Back to the Apocalypse

Chapter 33

The following day, the weather unsurprisingly turned blisteringly hot as the sun was roasting the earth like meat on a barbecue. Temperature rose to 45°C (113°F) and although it was still tolerable in D city, in many others medium-sized towns, villages and smaller countries, power failures were already getting common. People began to loudly complain as day-to-day life was getting increasingly difficult. Inside most houses, the air conditioning was kept open nearly 24 hours a day and outside, barely anyone was walking around anymore. The sun, by his now murderous toxics UV, was shining so strongly people exposed to it for a while would faint. A dozen of those cases were already seen in hospitals, most of them followed in live on the radio and television, mostly to prevent more of those from happening.

But the strangest thing was the fact that the weather station hadn't forecast anything of the sort. When asked, they literally had no explanation as why the temperature suddenly rose so drastically, arguing that there were no previous indications of it.

As he was walking towards the door, Bai Jing touched his pocket and, casually confirming the presence of his cellphone, went out of the house. They say that money can make the ghosts and devils turn your grind stone (meaning : money can make everything happened) and that proverb for sure was accurate. Indeed, despite the weather, the supermarket suppliers did deliver the goods as usual. Only the price was three times higher than normal, not forgetting the drivers and porters getting a 500 in tips each. Although the amount wasn't much, it was enough to make them braver than usual.

But concretely, with the air conditioning in the car and the refrigerated warehouse, while the heat would exhaust them, in 1-2 hours everything would be done and the pay for the job was higher than what they would usually get in a day.

That morning, as Bai Jing was leaving his house, Xiao San left the city. Having witnessed with his own eyes what his mind had refused to believe as real, he thought more deeply about what Bai Jing had said, specifically when it came to how he didn't know exacly when the Apocalypse would begin.

As it was now very important not to waste a single moment, he took upon himself to start right away with his preparations. As he had in mind all the details of what was to come, he truly had no intention of experiencing these on his own. The Apocalypse was approaching so Xiao San made some arrangements in N City for his brothers-in-arms whom he wouldn't leave out no matter what.

The next morning, Bai Jing sent Wang Xuebing and Cao Lei to pick up the old couple and their son. Originally, he thought of waiting for Lin Zhifeng's summer vacation to call them over. But looking outside, he couldn't tell with certitude when the virus outbreak will start, so for his peace of mind he had sent for them earlier. After all the time they spend together, Bai Jing felt a lot of affection for that family.

And a that point, he truly didn't want them falling like they did in their last life, stupidly dying protecting unrelated people who would end up abusing of their generosity.

As for Qin Yi, Bai Jing made him into some sort of spokesman, mostly to spread the word that the young master of the Bai family was truly fond of jade. In D city, his family name held a lot of power and therefore a lot of eyes and ears were constantly on him. Should he say the word and all the crimes committed by a family would come to light in an instant. But this time, the intention was a bit different as he only wanted the world to know about his particular interest in jade.

Qin Yi was at first puzzled, but after a talk with Wang Xuebing and Cao Lei where Bai Jing's character was dwelled upon, he could roughly figure out what was expected of him. As long as he handled this affair properly and efficiently, there was no 'privilege path'. That morning he therefore immediately left the house after Bai Jing.