291 -295

Chapter 291: Entering Gantz

"That's right. That's the fishy part."

Chen Chen nodded. "According to the plot of the original comics, humanity had defeated the aliens. This is pretty far fetched. After all, humans have manufactured spacecraft, yet their weapons are still stuck at the level of conventional firearms and cold weapons... Even putting that aside, I prefer the aliens who have weapons of mass destruction as a trump card. Even if they can't destroy Earth, it'll be a piece of cake to destroy humans.

"But now, it seems that human civilization has not gone extinct because of war. In other words, either the aliens used some superior method or something else destroyed the human race."

"So, do we still head to Gantz's dimension to search for more advanced technology?"

Little X said, "I'm worried that their technology was annihilated along with human civilization."

"Nah, that's good news for me."

Chen Chen waved his hand decisively. "If human civilization had perished in the ravages of war, there would be nothing left. However, now it seems that, after human civilization was wiped out for some unknown reason, those buildings have been preserved instead. Doesn't this mean that the technology relating to the Gantz black sphere might have survived?"

"So, that's it."

Little X suddenly understood. "Just like in Elysium's world?"

"Indeed."

Chen Chen nodded but something occurred to him again and suddenly his expression shifted. "Still, I'd prefer that the extinction of mankind was caused by aliens and not something similar to those three sculptures..."

At this point in the discussion, Chen Chen and Little X had weighed the pros and cons. After Chen Chen silently calculated the energy left in the USB flash drive, he suddenly said, "X, is there a backup of Elysium?"

"Nope. But I can download it now."

Little X asked, "Is there something you want to get from Elysium?"

"Of course. I want to take out that 'Bugatti-Folge' luxury spaceship'."

Chen Chen replied with a serious expression, "This vehicle would be the easiest method to escape gravity and travel in outer space."

Little X silently estimated the spaceship's weight. "Indeed, this is probably the best choice for visits to alternate dimensions. In addition to lightweight and small size, it also has the ability to travel in outer space. It can just about cope with whatever conditions are on the other side of the passage. Still, you're thinking of using it in Gantz's dimension?"

"Yes, I'm going to look for the Gantz black sphere's technology in the world of Gantz."

Chen Chen affirmed. "The plot in the comics has revealed everything. The black sphere is created by the human government and the Gantz black spheres even have a dedicated assembly line. As for the source of technology, it came from an alien civilization that was about to be destroyed. Before being destroyed, they sent their scientific and technological data to Earth through an information channel. Thus, those empty rooms came about as well as the amazing teleporting and human replicating technology.

"But now it appears that the Gantz sphere's technology is still incomplete. For the black sphere to teleport humans, it needs the support of other facilities. This would be the technology we must look for in Gantz's dimension. Nonetheless, there's a whole planet over there. Without any transportation, it'd be difficult to move around."

With that, Chen Chen temporarily closed the channel that was connected to Gantz.

According to Chen Chen's previous testing, the portal opening had a certain degree of repeatability, allowing temporary closure. As long as no other channel was opened, the previous channel would be retained.

Moreover, using the first form of the USB drive to extract items would not affect the reopening of the said portal.

At this time, following the discussion between the two, Elysium Space was downloaded again. Meanwhile, Chen Chen used the method of extraction to directly obtain the red Bugatti from the movie.

In an instant, a dark red car, over four meters long and less than two meters tall, appeared in their reality out of thin air.

This "car" was entirely streamlined, just like an actual red sports car, but the only difference from a sports car was that it had no tires. Only the two plasma pulse booster engines at the rear were in charge of breaking free of gravity.

The interior of the "car" had four seats, of which there was a main driver's seat on the right and three passenger seats on the left. It could carry a total of four passengers.

In the movie, the protagonist used a delayed explosive gun to fire a bullet into the opponent's engine when they were taking off. When the opponent was about to enter the supersonic state, he detonated the bullet and caused the spaceship to crash outside the city.

