Monster Paradise

It was late at night, and the streets were bare under the moonlight. In a quiet alley in Xiagong City, a man in a black robe stabbed a drunk middle-aged man in his chest. The man did not even manage to say anything as he fell straight onto the ground. The man in the black robe pulled out his knife and pressed his hand on the dead body’s wound. His clean hand seemed to be covered by a layer of asphalt as a black liquid flowed into the wound.

Awhile later, the man in black robe removed his hand and stood up. He took off his hat and removed the skin from his face that looked like tree bark. His face then transformed to reveal a layer of human skin.

”Ahh!” A lady screamed when she saw the man in the alley. The man in black robe chased after her.

”Help! A monster is killing people!” The lady kept screaming.

After a few moments of chasing the lady, the man in black robe saw somebody approaching so he ran away. A couple of security guards who were doing their rounds blocked his way….

…

In the morning, Lin Huang was sitting at the dining table, reading the news on the Heart Network after breakfast. He saw a featured local article so he clicked on it and read it.

”Before dawn today, a security guard of Xiagong City caught a murderer. From the dead body at the location, the murderer seems to be one of the culprits of the recent murder cases in the city. The murderer’s identity and the reason for the murder are still unknown and is still under investigation…”

”Brother, what are you reading?” Lin Xin who sat across him asked when she saw him frowning at the news.

”They caught a murderer who committed a recent murder,” Lin Huang looked at Lin Xin, and then noticed that her plate was empty.

”Are you full? If you aren’t, you can have more,” he said to her.

”I’ll get some fruits,” Lin Xin said and got up to get a plate of fruits.

”Brother, why did you frown at the news just now? Isn’t it a good thing that they have caught the murderer?” Lin Xin asked curiously while eating the fruits she got.

”Nothing, I just feel that the murderer is not human but from what the news reported, the culprit they caught was a human,” Lin Huang closed the news page. Although he thought the news was strange, he didn’t want to dwell on it.

”Maybe they got the wrong guy,” Lin Xin mumbled. She trusted her brother’s instincts.

”Let’s not talk about this anymore, it has nothing to do with us,” Lin Huang said and tossed a red berry into his mouth. ”It seems like the safety of Xiagong City is still unstable. We’ll explore the city during the day and come back before dark. We’ll try to end our trip around four or five o’clock and come back for dinner. Maybe we should stay in at night,” he said to Lin Xin.

”Then we would have to change our schedule…” Lin Xin said in disappointment.

”We can spread out the activities. It’ll be okay if we take our time to explore the city. You have almost two months of summer break. Excluding our travel time, you’ll have at least one and a half months of holiday. There are not that many attractions in the city center. We can finish them even if we extend our trip for just another week. Before the murder cases are solved, it’s better that we stay in the hotel at night,” Lin Huang explained.

”Alright then…” Lin Xin said, with a pout. Although she was reluctant, she accepted Lin Huang’s suggestion as she knew that it was not safe to be out in Xiagong City at night.

The both of them left the hotel after breakfast. Under Lin Xin’s guidance, they rode on the Viridian Wolf and arrived at the first attraction in the city center - the Xiagong Museum.

”The Xiagong Museum mainly features items that were excavated from the ruins. Most of them were from the ancient city back in the olden days. A couple of collections came from the Xiagong Ruins and they’re currently the centerpiece of the hall…” Lin Xin explained to Lin Huang.

Lin Huang knew about all the information she was saying as he had read them all up on the Heart Network. Since his sister seemed to enjoy being a tour guide, he listened without interrupting her. He had little interest in museums. When he was on earth, he only had one thought of museums - The items in there cost a bomb! That was why he hardly visited any museums whenever he traveled. However, it was different in this world as there were many interesting things to see. He could learn more about this world by studying the historical items in the museum.

The Xiagong Museum had free entrance admission but identity verification was mandatory. After completing their verification at the entrance, they entered the museum and realized that there were many visitors.

”Hi, are the both of you together?” A young lady in white uniform asked as she approached them. They both nodded in unison.

”If that’s the case, I can be your tour guide,” she continued.

Lin Huang knew that the tour guides here were a complimentary service but some people preferred to be on their own instead of following a tour guide. He turned to Lin Xin and asked, ”Do you want a tour guide?”

”That would be nice…” Lin Xin replied as she looked around at the collections of artifacts. There were many of them and some of them were not featured on the network.

”We’ll have you join us then,” Lin Huang said as he nodded at the tour guide.

”Please follow me…” The lady led both of them along to the exhibitions.

Lin Huang had learned a lot from the tour guide. Lin Xin was curious too. She asked a lot of questions and the tour guide managed to give her detailed explanations to each and every one of them. An hour later, they finally made it to the hall. The hall was not that big and was just a little less than 300 square meters. Lin Huang saw the collection that was presented as the centerpiece once he stepped into the hall. The one in the middle caught his eye but made him squint to confirm what he saw. He walked hurriedly to the center and as he approached, his eyes widened in surprise. The both of them saw him and followed.

”What’s wrong, brother?” Lin Xin asked Lin Huang curiously.

”Nothing, I’m just curious about these items,” Lin Huang suppressed how stunned he really was. He stared at the item in the middle for a very long time.

It was a laptop. It was laid open and placed inside a transparent case. The computer screen was completely shattered and there was a hole in the middle of the keyboard that was the size of a fist. It was burnt on the sides but the keyboard buttons were still intact. He was stunned as he had never seen a computer or a laptop ever since he came to this world.

”What is this?” Lin Huang could not help but ask the tour guide. It was his first question since he entered the museum.

”These items were excavated from the Xiagong Ruins. Both items on the sides are decorations. As for the one in the middle, the archaeologists have been trying to figure out what it was but none of them know what is it for. Since nobody knows what it is, they called it the unknown item,” the tour guide explained, embarrassed that she had no answer to the first question he had asked that day.

”The unknown item…” he mumbled. Hearing the tour guide’s answer, Lin Huang could almost confirm that this laptop was brought by another traveler that came into this world.

”It seems like I have to make a trip to the Xiagong Ruins then!” He thought to himself.