Chapter 93: Unease

"Cracks?" the driver yawned. "This is the Qingyin Gaosu. We'll pass by Qingdao in a bit. By then, we'll see whose doufu zha gongcheng is getting exposed again."

"Cracks up above?" Qi Xia felt a bit strange. Although he knew the earthquake would hit tomorrow at noon, he wondered if there might be odd signs before that.

Before Qi Xia could figure it out, the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes, dropping their speed from 120 kilometers per hour to almost nothing.

Sitting in the back without a seatbelt, Qi Xia nearly slammed into the front seat from the emergency stop.

"What happened?" He steadied himself and looked up in confusion.

"Weird... There's a massive backup on the highway."

Qi Xia followed the driver's gaze into the distance and saw that the road ahead was completely jammed, with a sea of colorful vehicles stretching as far as the eye could see.

The driver checked the time anxiously. "Oh no... This is probably a chain collision. I've dealt with one before—it took at least an hour. And we're right at the Qingdao entrance... It's almost 7:30 now. What are we going to do?"

He kept glancing left and right, trying to figure out how to switch lanes and get around the congestion.

"It's fine, master. Even if we just get to Qingdao, that's good enough," Qi Xia said.

"Oh..." The driver looked at Qi Xia in the rearview mirror with a touch of guilt. "You're a straightforward kid. Don't worry, I'll get you home by 8:30 for sure."

Qi Xia nodded and said no more, while the driver slowly pulled into the back of the line.

What neither of them expected was that once they joined the queue, it didn't move at all, and more cars kept piling up behind them, leaving them stuck in the middle with no way forward or back.

"This is bizarre..." After waiting over an hour, with the time approaching 8:30, the driver scratched his head helplessly. "Even with a chain collision, it should be cleared by now..."

Qi Xia was getting anxious, but at that moment, waiting was the only option.

They were still about 20 or 30 kilometers from Qi Xia's place. If he tried walking like before, he probably wouldn't arrive until dawn.

Thinking of that, he pulled out his phone again to call Yu Nian'an, but no one answered.

The busy signal on the other end only made Qi Xia more frustrated.

Both of them sat in silence, with only the static from the car radio filling the air.

"Listeners, there is an unidentified weather phenomenon on the Qingyin Gaosu. Experts are still analyzing it, so drivers able to do so should consider alternative routes."

"Weather phenomenon?" The driver was hearing this for the first time and looked puzzled.

"It's probably something like 'ball-shaped lightning' or 'mirage'," Qi Xia explained. "It might have drawn a crowd, which could have indirectly caused the traffic accident."

"So that's it? Kid, you know a lot—must be a university student?"

Qi Xia ignored the driver and leaned back in his seat with his eyes closed.

In his previous memory, he hadn't chosen to return to Qingdao that night, so he had no idea what happened on the highway. He only knew that by the next morning, the road was back to normal.

In other words, this traffic jam wouldn't last forever, and Qi Xia's best bet was to wait it out.

But people tend to get irritable during long, aimless waits, since no one knows how long it'll take.

Horns started blaring up and down the road, adding to the chaos.

A little later, drivers began turning off their engines and getting out to chat with each other.

The taxi driver was the restless type, and as soon as he saw people moving around, he jumped out of the car. He ignored Qi Xia, lit a cigarette, and started chatting with nearby drivers.

Qi Xia sighed, took out his phone, and sent a message to Yu Nian'an.

"An, something might happen tomorrow. Pack some daily essentials, and I'll take you somewhere safe in the morning."

Qi Xia deliberately made it sound serious, knowing the most important thing was for Yu Nian'an to understand the urgency right away. He could leave out details like "earthquake" or "strange signs" for now.

Once that was done, Qi Xia leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

For some reason, as long as he was with Yu Nian'an, he felt at ease, even knowing an earthquake was coming tomorrow.

His abilities were limited; he couldn't save everyone.

If he went around spreading news about tomorrow's earthquake, he'd probably get arrested for disturbing public order. So, in his limited scope, Qi Xia could only save a few people.

He never saw himself as a savior. All he was doing was trying to survive in this world.

Qi Xia dozed off for a bit with his eyes closed, but he was suddenly awakened by the sound of the driver opening the door.

"Kid, come check this out!" The driver shouted loudly, not caring if Qi Xia was asleep.

"What?" Qi Xia opened his eyes groggily and saw the driver waving a phone at him.

He took the phone and saw it was a photo, probably taken at the toll booth ahead on the highway.

"This is from the drivers up front—it's spreading like wildfire!" the driver said excitedly. "You're the knowledgeable one, kid. Take a look and tell me what kind of weather phenomenon this is?"

Qi Xia zoomed in on the photo and furrowed his brow.

If this was a "weather phenomenon," it was certainly an obscure one.

In the sky, there was a crack, and streams of glowing objects were pouring out of it, like falling stars. Many cars were blocked by this curtain of light, unable to move forward.

"The sky cracked?" Qi Xia asked in confusion.

"Yeah, it really looks like the sky split open. Is this phenomenon called 'doubt is the Milky Way falling from the nine heavens' or something?"

Qi Xia smirked helplessly. "Uncle, I don't know what this is, but whatever you just said definitely doesn't exist."

The driver chuckled good-naturedly and sat back in the driver's seat. "Well, they say the crack is getting smaller, so it should disappear soon. Once those glowing things clear the road, we'll be able to go."

Qi Xia nodded, pulled out his phone, and froze.

"It's past 3 a.m.?!"

"Yeah..." The driver stretched. "You're a good kid, and I'm not the stingy type, so I turned off the meter ages ago. Otherwise, all this waiting time would've added up."

But Qi Xia wasn't worried about the fare. What bothered him was that Yu Nian'an still hadn't replied.

A sense of unease spread through him.