Chapter 6

Eden

The thing that kept making noise was the doorbell, indicating that someone was looking for him—after a day and night of television learning, Juan had learned many names and functions of objects.

Ignoring the doorbell, Juan began to move his arms and legs.

After all, it was a corpse, and even though it hadn’t decayed because of his possession, it still needed regular maintenance.

It wouldn’t be good to explain if any post-mortem marks appeared—having watched several crime investigation shows, Juan now knew a little more about corpses.

After a simple “maintenance” of his current body, Juan finally went to open the door.

As soon as he opened it, he saw the man who had brought him here yesterday, along with a group of unfamiliar humans.

The man had pressed the doorbell for quite some time. Seeing it was useless, he knocked on the door as well, causing quite a commotion that attracted the group of people nearby.

As Juan suddenly opened the door, the man lost his balance and stumbled inside.

Juan pointed a finger, pushing him back.

Seeing Juan standing and walking, the man instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m glad I woke you up. I didn’t see you come out yesterday, so I thought you were resting, but when you didn’t come out today, I thought you…”

The two words “passed away” were left unspoken, but it was clear from his expression.

After speaking, he opened his hand, revealing a rectangular object in his palm.

“I brought you some food.”

Juan stood still and looked into the man’s palm—

“Compressed rations,” he had seen advertisements for this thing on TV over the past couple of days.

It was said to be a must-have for home and travel.

He had never seen one…

He was a bit curious…

After staring at it for three seconds, Juan decided to accept the goodwill, even though he didn’t need to eat right now.

However, he felt he should pay for it.

This was one of the social rules he had learned since entering human society for the first time.

But the things in the house didn’t belong to him…

No, not entirely.

Turning around, he took out a green stone from his backpack. Feeling a bit of regret, he handed the stone to the man.

“What is this…”

Before the last word “money” could be spoken, the man suddenly tightened his grip on the green stone and shoved it back into Juan’s hand. He smiled and explained to the people beside him:

“We had agreed to check out how much this crystal could be exchanged for at the trading center! Haha, although it’s just one crystal, it’s not his first time, is it? He got this thing for the first time and got hurt pretty badly…”

Noticing that the man emphasized “one” and “first time,” Juan tilted his head slightly and realized that the crowd around them was excitedly looking at the stone in his palm—

“Is this the crystal? Wow!”

“485345, I just heard 485325 say you went outside the city, and I didn’t believe it. After all, you usually don’t look like someone who would dare to go outside…”

“So not only did you dare, but you also got a crystal! You’re amazing!”

“Can you tell me what it’s like outside? What kind of monster did you get this crystal from? Was it hard to fight?”

After seeing the crystal, the originally passive young people suddenly became excited, all trying to lean in closer to Juan’s palm, but no one dared to touch it.

—

Juan looked at the embarrassed man—485325; this string of numbers should be his name.

“Sorry, I accidentally knocked them out when I knocked on the door. They asked me why I was knocking, and I told them you got injured outside the city…” the man whispered, making an “apology” gesture.

“It’s okay.” What he said was true, and Juan didn’t think the man needed to apologize.

“There are many damaged buildings outside, with a lot of wild grass and trees. As for the beasts… I’ve seen five types of exotic beasts; this crystal was obtained from one that looks a bit like a cat and a bit like a leopard.”

“It’s not difficult to fight, but for you guys…” He scanned the young people around him and assessed, “It should be challenging.”

“Cut it out!” The crowd began to boo.

“Our performance in the combat class is about the same. Others might not matter, but we’ve been fixed partners several times in combat class.” One of the red-haired, green-eyed young men booed the loudest.

“It should be a Carbit beast, something that looks both like a cat and a leopard.” A nearby young man wearing glasses pondered aloud. Upon closer inspection, his glasses were not for nearsightedness or farsightedness; at that moment, as he spoke, lines of text scrolled across the lenses, along with images.

This was a type of portable optical brain—Juan had seen advertisements for it as well.

“Can I take a picture of the crystal? I want to upload it as an entry in the encyclopedia.” After a moment, the young man said a bit shyly.

In response, Juan offered the green crystal in his palm towards the young man.

Carefully taking pictures of the crystal from various angles, the young man bashfully thanked Juan.

The others also took turns to admire the crystal and, with Juan’s permission, even touched it. After checking on Juan’s health, they finally left, satisfied.

“Can I touch it too?” Once everyone else had left, the man who initially knocked on the door quietly asked.

Haven’t you already touched it?—Juan didn’t say anything and just looked at him.

The man scratched his head: “I was too eager to return it to you just now and didn’t really get to feel it.”

Juan: “…”

He handed the green stone back to him and said calmly, “It was meant for you. You gave me the compressed rations.”

