Chapter 49: Qian Wenhuan
Chapter 49: Qian Wenhuan
Of course, this was all just speculations.
Besides, if the USB drive was the key to the reality outside of the box, then why could it not instantiate living beings?
In the past, Chen Chen had tried to instantiate a cockroach from a movie and failed. He thought it was due to insufficient energy.
Chen Chen had also tried to look for signs of microbacteria on newly instantiated objects. No matter what, he could not find any.
Therefore, Chen Chen had two hypotheses:
The portal formed by the USB drive was not able to transport living beings.
There were no living beings in the world connected to the USB drive.
He only had to do one thing to verify if the USB drive was the USB drive from Lucy.
He could check if the USB drive could hold the movie Lucy.
If it could hold the movie Lucy, then it would prove that the USB drive had nothing to do with the movie. Just like how no matter how strong a person was, he was still not able to lift himself by his hair.
The two possibilities if it was not able to hold the movies were:
The first possibility, the USB drive and the movie Lucy were closely related, therefore it could not be contained in the drive.
The second possibility, the premise of Lucy was too fictional and thus could not be taken in by the USB drive.
Of course, there existed another possibility. Being that the USB drive did originate from the movie Lucy but it could still hold the movie itself.
Just like an endless parallel universe, the one in the USB drive would be another Lucy universe, but not the Lucy universe which the USB drive came from...
In that case, whether it could succeed in containing the movie or not, there still was no proper explanation.
Hmmm...
This was pretty d*mned awkward.
At the moment, all that could be said was the depth of the USB drive was unimaginable.
Chen Chen gave up on thinking about it. He went straight into the workshop and inserted the USB drive into the computer.
“X, insert the movie Lucy into the USB drive.”
“Ok, Dad.”
Following Little X’s response, Chen Chen saw a progress bar flash on the computer screen. After that, came a “Ding”.
As expected, it could not be inserted into the USB drive.
Chen Chen stubbornly opened the USB drive, it still contained the same seven movies.
[Ju-on.avi], [Final Destination.avi], [One Missed Call.avi], [Ring.avi], [Alita: Battle Angel.mp4], [Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters.mp4], [Terminator 5: Dark Fate.mp4].
The USB drive originally only had four movies. After Chen Chen’s stubborn attempt, it turned into seven.
After speculating that the USB drive served as the box’s key to reality, Chen Chen did not dare to carelessly open these movies.
The last three movies were fine. Chen Chen was just concerned about triggering some sort of hidden mechanism if he opened the first four horror films.
Of course, those movies would still have to be opened eventually to find out the USB drive’s secrets.
Now was not the time.
...
Three days later.
Shangdu Chuanpu International Airport.
A 911 class commercial airplane headed for Switzerland was parked by a wide airport runway. From the windows in the terminal, you could see the ocean in the distance.
A group of blonde-haired foreigners was lining up in front of the terminal channel. They passed through the ticket gate and headed toward the plane.
Among the foreigners, there were only a handful of Chinese with ink-black hair and eyes.
Among the Earth Federation, there were various bodies of government. The European continent was one of the unique ones.
Unlike the Central Continent, India Continent and North America Continent had a unified government system of their own as they implemented a separate decentralized governmental system.
Switzerland was one of the members operating under a decentralized government.
Even though they were a part of Europe, they had their own “sub-federation” system which bypassed the need for a centralized government. They were only subject to the jurisdiction of the mother Earth Federation.
There was not a large concentration of Chinese citizens in Switzerland. On top of the difficulty of applying for a work permit in Switzerland, there was also the issue of foreigners being slighted by the Swiss.
However, considering the gorgeous natural setting the country had to offer, the exemplary quality of life there, the orderly nature of daily life, and most importantly, the high wages, some people were more than willing to look past the shortcomings and tough it out there.
Qian Wenhuan was such an individual.
He finally had an opportunity to return to his homeland to visit his family, but something major came up in the company. Even the chairman himself had called him several times. In the end, he had no choice but to head back.
Due to working in a foreign land, he only got to see his wife and kids a handful of times each year so it was not easy for him. There were times where he thought about throwing in the towel and head home.
However, each time he felt compelled to do so, he thought about his high wages and ended up giving up on the impractical idea.
Things were never easy for people making a living aboard.
Whenever Qian Wenhuan found himself among a bunch of blonde-haired and blue-eyed foreigners, he would always try to puff up his chest to make his small physique appear larger.
This was a part of his life in trying to incorporate himself into the Swiss working environment.
As he was trying to play the part of a successful upper-class businessman, he noticed a fellow Chinese citizen ahead of him.
Tch, even though the person looked young from behind, he had to admit that this person was better than him at putting up an act.
He was adorned in expensive local-bought clothes. He seemed to carry a strange aura that was able to draw people in wherever he walked.
On top of that, every step he took seemed so effortless and graceful.
Probably grew up in Switzerland?
Qian Wenhuan shook his head in contempt.
One of the most bizarre things about the Swiss: Even those who did not have any money or own any property whatsoever like to act like upperclassmen. They acted civilized just to impress other nations.
The young fellow in front of him had mastered the art of it.
The only thing outsiders noticed about Switzerland was always the outrageously high wages. Little did they know, the living cost was just as outrageous...
Qian Wenhuan looked daggers at the young man. It was like he was trying to steal away some of his aura.
He was the only one who knew how much he had to endure to be where he was today.
Growing up, he had always been told he had the temperament of a mountain bandit living in the hilltop tribes like the ones you see in ancient times. No matter what he wore, he could never get rid of that impression he gave.
Though he had been honed by society and had learned to put on a smile in front of others over time, all it managed to do was get rid of his scent. Deep down, his original essence remained...
He may not have the picture-perfect image but he put in all the work and got to where he was today. While his peers back in mainland China were working their butts off trying to break into five figures salary, he was making twenty thousand Swiss francs a month.
After conversion, his monthly salary was up to a hundred forty-thousand.
Sadly, twenty thousand of that sum was deducted for tax purposes. Another ten thousand for insurance and twenty thousand for utilities, he spent about thirty thousand each month on food.
The expenses in that blasted place were ridiculous...
Crossing the boarding bridge, Qian Wenhuan’s mind was wandering all over the place up to a point he did not even know what he was thinking about. He boarded the plane.
Under the instructions of the flight attendant, Qian Wenhuan arrived at his seat. He put his luggage in the overhead compartment.
The company got him a business class ticket. The seats were grouped in twos, each row contained three sets of combined seats. Not only could the seats be tilted at 180 degrees for him to lay flat, he even had a small personal TV of his own.
It may not be as premium as first class, but it would do.
At the very least, it was far better than sitting in economy where you could not even stretch your legs...
Phew!
The moment Qian Wenhuan sat down, he heaved a sigh of relief. He could finally afford a good rest over the next sixteen hours.
“Flip, flip...”
Qian Wenhuan heard the sound of pages being flipped coming from beside him.
Since the seats in business glass were grouped in twos, his seat was directly connected to another person’s seat. The only thing that could serve to separate them was a plastic plate that could be lifted.
At the moment, the plastic plate was not lifted. Qian Wenhuan turned toward the direction where the noise came from and was taken aback by what he saw...
The young man he had seen earlier, who had dressed pretentiously, was sitting right beside him.
Furthermore, he had a book in hand.
Hm.
The book title was... Easy German Learning with Zero Foundation.
“Pfft!”
Qian Wenhuan snorted.