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墨書 Inktalez
The house had been unoccupied for over two months, and when Li Yan opened the door, a musty smell hit him. He opened the windows to let in some fresh air. The haze in City A was frequent, and if the dust levels were measured with instruments, it would be shocking. This truly confirmed a famous saying online: if there were nuclear radiation, only the Chinese would survive on Earth, as they are immune to all toxins.
Even in their high-rise buildings, if no one lived there for a while, a layer of dust would settle on the reddish-brown table. Especially since City A is in the north, it experiences several scenes of fine sandstorms throughout the year.
"I finally found the group," Zhou Miao said, rummaging through a shopping bag and stuffing food into his mouth. After a long day of travel yesterday, he hadn't even had a hot meal before being kicked out by the old man.
Yu Tian turned away, not wanting to look at that pig-like person. He had seen shamelessness before, but never to this extent.
"Hey, this sausage smells good. Have one," Zhou Miao said as he peeled a hot dog and shoved it into Yu Tian's mouth while also munching on his own. "Eat up, don’t be polite; treat it like your own."
Yu Tian’s face turned red as he awkwardly glanced at the Li Family brothers. "I'm really sorry."
Since childhood, Yu Tian had been influenced by a cultured upbringing and adhered to the highest standards of propriety and integrity. Ever since meeting Zhou Miao, he felt that his values and perspectives on life were being challenged like never before; at times, he even wished he could eliminate Zhou Miao.
Li Yan went to the kitchen and turned on the faucet, only to find that the water was yellow. Unable to boil water, he had to summon a pot of water from another space. Once the water boiled, he stepped out and saw that the seemingly refined man had a stiff expression; his gaze towards Zhou Miao was sharp enough to cut like knives.
"Brother, Zhou Ge is eating my Teddy Bear Cookies," the child said as he tugged at his box of cookies, engaged in a tug-of-war with Zhou Miao.
Li Yan set down his teacup and walked over, kicking Zhou Miao in the waist with considerable force and speed. Zhou Miao quickly retracted his hand, exclaiming, "Damn it, you’re trying to kill me for money!"
"First of all, you have no money. Second, killing you would dirty my hands," Li Yan replied as he opened the box of Teddy Bear Cookies, lifted the child onto his lap, and fed him cookies.
"Tch, having a wife makes you heartless," Zhou Miao feigned grievance as he leaned against Yu Tian, pulling at his sleeve and pretending to cry. "Tian Tian, I’m so pitiful!"
"......" Yu Tian decided to ignore any actions or words from this person; he was clearly not a creature from Earth!
Li Ming tilted his head and glared at Zhou Miao. The child thought that the refined older brother looked pitiful, being bothered by a bad person. Out of sympathy for the vulnerable, the child climbed down from Li Yan's lap and took a piece of Teddy Bear Cookies to give to Yu Tian. "Brother, this is for you."
Yu Tian was taken aback, looking at the clean and handsome young man in front of him, who seemed to be between a boy and a young adult. His eyes were unusually clear and innocent. Although Yu Tian had not interacted with these people before, he could clearly sense something special about this boy from his words. Without thinking, Yu Tian reached out his hand, and when he realized what he was doing, he saw a piece of brown Teddy Bear Cookies lying in his palm.
"Delicious! Mingming, give me another piece." Zhou Miao directly licked the cookie from Yu Tian's hand, shamelessly flashing a bright smile at Li Ming.
Li Ming quickly withdrew his hand and hid in Li Yan's embrace, concealing the bag of Teddy Bear Cookies in Li Yan's arms. "Not for you! It's Mingming's."
"Alright, don't tease him." Li Yan looked helplessly at his old friend and then turned to Yu Tian, asking, "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?"
"Hello, I am Yu Tian." Yu Tian preemptively introduced himself, fearing that Zhou Miao would say something unnecessary during the introduction.
"This is Li Yan, my wife. How about that? Pretty, right? Let me tell you, my wife is a graduate student; I recognized her talent early on and brought her home." Zhou Miao stretched his neck out proudly.
Hearing this made Yu Tian's face flush with anger; his voice trembled with rage. "Shut up! Who is your wife? My man! Man!" For the ten-thousandth time, Yu Tian regretted drinking that day and even more so for saving this man who was drowning. If he had known that the price would be his dignity as a man, he should have just let him drown back then. The more Yu Tian thought about it, the angrier he became, and his eyes turned red.
Li Yan did not ask Zhou Miao any questions and didn't mention anything about collecting supplies either. Having two more people living at home was not a burden for Li Yan at all. A few days later, Li Yan went to the company only to find that no one was on duty; the thick layer of dust on the desk indicated how long it had been since anyone had been there.
In fact, after two months in the countryside without any phone calls, he had already suspected something was wrong. This was also the main reason he came to City A. Angrily, Li Yan called those people only to have them hang up one by one. Finally, he called Eva; in his impression, she was usually cheerful but this time she hesitated for a long time before subtly expressing her desire to resign. Li Yan could understand her; after all, staying home was the safest choice during such an outbreak.
Li Yan glanced at the thick stack of fax papers under the fax machine; most were contracts for canceled orders along with some advertisements and even a few lawyer letters. He noticed that all these faxes were dated in November; there were no faxes from December at all. Did this mean that other companies were in the same situation as his?
