“Rumble——”
The old and dilapidated subway passed one station without stopping and quickly whizzed to the next station.
Xiao Jinyu pulled on the car’s armrest and looked out the window.
The dark window reflected a youth’s white and clean face that didn’t look more than twenty years old, looking indifferently at the dark underground tunnel. Suddenly, an abandoned subway station appeared. The delicate face disappeared and through the window, a messy and ruined platform appeared.
Xiao Jinyu subconsciously raised his head and glanced at the platform information.
“Luhe Station”
The subway’s speed was very fast. In a moment, the fallen plastic chairs that were on the ground and the dark water flowing across the ground had disappeared.
They left Luhe Station.
“Lu, he, station… Mommy, yesterday auntie said that you used to live near Luhe station when you were young. Was it the Luhe Station we just passed?”
The immature and curious voice of a child sounded beside Xiao Jinyu, and he turned his head to see a primary school student carrying a schoolbag. The child’s voice was not loud, but because he was close, it was clearly transmitted to Xiao Jinyu’s ears.
Next to the car door, a young mother was holding her son’s hand. When she heard this, she froze. Her lips slightly opened, and the expression on her face kept changing. Finally she touched her son’s head: “Yes, it’s been more than 20 years. At that time, mommy was as old as you are now.”
“Ten years old?”
The mother smiled, “Yes, ten.”
Then you are about thirty-five now?
Many subway passengers heard the conversation between the mother and son, and they couldn’t help but calculate the age of the young mother in their hearts.
Nowadays, the subway is the most common means of transportation in China. But many people don’t know that just 25 years ago, buses were still the best choice for people to travel. However, with the large-scale spread of the Type-A radiation infection, the word, bus, became an old term left in the history books.
Xiao Jinyu had never seen a bus.
Even before he was born, buses went out of service. Not because humans had invented faster and more convenient public transportation methods, but because the subway could pass through high radiation residue areas at extremely fast speeds without stopping. But buses couldn’t.
With the mother and son’s question and answer conversation flowing into his ears, Xiao Jinyu shifted his eyes as the subway passed another unstoppable platform.
He has never experienced it, but he knows—
It was named the “Los Angeles Incident.”
On November 10, 2021, across the ocean, the night shift emergency department of Vancouver General Hospital received a female patient with a large area of lupus erythematosus. The most elite doctors in Canada gathered there, but none of them would have thought that that night would be the beginning of a global disaster.
Every Chinese person who has taken a junior high school history class can clearly remember this date, because that is the first chapter of everyone’s history class.
A week later, Patient Zero, Alice Pester died of an immune system disorder and multiple organ failure.
On November 28, a special case of skin infection was found in Los Angeles. Due to the patient’s limb spasm and intermittent changes in the skin color of the fingers, and contagiousness, the CDC diagnosed it as a contagious variant of lupus erythematosus.
On November 29, 18 people were infected in Los Angeles.
On November 30, 40 people were infected.
……
On December 2, 8,214 people were infected in the United States!
In just two days, the number of cases surged by 8,000, all medical staff were infected, and the Los Angeles medical system was completely paralyzed!
The “Los Angeles Incident” has officially entered people’s field of vision.
At this moment, the whole world had finally noticed the abnormality. But as early as the day patient zero had appeared, humans no longer had the ability to save themselves.
The countries on the east coast of the Pacific were the first to have large-scale outbreaks of infections, followed by several East Asian countries on the west.
Within half a month, 5 billion people worldwide were infected.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
On January 1, 2022, with the appearance of a disease similar to lupus erythematosus on the cheek of the last healthy person, mankind fell into despair.
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Coafg atf uibyji vfjat abii gfjmtfv 3.8 yliilbc, atf ieqer fgsatfwjabrer bc j 15-sfjg-biv peclbg tlut rmtbbi ulgi revvfcis vlrjqqfjgfv, jcv tfg lwwecf rsrafw ugjvejiis gfmbnfgfv. Ljio j sfjg ijafg, atf 2 yliilbc regnlnlcu tewjcr ugjvejiis kjixfv bea bo atf vbbg bo rfio-lrbijalbc, jcv rmlfcalrar olcjiis tjv ygfjatlcu rqjmf ab raevs atlr ecfzqfmafv jcv ragjcuf nlger.
Then they found out that this is not a virus!
No signs of a viral body was found on an infected person. On the contrary, it seemed more like radiation.
……
“Ding Dong!”
When the subway arrived at the station, the passengers got off the subway and into the crowd one after another.
Xiao Jinyu walked with the crowd towards the exit. Before he could even walk ten meters out, he suddenly noticed that there seemed to be more people getting off the subway this time. He involuntarily turned his head and glanced in the direction of the subway car door, and saw a few staff members in uniforms standing at the door, speaking loudly to the passengers inside.
After a short while, all the passengers got off the subway at this stop.
