Chapter 12: Titanic

The next morning, before dawn, Su Qing woke up, awakened by pain.

Since he became a translator, his energy has easily fatigued, his appetite is poor, and he can only eat by forcing himself.

Moreover, he occasionally suffers stomachaches.

Regarding these symptoms, Su Qing knows clearly that it is likely due to his previous use of the Heavenly Basis, which heavily consumed his vital energy, causing severe aftereffects that then aggravated the spread of cancer cells.

In other words, he doesn't have much time left.

Lying in bed, he thought silently for a while; after the outside sky grew bright, Su Qing got up, washed up simply, and went out.

After sunrise, the streets were crowded with people hurrying along, all working folk struggling for a living. In the early 20th century, Dayingguo's national strength was strong, ordinary people's lives were affluent, yet they still had to work, and the people of Dayingguo at that time were already intensely competitive.

Su Qing moved through the crowd; his leisurely pace and yellow skin were both strikingly out of place.

Ignoring the various glances cast upon him by passersby, he walked two blocks straight.

Just after turning a corner, he saw ahead a boy about thirteen or fourteen wearing shabby clothes, slinging a canvas bag, hawking a newspaper to passersby.

Unfortunately, most people weren't interested; after hawking for a few minutes, he hadn't sold a single copy.

Su Qing stood there, thinking, and realized that since coming to the Night World, he still hadn't thoroughly gathered information on all aspects.

Back at the mine, he had thought of using his foreknowledge of history to become a CEO and reach the pinnacle of life, but after being slapped by reality, he had no choice but to give up.

Now that he has hope, he naturally picked up that idea again.

However, concrete action still requires waiting until his cancer is cured; for now, learning more information also counts as preparation for later.

Thinking this, Su Qing waved at the boy.

The roadside boy, feeling down from not having sold a newspaper, saw someone waving, his face immediately lit up with a smile, and he ran over.

"Sir, would you like to buy a newspaper?" the boy asked, full of expectation, as soon as he approached.

"How much per copy?" Su Qing didn't respond to the greeting, directly asking the price.

"Six pence."

"Give me one."

"Sir, this is your newspaper."

The boy's face lit up with joy as he handed over a newspaper.

Su Qing reached out to take it and, in passing, paid for the newspaper.

"Sir, you go ahead first…"

The boy ran off with a smile, continuing to sell newspapers on the streets.

Smiling, Su Qing withdrew his gaze, unfolded the newspaper, and prepared to see if it contained any historical information he knew.

But when he saw the headline on the front page, he froze for a moment.

【Unprecedented, the world's largest liner, the Titanic, will officially launch eight days later, on May 31.】

"Titanic?"

Su Qing widened his eyes, reread the line of English words on the headline, and realized it wasn't a visual mistake—it really was the Titanic.

He naturally knew of that ship.

In real history, the Titanic did exist, but later, while sailing, it struck an iceberg and sank.

Later, people made a film to commemorate the event, using its prototype and name.

Su Qing had watched that film twice, once in his youth and once in adulthood.

In his youth, his vigor was strong; he couldn't appreciate the film's artistic feel, constantly fast‑forwarding, mainly to watch certain uncut scenes.

In adulthood, he became steadier and more composed; having experienced life after entering society, he watched it slowly from start to finish without once fast‑forwarding, and after seeing the male lead die, he secretly lamented heaven's unfairness.

So…

One is history, one is film— which Titanic does the newspaper refer to?

"Really confusing!"

Shaking his head, Su Qing felt somewhat helpless.

Having been in this world for just over twenty days, his worldview has already been refreshed three times.

He is genuinely afraid, afraid of being slapped in the face again.

Forget it; overthinking is useless.

Su Qing stood there, thought for a while, ended the pointless rumination, and secretly made a decision.

After settling his cancer by downloading his bloodline, he would also buy a ticket to board the Titanic for an on‑site inspection, to put knowledge into practice.

Having seen the film, he knows the Titanic set sail and sank in 1912.

Exactly which month, I'm sorry I don't recall—after all, who watches a film and deliberately memorizes the date?

But right now it's only late May of 1911, still a full seven months away from 1912.

With that much time, everything can be done.

He flicked the newspaper in his hand and roughly skimmed the remaining information.

He found that aside from the headline about the Titanic, the rest were trivial minor events.

Seeing that, Su Qing also lost interest.

He tossed it aside casually and turned to leave.

After he left, the newspaper blew in the wind and happened to land at the feet of two passersby.

The two were young, about twenty years old.

The youth on the right had a thick head of flaxen‑colored curly hair, delicate pink lips, deep azure eyes… Though his features weren't classically handsome, their combination formed a gorgeous, unrestrained angelic face.

The youth on the left wore a beret, was slightly older with a bit of stubble on his face, and dressed in brown clothes.

The flax‑haired youth bent over, picked up the newspaper, and said to his friend, "Hey, Fabuliaoqi, look what I picked up."

The beret‑wearing youth helplessly shook his head: "Jack, it's just a discarded newspaper—what else could it be?"

"No, Fabuliaoqi." Jie Ke's eyes flashed with excitement, he spread out the newspaper and pointed at the Titanic in the paper, excitedly saying: "This is our future."

"Oh my god, Jie Ke, it's just a big ship, what future?" Fabuliaoqi made an exaggerated gesture.

"No, look, the newspaper says this ship is expected to be completed construction next year, and its first destination is Old Eagle Country (referring to the United States)."

"Fabuliaoqi, if we can board this ship, we can return to our homeland." Jie Ke's face showed both excitement and hope.

"Listen, my friend, I know you want to go back to Old Eagle Country, but we have no money to buy tickets."

"For such a big ship, the tickets will definitely cost a lot of money; we can't afford it." Fabuliaoqi sighed, trying to persuade his friend to face reality.

Unfortunately, Jie Ke did not agree with his words.

He also spoke optimistically: "My friend, one must have dreams; we'll work together and save money, we will surely be able to buy tickets to the future."

"Alright, do as you wish, but don't drag me into it." Fabuliaoqi rubbed his temples, he could only let his friend go.

"Come on, we must find a job today."

Jie Ke carefully folded the newspaper and put it in his pocket, then waved at his friend.

"Coming, coming, by the way, are you sure that tavern is still hiring?"

"Not sure, but going to check won't hurt..."

"..."

The two of them, talking, merged into the crowd and disappeared into the street.

On another side, Su Qing walked a few more streets and finally found a men's clothing store.

Entering the shop, the shop owner was a middle-aged man, busily lowering his head.

"Welcome..."

Hearing the footsteps, he subconsciously looked up to speak, but when he saw the visitor was a yellow-skinned Eastern person, his words stopped immediately; although his face showed no obvious expression, his eyes still revealed disgust.

Su Qing: "..."

This is discrimination, right!

Okay, okay, okay.

But the more you do this, the less I can comply with your wishes.

Su Qing kept his expression unchanged, deliberately pretending not to see the owner's face, wandered around the shop for a while, until the owner's face turned black like a pot bottom, only then did he leave satisfied.

Afterwards he wandered a bit more and found another clothing store.

The owner of this store had an indifferent attitude, and Su Qing also lost the desire to keep searching.

He simply bought a set of clothes on the spot, changed into them, also bought a few extra sets for changing, and then turned back to head home.