Dawn of a New Era

Chapter 45: Looting

Translator: Lordbluefire  Editor: Lordbluefire

He hoped that nothing too major would happen.

Chen Shouyi rolled the newspaper up and tossed it casually into the trash can.

His next stop was the bank.

Even before he reached the door, he already saw that the bank’s lobby was filled with people.

Upon seeing this scene, Chen Shouyi actually heaved a sigh of relief.

Because the situation hadn’t reached the worst step yet.

Since the bank could still open its doors for operation, it meant that it was outfitted with an independent electricity supply system. Also, only the mobile signal and the internet was cut off, the fiber optics could still be used normally.

Chen Shouyi discovered that the ATM wasn’t on.

He guessed that this was maybe because there were too many people here.

Maybe the cash reserves were insufficient, or they were purposely doing so to deter cases of looting.

When he walked into the lobby, the place was fully packed, like a train station during the spring festival. Most probably, the bank never had so many people inside it before.

But it was pretty normal when he thought about it.

As paying via mobile phones became more popular, fewer and fewer people continued to use cash. In fact, for many people, they rarely had any chances to use cash. They also wouldn’t bring too much cash around.

Now that there was no mobile signal and internet, these people were also the most anxious ones.

He instantly took a number and went to queue up.

The cash he had on hand wasn’t too much, only about $300 to $400.

Given the situation now, it was better to have some cash in hand so he would be prepared and wouldn’t have any trouble.

Also, he wasn’t clear if the invasion of the Otherworld’s forcefield would continue to worsen things here or not. If the electricity and internet were stopped completely, he would no longer be able to draw any money out from the bank.

As time passed, the number of people in the bank didn’t lessen and actually exploded.

Not too long later, the security of the bank shouted to remind the crowd. Everyone could only withdraw $10,000 at max.

The crowd started to grumble. Some people even began to dispute this intensely.

“Why can I only withdraw $10,000? This is I, your father’s, money. Why can’t I withdraw them?”

“What can I do with only $10,000? Who knows when the power failure would end? What would happen if the bank didn’t have enough cash?”

…

But agitation was still agitation. After all, it had only been a short time since the power failure started. Fortunately, the situation wasn’t so serious to the point of chaos yet.

The crowd could still maintain their rationality. And even if they didn’t, there were many soldiers and police patrolling the streets outside.

Eventually, under the constant placation of the security, although many people weren’t willing to do so, they gradually calmed down and nothing happened.

Chen Shouyi didn’t really care about this.

He had a source of easy money and he wasn’t too hung up over the concept of money like middle-aged people.

If it was before this, even $10,000 was a huge sum to him.

But now? Well, he still had lots of gold from the little island.

As the saying went, “Ever since ancient times, gold is the only thing that keeps its value.” The value of gold was much more guaranteed compared to cash.

…

After queueing for an entire afternoon, it was finally his turn.

After drawing money, Chen Shouyi instantly ran toward the supermarket nearby.

In truth, the majority of those who had withdrawn money all wanted to head to the same destination.

Although the newspaper did its utmost to tell people not to panic and snatch stuff, unless the stocks were limited, it was completely impossible.

Everyone would have an innate sense of crisis. Humans would always rather believe in news disadvantageous to themselves. When the crowd mentality was that of panic, panicking and hoarding stuff was something unavoidable.

When Chen Shouyi reached the market, that place was already flooded. The people here were all frenziedly purchasing things like they didn’t want money.

This also included Chen Shouyi.

His trolley was already packed full of things. The majority of them were bottles of drinking water, various sealed prepared food, and some compressed biscuits.

He originally wanted to buy candles too, but he couldn’t find them. Most probably, they were already swept up by others.

In the end, he only bought a bottle of cooking oil.

If the power failure persisted until night, it might be a good idea to make an oil lamp in his room.

His phone’s battery was already very low and he had turned it off.

Since it was like this, he would only use his phone at crucial moments.

Chen Shouyi wasn’t worried about his home. His mother always had a cautious personality. Ever since he could remember things, his mother would always hoard stuff when something like this happened.

