novelraw Chapter 5 Traces
Chapter 5 Traces
The backpack landed on the ground first, and Xu Yang climbed in through the window.
Looking around, I realized my destination was a kitchen.
A refrigerator stood by the door, surrounded by a stove and a sink, but the surfaces were covered with black stains, and there were some white, shriveled moldy clumps in the sink.
Turn on the tap...
There is no water.
Open the refrigerator...
no power.
Xu Yang sighed and began rummaging through the cabinets.
Apart from expired and smelly food, only some kitchen utensils and knives remained.
He picked out a cleaver and brandished it in the air a few times.
It's probably not enough to chop down zombies, but it's more than enough as a cutting tool.
Task progress (1/4)
Xu Yang sheathed his knife and glanced out the window.
In the sky, the sun had a grayish-white quality, indicating that it was probably evening.
He plans to stay here tonight.
But before that, while there is still some visibility, we need to prepare to explore the entire house.
How can I allow others to sleep soundly on my own bed!
If he discovers any unforeseen circumstances in the house, he will have time to find another place to sleep.
A wise person does not stand under a crumbling wall...
Xu Yang entered the living room, which looked cleaner than the kitchen, but everything was still dusty.
But this is good news, at least it proves that no monsters have visited.
It is safe for the time being.
As he walked to the sofa, a magazine on the armrest caught his attention.
The image above looks somewhat familiar.
Xu Yang picked up the magazine—"Geological Source Technology Weekly".
The cover appears to feature... an astronaut?
He was completely covered in a bulky white suit, which did indeed resemble the image of an astronaut from his previous life.
However, the surrounding environment was not in space or inside a spaceship, but still on the ground, except that there was a scarlet wall in front of them.
It resembles a wall of flesh and blood.
Very weird.
He flipped through its contents, removing the large amount of boasting and speculation.
It only introduces an experiment.
Scientists seem to have discovered a new substance or some method, but the description is vague, probably because the author is also unclear about the specific steps.
In terms of the result alone, they ultimately transformed a pile of inorganic matter into some kind of organic matter, and called it a completely new life form.
That is, the fleshy wall on the cover.
Xu Yang frowned; the flesh and blood in the picture carried a strange meaning.
If he had to describe it, he could only think of one word—
blasphemy.
He felt inexplicably irritable.
As you continue reading, the magazine lists a bunch of strange, derivative things—
Customized life forms, base-state lures, armed humanoids...
The illustrations are mostly sanity-destroying stuff, and they all boil down to one word: sanity.
Curiosity.
Xu Yang tossed the magazine onto the sofa, opened his personal information panel to make sure he wasn't losing his composure, and then turned to look around the living room.
The table, chairs, and other items that you can see in other living rooms are mostly useless.
Beyond the stairs leading upstairs, there is a short corridor on the side.
There are rooms on both sides: bedrooms, toilets, storage rooms, and a small cubicle at the far end.
Xu Yang went to the bedroom and picked out some clothes for future washing and changing.
After all, if we were to leave the city, we would need to stuff these clothes into a backpack.
Otherwise, I'll be suffocated by the fumes sooner or later.
With a slight chuckle, Xu Yang shook his head and entered the storage room.
The power supply failed, and the storage room had no windows.
It was pitch black inside, and you could only vaguely make out a shelf.
"guide"
In the darkness, a message appeared in my field of vision:
【Amelis (Figure)】
[A limited-edition figure of the virtual idol Emilia, produced by the well-known subculture company Fireplex, entirely handcrafted.]
[Note: Honey! Why didn't you include any details?!]
Rubbing his temples, Xu Yang glanced around.
...Well, how should I put it, this homeowner—
He has quite a few wives.
But none of that really helped; what's truly useful...
Xu Yang reached his hand behind the shelf.
The "wives" on the shelf were abandoned on the ground, and he also grabbed a tubular object.
Super glue
A powerful adhesive that can be used to bond almost anything, except large structures...
[Note: Which bastard told you to put it in the bathroom!]
