Chapter 158: General Knowledge About the Apocalyptic Worlds
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
On some level, Lin Sanjiu’s reunion with B.Rabbit wasn’t truly by random chance.
Within the entire school building, the best-preserved classroom was cleaned up by the group of five people. The tables and chairs whose frames had already decayed and would turn into dust at any moment were removed from the room. After cleaning up, they placed on the floor some dried grass that they somehow found, and everyone sat down. Without saying, this service was obviously provided for a certain someone.
The nine humans and one rabbit sat cross-legged on the grassy ‘carpet’ and started talking. After Xueqin and the others finally got over the shocking fact that ‘the rabbit could talk’, the atmosphere in the air became much more harmonious with the help of food.
"So, you are the Big Sister Lin that Boss mentioned before," Green Melon looked embarrassed but he showed no restraint when he tore a large piece of bread and stuffed it in his mouth. "Really. If I knew that, I wouldn’t steal from you…"
"Yeah, you would just ask for it, huh?" Bai Xiaoke grumbled, feeling a slight reluctance to share their food. Hui Chuyan laughed.
B.Rabbit's group, with himself and his five underlings, actually had a difficult life over these few months. They had not eaten any proper food, and their last meal, two days back, was a nest of mice. When Xueqin placed some food on the ground in a straight line, the five humans and one rabbit pounced on the food. When Xueqin looked up, she saw that each of them had stuffed their cheeks full. She couldn’t even understand a word they said.
The bread which expanded after being removed from its vacuumed packaging was not much smaller than B.Rabbit’s body. He laid and sunk into the bread, chewing the food in his mouth quickly. Finally, he paused and said to Lin Sanjiu, "Huh? So, you haven’t heard?"
"About what?" Lin Sanjiu shook her head and handed the rabbit a can of beer.
"In the last few days in Hyperthermal Hell, we found a Consular Officer. We each got a visa to a different world. Executive Hai went to a world called ‘Back Garden’ while Hu Changzai went to a place called ‘Nudist Camp’." B.Rabbit paused for a moment seemingly unaware that the men in the group reacted awkwardly to the words ‘Nudist Camp’. "That name is pretty strange."
He nudged the opened beer can with his nose and sniffed. He was quickly attracted to the new smell and licked his lips, "Technically, we each had some probability of meeting you, it was just a really small one."
"What do you mean by that? Why did you decide to split up?"
"It’s all that Consular Officer’s fault!" B.Rabbit smacked his lips and looked at her. Remembering something, he remarked, "Ah, you haven’t really made any deals with a Consular Officer before so you don’t know about this."
With an annoying ‘Hehe-I-know-more-than-you" expression, he started explaining about the Consular Officer Database.
"All Consular Officers can only issue a limited number of visas. For example, the Consular Officer we found was called Sian. When he entered Hyperthermal Hell, he received the right to issue 146 visas. Once he had finished issuing these 146 visas, Sian wouldn’t be able to issue any more visas. This is why visas are so valuable. Even if he demanded an incredible price, no one would make a comment. These visas are further divided into different types. Things get complicated here." B.rabbit licked a drop of beer and his eyes sparkled, "What’s this? It tastes really good!"
[So, he had never drunk beer before.] Lin Sanjiu though as she couldn’t resist patting the rabbit’s head, "Back to the subject."
"Well… if I were to talk about the classification of visas, I would need to tell you about the ‘Twelve Worlds Centrum’ first." B.Rabbit ate while he spoke, his split lips moved rapidly as he continued, "The name ‘Twelve Worlds Centrum’ actually refers to a consortium of twelve worlds."
When they heard the term ‘Twelve Worlds Centrum’, B.Rabbit’s five underlings continued eating happily with the same expressions; on the other hand, Xueqin and the three other women immediately showed interest.
Just when they were about to ask more questions, B.Rabbit waved them off with his paw sternly, exuding a ‘shut up and listen to me’ aura.
[Well, you’ve been a Boss for a long time…] Lin Sanjiu couldn’t help stifling her laughter.
"It is said that Twelve Worlds Centrum had already existed for many years. The people who traverse among these twelve worlds are also very secretive… For some reasons, any Consular Officer who ended up in the Twelve Worlds Centrum, or were born there, would find changes to their Consular Officer Database."
"What sort of changes?" Bai Xiaoke immediately offered the rabbit a little egg jerky very tactfully.
"Let me use Sian as an example." B.Rabbit took a bite without holding back, "Most of the time, he usually lives in two of the worlds among the Twelve Worlds Centrum. So, within the 146 visas he can issue, around 30 of them are for these two worlds. He also has about over 10 visas for one of the other worlds in the Twelve Worlds Centrum."
Just when Lin Sanjiu was thinking about how Sian could settle down in two worlds, she silently scolded herself for her stupidity—all he had to do was to find another Consular Officer who lived in the Twelve Worlds Centrum so that they could exchange visas. With that, he could travel and live between two worlds.
"Even though the Twelve Worlds Centrum also only consists of Apocalyptic Worlds, due to their special status, they have supposedly been beautifully constructed… there are landscapers and an endless stream of heavy traffic. Everything works in an orderly manner. It is almost like the pre-apocalyptic world!" B.Rabbit certainly looked a little eager to go to those worlds. "Imagine a place where you don’t have to worry about food and lodging. Of course, there is a high demand for visas to places like these. Not only are they the most expensive, the Consular Officers would usually finish issuing these visas first."