This also showed that this kind of spacecraft was only an ordinary civilian model and did not have advanced protection capabilities.

Of course, there were also military spaceships with protective capabilities in the movie, but their sizes were far beyond what Chen Chen could extract.

Chen Chen patted the car-like spaceship and said, "Bring the pressure sensor and weigh this car."

Immediately, a Black Knight brought the pressure sensor over and everyone worked together to lift the spacecraft onto the sensor, then measured its weight at once.

The weight of this "Bugatti-Folge" spaceship was unexpectedly light, only about 1400kg, which was less than a ton and a half.

"It's almost the same weight as a Medpod 3000."

Chen Chen did some silent calculations but was not reassured and he asked Little X, "How about it? Can I enter the world of Gantz fully equipped and with the spaceship?"

"After calculation, the power left in the USB drive isn't a problem, but the only problem is that, after the spaceship is brought into Gantz's world, it can't be brought back to reality because there isn't sufficient energy for its return. That is, for this mission to Gantz, the spaceship must be abandoned regardless of mission outcome."

Chen Chen was silent for a while before nodding. "Understood. You can insert your clone X-112 into the Bugatti Spaceship and let it take charge of piloting. This time I'll go there myself."

"... Got it."

Little X knew that it could not stop Chen Chen, but still said, "Please be careful."

"Don't worry, as long as I don't encounter the type of sculptures that were in Elysium or if they're not in an active state, I'll be fine."

Chen Chen shook his head serenely. "And don't worry about aliens or anything like that. The ruins of Tokyo have already told us that Earth is already in the state of an extinct civilization. If it were occupied by aliens, this wouldn't be how it looks like..."

At this point, Chen Chen himself opened the portal to the dimension of Gantz. This time, he also wore a GS Combat Suit in addition to a PK Armor before he walked into the channel with the two Black Knights.

Behind the two Black Knights, the small Bugatti Spaceship also floated up amid the buzzing of its engines and drifted toward the passage...

In the next moment, the black light had swallowed their figures.

Chapter 292: Abnormality

It was that familiar sensation again.

As soon as he entered the channel, Chen Chen was overcome by a sense of weightlessness. At the same time, his eyes seemed to lose their vision and his ears lost their hearing. In other words, Chen Chen lost all sense of his body, leaving nothing but an intangible consciousness, floating in the endless darkness...

Nonetheless, this feeling only lasted for a moment and the next second, Chen Chen's eyes saw light again.

At this moment, he was already standing on a pile of rubble. Next to him, there were two other Black Knights and the small Bugatti Spaceship that had followed behind. The Black Knight who had come beforehand was standing quietly before him.

"Click, click, click..."

Chen Chen's six scanners quickly popped out of his back and scanned the surroundings swiftly, but only detected a few wild cats and dogs in the ruins. Everything else was normal.

"Drone."

After that, Chen Chen said softly.

At Chen Chen's command, the four M-1 drones upon the Bugatti Spaceship took off in silence. As they took off, their shape quickly turned blurry. By the time they had flown for dozens of meters, these four drones had completely blended into the air and vanished without a trace.

The drones were much faster than humans at searching. After a few minutes, the four drones had examined everything within one kilometer. This was all sensed by X-112, the clone of Little X, who duly reported each update.

"Sir Commander, no signs of human activities have been found within one kilometer. There's only a large number of animals and plants..."

"Expand the range and find out what the conditions are like within ten kilometers," Chen Chen ordered.

After the order was issued, the drones moved toward the unknown to explore further.

During the drone exploration, Chen Chen jumped off the ruins and walked toward a nearby apartment that had not collapsed. Although this apartment was already entangled in vines, it was made of conventional reinforced concrete instead of ordinary wooden boards. Therefore, the structure had not collapsed under the assault of wind and rain over many years.

The original glass doors of the apartment had been damaged long ago. It was dark and empty inside, like a gaping abyss. As Chen Chen and the three Black Knights entered, a cloud of dust was stirred up by the breeze.

