Chapter 40: Chapter 40: The Adult World
On the street outside the park, Zhang Wenda tilted his head back, looking in disbelief at all the flesh-colored buildings before him, staring at the eyes and arms embedded in the towering structures.
Those eyes were still moving, those chests were still heaving—they were all alive! Yet these living, breathing people were being used as casually as building materials.
What shocked Zhang Wenda even more was that the city contained not only normal-sized prefabricated people, but also prefabricated giants who were twice, or even several times, the size of an ordinary person!
These giants looked exceptionally burly and powerful, but no matter how big or formidable they seemed, their ultimate fate was to become building materials. The only difference was that they could substitute for a larger amount of material.
The scene left him rooted to the spot. Everything before him, which completely defied the laws of physics, was utterly beyond his comprehension.
He stood there dazed for a long time, only snapping out of it when he felt Song Jianguo nibbling on his finger.
He quickly took two steps back, pulling his gaze away from the distant high-rises and back to the people on the side of the road.
On the bustling street, everyone besides Zhang Wenda was staring calmly at their phones, as if these skyscrapers built from living people were the most ordinary thing in the world.
To say they were people wasn’t entirely accurate. Moving back and forth on the street, aside from the obviously stiff prefabricated people and those who looked ordinary, there were also all kinds of strange and pseudo-human figures with varying appearances.
There was a lion-dance head in a suit, a television-headed figure in a long skirt, and even a drone-headed being in a Tang suit floating through the air.
Some had seven or eight eyes sprouting from their chests, some had muscles growing on their bald heads, and others had only tentacles where their eyes should be.
Just looking at everyone made Zhang Wenda’s head spin. ’This adult world really has every kind of weirdo imaginable.’
The only thing they had in common was that they all wore, to some degree, yokes and shackles—some around their necks, others on their ankles.
Zhang Wenda stared at them with wide eyes, but among themselves, they seemed to notice nothing out of the ordinary.
"This... this is the adult world? This is really the adult world?" Zhang Wenda swallowed hard, his heart refusing to stop pounding.
’Calm down, calm down.’ Zhang Wenda took several deep breaths, forcing himself to relax.
’It’s fine. It’s okay. It’s just a grotesque world, that’s all. It’s not like I haven’t seen weird things before. Don’t overreact. I can handle this.’
He retreated back into the park, sat down on the roots of a large tree, closed his eyes, and slowly began to compose himself.
’Is all of this fake? Or was what I saw before the fake?’ he wondered.
’No, they’re probably both real. It’s just that adults and children see things from different perspectives. But this is way too different! What the hell is going on in this godforsaken place!’
After calming down a little, Zhang Wenda rolled up his sleeve to look at his forearm, intending to check on the new ability he had just acquired.
Compared to everything else, he was far more concerned about himself.
An unexpected sight made his pupils constrict. His forearm was covered in crooked scars, but not a single one was yellow or red!
"What the—?! Where’s my Superpower? Where are my Red Core and Yellow Core?" Zhang Wenda rolled up his other sleeve, but there was nothing on that arm either.
’Does this mean... I can’t go back?’ Zhang Wenda’s heart sank. The thought stirred up complicated feelings, and for a moment, he couldn’t tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing.
Fortunately, as he carefully inspected his hands, he finally spotted red and yellow numbers on the face of his black mechanical watch.
A red 0 and a yellow 11 were displayed on the digital face.
When Zhang Wenda saw the yellow 11 slowly tick down to 10, he let out a long sigh of relief. ’Thank goodness.’
’The Yellow Core is gradually decreasing. Judging by how the Red Core works, once the Yellow Core hits zero, I should be able to go back.’
It was obvious that the ability he’d just gotten from the Yellow Core was completely different from that of the Red Core.
’If the Red Core’s ability was to provide energy for my body and the flashlight, then the Yellow Core’s ability is to let me see from a completely new perspective.’
’From this perspective, those monsters have turned into prefabricated people, and Song Jianguo has become a Black Cat.’
He didn’t know exactly what was happening or where the Yellow Core’s power came from, but for the moment, it wasn’t entirely beyond his comprehension.
Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, however, a sharp pain shot through his finger again.
"HSS—" Zhang Wenda pulled back his bleeding finger and tapped the head of the Little Black Cat in his arms.
"What are you doing? Stop biting me! That hurts!"
Just then, however, Zhang Wenda understood why Song Jianguo was trying to warn him. Not far away, the old men and women who had been exercising in the park were closing in again, their expressions hostile, carrying newspapers and canes.
He glanced at the lush green park and thought, ’I can’t stay here. I have to get out of here first.’
With that, Zhang Wenda held the Little Black Cat and walked out through the exit on the left.
Stepping once more into that grotesque and fantastical world, Zhang Wenda stopped again.
He no longer had time to dwell on how strange this adult world was; now he had to worry about his own safety.
Although he was safe for now, that didn’t guarantee he’d be safe once he changed back. He had to get out of the library first.
The problem he now had to consider, however, was this: ’I can’t see the library anymore, so how am I supposed to find my way out?’
His surroundings looked like city streets, but Zhang Wenda knew that from the other perspective, he was still inside the library. The few steps he had just taken weren’t nearly enough to get him to the exit.
’If the Yellow Core’s energy runs out while Song Jianguo and I are still wandering in circles inside the library, we’ll be in big trouble.’
He glanced again at the rate the Yellow Core’s value was decreasing and made a quick estimate: the number 10 probably meant about 10 minutes.
After thinking for a moment, Zhang Wenda came up with an idea. ’Even though I can’t see the library with this new perspective, Song Jianguo can!’
He bent over and set Song Jianguo down, giving her a gentle push. "Jianguo, go. Let’s move while no one is around. Lead me out of the library."
To avoid any ambiguity his words might have due to the change in perspective, Zhang Wenda even used hand gestures to emphasize his point to Song Jianguo.
It was unclear if Song Jianguo understood, but she tilted her head at him, meowed twice, and began to hop forward.
Zhang Wenda looked around as he walked, new sights appearing before his eyes at every moment. He even saw something flying in the sky, and he was certain it was no airplane.
Compared to the previous environment, which had been a mishmash of various past eras, the level of technology here was clearly much higher. It was more like the world he had come from—a version of reality that had undergone extreme abstraction.
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