April 1. Sunday. Night, 22:50.

"Outside...... Outside...... The Outside World...... The Outside World...... Already...... Destroyed ......"

Tao Ye held two flashlights and walked through the dark ground floor atrium, trying to avoid stepping on the corpse, when he heard a man's weak voice coming from the corner. The light illuminated the backs of two young men, a man and a woman, supporting a man wearing a bloodstained white shirt and a company tag on his chest.

Half an hour has passed since the earthquake struck.

Five minutes ago, Tao Ye, a tally clerk at Calfo Supermarket, and Professor Wu Hanlei, the author of "Dark Days - The End of the World is Coming", finally evacuated the second basement floor. As soon as the ground floor was reached, there was a disaster in which the gate of the mall collapsed, but fortunately, the two retreated to the corner in time, otherwise they would have been killed or injured.

Tao Ye's backpack was filled with flashlights and mineral water, and he carried a first-aid kit from the store manager's office on his shoulder. The young man and woman turned their heads, instinctively blocking out the glare of the flashlight. When they put their hands down, Tao Ye was amazed by the beauty of these two people - the girl in sportswear looked like a high school student with a pair of overly mature eyes on her face, and there was an imperceptible hostility in her gaze. The boy has dark eyes hidden under his long, broken black hair, and with a tall nose and white cheeks, he does not look to be more than twenty years old.

"Is anyone hurt?" Tao Ye squatted down boldly and approached the man in the corner.

"You're a doctor?" The young man, who was so handsome that Tao Ye couldn't help but take a few more looks, asked in a deep voice.

"No, but I brought a first aid kit."

Tao Ye took out bandages and alcohol, although he has no professional training, but he has also learned a lot of first aid methods after watching the American dramas "Lost" and "Prison Break" over the years. The boy and girl helped him, cleaning and disinfecting the wounded man's wounds, carefully wrapping the bandages.

The white-collar man thanked him repeatedly: "My name is Xu Pengfei...... Working at an American company on the twelfth floor...... Please let me know...... Your names ......"

"My name is Tao Ye and I work at Calford Supermarket." The honest cultivator reported to his family. The young man and woman were silent, looked at each other, and turned to leave.

Xu Pengfei grabbed his hand and said, "I will repay you!" ”

Tao Ye left him a bottle of mineral water: "Don't move, I'll go see the other injured people, and you can call me loudly if you have something." ”

He walked into the place where the casualties were the heaviest, and when he looked around, most of the corpses on the ground were bloody and fleshy, and some were dying, and his poor first-aid knowledge alone would definitely not be able to save them.

Tao Ye squatted in front of a woman who was about to die. She was about thirty years old, her clothes were soaked with blood, she couldn't see her occupation or identity, and only her left hand was still somewhat conscious. He gripped the hand tightly, and felt that she was getting colder. His other hand grabbed a flashlight to illuminate her eyes, as if to give her the last light and warmth of her life. She blinked gratefully, and two drops of cloudy liquid seemed to slip out of the corners of her eyes. With all her strength, she squeezed out the sound that could not shake her vocal cords - "I...... It's just that...... In...... ...... sheltering from the rain"

After saying these very sad words, her eyes stopped moving, and slowly became dull. Tao Ye wanted to withdraw his hand, but found that he had been held tightly by her, and he couldn't pull it out.

Could it be that this woman has never really loved a man, so she treats the last man she touches in her life as the only person she has ever loved, and she will not let go until the end of her life?

Cold sweat dripped onto the face of the woman who had just died, and Tao Ye pulled his hand in a panic, but he was never able to break free from the dead man's hands. He slammed the dead man's fingers, and the stiffness felt like the ring lock of a bicycle. But he did not dare to use more force, for fear that he would break the dead man's fingers.

Suddenly, a hand patted him on the shoulder.

Being in the middle of dozens of corpses, with one hand still firmly grasped by a dead man, you can imagine what it would feel like if someone tapped you on the shoulder from behind...... The defenseless cultivator screamed and fell trembling onto another dead man.

In a second, he regained his courage and jerked up his flashlight, trying to illuminate the face of a zombie. But in the center of the glow of the flashlight, there is a beautiful and vivid face.

