The online world was unusually lively. Even the New Year's Eve and New Year's Day gala themes were hastily updated to include the trending topic of Earth's Dark Days. At three in the morning, Weibo and CCTV were still broadcasting live, showing predicted collisions of celestial bodies.
Night owls excitedly posted photos of the food they had stockpiled, while scientists boasted about how fortunate it was that Earth was far enough away to avoid destruction.
At this moment, the Chinese people felt secure. With enough food, there was no panic. Every household had stocked up generously.
Boom.
The live broadcast finally switched. Just as calculated, the stars collided. Jing Shu could not understand a thing. She only saw the commentators jumping around in excitement while the scrolling comments filled the screen with "Whoa! Whoa!" Jing Shu was a bit bewildered. This was completely different from what she had imagined.
Jing Shu had trouble sleeping, but the star collision scene had a strange hypnotic effect. Watching for a while, she fell asleep. She woke at ten the next morning to find that indeed the sun was gone. In her previous life at this moment, she had been diligently livestreaming and gaining followers.
"Reports indicate that different regions are experiencing varying degrees of dust fallout. Overnight, 3 to 5 centimeters of dust accumulated and it continues to fall. Citizens going outdoors should wear masks to avoid inhaling it and take appropriate precautions."
"From January 1 onward, limits have been placed on medical card spending. Citizens are asked to purchase vitamins and health supplements rationally."
"Some areas have dust carrying industrial particles, causing widespread pollution. Many residents have reported murky or black water. Authorities are still investigating whether this water is safe to drink."
On this rare Sunday, Su Lanzhi did not go to work. The family watched the news while having breakfast. Su Lanzhi then went to feed the pigs, cows, and sheep, and clean the barns. The chicken coop was stiflingly hot, so she turned on the air conditioning and set the entire villa to a constant 26 degrees Celsius.
Jing An climbed a ladder to sweep the soil off the tempered glass roof. A thick layer of dirt covered it, making the already dim villa pitch black.
"Luckily, the tempered glass covers the entire villa. Otherwise, the whole place would be full of dirt." Su Lanzhi shuddered at the thought. That fancy glass roof she had insisted on now proved somewhat useful.
Indeed, nobody had expected soil to fall from the sky. The particle dust from the star collision not only covered the atmosphere but also fell in large amounts, creating this phenomenon that would continue for a long time.
News reports said that with the sun obscured, Earth would cool. It did cool, but only at night, dropping a few degrees. During the day, temperatures shot up crazily. Wu City reached 35 degrees Celsius, Hainan nearly 50 degrees Celsius, and Guangdong, Fujian, Sichuan, and Chongqing all exceeded 40 degrees Celsius.
It was effectively summer.
Jing Shu put on athletic shorts and a short-sleeve top, covered with a windproof jacket and pants tucked into rain boots. She wore a double-layered mask and a hat, then went out to handle the animal waste and take out Number 1 for a walk.
She stepped onto thick soil. Although it was daytime, the dimness made it hard to see people or objects. In the huge residential complex, only a few homes had lights on.
Streetlights illuminated the community and nearby roads. Under the lights, clouds of mosquitoes and dust particles swirled. In the first month of the apocalypse, it was a luxury to even have streetlights on.
The battle chicken, excited like a husky, sprinted and flapped its wings to take off, pecking at mosquitoes for breakfast. When Jing Shu called its name, it understood and raced back.
Somewhere along the hillside, bugs appeared in large numbers, their cries eerie. Xiao Dou went into a frenzy, pecking them nonstop. After finishing the waste cleanup, Jing Shu had worked up a sweat. Even drinking Spirit Spring did not protect her from the heat or cold, so she quickly returned home to shower.
"The water is all yellow with soil. How can anyone drink it? The small supermarket outside is sold out of mineral water. Why don't you go buy more together?" A woman in her fifties stood at the villa gate. She held a wet towel over her nose and mouth to protect against dust and wrapped a towel around her head.
"Not going for now." Jing An, covered in dust, wiped sweat from his brow. He had shoveled thick soil aside and was panting. His extravagant daughter had spent 200,000 yuan to set up a water filtration system, so he didn't need to buy bottled water.
"Look at the video my brother posted. Supermarkets in the city are scrambling for water. Many are out of stock. Who knows how long this soil will keep falling? You should at least buy a week's supply from Ai Jia." The woman panicked.
"Really, not going for now. If you can't get a ride, I can call one for you."
The woman quickly refused. "Forget it. I'll try to find someone else. A round trip ride costs too much."
And just like that, she ran off.
Jing Shu watched her retreating figure and said, "Came to hitched a ride?"
Jing An, still covered in dust, nodded. "They saw our lights on and thought we were going to buy water together. Alright, I'm done here. I'll go shower."
"Dad, make sure to clear the soil from the filter head every day, or it will get clogged."
"Got it."
Jing An spent half an hour outside cleaning the mud from the pipes before it was clear. "When will this ever end?" he muttered.
Look at people in the early apocalypse—so dramatic.
Water mixed with soil was unpleasant to drink, but Jing Shu thought it was still far better than next year's bloodworm-infested water. Really.
One sip and many bug heads stuck in her teeth while the tails got lodged in her throat. Bite them off and swallow, or pull the whole bug out, chew a few times, and then swallow?
In her previous life, she had pulled bugs from her teeth, chewed twenty-eight times, then swallowed to increase satiety. In this life, she refused to try that again.
Although the tempered glass roof blocked most dust, it absorbed heat and was not ventilated.
Inside, the villa was like a steaming oven. Jing Shu used commercial ice machines to make buckets of ice, placing them around the villa to lower the temperature, changing them every two hours. She also made crushed ice, mixing it with milk she had stored for half a month to make yogurt. Sweetened with sugar and crushed ice, she made yogurt shaved ice—refreshing and cool.
She also checked the UBC solar panels. Even under these conditions, they generated some electricity, which made her pleased. With at least eight hours of daily lighting, appliance use, solar lamps, and central air conditioning, the villa consumed at least 40 kWh of electricity daily. One month would cost over 800 yuan, three times that of an average household.
Ten UBC solar panels in these dim conditions could generate about 30 kWh daily, barely enough. If not, a gasoline generator using just one liter of fuel per day would suffice.
At night, experts on the news explained: "Water mixed with soil is safe to drink. It is recommended to let it settle for a few minutes, transfer to another container, repeat the settling process a few times, then boil before drinking."
However, water shortages were still unresolved. The orange high-temperature alert followed, and many regions reported deaths from severe heatstroke.
Even in Jing Shu's residential community, people had died. And some of them she knew.
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战斗鸡 (Zhàndòu Jī)
战斗 (Zhàndòu): To fight, combat, battle.
鸡 (Jī): Chicken.
It sounds almost identical to the Chinese name for the popular mobile game and phenomenon "Angry Birds", which is "愤怒的小鸟" (Fènnù de Xiǎo Niǎo). However, the word for "bird" (鸟) is often colloquially interchanged with "chicken" (鸡) in a funny way. "战斗鸡" directly puns on this.
As usual, I decide to pick a nickname for the hen 小斗 (Xiǎo Dòu)