Chapter 7: Omen

As early as a week ago, Li Yu had called his relatives living away from home one by one, hoping they could come back for a visit.

However, not everyone could make it. His uncle and aunt, who lived far away in the north, declined, citing other arrangements. His eldest uncle, who held a leadership position in the WJ brigade in the county, agreed to come over for a visit.

Additionally, on his father’s side, only his second uncle and aunt happened to be coming home, while his third uncle was away on a business trip and could not return.

Facing this situation, Li Yu felt quite helpless. Knowing that the apocalypse was imminent but unable to speak of it made him feel very distressed.

Early in the morning, Li Yu drove an SUV to pick up his grandparents and bring them to the rural tourist park. As soon as they stepped out of the car, they were captivated by the beautiful scenery before them.

After taking his grandparents for a walk around, they happened to run into his grandmother, who was fertilizing a vegetable patch next to the rice paddies.

Li Yu’s mother, Liu Fanghua, took over the work from his grandmother, leaving the two elderly people to chat.

On the other side, his grandfather found his grandfather fishing by the mountain pond, the two old men chatting idly.

When Li Yuan returned home and saw this massive rural tourist park, she was stunned for a moment.

Especially when she saw the luxurious villa in the center and opened the room to find the gifts Li Yu had prepared for her—the ones he had mentioned over the phone—she was so happy she almost jumped for joy!

"Brother, did you strike it rich?" Li Yuan asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

To her, the surprise was overwhelming. From the moment she entered the villa, she was so astonished that her mouth stayed agape.

"I made a small fortune, so I’ll be developing things at home from now on. By the way, you can take some leave and stay home for a while; it’s a good chance to spend time with the family. Don't go out for the time being," Li Yu said.

"How can I do that? I haven't even asked for leave yet," Li Yuan pouted.

"Anyway, you aren't going anywhere during this time!" Li Yu said firmly.

On October 2nd, the whole family reunited under the ancient banyan tree. They set up about three tables, seating nearly 20 people.

At dusk, a huge light hung from the ancient banyan tree, illuminating the surroundings as if it were daytime.

The family sat together, eating and drinking.

Li Yu’s uncle, Liu Jianwen, took a sip of wine and said, "Yu-zai, I see this tourist park of yours is quite large. Much bigger than I imagined. When are you planning to open?"

Li Yu looked at his sturdy uncle, who was often impossible to find due to his busy work schedule and frequent shifts.

Hearing Liu Jianwen’s question, Li Yu finished the chicken wing he was gnawing on in two or three bites—he had to admit, his mother’s cooking was still superb.

Just in the time he had been back, even with high-intensity exercise, Li Yu had gained five pounds.

Li Yu said unhurriedly, "In a few days. There are still some areas that need to be perfected."

With the family gathered together, Li Yu originally wanted to persuade them to come over and visit whenever they had time.

But everyone had their own things to attend to. Fortunately, at least everyone had returned home this time, and they wouldn't be traveling far in the near future.

His second uncle had to stay for a while due to family matters, and his aunt also returned home temporarily to take care of her children’s schooling.

His grandparents, meanwhile, were attracted by the environment here and decided to stay long-term.

Time slowly flowed forward.

At the end of October, Li Yu called his uncle, aunt, and third uncle who were away again, telling them that a friend of an elder in his family who worked in the government had revealed that there might be some developments soon.

Just like before, he tried to persuade them to come back.

But as Li Yu had expected, they didn't believe him. So, Li Yu could only advise them to stockpile more supplies.

On November 3rd, the day suddenly became exceptionally hot. In what should have been the cool weather of November, the temperature soared to over 38 degrees Celsius.

Major television stations were reporting on this strange event

"Reporting from our station, it is understood that this high-temperature weather is caused by solar particle eruptions. According to experts, this heatwave will pass very soon."

"Life and City News: What we are seeing now is the home of Ms. Xie, who lives in the Northeast. She tells us that usually at this time, they would be preparing winter vegetables like Chinese cabbage..."

Southern Satellite TV interviewed a young man. The female host asked: "May I ask if this hot weather has caused you any trouble?"

"Yes, this damn weather, it's really going to kill people. At this time of year, it’s usually around ten degrees, but now it’s just like summer. I don't get it."

The sun was blazing, and the daylight lasted for 16 hours. The weather was as hot as if they were at the equator.

And after the high heat, there were 16 hours of darkness, with the temperature dropping rapidly. It plummeted to minus 10 degrees Celsius.

In the following days,

Day and night were completely chaotic.

Sometimes there were 16 hours of daylight, sometimes 16 hours of darkness.

And the diurnal temperature range changed from the previous ten-plus degrees to over fifty degrees.

It was unpredictable.

This brought many problems to the general public. For a time, rumors about the apocalypse were flying everywhere.

The government also issued a notice, informing residents that they could purchase about 10 days' worth of food and should try not to go out.

The people had already started stockpiling supplies early on.

But as the day-night reversal lasted longer and longer, two weeks passed.

While the country could still maintain order, public transportation began running 24 hours a day, but the frequency was much lower than before.

For example, if you used to wait 10 minutes for a bus, now you had to wait about 20 minutes.

His eldest uncle, Liu Jianwen, also became much busier. On November 20th, his uncle suddenly found Li Yu and asked if he knew something.

Li Yu gave the same explanation as he had at the end of October, telling his uncle that he had internal information from a friend in a government family in M City that something big was going to happen.

His uncle said over the phone, "When I was in a meeting today, the government issued a notice that traffic will be completely blocked in three days, and they told us to stockpile more supplies."

Li Yu seized the opportunity and said, "Why don't you have Xiao Lue and your wife come over? You're quite busy now, and they can't go to school or work anyway. Come here; Grandpa and Grandma are here too."

Hearing this, Liu Jianwen was somewhat moved. He decided to have Li Yu come pick them up the next day.

But unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, he received a call from his uncle

"Xiao Yu, hurry up and drive to the city now to pick up your aunt and the others. I just got a call—an entire village seems to have been infected by a virus and turned into zombies like in the movies. I'm on my way to the scene now. I feel like this is unusual."

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(End of chapter)