After lunch, Song Shuhang went to the nearby book rental store for some window-reading.
He liked reading books in a bookstore, not to save the cost of renting books, but because it was his personal hobby—Song liked the feeling of squatting in a corner between bookshelves and reading books for free!
Of course, to avoid annoying the boss, he would rent a book or two after reading in the store for some time—he believed that, as human beings, we should always leave some room for others, and economize to avoid running short! This way, the boss wouldn't be annoyed and throw him out.
After all, a book rental store that was so large and had such a great variety of books—not just limited to novels—was rare nowadays.
If he got blacklisted here, there might not be a better bookshop in the vicinity of Jiangnan College.
It was said that the name of a person was very important. The name fitted the person. Song Shuhang was named after "Book" and he also liked reading, eager to read books of any genre. [TL/N: Shu = Book]
He liked reading all kinds of books, be it novels, literary works, classics, or even different kinds of boring theories that drove people crazy at first glance.
Recently, he mainly read books on motor vehicle driving skills and tips in the bookstore as he planned to pass the driving license exam in his first year in university when the workload still wasn't too heavy. Taking the exam in school was much cheaper as well, saving him almost 7 or 8 thousand yuan.
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Time flew when he was reading.
In the blink of an eye, it was about three o'clock in the afternoon.
'Time passes so fast... I have to go back and get some food from the nearby supermarket as night snack to enjoy an overnight fight on Saturday night,' Song chuckled
Then, he grabbed a book at random and went over to the counter to handle the renting procedures.
The counter was placed at the exit of the bookstore. The sunshade was broken, so the shop owner hid in shade to avoid being directly exposed to the sun.
"The sun is scorching. It feels like midsummer," Song said, covering his eyes with a hand, looking up at the cloudless sky and handing the book to the shop owner.
The shop owner, who looked like she was made of water, was a typical Southern belle.
Just like Shuhang, she also liked reading. Both of them always held a book and read it all day long. From the way she dressed, people could tell she was living a well-off life. Running this bookstore was just her personal hobby.
At ordinary times, when she sat there reading quietly, she looked as beautiful as a painting, very pleasing to the eye. Many ordinary young men abruptly changed their hobbies—turning themselves from a carefree youth to a sentimental book lover—just to enjoy this picturesque scene as much as possible.
But it was said that this picturesque side was just her in peaceful mode...
With a peaceful mode, there must be a PK mode or another violent mode. However, Song hadn't caught sight of her in such a mode since he first came here half a year ago.
"OK, remember to return the book in two days. One yuan charged each overdue day," the shop owner completed the procedure and waved him away.
Though they only met half a semester ago, she was very impressed with the young man who liked reading in the store for free and brazened it out at least half a day every time. If this guy hadn't been smart enough to rent a book or two each time to take care of her business, she would have driven him out with a broom.
"Thanks," Shuhang took over the book with a smile, about to step out of the bookstore.
"Boom!!!"
Just then, a deafening sound echoed like an explosion.
Everyone in the bookstore was scared. Shuhang, with one foot out, almost lost his footing and fell on his face!
"Sh*t!"
"Ouch, yikes!
"A bolt from the blue?"
"Oh, I'm scared to death!"
In the bookstore, screams, yells, and curses were heard continuously.
Song looked up into the sky only to find the cloudless sky had changed—a dark cloud quietly gathered and covered a small piece of sky on the horizon in an instant. It seemed a storm was coming.
"It seems it's going to rain? Gee, it's said that weather forecast used to be unreliable and people had to understand it the other way round. If it forecasted a sunny day, you had to carry an umbrella. I thought that, after all these years, the weather forecast had changed. But, it seems to remain the same," Song said to himself.
It wasn't even as good as it used to be. You just had to understand it in reverse before, but now, you had to bet if it's right or not.
Filled with random thoughts, he picked up the book he just rented and prepared to rush back to the dorm before the rain started.