Chen Chen squatted and touched the ground. A thick layer of ash had accumulated. Based on the thickness of this blanket of ash, no one had entered this place for decades.

Even after seeing this, Chen Chen still did not take the situation lightly but walked in cautiously. After that, he let a Black Knight take the lead as they looked through each room in the apartment.

This apartment had five floors, each of which had ten rooms in a row, connected by a corridor. At both ends of the corridor were stairs leading up and down. This was the simplest layout for apartment buildings.

All the doors in the apartment were anti-theft doors made of alloy, which had remained intact for so long. However, most of the anti-theft doors on the first and second floors exhibited signs of damage. It seemed that someone had forcibly broken in. Even so, those marks were very old as well.

After walking around these rooms, Chen Chen did not find anything special. There was nothing else but some rotten furniture. Chen Chen even found a wallet that had not been taken away in time, with a large amount of cash still inside.

However, all food-related items had disappeared.

"In other words, the people who broke in later took only the food, but not the money."

Chen Chen reflected out loud, "In that case, someone must've pried open these doors and broke into the apartment after the government collapsed. These people had adapted to a world of anarchy. They were searching for food all over the place, yet they wouldn't spare a glance for money."

After silently imprinting this clue into his mind, Chen Chen moved past these opened doors and walked toward the highest floor of the apartment.

Those who broke in must have had plenty of options, yet they only pried open the doors on the first and second floors. Starting from the third floor, only a few doors were pried open and most of them were intact.

There were even fewer doors that were pried open on the fourth floor and by the fifth floor, none of the doors had been pried open.

After noticing this, Chen Chen no longer hesitated. He beckoned and a Black Knight immediately stepped forward and tugged violently at the first door that had rusted long ago. There was the sound of metal being twisted, then a loud bang. The door was forcibly opened by the Black Knight.

These Black Knights were like mini supermen who were perfectly fused with the T-virus in the first place. After they put on the GS Combat Suits and the PK Armor, their power was augmented to a terrifying point. Twisting open a rusty iron door was a walk in the park.

When the door was opened, the sound of splitting metal ruptured the ancient silence of this apartment. The sound rippled into the distance, echo after echo...

At this point, Chen Chen frowned because he suddenly realized that this apartment seemed a bit too quiet. It was unlike the ruins that he had just come from. There, after just a glance with his PK Armor's infrared vision, he could detect many insects and a few wild animals.

However, in this apartment, forget about wild animals, there was not even a single insect chirp.

"Something is wrong."

Chen Chen took a step back abruptly and said, "Let's withdraw!"

Without any hesitation, the Black Knight who had just opened the anti-theft door followed Chen Chen down the stairs.

Along the way, Chen Chen could not help but feel his nerves tensing up. He felt that even the air had solidified for some reason. There seemed to be something in this apartment, which was slowly awakening after the noise they made.

'Is it just in my head? Or...'

Chen Chen felt cold sweat drenching his back. He had not seen anything but for some reason, he felt his hair standing on end. This chill crawling down his spine made him bite the bullet and quickly flee from the apartment.

Only when they had gotten out of the area of the apartment did Chen Chen slowly exhale. The heavy feeling had faded gradually after he left the apartment.

He could not tell what kind of feeling it was. The air seemed to be weighed down by something heavy. The atmosphere that was once light and relaxed became as sluggish as a swamp, turning into a more suffocating pressure.

This was something that only Chen Chen could feel.

It was just that this feeling was rather indefinite.

Chen Chen could not help but glance down at the PK Armor he was wearing. It seemed that this armor had blocked off his feeling, only...

"What kind of feeling was that?"

Chen Chen frowned. He could tell that this feeling did not arise from the five senses, so it must have been an instinctive mental reaction to a part of reality. Strictly speaking, it should fall under the category of his sixth sense.

"In other words, I've sensed something that I've never noticed before and whatever it was caused a direct response in my mind, resulting in a sense of danger?"