The man hurriedly waved his hands: “I really need to take you to the trading center for a look.”

“Crystals are expensive! Even if they are obtained from relatively ordinary exotic beasts, as long as they are crystals, they are worth more than points.”

As he spoke, he studied the green crystal in his hand carefully: “That day I went to pick up some work. Some people come back from hunting outside the city and are too lazy to walk back, so I can ride the floating motorcycle to give them a lift.”

“I do this every day, but after doing it for two years, the points I earned might not even be worth as much as this one stone.”

“This stone is very green, much greener than any green crystal I’ve seen before. It might be worth as much as my motorcycle!”

After saying this, he decisively shoved the stone back into Juan’s hand.

“It’s just a free breakfast provided by the school; you don’t need to give me anything.”

Only then did Juan accept the green stone back.

At the man’s suggestion, Juan decided to take the green crystal to the trading center for a look.

He wasn’t interested in points, but he was interested in the man’s floating motorcycle.

Before leaving, he changed into a new outfit at the man’s suggestion. His original clothes were hanging neatly on the bed, with three identical sets of black clothes—black shirt and black pants. He casually picked one set to change into, and after putting his backpack on again, he left with the man.

As they exited the building, he saw the few people he had met before. They were also wearing the same black clothes and holding several books. Upon seeing the two of them, they greeted, “Class is starting soon. Aren’t you going to school?”

Before Juan could respond, the red-haired companion pulled him aside and laughed, “They’re going to the trading market! One of them already has a job, and the other can hunt outside the city; they’ve got all the options, so they don’t need to take the employment guidance course!”

The other companions around them nodded in agreement, laughing.

“We’ll bring back employment forms for you later,” the young man with glasses said.

Juan hadn’t yet adjusted well to all these new terms, but the young man carrying him waved goodbye to the group and quickly accelerated away.

“Forget 485382; 485321 is the top student in the grade. If his interview goes well, he might be able to work at [Eden].” As they navigated the city, the man spoke about the few classmates.

“[Eden]?” This was a completely new term he had never heard before and couldn’t guess. It had appeared once in a television drama he watched yesterday.

It seemed like a place that could offer very good jobs—he guessed.

“Yeah, it would be amazing to go there. Our school isn’t great; the last time a student was accepted there was five years ago. If 485321 can get in, maybe our siblings can benefit from it in the future.”

“Siblings?”

“Uh-huh, our first four digits are the same, which means we were all born on the same day in the same place. What else could we be if not siblings?”

“I’m number 25, you are number 45; we both end with a 5. Maybe we really are related by blood!”

Laughing, the man accelerated again.

Juan thought to himself about how many humans could be born at once, given such long identification numbers. How many babies did their mothers give birth to at one time?

He wrapped his arms around the man’s waist, feeling a bit dazed.

Just as all sorts of eggs inexplicably appeared in his mind, the man called out to him again:

“Look! We’re passing by Eden. You don’t have a motorcycle and should have never been here before, right? Take a good look; this might be the closest you’ll ever get to it!”

Here’s the English translation of the text:

—

Snapped back from the image of rows and rows of eggs, Juan looked ahead and trembled—

He saw a wall.

A very, very tall wall.

It resembled the city walls he had seen during his travels in the human world, but it was even taller and sturdier than those walls. Compared to this city, which had a light barrier as its wall, he felt that the building surrounded by white walls in front of him was the real city!

A tightly defended, impregnable stronghold.

Even though he couldn’t see any weapons or soldiers, Juan knew that the defensive level of this building was very high, higher than any stronghold he had visited before!

It appeared to be uninhabited, yet he knew that every move he made, and every move of the man carrying him—485325—was entirely under their control!

An invisible eye was watching everyone who passed by.

However, for Juan, this level of surveillance was manageable.

After all, this sense of being monitored wasn’t targeted at him alone; it was aimed at everyone.

Such indiscriminate surveillance existed in many places in this city, like the building he had just left, or along the roads he traveled. Here, it was just a bit stronger, which didn’t bother him.

What truly captured his full attention and made him tremble was that person!

Although he couldn’t see through the white wall and other buildings, he just knew that person was right there! The one who had snatched the magic book from his hands and brought him to this world was there.

As he focused on that spot, his soul trembled, and sensing the location of his severed limb, his right hand also began to feel a slight warmth.

To the east, if standing at the city gate, this place was right to his east.

“Is this [Eden]?” Juan murmured.

“Yeah, that’s right!” the man replied firmly.

Staring at the building with a slightly visible dome behind the white wall, Juan declared resolutely:

“I want to work at [Eden].”

The author has something to say:

485325 Huh?