…

Carrying the plastic bags, he went back to the motel. When he arrived, he couldn’t see the receptionist. Most probably, she had also rushed out to buy stuff.

He placed his purchases in his room and heaved a sigh of relief.

When he thought about the extremely crowded scene in the supermarket that had almost reached the point of trampling, Chen Shouyi couldn’t help but feel a lingering fear.

Things had truly gone crazy.

If it was merely a power failure, there wouldn’t be such wide-spread panic and hoarding.

But the invasion of the Otherworld’s forcefield caused chemical reactions to become extremely slow and dull. It could be seen from countless minor details.

For example, the fire produced from natural gas at home would weaken. Cars stalled easily and their acceleration slowed. Even for smokers, they could feel that the smoke was somewhat different. These minor and terrifying phenomena couldn’t possibly be discovered by just Chen Shouyi alone.

…

He released the shell girl and made some honey water for her.

After that, he ate a few compressed biscuits and a packet of vinegar pig trotters, taking that as his lunch.

The time was already 2.30 p.m., and he was prepared not to go out anymore today.

There were police and military personnels on the streets. If he went to the space channel in the unfinished building, he would be easily spotted and interrogated by others.

For safety’s sake, it was still better to stay in the room.

“Has Beiqi returned?” After pitching her nose and drinking the honey water, the shell girl asked with a face filled with hope.

She clearly was completely mesmerized by cartoons and couldn’t extricate herself any longer.

“Not yet,” Chen Shouyi replied.

Hearing the cruel news from the giant’s mouth, the shell girl felt extremely sad. She sighed and had a crestfallen look on her face.

But she was very quiet, not screaming like yesterday.

Seeing her pitiful-looking appearance, Chen Shouyi couldn’t bear it. He almost gave her a glass marble to comfort her.

Luckily, his will was strong enough and he didn’t do so.

The two of them maintained silence. Well, there was nothing to say anyway.

After some time, Chen Shouyi had a bored look on his face and decided to open his attributes panel. He glanced at the words ‘elementary recovery’. Fortunately, it was the same state as yesterday. The words didn’t become more transparent.

In the end, he glanced at the knowledge column and closed the attributes panel. However, a sudden flash of information appeared in his mind, causing him to be startled.

The Book of Knowledge reminded Chen Shouyi that the Thirty-six Stances of Body Training and ‘Entering Meditation to Train The Body’ could be optimized again.

Chen Shouyi felt excited.

He had waited a long time to hear this.

When he checked again, he could see that his Accumulated Energy was at 3.04.

(Does each optimization cost two times more than the previous one, or is it three times?)

He thought about it for a while before giving up.

The crucial point was which one should he choose to optimize?

The ‘Thirty-six Stances’ could increase the attributes of his physical body; it was naturally important!

But ‘Entering Meditation’ could allow him to gain greater control over his body while also increasing his perception attribute. It was similarly too important to miss out.

He contemplated for a while and eventually still decided to optimize the ‘Thirty-six Stances’.

Although ‘Entering Meditation’ was very important, at the very least, the current effect was still sufficient for him to use.

As for the ‘Thirty-six Stances’, ever since his body changed, the improvement rate became increasingly slower.

Naturally, when compared to others, such improvement speed was already considered godly. But it was like someone who used to drive a Ferrari every day suddenly drive a Passat. The contrast would cause the driver to cringe.

He glanced at the shell girl. She was still sighing.

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He then lay on his bed and closed his eyes, immediately proceeding with the optimization of the ‘Thirty-six Stances of Body Training’.

The familiar dreamscape appeared once more. Inside a stretch of grey fog, he practiced the ‘Thirty-six Stances’ again and again. Every time he practiced, some minor changes would automatically manifest in the actions.

As time passed, the Thirty-six Stances gradually became something completely different from the original.

After the last round of practice, his thoughts became peaceful and empty. There were no waves in his heart and it was like he was in a conscious-meditative state.

All of a sudden, there seemed to be a mysterious vital qi aura descending upon him.