As a modern person, Cheng Ye was naturally no stranger to libraries.
He had lost count of how many days and nights he had spent holed up in one, frantically typing away to finish his papers.
He never expected that after arriving in the Wasteland, he would come across a library.
Though the library's exterior couldn't compare to that of some rural elementary school libraries, Cheng Ye gazed at it for a while, and despite everything, a familiar warmth welled up from the bottom of his heart.
He walked a few steps forward and pushed open the gate in front of the library.
To Cheng Ye's surprise, the gate's hinges still moved smoothly. It didn't fit its rusty appearance, so it seemed someone maintained it regularly.
Behind the gate, Cheng Ye saw a conspicuous wooden sign.
[Survival Library]
[This library houses hundreds of books, containing survival information submitted by survivors from across the Wasteland. The information is reliable and effective, and can greatly increase your odds of surviving an encounter with the Infected.]
[Reading fee: 5 coins/hour (a 20-coin deposit is required for entry; no credit)]
[Borrowing fee: priced according to the value of the book; collateral required]
[You may submit valuable information, books, and so on. If the librarian verifies their usefulness, you will receive a corresponding reward.]
"Five coins an hour?"
Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow.
No wonder the people had looked at him strangely when he'd gotten off the truck.
A day spent repairing sewer pipes earned sixteen coins. Coming here, that wasn't even enough to cover the entry deposit.
If an Ordinary Resident wasn't careful and read for a few hours, he'd go bankrupt.
Even as an inspector earning five hundred coins a month, Cheng Ye wouldn't dare spend all his time here without a care if not for the inheritance Cheng Long had left him.
"The Training Ground costs ten coins a day, while this place charges five an hour. Now I'm curious about the quality of its books."
Cheng Ye wasn't concerned about spending Happiness Coins.
Especially when it came to paying for knowledge. If the sign was telling the truth and reading could greatly improve one's odds of surviving an encounter with the Infected, then it was worth not just five coins, but even fifty!
Following the old tiled walkway, he entered the library courtyard.
When he reached the front entrance, Cheng Ye hesitated briefly. First, he took off his raincoat, folded it, and hung it by the window. Then he scraped the mud off his soles on the steps nearby.
Creak.
As Cheng Ye pushed open the library door, a faint musty smell mingled with the distinctive, aged scent of paper and drifted toward him.
He peered inside.
It really did have the plain, unadorned style of an Old Era library!
Three old-fashioned incandescent bulbs hung from the ceiling, casting a dim, warm yellow light.
Two rows of wooden shelves stood neatly in place, each shelf slightly bowed under the weight of yellowing books.
Farther in was the familiar setup of a study room.
There were four large wooden tables that looked exceptionally sturdy, each paired with two solid wooden chairs.
Since no one was there, the lamps above the tables were off, leaving the room rather dim.
"Ahem."
A sound came from behind the door.
Following the sound, Cheng Ye finally noticed a table set up behind the door, with a small bed behind it.
A slightly hunched, middle-aged Western woman lay curled up on the bed, watching him.
After seeing that no raindrops were falling from Cheng Ye's clothes and no mud clung to his soles, the woman's gaze softened a little.
"Come on in, guest. You're the only reader today."
"If you're short on cash, I can make an exception. It'll only cost three Happiness Coins an hour, or ten coins for a full day of reading."
The woman's face was deathly pale, and gray-white strands of hair lay in disarray across her shoulders. She looked somewhat malnourished.
Yet her voice was gentle, like a spring breeze softly circling his ears, a stark contrast to her haggard appearance.
"There are discounts, too?"
Cheng Ye was rather surprised, but immediately understood.
The high prices posted outside were probably just a way of screening people, keeping out those who couldn't afford the basic expense or didn't agree with the library's business model.
Anyone who made it inside wouldn't care about spending five coins.
Offering a special discount gave customers the pleasant surprise of a lower price. And with a full day of reading for just ten coins, it made people feel they'd be missing out if they didn't spend them.
"Here's the deposit."
Cheng Ye patted his pockets and pulled out two ten-coin Happiness Coins.
"May I ask—"
"Esi Gwen. You can call me by my name."
"Right. M-Miss Gwen, if I want to learn about the different kinds of Infected and how to deal with them, which book would be best to read?"
"The first shelf is all books on that subject. If you're about to face the Infected and need to learn quickly, you can go straight to the third row. Those are all concise field manuals. But I'd still recommend taking some time to read the books in order, from top to bottom, and build a solid foundation."
After saying this, Gwen sat up a little straighter. "The second shelf is made up of travelogues by Wasteland survivors. The first, fourth, and seventh books in the third row contain firsthand accounts of rare Special Infected, if you're interested in them."
"The third and fourth shelves contain special survival manuals. Rest assured, every book is valuable. They contain the authors' understanding of the Wasteland, as well as some special survival techniques. These may not help you in your current situation, but once you have a chance to use one, you'll understand what it means to get more than your money's worth."
"Got it. Thanks!"
Gwen's detailed answer and advice made Cheng Ye realize it was probably because he'd taken off his raincoat and cleaned the mud from his soles.
So mutual respect still existed in the Wasteland.
Cheng Ye chuckled to himself, then suddenly remembered how, back when he was preparing for grad school, he'd been the only person allowed to eat in the library. It had saved him half an hour of running back and forth to the cafeteria.
Half an hour a day, accumulated over time, had saved him several days over the course of six months.
Why?
Wasn't it the perk of getting on good terms with the librarian?
The same held true now. Gwen's advice saved Cheng Ye from having to search through the books and sort out the information himself.
