. Please understand.”
Lin Sanjiu did not want to quarrel with anyone on the very first day, so she nodded showing that she understood. Xiao Yu immediately smiled as pleasantly as before and entered Basement One with her. The basement floor was very quiet. All Oasis members probably abode by those rules, and only a few people were in the corridor. Lin Sanjiu lifted the curtains to her cubicle number 1629. Unintentionally, her gaze landed and hovered over a figure some distance away. That person looked too familiar.