This feeling was not groundless. Rather, it was more subconscious. For example, when Chen Chen scanned the area just now, he had observed many animals living in the ruins. Although the surroundings were deserted, they were full of life.

However, after entering the apartment, although Chen Chen had overlooked the presence of those small animals out of habit, the difference in the surroundings still put his subconscious on guard. Thus, Chen Chen's conscious mind would only feel that something was off, without being able to pinpoint what exactly.

It was only in the next moment that the subconscious mind realized what was wrong — the small animals around were gone. Only then did Chen Chen experience a shocking realization and he left the apartment quickly.

Thinking of this, Chen Chen turned around again and looked at the apartment behind him.

Even so, when he got a good look, his pupils shrank furiously!

At some point, all the doors in the apartment had been opened...

It was as if the apartment was waking up from a deep sleep. It had opened its dense rows of "eyes", staring vacantly at Chen Chen who was standing before it...

Chapter 293: Investigation

"Gasp..."

This sight caused Chen Chen to inhale sharply. The scanners on his back seemed to sense that their wearer was emotionally disturbed and popped out once again, scanning the surroundings frantically. Even so, no matter what they did, they could not detect any signs of life in the apartment in front of them...

"Let's retreat further."

Without any hesitation, Chen Chen took the initiative to retreat again, until they were back at the portal from which they came. Only then did Chen Chen secretly heave a sigh of relief.

Following that, with his right hand, Chen Chen quickly pressed a button on his left arm. There was a beep and a jet injector shot out into the air. Chen Chen grabbed the injector while he tilted his neck. At once, a small piece of armor on his neck popped open, exposing the airtight membrane.

After that, Chen Chen directly inserted the jet injector into the membrane!

"Hiss!"

A thin stream of liquid was injected directly into Chen Chen's vein.

About thirty seconds later, Chen Chen felt his mind clear up. The initial feeling of being spooked quickly faded, leaving only an endless flow of speculations and reflections in his mind.

"How interesting..."

Chen Chen supported his chin in one hand, wordlessly stared at the apartment a hundred meters away, then looked at the Bugatti Spaceship beside him. "X-112, did you see when the doors were opened just now?"

"I didn't."

X-112 replied, "I pulled up the visual signals of the three Black Knights beside you. Just now, when you left, there were 5.3 seconds when everyone looked away from the apartment. Thus, there's a hundred percent chance that the doors in the apartment were opened within these 5.3 seconds."

Chen Chen nodded. He had thought as much. The Black Knights needed to be constantly vigilant, so it was impossible for them to keep their eyes fixed on the apartment behind. However, the rusty doors of the apartment were opened silently, which was something ordinary people could not do.

First of all, there was no electricity in the apartment. Chen Chen was very sure of this. Even if there were electricity, the doors were specially equipped with switches, which would open automatically as long as they were powered on. Nonetheless, what happened just now would not have been possible.

This was because those rusty doors could no longer be opened with electricity. Even if they were opened, they could not be opened without a sound.

Chen Chen directly discarded the possibility that the doors were controlled by an electric switch.

However, if it was not controlled by someone, then what was it?

Chen Chen narrowed his eyes out of habit. He had to admit that this was no longer a question that could be solved by taking NZT-48. The end of civilization in this dimension was caused by some existence and it was very likely that this apartment behind him was related to all this.

"Is this situation similar to Elysium's dimension?"

Chen Chen shook his head. At this moment, the voice of X-112 came from the PK Armor's communication device again. "Sir Commander, the M-1 drones have examined the general circumstances within a radius of ten kilometers. We found thirteen human skeletons exposed on the street."

"Can the animals and plants be detected?"

Chen Chen asked again, "Can you turn on the camera's thermal imaging mode and search for animals in the ruins?"

"We can try."

In accordance with Chen Chen's order, the four drones switched to thermal imaging mode and started the exploration mission again.

As they were exploring, a map with a radius of about ten kilometers around Chen Chen's location was also gradually taking shape.

