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Chapter 294: 294

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!”