Chapter 4: Terrible Situation

The explosion just now didn't injure the translucent shadow at all. All of the debris and flying pieces penetrated right through it.

David wanted to order the translucent shadow to come back. However, he felt a sense of satisfaction coming from it, as if it had eaten something and was satiated. 

The translucent shadow stopped 10 meters away from him at a spot outside where he could not see. That was the maximum distance that the translucent shadow could be apart from David. 

That spot happened to be where the door of the bookstore was, which had completely disappeared. Countless translucent matter was attracted by the translucent shadow, immediately flying towards it and entering its body.

If someone counted, they would discover that the number of the translucent matter was exactly the number of casualties. 

David felt that his connection with the translucent shadow was getting stronger. If the connection he had with the translucent shadow before was akin to the 2G mobile network of his mobile phone, the current connection was akin to a 3G network connection.

He didn't understand what was happening, but he knew that there was nothing wrong with the translucent shadow. Instead, it seemed to have gained some benefit. Hence, he didn't bother about it.

At the end of the day, he had only obtained the translucent shadow for a short period of time, so much that he hadn't been able to really grasp what it was capable of.

David tried to stand up, and his back hurt a little. However, it did not affect him much. He proceeded to walk towards the washroom which had lost its metal door.

He walked carefully, stepping on the stagnant water on the ground, which was covered with debris from the explosion. 

He suddenly stopped in his tracks as he saw an object that was shaped like a metal cylinder. Its thickness made it possible for him to hold it with one hand, and it was about 20 centimeters in length. It had a hollow interior, and there were black glass-like mirrors that sealed the metal cylinder at both ends.

Amidst the chaotic environment, the metal cylinder was somehow extremely clean to the extent that one couldn't help but look at it. 

No matter how ignorant David was about this world, he knew that it was not an ordinary object. He bent over and picked it up. 

He didn't have the intention of possessing the metal cylinder, but rather, he felt that he couldn't just leave it there. Of course, one reason was also that he was curious. 

After putting the metal cylinder into his pocket, he walked out of the washroom, only to see that the halls of the bookstore were even more damaged than the interior of the washroom.

The entire bookstore was filled with smoke that was overwhelming and suffocating. The clear glass wall and door outside the bookstore had disappeared, and there were large, red blood clots, as well as human bodies that were either injured or intact. They were scattered both inside and outside the store.

When the personal aircraft collided with the crowd, the people could not dodge in time due to its excessive speed, and the fact that it was too crowded. 

In the end, the personal aircraft disintegrated and its backup energy source exploded, killing almost everyone in the area. 

David felt like throwing up. He was well aware that there were close to a hundred people gathered outside the bookstore. However, there were only a dozen or so intact bodies at this point. The rest were mostly badly mangled and bloodied with bits of metal and flesh everywhere.

His mind was blank. However, he was soon awakened by the sound of miserable moans.

David was about to step forward to help up the man who had collapsed onto the ground and was still struggling. However, he heard sirens coming from the air, after which he saw two blue and white police patrol hovering vehicles approaching.

He couldn't help but stop. It would be best to leave that type of injury to be treated by professionals. Since the aid had arrived, there was no need for him to intervene.

The blue and white police patrol vehicles hovered over the road in front of the bookstore. More than 10 uniformed police officers jumped out of them. 

All the police officers were stunned by the sight before them, and they immediately got busy while yelling and hollering.

David, the only person who was standing at the scene in one piece, was gaining special attention. There were some policemen walking towards him. 

"Are you alright?" asked a middle-aged policeman who was checking the identity bracelet on David with the device in his hand.

David shook his head. He did not say anything because he saw Jessica's body.

The girl whom he had accompanied in the morning was now lying in a pool of blood with a piece of metal from the personal aircraft that penetrated her heart.

"I'm Officer Bob. The rescue personnel will be arriving soon. They will treat your wounds!" the middle-aged officer, Bob, exclaimed as he looked at the device in his hand. He knew that David was still a student. When he saw David and realized that he was still a student, he gave David a light pat to comfort him since he saw the expression on David's face.

David did not have any memories of Jessica, but he knew that Jessica and his predecessor were at least friends. Otherwise, they would not have come to the bookstore together.

He couldn't put what he felt about Jessica's death into words. It was neither misery nor grief. At this point, the emotion that he felt most was extreme fear. 

If he hadn't sensed the danger from the translucent shadow, he would have been one of the bodies that had fallen to the ground.

While in a daze, he nodded at Officer Bob, but he was keeping his eyes glued onto Jessica's corpse. 

The second batch of aid to arrive was a white ambulance hovercraft. The city's quick emergency response was a great shock to David.

The explosion took place less than three minutes ago. Yet, the police and medical personnel had already arrived. 

That did not make David feel any joy because that simply meant that the place he was in was dangerous. The fact that it was constantly dangerous was the reason for the fast response of the police and emergency medical personnel. 

He thought about the windowless buildings and the parts of the city that he had seen. In this city, aesthetics were secondary to sturdiness, which mattered the most. 

A paramedic treated the wound on his back and helped apply some medicine on the burns on his hands.

After the paramedics concluded that there were no major problems with David's body, David decided not to board the air ambulance to the hospital.

One of the reasons was that he immediately wanted to go home, where he felt relatively safest. The other reason was that the wounded who had been carried onto the air ambulance were severely injured, and those who could still shriek in pain were in relatively better conditions.

Knowing that his body was fine, he did not want to experience that terrible situation again. 

He gave Officer Bob his predecessor's contact information, which was found in the identity bracelet on his wrist so that the police could contact him later. He was then allowed to leave the scene and the bookstore.

When he left the bookstore, he could sense that the translucent shadow was following closely behind him. However, none of the police officers discovered it. 

David sprinted back to his home which was three kilometers away. Throughout the journey, he ignored all the pedestrians who were looking at the disheveled state he was in. 

As soon as he entered his home, he immediately slammed the door shut. He then leaned against the door. 

Although he had experienced death once, the dangerous situation today had given him a great fright. 

He sat on the ground, feeling a little feeble. He began to feel petrified about the fact that he had arrived in a dangerous world that he did not understand after transmigrating from a peaceful world. 

The novelty of being new to this world was shattered by the sudden danger that he had slipped into, especially with the tragic death of Jessica, whom he knew, that happened in front of him. It was a feeling that he had never experienced in his previous life.

At this moment, being comforted by someone was what he wished for the most. However, with his fragmented memories that had yet to be completely recovered, he had no idea who he could talk to. Besides, his transmigration was his biggest secret which he couldn't share with anyone at all. He suddenly thought of the translucent shadow.

Just as he was thinking about it, the translucent shadow received his thoughts and revealed itself from its invisibility. It sat down next to him. 

Looking at the translucent shadow beside him, David couldn't help but feel relieved about the fact that the translucent shadow had saved his life during the most dangerous moment. 

He thought about the moment that he saw the translucent shadow last night, which gave him a shock. Later on, he found out that the translucent shadow was not dangerous at all. He even treated it as a cheat code and a hack for transmigration, after which he came up with various methods of activating the cheat code, which seemed ridiculous to him now. 

David's heart was filled with gratitude at this moment. He reached out and patted the translucent shadow like it was his friend.