The Evangelion theme song "Komm, süsser Tod" still echoed in his chest. Shen Feng touched his chest and stood before the mirror, at a loss for words.
'What's going on!'
'How did I grow a pair of these things!'
'Wasn't I supposed to have evolved into a computer?'
'How did I turn into a pair of speakers!?'
'Stop!'
Shen Feng willed it in his mind, and the music stopped abruptly.
He couldn't help but heave a long sigh of relief. At least he could control it. Otherwise, he'd die of embarrassment if his chest suddenly started blaring some ridiculous folk song while he was walking down the street.
All sorts of medical and biological knowledge from the Stone Statue Apocalypse flashed through his mind. Shen Feng understood that the internal changes to his body were likely the result of the combined effects of the Stone Statue Virus, the Pangu Virus, the Skin-Stripping Potion, the Stone Statue Disease Vaccine, and various other chemical agents.
Besides, he had almost turned into a stone statue back then, so it was only natural that some irreversible changes had occurred in his body.
Fortunately, it didn't seem to be causing any major harm to his body for now.
Shen Feng sat back down at his computer. He closed the music player and plugged in the external hard drive he had brought back from the Stone Statue Apocalypse. Staring at the screen, he began to hypnotize himself:
'I'm not a pair of speakers, I'm not a pair of speakers... I'm a computer, I'm a computer... I'm a computer...'
He repeated it in his mind countless times. Just as he was about to fall asleep, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his head. It felt as if a beam of light had split his skull open—the same sensation he had experienced back in the Stone Statue Apocalypse returned!
The computer screen in front of him flashed brightly and began rapidly opening files, applications, and browser windows until the entire display was full.
The computer's internal fan whirred to life, spinning at high speed as its temperature rose rapidly.
Shen Feng's eyes went wide. All kinds of data and information flashed through his brain.
010101010101010101…
His vision was no longer filled with the laptop, but with a torrent of data!
He was like a surfer, riding the torrent of data!
Within this data space were bright points of light, each representing a folder or an application.
Ahead, a path like a great river seemed to beckon, promising a feeling of infinite freedom. Subconsciously, however, he sensed immense danger and dared not approach it.
But the allure of that freedom was too tempting to resist.
Just then, all the light in his consciousness vanished. Everything went dark, and the smell of something burning hit his nose.
Shen Feng jolted. He saw the computer in front of him smoking, its screen completely black.
The old laptop couldn't handle the high-speed processing and had burned out.
Shen Feng wasn't upset about it in the slightest, however. His eyes were still filled with utter shock.
Just moments ago, all the data on his computer—including a few movies in the "Study Materials" folder—had been copied directly into his brain!
The feeling was different from ordinary memory. It was as if his brain had become a database; when not in use, the information was simply set aside.
But the moment he needed it, the information would present itself in perfect detail.
This included all the research data on the Petrification Disease from the Stone Statue Apocalypse hard drive, as well as all the related biological and medical knowledge.
Now he finally understood what Kuafu had meant by, "Half our brains have become machines, become computers."
As information about the Stone Statue Virus and its vaccine flashed through his mind, Shen Feng breathed a small sigh of relief.
This knowledge was arguably the most precious thing he'd gained from his journey into the Stone Statue Apocalypse.
With this, he no longer had to fear the Petrification Disease.
Still, he needed a computer…
Shen Feng went downstairs to a hardware store and bought a handheld electric saw for cutting metal. Back home, he sawed off a few small corners from the gold ingot, totaling about a kilogram, then stuffed them in his pocket and went out to find a jewelry store.
The gold ingot was too large; trying to exchange the whole thing for cash would surely attract suspicion and cause problems.
Cutting it into small pieces was much more convenient.
The current price of gold was about 350 yuan per gram. Without wasting any time, Shen Feng found a few jewelry stores and quickly sold his gold for 300 yuan a gram.
The shop owners were getting a good deal, so they wouldn't make a fuss. Besides, Shen Feng only sold a little over a hundred grams at a time, which wasn't a huge amount of money.
After making his rounds, Shen Feng soon had over 300,000 yuan in his bank account.
He had never had so much money before. Even though a month of life-and-death struggle had made him much calmer, Shen Feng couldn't help but feel overjoyed.
After picking out a desktop computer that cost about ten thousand yuan, Shen Feng happily carried it home.
