Chapter 93: Unease
"A crack?" The driver yawned and said, "This is the Qingyin Expressway. When we enter Qingdao in a bit, we'll pass by it. Let's see which shoddy construction project got exposed again."
"A crack 'above'?" Qi Xia felt a bit strange. Although he knew the earthquake would come tomorrow at noon, would there be strange signs before that?
Before Qi Xia could figure it out, the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes. The speed, originally 120 kilometers per hour, dropped sharply.
Qi Xia, sitting in the back seat without a seatbelt, almost hit the front seat from the sudden stop.
"What's wrong?" he asked, steadying himself and looking up in confusion.
"That's strange... there's a long line on the expressway."
Qi Xia followed the driver's gaze into the distance and indeed saw heavy traffic ahead. A colorful line of cars stretched as far as the eye could see.
The driver checked the time anxiously: "Oh no... probably a pile-up. I've seen it before, at least an hour of delay... The entrance to Qingdao is just ahead... It's almost seven thirty. What are we going to do..."
He kept looking left and right, as if thinking about how to change lanes to bypass the congested traffic.
"It's fine, master. This counts as arriving in Qingdao," Qi Xia said. "Just drive slowly."
"Oh dear..." The driver glanced at Qi Xia in the rearview mirror with a hint of embarrassment. "Kid, you're really reasonable. Don't worry, I'll get you home before eight thirty."
Qi Xia nodded and didn't say anything more. The driver slowly pulled the car to the end of the line.
What neither of them expected was that the long line didn't move at all after they joined. More and more cars kept pulling in behind them. Now they were stuck in the middle of the entire queue, unable to advance or retreat.
"What a strange thing..." After waiting over an hour, the time was almost eight thirty. The driver could only scratch his head helplessly. "Even if there was a pile-up, they should have cleared it by now..."
Qi Xia was anxious, but at this moment, there was no better option than to wait.
Their current location was still twenty or thirty kilometers from Qi Xia's residence. If Qi Xia tried to walk like before, he wouldn't arrive until dawn.
Thinking of this, he took out his phone again and called Yu Nian'an. Still no answer.
The busy signal on the other end only made Qi Xia more restless.
Both of them fell silent, with only the car radio crackling softly.
"Dear listeners, an unknown weather phenomenon has appeared on the Qingyin Expressway. Experts are analyzing the actual situation. Drivers with alternative routes, please detour in advance."
"Weather phenomenon?" The driver had never heard such a new term on the radio and was a bit confused.
"Probably something like 'ball lightning' or a 'mirage,'" Qi Xia explained. "Maybe it's attracting a lot of onlookers, possibly indirectly causing a traffic accident."
"Is that so? Kid, you sure know a lot. Are you a college student?"
Qi Xia didn't bother with the driver anymore. He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes to rest.
In his previous memory, he hadn't chosen to return to Qingdao that night, so he knew nothing about what happened on the expressway. He only knew that when he set out the next morning, the entire road had already returned to normal.
In other words, the current traffic jam wouldn't last long. Qi Xia's best option right now was to wait.
But when people wait for a long time without any clear purpose, they get irritable. After all, no one knew how long they would have to wait.
Gradually, car horns started sounding one after another on the road, making people's minds restless.
A little while later, the drivers gradually turned off their engines, got out of their cars, and started chatting with each other.
The taxi driver was clearly the type who couldn't sit still. As soon as he saw people moving around, he got out of the car immediately. Ignoring Qi Xia, he lit a cigarette and started shooting the breeze with a few 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 necessities. I'll take you out to take shelter in the morning."
Qi Xia deliberately made things sound serious. The most important thing was to make Yu Nian'an understand the gravity of the situation the moment she saw the message. As for words like "earthquake" or "strange phenomena," he could leave them out for now.
After doing all this, Qi Xia leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.
For some reason, even though he knew the earthquake was coming tomorrow, as long as he was near Yu Nian'an, he felt at ease.
His abilities were limited. He couldn't save too many people.
If he went around now spreading news that an earthquake would hit tomorrow, he would only be arrested immediately for disturbing public order. So within a limited scope, Qi Xia could only choose to save a few people.
He never thought of himself as a savior. Everything he did was just to keep himself alive in this world.
Qi Xia closed his eyes and dozed off. He didn't know how long had passed when he was suddenly woken by the driver's door opening.
"Kid, come look at this!" The driver didn't care if Qi Xia was sleeping or not and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"What?" Qi Xia opened his eyes in a daze and saw the driver waving a phone at him.
He took the phone and found it was a photo. The location should be the toll booth at the expressway entrance ahead.
"The driver up front took this. It's spreading all over this road!" the driver said excitedly. "Kid, you're educated. Take a look and tell me what kind of weather phenomenon this is?"
Qi Xia zoomed in on the picture and couldn't help frowning.
If this was a "weather phenomenon," it was way too obscure.
Above, a crack hung in the sky. Many glowing things were pouring down from the crack, like stars falling. Many cars were blocked by this curtain of light and couldn't move forward at all.
"The sky is cracked?" Qi Xia asked in confusion.
"Yeah, it really looks like a hole tore open in the sky. Is this weather phenomenon called 'Suspected Milky Way Falling from the Ninth Heaven'?"
Qi Xia curled his lips helplessly. "Uncle, although I don't know what this phenomenon is, the one you mentioned definitely doesn't exist."
The driver grinned sheepishly and sat back in the driver's seat. "But they say this opening is getting smaller. It should disappear soon. Once those glowing things stop blocking the road, we'll be able to go."
Qi Xia nodded and pulled out his phone. He froze instantly.
"Past three in the morning?!"
"Yeah..." The driver stretched. "Kid, you're a straightforward guy, and I'm not a stingy person. I turned off the meter a long time ago. Otherwise, all this waiting time would cost a pretty penny."
That wasn't what Qi Xia was concerned about at all. What he noticed was that Yu Nian'an still hadn't replied.
A feeling of unease spread through his heart.