Morning of the Fourth Day
Lead-gray snowflakes, like frenzied swarms of bees, slammed down wrapped in howling icy wind. When the snow touched people, blood suddenly burst out among the crowd. Someone started to bite their companions like crazy, their eyes bloodshot and turning a demonic scarlet.
"Ah!"
Lin Mo's eyes snapped open. Her forehead was plastered with cold sweat, and her heart was still pounding in her chest.
She raised her hand to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead. Her fingertips touched a patch of ice. When she tried to recall the dream, only vague blood and chaos remained, nothing clear.
"It's all because I watched that video before bed." The image of the American train video, which domestic netizens had suspected was AI-generated, flashed through her mind.
The video had ended with an explosion. The train was blown to pieces, the train conductor's figure a blur of blood and flesh, limbs flying everywhere. That thick, bloody smell seemed to waft through the screen and into the room, clinging to her nose and refusing to dissipate.
The video only lasted two seconds before being taken down. She wondered if there would be any more news today.
"So cold, why does it feel like an ice cellar?" As soon as she stretched her hand out from the down blanket, the cold air made her shiver. Shivering, she fumbled for the phone on her nightstand. The screen showed it was only 6:30 AM. No wonder she was so tired; she hadn't gone to bed until one, giving her only five and a half hours of sleep.
She turned off the electric blanket and turned on the air conditioner. The old air conditioner hummed as it worked, but the room wouldn't warm up.
On social media, topics about the train seemed to be a thing of the past. Top trending spots were occupied by solid evidence of a top celebrity's secret marriage and child. Train-related topics had dropped to outside the top ten.
All related videos had also been thoroughly removed. To learn more, she'd have to go on foreign websites.
She needed to buy a VPN. Just as she was looking, her phone suddenly popped up a weather warning: S City was experiencing a once-in-a-decade cold snap, with temperatures plummeting to -8 degrees Celsius.
Right after the warning, her phone buzzed repeatedly. It was Jian Qing frantically blowing up their three-person group chat, sending several messages urging her to get up and look at the snow.
"Didn't you fly to Southeast Asia?" Lin Mo typed, puzzled. Why was the other person, far away in Southeast Asia, so fixated on the snow in S City early in the morning?
Jian Qing instantly replied: "Just got off the plane. My friend circle is all snow! Look quickly—S City rarely gets snow! And it'll melt soon."
Lin Mo had been busy late into the night for several days and felt a bit weak. Fortunately, she put on her thermal underwear, and warmth spread across her body through the fabric, driving away the lingering chill.
She pushed open the northern restaurant window. Snow was still fluttering everywhere, rustling onto the branches and the road, quickly forming a thin layer. She couldn't help but reach out to catch it. Crystal, six-petal snowflakes landed on her fingertips, cool and beautiful, making her momentarily lost in thought: "Can such clean and beautiful snow really trigger a global disaster in four days?"
Bai Jie popped up in the group: "Morning, how's the house?"
Lin Mo closed the window and replied, "Freezing to death. The air conditioner's on, but it's still like an ice cellar."
Bai Jie urged: "Turn on the heater. The air conditioner won't work at this temperature."
Jian Qing: "If it's no good, just get a new air conditioner. Negotiate with the landlord to split the cost half and half."
Bai Jie helplessly pressed her forehead: "S City has experienced a big temperature drop. Air conditioners don't work well below -7 degrees Celsius—that's common sense! So in the north, we all use heating in winter; no one uses air conditioners."
Jian Qing sent a shrugging emoji: "I don't know. Forgive us southerners for never seeing such a big场面. Anything below zero feels really cold to me."
Lin Mo: "I grabbed a heater and put it by my feet—instantly warm. Heats up so fast. What about you two? Everything okay?"
Bai Jie: "We've stopped work and production because of the blizzard. Early this morning, my dad called me to help put snow chains on the car. Once the snow on the street melts, we'll go back to the countryside."
Jian Qing complained: "Uncle is still obsessed with the mindset of running back to the countryside whenever something happens? Do middle-aged men all think about going to war or when the world ends, they'll retreat to their hometown?"
