Chapter 8: Exploring Life in a New World
1350 Words
Stepping out of the psychiatric hospital, Marcus Sullivan squinted up at the alien sun blazing overhead.
After meeting with his client and conducting negotiations, much of his tension had subsided, yet his mind remained shrouded in fog, weighed down by accumulated anxieties. He wondered if this extraterrestrial sun might give him cancer.
Whatever! From the current situation, he was completely cut off from the company. Without completing the mission they'd forced upon him, there was no way home! Even if tumors killed him, that would be a problem for ten years down the road. Right now, he had to prepare for what lay ahead.
Pulling out the notebook and map Sophia had given him, Marcus walked steadily toward the exit. Under the watchful glare of the security guard at the gate, he strode confidently out of the psychiatric hospital.
Reaching the street, Marcus stopped and gazed into the distance. According to the map, Sophia lived in a residential complex called Talent Community, roughly nine kilometers from the psychiatric hospital. There were taxis on the street he could take.
But going to Talent Community to rent an apartment wasn't his highest priority right now. There was more important intelligence he needed to gather first.
After comparing the map for a while, Marcus headed to the right. After taking a few steps, he seemed to remember something... He pulled a rope from his briefcase, tying one end to the handle and the other securely around his wrist. He covered it with his trench coat before continuing forward.
This place wasn't economically developed, and law enforcement wasn't robust either. If some motorcycle g**g snatched his bag, he'd have nowhere to cry about it. Even in broad daylight, he figured it was better to be prepared.
His current destination was a large market nearby. Whether the local food differed significantly from Earth's, whether it was even edible—everything was unknown. For now, it was best to eat what he'd brought with him while purchasing some local ingredients from the market for small-scale overnight testing.
....
Inside the market, Marcus walked and observed. The market was fairly unremarkable, nothing too surprising about it. But seeing the various vegetables and fruits did leave him somewhat dazed.
The good news was that many vegetables looked familiar, though there were also some he'd never seen before. Radishes with strange patterns, massive single-leaf vegetables, and red vines...
Walking between the vegetable stalls, Marcus discreetly plucked leaves with one hand as he moved, occasionally stopping to feign interest in discussions to learn the names of various produce. He'd grab a few samples to take back for testing—until he confirmed food safety, he couldn't waste a single penny.
Besides, plant-based foods weren't his primary target anyway. His focus was on meat.
If Earth knowledge still applied, then according to common sense, when ranking unfamiliar foods by safety, it should roughly be: meat ≥ seeds > plants.
Large meat-producing animals typically didn't carry toxins in their muscle and fat. Massive animals usually relied on their physical bodies for survival, while generally speaking, creatures with poor physical survival capabilities often needed to evolve special mechanisms that relied on toxins for self-protection.
Moreover, once the apocalypse arrived, cold storage would mostly preserve meat—high in calories, and even if spoiled, it would have a high safety factor for consumption. It was quite a reliable and comprehensive food source.
But testing vegetable safety still held great necessity. The key was to indirectly verify the safety of processed foods from supermarkets.
After making a round through the vegetable section, the meat and seafood area lay ahead. Looking at rows of meat stalls with their pink lights hanging overhead, Marcus couldn't help but smile wryly.
Who would have thought... even in this alien world, they used the same trick for selling meat. Shine a light on it to make the meat look better.
However, seeing the large chunks of fatty and lean meat for sale at the stalls, along with fierce animal skulls resembling bull heads, he could roughly confirm the safety of the meat. This was a good sign.
Having pocketed a few rotten vegetable leaves for testing, with meat seeming fine, all that remained was seafood.
The seafood section featured numerous fish tanks connected in rows. Walking up to one tank, Marcus stopped to examine it closely. The fish inside were quite varied, but overall they looked fairly ordinary—just typical river fish appearances.
As he watched, Marcus's gaze suddenly fixed! A massive gray fish twisted its body to face him directly, pressing its large mouth against the glass. When he got a clear look at the gray fish's features, Marcus's entire body shuddered!
"What the... this fish...!?"
Holy s**t! An alien big-lipped carp! It had a human mouth full of teeth, and the key thing was the mouth was oriented vertically—absolutely terrifying... It gave off a seriously disturbing vibe!
"Hey there, young man, I've been watching you look for a while now. Want to buy a fish? They're all fresh," the vendor, a middle-aged woman, enthusiastically approached from behind. "Free scaling and tooth removal!"
"Ah?! No thanks, thank you..." Marcus swallowed hard and waved her off as he walked away.
After making a complete circuit of the market, Marcus let out a long breath. The food seemed reasonably reliable for now, but he still couldn't let his guard down about this matter. The experiments he needed to do still had to be done.
Looking around once more, Marcus set off again. After walking about a hundred steps, he entered a pharmacy.
Two shop assistants stood behind the counter, chatting intermittently, clearly not interested in paying attention to him. After lingering at the entrance for a few seconds, Marcus headed toward the health supplement section.
His eyes searched the shelves twice before picking up the most prominent bottle of multivitamin supplement. From his bag, he pulled out the Centrum vitamins he'd bought with food delivery earlier and began comparing them carefully.
Before learning he'd be transported by the company, besides buying large quantities of food at the supermarket, what he'd bought most of were cigarettes and multivitamin supplements. Ten large bottles of Centrum vitamins.
His thinking at the time hadn't been complicated. If he really was sent to an unfamiliar place, food would obviously be a problem, but there was another equally serious issue... vitamins and various trace elements.
He usually enjoyed fitness and had studied nutrition quite extensively. Once trace elements were lacking long-term, within a month, athletic performance would be affected. Especially under high exercise loads and stress conditions, the impact would become pronounced.
If the deficiency continued for an extended period, bodily functions would suffer damage, and disease would naturally follow. Declining physiological function and illness—either could potentially be fatal if things went wrong.
Comparing the two nutritional supplements, Marcus's anxious mood eased considerably. Most of the nutritional components matched up, and even the unfamiliar ones looked somewhat recognizable—after all, he wasn't a professional.
Similar species, same nutritional components. It seemed that even without personal testing... the food safety had a ninety percent guarantee.
Putting the supplement back, Marcus turned and left the pharmacy. He'd seen pretty much everything he wanted to see. There was still one more stop—after purchasing a few things at the next location, he'd immediately head to Talent Community to rent an apartment.
....
A video store.
About two kilometers from the market, there was one right on the street corner. Marcus stood at the entrance of the video store, a deep sense of nostalgia washing over him.
Through the glass window, he could see walls lined with movie cases and simple disc packaging. How similar these two worlds were...
He couldn't help but remember renting action movies as a child—those should have been the most carefree times of his childhood.
After a moment of reflection, Marcus pushed open the store door. Seeing the owner right at the central counter, he got straight to the point.
"Boss, do you have any disaster movies?"
- Writer