After setting it up, he gave it a try and couldn't help but marvel. You really get what you pay for. This was so much faster than his old, crappy laptop that had cost a little over a thousand yuan.
He could finally install and play all those games he had always wanted to try.
After all, money was no object now.
But Shen Feng didn't jump into gaming right away. Instead, he searched for news about the stone statue in the Arctic Icefield.
He searched for a long time, but aside from reports that the Ice Dragon Expedition Team was examining the statue and preparing for further excavation of the ruins, there was no news of any viral infections.
'Maybe I'm just worrying over nothing.'
'That statue might not have been a victim of the Petrification Disease at all. Maybe it just happened to look like the director of the Huicheng disease control center.'
'Even if the statue found beneath the Arctic Ice Sheet really was a victim of the Petrification Disease, the virus would have surely become inactive after so many years.'
After some thought, however, Shen Feng found the public contact email for the Ice Dragon Expedition Team and sent over some information about the contagiousness and symptoms of the Stone Statue Virus.
It was a warning, at least. He couldn't stop many things from happening right now. He would just have to do what he could and let fate handle the rest.
Of course, he did so using numerous proxy IPs and multiple routing hops to mask his address, ensuring they couldn't trace it back to him.
These little computer skills were a side benefit of his recent mind-link with the computer.
Having done all that, Shen Feng felt his tense nerves relax considerably. He started playing games on his new computer.
He was shocked to discover that his siliconized brain processed things much faster—at lightning speed, in fact. Combined with his current hand-eye coordination and control, he was practically invincible in games.
He played a few battle royale matches, and his superb skills immediately earned him a flood of friend requests—and even more accusations of being a hacker.
Shen Feng was just playing to relax. He ordered takeout for lunch and kept at it until the afternoon, playing through all his favorite games until he grew bored and collapsed onto his bed.
Ever since returning from the Stone Statue Apocalypse, he had been struggling with a sense of unreality. Now, finally, he was starting to feel grounded again.
He was Shen Feng, just an ordinary high school student, not some cold-blooded hunter preying and being preyed upon in the wilderness.
He checked his watch. It was already evening. Shen Feng got up, went downstairs, and rode his bicycle to the "One Skewer Barbecue" stall.
"Xiaofeng, you're here early today," Old Chang greeted with a grin.
"Have you lost weight? You should eat more tonight. I'll have Old Zhou grill you some extra kidneys to build you back up," the owner, Brother Hai, said as he walked over with an apron, tying it on Shen Feng.
A warmth spread through Shen Feng's chest. He grinned and said, "It's from working out. I'm fine."
Then he skillfully began skewering and grilling meat.
They were exceptionally busy that night, working all the way until midnight when the stall finally closed.
The group gathered around a table for some beer and a late-night meal of their own. Holding his glass, Shen Feng spoke to Brother Hai with some hesitation.
"Brother Hai, I won't be able to come help out at the stall anymore."
Brother Hai froze for a second, then asked, "What's wrong? Are you in some kind of trouble? You can tell me. If you're short on cash, I'll lend you some. Just name a price."
He knew a bit about Shen Feng's family situation and always helped when he could.
"That's right, Xiaofeng! We may not have much money, but we brothers won't just stand by and do nothing!" Wang Erduo added earnestly.
Shen Feng scratched his head in embarrassment and said:
"It's not that I'm short on money... it's that I've come into some. A distant relative passed away and left me an inheritance. It's several hundred thousand yuan, enough for college and living expenses, so..."
Hearing this, Brother Hai burst out laughing.
"That's great news! Fantastic! Hahaha, your tough days are finally over, kid! This is wonderful news! In that case, you're right, you can't be working here anymore. You need to focus on your studies and get into a good university!"
Old Zhou, Old Chang, and the others were also beaming, overjoyed for Shen Feng.
"Come on, let's drink to that!"
"Haha, you kept such great news to yourself all night, you little rascal!"
"You have to come back for skewers often! Brother Hai says it's on the house for you!"
Shen Feng was smiling, too, his heart full of warmth. He raised his glass, clinked it against the others, and downed it in one go.
Ahh... That hit the spot.
Putting down his glass, Shen Feng felt utterly content.
The lively, down-to-earth atmosphere of the barbecue stall had completely brought him back to himself.
Just then, the bracelet on his wrist suddenly vibrated, and a line of text flashed across its digital screen:
"New game mission commencing. Player has unlocked a new world: Nuclear Wasteland Apocalypse."