This map was directly transmitted to Chen Chen's armor. The PK Armor had a unique AR system that could directly project images on Chen Chen's retina.

Currently, at the lower right corner of Chen Chen's field of vision was the map that was taking shape from the drones' relentless exploration.

When the map was formed, Chen Chen did not continue to move, but kept quiet and stayed in place while paying close attention to the small animals around him.

In Chen Chen's opinion, since these small animals could thrive so abundantly after the extinction of humans, it should be possible to prove that the "thing" that had wiped out humans was harmless to animals and plants.

No, maybe it was not harmless, just that these little animals could keenly detect the presence of that "thing" and evade it in advance.

As Chen Chen considered this, half an hour later, the four drones finally scanned everything within ten kilometers.

Chen Chen clicked on the map at the lower right corner and the map was immediately enlarged. It was translucent and occupied Chen Chen's entire field of vision. There were densely packed squares scattered over it. Each square represented a building.

It was like an actual bird's-eye view of a metropolis.

When he zoomed in on the map, a large number of small red dots appeared. Still, most of these red dots were dark red or orange-red and some were orange or even bright yellow. These red dots were all over the entire map. At first glance, they seemed to be scattered at random like stars in the sky, with no pattern to speak of.

These little red dots were all wild animals hiding in the buildings or ruins. The brighter the red dot, the larger their bodies. The dark red dots might be mice and birds while the red-orange and orange ones were wild cats and dogs. The bright yellow, which was the brightest color, would be a medium or large creature such as cattle and sheep.

"X-112, based on the density of wild animals, divide the area explored into squares with sides of 100x100m, then categorize the density into four levels."

Chen Chen thought for a while and continued. "For the first level, the number of wild animals in the square area is greater than five and the area is represented by the color blue; the second level, where the number of wild animals in the area is greater than two, is represented by yellow; the third level will have a number of wild animals in the area that is greater than one, represented by dark red; the fourth level, where the number of wild animals in the area is zero, is represented by bright red."

"Understood."

As X-112 executed the order, the map in front of Chen Chen became separated by a series of shallow dotted lines. The entire map which had a diameter of about 4 kilometers was divided into 1500 tightly packed squares. After that, these squares began to change color rapidly.

After the map had fully changed color, Chen Chen suddenly narrowed his eyes.

He noticed that on this map, there were many individual red areas and dark red areas, but these were indeed scattered here and there in a disorderly jumble. Only three spots displayed the most regularity — all three of them consisted of a bright red center with edges that were dark red, further edges that were yellow, and an outermost fringe of blue.

"X-112, perform calculative corrections to the map."

Chen Chen ordered again.

After Chen Chen's order, most of the random reds and yellows disappeared from the map in front of him. Those locations were either empty roads or open spaces without any houses. The scarcity of animals in these spots was not an abnormal phenomenon.

Only the three locations, with an area of several thousand square meters, were highlighted. One of the abnormal locations was the apartment building that Chen Chen just entered...

"As I thought."

Looking at the map before him, Chen Chen smiled placidly, displaying a look of realization. "These three locations must be some kind of restricted zone to life forms."

Now that he had ascertained the security of his surroundings, Chen Chen was not apprehensive anymore. He directly boarded the Bugatti Spaceship. "X-112, take me to the location where you found the human skeletons while keeping away from those three abnormal areas, as well as those small red areas that still remain after the map was corrected."

"Very well!"

X-112 replied decisively.

Chapter 294: A Strange Diary

After they flew for only two or three minutes, the spaceship landed on an empty, crumbling street.

This was a wide crossroads. Chen Chen remembered that the movies from the East China Sea Continent would always begin with an opening shot of crossroads like this one during rush hours.

The massive traffic flow and the heavy crowds on both sides of the road created a bustling, fast-paced scene.

As the green light flashed, the traffic that was as majestic as a river appeared to be interrupted by an invisible force. The flow of people, packed like sardines on both sides of the road, suddenly surged past like a flood, moving out of this thriving city scene.