But Lin Mo thought the countryside was better: "Didn't you say before that the countryside house is specially insulated? It can handle minus forty or fifty degrees, better quality than these apartment buildings. Going back sounds good." Plus, you can burn coal yourself, which is more reliable than depending on the city's water and electricity supply.
The countryside has yards, too, and can store a lot of supplies.
Jian Qing couldn't understand rural life and thought it was too harsh: "Will the plane be able to fly after the snow stops? The company is on holiday anyway. Why not fly south to escape the cold? I remember you northeasterners all have houses in Sanya."
"The airport is closed," Bai Jie said. "And even when the snow stops, I have to go to work. Our performance evaluations are strict. I'm sure on the first day, I'll have to organize the students to shovel snow." Then she asked Lin Mo with concern: "Has logistics in S City been cut off?"
This was exactly why Lin Mo hadn't advised Bai Jie to go south. Bai Jie had a stable job, and she'd just started; it wouldn't be good to take leave. Lin Mo said: "Food delivery is okay, just slower. I just checked JD.com, and it still shows as 'in delivery,' but there's a delay." She had four boxes of sanitary pads coming from JD.com, not yet delivered. Hopefully, the snow would stop soon; otherwise, frozen snow is deadly in the south.
Bai Jie: "As long as it can be delivered, that's good. Good thing you took annual leave. Just rest at home."
Jian Qing asked: "When do you go to work?"
Lin Mo was vague: "Next week." She then asked with concern: "By the way, do you guys have water purifiers? If not, stock up on bottled water where you're staying."
"Definitely," Jian Qing said, thinking Lin Mo was worried about her. "In Indonesia, you have to be careful even with ice cream and salads, let alone drinking water. I have a weak stomach, so I'm not going to challenge myself. Not only will I drink bottled water, but I'll also boil it and then freeze it!"
Bai Jie: "So much to say—boiling it to 100°C and then freezing it into ice cubes? You're not afraid of the trouble."
Jian Qing helpless: "I can't help it. Not a few seniors have gotten diarrhea. Several viruses are raging in Indonesia, and the hospitals aren't much help. I'm scared of dying!" And when it's hot, you want something cold—it's an instinct you can't change.
Lin Mo had to steer the topic back and reminded the two: "I heard the snow isn't clean either. I bought a water purifier and plan to get some purification tablets."
Bai Jie pressed her forehead: "You sound exactly like my dad. Did you watch the same post-apocalypse mini-video? We all boil water now. It's fine."
Jian Qing: "Even if there's pollution, no one is idle enough to eat snow."
"That's not necessarily true..." Lin Mo looked out the window and happened to see an elderly person with a child reaching out to catch snowflakes and put them in their mouths. She sighed softly. Hopefully, in four days, they won't do that.
"Look at this. It's already number one trending abroad," Jian Qing sent a video. "Not much buzz domestically. I heard a new technology came out abroad that's about to surpass our high-speed trains."
Bai Jie: "Isn't your understanding a bit too naive? This video is obviously abnormal. What train can go through a building? It's definitely AI."
This was exactly what Lin Mo wanted Jian Qing to look into: "We can't get over the wall. Can you search for keywords like 'apocalypse,' 'snow erosion,' 'train'? What are foreign social media saying?"
Jian Qing: "Let me see... There are quite a few extreme comments saying the apocalypse snow erosion is coming and only the train is eternal."
Bai Jie asked: "But didn't the train in your second video explode? Isn't that contradictory? A train that can punch through buildings, yet it can be blown to pieces?"
Lin Mo frowned: Although the train's material was incredibly hard, it couldn't withstand special weapons from the military.
Jian Qing sent a shrugging emoji: "Who knows? Anyway, I found posts everywhere about rounding up train conductors for experiments, some vampires, etc. Anyway, foreign websites are always messy, and no one debunks rumors."
The two of them were still joking, but Lin Mo's heart sank. Rounding up train conductors for experiments?