“A crack?” The driver yawned and said, “This is the Qingyin Highway. We’ll pass by when we enter Qingdao in a bit. Then we’ll see whose shoddy construction project is being exposed.”

“A crack appearing ‘above’?” Qi Xia felt somewhat strange. Although he knew the earthquake would arrive at noon tomorrow, would there be strange signs beforehand?

Before Qi Xia could figure it out, the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes, and the speed that had been 120 kilometers per hour suddenly dropped.

Sitting in the back seat without a seatbelt, Qi Xia nearly crashed into the front seat from this emergency stop.

“What’s wrong?” After steadying himself, he looked up in confusion.

“Strange… there’s a long line on the highway.”

Qi Xia followed the driver’s gaze into the distance and indeed found the traffic ahead was extremely congested, with colorful vehicles on the road stretching endlessly out of sight.

The driver looked at the time somewhat anxiously. “Aiya… there must have been a pile-up. I’ve encountered this before—at least an hour of traffic… The entrance to Qingdao is just ahead… It’s almost seven-thirty. What should we do…”

He kept looking left and right, seemingly thinking about how to change lanes to get around the congested traffic.

“It’s fine, driver. This counts as arriving in Qingdao.” Qi Xia said. “Just drive slowly.”

“Aiya…” The driver looked at Qi Xia through the rearview mirror with slight embarrassment. “Young man, you’re quite decent. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely get you home before eight-thirty.”

Qi Xia nodded and said nothing more. The driver also slowly lined up the car at the end of the queue.

What neither of them expected was that this long line hadn’t moved at all since they joined it. Cars continued to stream in behind them endlessly, and now they were caught in the middle of the entire queue, unable to advance or retreat.

“This is really strange…” After waiting over an hour, with the time approaching eight-thirty, the driver could only helplessly scratch his head. “Even if there was a pile-up, it should have been cleared by now…”

Qi Xia was somewhat anxious, but at this moment, there was no better option besides waiting.

Their current location was still twenty to thirty kilometers from Qi Xia’s residence. If Qi Xia walked like before, he probably wouldn’t arrive until daybreak.

Thinking of this, he pulled out his phone again to call Yu Nian’an. Still no answer.

The busy tone on the other end of the phone made Qi Xia even more irritated.

At this time, both men fell silent, with only the car radio continuing to crackle.

“Dear listeners, an unidentified weather phenomenon has appeared on the Qingyin Highway. The actual situation awaits expert analysis. Driver friends who are able to should detour in advance.”

“Weather phenomenon?” This was the first time the driver had heard such a fresh term on the radio, and he was somewhat confused.

“Probably like ‘ball lightning’ or a ‘mirage,'” Qi Xia explained. “Perhaps it’s attracting a large crowd of onlookers, which may have indirectly caused traffic accidents.”

“So that’s it? Young man, you know so much. College student?”

Qi Xia paid no more attention to the driver and continued leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed.

In his memory from last time, he hadn’t chosen to return to Qingdao that night, so he knew nothing about what happened on the highway. He only knew that when he set off 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 choice now was to wait.

However, when people wait for a long time without purpose, they all develop irritable emotions, after all, no one knows how long they’ll have to wait.

The sound of horns honking one after another gradually arose on the road, making people feel restless.

After a while, drivers gradually turned off their engines, got out of their cars, and began chatting with each other.

The taxi driver was clearly someone who couldn’t sit still. Seeing people walking around, he was the first to get out of the car. He no longer paid attention to Qi Xia but instead lit a cigarette and started chatting idly with several nearby drivers.

Qi Xia sighed and pulled out his phone to send Yu Nian’an a message.

“An, something might happen tomorrow. Pack some daily necessities. I’ll take you out to avoid it in the morning.”

Qi Xia deliberately made the matter sound serious. The most important thing now was to make Yu Nian’an understand the importance of the matter the instant she saw the message. Words like “earthquake” and “strange phenomenon” could be temporarily omitted.

After doing all this, Qi Xia leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

He didn’t know why, but even knowing tomorrow would be an earthquake, just being near Yu Nian’an would make him feel at ease.

His abilities were limited—he couldn’t save too many people.

If he went around now proclaiming tomorrow would be an earthquake, he would only be arrested immediately for disturbing public order. So within his limited scope, Qi Xia could only choose to save a few people.

He never thought of himself as a savior. Everything he did was merely to keep himself alive in this world.

Qi Xia closed his eyes and dozed for a while. He didn’t know how much time had passed when he was suddenly awakened by the sound of the driver opening the door.

“Young man, come look at this!” He didn’t care whether Qi Xia was sleeping or not and shouted loudly.

“What?” Qi Xia opened his eyes in confusion and saw the driver waving a phone at him.

He took the phone and found it was a photo. The location appeared to be the highway entrance toll station ahead.

“This was taken by a driver up ahead. It’s spread all through this road!” The driver said excitedly. “Young man, you’re educated. Quick, help me see what kind of weather phenomenon this is?”

Qi Xia enlarged the image and couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

If this was a “weather phenomenon,” it was far too obscure.

A crack was suspended in the sky, with many glowing things pouring down from it, as if stars were falling. Many cars were blocked by this curtain of light and simply couldn’t advance.

“The sky cracked open?” Qi Xia asked in confusion.

“Yes, it really does look like the sky cracked open. Is this weather phenomenon called ‘As if the Milky Way fell from the ninth heaven’?”

Qi Xia helplessly pursed his lips. “Uncle, although I don’t know what this phenomenon is, the one you mentioned definitely doesn’t exist.”

The driver laughed foolishly and sat in the driver’s seat. “But supposedly this opening is getting smaller and should disappear soon. Once those glowing things stop blocking the road, we can go.”

Qi Xia nodded and pulled out his phone, instantly freezing.

“After three in the morning?!”

“Yeah…” The driver also stretched lazily. “Young man, you’re decent, and I’m not a stingy person either, so I turned off the meter ages ago. Otherwise, the waiting time on the road would have cost quite a bit.”

The issue Qi Xia was concerned about wasn’t this at all. Instead, he discovered that Yu Nian’an still hadn’t replied until now.

A feeling of unease spread through his heart.