"In that case, I'll start with the first row. Two days should be enough for me to quickly skim through every book on the first shelf."
Cheng Ye pulled out the first book in the first row and glanced at the title. It was written in familiar Chinese characters.
Origin of Infection
It was exactly the subject he was interested in right now.
By the time he reached the reading area, Gwen had gotten up and switched on the lights. They weren't soft and warm, but a cool white, enough to make him feel more alert.
"Lighting can help with reading, too. If you'd like tea or something to eat, just call for me."
"Thanks."
Cheng Ye nodded and sat at the broad wooden table. He gently opened the book to its first page.
The handwriting was somewhat messy, and some of the cursive characters took concentration to make out. Yet, unexpectedly, they gave him a sense of mission, as if he were crossing through time to open a history book.
'Do you believe in fate? Do you believe in prophecy? Do you believe in the end of the world?'
'I never believed in any of it. But reality taught me a cruel lesson, and left me no choice but to believe in destiny.'
'December 21, 2032, Old Era. If it weren't the twentieth anniversary of the Mayan Civilization's prophecy of the apocalypse, it would have been an ordinary day. Nobody would remember it. Even I, an author who liked to write apocalyptic novels, only remembered the occasion when I saw a related news report.'
'Oh? The Mayans predicted the apocalypse!'
'Haha, twenty years have passed. How could anyone still think there'll be an apocalypse? It's just a hot topic cooked up by capitalists, like May 20th, Valentine's Day, or November 11th, Singles' Day. In the end, it'll all go down in history and be forgotten.'
'But, but, but it really did come!'
'The apocalypse was delayed by a full twenty years. That day, at four in the afternoon, I opened the window and saw a sight I'll never forget. An enormous luminous object visited Blue Star, its long tail filling almost the entire sky and even blotting out the sun. Experts speculated that it was extraterrestrial life that had leapt here through a wormhole. I don't know if that was true, but its brief appearance completely changed Blue Star's fate, gradually tearing open the fragile skin of civilization.'
'Fragments broke off the comet and fell across Blue Star, some large, some small, sparking a mad scramble among humanity.'
'People couldn't wait to learn something from the fragments, to discover something. Countries began competing in secret and in the open, hoping to find an opportunity for technological advancement.'
'Haha, we did find something. The terrifying S-1 virus appeared!'
'Using saliva and blood as its vessels, the virus spread wildly across the globe in just three months. The infected looked like Zombies from movies, but were far more terrifying. A single scratch or bite could trigger a horrifying transformation within ten seconds. They began attacking others indiscriminately, rapidly expanding the infected area.'
'Even though human civilization was resilient enough, and the infected were still bound by the limitations of carbon-based life, the S-1 virus persisted for a full four years. Only after the Human Federation was established, Sanctuary Cities sprang up across the land, and organized combat units gradually formed a perimeter, was the nightmare temporarily contained.'
An illustration accompanied the text. It showed a man with a ferocious face, his body tilted to one side. His eyes were cloudy and white, his gums exposed around broken canine teeth, and drool dripped from the corner of his mouth.
Zombies?
Cheng Ye's brows jumped. He didn't know if movies had influenced him, but compared to the strange abilities of the Infected, he felt Zombies were actually more troublesome.
After all, as long as you were bitten, you became infected. That meant staying in a crowded Sanctuary City might actually be more dangerous.
Fortunately, based on the book's description, these Zombies still hadn't exceeded the limits of carbon-based life.
They could run, but their muscles and bones were decayed and damaged, so they couldn't run as fast as a healthy adult man.
They didn't fear death, but that also made them clumsy moving targets, easily caught in traps laid by humans.
Once humanity had responded and formed combat units, the Zombies' end had arrived.
How could Mortal Flesh withstand a Heavy Machine Gun's sweeping fire?
Incendiary bombs could scour the ground, and no matter how vast the horde, it was just "kindling" for the flames.
'Winter of 2037, Old Era. When the last S-1 infected person had been reduced to ashes in an incinerator, grand celebrations were held across Blue Star. Survivors emerged from Sanctuary Cities and returned to City Ruins, embracing one another in tears, as if announcing the beginning of civilization's rebirth from the ashes.'
'I was lucky enough to take part. I'd survived the disaster, and I cheered as we celebrated the end of the apocalypse.'
'Yet the "infinite energy" the S-1 virus had given the Zombies ultimately aroused the greed of a small number of people. They wanted to uncover the secret of immortality, to find a way to transcend the limits imposed on carbon-based life. In certain secret underground laboratories, the original virus was diverted and studied. Under human guidance, the S-1 virus abandoned its inefficient method of widespread transmission and instead directed its evolution toward the limits of life itself.'
'Spring of 2041. The S-2 virus came into being by chance!'
'The special S-2 virus had completely lost the ability to spread widely. Humans had to remain in close contact with an Infection Source for more than forty-eight hours to become hosts to the virus. And after becoming infected, humanity finally broke through the genetic limits of carbon-based life, as it had originally hoped.'
'During this period, infected giants dozens of meters tall appeared, as did Speedy Infected who could reach supersonic speeds, Special Infected capable of flight, and Intelligent Infected capable of controlling human minds. But because the method of transmission was fixed, and the Human Federation still maintained its combat strength, the S-2 virus was easily suppressed in just a year and four months. Every Infection Source was destroyed.'
'But once there's a second time, there'll be a third and a fourth. Now that the S-2 virus has revealed its potential for growth, can humanity really resist the desire coded into its genes?'
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