Epoch of Twilight

Chapter 363: The Reconstruction Area’s Response
Chapter 363: The Reconstruction Area’s Response

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Luo Yuan felt dizzy as he was making his way back to the hostel. At the end of the day, he slept right after dinner.

Two days later, there was still no news about the fusion device. It was apparent that the explosion incident at the controllable fusion device power station was being covered. Luo Yuan tried not to think too much. After all, it was useless to overthink as no matter what happened, he still had to live. The apocalypse had taught the weakest to be strong and he had adapted to the stressful life since the beginning.

…

Chen Xinjie was acting like a different person. She was not as friendly as she was and would intentionally distant herself. Especially at night when they were going to bed, she would wear proper clothes to cover up herself. She did not reveal any of her body parts to Luo Yuan. Even when she wanted to take a bath, she would wait until Luo Yuan was in a deep sleep before secretly making her way to the bathroom. It felt like she was avoiding him and treating him as though he was a pervert.

Such behavior had shaken Luo Yuan’s judgment of her. However, the more she behaved like this, the more Luo Yuan was tempted to penetrate her again. Just a few days ago she was just underneath him, moaning and open like a flower before him. Not to mention the fact that she was drunk and helpless to Luo Yuan’s every desire. He was turned on just recalling the events of that night. Furthermore, the atmosphere around the area was very stressful during the last few days which made him want to let everything out on her!

After resisting his urges for two days, Luo Yuan suddenly opened his eyes one night when Chen Xinjie got out of the bathroom. He pushed aside his blanket and made his way onto Chen Xinjie’s bed while panting. After some struggles, she gave in to him and he had his way with her again.

After sex, Luo Yuan again stared blankly at the ceiling while Chen Xinjie had her back pressed against him lying next to him. It was suspicious. Looking at Chen Xinjie who did not say a word, he felt guilty. Not only did she not seduce him over the past few days, she was even avoiding him. Could his earlier suspicions be a mistake?

...

The whole thing had been planned by a few experts in psychology and human behavior pinpointing Luo Yuan’s weaknesses. The idea was to have Chen Xinjie own a place in his heart instead of a being a cheap prostitute who could be shooed away easily or a person who he would lose interest for after sex.

The interesting thing about psychology and human behavior was that as long as there was desire, no matter how intelligent the person may be, he could be tricked. Before the apocalypse, such technique had been used to successfully trick many business tycoons and senior officers. None of them could see it coming.

For the conservative Chen Xinjie, although her previous act was not perfect which allowed Luo Yuan to have his suspicions, as a natural beauty who was loved by many, playing hard to get was nothing new to her. She did not have to act, it was so natural that even Luo Yuan could not tell that she was acting.

On the bed, Luo Yuan was still indulging in his thoughts of the sexual intercourse he just had with her. The excitement and pleasure he got from having Chen Xinjie be initially unwilling to give in to eventually letting him have his way with her turned him on so badly. He suddenly decided to peek at Chen Xinjie’s curved and peachy butt which was still arousing to him. Moments later, a noise was heard coming from their room again!

…

The next morning, Chen Xinjie peeked at Luo Yuan who was reading the newspaper and tidying up the room. She let out a sigh. As a person who was respectable in the Firearms Bureau, she could not believe that Luo Yuan was privately such as an immoral person. His handsome face, perfect body and his mysterious vibe made her feel like she was falling for him over the past few days. However, such feelings were not pure. Ever since she took up the mission, she had given up on the dream of building a proper relationship. For the Reconstruction Area’s future, her personal feelings and goals did not matter.

Suddenly, the knocking on the door snapped her out of her deep thought. She put on her clothes immediately and opened the door. It was the service crew from the hostel.

”Why is there another delivery of newspapers?” She asked.

”This is today’s special issue.” The man replied.

Chen Xinjie took the newspaper and read the headline. She let out a loud gasp.

”What does it say?” Luo Yuan asked from behind.

