Chapter 35: Apocalypse: The First Layer of Surprises Below the Earth

Online, the topic of the Dark Day was unusually lively as well, with many New Year’s Eve programs hastily incorporating the popular subject into their themes. At three o’clock in the morning, both Weibo and CCTV were still broadcasting live, expecting to capture images of the star collision. Those night owls were also excitedly showing off the stockpiles of grains they had hoarded, while watching scientists boast about how lucky Earth was to be at a safe distance, or else it would have been the end of us. At this moment, the people of Huaxia felt a sense of security. With plenty of grains hoarded, every family was well-stocked. BOOM... The live broadcast suddenly changed, showing the stars colliding just as predicted, but Jing Shu didn’t understand a thing. She just saw the commentator jumping around excitedly, while the screen was filled with barrage comments exclaiming, "Holy shit, holy shit." Jing Shu was a bit dumbfounded; this was nothing like what she had imagined. Jing Shu had been unable to sleep, but strangely enough, the footage of the colliding stars had a magical effect, and she fell asleep while watching. When she woke up at ten in the morning the next day, there was no sunlight outside. In her previous life, she would have been diligently live-streaming and gaining a lot of followers at this time. "Reports indicate varying degrees of dust fallout in different regions. In just one night, there has been an accumulation of 3-5 centimeters, and it continues to fall. Citizens going outdoors are advised to wear masks to avoid inhaling it into their lungs and to take corresponding measures." "Starting January 1st, the spending limit on medical insurance cards will be restricted. Citizens are urged to make rational purchases of vitamins and other healthcare products." "In some areas, the dust carries industrial pollutants that fly around, causing various kinds of pollution. Many residents have reported cloudy and blackened water and are questioning whether it is safe to drink. Further investigation into this matter is underway." On this rare Sunday when Mrs. Jing did not have to go to work, the family watched the news as they had breakfast. Mrs. Jing went to feed the pigs, cattle, and sheep and clean up. The chicken coop was stuffy and hot, so she promptly turned on the air conditioning and set a constant temperature of 26°C for the entire villa. Mr. Jing had to climb a ladder to remove the dirt from the reinforced glass cover, which was now covered with a thick layer of dirt, making the villa, which was already dim, even darker. "Thank goodness we covered the entire villa with reinforced glass; otherwise, the whole place would be filled with dirt." Mrs. Jing couldn’t imagine how filthy it would be.So the showy reinforced glass they had installed for grandeur actually had some use now. Indeed, no one had anticipated the falling dirt. The dust particles generated by the star collision not only covered the atmosphere but also leaked through, causing dust to fall—a phenomenon that would continue for a long time. According to the news, Earth’s temperature would drop as the sun was blocked. It did drop, but that was during the night when temperatures plummeted. During the day, they soared again: Wu City reached 35℃, Hainan nearly 50℃ with extreme heat, and Guangdong, Fujian, and Sichuan all hit 40℃. It felt completely like summer. Jing Shu wore sports shorts and a short-sleeved top. Over this, she wore a windproof jacket and pants, with the pant legs tucked into her rain boots. With a double mask and hat, she went out to deal with manure and also took the opportunity to let Number One, the chicken, out for a walk. Every step she took landed on thick layers of soil. Although it was daytime, it was so gloomy that she could hardly distinguish people or objects. In the vast neighborhood, only a few homes had their lights on. The neighborhood and distant roads had their streetlights on. Up close, under the lights, were swarms of insects and continuously falling dust particles. Only in the first month of the apocalypse could they afford the luxury of streetlights. The fighting chicken was as excited as a Siberian husky, flapping its wings to run and then jumping into flight to peck at insects. Now, when Jing Shu called its name, it understood and would sprint back to her quickly. The insects near the hills seemed to have emerged from nowhere in such large numbers, their noises eerily piercing. The fighting chicken was in its element, as if it had entered Heaven, crazily pecking at the insects. After dealing with the manure and running around for a while, Jing Shu was unbearably hot. It seemed that even drinking a lot from the Spiritual Spring didn’t protect her from heat or cold. She hurried home to take a shower. "How can we drink the water when it’s yellow with dirt? That little supermarket at the gate has run out of bottled water again. Are you sure you don’t want to go and buy more water together?" a middle-aged woman in her fifties stood at the villa gate, covering her mouth and nose with a damp towel to fend off the dust, her head wrapped in a towel. "We’ll pass for now," said Mr. Jing, also wearing a mask, drenched in sweat as he shoveled the thick dust to one side, breathing heavily. His prodigal daughter had spent two hundred thousand on a water filtration system mimicking those in the United States; why would he need to buy water? "Look at the video my brother sent! Everyone in the city’s supermarkets is grabbing water, and many supermarkets are out of water already. Who knows how long this dirt will keep falling? You guys should at least buy a week’s worth of water, right at Ai Family Supermarket!" The auntie was anxious. "Really, we’re not going for now. If you can’t find a ride, I can call one for you." The auntie quickly declined, "Forget it, I’ll see if anyone else has a lift to offer. How much would it cost to go there and back by car?" And off she ran in a flash. Jing Shu looked at her retreating figure and said, "She came to hitch a ride?" Mr. Jing, covered in dust, nodded. "They saw our lights were on and wanted us to go buy water with them. Let’s go; all done. I’m going to take a shower." "Dad, you should clean out the soil from the filter head every day, or it’s going to get clogged." "Got it." So, Mr. Jing spent half an hour cleaning mud out of the villa’s external pipes. "When is this going to end?" he grumbled. Look how fussy people were in the Initial Stage of Apocalypse. Water mixed with soil is just a bit hard to drink, Jing Shu thought. At least it’s much better than next year’s red earthworm water, really. A mouthful goes down, numerous insect heads get stuck between your teeth, while their tails are lodged in your throat, refusing to go down. Do you bite them off and swallow, or pull the whole thing out, chew it, and then swallow? In her previous life, Jing Shu always pulled the insects from between her teeth, chewed them 28 times, and then swallowed to increase the feeling of fullness. She definitely didn’t want to try that again in this life. Although Jing Shu’s toughened glass dome covered the entire villa, blocking out the dust, it had a downside—it absorbed heat and wasn’t breathable. The villa was like a steamer. Jing Shu used a commercial ice maker to produce buckets of ice, placing them all over the villa and changing them every two hours to cool down. It felt much better. She also made extra ice, shaved it, and turned the milk stored for half a month into yogurt, then placed it in her space. She added sugar and shaved ice to make Yogurt Shaved Ice, sweet and refreshingly cool. Also today, Jing Shu checked the UBC solar power generation. Even under these conditions, it still generated some electricity. Jing Shu found this quite reassuring. Considering the villa needed lights on for at least 8 hours a day, various appliances, solar lights, and central air conditioning, it consumed at least 40 kilowatt-hours of electricity daily. The monthly electric bill would be over 800 yuan, more than three times that of a normal family. Under such dim conditions, 10 UBC solar panels could generate roughly 30-odd kilowatt-hours of electricity per day, which was barely enough. If that wasn’t sufficient, they could use a gasoline generator; an additional liter of fuel per day would definitely suffice. In the evening, an expert on the news explained: "Water mixed with soil is drinkable; it’s completely fine. We recommend that after you collect the water, let it settle for a few minutes, transfer it to another container, and let it settle several more times before boiling and drinking confidently." But the issue of water grabbing was not yet properly resolved. Next came the high-temperature orange alerts, with severe heatstroke deaths occurring in various regions. Someone in Jing Shu’s community died too, a person Jing Shu knew.