However, right before he got the other foot out.
"Boom..."
Another thunder blasted, filling his ears with humming.
Shuhang took back his leg.
On the horizon, the dark clouds distorted grotesquely and snake-like lightning descended from the clouds, rumbling and crashing, forming a lightning net in the sky.
Shuhang had seen lightning strikes before, but he'd never seen a thunderbolt as dense as this in his lifetime—it was just like the end of the world approaching. The thunderbolts in the sky struck down together, shaped in pieces rather than in streaks.
The sound of the rolling thunder was also different.
The sound of thunder in Jiangnan District was always a loud crash followed by a series of rumbling echoes. But now, it sounded like firecrackers filled with a lot of gunpowder, rumbling, snapping, and crackling, so loud and noisy that even the echoes were being covered by it.
If the lightning came for an evildoer, how evil did the guy have to be to attract so many?
To Shuhang's surprise, the dark thunder cloud hadn't spread but remained in the same place on the horizon, furiously rumbling and striking, without any signs of spreading in any direction.
The sound of thunder continued for about ten breaths, long and without any breaks.
It seemed a thunderstorm was coming.
'Bad luck!' Song Shuhang sighed and thought, 'Maybe I should continue reading?'
Even if there was going to be a thundershower, it was usually an easy come, easy go condition. But if it rained a little longer, maybe he could read one more book.
So he turned back to the bookstore and was ready to squat in a corner for some reading again.
However, it was like God was joking with Song Shuhang.
When he turned around and stepped back into the bookstore, the rumbling sound in his ears suddenly stopped!
The pervasive dark clouds and furious lightning serpents on the horizon dissipated at the same time! It was just like a giant hand painted on the sky, and randomly wiped off the dark clouds and the lightning as if it felt unsatisfied with the painting.
The sky turned cloudless again, with sunlight shining! The blasting thunders and pervasive serpents of lightning were just like auditory and visual hallucinations.
Someone in the bookstore muttered, "What's going on?"
"Was there really an evildoer struck by lightning?"
"Superstitious! The so-called thunderbolt is just a natural phenomenon... "
At this time, a little boy beside Song raised his head, his left hand holding a children's cartoon and his right hand lifted high towards the sky. He sang loudly with a bold tone: "Ah, I want the sky never to cover my eyes; I want the earth never to bury my heart! I want the dark clouds to vanish without a trace!"
Song looked at him, the corners of his mouth twitching. He bet that when the kid grew up, he would feel so ashamed whenever he recalled what he did today. And that the embarrassing memory would haunt him throughout his life; after he spent a long time to forget it, perhaps someday it would just pop out from some corner of his mind, driving him crazy and shouting, Go to hell, what a shame! or he would wish to travel back through time and beat up his stupid past self.
He knew it.
But for some reason, when Shuhang saw this funny little boy, he suddenly thought of his chuunibyou mates in Nine Provinces Number One Chat Group.
'H-City, overcome the Thunder Tribulation for Third Stage Acquired Realm.'
The chat logs of the group popped out in his mind.
He re-estimated the position where the lightning had appeared on the horizon. The thunderstorm area seemed to be... where H-City was located?
Even if Song Shuhang was a rather careless person, he felt his mind freeze for a while.
Was... that real?
Weather forecast said it would be sunny today, but suddenly there were strange rumbling thunders.
'Hahaha! How could it be possible! How could there be such a thing like heavenly tribulation in the world? It must be a coincidence!' Song Shuhang thought.
But, when the thought came out, he just couldn't get it out of his mind—how could there be such a coincidence in the world? The serpent-like lightning was so weird that it didn't look like a natural event.
H-City, overcome tribulation… these words were echoing in his mind.
He shook his head with force, trying to shake the possibility out of his mind.
The worldview he built in the first eighteen years of his life told him to believe in science and reject superstition, and that a thundercloud was only a natural phenomenon rather than a thunder tribulation!