Chapter 93

"Crack?" The driver yawned and said, "This is the Qingyin Expressway. We'll pass by it when we enter Qingdao. We'll see whose shoddy construction project is exposed again."

"Crack in the 'upper area'?" Qixia felt a bit strange. Although he knew that the earthquake would come at noon the next day, would there be any strange signs before that?

Before Qixia could figure it out, the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes, and the car's speed, which had been at 120 km/h, dropped sharply.

Qixia, sitting in the back without a seatbelt, almost hit the front seat with this sudden stop.

"What's wrong?" He steadied himself and looked up in confusion.

"That's strange... There's a long line on the expressway."

Qixia followed the driver's gaze and indeed saw that the traffic ahead was heavily congested, with a sea of colorful vehicles stretching as far as the eye could see.

The driver looked at the time with some urgency: "Oh no... It must be a multi-vehicle collision. I've encountered this before; it will at least take an hour... We're approaching the entrance to Qingdao... It's almost 7:30, what are we going to do..."

He kept looking around, trying to figure out how to change lanes to bypass the congested traffic.

"It's fine, driver, this is Qingdao already." Qixia said, "Just drive slowly."

"Oh..." The driver glanced at Qixia in the rearview mirror, somewhat embarrassed, "You're a good guy. Don't worry, I'll definitely get you home by 8:30."

Qixia nodded and didn't say anything more. The driver slowly joined the line at the back.

What neither of them expected was that the line didn't move from the moment they joined it. More and more cars kept entering behind them, and now they were stuck in the middle, unable to move forward or backward.

"This is really strange..." After waiting for over an hour, it was already 8:30, and the driver could only scratch his head in frustration. "Even if there was a multi-vehicle collision, it should have been cleared by now..."

Qixia was anxious, but there was nothing he could do except wait.

They were still about 20 to 30 kilometers away from Qixia's residence. If Qixia were to walk from here, it would probably take until dawn to arrive.

Thinking of this, he took out his phone and called Yunnian again, but no one answered.

The busy signal on the other end of the phone made Qixia even more anxious.

Both of them were silent, and only the static from the car radio could be heard.

"Listeners, there is an unknown weather phenomenon on the Qingyin Expressway. The actual situation is pending expert analysis. Drivers with the option to do so are advised to take alternative routes."

"Weather phenomenon?" The driver, hearing this new term for the first time on the radio, was puzzled.

"Probably something like 'ball lightning' or 'mirage,'" Qixia explained. "It might have attracted a large crowd, which could indirectly cause traffic accidents."

"Is that so? You know a lot, young man. Are you a college student?"

Qixia didn't respond to the driver and continued to lean back in his seat, closing his eyes to rest.

In his previous memory, he didn't choose to return to Qingdao that night, so he had no idea what was happening on the expressway. He only knew that the road was back to normal the next morning when he set out.

In other words, the current traffic jam wouldn't last long, and the best thing for Qixia to do was to wait.

However,

When people are stuck in a long, aimless wait, they tend to become restless, as no one knows how long they will have to wait.

The sound of car horns gradually filled the air, making everyone uneasy.

After a while, the drivers began to turn off their engines, get out of their cars, and start chatting with each other.

The taxi driver, who couldn't stand being idle, was the first to get out of the car. He ignored Qixia, lit a cigarette, and started chatting with the nearby drivers.

Qixia sighed and took out his phone to send a message to Yunnian.

"An, something might happen tomorrow. Pack some daily necessities, and I'll take you out in the morning to avoid it."

Qixia deliberately made the situation sound serious. The most important thing was to make Yunnian understand the gravity of the situation as soon as she saw the message. He could temporarily avoid mentioning terms like "earthquake" or "anomaly."

After doing this, Qixia leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

For some reason, even though he knew an earthquake was coming the next day, he felt reassured as long as he was with Yunnian.

His abilities were limited, and he couldn't save many people.

If he started spreading the news about the earthquake, he would be arrested for disrupting public order. So, within his limited scope, Qixia could only choose to save a few people.

He never considered himself a savior; everything he did was just to survive in this world.

Qixia closed his eyes and dozed off. He didn't know how long it had been when he was woken up by the sound of the driver's door opening.

"Hey, come look at this!" The driver didn't care if Qixia was sleeping and shouted loudly.

"What?" Qixia opened his eyes in confusion and saw the driver waving a phone at him.

He took the phone and saw a photo. The location seemed to be the toll booth at the entrance of the expressway.

"This was taken by a driver up ahead and has been circulating on the road!" The driver said excitedly, "You're well-educated, young man. Can you help me figure out what kind of weather phenomenon this is?"

Qixia zoomed in on the photo and frowned.

To call it a "weather phenomenon" seemed too far-fetched.

In the sky, there was a crack, and many glowing objects were pouring down from it, like stars falling. Many cars were blocked by this curtain of light and couldn't move forward.

"Is the sky cracking?" Qixia asked in confusion.

"Yes, it really looks like a crack in the sky. Is this weather phenomenon called 'doubting the Milky Way has fallen from the sky'?"

Qixia shrugged, "Uncle, I don't know what this phenomenon is, but the one you mentioned definitely doesn't exist."

The driver laughed and sat back in the driver's seat, "But it's said that the crack is getting smaller and will disappear soon. Once the glowing objects are no longer blocking the way, we can move on."

Qixia nodded and took out his phone, but he was momentarily stunned.

"It's past 3:00 AM?!"

"Yep..." The driver stretched, "You're a good guy, and I'm not stingy. I turned off the meter a while ago; otherwise, the waiting time would have cost a lot."

Qixia wasn't concerned about the fare; he was worried because Yunnian still hadn't replied to his message.

A sense of unease began to spread in his heart.