3 years, 1 month, 14 days left til apocalypse.
Brimming with the scent of oil, dust, wood, and books. Zhenin arrived at the City Library, which was built up north, a few blocks away from Zhenin's home.
Pushing forward the French gate, a stronger smell of dust and books blasted in Zhenin's face.
Due to the lack of a caretaker, the entire library was swimming in the abyss of darkness. Besides the scent, nothing can be sensed from the inside.
Zhenin placed his watch on his face and turned it into a mask. Just in case that something inside the library was photosensitive, it was safer to use a night vision.
For the last fifteen years, the Leiman twins had never been in the library due to the site being used as a fort. People had nailed the windows with metallic fortification and even removed most furniture that contains smart technology. The entire lobby was brimming with sandbags and waste, such as cans and plastic. All of the hallways had either been torn scratches or burn marks, and the only room in the entire building that was left untouched was the library.
What welcomed Zhenin are bookcases as tall as three stories. Large tables equipped with a holographic projector. Emptied vending machines that were supposed to sell pills for a short term brain boost.
The library certainly was grand and exquisite following the design aesthetics of the third teraeons (three quintillion years), which was based on a metallic fractal design with gestalt in mind.
If Zhenin wasn't using a green night vision, he'd be able to see the last survivor of the Earth's visible constellation. Used with color-conforming steel, the metals were arranged to form a nebulaeic fractals that formed the Cassiopeia constellation.
Looking at the numerous, stupid tall bookshelves with a relatively sparse amount of books, Zhenin couldn't help but click his tongue.
All the escapees took most of the books. In this era, books are more of a symbol of luxury than actual reading material. Due to the evolution of the smarter e-book industry, paperbound books became something akin to a vinyl, which is only collected by the collectors. A 4th teraeon hipster thing to be exact.
Since the system is down, Zhenin had to find the theology books that he needs manually.
This was his first problem. There were no portable ladders, and even then, three stories high aren't something a portable ladder can reach. Usually, drones would be used to look for books using a console. But, the lack of energy and maintenance can make the technology faulty. In short, it may go boom and bring the entire library with it.
With no other choice, Zhenin began to climb the shelves.
Due to the usage of drones, all of the labels are in bar codes. Zhenin felt utterly annoyed at this. Without the universal internet, looking for information had been the most troublesome of all. This includes the scanning software that the drones used. His watch has a camera feature that he could use, and its quality is comparable to the eyes of the 21st-century humans.
Thankfully, most of the book titles are relevant to their genre. Books such as "The Final Avatar" and "Harry Potts" all go into the fictional genre. Books such as "The Fault in Our Sun" and "The iTablet" are in romance. "The Starving Games" and "Ready Gamer One" is on Teens. All of these genres are segregated in a single bookcase each, thus making things easier for Zhenin.
After passing through various bookshelves such as education, new age, and horror, Zhenin finally arrived at the religious area.
Due to the lack of lights, Zhenin wasn't able to see minor details such as fingerprints and the sort. Still, when he reached the religious area, opened books are scattered on the floor. Books such as the Bible, Tipitaka, The Book of Shadows, The Vedas and the Upanishads, and many more. Basically, different versions of the various religions' most sacred texts are scattered all over the floor. There were others, but some of these religions did not last the entire four teraeons; thus, Zhenin was unaware of them.
Looking at the opposite end of the bookshelves is a man on tattered clothes. Skinny and frail, the scaled man was slumped on the floor under a mountain of books.
When Zhenin saw the man, he decided to get close. For some reason, the man still has vital signs on him; thus, he may ask the man questions regarding the sacred texts.
After carefully stepping through the book obstacles, Zhenin reached the man. Due to the complete silence of the library and its sound isolation, every step Zhenin took echoed around the room. It was way too loud.
"Seems like the man is on his last breath." Zhenin thought.
It couldn't be helped. If the man was staying inside the library for years, he would've long run out of food. Not to mention, besides books, there was no trash anywhere. No one brings any kind of trash inside the library, thus the apparent lack of trash cans. Hence, the relatively clean, dusty floors show that the man hasn't eaten for who knows how long.
The more he walked, the more he was able to read the open pages of the books. After reading around ten pages, Zhenin's steps slowed down.
Every page had something to do with the apocalypse, end of the world, and judgment. Whether it was a direct or indirect explanation, it all leads to the end. Some were even waiting for the coming of the gods.
Of course, Zhenin immediately thought of Jack. That seemingly godlike being with technology that seems so fantastical was a bit too much for Zhenin. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn't able to see any kind of technology on the man.
"Was it nano-technology? I doubt it, the radiation would've caused nano-technology to go haywire due to the quantum fluctuations. If it were nanotech, It's a miracle he was able to hold on." Zhenin thought. Still unable to accept Jack as a god inside the stone.
Under Zhenin's green vision, something began to spark underneath him. As he looked down, he noticed that his necklace is glowing gold.
*DING*
[Special Mission]
[Introduce the church to the Mengsk (the man on the floor) and turn him into a believer.]
[Quest Reward: Ninzhe's instant recovery.]
…
After being stunned for a short time, Zhenin gained motivation.
"Even if it cost my life, this man shall preach God Hemmons," he screamed in his heart.
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Nebulaeic Fractals - are repeating shapes that goes infinitely small, this design pattern forms a nebula at the start and down to the quantum size. A made-up design since in this universe, the vast universe and the quantum universe look the same from afar.
Teraeon – An eon is equivalent to a (1,000,000,000) billion years. Tera is a (1,000,000,000) billion multiplier. Equivalent to 1 quintillion years (1,000,000,000,000,000,000). Another made-up word due to the lack of actual reference.