Ordinary Chapter 2: Missing Neighbor

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: KarateChopMonkey

 

A week after the earthquake, the world was still in the midst of adapting to the huge changes. The doomsday theory and the evolution theory were all over the Internet, and there were even no less than three debates on the subject, with various online polls popping up, and not a few picking fights and causing trouble.

Shen Si had no feelings on the world ending or the evolution of the world. He did not have too much to worry about nor was he like those young people full of aspirations. The only thing that made him a little concerned was the earthquake. Due to it, the travel agency was temporarily shut down and he had to wait at home for the company to reopen.

The most important concern for employees was whether the holiday was a paid one or not.

Returning home with a lunch from the convenience store, Shen Si reached into his pocket and fished out his keys, when he heard the elevator doors open.

The elevator? Shen Si was the only one living on this floor, was the house next door sold?

Shen Si looked towards the elevator, and a man came out of it. He was wearing a black suit, with exquisite gold-rimmed glasses, and a gentle smile constantly on his face from the first moment he appeared, his appearance not off-putting at all. Shen Si paused while opening the door, slightly surprised.

“Long time no see.” The man greeted Shen Si with a smile, his voice still calm, refreshing like spring.

“Long time no see indeed, Mr. Bai.” Shen Si looked at him, “Could it be that you are…”

“Yes, I am a Survivor.” Mr. Bai, also known as Bai JunYi, sighed, “How lucky to be able to come back and see you. A month ago this was something I couldn’t even think about.”

Shen Si nodded, “Congratulations.”

Bai JunYi smiled and waved at him, then opened the door to his room and walked in. Shen Si cocked his head and, after a few moments, he pushed open the door to his apartment, locking the door behind him. Shen Si threw the lunch in his hand on the table, then turned on the TV, which continued to broadcast the Survivors’ situation, mostly with touching images of Survivors returning to their families.

The people on the TV were hugging and crying and laughing together, their positive mood highly infectious. Shen Si looked at the TV with no expression and unpacked his lunch box.

He thought these things were far away from him, but he never thought his neighbor was a Survivor as well.

Shen Si’s neighbor Bai JunYi, who was an elementary school teacher before he disappeared, was widely praised by students and parents for his gentle personality and excellent ability, and was a local honorary teacher at a young age. Three years ago, Bai JunYi left after greeting Shen Si, and his last words were that he was going on a home visit, then disappeared from that point on.

The parents of the students waiting for the home visit didn’t have a chance to meet Bai JunYi, and the school could not contact him at all. Bai JunYi just disappeared without a trace and was classified as missing for almost three years.

It turned out that he was also called into that strange unlimited flow world.

After taking a bite of rice, Shen Si changed the TV channel to one where the host was discussing with a self-proclaimed expert on how to relocate the Survivors, and they circled the issue back and forth before finally coming to a conclusion.

According to the current trend and direction, the government was prepared to treat these Survivors the same as ordinary people, with the same human rights and the same criminal responsibility when they break the law, and they believed that the government had the strength to do this.

After finishing his lunch, Shen Si threw the box into the trash, and glanced out the window. After the earthquake, the hot weather cooled down rapidly. In just a few days, the temperature dropped to the normal temperature of autumn, and the leaves on the trees fell off overnight.

After pouring a glass of boiled water, Shen Si walked to the balcony, followed by a slight pause in his steps. He saw Bai JunYi standing there on the next balcony.

“Mr. Bai?”

“It’s so beautiful…” Bai JunYi sighed, looking in the distance with a gentle smile in his eyes, “I haven’t seen a view like this for a long time.”

Shen Si took a sip of his water, “What kind of place was it?”

“Black, no sun, all the light fake and cold.” Bai JunYi stretched out his hand to feel the sunlight, “People were dying everywhere. It was good if three people in one game were to survive.”

“Sounds like a brutal place.”

Bai JunYi turned his head and looked at Shen Si, the sunlight on his body made him look like a dazzling god, “It’s over, no more grim things will happen after this.”

“What does Mr. Bai plan to do now?”

“The school probably won’t take me back anymore.” Bai JunYi sighed helplessly, “Even if I was once a good teacher, since I’ve become a Survivor, it’s normal that the school would have concerns. If I think about it, I wouldn’t let my children study under a Survivor either.”

Shen Si nodded, “Very reasonable.”

“I’m going to open a flower shop.” Bai JunYi slumped over the balcony railing.

Shen Si clutched his cup, mulling it over, “A flower shop? It’s autumn, don’t the flowers look bad in this season?”

“It’s okay.” Bai JunYi stretched out his hand with a seed in it to Shen Si. The next moment, the seed on his palm quickly sprouted and grew, and in a few seconds there was a bouquet of flowers suddenly blooming, delicate petals swaying in the wind, fresh and beautiful.

