Rise Of The Wasteland Chapter 56 - You Are Dead

Chapter 56        You are Dead

Tony Parker was astonished!

Angelina Lawrence was astonished!

Katrina Riven was astonished!

Even Zhou Qingfeng was astonished!

We’ve been fighting all this time but in the end, we’re just not as good as her whistle and her alluring finger?

Tony Parker was very excited. However, when he saw DogMeat run towards Lena Fox and shake its tail around her, he was dumbfounded. He couldn’t help but ask, “What’s going on? Why is my dog listening to you?”

Lena looked up slightly and smiled elegantly, “I think I should introduce myself again. I’m Lena Fox, the CEO of the Fox Foundation. I’m the youngest billionaire in the world and according to Time Magazine, the most elegant woman of the year.”

”The Fox Foundation specializes in pharmaceutical products, artificial intelligence, and biochemical weapons. Babylon’s smartlab is one of our investments and it was established by Columbia University and NASA.”

“Even though the American Army showed their interest in this research project during its later stages, the Fox foundation still owns more than sixty-percent of the authority over this lab. In fact, I was the one who started this project of intelligence featuring an artificial robotic dog, and I was the one who named it ‘DogMeat’.”

“The researchers tried to flatter me in order to get more money for the research. They inserted my information into the central processing unit of DogMeat - including my name, the shape of my body, my smell, the sound of my voice, and my status. So, basically, this dog is mine!”

Lena Fox was laughing like a little fox which had just stolen a chicken. She stared at Zhou Qingfeng and said, “I would like to give this robotic dog which took us twelve years to create and costs more than two billion dollars to my loyal and brave guardian, Victor Hugo. Would you like to accept it, Mr. Hugo?”

Zhou Qingfeng pouted. He found Miss Fox truly narcissistic. Yet, he could only nod his head and say, “Yes, I do.”

Lena Fox snapped her fingers, pat DogMeat’s head, and said, “Good dog, this brat will be your new owner. Go say ‘Hi!’ to him!”

DogMeat obeyed and immediately ran towards Zhou Qingfeng. It leaned against him while growling happily. Zhou Qingfeng was not sure if he should happy or sad. It was too easy to get.

Tony Parker, however, did not plan on giving up. He put his hand out and declared, “What about me? I was the one who got it out.”

Lena Fox instantly straightened her face and said with a cold expression, “As a staff of this lab, you were trying to steal the property of the Fox Foundation. Consider yourself lucky that I’m not going to do anything about it. But, now you’re asking for something that doesn’t belong to you in front of its owner?! You're shameless!”

“I….” Tony Parker couldn’t argue with Lena Fox. He said, depressed, “Am I going to get arrested?”

“Unfortunately, you’re not. The police and judges have disappeared. Thus, you are free from getting arrested. Alright, you can leave now. I need to talk to Victor, so please leave my lab now.”

Lena Fox had the manner of a queen when she straightened her face. She looked proud and indifferent, with an aura that said, ‘get away from me’. Her enthusiasm was only for the people she trusted and was familiar with.

Tony Parker was very sad with this outcome. He was extremely depressed, but Katrina didn’t care about him. She waved her hand at them and was ready to go. Angie, however, stuck her tongue out, awkwardly shrugged her shoulders and said, “Victor, I feel like you’ve changed a lot in the past few days. I just want to ask: are you still the friend who I used to know?”

Everyone stared at Zhou Qingfeng after Angie asked the question. They were waiting for his answer. After thinking about it for quite a while, he finally sighed, “No. I’m no longer the previous Victor Hugo, but, I hope that we could still be friends.”

Angie was dejected by Zhou Qingfeng’s words. She lowered her head, hid behind Katrina, and refused to show up anymore. Katrina glared at Zhou Qingfeng and closed the door to the elevator before she left with Angie and Tony Parker.

Meanwhile, the security door of Babylon’s smartlab returned to its quiet state. There were only Zhou Qingfeng and Lena Fox left in the lab.

“Do you like that girl?” Miss Fox was interested.

“She’s important,” Zhou Qingfeng said.

“Oh… I knew it. It’s just like DogMeat. Only things and people that are important would pique your interest. I’m listening and I want to know, what’s happening to this world?”

“Actually, I really need a useful partner with whom I can talk to about things.”

Zhou Qingfeng grabbed two chairs from the laboratory, poured two cups of coffee from the coffee machine, and added sugar and milk to each. He sat down and slowly said, “As you’ve rightly guessed, I’m not from this world.”

Lena Fox’s eyes filled with surprise, but her curiosity was finally satisfied. She had a sip of her coffee and said, “Go on...”

“I came from another world which was in the year 2016. Three days ago, a so-called ‘G.o.d’ threw me to this world in 2030 - a world which is soon going to perish.”

“Based on the information that I have, the disappearance of the government, military, police, and foundations was just the first step. The people who disappeared might be back after three months, but, they may also be gone forever.”

“If those foundations which disappeared returned, then the world would eventually be re-established. If they don’t, nuclear weapons would be activated and released automatically. This world will then be destroyed and humanity will face extinction.”

“What I’m doing now is trying my best to get ready for it. I need to get ready for this inevitable disaster. DogMeat would be very good help. That’s why I tried so hard to get it.”

“The two ladies who just left were supposed to be my a.s.sistants. Unfortunately, I had a row with that little girl’s family.”

Zhou Qingfeng roughly went through the information which he got from the movie, ‘Wasteland’. He spoke about David’s family and how he saved New York. He also spoke about the miserable world that was in the terrible ending of the movie.

The more she knew, the worse Lena Fox felt. Her face turned pale when she learned that the capital cities around the world would be destroyed by nuclear weapons after three months, “So, are there going to be more than billions of deaths after three months?”

“Yes,” Zhou Qingfeng nodded his head. “The cataclysm has just started and it’ll only get worse from now. We have to try our best in order to live on.”

“Is David’s family really that important?”

“Yes, they are. David Lawrence’s friends are all important, too. However, I think that I’m more important compared to them for now.”

“What about me? According to the information that you have, where did I actually end up?”

“You? You’re supposed to be dead by now. In fact, you died when you got kidnapped three days ago.”