“Do you want some beef tripe? Okay, get two pounds out.”
“Do you have mushroom balls? I feel like eating some…”
“Yes, we have all kinds of balls. Do you want some crab sticks too…”
…
Just listening to conversations like this feels as ordinary as everyday life. But in the current environment, being able to have such normal exchanges is already a kind of luck.
Lin Su busied herself taking out various kinds of balls from the space while silently reflecting.
Today was already September 5th, five days since the sky had been flooded with red light. Those five days had been anything but ordinary for most people.
First, there was the sudden spike in temperature.
The extreme heat of over sixty degrees Celsius made it impossible for humans to move freely outdoors. Except for specially equipped personnel, there were no ordinary civilians outside.
Then there was something even more terrifying: the continuous emergence of patients with the blister condition.
Experts and professors were still studying the disease mechanism. The only thing they were certain of was that direct sunlight on the skin must be avoided.
But knowing this alone was not enough to stop the spread of the blister disease.
The main problem was that many households simply weren’t equipped to live long-term in environments without natural light. For example, when the sun came up, if a home’s curtains didn’t block enough light, people could start developing blister symptoms, severity depending on exposure.
Lin Su got most of her updates on the blister disease from the radio.
Yes, the radio.
Shortly after the sun rose on September 1st, widespread power outages began across the country. Soon after, worried that the blister disease could spread through water, even some cities that hadn’t lost water service started turning it off.
No water, no electricity, and daytime outdoor temperatures exceeding sixty degrees, these factors only worsened the harshness of people’s living conditions.
For households like Lin Su’s, equipped with solar power generators and stocked food in the space, life was enviably comfortable in comparison.
Of course, Lin Su and her family weren’t about to flaunt it.
Lin Su was busy taking out various kinds of balls from the space, while on the other side, Wen Shiyun was putting them into plastic basins.
The two of them worked so smoothly together that the three elders nearby, washing vegetables, couldn’t help but smile in a strangely amused way.
“After dinner, maybe we should go home with Shiyun first?”
Father Wen, seeing that he and his son had stayed at the Lin house for five days, wondered if they should take the chance to go home once the sun set.
Lin’s parents immediately stopped him. “Oh, you know we’ve been old friends for years. You can stay here a lifetime if you want—I wouldn’t even bat an eye.”
“Exactly…” Mother Lin continued, picking up her husband’s words. “Besides, you two are staying put in response to the government’s call, right? That… blister disease isn’t fully understood yet. If you go straight home now, you might be in danger.”
Originally, Father Wen and son had planned to spend the first day of the apocalypse with the Lin family and then return home to their own routine. After all, no matter how close you are, you can’t just overstay your welcome. But the bizarre red light, and then the appearance of patients with the blister disease, changed that plan.
They had all seen photos of the blister patients, sent by the He family as a warning to be careful. But the images were so disgusting that it was hard for them to handle.
Imagine a perfectly normal, smooth arm, and now rows of uniformly sized, large blisters appear across the skin. Inside each blister is murky pus. Anyone who sees it would be sickened.
Lin Su overheard the elders’ conversation and rolled her eyes at Wen Shiyun. “No need to rush home at this hour.”
To be honest, Lin Su had no idea how the disgusting blister disease actually manifested, but if she could, she really didn’t want to see it up close.
The two families chatted and laughed while quickly preparing all the ingredients for hotpot.
Yes, tonight’s dinner was hotpot. Afterward, the family would continue cooking the food stored in Lin Su’s space.
Even after almost half a month, there was still plenty of food in Lin Su’s space that needed processing.
Meanwhile, at An City People’s Hospital.
Unlike the leisurely daily life at Lin’s house, this place had become the frontline against the blister disease.
The probability of someone contracting the disease seemed low, but with An City’s large population, cases were inevitable. After five days, the hospital had already treated over two hundred patients. Every single one of them had been exposed to the red light or sunlight.
Amid the wails and screams, He Rongxuan, an orthopedic doctor, was called in to consult on the blister patients.
The main difficulty was that the symptoms varied greatly from person to person.
Take, for example, the first blister disease patient in front of him, a well-known internet streamer. Five days ago, after being rescued and brought in by official personnel, his exposed skin was already covered in blisters.
In just five days, the disease progressed rapidly. First, the blisters burst one by one, exposing dermal layers already burned. Then the dermis became infected, and afterward, the subcutaneous tissue began to necrotize.