Only now, the endless traffic that used to be there was no longer there and the throngs of people had disappeared, leaving only the dilapidated streets and vines spreading everywhere.

As Chen Chen walked out of the spaceship, he immediately saw a skeleton on the side of the road. It was practically a part of the soil.

This corpse had been dead for a long time and only the jumble of white bones was left. Due to the long-term effects of the weather, it was half-buried in the soil. It was likely that in a few years, it would completely sink into the soil and vanish.

The bones looked like they had been frequently gnawed by animals.

When he saw this, Chen Chen could not help frowning. With a corpse like this, there was nothing to learn except for the fact that this person had been dead for a long time. "X-112, are all the skeletons like this?"

"Yes. It may be because the search range is too small and the drones aren't able to search inside the buildings, so no well-preserved corpses have been found for the time being."

"Expand the drones' search and try to ascertain the conditions within a hundred kilometers by today."

As he said that, Chen Chen looked at the dilapidated house fronts on both sides of the road. He reconfirmed that there were no forbidden red areas nearby, then led the Black Knights toward the house fronts.

These street-side houses were all shops. In Tokyo, each inch of these shops would be worth an inch of gold, but now they had long since declined and became the homes of wild cats and dogs.

Those small counters selling snacks had long been raided and Chen Chen even noticed the shattered glass smithereens and a hammer on the ground. These were all traces of the plundering.

The same thing had occurred in clothing stores and tool stores. Conversely, the ones that nobody was interested in were the most expensive jewelry stores and the banks that used to be filled with people.

Chen Chen simply asked the three Black Knights to explore on their own. As they searched through the shops, Chen Chen soon found what he was looking for.

A well-preserved dried male corpse.

When he heard this from X-112, Chen Chen walked into an office building and found a corpse that had turned as dried as bacon long ago, in a room on the third floor.

Nonetheless, it was different from the exposed corpses outside. This office was sealed shut and there were no windows open, so the corpse that had been dead for many years still remained as it was before its death.

The corpse remained sprawled over the desk, seeming to be asleep, but it was wearing an outdoor jacket. The clothing itself had withered to tatters long ago due to the liquid seeping out of the decayed corpse. Beside the table, there was an opened package with a coil of rope, as well as daggers and other tools scattered on the ground.

There was even an open military canteen by one side.

This corpse entered this office alone when he was alive, then took a nap on his desk, but unexpectedly, after falling asleep, he never woke up again.

The closed office had preserved perfectly the scene of the corpse's death. After a brief evaluation, Chen Chen promptly figured out the time when the corpse died.

The person that was once this corpse had died four to five years ago, and the age of that person had only been about 30 years old.

Did he die suddenly at such a young age?

Chen Chen frowned instinctively. There seemed to be something more to the corpse in front of him.

Thinking of this, he made a quick gesture and the Black Knight on the side immediately came forward and began to rifle through the body while another Black Knight looked through the corpse's package.

Soon, the first Black Knight found a portable tool bag in the pocket of the corpse. In the tool bag, there was also a book that was similar to a diary.

Chen Chen took the palm-sized book, opened it gently, and was greeted by a line of scribbled Japanese.

After taking NZT-48, Chen Chen could easily master various foreign languages. Therefore, he often set aside time to learn some of the most common or more conventional languages in the world including ancient Greek, Latin, and Japanese.

Presently, as Chen Chen looked at the words, he could swiftly read out these Japanese lines:

"26 March 2028. Weather: fine. I must continue working hard today!

"Now is my favorite time — dinnertime. I'm about to begin eating. Today's meal is the canned beef that Daitetsu-kun brought back from the city. I can't believe that Daitetsu-kun is so kind. He's willing to share with us the canned beef he obtained after risking life and limb. I must remember Daitetsu-kun's kindness!"