He remembered this face, which he had seen twice on the second basement floor of the supermarket before and after the earthquake. Though every minute that passed now seemed like a day, the face was so vivid in his memory that he was sure he would never forget it again.

"Y-what's wrong with you?"

That's right, it's her voice, Tao Ye clearly remembers her Chinese with a Japanese accent.

He didn't want her to find out what she was embarrassed about, and he didn't want her to see the dead man holding his hand, and whispered, "I'm fine, please don't come near me, it's all corpses here." ”

"I've seen it." The Japanese woman boldly stepped over a corpse and crouched down to get closer to Tao Ye.

"Don't!" Tao Ye didn't know how to refuse her.

And her hands were stretched out to his hands, and they were warmer than those of the dead man who had grasped him. It's not just warm, it's powerful. She was helping Tao Ye break the dead man's fingers.

Tao Ye closed his eyes in fear, only to feel his hands trembling, he felt the warmth of her close to his cheeks, and smelled the smell of her long hair.

A few seconds later, he heard a crisp snap of bones breaking. Luckily, he didn't feel any pain.

The cultivated hand was free, and the dead man's hand had two fingers broken.

The Japanese woman in front of her bowed solemnly to the corpse with her hands folded, and her mouth was chanting words in Japanese, probably Buddhist prayers.

I can't imagine how she broke two stiff, dead man's fingers. Perhaps, she had done the same thing before?

Tao Ye stood up tremblingly, and there were still dead man's finger marks on his wrist. He asked in a low voice, "What about your son?" ”

The beautiful mother, who was about twenty-eight or nineteen years old, pointed to the dark corner of the wall, where the faint light of the mobile phone screen flickered, and the figure of a boy was faintly illuminated.

"Let's go back." Finally, it was Tao Ye's turn to protect her, making her way through corpses and ruins. He looked around, expecting to spot one or two more survivors.

They came to the wall and looked at the six or seven-year-old Japanese boy—whether it was a psychological suggestion or an illusion, the child's complexion was excessively pale, like ...... The dead who fell to the ground!

Tao Ye frowned, slowed down his speech and said to the Japanese mother and son: "You stay here and don't move, I'll be back soon." He left two bottles of mineral water for the mother and son, and walked to the other side of the atrium with a flashlight. After working on the second basement floor for three years, he naturally knows the mall above his head well, and he knows that there is a shop on the ground floor* with all kinds of small gifts, including candles for home decoration. Tao Ye soon found - thick red candles, slender white candles, as well as small candle cups commonly used in high-end restaurants, large candle holders for home use...... He dug out a large shopping bag from the store and filled it with a lot.

Back at the Japanese mother and son in the corner, he erected a metal candlestick on the ground, stuck a few white candles into it, and lit it with a lighter.

The candlelight first resembles a few fireflies on a summer night, then like a string of meteors under the night sky, and finally turns into a few dancing flames.

Looking at the candlelight lit by his own hands, Tao Ye suddenly felt indescribable tiredness, and sat down weakly beside the Japanese woman. In order to save the limited battery, Tao Ye temporarily turned off the flashlight, and the Japanese woman next to him also turned off the mobile phone. The only candlelight that envelops them is the light of the candles, like the everlasting lamps in the ancient dungeon, which will wait for the owner of the tomb for a thousand years until the tomb robbers or archaeologists arrive.

"Thank you very much!" She bowed her head deeply, and the candlelight illuminated her slightly moist eyes.

"You're welcome, my name is Tao Ye. Ceramics of pottery, metallurgical metallurgy. He believed that the other person could understand what he meant.

The Japanese woman replied, "My name is Yoko Tamada, this is my son, and his name is Shota." ”

"Shota?" Tao Ye looked at this boy who was so white that he was a little scary, and couldn't help laughing, "It's really a Zhengtai." ”

"Please take care of me."

I didn't expect the boy to speak Chinese better than his mother, and he was no different from a Chinese child, probably growing up in China. Zhengtai must have been very tired, so he fell into his mother's arms and fell asleep silently for a while. Yoko Tamada kissed her son's pale cheek and turned her head to look at Tao Ye beside her.

He didn't speak, for fear of waking up the child who had just fallen asleep.

