Chapter 232: Chapter 232: Reverberations

The other side of the Teleportation Gate was the apartment rented by Chen Ke.

The afternoon sunlight streamed in through the window, falling on the floor, and on the small table by the window was a white CRT monitor alongside a black, old computer case.

The Blasphemous Dagger was then stuck in the window frame, flashing an orange light, transforming back into a small diamond and falling onto the keyboard.

This black Teleportation Gate had a diameter of about 2 meters and was oval-shaped, just large enough to accommodate one person passing through.

Plus, upon closer observation of the junction between the Teleportation Gate and this world, one could see some kind of siphoning phenomenon. The dust on the ground was slowly being sucked into the apartment by the gate.

“Can I just walk through? Don’t I need to recite a spell or something?” Sam asked.

Not everyone had seen a Teleportation Gate, let alone passed through one directly.

“Just go through… there won’t be any problems,” Chen Ke said.

Sam circled around the Teleportation Gate, trying to look at its rear, much like when Chen Ke first opened the gate, constantly probing it with his fingers.

Chen Ke picked up Diana, letting her right arm rest around his neck, and he was the first to step through the Teleportation Gate. The warm sunlight shone on Diana’s face, causing her to squint her eyes.

“Don’t be like a child… Just walk in… quickly,” Chen Ke urged, even though he had opened the gate, he did not know how long it could hold before he manually shut it.

After Chen Ke returned to the real world, his list of opened gates did not show “Carefree City 2006,” meaning that once the Teleportation Gate was closed, Chen Ke would be forever parted from that world.

Sam made a preparatory motion and leapt into Chen Ke’s apartment with a swoop, then quickly checked his own body.

The other survivors also quickly passed through the Teleportation Gate, and once everyone was inside, with a thought, the black Teleportation Gate disappeared in a swish.

“Everyone… welcome to my home…” Chen Ke said.

The small room was crammed with eight grimy people–Chen Ke, Diana, and Sam, two children, and two survivors brought by Ying Baiyi, plus a young woman.

“Are you sure this is Opportunity City…?” Sam still wasn’t quite sure if he had truly escaped from that nightmare, he asked.

“If you still have doubts, you can go downstairs and take a look around the streets,” Chen Ke said.

Having just escaped a disaster, Chen Ke knew it was not the time to relax yet, as Diana lay unconscious in his arms, her arm which was draped around his neck, limply drooping.

She had lost too much blood and needed urgent medical attention, yet Chen Ke was instinctively very resistant to entering places like hospitals and laboratories.

Moreover, entering a hospital would surely involve being captured by surveillance cameras and needing to provide his name while processing various forms…

But saving Diana’s life was a priority.

Chen Ke didn’t say much, merely briefed everyone on the current situation briefly and let the remaining survivors choose whether to follow him to the hospital or go home.

Fortunately, the parents of the two children had not died in the subway accident. They had carried some pocket money that day, hoping to fulfill their own subway adventure, which led them into this situation.

Sam urged them to hurry home and gave them his Facebook account, promising to keep them updated on Diana’s condition.

The surviving woman, named Gina, was still in shock but strongly stated that since Chen Ke and the others had saved her, she decided to accompany them to the hospital to see if she could be of any help.

Ying Baiyi had died, and those two survivors were not from this world; they were unfamiliar with Opportunity City and unsure of their next steps. Chen Ke advised them to stay at his place for now and plan ahead later.

One of them, named Louis, was a Latino young man, and the other, named Rama, was a Black young man; both looked quite perplexed. Hearing Chen Ke’s suggestion, they expressed their immense gratitude and took up the responsibility of cleaning the residence.

Louis and Rama stayed in Chen Ke’s rented apartment while Chen Ke, carrying Diana, along with Sam, Gina, and the two children, descended the building and hailed two cars–one heading to the hospital and the other to take the children home.

Chen Ke was unaware of any Administration Bureau hospitals in Opportunity City, and even if he had known, he would not have considered going there.

After all, the wounds on Diana’s body were clearly inflicted by a monster, and since his own agent had been seriously injured, the Administration Bureau would definitely investigate the cause. Chen Ke also didn’t think a simple lie would let him get off scot-free, so they chose to send Diana to a major hospital in the city.