The necrotic tissue naturally had to be removed, leaving only bare white bone in the end.
He Rongxuan was there to assess whether the bones could still be saved.
Amid the patient’s deep and shallow wails, He Rongxuan finished his consultation and stepped out. Just as he was about to discuss with the attending doctor, he noticed his father walking over.
“Have you called your grandparents?”
Everyone in their family was a doctor. Once the blister disease appeared, naturally everyone except the retired grandparents had to come to the hospital to help.
He Rongxuan shook his head at his father’s question. “I’ve been busy consulting for patients; I haven’t called them yet.”
The father and son prepared to call home, but at that moment, a new patient was brought in, this time not with blister disease, but with heatstroke.
The power grid, down for five days, still hadn’t been restored. Naturally, the number of heatstroke and heat exhaustion patients surged. Those able to call 120 were lucky enough to have some resources at home. Many others, caught in this sudden blackout, had no way to seek help.
Currently, essential units like the hospital relied entirely on diesel generators. Thinking of this made He Rongxuan uneasy, but once patients appeared, he and his father automatically switched into the role of saving lives.
Calling home would have to wait.
Lin Su was, for the moment, unaware of the hospital’s tension.
After enjoying a hearty hotpot meal, she opened her laptop and continued monitoring the outside using the outdoor cameras.
The cameras had malfunctioned on September 1, but mysteriously began working again over the past two days.
By 8 p.m., the streets were completely empty, silent as if the city had been abandoned. If not for the solar-powered streetlights, Lin Su felt this area would seem like a dead city.
In the villa district, many houses still had lights on. In the high-rise buildings, scattered lights were almost invisible. In more distant neighborhoods, the situation was similar.
It was clear that most people didn’t have electricity.
Lin Su wondered when power would return. If it didn’t come soon, those trapped at home might act irrationally, like rushing toward houses with lights.
As she was considering the danger of the situation, suddenly a noisy commotion came from the back window of the villa. In such a quiet environment, the sound was especially piercing.
“Please, open the door… save my son…”
After the man’s coarse voice, sharp crying from a woman followed in bursts. Although they were clearly trying to keep their voices down, the surrounding silence made the sound carry, many households in the villa area heard it clearly.
“Has something happened?”
Mother Lin was the first to step out of the kitchen and walk toward the back door.
Beyond the back door was a backyard; past the yard ran a two-lane driveway. Beyond the driveway was the second row of villas.
“Mom, don’t open the door yet.”
Even though Lin Su thought the blister disease probably wasn’t airborne, she still wanted her mother to be cautious. She looked at Wen Shiyun and gestured for him to stop her mom. Then the two of them guided their parents straight to the storage room on the first floor.
The storage room had a glass window, through which they could see the situation at the second-row villas.
Once they got a clear view, Lin Su frowned.
“What are they trying to do, blocking the He family’s door?”
Mother Lin, familiar with the villa community, immediately recognized the people outside as Old Cheng from the Cheng family and his wife.
“Please, save our Da Bao. Da Bao even calls your grandparents ‘grandpa’ and ‘grandma’…”
The more Lin Su listened, the more uneasy she felt, a vague suspicion forming in her mind.
The He family had a solar generator she had given them, so naturally, their phone should work.
Sure enough, when Lin Su called, Grandma He explained the situation.
“They’ve been shouting at our door, asking me and the old man to save them. Didn’t the officials say not to open doors or go outside?”
“Yes, Grandma Lin, don’t go out. Lock the doors and windows from inside, you’ll be fine.”
The Chengs claimed it was an emergency, but who could know whether it was real? With signs of disorder outside, it was correct for the He grandparents not to open the door.
Besides, the authorities had already published emergency contact numbers on September 1. Residents could call for help. The Chengs also had a diesel generator, so their phones wouldn’t run out of power.
Still, Lin Su wasn’t heartless. Seeing how anxious the couple looked, she called the community office.
The community had staff on duty; every other day someone came to check on residents, deliver water or food, and even help take people to the hospital. These services were active.
At this time, Old Cheng and his wife were still crouched at the He family’s door.
“Honey, let’s just go back. Those old folks inside won’t open the door, so we can’t get in. It’s no longer sunny, but I’m afraid if we stay out here too long, we might get blister disease too.”
Old Cheng also wanted to go home, but with their only son in danger, he didn’t dare leave.
The couple murmured to each other for a moment, then continued pressing the He family’s doorbell.
It was exactly at this moment that the community staff arrived.