“What do you mean? Why is everyone coming out?”
“Is there a sudden radiation leak somewhere?”
“Sigh, I have two more stops to get home. I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait before I can take the subway again.”
The passengers who shouldn’t have stopped here walked to the underground hall and didn’t go up again, while Xiao Jinyu followed a group of leaving passengers on the escalator. Just as he was about to leave the subway entrance, he vaguely heard a voice from the crowd below.
“I heard that it was not a radiation leak, but someone committed suicide on the rails in front!”
Suicide on the rails?
For a moment, Xiao Jinyu subconsciously looked into the subway. However, in the dimly-lit subway, he only saw crowds of people, dark and dense, unable to see anything else clearly.
Withdrawing his sight, Xiao Jinyu stepped out of the subway entrance.
***
It was early November, and it was the beginning of winter.
The thick and yellow smog hung in the air like a car had just passed, throwing the dust into the air, covering the entirety of Zhongdu City. A sunset was dyed a mottled brass color under the heavy haze. The windows on both sides of the road lit up dimly, like the blurry light of beacons separated by water vapor in the sea fog.
Several nearby communities were built ten years after the “Los Angeles Incident”, but while the buildings were fairly new, they were densely packed with people.
As soon as Xiao Jinyu stepped out of the elevator, a middle-aged woman carrying a garbage bag walked towards him.
Seeing Xiao Jinyu, she smiled and said “Xiao Xiao, coming home?”
After a pause, Xiao Jinyu replied “En, Aunt Wang, you’re throwing out the garbage?”
“Yes, I haven’t seen you in a while. Speaking of it, I haven’t seen your mother for a while too. Why hasn’t she come out to play cards recently?”
Xiao Jinyu’s voice was calm: “She has been in poor health recently.”
“Sick? There’s nothing wrong right?”
“No, it’s just a small cold.”
“Oh, that’s still something to be careful about.”
The two parties exchanged some small talk and finally said goodbye to their warm-hearted neighbor.
After passing household after household, he arrived at the innermost door in the corridor. Xiao Jinyu took out the key and with a click, opened the lock.
The creak of the door opening was particularly harsh in the quiet corridor, and a faint light shone out of the room through the narrow crack of the door, accompanied by the babbling laughter on the TV.
The TV displayed an old variety show.
It was a variety show that was very popular before Xiao Jinyu was born, where several male stars went on missions together. He never watched these things, but as the “Los Angeles Incident” gradually disappeared, and faded out of public view, some survivors liked to watch some old programs.
His mom likes watching this type of variety show.
“I’m back,” and after a pause, Xiao Jinyu said, “Mom.”
The woman on the sofa turned her head slowly.
“Sha sha”
After a moment of silence, Xiao Jinyu put his schoolbag down and asked, “What do you want to eat for dinner?”
As if he had tacitly agreed that his mom wouldn’t be cooking, the black-haired youth changed his shoes and went straight to the kitchen. “Sha sha” and “sha sha” sounds came from the living room as if they were responding.
“There are still some vegetables and tomatoes, I’ll make dinner first. You can watch TV.”
“Shasha, shashasha…”
The faint fragrance of vegetables flowed from the small kitchen, and laughter continued to come from the TV. It was getting dark, and so with a click, Xiao Jinyu turned on the light. He brought the food to the table, looked up and said, “Mom, it’s time to eat.”
“Crunch—”
After all, a woman who weighed more than 100 kilograms suddenly stood up from the sofa, and this old sofa could not help but sigh with its age.
Xiao Jinyu arranged the dishes. When he put the chopsticks across the table, his mother also came over and sat on the chair.
“Shasha…”
“I just made scrambled eggs and tomatoes, and vegetable soup. When I come back from school tomorrow, I’ll see if I can get some meat.”
“Shashashasha, shasha…”
“Today the TA taught class and said that the midterm exam will be next week.”
“Shasha”
“I will graduate next year. Professor Li said he wanted to keep me as a research student.” Putting a slice of tomato in his mouth, then gently chewing and swallowing, Xiao Jinyu lowered his head and did not look at his mom in front of him. He continued: “Every month there is a subsidy, the money is enough, we should be able to get some back as our living expenses.”
“Shasha, shashasha.”
“After finishing graduate school, I can stay on campus and take up an office. Then…”
“Patter——”
A wilting green vegetable fell on the dinner table. Xiao Jinyu froze, then he slowly raised his head.
Under the flickering light, the woman tilted her neck, holding a pair of chopsticks in one hand and a bowl in the other. A pair of dark bottomless eyes stared at Xiao Jinyu quietly. Her mouth was split open with the corners nearing the sides of her face, facial muscles stiff. But she didn’t seem to feel uncomfortable at all, she still smiled happily.
