novelAixen and the Beggar
| ← Ch.378 | Ch.380 → |
Standing on the top of this building, Chen Chen silently listened to the sounds of the entire city. The blood from his eyes had formed scabs, trailing down his cheek. It gave him a mystifying, tragic air.
Although Chen Chen had forgotten his purpose in digging out his eyes before returning to this dimension, due to the existence of the antimeme, thinking about it, there must be a very important clue in this.
Plus, perhaps because of this loss of vision, Chen Chen felt that his senses had become more acute.
Just by listening carefully, he could hear sounds that were difficult to discern in the past such as the sound of the wind blowing over obstacles, the deathly silence of the tall building under his feet, and even his own breathing and heartbeat...
It was not just his hearing. Chen Chen could smell a never-ending rotting stench in the air. Even though he was on the coast, he could not avoid this smell as it came from the buildings themselves.
The walls of these buildings had long been filled with the bodies of missing persons and these walls were the source of the decaying smell...
Through the previous information, Chen Chen had learned that now the Ju-on meme was not limited to the room, but would even infect the surrounding area. Due to this, the Ju-on meme would completely spiral out of control and caused the downfall of the entire Shangdu.
If they did not find a way to stop it, Shangdu would be just the beginning. After this, the entire world, with Shangdu as the origin, would decay little by little, until the entire world had lost its last piece of pure land.
Humans would be helpless against this meme.
"If my guess is correct, the number of deaths should be a very important factor."
Chen Chen murmured in a low voice. According to the data, more than ten thousand students were quarantined in that original large hospital. According to official estimates, less than one-tenth of the students were infected with the Ju-on meme.
In other words, among these students, about a thousand people would eventually be killed by the meme. At that time, after the incubation period, the remaining people could be sure that they were not infected, so that any suspected infection could be ruled out.
Although it was a little cruel, to the powerless authorities, it was the easiest way to stop further losses.
This set of prescriptions did have a certain effect at the beginning. As more time passed, the number of missing persons would be very high at first, but after reaching a peak, it quickly decreased.
That was because almost everyone infected with the meme would have died out.
If one plotted this data into a graph in one's mind, it would be clear at a glance — it was an arched curve. The numbers were not high at first, but as time passed, the curve started to ascend rapidly until it reached a peak, and then began to decrease rapidly...
As long as this number finally dropped to zero, it was equivalent to controlling the spread of the meme, curbing something that could have terrorized the entire planet at a price that was neither too low nor too high.
It was a pitiful reality which had proven that China and the FBI had underestimated the meme.
According to the subsequent data, the graph did not completely drop to zero as they expected, but after falling to a low point, it rose again abruptly, and its peak began to gain new highs continuously, each one being two times, three times or even ten times higher than before!
The reason for this was an answer that Chen Chen had already gotten from the data — in a large building, when the people who had died of the grudge-curse reached a certain number, these grudge-curses would link together and become one, widening the scope from a single room to the entire large building!
At this point, as long as one entered this building, one would be infected by the Ju-on meme.
Then, when more and more people were killed by Ju-on in this building and when it reached a critical point again, the Ju-on meme would explode a second time. The infection area would spread out of the building, enlarging the area that had become cursed.
This then descended fully into the endless loop of continuous proliferation.
This was the deadliest rule of the Ju-on meme.
It was because the Chinese officials had gathered all the infected people together that resulted in a self-defeating outcome, allowing the meme to spread in a more rampant manner.
"In other words, there are at least several areas of this indiscriminate infection in Shangdu at this time. As long as you enter this area, you'll be infected by the Ju-on meme, and more people will die in these areas. The area would then grow wider..."
Chen Chen murmured, "In this case, this kind of area can be called a 'cursed dead zone'. Anyone who enters this zone will die."
He silently analyzed everything in his mind. All this was probably another rule of the Ju-on meme. Compared with the first one — that there could be no third-person observer — this law was undoubtedly more deadly. Its threat was at the level of the entire human civilization.
Now it seemed that the international metropolis of Shangdu had been abandoned.
Furthermore, if they did not find ways to reduce the number of people dying in the cursed dead zone, there was a greater hidden danger — when the number of deaths in the cursed dead zone reached the millions, it was likely that all of Shangdu would become a massive cursed dead zone. This might even expand further, infecting nearby cities.
The only way to suppress the expansion of the dead zone was probably if the authorities cut off the metaphorical diseased limb and evacuated people thousands of kilometers away within a few days. Then, an uninhabited region would be created to prevent the cursed dead zone from spreading.
However, did the authorities have such daring and capability?
Chen Chen secretly sighed. About 30% of the population of the entire continent lived near this region around Shangdu and it was one of the most densely populated areas in the world. If all were evacuated, the manpower and material resources required would be an astronomical figure.
Moreover, even if the authorities successfully suppressed it at a high cost, this area spanning several thousand kilometers would be completely lost to them, like an ugly indelible scar on the surface of the earth. Even after centuries or millennia, it would remain here.
Moreover, in these areas, the Earth Federation would need to spend tens of billions of dollars each year for troops to be stationed on the borders, so that no one was allowed to enter. After all, these cursed dead zones were stagnant only because of their surrounding lack of resources, but even after a million years, the so-called curse dead zone would still be infectious.
As a meme was a concept, it would not disappear.
This place would be like a big time-bomb of human civilization. It might be detonated again at any time and no one could guarantee that there would be a chance of prevention the next time it was detonated.
These thoughts flowed through Chen Chen's mind but Chen Chen did not need to worry about them. After all, he had already used the Basilisk pattern for immunity in the Ju-on dimension. It was as if he had been vaccinated. Antibodies had been produced in his body, forever immunizing him to the infection of the Ju-on meme.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen jumped up and leaped straight down from the top of the tall building.