Li Yan made phone calls one by one; some calls went through, while others were to companies that had declared bankruptcy. After such a detailed comparison, he couldn't quite say how much he had lost, but if this continued, his outcome would likely be... Li Yan called a few familiar bosses, and several advised him to take a break and wait for opportunities. After all, it was a company he had built from scratch, and now letting it go to waste made the future uncertain. Damn it, damn this terrible weather!
"Brother, can I have a smoke?" Zhou Miao suddenly appeared from behind, still wearing that annoying expression.
Li Yan coughed softly a few times, his heavy expression easing slightly as he self-deprecatingly said, "Brother, it seems I have to start over."
"Forget it," Zhou Miao took a deep breath before speaking. "Close the door; living won't be easy from now on. Gather more supplies while you still can. Do you know what I've been doing these past two months?"
Li Yan remained silent, merely smoking quietly. The smoke curled up, making their faces appear unreal.
"Two months ago, our unit suddenly received an order to escort a batch of confidential supplies to a secret base. For two whole months, day and night transporting them. I secretly looked inside; it was all just daily necessities. Li Yan, tell me, why would they need to escort such a large amount of supplies there when there's no illness or disaster?" Zhou Miao's hand trembled slightly as he spoke, but he held it back.
"Our phones were confiscated, but I've always been clever; I turned mine off and hid it. Otherwise, you'd probably be starving right now. Of course, it's lucky you actually listened to me."
"Are you saying it's state-secret supplies?" Li Yan considered the seriousness of the situation but didn't expect it to be this severe. The government had already begun stockpiling; did that mean this disaster was beyond their control? Li Yan found it hard to believe that things had escalated to this point.
"Do you think it's X?" Zhou Miao shook his head with a bitter smile and stomped out the unfinished cigarette butt on the ground. "When I left the base, I secretly went to the security office there, but unfortunately, I was discovered before I could find anything out. Talk about bad luck! I ran into local flooding and jumped into the river only to realize I couldn't swim!"
It was a rather ridiculous scene, yet Li Yan couldn't laugh at all; he punched Zhou Miao hard. He finally understood why the old man sent someone directly to him—this guy must have been suspected of something. Although Zhou Miao hadn't found anything concrete, the government's tension indicated that this matter was not meant for anyone to know.
Before leaving, Li Yan tidied up the office; two months ago it was still the glorious Golden Radiance Building. Now, aside from its unchanged exterior, the busy companies inside had long since vacated.
That night, Li Ming was awakened by loud noises. With Zhou Miao and Yu Tian joining them, the Li Family brothers naturally couldn't stay in their space anymore. Fortunately, there was no need to stay in the space during such weather. Li Ming nudged the somewhat drunken Li Yan. "Mingming, do you need to pee?"
"Brother, it's noisy." Li Ming got up and turned on the light, the glaring brightness took a while for Li Yan to adjust. As soon as they stood up, they heard the roar of a Tibetan Mastiff outside and the sounds coming from Zhou Miao's room.
Once Li Yan and Li Ming stepped out of their room, they felt a chill all over. Yu Tian and Zhou Miao returned from the balcony, both of them frozen stiff.
Zhou Miao immediately turned on the air conditioning, and only when the warmth filled every corner of the room did he feel somewhat alive again. "Goodness, that old man must be out of his mind. I bet it's definitely below ten degrees outside."
"This weather is too abnormal," Yu Tian was also stunned; just before going to bed, it had still been around seventeen or eighteen degrees. He had only stepped outside for a moment and felt like he was losing all sensation from the cold.
Li Yan took out four down jackets from the room, and wearing one made him feel much warmer. He told Li Ming to stay inside while he opened the door between the living room and the balcony. A bone-chilling cold rushed in like ice shards, sending shivers down his spine. The sounds they heard earlier were indeed from rain, but Li Yan didn't believe that mere raindrops could make such loud noises. The window glass was covered with a layer of white mist, mainly due to the drastic temperature difference inside and outside. Wiping the glass with a nearby frozen burlap cloth revealed raindrops mixed with tiny hailstones falling heavily to the ground.
"Brother." Li Ming peeked out in his little deer down jacket but was quickly pulled back in by Li Yan; the child's face was flushed but not frozen.
"Don't come out." Li Yan quickly closed the door behind him and pulled the child into the living room. After rubbing his arms together for warmth, he turned on the TV. Sure enough, every channel was broadcasting emergency news about widespread temperature drops across various regions, with some places even experiencing power and water outages. The hosts were bundled in thick winter coats, shivering in the cold wind; just watching made Li Ming feel cold as he hid under a blanket with only his eyes peeking out.
"Dear viewers, please take necessary precautions and try not to go outside... Now let's turn to our meteorologist for a detailed explanation of tonight's weather..." The host continued speaking while constantly puffing breath into his hands; thin ice had formed on his slightly damp hair, indicating how low the temperature was outside.
There was no point in watching the weather forecast; it would be pointless anyway. Those experts always acted like they were professionals only after something happened.
Li Yan and Zhou Miao were uninterested in the experts, but after all that commotion, their sleepiness had vanished. The four of them—three of them decided to play cards while little Li Ming played games on his iPhone. They played all night long until dawn finally arrived, at which point they couldn't resist returning to their rooms to sleep. With air conditioning available, they didn't care about what was happening outside.
When they finally woke up after a good sleep, they realized that something serious had indeed happened outside!
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