I Am a Salted Fish in the Interstellar Era - Chapter 5

Shi Yu squatted in a corner, eating a small pudding, and watching a young man who, even while fleeing for his life, had the leisure to set up a table and leisurely look at his brain-computer interface.

He really was good-looking.

Because they were afraid that the lights would attract monsters, the mall was now dim.

The moonlight shone like a pillar through the glass window, half of it falling on the young man, his silver hair shining like beautiful jade under the moonlight, sliding down his shoulders as he tapped on the virtual keyboard.

Shi Yu felt an itch in her fingers, wanting to help him tie his hair up into a high ponytail.

Hmm, a high ponytail would definitely make him look more heroic.

Shi Yu absentmindedly took a bite of her pudding, suddenly realizing someone was standing in front of her, blocking her view.

She looked up to see the man who had pointed the gun at her earlier with his brows almost piled up into a small mountain, blinked, and obediently said, “Is there something wrong?”

The man coldly replied nothing, but stood in front of her without moving.

Shi Yu thought he might be a bit crazy, shifted to the side, planning to continue admiring the young man not far away, but the man followed her move.

Well, if Shi Yu still doesn’t realize why the man is standing in front of her, it would be a waste of her having a brain.

Due to the energy gun that could easily blow her head off, Shi Yu reluctantly withdrew her gaze and activated her smart brain.

She just wanted to admire the handsome young man, to slightly ease the stress brought by the day, without any malice.

Forget it, better to think about how to escape tomorrow.

Shi Yu’s smart brain is the cheapest model, and it was distributed by the federal government when she was born, a model that has long been phased out. She just turned on the smart brain and received a disdainful look from the man.

As a slacker, Shi Yu doesn’t have a strong desire to win or lose, and she could calmly deal with the man’s disdain.

Ordinary people cannot reach the realm of a slacker.

Shi Yu finished the remaining small pudding in one gulp, casually threw the cup onto the ground without giving the man another glance, and scrolled through the virtual screen with her fingers clicking and clacking.

The bottom right corner still showed a red exclamation mark in a triangle.

Previously, when escaping, Shi Yu didn’t have time to check the distance from here to the shelter. Now that she looked, the pudding she just ate nearly came spraying out.

Over nine hundred kilometers! Do they want her to run for her life?

Such a distance means nothing to a hover car, but she doesn’t have one!

Shi Yu turned off her smart brain, glanced at the man who was no longer glaring at her after she lowered her head, slowly stood up, and whispered, “Brother, do you guys have a hover car?”

The man frowned: “What do you want to do?”

Shi Yu immediately cleared her throat and said, “Isn’t the shelter a bit far from here? I just want a lift, so, do you have one?”

She said, blinking her eyes.

The man unhesitatingly said, “No.”

Shi Yu was somewhat disbelieving: “Really?”

The man scoffed: “If we had one, do you think we’d still be here?”

That seemed somewhat reasonable. Looking at these people who appeared to be bodyguards, one could tell that the handsome young man’s identity was definitely not simple. If there was a chance to run, why would they still be lingering here?

Shi Yu’s eyes shifted, looking towards the handsome young man’s fair and slender fingers: “Actually, it’s not like there’s no way.”

The man immediately narrowed his eyes: “You have a way?”

Shi Yu smiled, revealing a set of white teeth, but as she was about to speak, a dark object landed on the window, its hairy spider legs causing one’s scalp to tingle.

Shi Yu didn’t hesitate to turn around and retreat, while everyone else in the mall gathered around the young man.

Shi Yu subconsciously spared a glance at him, only to find he wasn’t nervous at all. It wasn’t until someone quietly reminded him that he calmly turned off his smart brain and stood up.

“It’s those spiders from before, but smaller, not sure how many—”

The man said cautiously, but before he could finish, palm-sized, pitch-black spiders started pelting down on the window like hail, too numerous to count at a glance.

Soon, the spiders’ abdomens that landed on the window suddenly split open, revealing densely packed, circular, sharp teeth that clacked onto the glass.

Without hesitation, Shi Yu said, “Do you have a spare gun? Lend me one!”

The man was unsure whether to provide one, while Xie Yuyan stood surrounded by the crowd, his indifferent gaze sweeping over Shi Yu, before he spoke his second sentence of the night: “Give her one.”

In just three words, devoid of any emotion, the man did not hesitate to reach under his jacket, pulling out an energy gun from his waist side and tossing it to Shi Yu.

Shi Yu tilted her head towards the handsome boy, blinked, and while holding the warm energy gun and retreating, she asked, “How do I use this thing?”

She had handled pistols in the post-apocalyptic world, but had never used an energy gun before.

The man nearly blacked out because of her words but could only grit his teeth and say, “Pull the safety catch, then squeeze the trigger.”

At this moment, having one more person resisting meant more safety; they had to hold on until rescue arrived, no matter what.

Shi Yu obediently went “Oh,” realizing that no matter how times change, guns still operate the same way.

“If you can’t use it, just stay put. If you cause trouble for me, I’ll shoot you first,” the man warned.

Shi Yu immediately patted her chest, “Don’t worry, I’ll just take care of myself.”

The man: “…”

He no longer had time to be angry. The window started to crack under the sharp teeth of those spiders, and in the blink of an eye, the glass window shattered completely, with the spiders and glass shards falling inside.

The spiders’ white sharp teeth, completely opposite to their black bodies, made a cracking sound, and the people did not hesitate to pull the triggers.

Shi Yu continued to retreat stealthily while holding the energy gun.

The number of spiders was simply too many. Even though the shooting frequency and accuracy of the group were high, they still couldn’t stop the spiders from rolling in like a snowball.

And these small spiders couldn’t even be dealt with using mechs.

Cursing under his breath, the man stowed the energy gun into a spatial bag. At the same time, a ring on his right little finger, engraved with a flower pattern, flashed with golden light.

Immediately after, golden liquid metal expanded from his ring, enveloping his entire body, and two curved blades appeared in his hands.

Shi Yu internally exclaimed in shock, watching the man transformed into a metal figure wielding curved blades and charging directly into the dense swarm of spiders, quickly leaving a ground littered with spider corpses.

Shi Yu’s mouth formed an ‘O’, and at the same time, two more metal figures, also wielding curved blades, emerged beside Xie Yuyan, entering the spider swarm at an incredible speed.

Shi Yu looked inexperienced, glanced at her energy gun, and suddenly found it less appealing.

She only knew that mechs were war weapons in this era, but she was completely unaware of the situation these people were in.

Hmm, a transformation like Arale? (TL: Arale Norimaki is a fictional character and the main protagonist from the manga and anime series “Dr. Slump,” created by Akira Toriyama, who is also known for creating “Dragon Ball)

Shi Yu’s thoughts were a mess, while the spiders cut in half by the curved blades continued to fall down.

But it seemed like the more spiders they killed, the more there were.

Suddenly, the man roared, “Be careful not to touch their legs; that sticky liquid is corrosive!”

As he warned, several spiders with sharp teeth lunged towards his face.

The man reacted swiftly, yet a spider managed to evade his blades, aiming straight for his face.

Just in the nick of time, an energy bullet shot from behind him.

With a snap, the spider was knocked down.

The man thought it was a teammate covering for him, he eased his breath slightly, speeding up his movements, but when he turned around, he saw Shi Yu grimacing, holding her shoulder as if she couldn’t handle the recoil of the energy gun.

Meeting his gaze, Shi Yu smiled, showing her white teeth, rubbing her shoulder, and then fired a few more shots, each hitting their target, with some bullets even taking down several spiders in succession.