It might not have been a journey to another world, but a jump along the timeline. For Cheng Ye, that was good news.
It meant his roots were still on this planet. Maybe one day, when he was strong enough to return to the ruins of Yang City where he'd lived, he could find his old rental apartment, dig the spare change out from between the mattress seams, and see the motivational slogans he'd written on the wall to prepare for graduate school.
Of course, after eighty years, with Supernatural Power having evolved, no one knew what the ruins had become.
Maybe everything had changed into something Cheng Ye no longer recognized. But wasn't a little hope what kept people going?
"If things had followed the normal timeline, even if I'd passed the civil service exam in my first year after graduation, I probably wouldn't have survived the S-1 virus seven years later."
"But the apocalypse? The Mayans could predict that extraterrestrial life would visit Earth?!"
Cheng Ye grumbled to himself. He'd rather believe it was a beautiful coincidence.
He returned Origin of Infection to the shelf and picked up a second book.
Supernatural Diary
A Transcendent's memoir, recording in full the journey of an ordinary person who suddenly acquired a supernatural object and rose to the pinnacle of life.
Though the written word didn't hit as hard as video, Cheng Ye could still make out two words between the lines:
Cannibalism!
To become a Transcendent, you had to climb over the corpses of others.
You had to fight and seize what you could, or you'd never get ahead in life.
That was why some Transcendents, driven by deep obsessions and possessing unusual abilities, became beings like Earthbound Spirits after losing their minds to the S-4 virus.
They were hard to track down. Even when one finally appeared, it was impossible to kill, and anyone who came into contact with it risked being infected.
Humanity had simply erased all such regions from maps and history, cutting off exploration at its source.
He opened the third book, Distribution of the Primal Source of Infection. As expected, it wasn't a map of the Sanctuary Cities provided by the Checkpoint. It was a world map Cheng Ye recognized, only with many regions missing.
Wō Island, for example. And the entire continent of Antarctica.
On the map of China, Cheng Ye's gaze sharpened when he spotted one pitch-black patch and four orange-red ones.
"Does black mean you can't enter, while orange-red means it's extremely dangerous?"
Like a cracked sponge suddenly dropped into water, Cheng Ye greedily absorbed information that was hard to find in the Wasteland.
The patter of rain outside became the perfect white noise, shutting out the chaos of the Buffer Zone.
He had no idea how much time passed.
The rain eased, and the dense clouds gradually parted, revealing a thin sliver of sunlight.
The Defense Communicator on the table suddenly vibrated with a message, jolting Cheng Ye back to reality.
"Already six thirty?"
He'd entered the library at nine. In the blink of an eye, nearly nine hours had passed.
Three and a half stacks of books, each half a person's height, stood on the wooden table.
Gwen had allowed it because Cheng Ye read incredibly fast and was completely absorbed in his books.
After asking him two random questions and confirming he wasn't just skimming, Gwen had gladly agreed to let him take several books at once and read them at the table, saving him the trouble of going back and forth.
"Mr. Cheng, are you hungry? We sell Nutrient Paste here at the same price as outside."
Gwen poked her head out from behind the shelf and beckoned to him.
"Or is there anything else you need? Don't be shy. The Survival Library gives guests as wise and eager to learn as you the best treatment we can."
"Mm."
Cheng Ye glanced at his Defense Communicator and smiled as he shook his head. "Sorry, I've got work to do. Thank you for having me. I'll come back to read here tomorrow."
"All right. The rain stopped at four. I helped dry the raincoat you hung by the window, and it's in a bag by the door. Just bring the bag to me when you come back tomorrow."
"Also..." Gwen came over. Only then did Cheng Ye notice that her left leg was a little impaired. She walked with a limp. No wonder she'd stayed curled up on the little bed the whole time.
"You can go now. I'll put the books back for you and make a note of the ones you haven't read."
"Thank you so much!"
Cheng Ye nodded. He knew this was Gwen's way of investing in him, much like Uncle Dong giving him Nutrient Paste that morning.
So this was the real Wasteland...
As long as you showed that you had something the other person valued, you'd receive the best treatment.
Perhaps one day, those investments would pay back tenfold, a hundredfold, and change the course of your life.
When Cheng Ye left the library, the sky had indeed cleared from leaden gray.
Most of the thick clouds had retreated, and the remaining ones drifted lazily along the horizon like crumpled cotton.
A few rays of sunlight spilled through gaps in the clouds. One fell right onto the flagstones in front of the library, mingling with the crisp scent unique to the air after rain.
Cheng Ye took a deep breath. The heaviness in his chest seemed to vanish.
"Feels great!"
Compared with the body he'd had before crossing over, already worn down by years of academic grind, this one was unbelievably strong.
His stiff neck, slightly sore back, and numb calves all returned to normal after a little movement.
But looking at the dark clouds churning on the horizon, Cheng Ye knew the torrential rain had only let up for now.
As long as no new cyclone formed to push the warm air forward, the rain front would keep hovering over Chuan City.
Beep, beep, beep.
The Defense Communicator vibrated again. Since Cheng Ye had turned off Do Not Disturb, it jumped straight from the message screen to an incoming call.
