“Cracks?” The driver yawned and spoke up, “This is the Qingdao-Yinchuan Expressway. We’ll pass by it when we enter Qingdao later. Let’s see whose shoddy construction project is getting exposed again.”
“Cracks ‘above’?” Qi Xia felt slightly puzzled. Although he knew the earthquake would strike at noon tomorrow, could there be strange signs before that?
Before Qi Xia could figure it out, the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes, dropping the speed from 120 km/h in an instant.
Sitting in the back without a seatbelt, the sudden stop nearly sent Qi Xia crashing into the front seat.
“What’s going on?” he asked, steadying himself before looking up in confusion.
“Strange… There’s a massive traffic jam on the expressway.”
Following the driver’s gaze into the distance, Qi Xia indeed saw severe congestion ahead, with a seemingly endless line of colorful vehicles stretching as far as the eye could see.
The driver anxiously checked the time. “Ugh… Probably a chain collision. I’ve seen this before—it’ll take at least an hour to clear… The Qingdao entrance is just ahead, and it’s almost 7:30. What are we supposed to do?”
He kept glancing around, seemingly trying to figure out how to switch lanes and bypass the jam.
“It’s fine, driver. We’re basically in Qingdao already,” Qi Xia reassured him. “Just take it slow.”
“Ah…” The driver glanced at Qi Xia in the rearview mirror, a hint of guilt in his eyes. “You’re a decent kid. Don’t worry, I’ll get you home by 8:30 for sure.”
Qi Xia nodded and fell silent while the driver slowly merged into the back of the line.
Neither of them expected that once they joined the queue, it wouldn’t move an inch. More cars kept piling up behind them, and soon they were trapped in the middle, unable to advance or retreat.
“This is really odd…” After waiting over an hour, with the clock nearing 8:30, the driver scratched his head helplessly. “Even a chain collision should’ve been cleared by now…”
Qi Xia grew impatient, but at this point, waiting was the only option.
They were still 20 to 30 kilometers from his place. If he walked like before, he wouldn’t arrive until dawn.
Thinking of this, he took out his phone and called Yu Nian’an again—still no answer.
The busy tone on the other end only worsened his frustration.
Now both of them sat in silence, the only sound being the static of the car radio.
“Attention, listeners. Unexplained atmospheric phenomena have been reported on the Qingdao-Yinchuan Expressway. Experts are analyzing the situation. Drivers are advised to detour if possible.”
“Atmospheric phenomena?” The driver had never heard such a term on the radio before and was utterly baffled.
“Probably something like ‘ball lightning’ or a ‘mirage,'” Qi Xia explained. “It might be drawing crowds or indirectly causing accidents.”
“Oh, is that it? You sure know a lot, kid. Are you a college student?”
Qi Xia ignored him and leaned back, closing his eyes to rest.
In his previous memory, he hadn’t returned to Qingdao that night, so he knew nothing about the expressway incident—only that by the next morning, the road was back to normal.
In other words, this traffic jam wouldn’t last long. His best option now was to wait.
But prolonged, aimless waiting breeds frustration. No one knew how long it would take.
Soon, car horns blared intermittently along the road, adding to the unease.
Eventually, drivers began turning off their engines and stepping out to chat.
The taxi driver, clearly restless, was the first to get out once he saw movement. Ignoring Qi Xia, he lit a cigarette and struck up conversations with nearby drivers.
Qi Xia sighed and pulled out his phone to text Yu Nian’an.
“An, something might happen tomorrow. Pack some essentials—I’ll take you somewhere safe in the morning.”
He deliberately made it sound urgent. Right now, the priority was ensuring she grasped the severity immediately. Details like “earthquake” or “strange phenomena” could wait.
After sending the message, Qi Xia leaned back and shut his eyes.
For some reason, even knowing an earthquake was coming tomorrow, just being near Yu Nian’an brought him peace.
His power was limited—he couldn’t save too many people.
If he went around spreading warnings about the earthquake, he’d only get arrested for public disturbance. So, within his means, he could only save a handful.
He never saw himself as a savior. Everything he did was just to survive in this world.
Qi Xia dozed off, but the driver’s sudden return jolted him awake.
“Kid, come look at this!” The driver bellowed, not caring if Qi Xia had been sleeping.
“What?” Qi Xia blinked groggily as the driver shoved a phone in his face.
Taking it, he saw a photo—apparently taken at the expressway toll gate up ahead.
“This is going around among the drivers stuck here!” the driver exclaimed excitedly. “You’re the smart one—tell me, what kind of atmospheric phenomenon is this?”
Zooming in, Qi Xia frowned.
If this was an “atmospheric phenomenon,” it was way too obscure.
The sky was split by a crack, with glowing fragments pouring out like falling stars. Many cars were blocked by this curtain of light, unable to move forward.
“The sky… cracked?” Qi Xia muttered in disbelief.
“Yeah! Looks like the heavens split open. Is this phenomenon called ‘Like the Silver River pouring from the Ninth Heaven’ or something?”
Qi Xia gave him a wry look. “I don’t know what this is, but I can guarantee that’s not its name.”
The driver chuckled sheepishly and sat back in his seat. “But they say the crack’s shrinking. Should disappear soon. Once those glowing things stop blocking the road, we can go.”
Qi Xia nodded and checked his phone—then froze.
“It’s past 3 AM?!”
“Yeah…” The driver stretched. “You’re a good kid, and I’m not stingy either. I turned off the meter a while ago—otherwise, the waiting time would’ve cost you a fortune.”
But Qi Xia wasn’t worried about the fare. What unsettled him was that Yu Nian’an still hadn’t replied.
A creeping sense of dread spread through him.
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