Considering Chen Ke’s concerns, Sam and Gina used their personal information to handle various procedures for Diana.

Chen Ke’s offshore account couldn’t directly pay the medical expenses, but he still managed to help pay the fees through a transfer.

When he took out his phone, he found that in just two short days, he had missed 129 calls and had over 70 unread messages.

The moment he crossed back to Opportunity City, Chen Ke’s phone suddenly received a signal, pulling all the missed information from the past two days.

Pihom, Hainerd, Lester, Hall, Priskin… All had tried to contact him more than once, and Lucina alone had made 100 calls. He didn’t have time to check the messages, focusing all his attention on Diana instead.

At that moment, Diana was stripped of her jacket and laid flat on a stretcher, pushed along the emergency corridor into the operating room with her forearm vein fitted with an IV, two bags of plasma and a clear medication being injected into her body.

Only after the door of the operating room closed did the three of them really breathe a sigh of relief. Although Diana was still in danger, Chen Ke could finally sit down and wait earnestly.

Sam estimated that Diana’s wounds might need over 100 stitches, but he also firmly believed that she would gradually recover. Gina, unable to join the conversation at the moment, quietly sat beside them, silently waiting.

Right now, Chen Ke wasn’t worried about Diana, but about Sam.

He had already contracted a meme infection, and what had happened to Ying Baiyi was bound to be repeated in him.

Those confirmed to turn into ash, besides Chen Ke, were only Ying Baiyi’s companions, Louis and Rama. Sam hadn’t been tested by Jiu Lin, but it was highly likely that he would turn into ash as well.

Those two kids, Gina and Diana, also had a slim chance of turning into ash. After all, no one could guarantee they hadn’t seen the large black column.

The hospital’s corridor was quiet, the medicinal smell permeating the air, and the voices of patients and medical staff made the situation feel surreal for the three who had just escaped from that world.

Chen Ke honestly expressed his concerns. After all, turning into ash wasn’t something you could ignore as if it weren’t there.

“I don’t know, Chen Ke, do you have any ideas…?” Sam had just been reveling in his joy of escape, but now hearing Chen Ke discuss this matter, he felt quite uneasy.

Before, Sam could use the excuse of “figuring out a way to escape” to force himself not to think about the possibility of turning to ash. Now, however, he had to prepare for a long-term future.

“I will look for a way, but I can’t guarantee success…” Chen Ke shook his head. What could he possibly do? The only other people he knew who were aware of meme infections were Diana and Lester…

Maybe he could ask Lester…

“Alright… You’re a… er, remarkable person. You must have your own methods.” Sam said to Chen Ke. Chen Ke’s expression made him worried, as Chen Ke hadn’t seemed very convincing when mentioning finding a way.

“My professor… works at the Administration Bureau, I could also ask him,” Gina chimed in.

“Oh? That’s even better… Are you still in college?” Chen Ke asked.

“No… I graduated a year ago, but I’m very close to my professor…” Gina replied.

“Good… Regardless of whether there’s hope, let’s ask and see if the Administration Bureau has a cure for meme infections…” Chen Ke said.

Although he said that, he wasn’t holding much hope. If the Administration Bureau really had a way, Carefree City in 2006 would have figured it out long ago…

Up to now, he still couldn’t understand what the connection was between that world from 2006 and this one.

“Sam… I advise you to keep calm and live a slower-paced life until I find a way to cure this condition…” Chen Ke said, looking at Sam.

Jiu Lin once said that the speed of turning to ash depends on how fast the Ash Element replaces itself in the body; with each circulation of blood through the body, the Ash Element displaces a person more and more rapidly.

With a circulation as slow as a nearly dead person’s like Chen Ke’s, he still had some time. But Sam and the others were different; they could turn to red dust any second.

“I’ll try… but Chen Ke… try to hurry… I just escaped death, and I don’t want to turn into dust in the blink of an eye…” Sam said nervously.

“I know…” Chen Ke could only nod, though he truly had no confidence.