A sad story.
Xu Yang tucked the super glue into his pocket.
He guessed that this was probably a tool the homeowner used to connect his wives.
Click click.
Xu Yang's heart skipped a beat. How many times had this happened? He turned to look at the door.
corridor.
The sound was faint, but it was definitely not a hallucination.
He lowered his footsteps, the flamethrower condensing in his palm, his gaze reaching the door before his body.
There was nothing in the corridor except dust.
Xu Yang's gaze was fixed on something not far away—
He heard a strange "clattering" sound coming from the small cubicle at the far end.
The door was half-open.
It was pitch black inside. By the light of the fire in his hand, Xu Yang peered through the crack in the door and saw that the cubicle contained a downward staircase.
It leads to a basement.
"Shall we go down and take a look?"
Xu Yang squinted and reached out—
pat.
He closed the door.
Those who knowingly venture into dangerous places are either brave warriors or madmen.
Xu Yang had a clear understanding of himself; he was just an ordinary person who sought good fortune and avoided misfortune.
They would only thoughtfully apply some super glue to the door seams to seal the door tightly.
It was just a casual thing.
Even so, he was still a little worried, so he first found some brooms and mops in the kitchen and used them to block the door of the partition, and then moved some large objects from the living room to block the door.
It almost completely filled the space between the cubicle door and the wall on the other side of the corridor.
Xu Yang nodded in satisfaction.
If I can push this aside, then I don't need to run. It's just a matter of the other party throwing a wall.
Moreover, the noises below were not frequent.
This is more like a routine activity of some creature than a genuine awareness of itself.
Otherwise, the other party should have knocked on the door while moving things.
After dealing with the potential hazard, Xu Yang decided not to waste any more time on the first floor.
Go up to the second floor.
There are three bedrooms upstairs; there's no danger, but not much to gain either.
He found some bed sheets in these rooms and tied them into a makeshift rope.
After choosing a bedroom as his resting place, Xu Yang tied the rope he had just used to the window.
In case something unexpected happens on the first floor, I won't be able to escape in time.
As for missions and such, when it really comes to that—
Let's just make a glorious cut.
……
Xu Yang leaned against the window.
The sun on the horizon turned from gray to black and disappeared completely into the night sky.
The outside world was pitch black.
He drew the curtains and lay down on the modernly designed bed.
This was the first time since he transmigrated that he had slept in a bed instead of in some cold basement.
There was only one small problem—the clothes hadn't been changed.
It smells awful...
Foul-smelling slime—"It can mask all other odors around it."
With his eyes closed, Xu Yang felt like he was about to suffocate.
He probably fell asleep after suffocating for so long.
……
Bang!
Xu Yang suddenly opened his eyes; a faint light was already shining through the window.
He got up, drew back the curtains, and looked in the direction from which the sound was coming.
On the other side of town.
Some bright yellow light was flickering.
Xu Yang squinted.
That's firelight. What happened?
Yes--
Is it a person?
He bit his nails, a wildfire of impulse swirling within him—
Why don't we go take a look first?
His gaze naturally shifted to the street, where a bunch of strange-looking things were running around.
They have already put Xu Yang's impulse into practice.
……
Xu Yang's eyes cleared up.
I let out a long sigh and took out today's breakfast.
I'm probably sick; I'm hallucinating from eating protein-rich foods.
How could such a wicked impulse exist?
Moreover, even if the noise was indeed deliberately created, excluding the possibility of an accident, what would the other party's purpose be?
Hunting monsters?
Or distract the monsters?
If it's the former, it's too risky to approach rashly. Not to mention dealing with monsters along the way, what if the other party gets bloodthirsty and uses you as a monster to finish off?
If it's the latter, then obviously the other party is planning to take advantage of the monster's departure to scavenge for supplies in other areas. Going to the fire at this time would be like courting death.
There's even a more sinister possibility: the other party is... shilling.
Therefore, the most correct course of action now is to seize the opportunity.
Let's share a piece of the pie.