Was this the magical power of the Survivors?

After thinking about it, Shen Si spoke up, “I think, you might make more money going into magic than opening a flower shop.”

Bai JunYi snorted out a laugh, “No, most Survivors can do things like magic, and don’t you think this no-cost flower shop is a little more secure than running around competing with countless peers?”

“You have a point.” Shen Si nodded.

“Crap, you’re still so funny.” Bai JunYi closed his hand and the flowers quickly closed up and turned back into seeds. Then he sighed with closed eyes, “Three years have passed and everything is different from what I remember, only you are still the same, although your hair is dyed a strange white color.”

Bai JunYi opened his eyes, and as he did, Shen Si suddenly noticed that Bai JunYi’s eyes were not pure black, but were glowing with a vague gold color that was very noticeable in the sunlight.

“I feel like Mr. Bai hasn’t changed either.”

“Really?” Bai JunYi looked at Shen Si somewhat happily, and after a moment he gently exhaled, “Little Si, what kind of existence do you think a Survivor is?”

Shen Si looked at the cup in his hand, “A victim, I guess.”

“Victim?” Bai JunYi froze for a moment.

“Being somehow brought to that horrible and cruel world, struggling to survive, and then one day finally going home and having to be scorned by your family, that’s a poor victim, no matter how you look at it.”

Bai JunYi stared at him, with a gentle light under his eyes, “Little Si you are really interesting.”

Shen Si was just about to reply, when he heard the phone left in the room ring. Shen Si gestured to Bai JunYi, telling him he was going to go pick it up and then turned back to his room. Bai JunYi stood in place, his eyes turning completely golden in the sunlight. He opened his hand again, making the flowers re-bloom, then he surveyed the flower in his hand. A moment later he blew at the flower, which turned into a bit of golden light and floated away along with the wind, completely disappearing into the air.

“It’s the first time I’m being treated as a victim. Worth remembering.”

 

Shen Si went back to the room and answered the phone, the caller was Yi MingZhi. After the huge change in the world they also learned that the person who fell from the sky crying ‘I’m back!’ was also a Survivor. Thanks to that person, when Shen Si and Yi MingZhi thought of Survivors, the image that immediately appeared in their minds was a small person crying in pain.

“Shen Si, we can go back to work tomorrow.” Yi MingZhi was obviously also very excited, during the week of vacation everyone was worried about whether they still had their jobs.

Shen Si answered with a mhm; since even the travel agency was able to open normally, the social order had probably largely stabilized.

“Are we going to continue with that route?”

“Of course, the company used the crater smashed out by the Survivor on top of the mountain as a publicity point, attracting a lot of people curious about Survivors.” Yi MingZhi couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “Congratulations, Shen Si you can dye your hair back now.”

Shen Si glanced at the mirror. He looked at himself, and with that head of silvery gray hair, he looked more like he was 18, rather than actually 23. 

Not caring about turning off the TV, Shen Si leaned back on the sofa and answered perfunctorily, “I’ll dye it back when I have time.”

Yi MingZhi didn’t continue to chat with Shen Si, he had to go to inform other colleagues, and Shen Si said goodbye before he hung up. Shen Si threw his phone next to him on the sofa, the TV program was still the same as earlier, except for the Survivors.

A website was spontaneously compiling information about the Survivors, such as the details of the unlimited flow world that they learned from the Survivors whom they interviewed.

Just like in novels, those worlds were filled with darkness and death, every world was full of blood, and almost every person who came out of the world of unlimited flow had some degree of psychological problems. The government was arranging psychologists to psychologically guide them to return to normal life as soon as possible, but there was still a group of people who had difficulty adapting.

They may be afraid of the dark, afraid to sleep, a little movement would cause them to wake up, or would subconsciously counterattack when disturbed.

Such people had no way to live a normal life, so the government invited experts to help them improve. Those people also understood that they might hurt their families if they continued like this, and most of them were very cooperative, this interviewed Survivor being one of them. He claimed that he had only passed the first level in the world of unlimited flow, and was a low-level Survivor who had not yet had the time to move on up.

Such people were the most numerous, because the higher one went up the scarier it became, the more people died, and most of those who were still alive had not experienced too many horrifying games.

“Psychological problems?”

Shen Si thought of his neighbor Bai JunYi, living in such a situation for three years. He was seemingly the same as before: loving life, gentle and friendly, regretting the teacher’s job he lost. He looked sensible and down-to-earth, without the slightest hint of psychological problems.

When he opened his flower shop, Shen Si decided to visit it often, because he used to be very fond of plants.