LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 2: The Box from the Mysterious Man
Back in his room, Matthew placed the box on his desk and sat down, staring at it as though it might suddenly move.
He took a deep breath and unlatched the lid. Inside, he found two items: a sleek USB device with glowing, futuristic symbols etched into its surface, and a jar of neon-blue pills. A folded note rested between them.
Opening the note, he read the words:
[The USB that you have found was made in the 24th century. It contains all the blueprints of every technology created from the 20th century up to this date. It includes videos, schematics, research papers, and detailed guides for constructing these technologies. While the pills on the jar is a nootropic drug that will enhance your brain performance to its maximum for 24 hours. It has 500 pieces, use them wisely.
P.S: At this moment of your life, you will be thrown out from your house, so go to your nearest lottery outlet and bet this number, 0-7-9-8-9-7, on the 6D category lotto. You must bet the number on or before December 18, 2018. Good luck!]
After reading the note, Matthew didn't know how to react.
The USB, the pills, and now this bizarre instruction about a lottery number—it all felt like a surreal fever dream. He glanced at the clock on his desk. December 17, 2018. The deadline for the lottery bet was tomorrow.
"This is insane," he muttered to himself. "There's no way any of this is real. But…nothing will lose if you try right?"
He grabbed his laptop from his bag and inserted the USB into his laptop, half expecting an error message or for nothing to happen. Instead, the USB glowed faintly, and his screen flickered for a moment before a sleek, futuristic interface appeared. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen, with smooth animations and seamless transitions.
The interface adapted effortlessly to the specifications of his aging laptop, optimizing performance. A list of technologies appeared on the screen, and there were hundreds of them.
Each category contained detailed blueprints, schematics, and accompanying instructional videos.
He clicked on a file titled "21st Century - Energy Storage: Ultra-High-Capacity Batteries." A 3D rendering of a battery appeared on the screen, spinning slowly as annotations highlighted its features. Below it were step-by-step instructions for manufacturing, including required materials, assembly processes, and potential applications.
"What the heck," Matthew whispered in an astonished tone. But he couldn't understand any of its technicalities. He flickered his gaze to the jar of pills, and remembered its function where it enhances the brain performance up to maximum.
Hesitation gripped him as he unscrewed the lid and held one of the neon-blue capsules between his fingers.
With a deep breath, Matthew swallowed the pill. The effect was almost immediate. A wave of warmth spread through his body, and his mind seemed to clear, as though a fog had been lifted. Concepts and ideas that once felt like an indecipherable mess now appeared in his mind with startling clarity.
He turned back to the laptop and reopened the blueprint for the high-capacity battery. This time, the annotations and formulas made sense. He could visualize the manufacturing process in his head as though he'd been studying it for years.
A realization struck him, he now understood why that mysterious man brought that pill along with the usb. That is so he could understand the contents of the USB.
Now, back to his current status, his father would force him to leave the condominium the moment he returned from work. And he doesn't feel any kind of sadness or whatsoever. It felt like a release, a long-overdue escape from a cage he had been confined to for years.
For the first time, Matthew felt a strange calm wash over him as he began to pack his belongings.
With his newfound clarity, Matthew methodically went through his possessions. He packed only the essentials—clothes, personal documents, his laptop, the USB, and the jar of pills. Everything else, the textbooks, the failed projects, the remnants of his past struggles, he left behind without a second thought.
By the time he zipped his bag shut, the room was stripped of personality, much like how he had felt living there. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he cast one last glance around the empty space.
"Good riddance," he muttered before walking out.
Outside of the condominium. Matthew made his way to the nearby lottery outlet, clutching the note with the numbers: 0-7-9-8-9-7.
The outlet was a small, unassuming space tucked between a bakery and a barber shop. A flickering neon sign above the door read Lotto Tickets Available Here. Inside, a small line of hopeful bettors waited their turn.
Matthew stepped up to the counter when it was his turn. The clerk, a middle-aged woman with a tired smile, greeted him.
"What numbers, sir?"
"0-7-9-8-9-7, on the 6D," Matthew said, sliding the payment across the counter.
The clerk nodded, processing his bet and printing the ticket. "Good luck."
Matthew pocketed the ticket and left.
Next, he went to a nearby motel. He found it was nothing fancy—a run-down establishment offering rooms at cheap rates. The neon sign outside flickered intermittently, and the receptionist barely looked up from her phone as Matthew checked in.
"Room 207," she muttered, sliding him a key across the counter after he had paid the amount for the room.
Matthew climbed the creaky stairs to his room, unlocked the door, and stepped inside. The room was sparse but clean enough—a bed, a small table, and a chair. It wasn't much, but it would do for now.
He placed his bag on the bed and sat down.
Tomorrow, at 9pm in the evening, the result of the lotto will be published. Even with the effects of the pill and the legitimate look of the USB, he still felt reluctant on believing it all to be true. But if he won the lotto tomorrow, then he'd be able to confirm everything that is happening in his life. For now, he'll rest.