94 Fear from the Sky (1/2)
Chapter 94: Fear from the Sky
Translator: _Min_Editor: Yukira_
Chapter 94: Fear from the Sky
”Are you in there?”
Tingting’s voice came through.
Just as Jiang Chen was about to open his mouth, his throat felt like it was stuck with cotton known as fear.
He lifted his terminal slowly.
<4:25 pm>
[There were still 15 minutes left before the class ends, so how can she be in here? That’s really strange. Even if the sports instructor wants her to find me, why would she go to the activity room? It’s as if—]
”I know. I’ve been watching you for a long time.”
Suddenly, the two familiar but surreal confessions surfaced in his head.
A frightening thought crept into his mind.
…being watched?
A drop of cold sweat rolled down his forehead as Jiang Chen held his breath. He didn’t even dare to make a sound. Instinct told him that there must be something wrong, but he couldn’t explain where the problem came from.
[Tingting is a stalker? How is that possible? But she is so graceful… wait, graceful? It seems that it was her who took the initiative to push me down yesterday. Usually, she would be reading under the window but today…]
Jiang Chen searched through today’s memory. Yao Tingting’s watching him, being engrossed in her terminal, paying attention to class, watching him smile...
A disquieting feeling crept all over his body.
”I heard there's a ghost at the ground floor of the library. Have you seen it?”
The knocking sound was light, but it pierced through his heart like a hammer. He couldn’t explain the reason, but his instincts told him that terrible things would happen if he opened the door this time.
Jiang Chen let the beads of sweat rolled across his face as he sat there motionlessly. He looked at the drawer where the gun was, but it failed to bring him even a scant trace of security.
Like drums playing, the pace of knocking seemed to increase and grew louder.
All of a sudden, a violent, smashing sound transmitted through the door. The frantic, smashing sound made every single one of Jiang Chen’s muscles tightened due to tension, and his facial expression morphed into a stunned expression.
The sound, however, suddenly came to an abrupt stop.
…followed by the sound of fading footsteps.
[Has he given up?] Jiang Chen let out a sigh of relief. He then touched his chest and felt a wet sensation from his hand.
It was then that he figured out that his body was drenched in sweat without even realizing it.
”Now that I think about it, the uncomfortable feeling came from the robot yesterday morning. No, to be precise, it should be during that morning class…” Jiang Chen realized something.
Yes, it was at that time when the entire class was staring at him. His heart responded with an eerie feeling known as ‘Uncanny Valley’ effect.
[Could it be…all the students are robots?] An odd expression appeared on his face as he thought that the very idea was preposterous.
Why? He grew up with Zhao Peng together, Qian Han, who was sitting in front even gave him a love letter, and Yao Tingting…
Jiang Chen suddenly frowned.
Where did all the books that Yao Tingting always read go?
BOOM!
The violent tremor almost threw him on the ground as the window produced a loud, sharp sound. He got up hurriedly, ran to the window and discovered a shocking scene.
A blue light hit the dome protecting this city. The light blue particle disintegrated followed by the thinning air membrane.
There was no sound as the concave barrier opened a gap in the center and the blue light faded away.
Suddenly, countless numbers of dense, black dots dropped from the sky, each carrying a trail of air waves behind. Those were NATO’s airdrop soldiers, as well as the bombs used to disguise them.
It was, however, at this moment that the ground fired a series of orange flare missiles to the ground. It was the anti-aircraft missiles stationed in the city…
A loud rumble fell from the sky and a series of explosions filled the sky with bright sparks. The deafening air defense alarm broke the city sky accompanied by the cry and scream from the distant street, which woke Jiang Chen up from his stupor.
Not even a single warning.
”It's s a fuck*ng war! This can’t be happening...” He looked at the sky, terrified. Jiang Chen retreated from the window and rushed outside the door.
The news already announced that when the air defense alarm got triggered, everyone should immediately go to the nearest defense shelter, and the sanctuary would be forcefully closed once it reached the right time and go into a dormant mode.
Jiang Chen didn’t have time to get confused as his priority was to stay alive. He glanced at the table before he left the activity room; he gritted his teeth and reluctantly sprinted downstairs.
There was a gun on the table, but he didn’t think it would bring him any semblance of security. If he really encountered a NATO soldier, he’s afraid that it would be more dangerous to wield a gun.
Moreover, according to the rules of war, they usually didn’t shoot civilians. Not only it was a waste of bullets, it was also quite troublesome…
He tried to comfort himself as he dashed down the stairs towards the gate of the school and ran for his life. At this time, however, a massive explosion broke out in the sky in the distance from the center of the city. He felt the scorching heat wave despite the distance of 100 km away.
Mushroom cloud.
It was a nuclear bomb!
”Fu*k.” Jiang Chen stared at the orange mushroom cloud and the falling black dots with quivering eyes.
BOOM!
The intense shockwave almost blew him away. He tried to raise his arm to cover his face. From the rapid airflow of the cylindrical airdrop pods came out several soldiers in power armor.
There was simply no room for escape.
Jiang Chen's shoulders relaxed, signaling that he had given up, and his face gave way to a wry smile. Why was his reaction so calm, even he himself didn’t have any ideas.
The last thing he saw was a gun barrel.
-
BOOM!