There was a hint of gratitude on her lips. For those warm candles? Or do you want to help them in the supermarket on the second basement floor? Or is it simply grateful that he can sit next to him here and now? Under the light of the candle flame, Yoko Tamada's cheeks seemed to be smeared with a bright and unusually soft layer of paint, like a mysterious veil, making it impossible to see her true gaze.

Suddenly, he shuddered. The floor didn't shake, the walls didn't shake, and there was no one moving nearby except the corpses—it was his heart that trembled.

He forced himself to close his eyes, but he could still see her face. So, when he opened his eyes again, she still had the same expression—eyes hidden in the dim candlelight, still unguessable.

He leaned his head against the wall and relaxed. He secretly expected her to relax completely, too, and slowly leaned her body to one side—his side, slowly resting her head on his shoulder...... That's all, he's not the kind of kid who wants a lot at once.

Unfortunately, he understood that he was fantasizing after all. She always maintained her original position, carefully holding her son, occasionally closing her eyes and resting for a moment.

The candle flame flickered a few times. Tao Ye turned his head to the side alertly, and heard the voices of several people. He believes there are still many survivors hiding in the dark. Yoko Tamada also opened her eyes. He whispered to her, "I'll go over and take a look, you guard Zhengtai and don't move." ”

Tao Ye turned on the flashlight, brought a first-aid kit, walked along the wall to the people, and heard a middle-aged man's voice - "The end of the world!" ”

"What?" A woman in her twenties, wrapped in a large woolen cloak to protect herself from the cold, was still shivering. Tao Ye is sure that this was taken from the branded women's clothing store on the ground floor. "What you said is true?"

"That's right." The one who spoke was a middle-aged man, the author of "Dark Days - The End of the World is Coming", the famous Professor Wu Hanlei. His face was grim and grim, and one of the lenses of his glasses was broken, but it didn't prevent him from talking as much as he did on television.

"What apocalypse? It's all a lie! A young man in a security uniform spoke in a thick country accent and held a large flashlight, anxiously looking at the dark world outside. There was also a middle-aged woman sitting beside him, dressed like a cleaner, who looked slightly injured, frowning and not speaking.

"No, we have to believe Professor Wu! The outside world has been destroyed! There was also a wounded man lying on the ground, with a bandage wrapped by Tao Ye himself on his left arm, and it was the white-collar worker named Xu Pengfei.

The handsome young boy and girl disappeared.

"I know that while everyone loves to read my books and listen to my doomsday speeches, they can't believe everything I'm saying when the end of the world comes!" Wu Hanlei looked at them coldly for a long time, until Xu Pengfei joined, and then he smiled bitterly, "This is normal!" Everyone is nostalgic for their own lives and those of their families, and even if the disaster is in front of them, they still hope that they can still save the day, which is just a pitiful self-comfort. ”

"You're saying we're dying?" The girl wrapped in a wool cloak spoke, her eyes looking at Professor Wu with fear.

"Not necessarily—but the outside world is ruined! Let's not expect someone to come to the rescue, what we can do now is to survive as much as possible in this underground space! ”

"Impossible! You say the end of the world is the end of the world? Is "2012" too much? ”

"As for the theory of the end of the world, you can take a closer look at my academic works - 10 million people in China have already read my books, and if you add the mobile version and other electronic versions, then it may exceed 100 million people!"

"I believe that what is written in Professor Wu's book is true, and the most authoritative data will not lie, and even the most authoritative scientists in the United States have confirmed Professor Wu's calculations!" Xu Pengfei interjected again, thinking that he was a loyal reader of Professor Wu Hanlei.

The professor calmly explained: "My argument is not a Mayan prophecy, but based on the abnormal climate on the earth in recent years, and the strange geological disasters that have occurred all over the world, as well as the results of data analysis of the earth and the solar system over the past billions of years. I don't believe in Nostradamus, I don't believe in any evil organization, I don't believe in the nonsense in the movies, I only believe in the only correct standard in the universe - science. ”

The woman in the wool cloak was unrelenting: "What you say is all big talk, why an hour ago, I was watching a horror movie in the cinema on the ninth floor, and now the whole building has really become a scene in a horror movie?" ”