After reading the first page, Chen Chen could not help frowning. This was indeed a diary and it was also the thing in which the corpse in front of him had recorded the dates and trivial matters of life. However, it did not mention any information that Chen Chen wanted to know.

Still, seeing that there were a few more pages, Chen Chen turned to the second page and continued reading.

"16 April 2028. Weather: rain. Let's do this, let's go!

"After changing to a new diary, I found that I was gradually losing the habit of writing a diary. Perhaps it's because I've been softened by how safe and comfortable life was recently? But there's no other way. I'm still too weak to help everyone. Fortunately, everyone is working hard to survive!"

On the second page, there was still no valuable information. The only information was that the corpse before Chen Chen had probably joined a group during this time.

Did they band together to survive?

Chen Chen shook his head and continued to turn to the third page.

What followed next was also some daily affairs. As long as there was no vital information, Chen Chen would just skim it. It was only near the end that he was suddenly attracted by an entry —

"2 September 2028. Weather: fine. Let's do this! Today's a sunny day as well!

"It's been a long time since I wrote an entry. Ever since 'it' started to happen all over the world, the glorious civilization of mankind has completely fallen. The remaining survivors inherit the will of the deceased and struggle to live on. I'm no different but lately, I've suddenly had a bad premonition because I have had nightmares for two consecutive nights. Each night I'll dream of something terrible...

"Haha, it should be just a coincidence. I won't have that dream again tonight. I won't."

It?

What was "it"?

Chen Chen eagerly read on and flipped to the next page, which was the day after this entry.

"3 September 2028. Weather: fine. I really can't believe it!

"Why? Why did I have that nightmare again last night? It shouldn't be. It's just made-up, right? It must be a coincidence... Ando, please don't frighten yourself! It must be just a coincidence. I will not have that nightmare again tonight. I must be strong!"

Chapter 295: "It"

Did he see something in his dream?

Upon reading these two entries, Chen Chen immediately discovered something unusual. This man named Ando seemed to be afraid of his own dreams.

According to the diary's description, he had had the same dream for three consecutive nights and this dream seemed to signify something.

It seemed to be signifying something dreadful. In other words, this was that "it"...

Chen Chen wore a thoughtful look, but he did not dwell too long on this. In any case, the answer should be found in the next few pages.

Thus, Chen Chen flipped to the next page.

"4 September 2028!!!

"D*mn it, I had that dream again last night. It's that woman with disheveled hair. She's getting closer and closer to me! D*mn it, d*mn it! On the first day, she was still outside the door, but last night she was already standing by the head of my bed. I could even see her white eyes, d*mn d*mn d*mn d*mn d*mn d*mn!!!

"I daren't tell Daitetsu-kun about all this. Otherwise, if everyone knows about this, I'll be kicked out of the team. I'm only 30 this year — I haven't lived enough of life. I don't want to die!"

Woman with disheveled hair? White eyes? A dream that continued where it left off?

After reading this paragraph, Chen Chen narrowed his eyes in response. He glanced at the corpse in front of him again and observed how the corpse was sprawled quietly across the desk. Its face shrank into a pucker, its mouth turned into a black hole due to the loss of moisture...

At this moment, Chen Chen suddenly realized that the hideous expression of this corpse was not caused by postmortem shrinking, but rather, that the person had seen something extremely terrifying when he was alive, which resulted in this look...

Chen Chen stepped back subconsciously. Something was weird about this corpse...

Chen Chen turned to the next page again:

"5 September 2028. Weather: fine.

"I've left the team — Kotetsu-kun and Sakura-ko and the rest. They drove me out, but I know that this isn't their fault. It was I who caused everyone trouble.

"I've made preparations for my death. I didn't sleep last night, so now I have to stay active all the time. Otherwise, if I'm not moving, my eyelids will start becoming heavy. I don't know how long I can hold on. Maybe I can try to sleep for a short five minutes and wake up before the next move has been made. Perhaps I might be able to escape death in this manner?

"Still, I'm terrified. I'll probably die, right? And after being kicked out of the team, how long can I last by myself?"

