April 1. Sunday. Night, 22:01.

"Dear customers, Calford Supermarket reminds you that the cashier will be closed in half an hour, please pick up the goods as soon as possible and go to the cashier on the basement floor to pay, thank you!"

Twenty-five-year-old Tao Ye pushed a heavy trolley through the fresh food area on the second basement floor, counting the goods on the shelves and making up for the missing goods from time to time. I've been busy for about ten hours, and every time I get back pain, it seems that my life is exhausted in this underground. He worked as a tally clerk in the supermarket for three years and was able to accurately calculate the distance from the ground to 8.7 meters, like being in an ancient tomb that is forever dark.

When the Future Dream Building, where Calford Supermarket is located, construction began four years ago when many coffins and bones were excavated. During the Republican period, it was a cemetery, and it became a residential area in the 50s. Tao Ye is often ordered by foreign supervisors to work overtime until late at night, and he is the only one left alone to count the shelves in the Calford supermarket on the two floors of the basement - the ghosts buried deep underground many years ago, hidden behind rows of shelves, or possessed by the dummy models in the clothing area, will move silently as soon as 12 o'clock in the middle of the night arrives, smiling strangely, and greeting each other...... Not to mention seeing it with your own eyes, fantasizing about it casually also makes people feel paralyzed.

From the first to the eighth floor of the Future Dream Building, there are restaurants of various domestic and foreign brands and Chinese and foreign cuisines, and there is often a long list of diners waiting for a table in the evening. The ninth floor is the future dream studio, Tao Ye has only been to it once, with the first and last blind date, and there is no news after watching a movie. There are also office buildings and five-star hotels on it, which he has never been to.

The mall has a large and airy atrium, which leads from the ground floor to the cinema on the ninth floor. Someone once came out after watching the movie, climbed over the railing on the ninth floor, fell directly to the car booth on the first floor, and smashed a Lamborghini sports car worth tens of millions out of a large personal hole. Tao Ye happened to pass by that day, and saw the man falling from the sky, lying on the unlucky sports car incompletely, with only his last breath left, his two eyeballs almost burst out of his sockets, staring at the stunned Tao Ye, and after a few seconds, his eyes became cloudy - if he deviated by half a meter, he would be stoned to death by Tao Ye. The police determined that it was a suicide, and there were rumors that someone had pushed it down, so the mall raised the railing of the atrium by 10 centimeters on each floor.

At this moment, Tao Ye tilted his head on the second basement floor, wanting to penetrate the thick floor and see the Nine Heavenly Court surrounded by escalators and various shops...... Unfortunately, there is only a black ceiling and exposed metal pipes, just like all other large supermarkets that only decorate the lower half of the body.

"Tao!" A foreigner's broken Chinese made Tao Ye come back to his senses, just like a sleeping elementary school student in class, suddenly panicked by the teacher's name. He saw Mr. Steig's big belly, skinned mouse-like pink skin, and blue eyes like light bulbs. The world's top 500 Calford supermarket chain has assigned national management personnel to each store in China, and the future dream store has foreign directors in each department. Mr. Steiger has been in China for less than two years and is Tao Ye's top boss. Tao Ye lowered his head to record the goods on the shelves, and Mr. Steiger's mantra drifted in his ears: "Son of a bitch!" ”

The fat back of the foreign devil was far away, and Tao Ye straightened up again and clenched his right fist.

Supermarkets have stopped using Chinese and English announcements, urging customers to go to the checkout counter as soon as possible before closing. Hearing that there was a thunderstorm outside, the huge underground store was even more empty and deserted, and there were only a dozen or so customers as far as the eye could see—some with umbrellas in their shopping carts, some with wet footprints on the soles of their shoes, and some young women with droplets of water on their hair.

Passing by the aquatic counter, Tao Ye heard a fierce flapping sound, and a slippery catfish jumped out of the high tank, as if it had grown wings, and flew sideways to him. The fishy tail slapped him hard, writhed and fell to the ground. He touched his reddened cheek. Then the live fish in the tank jumped out. A customer's aunt screamed and fled. Employees selling fish came running over and scrambled to catch dozens of big fish that had jumped to the ground. Tao Ye has been in Calford supermarket for three years, and he has never seen such a scene, these fish are like taking stimulants, and they have never been so fierce when they are usually killed.

He found a cloth to wipe his face and hands, and prepared to go to the locker room to change his clothes, so as not to be stopped by Mr. Steiger to work overtime. Passing through the book counter, the most eye-catching thing on the bookshelf is still "Dark Days - The End of the World is Coming", the number one bestseller in China recently, Europe, the United States and Japan are all rushing to buy the copyright and publish it globally.

In front of the bookshelf covered with this book, there is a middle-aged man in a black suit, neatly combed between the black hair behind his head, mixed with a lock of white hair that shows the style of a master, and a pair of gloomy eyes hidden behind thick lenses, which is impressive and a little familiar, it is the author of "Dark Days - The End of the World is Coming", and the name of the master is printed on the book cover - Wu Hanlei.

This master, who often appears on TV, is a university professor who has already been famous many years ago, has won numerous honors, and has tears in his eyes in the face of the public's general concern for the future of mankind, and has tens of millions of Weibo fans. But how could he be here tonight?

Tao Ye approached suspiciously, and found that his lips were blue and his shoulders were trembling slightly. Professor Wu seemed to notice something, immediately took off his glasses, replaced them with large sunglasses, and disappeared between the rows of shelves like a star hiding from his fans.

April 1. Sunday. Night, 22:09.

It wasn't early, Tao Ye walked quickly to the locker room, and heard a gentle female voice in his ears, and he couldn't understand what he was saying at all. However, for a single working man, Japanese, especially the Japanese spoken by women, is probably the most unfamiliar foreign language, you know.

Following the charming voice, he casually turned his head away, pretending to count the shelves, in fact, to see what the Japanese-speaking woman looked like.