Hidden Dead Ends

Chapter 5

This pattern... What is it?

Clang!

Suddenly, a noise came from behind.

Someone seemed to have kicked a metal can.

Li Chengyi trembled slightly and quickly moved his hand away from where the rearview mirror could reflect it.

Instinctively, he didn’t want anyone to discover the pattern on his hand.

Being different from ordinary people might bring opportunities, but he was more worried that it would bring danger. Under the premise of ensuring his safety, striving for benefits was his usual style.

Clearing his throat, he pretended that nothing had happened, raised his feet, walked forward, and passed between two cars.

The left car was black, and the right one was white. They were both off-road vehicles with an unfamiliar Z-shaped logo and cross-shaped logo.

There was a large tire hanging in the trunk of the white car, and on the tire was a line of circular words: Cloud Journey Automotive.

After a pause, Li Chengyi passed through the cars and glanced at the back of his hand again. After confirming that it was smooth and without any pattern, he breathed a sigh of relief and continued walking toward the school gate.

Click!

Click!

Click!

His footsteps stepped on the ground, making clear tapping sounds.

It was the sound of the heel of his leather shoes colliding with the stone tiles on the ground.

Except...

Isn’t this sound too loud? Li Chengyi frowned slightly, suddenly feeling that something was wrong.

It was broad daylight, and there were already many people in the school. Why was it so quiet with students coming and going? Even the footsteps of his leather shoes echoed clearly.

He looked up and around.

It was empty all around. On the grayish-white ground, not far away was a dried fountain.

Past the fountain, a few old ten-story school buildings stood quietly in the fog.

Fog? When did the fog come? Li Chengyi felt that something was amiss.

He clearly remembered that there were many students coming and going when he came here. Why was it like this now?

Standing on the spot, he scanned from right to left.

But what made him even more terrified was that the lively university campus was now empty.

He quickly turned around and looked at his mentor’s office building, where he had just left.

There were lights on in a few rooms in the building, and the bright yellow halo was quiet and mysterious in the fog.

There were no sounds, no footsteps.

Gulp. Li Chengyi’s throat became dry, and he swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Where are the people?! He began to feel nervous.@@@@

He raised his leg and suspended it in the air for a moment.

Then he suddenly turned around, and his other leather shoe made a screeching sound as it rubbed against the ground. He walked step by step toward the office building he had just walked out of.

He entered the gap between the two cars again, and his peripheral vision was blocked.

The off-road vehicle was very tall, just enough to block his view of his surroundings completely, leaving only a strip-like gap directly in front of him and above his head.

Swish!

Li Chengyi immediately walked out of the car gap.

Snap.

Facing the glass window beside the shop door, he turned the back of his hand toward the glass and looked carefully again.

Black!

Li Chengyi’s heart clenched again.

This time, he saw it clearly.

There was indeed a large black pattern on the back of his hand.

The pattern gave him a... familiar feeling.

It was just like the small black flower he saw before he transmigrated!

“Would you like to come in and take a look? There are maple syrup croissants fresh out of the oven.” A lady in an apron with a little bear on it went out of the shop with a yellow wooden basin. Seeing him standing at the door, she greeted him.

“Uhm... no thanks.” Li Chengyi quickly lowered his hand to prevent others from seeing it.

He walked along the chrysanthemum-like gray bricks on the ground, sped up a few steps, passed the dessert shop, and hurried on with his head lowered.

Passers-by passed by him one by one, but he didn’t pay attention to them.

All of his attention was focused on the pattern on the back of his hand. What is this pattern? Was everything that happened earlier just a hallucination?

He had a vague feeling that the black pattern might be the culprit that had brought him to this world.

As for what it was, he would have to rely on himself to discover it slowly.

He kept his head down and hurried along. Unknowingly, time passed. When he returned to his senses, he was already several hundred meters past the bus.

He was surrounded by unfamiliar streets full of transport trucks carrying vegetables and fruits.

Li Chengyi stopped and looked around.

On the other side of the street was a farmer’s market.

At the entrance of the market, under a leafless tree, many middle-aged men in plain clothes were gathered together and playing chess and cards.

At this time, the light became brighter, and the temperature became warmer.

Li Chengyi retracted his gaze and didn’t look at the crowded farmer’s market. Instead, he found a cafe beside him and walked over.

He was a little hungry and regretted not buying the maple syrup croissants from the dessert shop.

But a cafe wasn’t bad. The cafe he entered was called Yersli Cafe, and it sold self-service desserts at low prices. It could be regarded as one of the most cost-effective places to go when hungry.

It only took thirty dollars to fill the stomach of a two-hundred-pound man.

The door of the cafe was white, and a circular sign board with black characters on a white background floated in the air on the right side of the door. Below it was a large silver-black metal cylinder.

The latest maglev technology. A memory of common sense flashed across Li Chengyi’s mind.

In addition to the signboard, the entire shop door was made of transparent glass, and there was a circle of flowers and plants at the foot of the door.

The green leaves and pure white flowers were rather eye-catching.

Li Chengyi waited for the couple inside to open the door and come out. He quickly went forward, reached out to stop the glass door from closing, and walked in.

However, what he didn’t notice was that when he passed by the white flowers by the door, the black pattern flashed on the back of his right hand.

“Welcome. Please scan the QR code to place an order.” The automatic electronic voice sounded sweetly.

In the cafe, the floor was pure white, the ceiling was black, and there were water-like patterns.

There were a total of two floors. The counter was at the entrance of the lobby on the first floor, and beside the counter was a plastic model of a black rabbit that was as tall as a person.

The rabbit blinked. Its big ears were folded down, and its hands pointed at a black round code on its chest.

“Please scan here.” The sweet electronic voice sounded.

Li Chengyi looked at the clerk behind the counter, who was ignoring him. He took out his phone, scanned the rabbit’s code, and found a seat.

There were forty or so white tables and accompanying chairs in the dining area on the first floor, with about a dozen customers sparsely spread out among the tables.

These customers were mostly young people, and they had cheap desserts in front of them.