At that moment, a hole appeared in the bent neck. The trachea, vocal cords, esophagus, and cartilage seemed to be cut, all exposed to the air, only a piece of thin skin was left connecting the head to the shoulders, causing the head to rest on the shoulders, barely managing to not fall off.
But she still smiled.
She was happily smiling for her son.
“Shasha”
Only half of the sound had come out of her mouth before the rest came out of the broken trachea.
Looking at this scene, the black-haired young man squeezed his fingers tightly, his thin knuckles squeezed white.
After an unknown amount of time, Xiao Jinyu raised his chopsticks again and picked up the vegetable that fell on the table, “If it fell on the table, don’t eat it.”
“Sha sha”
It was a very creepy and very warm family dinner scene.
While eating, the mother asks about the school life of the child. As the child replied, he picked up pieces of food that had fallen out of the mother’s broken esophagus and threw them into the trash can on the side.
After eating and washing the dishes. Xiao Jinyu walked to the living room and looked at his mother’s back looming in the darkness.
After a while.
“Mom, I’m going to sleep first.”
“Shasha.”
“Don’t stay up too late, sleep earlier.”
“Shashasha.”
It was another peaceful day.
***
When Xiao Jinyu woke up the next day, the TV was turned off and there was no sign of his mother in the living room.
But the door of his mother’s bedroom was closed.
He knows that his mom must also sleep.
While it’s not convenient for her to eat, she can still sleep and watch TV. Other mothers seem to do the same.
He ate a simple breakfast and left a bowl of warm millet porridge in the pot. Putting on a thick white scarf, Xiao Jinyu opened the door and walked toward the subway station.
The temperature seemed to have dropped suddenly overnight, the air full of cold water vapor. The pedestrians wrapped their coats tightly and hurried along. When he approached the subway entrance, the whole walkway was filled with all kinds of bicycles and electromobiles. Everyone switched here from the subway to wherever they wanted to go in the city.
Zhongdu was one of the first cities in China to have subways. The lines were messy and complicated, so some subway lines were extremely deep underground.
Xiao Jinyu walked into the subway entrance, and the bottomless escalator was like a long snake going down, all the way into the secluded depths of the ground. The escalator was full of people, some yawning, some gulping down their breakfast. Xiao Jinyu stared at the yellowed old advertisement on the wall, he could see that on the escalator next to him, a few uniformed and heavily armed subway staff hurried past, with two armed men in white coats in the middle. The attention of the pedestrians was immediately attracted.
“Eh, are those two in white coats doctors? Did you hear that someone committed suicide on the rails last night? I think it has something to do with that.”
“The person is already dead. What do you need a doctor for? I think it’s a subway repairer.”
“It’s been a whole night, if there was a need for repairs, it would have been done last night.”
“Then what do you think that was about?”
“It’s just not the subway repairer.”
If it’s not a subway repairer, then what is it?
This sentence appeared in Xiao Jinyu’s mind. However, without thinking much about it, he walked into the subway with the crowd.
During the morning rush hour, the subway was crowded and noisy, and hundreds of figures were stuffed into a huge steamer, all kinds of muddy smells were mixed together. In the small carriage, the early office workers dozed off and the students carrying heavy school bags bowed their heads to play with their newly bought smartwatches. Even more people were without seats, huddling together back to back, with no one talking. They all looked at the subway announcement, hoping to get off the subway early.
Xiao Jinyu was among them. The black-haired youth held the plastic handrail with one hand, while staring at the subway reminder lights, lost in thought.
Suddenly.
“Clang!”
The sudden rumbling sound sounded like a deafening burst in the ear. Xiao Jinyu recovered and looked around subconsciously. However, the moment his gaze touched the surrounding environment, he froze and his eyes widened. The next moment, in the empty subway car, Xiao Jinyu quickly looked at the man beside him who was also holding the subway handrail.
“You…”
Before he could speak, a clear voice sounded in the empty subway car.
“Ding Dong! White Garden Station has arrived.”
The speeding subway suddenly stopped, and the world became silent.
The man next to him who was still immersed in his own world also raised his head, revealing a dazed and stunned face.
The author has something to say:
New novel is open~
Old rules, new text and new atmosphere, I will send a small red envelope, muah =3=
i wonder what had happened to his mom. thanks for the translation!!
SCREAMS
The fourth perspective arrived here!!!! I thought I wouldn’t be able to read it hahahaha
Thank you for the chapters [bows]
The scene with the mum gives me goosebumps
This seemed to be an amazing start! Quite curious for the next chaps!
What happened to his mom?? He told the neighbor she was sick with a cold, so is it a recent development? 🤔
I think you know how it said the disease stopped spreading on some people? I think the disease spread on the MC’s mom and then stopped resulting in the neck problem?
i have lupus omg 😳 was not expecting to see that here. i only have the skin type tho, my organs aren’t effected. dw it doesn’t actually make ur neck crack and make shashasha nosies😂
Oh my, it was both errie and sad..