My Cell Prison - Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Chapter 30 – The World (1)

Translator: Exodus Tales

Editor: Exodus Tales

Han Dong had really been quite exhausted during his time in the Space of Destiny.

After he finished injecting the Cell Essence that he had collected into his cells, he could already feel his eyes ready to close at any time when he returned, lying down on Nicholas’s wooden bed.

However… Before he could properly shut his eyes and rest, Han Dong called his sister Nina into the room and gave her instructions to help him with a matter.

Nina patted his chest and swore, “Don’t worry! Leave it to me. I would often head to the waste disposal station to search for used books during my apprenticeship… You just want books pertaining to Mysticism, correct?”

“Yes, the older and more used they are, the better.”

Han Dong sent Nina to help him search for the books, and aside from taking a look at them for himself, he had another use for it.

Han Dong then laid his head down and got some sleep after he finished relaying his request.

When he woke up the next day, it was already dark outside.

The clockwork timepiece by his bedside indicated it was already 8, and the speed by which the second hand moved was the same as the world he was in before, and a day similarly had a total of 24 hours.

He was a little hungry and just as he was about to step out and find something to eat, Nina, dressed in a floral dress, was standing outside the door with a sumptuous dinner waiting for him. The dishes included a whole fried chicken, though not very large.

It must be made known that for a family in their current financial situation to afford fried chicken, it would most likely have spent quite a lot of the family funds.

At the same time, there were a lot of old books stacked on the walls on both sides of his bedroom door. It cannot be denied that Nina demonstrated very high work efficiency.

“Mom had specially made this for you… She guessed that you would wake up hungry. Big brother, you’ve basically not eaten anything in a dangerous place like the Space of Destiny, right? Quick take this and eat. I’m not hungry!”

Nina had intentionally added that she was ‘not hungry’ while holding the fried chicken, when in fact she was salivating non-stop.

Han Dong also wanted to swallow the whole fried chicken by himself, but upon considering how useful Nina would be as well as his identity as her ‘big brother’, he tore out a drumstick for her and at the same time asked her, “Come back to my room after.”

“Got it!” Nina was elated after accepting the chicken drumstick.

Han Dong felt that sounded a little ambiguous, so he immediately clarified, “I’m only asking you over to my room to ask you about information regarding Holy City as well as this world.” 

“Yes yes!”

Han Dong took his food in and locked his bedroom door.

He temporarily placed the fried chicken, vegetable salad, and carrot stew on a relatively clean wooden table, and an accompanying gust of evil aura flowed out in the next moment.

The ‘Accursed Chenli’ was released with her disheveled black hair, still dressed in red.

When Chenli appeared, the flame in the kerosene lamp flickered.

“Miss Chenli, there’s no need to deliberately scare people usually. You can just be yourself.”

“Oh! Alright.”

It was unclear where Chenli had pulled out a rubber band from, but she used it to quickly tie up her black hair that was draped in front of her face as she retracted her evil aura… The atmosphere changed, and she became just a normal woman all dressed in red.

“Have some food.”

“Okay…”

Chenli was also a human being, and she had not eaten any food for over a day or so while helping Han Dong… She could not hold herself back when there was a crispy fried chicken placed before her as she began to take a mouthful of the meat ravenously.

In no time at all, the two of them had managed to polish off the sumptuous dinner together.

“Are you full?”

“Yes,” Chenli nodded her head slightly.

“Our living conditions will change very soon, and at the very least I would not let you starve any longer.”

“I’m fine.”

After Chenli circled around in the cramped room twice she voiced out, “I want to go back… You can call me out if there’s anything you need help with or any danger you run into.” 

“Alright.”

Aside from her Prison that was now ‘home’, Chenli was still not acclimated to the surroundings here in the Holy City, so she would rather spend her time inside her cell.

This was considered the first time that both of them had met in this other world, and there was a bit of awkwardness in their conversation… Both were considered morose loners, so it might get better once they get more acquainted with each other in the future.

