World and the Gray Zone

Books,

The thing Yi Chen had been best at in life.

Paired with his brand-new profession as a student,

he had no idea how fast he was turning the pages. He spent at most one second on each page, as if he were drinking water.

He finished reading the entire World History book in just over ten minutes,

and his whole brain felt refreshed from reading, filled with an unprecedented sense of intellectual satisfaction.

Everything concerning the composition of this world had been recorded in his brain.

This world bore some resemblance to Earth, the world Yi Chen had lived in before. It was mainly divided into land and ocean, which accounted for 37.1% and 62.9%, respectively.

The land consisted of one supercontinent and five continents surrounding it,

the supercontinent—Middle-Earth.

*Vast, its area was almost equal to the combined area of all the other continents.

1. Shambles

*It had the most suitable seasonal climate for biological survival, the most developed animal husbandry, and was the continent that exported the most meat. Even its shape on the map looked like a steak.

2. Avengrade

*Most of its territory was covered by rainforests. It was also home to the world's largest rainforest, which had nurtured multiple ancient civilizations. Numerous primitive tribes living out of step with the times resided there.

The coastal regions had been heavily steeped in modern industry,

and mostly consisted of port cities, with fishing and lumber as their main industries.

3. San-Carlos

*This continent consisted mainly of plains. It looked neat and square on the map and had numerous rivers. Aside from Middle-Earth, it had the largest population, and the developed nations located on it ranked second only to those in Middle-Earth.

4. Quechua

*It consisted mainly of mountains and valleys. Its entire continent had an exceptionally rich vertical structure and abundant mineral veins, naturally attracting vast amounts of capital. Almost every city had large factories and rows of enormous smokestacks.

The landmass formed a vertical strip, with the northern part lying near the pole, where the mountains were covered in snow all year round.

It was worth mentioning that this was also the continent where Yi Chen was located.

G&D's headquarters—Zion City—was located atop one of the peaks near the central mountain range. Surrounded by mountains, it occupied high ground and was relatively concealed.

5. Broken-Islands

*This was the only continent located in the Southern Hemisphere. Tens of thousands of years ago, intense earthquakes had caused its landmass to split apart, turning it into thirteen islands.

Each island had its own country, and development there was relatively backward.

That was the general outline of this world.

One point was worth noting: in the lower-right corner of the world map, an asterisk marked a short note.

This map was drawn fifty years before the beginning of the Diseased Era.

*The Diseased Era... In other words, when Diseased Symptoms began appearing throughout the world and posed an irreversible threat to human society, did people start counting the years anew?

Speaking of which, what year is it now?

Little Grape answered:

According to the integrated memories in my head, it should now be Year 371 of the Diseased Era.

The continent we're on—Quechua—and its connections to the other continents and Middle-Earth were completely severed about two hundred years ago.

I already told you the reason.

The spread of the Gray Zone forcibly brought the Electrical Age to an end. Technology regressed, and all the connecting infrastructure human society had once built was abandoned.

No one knows what the other continents are like. No one knows whether Quechua is the only continent with survivors.

Well? Doesn't it feel a little hopeless?

No... It's pretty interesting~ This is what exploration is supposed to feel like, isn't it?

Speaking of which, aren't the clothes we're wearing capable of resisting Diseased Symptoms and allowing us to explore the Gray Zone?

There are so many talented and unusual people in the organization. If we made comprehensive preparations and sent out a squad of powerful experts like Professor Chamberson—or even a large-scale expeditionary force—we should be able to reach the other continents, right?

Don't think it's that simple.

The Gray Zone is extremely dangerous, and there are differences in gradient as well.

The most terrifying Gray Zones contain disaster-level Pathogens~ Even without touching them, anyone who merely approached would be reduced to ashes.

The Gray Zone you crossed by carriage earlier was only one that had just formed, the lowest grade there was.

Furthermore, the carriage itself had resistance properties, and you crossed it quickly as passersby... True exploration is incomparably dangerous.

Little Grape, your memories seem to have increased?

Huh? Maybe it has something to do with me devouring that Giant Eye. It caused more of the fragmented memories in my brain to combine. From now on, feed me more delicious, tasty grapes. Maybe I'll be able to remember more useful things.

Then hurry up and tell me about the Gray Zone's gradients.

At Yi Chen's request,

Little Grape directly transmitted this memory file through their consciousness.

Different Gray Zones,

depending on their degree of disease, age, and the influence of certain unknown factors, were divided into five levels.

Thin

Middling

Severe

forbidden

dead

In areas covered by the Gray Zone, the composition of species, the structure of the terrain, and even the most fundamental structure of space could all change, concealing unpredictable dangers.

The gentlemen of the organization usually explored Gray Zones of the first three levels.

A full exploration of a fourth-level Gray Zone was nearly impossible.

Being able to obtain a few items and pieces of information from a fourth-level Gray Zone and escape intact was already an impressive feat.

As for the fifth level,

Little Grape's memory fragments contained very little information. She only knew that once someone entered, they could never come back out.

High-level Gray Zones were randomly distributed throughout the oceans separating the various continents.

This was precisely the main reason the continents could not establish communication with one another. Recklessly putting out to sea was a dead end.

After learning the basics about the world and the Gray Zone,

Yi Chen's curiosity was completely aroused. He wanted to learn more, especially about the origin of the disease.

Unfortunately, even after searching through the entire bookcase, he still could not find any books related to the disease.

Nor did Little Grape's memory fragments contain anything about the origin of the disease.

Coo-coo!

The white owl that had originally been perched in the corner had somehow landed on a nearby branch.

Its beak unexpectedly produced the refined, slightly aged voice of a man:

"Books about the disease cannot be written.

Even seemingly insignificant connections in the written text could cause a book to become a 'disease medium' and transmit an unknown Pathogen here.

What you want to know can naturally be learned in the course of 'Pathology.'

However, even the academy's finest teachers—even the most learned gentleman in Zion City—understand the disease only at the Surface Layer, or perhaps just slightly deeper.

If you want to learn more, become stronger."

With that, the owl turned and flew back to its original position.

"I understand."

Yi Chen was not surprised in the least by the talking owl. After all, he had an even stranger little thing on his shoulder.

Since he had nothing better to do,

and the reading just now had been so satisfying, Yi Chen simply read every book in the bookcase... The massive release of dopamine caused by reading made him increasingly exhilarated throughout the process.

Even his basic Intelligence attribute rose slightly (<0.1).

Before he knew it, two hours had passed.

Professor Chamberson finally finished drawing up a detailed special-training schedule. Every minute of every day was occupied, leaving not a moment wasted.

When he looked up, he saw that Yi Chen had just returned a book to the bookcase.

"Reading? You seem quite excited... How did you find it?"

"I finished."

"Which book did you finish?"

"I finished them all."

"What?"