Dreadful Radio Game

“We’ll never make it, sir, no matter how fast we go. Edward Psychological Research Institution is too far away and our time is running out.”

The pilot said to Joran who was sitting in the rear.

“Just try your best. I have to deal with it, but not necessarily before it’s over.”

Joran was sitting in a helicopter in the howling wind, but he looked so calm with an invisible shield protecting him from the wind. No matter how strong the wind was, his hair remained well-combed. He was very picky about his appearance, almost obsessed about it.

Next to Joran, there was another man in his forties. He was wearing a labor suit heavily stained with greasy dirt, and looked exactly like a worker in some factory.

The two of them sitting together made an odd contrast, but they seemed to be used to this.

Indeed, maybe identities or social status mattered a lot in the real world, especially in the western countries where freedom, democracy and equity were emphasized in defiance of class bias, but once they entered Dreadful Radio Game, they would no longer be valued by the social status in reality.

Capability was the only thing that mattered.

Sitting by the side of Joran, Sophia’s boss, and taking up most of the seat, this worker was definitely of a higher rank than Joran.

“That’s a risk.” The worker’s voice was loud and clear. Probably a habit picked up in the factory, since no one would hear him in the noise of manufacture process if his voice was too low. “If it fails, what had happened might happen again.”

“You really believed he’d be close to that woman? Even though the cat is with him, it can’t prove anything. Even, according to others’ analysis, that woman might have disappeared, for good. Recent data has verified this.

“That woman might not be in the real world any more.

“And if that woman is gone, it makes sense why the cat has to stay with him. He’s just a lucky eastern audience who looks after a powerful person’s pet. He’s not the first lucky guy. Some western audiences have been there before.

“George Allen, don’t be such a p*ssy. Even if he dies right now, it won’t be our problem. He went there by himself, we didn’t force him or anything.

“Besides, London audiences have to get rid of that woman’s shadow sooner or later. We can’t live in the nightmare in the past.”

“Nightmare?

“Shadow?

“Hem…”

George Allen sighed.

“I was one of the Mariner City people, my wife and daughter left me in that incident, and their traces were wiped out by the Dreadful Radio… How cruel! I couldn’t even find a hair to mourn for them!

“If that woman… If that woman is not gone… If she’s still watching all this, if he really is close to her, Joran, can you afford the consequences?

“If that women comes to London, can you promise that the magnates in Vatican, in Milan and in Catalonia are willing to fall out in public and fight against that mad woman to the end, despite the cost of their original force?

“Britain needs British audiences to protect ourselves. We can’t rely on anyone else to save us, never! Only us British audiences will take this place as our only home!

“Back then, we were set up to upset her. Now, do we have to make the same choice?”

Joran patted on George Allen’s shoulder. “My dearest George Allen, please trust me. That woman is long gone. We have to get up and walk out of her shadow. Only then can we retrieve our hope and generate another magnate leader.

“This is just our first step. Now, that man named Su will be our pathfinder. What happens to him has nothing to do with us.”

Just then, a horrible scent aroused in the center of London downtown without any signs or warning. So abrupt that everyone was caught unprepared.

Joran’s face immediately changed and his hands started shaking. His confidence was replaced by panic and fear, just like a lab rat that was scared by the sound of an experiment.

“It’s her! It’s her! She’s coming, she’s still here…”

George Allen’s lips went purple. Apparently, the fear from deep down his soul had completely taken over his hatred for avenging his wife and daughter. Just like the creatures on the top of food chain would naturally terrify those below them. He couldn’t hate that woman, because he didn’t dare to hate her! She had buried nightmares in his heart that he would never escape from!

…

In a museum in London, in a special exhibition room where no guest was allowed in, a coffin slowly floated into the air and uncovered by itself. A skeletal man stretched his hands, grabbed the edge of the coffin and slowly sat up.

His hair was blue but dry as withered grass. His skin was wrinkled, like a piece of worn cloth hanging over his bones. But his eyes looked secluded and peaceful. The air pressure suddenly dropped when he sat up, and he became the center of everything around him.

He was thinking and hesitating.

He didn’t even dare to let out his own scent to meet the scent that broke out from nowhere.

At last, he heaved a deep sigh. With a sad, lonely look, he lay back into the coffin. The lid closed and the coffin slowly landed back on the floor.

…

“Sir, Mr. Premier wants to know if his outline for the next military security conference is ready.” A clerk knocked on the door and asked because the door was closed and locked from inside. This was weird because usually nobody would lock any door in this building.

Failing to get an answer, the clerk had to keep knocking, but suddenly, there came an angry reply:

“Premier can go to hell, so can his outline! You should all go to hell!

“Get out! Out!”

The roar echoed throughout the storey and shocked everyone. Mr. Assistant, Mr. Premier’s most trusted co-worker, was known for his good temper, what could possibly cause his unusual wrath?

In the office, Will was crouching beside the desk. He stared at his hands and found them shaking terribly. He had imagined over a million times how he would react if that women came back to Britain, how he would fight her and protect his motherland from her. He was willing to do anything, even to sacrifice himself.

But when it came true, his courage disappeared when that woman’s scent appeared above London.

He was angry at himself for being such a coward, and anger was all he could feel.

Joran was right. British audiences wouldn’t have a future if they couldn’t get rid of that woman’s shadow because they had lost their courage to face her.

At the same time, in major cities including Vatican, Milan and Catalonia, giant figures appeared above the city, their eyes fixed on London.

Even in China, there were several giant figures appearing above some cities. They were vague and invisible to ordinary people but could disturb the magnetic fields to a great extent.

One of the figures asked in astonishment:

“She’s gone to that place, hasn’t she? What, is she… back?”

…

Sophia suddenly fell on the the ground, gasping. The scent that she once felt when she was still an experiencer had now come back.

She remembered, the day after that scent appeared, a city was erased. She was confused and dimmed for a long time, feeling that her recognition of this world was reversed.

Hundreds of thousands of people living in the Mariner City were wiped out, leaving no trace behind. Their social relation to people elsewhere, others’ memories involving them, and everything else, all gone.

That was an overwhelming horror, like darkness threatening all British audiences.

Then, she suddenly looked up. She saw Su Bai dying in the glass room and screamed madly. Dozens of vines grew out of her body, pierced through the open door and went towards the culture dish.

He couldn’t be killed. He couldn’t die here.

That woman was not gone.

That woman was still watching!

He must be close to that woman. So he couldn’t be killed now. He couldn’t die here!

Su Bai suddenly heard a hash scream in his mind. Then, the spiritual pressure on him was lifted.

“Crack!”

He heard the sounds of glass breaking into pieces and felt something wet on his face. He raised his head and opened his eyes. The culture dish was knocked down and smashed, the nutrient solution splashed everywhere and the brain was rolling over to him.

Somehow…

… Looking at this disgusting brain…

… the first idea occurred to Su Bai was…