Han Dong quietly muttered to himself, “It seems like Miss Chenli’s growth potential is very high. If I were to continue training her, she might carry on growing… I should get her a bookcase inside that cell of hers when the time comes, otherwise, she might get too bored being all by herself.”

Next, it was now the time for the very important inquiry.

Han Dong called Nina into his room and went straight to the point.

Han Dong found a pen that was still usable inside his room and prepared to record down all the important information.

When Nina entered his room, still in her floral dress, and faced Han Dong, there was not a sense of strangeness between them. With her big blue eyes, she went over and sat beside Han Dong.

“What would you like to know, brother?”

“Is this what your world looks like?”

Han Dong drew out a rough sketch of the world map, making sure to be more detailed with the European continent.

“What is that?” Nina was confused.

“That’s a world map.”

Nina looked aggrieved as if she could not give an answer to Han Dong’s first question, “World… Map. I really don’t know anything about that. I grew up inside the Holy City and have never once stepped outside before. All I’ve heard from my master is how wide and open the world outside was, but we lack the chance or ability to go see the outside world.”

“Then how about this, tell me what you know about the situation in your world. What exactly is out there in the world? How did all the humans end up turtled up inside a metallic city, eking a life out behind these walls?”

“This is also what I’ve heard from the master, but around 200 years ago… A species that was even more advanced than humanity was born, and about 80% of the humans around the world were vanquished in a matter of days. It was really scary! All the remaining humans ended up banding together and turtled themselves behind walls. That should be what happened, I think.”

“What?!? A species more advanced than humanity emerged 200 years ago? What age were the humans in at that time? We should have firearms then, right?”

“That… I have no idea, heh,” Nina sheepishly showed an awkward smile.

Han Dong made a guess, “There should be the most basic cannons, but to actually wipe out 80% of global populations in several days, it seems like only a few of the more advanced countries would survive. Speaking of which, are these higher beings from another world afraid of copper metal?”

“That’s right! It was precisely because someone discovered this fact that the Holy City was built in such a manner, allowing humans to continue living safely inside.”

“Copper… No wonder humanity’s technological level remained stagnant with brass, copper, steam power, and gears; to think copper still had such a function. That means if I’m not mistaken, the basic currency of trade should be the copper coin, right? Copper has replaced the position of gold and silver in this world, yes?”

“Yes, that is indeed the case.”

Han Dong continued in his inquiry, “Where is copper sourced from? There should be huge amounts of copper deposits under the Holy City, right?”

“Hehe, I know the answer to this! Master once said that the Holy City had indeed been built upon a huge natural copper mine, but over the years of heavy mining, we’ve already mined out all the copper under us 50 years ago. Right now, the only source that we have left lies in the Space of Destiny. To mine from outside the city would cost too much, so it was essentially impossible..”

“Yes…”

After Han Dong wrote down this important information, he began probing about the issue of this Space of Destiny.

Han Dong had a conjecture of his own and had hoped that he could find the answer here.

“Tell me in detail about the Space of Destiny.”

“Okay! Hehe, I knew big brother would ask me about this, which was why I had specially made a trip to my master’s abode. There was a book in my master’s home about the Space of Destiny that had been penned by contemporary noble writers that very clearly explained the origins of the Space of Destiny. That book… When big brother is done with it, do remember to return it back to me. I need to return it by tomorrow afternoon before my master finds out.”

“No problem.”

Han Dong smiled as he stared at the book that was titled ‘Destiny’s Origin – The Shining Hope to Humanity’s Survival’.

Nina was far more capable than he had imagined, and this master of hers should be a fairly renowned mechanical craftsman.

The first sentence in the book was enough to keep Han Dong completely engrossed.

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As I learn about destiny, the sense of dread and despair that had circled my head disappeared because I now understand that humanity has not been abandoned. 

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When Han Dong saw the time period when the first Space of Destiny appeared, a slight smile curled across his face.

“Sure enough, the Space of Destiny came to be at about the same time these higher beings appeared…”