Seven

Run, but where can you run to?

The thought of escape was beautiful, but reality was cruel. These days, as more people read apocalypse novels, everyone sharpened their wits, desperate to flee to some isolated refuge. National highways, provincial roads, expressways—every route was jammed with cars. Some vehicles hadn’t had time for proper modifications and simply slapped steel plates on their sides; others reinforced their roofs, making the rest of the traffic keep a wary distance.

Zhu Anfu muttered under his breath, “With everyone leaving, maybe the city’s actually safer.”

Just think about it—really think. Mutant animals, no one even knew what they ate yet. Reality was nothing like the stories; who said an apocalypse required zombies? Who said humanity’s end was inevitable? Why run? Instead of fleeing, wouldn’t it be better to calmly consider ways to deal with these creatures? Like they’d said when leaving, a few grown men couldn’t even kill a rat? Even if the rat mutated, couldn’t you mutate a cat too? Cats are natural rat hunters; they’ll never become friends with rats. So far, only rats had mutated—no sign of anything else. Was this level of fear really necessary?

How many rats could there be in the whole city? Even if they’d mutated, biting through electrical wires and data cables, they’d lost their small, nimble bodies—getting into a human home wasn’t so easy anymore. As for mutant cats, where would you even find one? Once cats wiped out the rats, would mutant cats become harmless? Yuchi Ankang tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “The city won’t be that safe. Think about what rats spread—plague. If mutated rats spread the plague, maybe it’ll become even more untreatable. Anfu, we can’t take that risk.”

“If the end really comes and people start eating people, I wouldn’t be surprised at all,” Hu Qiaohua remarked dryly. “Just think about what humanity’s done—launching satellites into the sky, but when they reach the end of their service, they can’t be recovered and only become space junk. In time, what will that become? Meteors? And look at Earth—the polar ice caps are melting, cities are turning into deserts, the rain is acidic, the snow is gray, and oil is pumped again and again. How long can the planet take this?” She wasn’t trying to complain; she was simply stating facts. “Humans think they’re the masters of the Earth. Which god said so? We only have more intelligence than animals, and there are more of us. What else?”

“You’re too extreme,” Yuchi Ankang replied helplessly, shaking his head. “Not everyone is out to destroy things. We just live in a world like this, and all we can do is try to do the right thing ourselves. Protecting the environment isn’t just a slogan. Think of those celebrity spokespeople—do they really practice what they preach? Most just shout slogans for a good reputation, make a donation here and there, but in the end, they go right back to their old ways.” He sighed, realizing that Hu Qiaohua was a bit of an idealist—a word that hadn’t been used much in years.

Hu Qiaohua glanced at Yuchi Ankang but said nothing more. Zhu Anfu looked at Yuchi Ankang beside him, then at the editor in the back seat, and finally lowered his head to check the news on his phone. “Let’s go to the Air Force Command. They’ve set up a relocation site there.”

The Air Force Command was to the east, and their current route… Yuchi Ankang decisively made a turn at the nearest intersection. The traffic was now even worse than the eve of a major holiday. He turned on the radio, but instead of jokes, the host was earnestly advising people not to flee impulsively, insisting it wasn’t the right time. There was no mention of the Air Force Command’s relocation site. If they reached it before the masses, perhaps they could secure a good spot. Yuchi Ankang pressed the accelerator, eager to arrive as quickly as possible.

The Air Force Command was spacious, offering the soldiers’ dormitories as shelters. The soldiers themselves had gone out to round up cats—using the most advanced jets, of course. Training a qualified fighter pilot was no easy task; their lives couldn’t be lost in vain. Good news had also arrived: the animals in the sky hadn’t mutated—whether temporarily or permanently remained unknown. Orders had come to send some people to the space station, and from there, onward to Mars, which, as a newly developed planet, was being prepped to serve as humanity’s second home.

The primary requirement for going to the space station was that one’s body be free of scars. Yuchi Ankang submitted all three of their names; they quickly passed inspection and were promptly sent to the Jiuzhou Launch Center. The plane to the launch site was packed. Hu Qiaohua was still worried about her family. Zhu Anfu and Yuchi Ankang had no close relatives—only friends whose safety they silently prayed for.

Upon arrival at the launch site, some scientists had already been sent to the space capsules. Ordinary people without training joined the scientists and a few astronauts in simple activities, aiming for maximum effect in minimum time. Zhu Anfu’s jade pendant was detected during inspection, but he was allowed to keep it, which was a relief. Yet soon, he worried again—would the jade mutate after exposure to space? Would what was inside change?

Before launch, the authorities allowed everyone to make phone calls. Yuchi Ankang and Zhu Anfu gave their time to Hu Qiaohua. Unsurprisingly, she couldn’t reach her parents—no answer at home, on their mobiles, or at relatives’ houses. Yet Hu Qiaohua wasn’t sad; instead, she insisted on staying behind. Despite all their attempts to dissuade her, Yuchi Ankang and Zhu Anfu couldn’t change her mind and could only board the space capsule bound for the station, dispirited.

Rocket launches always carry a certain risk. Even in countries that regularly launched satellites, like Country M, not every rocket was guaranteed to succeed or reach its intended orbit. Luck played a role, and clearly, the first batch heading to the space station was lucky. Zhu Anfu gripped Yuchi Ankang’s hand, looking at the others. That very morning, they’d wondered if they could ever go home. Now, they were leaving Earth behind entirely.

Was Mars truly safe? There would be not only their own people but also foreigners there; conflict was inevitable. Peaceful living might be even more dangerous than on Earth. No wonder Hu Qiaohua stayed behind at the last moment. But would staying really be safer?

Yuchi Ankang squeezed Zhu Anfu’s hand in return; their thoughts were much the same. For Yuchi Ankang, being together was all that mattered.

Perhaps it was Zhu Anfu’s wild imagination at work, but just as the rocket was traveling smoothly along its intended orbit, it veered off course—and vanished the moment it was supposed to land…