On this page, the handwriting started to become smudged. When the author wrote this passage, he was crying the entire time.

Chen Chen instinctively flipped the page again but was taken aback to see that the diary was completely blank after this.

This diary was cut off on 5 September 2028.

Chen Chen could not believe this at first, so he turned to the back pages again, but they were all blank. This was the last time the person had written his diary.

That was to say, it was either because in the following period, he was in no mood to write an entry as he was attempting to avoid the dream or he had not even had time to write anything before he died right here...

Chen Chen looked at the corpse again with a pensive look.

Could it be that this corpse in front of Chen Chen was killed by his own dream?

"'It', 'continuous nightmare', 'woman with disheveled hair'..."

In this diary, from beginning to end, the man named Ando never mentioned what was it that had destroyed human civilization, but only alluded to it by saying "it". These three key phrases comprised all the information that was revealed in the diary.

"However, based on his tone, this 'it' he mentioned that destroyed human civilization seems to be different from the nightmare he encountered."

Chen Chen pondered out loud, "Or maybe the nightmare he had was a part of 'it'?"

There was still too little information. Chen Chen did not learn much that was useful.

With this in mind, Chen Chen took a long final look at the corpse, then gestured to everyone. The three Black Knights followed Chen Chen and left the office.

Next, Chen Chen simply asked the three Black Knights to split up, each searching a floor, to look for new clues as quickly as possible.

Although it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, what Chen Chen was facing was a whole lost world after all. There was no other way except this most straightforward method.

Even so, fortunately, this office building was not as eerie as the previous apartment. After the Black Knights split up into three, they did not encounter any abnormalities. Instead, as the search continued, more and more bodies were found.

When Chen Chen received the updates and came to the fifth floor of the office building, he immediately saw the word "Bvlgari" that was carved in large Japanese characters upon the door using green and yellow acrylic panels.

Chen Chen still remembered that this was an internationally renowned luxury brand.

Nonetheless, that level of prosperity had long since vanished with the passing of human civilization. At this time, in the office hall that should have been extraordinarily lively, there were five withered corpses lying in disorder on the floor.

It was clear that these five corpses were older than that "Ando" guy, much older. They were practically air-dried and blackened, looking like lumps of charcoal, full of indescribable, grotesque wrinkles.

Based on their clothes, the five bodies had all been women.

Without Chen Chen having to give an order, the three Black Knights squatted and started searching for clues on the bodies. However, this time Chen Chen was disappointed. There was nothing on these corpses.

Even so, Chen Chen noticed that these five corpses all had one common feature. That was, if one lifted them while maintaining the posture they had when they died, one would find that their faces were all turned in the same direction...

Chen Chen looked in the direction where the five corpses had looked. It was the floor-to-ceiling window opposite the elevator.

At this time, the floor-to-ceiling window was no longer as clear as it used to be as it was covered in dust and fallen leaves. Still, Chen Chen could just about see the world outside through the glass.

The external world was blank. There were only the buildings on the opposite side of the road and the old mottled billboards that were near collapse.

Other than that, there was nothing outside the window.

"In other words, these five women seemed to have seen the same thing, but when they saw that thing, it also harvested their lives?"

Chen Chen murmured.

Thinking of this, Chen Chen's eyes flashed decisively. Then he pulled out the GS Blade that was hanging over his PK Armor and flicked it lightly. Suddenly, the GS Blade that had only been a handle in his hand ejected a ten-centimeter-long blade.

After that, Chen Chen squatted directly and cut the belly of one of the female corpses.

The GS Blade came with a high-frequency shock effect. Even though the corpse in front of him had hardened into a tough leather-like substance, Chen Chen only had to swipe lightly to cut it open at once.

However, after cutting it open, Chen Chen discovered that everything inside the corpse was as usual. Although it had been thoroughly air-dried, the shape of the organs from when they were alive could still be vaguely seen.

This meant that these corpses did not die from some internal injury, but something else.