The Trembling World

Chapter 51: Drawing

“LuLu, go take a look inside.” Liu Gan told LuLu. There was not much time left before he and Jiang JinYuan had to depart, so he had to try his best to develop her courage. At least he could give an acceptable response to Pan Hua, even if he didn’t owe Pan Hua anything.

“Whoever is inside, come out and show yourself. We don’t have any ill intentions.” said LuLu as she glanced at Liu Gan. It was as if she guessed that Liu Gan was testing her. Carefully, she peeked into the room to look around.

There were no movements in the room nor was there a response. Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan to probe the room once more just so he could familiarize himself with the process. However, Jiang JinYuan played with the PDA for a little more but shook his head.

“Each reading will take at least ten minutes to cool down, so its functionality can recharge. Only when it’s fully recharged will it be able to take readings.” Jiang JinYuan explained to Liu Gan.
“Even though I say it is scanning, it isn’t a live feed. After every scan, it will only sense the location of zombies at that one instant.”

“So within that ten-minute cooldown, the zombies could change positions, but the monitor wouldn’t indicate that?” Liu Gan was slightly disappointed when he heard it.

There is a huge difference between scanning once every ten minutes and scanning with live updates. Previously, with other games, the map’s red dot indicator would update in real time. It was a reliable method of finding the enemy’s location and movement patterns.

“Yes.” Jiang JinYuan nodded as he answered Liu Gan’s question.

Liu Gan didn’t ask any further. Even though it wasn’t a live feed, but a scan every ten minutes, it was still much better than relying solely on his eyes. Compared to other players, this scanning device was an amazing cheating tool.

LuLu was panic-stricken as she peered into the room and gave it a good look around before finally walking into it. Liu Gan followed LuLu close behind with the PDA in hand. They both entered into the room, just to confirm the blue dot’s location. It should be hiding in the room on the left corner of the wall and under the bed.

Liu Gan lowered his body closer to the ground and peeked under the bed. Sure enough, he saw a four-year-old child hiding underneath the bed. His eyes were wide with fright, peering out and looking around.

“We don’t mean you any harm, come out.” Liu Gan called for the young child. This had to be the game world’s local survivor. There was absolutely no way this was a [Trembling World] game player.

He didn’t know the theory behind how Jiang JinYuan’s scanning device worked to differentiate between a game player and a local survivor…. It couldn’t be because of the alloy watch, could it? It was known that every player who entered into the game had an alloy watch on their wrist that fit perfectly.

The young child was still tightly holding onto the toy airplane, and even after hearing Liu Gan scream, he didn’t come out. In fact, he retreated further in and was even more afraid of Liu Gan.

“What is your name? I won’t hurt you, so come out.” Liu Gan called for the young child once again.

Yet the young child still hid under the bed without moving.

“This is a local survivor, a 4 or 5-year-old child. I called, but he won’t come out. Do you have any questions to ask him?” Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan who had just entered the room.

“If he is too young, I won’t get any useful information from him.” Jiang JinYuan frowned.

LuLu gently put her machete on the floor. She flipped through a couple of drawings sitting by the bedside table and then lowered her body to look under the bed.

“DongDong, I am the older sister that you met last time, do you remember me? This sister here has crackers, some very tasty crackers…” LuLu gave a piece of cracker to the young child under the bed. It was clear that she saw the young child’s name on the drawings on the table and pretended like she was familiar with him.
The young child quickly stuffed the cracker into his mouth. It looked like he had been starving for quite awhile.

The young child’s room window was wide open, and the fridge and kitchen had been ransacked. It was clear that previous local survivors or players had visited this place and removed all the food, but failed to notice the young child hiding away in the corner.

LuLu also gave DongDong a bottle of water. Unaware of what had been spoken between Lulu and DongDong, DongDong finally came out from hiding underneath the bed, and LuLu picked him up.

“His name is DongDong. Today is his fourth birthday.” LuLu said as she held him in her embrace, explaining to Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan.

“DongDong, what happened in your house? Where’s daddy and mommy?” Jiang JinYuan started asking DongDong.

DongDong quickly stuffed the complete cracker into his mouth. His expression still showed that he was tense and afraid, and he was unsure of how to answer Jiang JinYuan’s question.

“Do you think it was a rainstorm… red-colored rain? Did his dad get soaked in the rain and bite his mom? This is the preset background story.” Liu Gan walked over to the desk and picked up DongDong’s crayon painting as he asked Jiang JinYuan.

“Red-colored rain…” Jiang JinYuan nodded his head.

“Did you think of something?” Liu Gan immediately asked Jiang JinYuan.

“Nope.” Jiang JinYuan shook his head.

“The loading screen of the game is red-colored rain, too.” Liu Gan reminded Jiang JinYuan.

“Yes, that I know. Even though I work at San Xing Corporation with the intention of joining the game, I am not familiar with these types of games. I don’t even play games regularly…” Jiang JinYuan was embarra.s.sed as he forced a smile and faced Liu Gan.

“Tell sister, did you see red-colored rain pour down from the sky?” LuLu asking DongDong while he was in her arms.

DongDong didn’t say a word, but nodded.

“Was daddy soaked in the rain, and then did he bite mommy?” LuLu asked DongDong again.

DongDong nodded once again, with his body resting on LuLu. He had the look of a heart-broken child.

“This isn’t a game; you guys know that right?” LuLu turned and asked Jiang JinYuan and Liu Gan.

“Whether this is a game or not, thinking about it is meaningless. You are trapped here, unable to leave, so continuing this topic is pointless.” Liu Gan replied to LuLu.

“It seems like this child only knows this much. We should hurry to the laboratory.” Jiang JinYuan urged Liu Gan.

“Will you bring me along?” LuLu asked Liu Gan.

“There are zombies everywhere. Even if I take him to the laboratory, I might not escape myself. I don’t have extra energy to take care of you, too. If you follow us, you will only die faster. Stay in this place, and you can survive longer.” Liu Gan replied to LuLu. Of course he would object to taking her.

“You said you would bring us along though?” LuLu looked at Jiang JinYuan.

Jiang JinYuan immediately snapped his head in a different direction, pretending like he didn’t hear LuLu.

“Brother Liu… You promised to teach me how to kill zombies…” LuLu said after seeing Jiang JinYuan ignore her, so she could only turn her attention back to Liu Gan.

“As promised, I will do that. Do you want to learn now?” said Liu Gan as he nodded his head.