It was Luo Xiaoxue.
"Hey, Sister Luo. I was at the library just now. All right, all right, I'm on my way!"
After hanging up, Cheng Ye waited less than two minutes before easily squeezing onto a bus heading back to the Main Urban Area.
With the torrential rain gone, the lockdown in the Main Urban Area had ended too. Several workers in coveralls sat in the bus, chattering about the Special Plants they'd encountered while clearing land that day.
Cheng Ye instinctively assumed they meant the kind of Transcendent Plants that could grant people power. But after listening for a while, he shook his head with a quiet laugh, thinking he'd read himself silly.
After the S-4 virus erupted, Transcendent Plants hadn't been spared. Most died, while a small number formed symbiotic relationships with Infected.
Those were the "Special Infected" Gwen had mentioned earlier.
These Special Infected retained the traits of plants. Although they could move, they didn't actively attack humans, and they were widely distributed across the continents of Blue Star.
Rumor had it that the plant part could still grant people Supernatural Power without any risk of infection. So there had always been people in the Wasteland scraping the land bare in search of them.
Unfortunately, after all these years, no one had ever heard of anyone finding one and striking it rich.
But now these workers were discussing mutated plants, much like people in the modern world discussing lottery jackpots. They knew perfectly well that these weren't the miraculous Special Infected, yet they still clung to a little foolish hope of striking it rich.
"It's Supernatural Power, after all. Who wouldn't be tempted?"
To be fair, now that he knew how powerful Transcendents were, Cheng Ye was eager for it too.
After all, ordinary people in the Wasteland had at most heard stories about how powerful Transcendents were, while he had once "seen" that kind of power with his own eyes.
Of course, in movies and anime.
Screee—
The tires, worn almost bald, shrieked against the slick road. The Station Announcer chimed in with its mechanical voice: "Xingfu Bank stop."
Cheng Ye stepped off the bus. It was his second time here.
The last time had been on his second day in the Wasteland, when he'd come to sign the papers and inherit Cheng Long's estate.
"Xiao Cheng?"
Cheng Ye was squinting at the bank building not far away when a gentle female voice suddenly came from beside him.
He turned his head.
Luo Xiaoxue was walking over with a middle-aged man sporting slicked-back hair. She looked at him in surprise.
"It's only been two months. How did you get so buff?"
"Huh? Did I?"
Cheng Ye scratched his head and promptly blamed it on someone else. "It's all thanks to Brother B. He watches me train every day. Even if I slack off, I've got to show some results eventually."
"Is that so?"
Luo Xiaoxue studied him skeptically.
Back when Cheng Ye left the High Wall, she'd gone with Liu Bi to pick him up.
In her memory, Cheng Ye had been a thin, pale young man who always kept his head down and barely spoke.
She hadn't expected him to change so much in two months. His shoulders nearly filled the collar of his shirt, the muscles in his forearms stood out clearly, and his whole body radiated masculine vitality. When he smiled, the corners of his eyes relaxed, and he seemed to have a brisk, decisive air from the very marrow of his bones.
"Sister Luo, if I still looked like I did before, Brother B wouldn't have trusted me to go to the North South Gate alone, would he?"
Liu Bi was thirty-five, and Luo Xiaoxue was thirty-four.
Given that his original body was only nineteen, calling her "Sister" might have seemed a little odd. But before crossing over, Cheng Ye had been twenty-six, so they weren't far apart in age.
"That's true."
Luo Xiaoxue studied him for a while longer before finally setting aside her doubts. Then she turned to introduce the other man. "This is your Uncle Song, one of the managers at the Public Works Department. He knew your father and Liu Bi well. We'll ask him to lend you some Contribution Points for now. You don't need to worry about paying him back right away. I'll have your Brother B cover you first."
"Thank you, Uncle Song!"
Cheng Ye greeted him at once. The middle-aged man with slicked-back hair gave him a kind smile.
"No need to be so formal. Cheng Long and I served together too. Cheng Ye, if you ever need anything, just come to the Public Works Department and find me."
"I wouldn't want to trouble you, Uncle Song. Borrowing Contribution Points today is already a huge help!"
Exchanging pleasantries, the three of them entered the Xingfu Bank Buffer Branch.
Its interior resembled a modern rural credit cooperative. There were four service windows, all empty at this hour.
That wasn't surprising.
Unlike freely circulating Happiness Coins, Contribution Points were strictly regulated throughout Xingfu City's sphere of influence. Every point spent had to be recorded and accounted for, so ordinary people rarely came here.
A Trainee Inspector like Cheng Ye was allowed to borrow only 100 Contribution Points every six months.
That was also the main reason Liu Bi had offered him 100 points.
"Inspector Cheng, please note: Contribution Points borrowed from others must have a reasonable and legitimate purpose and may only be used by the borrower. If a subsequent audit finds that your borrowed points were circulated in some other way, you will be fined between two and ten times the amount, depending on the severity of the case."
As Cheng Ye signed the paperwork, the clerk behind the counter reminded him.
Before you continue