Tragic Scene

Chapter 4: The Tragic Scene

The explosion just now had not caused the translucent shadow the slightest bit of harm; all the rubble and debris had passed directly through it.

David wanted to order the translucent shadow to return, but he sensed a feeling of satisfaction emanating from it, as if it had just feasted on something.

Outside, where he could not see, the translucent shadow was hovering at a distance of ten meters from him—the maximum distance it could stray from his side.

This position happened to be where the bookstore's entrance had completely vanished, and wisps of invisible, ethereal matter were being drawn toward the translucent shadow, flying into its body.

If anyone were to count them, they would find that the number of these ethereal wisps matched exactly the number of people who had died.

David felt his connection with the translucent shadow growing tighter; if it had previously felt like a 2G mobile connection, it now felt like a 3G connection. That was the sensation he had at this moment.

He did not understand what had happened, but he knew there was nothing wrong with the translucent shadow; on the contrary, it seemed to have gained some benefit, so he left it alone.

After all, he had possessed the translucent shadow for too short a time—so short that he had not yet been able to truly understand its abilities.

David tried to stand up; the wound on his back stung a little, but it was nothing major, and he walked toward the bathroom doorway, which had lost its metal door.

Stepping through the puddles on the floor, he walked carefully, as the ground was covered in debris from the explosion.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, for he saw a cylindrical metal object. It was thick enough to be gripped by one hand and about twenty centimeters long, with hollow ends sealed by black, glass-like mirrors.

In such a chaotic environment, this metal cylinder was remarkably clean—so clean that one could not help but focus their gaze upon it.

Even if David was ignorant of this world, he knew this was no ordinary item, so he bent down and picked it up.

It wasn't that he had any intention of keeping the metal cylinder, but he thought he shouldn't just leave it lying there; of course, there was also an element of curiosity involved.

Putting the metal cylinder into his pocket, he walked out of the bathroom; compared to the interior of the bathroom, the destruction in the bookstore lobby was far more severe.

The entire bookstore was filled with choking smoke, the transparent glass wall outside and the main entrance were gone, and large patches of red blood and both intact and mangled human remains were scattered inside and outside the shop.

When the personal flight shuttle collided with the crowd, the people, due to the shuttle's excessive speed and the surrounding congestion, were simply unable to dodge in time.

The personal flight shuttle had disintegrated at the end, and its backup power source had exploded, leaving almost no survivors in this area.

David felt a wave of nausea; he knew clearly that nearly a hundred people had gathered outside the bookstore, but at this moment, there were only a dozen or so intact bodies, with the rest being nothing more than metal fragments and bloody, mangled remains scattered everywhere.

His mind went blank, but he was soon jolted back to reality by the sound of miserable groans.

David was about to step forward to help those struggling on the ground, but he heard the sound of sirens coming from the air, followed by the sight of two blue-and-white police patrol shuttles approaching.

He couldn't help but stop; such injuries were best handled by professionals, and since rescue had arrived, there was no need for him to intervene.

The blue-and-white police patrol shuttles hovered on the road in front of the bookstore, and over a dozen uniformed police officers jumped out.

All the police officers were stunned by the scene before them, and immediately began to busy themselves amidst various shouts and orders.

David, the only person standing intact at the scene, was naturally singled out for attention, and a police officer headed toward him.

"Are you alright?" a middle-aged police officer asked David while checking his identity bracelet with a device in his hand.

David shook his head; he didn't speak, because he had seen Jessica's body.

The girl who had walked with him that morning was now lying in a pool of blood, a metal fragment from the personal flight shuttle embedded in her heart.

"I am Officer Bob. The paramedics will be here soon; they will treat your injuries!" Officer Bob looked at the device in his hand and realized this was still a student. Seeing David's expression, he couldn't help but pat David lightly to offer comfort.

David did not have Jessica's memories, but he knew that Jessica and his predecessor were at least friends, otherwise, they wouldn't have come to the bookstore together.

He couldn't describe his feelings regarding Jessica's death; it wasn't sadness or grief. What he felt most at this moment was fear—an extreme, overwhelming fear.

If he hadn't sensed the danger from the translucent shadow, he would have been one of the corpses lying on the ground.

He nodded blankly at Officer Bob, his gaze still fixed on Jessica's body.

The second wave to arrive were the white medical rescue shuttles; the emergency response of this city was so fast it shocked David.

The explosion had happened only three minutes ago, and both the police and medical personnel had already arrived.

This did not make David feel happy, because it only highlighted the danger of this place; it was precisely because danger occurred so frequently that the police and medical staff had such rapid response capabilities.

He thought of the windowless buildings and the city he had seen; beauty was not important—sturdiness was what mattered most.

A medical worker treated the wound on his back and applied some medicine to the burns on his hands.

After the medical worker confirmed that his body was fine, David did not board the medical shuttle to go to the hospital.

Part of the reason was that he wanted to go home immediately; relatively speaking, that was the place where he felt safest. Another reason was that the casualties being transported to the medical shuttles were all severely injured, and those who could still scream were the ones in better condition.

Knowing that his body was not seriously hurt, he did not want to experience such a tragic scene any further.

He left his contact information from his wrist identity bracelet with Officer Bob so the police could reach him later, and then he was able to leave the scene and the bookstore.

As he left the bookstore, he sensed the translucent shadow following closely behind him, and not a single one of the police officers noticed it.

Covering the three-kilometer distance, David ran all the way home, completely ignoring the way pedestrians looked at his disheveled appearance.

As soon as he entered his home, he slammed the door shut and leaned against it.

Even though he was someone who had died once before, today's danger had still given him quite a fright.

He sat on the floor, feeling powerless; having arrived from a peaceful world to this dangerous, unfamiliar one, he felt a deep sense of panic.

The novelty of coming to this world had been shattered by the sudden danger, especially with Jessica, whom he knew, dying tragically before his eyes—a feeling he had never experienced in his previous life.

At this moment, he wished someone could comfort him, but with his memories not yet fully restored, he didn't know who to turn to, let alone the fact that his transmigration was his greatest secret, one he couldn't share with anyone. He thought of the translucent shadow.

Just as he was thinking this, the translucent shadow received his thought, revealed itself from invisibility, and sat down beside him.

Looking at the translucent shadow beside him, he couldn't help but feel a sense of peace; in the most dangerous moment, the translucent shadow had saved him.

Thinking back to last night when he first saw the translucent shadow, he had been terrified, but later, upon discovering it wasn't dangerous, he had treated it as his "golden finger" for transmigration, performing all sorts of ridiculous methods to activate it.

Now, David's heart was filled with gratitude; treating it like a friend, he reached out and patted the translucent shadow.