[This isn’t all that hard to imagine...] Lin Sanjiu didn’t expect that Twelve Worlds Centrum would actually be like this. For a moment, she wondered how the worlds were reconstructed and also started hoping to see those worlds. However, she remembered Puppeteer and sighed inwardly.
"Other than these 40 or so visas leading to the Twelve Worlds Centrum, Sian has only two types of visa. The first type is the one that you mentioned, what is that guy’s name… Whatever. A person could go to a world six months before the apocalyptic event. This sort of visa is a little more expensive. After all, you would have six months to prepare…
"As for the other type, this is the most common visa that a Consular Officer can issue and also the cheapest. This is also the type of visa we got… Sian had already sold all the better visas. When it was our turn, he only had three visas to three normal apocalyptic worlds. That was just enough for myself, Hu Changzai and Executive Hai." B.Rabbit shook his legs sloppily. When he saw that everyone was focused on him, he felt that it was a waste that they didn’t have a lectern there. If he could say that on a lectern, how impressive-looking would that be!
That was a little too much new information for Lin Sanjiu to process. She crooked her head and thought for some time before asking, "If you got three visas to three random places, why did you guys still exchange your items for them?"
[How is this any different from being sent away randomly?] she thought.
"Um. As Sayo and Sian are friends, he told us a lot about these visas…" B.Rabbit replied immediately, "I also asked the same question then. Within the Consular Officer Database, there are two rules. Firstly, there are definitely Consular Officers in a world where you can go with a visa. This means that, if we keep getting visas, we would eventually have a chance to reach Twelve Worlds Centrum… Once we reached the Twelve World Centrum, everything would be different. Think about it, that sort of populous place would have its own mature administrative system. If you wanted to look for a Consular Officer, you would only have to go to the ‘Consular Officer Association’. If you had money, you could simply obtain the visas for these twelve worlds in different orders. You wouldn’t ever have to drift aimlessly and suffer in an unknown world!"
That’s right. For all of them, it was heartwarming even to know that there was a way to escape this sort of nightmarish apocalyptical days and a way to lead a stable life without needing to constantly worry about survival.
Bai Xiaoke raised a thumbs up and summoned an escort who started cleaning up the mess on the floor while she asked, "What is the second rule?"
"The world that you would be sent to via a visa isn’t entirely random…" B.Rabbit found it a little hard to explain the next part of what he wanted to say, so he gave an example, "For example, if 100 people would arrive at Garden of Eden each time. Maybe within these 100 people, only one person manages to get a normal visa. This person would go to the same place that at least one of the 99 people would be randomly sent to… It’s something like that."
He found it rather confusing so he checked again, "Do you understand?"
The twin sisters nodded quickly. The younger sister, Empiricism, had a downward pointing arrow scratched on her arm by B.Rabbit. With an expressionless face, she added, "Of course! Boss’ logically constructed sentences are super clear."
Lin Sanjiu was rendered speechless as she rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling.
Even though B.Rabbit was wearing a goth outfit and really seemed smarter than before, this was a little too...
"So, the destination of the normal visas are actually chosen from one of the destinations that the other people in the same world would be sent to… Is that it?" Xueqin tried to clarify.
"Yes." B.Rabbit gave her an aloof nod. Then, he pushed the can of beer. The beer fell on its side with a ‘clink’, "Can you understand now? When we split up, we held the hope that at least one of us would meet you!"
Lin Sanjiu felt a sudden wave of emotions but she didn’t want the others to see it. She lowered her head feeling a little embarrassed. She rubbed B.Rabbit's fur and whispered, "I know, I know…"
Lin Sanjiu and B.Rabbit kept quiet for some time while the others continued discussing. After that, she asked, "If that is the case, we can only count on our luck to meet Hu Changzai and Hai Tianqing again?"
B.Rabbit used his teeth to open a second can of beer. He paused and replied, "That isn’t really the case. We met this girl called Sayo, right? Oh, she really likes Executive Hai. I don’t know why she has such acquired taste… Anyway, she was born in one of the worlds within the Twelve Worlds Centrum. She has quite a few different bases in numerous worlds. She told us that once we reach the Twelve Worlds Centrum, we could leave a sign at her place…"
Lin Sanjiu nodded silently.
There was now an additional reason why they had to get a visa… She slowly looked at Xueqin, Bai Xiaoke and Hui Chuyan. She felt obligated to protect and take care of these young women who trusted and followed her. Unfortunately, they came here at different times, once they separated, she really couldn’t do much…
But, if they could all reach the Twelve Worlds Centrum, it would be a different story.
The issue was finding a Consular Officer. But, where could they find one now?
She turned behind and asked, "You guys have been lording over this place for such a long time. I am sure you must have met quite a few people. Are you sure you didn’t even come across a single Consular Officer?"
She didn’t expect that this question would reveal B.Rabbit’s worries.
He sighed, "It’s quite strange. Initially, there were quite a few posthumans traveling through here. However, in the past one to two months we haven’t seen any living person. Honestly, if you guys didn’t come here, we were planning to move to another place…"
When she heard that B.Rabbit was planning to go to another place, Lin Sanjiu was a little stunned. She suddenly remembered her Dog Frisbee. Before this, she thought that the base Green Melon mentioned was Er Dao’s ‘old home’... However, when she took out her [Dog Frisbee], the LED lights were still shining brightly.
[Where the hell did Er Dao set that geographic marker?]