”Come take a look.” Chen Xinjie passed him the newspaper while looking shocked. Luo Yuan took the newspaper and its title read, ”Explosion at the Controllable Fusion Device Lab.”

”December 4, 2015, there was an explosion that happened at the controllable fusion device lab located in the suburb of New Capital City due to misconduct. Three academicians and more than 10 high-level researchers died in the accident. Including the staff present at the site, it has been confirmed that more than 100 people have died. As most of the documents were destroyed in the mishap, the research is now on hold until further notice. According to the report…”

Luo Yuan flipped through the newspaper and realized that almost the entire copy was about the accident. There were survey results, complaints, and inferences of the explosion. As he already knew this earlier, he tried his best to stay calm. He was not as shocked as Chen Xinjie was. The more he thought about it, the most suspicious he was. It was not the usual style of newspaper reporting in the Reconstruction Area.

Since the apocalypse, the people here had basically been living in hell as battles with mutated beasts were happening all the time. Even the civilians had to bear the unimaginable burdens at work, as well as the insecurity and stress of losing their own life or their loved ones. To encourage them, the newspaper usually only reported positive news. Therefore, for such strongly negative news, it was usually kept a secret.

Hence, the change of style was strange. After a quick thought, Luo Yuan had his answer. ”Maybe the explosion was really done by the extraterrestrial civilization and to distract people, they came out with such an odd reporting style. Could the Reconstruction Area have found something at the explosion site?”

”There must be more than one copy of technical documents for the controllable fusion device. Perhaps everything was a show for the extraterrestrial civilization while they move their research to somewhere safe.” He was relieved. Although he was not sure if such a plan would be effective, the extraterrestrial civilization was not God. It was impossible for them to know every single thing.

…

In the afternoon, there were two staff members who came to tell Luo Yuan that they could both leave. That concluded his prediction to be accurate. Perhaps the Reconstruction Area believed his report. The house arrest had finally ended, and Luo Yuan did not want to stay a minute more at the stressful New Capital City. Both of them took the train back to Hope City at 4 p.m. in the afternoon.

After bidding farewell to Chen Xinjie, Luo Yuan did not go to Firearms Bureau but instead headed straight home. The house that was quiet without Luo Yuan has soon crowded with noise again.

He made calls home every day while he was away. Although the ladies were not concerned about him leaving, all of them undoubtedly missed him. Looking at their happy faces, Luo Yuan had a sense of guilt storm through his heart. Apart from calling them every day, he did not miss them at all. Instead, he was cheating on them.

…

It was soon midnight and as soon as Huang Jiahui fell asleep, Luo Yuan opened his eyes and looked at the attributes panel. He added the attribute points that he gained from the previous level-up to his agility. His Agility was now +16.

As the usual heat occupied and circulated his body, once again he felt the distance with the real world. Huang Jiahui’s breath became slow and heavy, the tick-tock sound of the clock on the wall was also slowing down.

He lifted his blanket and everything around him seemed to be slowing down. He stood up but did not use any of his strength with the fear that it would go out of control. He did not want to hurt Huang Jiahui by accident. He walked slowly and his body felt light like a feather. With just a tiny effort, he could fly. Of course, that was just an illusion. Unless he was using his Will, no matter how much physical strength he had, it was impossible to detach himself from gravity.

He closed the door, and walked out of the house in silence. Since the incident last time, he dared not experiment at home again. Although it was in the middle of the night, Hope City was still crowded and noisy. Factories were still up and running. There was noise coming from machines that were 10 to a few hundred tons in weight.

The noise was strange in Luo Yuan’s ears. It sounded like a radio cassette that was distorted. His +16 Agility made him 11.4 times faster than an ordinary person. If it was necessary, he could brush his teeth in five seconds and use only one second to wash his face. Furthermore, eating would require less than 13 seconds!

Such great time difference made him feel like he was living in a different time dimension than ordinary people. However, he knew in his mind that he was still living in the common world. All he could do was to adapt to everybody else’s slow rhythm. Every time he improved his Agility, his life became a little more torturous.