Chapter 1

The reason why the end of the world is called the end of the world is that it always appears when people are least prepared.

April 18, 2018.

Lunar Calendar, March 3.

...

"Good morning, everyone. This is the morning news, and now we have a brief update."

"A global fog is continuing, and this persistent fog, which has lasted for six days, has severely affected global transportation and daily life. Experts claim that this might be related to recent solar flare activity."

"South Korea claims that this fog might be related to China's smog. The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately responded, stating that South Korea's claims are baseless and hopes that the other party will consider the fundamental interests of the people of both countries, stop making irresponsible statements, and take practical actions to maintain the overall relationship between the two countries."

"Here are the detailed news reports..."

...

"Boring..."

Glancing at the TV broadcasting the morning news, Huang Shang shook his head, then stuffed the last piece of bread into his mouth, wiped his hands, and turned off the TV.

"The fog today seems thicker than yesterday..."

While tidying up the things on the table and glancing out the window, Huang Shang frowned slightly: "Damn, if this continues, those troublemakers will cause even more chaos."

At this moment, everything outside the window was shrouded in a thick fog, everything looked white, and the visibility was at most a dozen meters, giving it a hazy beauty. However, for someone like Huang Shang, who worked in a special profession, this kind of weather was nothing short of a disaster.

Huang Shang was a forensic doctor, and in such heavy fog, the probability of various accidents was much higher than usual.

Moreover, there were always those people who were bored and feared nothing more than chaos. Just like the 2000 and 2012 end-of-the-world predictions, this rare global fog had once again made the "end-of-the-world theories" that had been quiet for a few years resurface.

In fact, the core of these end-of-the-world theories was basically the same, just with a different time. Yet, there were still many fools who believed in this nonsense. In just a few days, there had already been several cases of people committing suicide due to believing in these theories, which greatly increased Huang Shang's workload. Therefore, he naturally had no good feelings about this fog and those end-of-the-world believers.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"

Just as Huang Shang was complaining about this strange fog and those damned end-of-the-world believers, his phone on the dining table suddenly vibrated.

"I knew nothing good would happen in this weather."

Looking at the familiar number on the phone, Huang Shang sighed, put down the things he was tidying up, and answered the call: "Speak, who has been killed or committed suicide this time?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this time it's neither a suicide nor a murder, but a major incident."

A somewhat young voice came from the phone.

"Cut the crap, get to the point."

Huang Shang didn't have many friends, and among them, only one person, who could be considered his half-apprentice, dared to call him "Your Majesty."

Hearing about the so-called major incident, Huang Shang's mood immediately worsened.

"Understood!"

When it came to business, the previously casual voice on the phone became serious: "The fog today is thicker than yesterday. Although the city police have issued a warning to avoid driving, some people still risked their lives. Sure enough, an accident happened. On National Highway 107, there was a 13-car pileup, and many people died. The city police have asked you to come over."

"MMP!"

Hearing this news, Huang Shang couldn't help but curse.

Unlike what most people imagine, forensic doctors not only handle murder cases but also suicide and traffic accident cases. In short, as long as someone died, they had to be on the scene to conduct trace evidence analysis.

For Huang Shang, the most headache-inducing cases were these chain collisions. Not only were there many fatalities, but the victims' conditions were also gruesome, and the accident scene was chaotic, making it a massive workload to conduct a complete trace evidence analysis.

However, since he was in this profession and enjoyed high salaries and benefits, he had to fulfill his responsibilities.

"I understand, I'll be there soon. Bring my tools over first."

After taking a deep breath, Huang Shang hung up the phone, then walked to an altar near the door, lit three incense sticks, and inserted them into the incense burner. He bowed and said, "Master, I'm going out. Please bless me with safety. Otherwise, if something happens to me, your lineage will be cut off."

After that, Huang Shang put on his coat and walked out.

...

National Highway 107, also known as the JS Line, is a national highway that spans North China, Central China, and South China, and the city where Huang Shang lived was on this highway.

The 13-car pileup was a particularly tragic major accident, and with the fog making everything inconvenient, by the time Huang Shang arrived at the accident scene, National Highway 107 was still severely congested. However, Huang Shang had experience dealing with such situations, so this time he didn't drive but rode a borrowed electric scooter, weaving through the gaps between vehicles, and successfully navigated through the congested traffic to reach the accident scene.

As soon as he approached the accident site, even before he could clearly see the fog-covered scene, Huang Shang smelled a complex mix of burnt, bloody, and gasoline odors, and his frown deepened.

In their profession, the most feared cases were chain collisions, and the most feared in chain collisions were those involving burning and destruction. In such cases, the difficulty of conducting trace evidence analysis increased significantly, and there was also a certain level of danger.

Of course, the victims' bodies would also be extremely gruesome!

The smell of gasoline and burning was not a good sign for him.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you're finally here!"

At this moment, a man in his early twenties, wearing a white uniform, looking somewhat thin but with lively eyes, ran over and handed a box to Huang Shang, saying, "Only you can handle this big scene."

"Let's take a look."

Glancing at the young man who was not much younger than himself but lacked any sense of stability, Huang Shang took the tool box and walked forward.

As Huang Shang moved closer, the accident scene gradually became clearer through the fog, and the smell became even stronger.

At this moment, he saw that not far in front of him, several cars of various sizes were crashed into each other. Except for a few cars at the front and back that had managed to brake in time and suffered less damage, the seven or eight cars in the middle were almost completely wrecked, and two of them were charred black, clearly having been burned by a fire.

As for the people in these cars, Huang Shang knew without examination that they were dead.

"Liu Xin, give me the details."

Although he had already made a judgment, he still had to follow the procedures. Huang Shang opened the tool box, put on special gloves, and said to the young man beside him.

"Around 7:15 AM Beijing time, a Ford car with the license plate number Xiang AK0726 stopped temporarily because the driver needed to urinate, and was rear-ended by the car behind, leading to a 13-car pileup. Two cars caught fire due to gasoline leakage, but fortunately, the fire was quickly extinguished by onlookers, preventing further casualties. The injured have been sent to the hospital, and the estimated number of deaths is 11."

Hearing Huang Shang's words, Liu Xin, his assistant and apprentice, immediately provided the information he had collected.

"11 deaths?"

Hearing Liu Xin's words, Huang Shang squinted his eyes: "This can be considered a major traffic accident."

In China, any accident with more than 10 casualties is considered particularly serious, which is why some places might underreport the number of casualties.

However, this was not Huang Shang's concern. He took out some tools and walked towards the cars that had been extinguished but still emitted high temperatures and a burnt smell, and said to Liu Xin without turning back: "Start the preliminary trace evidence analysis, and you record it."

"Understood."

Hearing Huang Shang's words, Liu Xin nodded, took out a recorder, and prepared to start recording.

"Really fucking smelly..."

At the same time, Huang Shang had already reached the "wreckage" of the cars. As he approached, the nauseating mix of bloody, burnt, and gasoline odors became even stronger. Through the twisted windows, he could see the charred bodies, which would have made anyone else vomit.

However, years of work as a forensic doctor had made Huang Shang accustomed to these odors and scenes. Although he still felt some discomfort, he carefully observed the scene.

Just as Huang Shang approached the window, the "victim" trapped in the twisted car, who was almost unrecognizable and had been burned by the fire, resembling a twisted charcoal sculpture, suddenly twitched and let out a faint groan.

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