Following this was a magical scene. Chen Chen displayed a uniform declining speed, jumping directly from the 100-meter high building, and then gently landing on the ground.
Still, at this time, the streets were already extremely barren and there was not even a single person, so this shocking scene was not witnessed by any audience.
Chen Chen tilted his head. Based on his inference, he was on a familiar street at this time. This road was called Renmin Road, which was a kind of commercial street.
Even so, the shops on both sides of the commercial street were either completely closed down or forcibly opened and the products inside were cleaned out.
The people in this city were not extinct and there was still a large number of people trapped in the city. They hid in some shops and homes, hoarding enough food, thinking that they could escape the eerie white-clothed woman.
However, all this was just wishful thinking. Memes did not play hide-and-seek games with humans.
"I'm just wondering if I was looking for something by returning to Shangdu?"
Chen Chen was rather confused and a little depressed. After all, after returning from the opposite side of the passage, he found that he had plucked out his eyes and made himself blind for the first time.
Not only that, but his subconscious mind was still urging him to return to Shangdu. Although Chen Chen was immune to the Ju-on meme, the One Missed Call meme and the Ring meme were still spreading in this city, and the more frightening Final Destination meme too.
Only Chen Chen still had not heard of anyone who had experienced the Final Destination meme.
Still, that was to be expected because anyone who had experienced the Final Destination meme would be dead.
Next, Chen Chen simply wandered aimlessly on the streets of this city. He believed that he had planned something when he was on the other side of the passage. At this time, he only had to follow along with his own plan.
...
Following this, Chen Chen constantly used Field to scan both sides of the street.
With the advantage of having no blind spots in Field, Chen Chen quickly found several living people in the gaps on both sides of the road.
These living people were very vigilant. They hid in the general merchandise store. There was enough food for them to eat for several months without worrying about starving to death.
Moreover, because Chen Chen did not soften his footsteps when he walked, many people who had heard his movements even stared at him from the crack of the door.
It was just that, when they saw the blood on Chen Chen's cheeks, those who had wanted to question Chen Chen fell silent. In their opinion, Chen Chen's bizarre appearance was not much different from that of Kayako.
Still, when Chen Chen turned at the end of a road, his footsteps suddenly stopped.
In his perception, in a corner of the street, a familiar figure had flashed by.
Therefore, Chen Chen stopped. He turned around, with his eyes still closed, walking in the direction where the figure had appeared.
Then, Chen Chen "sensed" a familiar figure.
It was that beggar.
This beggar looked very young, only about fourteen or fifteen years old. Her skinny, rickety body was curled up in a dark corner and her skin had festered, emitting a weird stench.
Her hair had congealed into flakes like wool felt. Chen Chen could not even make out her appearance. The only thing that was certain was that the beggar was a girl.
After sensing this scene, Chen Chen slowly stopped his steps. He closed his eyes and turned his face to her. At the same time, he frowned slightly, revealing a solemn expression.
A beggar who could survive a memetic disaster, could she even be an ordinary beggar?
Chen Chen would not buy that.
Even so, at this moment, the beggar finally saw Chen Chen, and suddenly, she sat up slowly. At the same time, she stretched out her thin and dark arms, crawling toward Chen Chen in a strange posture...
Unlike vision, his Field could not make out many details. Chen Chen only sensed that the other party was staring at him with a pair of wide godless eyes.
Had she reached him?
Chen Chen only felt his body stiffening. He took a step back subconsciously, but at this moment, he suddenly heard a clear exclamation behind him, "Chen Chen, run!"
Then came the sound of sharp and rapid footsteps.
That voice was Aixen's!
As he realized this, the owner of the voice had also entered Chen Chen's range of Field. At this point, Chen Chen relaxed fully.
As detected by his Field, there was no mistake that it was Aixen indeed.
"Chen Chen, hurry up! Run!"
Aixen grabbed Chen Chen's right hand and dragged him back and at the same time panicked aloud."Don't touch that person, no matter what!"
Chen Chen only felt that he was caught by a soft slender hand and then he was pulled by the other girl in the opposite direction...
"Why are you here?"
Chen Chen was still a little on his guard and asked as he ran. Aixen had appeared after he was facing the beggar, which seemed too coincidental.
"I, I don't know either..."
However, Aixen was stunned as well. She shook her head and said in a puzzled manner, "I don't know why I am here, I only know that you were in danger!"
Chen Chen's heart leaped when he heard this. If Aixen was the incarnation of Little X in reality, then it was indeed a reasonable thing for her to appear here. After all, she was the guide of his own hypnosis.
However, was it that simple?
Chen Chen only felt that the doubts in his heart had grown heavier. The person in front of him was indeed Aixen, but he did not know why, he gradually began to feel somewhat uncomfortable.
It was as if he had forgotten something very important.
At this moment, the sweat from his running suddenly dripped from Chen Chen's forehead and when it trickled over his eyes, a piercing ache suddenly struck him.
"Agh!"
Chen Chen could not help covering his eyes and knelt on the ground and cried out in pain.
"Chen Chen, run! Don't stop!"
Aixen once again grabbed Chen Chen by the collar, trying to pull Chen Chen forward. Meanwhile, she sounded like she was near tears, her voice becoming more and more urgent.
Even so, in the dwindling twinge of agony, Chen Chen was hit by a realization, like Buddha achieving enlightenment!
He finally figured out what was wrong — Aixen did not ask about his eyes!
Thinking of this, Chen Chen abruptly raised his head. He directly faced Aixen's direction while constantly trying to open his eyes!
Nonetheless, in reality, what he opened was a pair of black, empty sockets, which contained nothing but a bloody pulp.
| ← Ch. 378 | Ch. 380 → |