Editor and Proofreader: Rinrin

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They hadn’t fought physically, but they were crushed in the war of words. The four “bears” in the Cayenne ultimately drove off, cursing, and the thick fog couldn’t stop their frantic speeding.

Xia Yang insisted Ren Feiyu go to the school hospital for a full check-up: “Don’t think just because you feel fine now, everything’s okay. Many people find internal injuries days after getting scraped by a car.”

Lin Wu and Li Junchi agreed and then turned to Xia Yang: “Can you take a look in the mirror before criticizing others?”

Today, the doctor on duty at the school hospital’s surgery department was Doctor Xiang.

There were several doctors in the surgical department, many of whom knew Ren Feiyu.

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“Why is it you again?” Although four young men rushed in, Doctor Xiang immediately zeroed^[1]focused in on Ren Feiyu. “You look so honest; how come you’re either bumping into things or knocking stuff over all day?”

Ren Feiyu hung his head, not explaining to the doctor that he had crashed into a car due to the thick fog, just like he never told the doctor before that he sprained his ankle by stepping into an uncovered well behind the school, or that he got a cut from tripping over the desks in the self-study room, or that he dislocated his jaw trying to open a bottle of beer with his teeth.

After criticizing Ren Feiyu, Doctor Xiang then noticed that there was something even more interesting hiding behind him.

After returning from the school clinic, Ren Feiyu indulged in his self-heating hot pot, leaving the red sausages for his three brothers who had his back.

What, did he not pick up any bread?

Lin Wu, Xia Yang, and Li Junchi, who had already had the privilege of tasting this local delicacy thanks to Ren Feiyu during their freshman year, all tacitly^[2]mutually understand chose to forget about it.

“Actually, if you steam it for a bit, it’ll soften up…” Freshman Ren Feiyu shared this little tip.

At that time, Lin Wu, Li Junchi, and Xia Yang said: “We don’t have a steamer in the dorm.”

“Borscht soup^[3]beet-based red colored soup with sweet and sour flavor is delicious too…”

“We don’t have soup.”

“Kvass^[4]talking about kvass bread, a dense and chewy bread and red sausage go well together if you chew them slowly…”

“Our teeth can’t handle it.”

“Or you could cut the top open, hollow^[5]empty the inside it out, and use the hard shell as a container to serve thick soup, preferably a creamy seafood chowder^[6]thick soup with shrimp, fish slices, and clams, stewed with light cream and milk…”

“Do we have to turn eating bread into a Michelin three-star event?!”

—In the end, they still ate it, chewing dry. This was the kind of divine friendship dorm 333 had. No more needs to be said; it’s just too touching, brings tears to one’s eyes.

The thick fog lasted for two and a half days.

This was the afternoon of the third day.

“I can’t take it anymore; my mental state is collapsing” Ren Feiyu groaned, rolling on the bed and glancing despairingly out the foggy window. “How can this be? It’s terrifying!”

Li Junchi had just boiled a bucket of instant noodles and was looking for a local series to watch on his phone. “When hasn’t your mindset collapsed? Don’t blame it on the weather.”

“But this time it’s a total collapse, a complete disaster!” Ren Feiyu shot up^[7]stood up, “It’s a global fog, brothers! This has never happened in human history!”

Lin Wu was scrolling through Weibo with a casual demeanor.

Although Ren Feiyu usually had a knack for thinking of the worst-case scenario and spreading negative energy, this time he wasn’t exaggerating.

The trending topics had been dominated by weather-related issues for three days straight.

On the first day, it was “Rare fog suddenly appears in multiple locations worldwide.”

On the second day, it was “Fog coverage rapidly expanding.”

On the third day, it was “Mysterious fog has engulfed^[8]completely surround the globe.”

In just three days, the entire world had been swallowed by the fog.

“What good does it do for us to just sit here worrying? Let’s wait it out.” Xia Yang had just finished a gaming session with a bunch of elementary school kids who were stuck at home and was now in a completely zen state^[9]calmness. What could be more frustrating than when your teammate says, “My mom told me to do my homework” in the middle of a match?

“What if the fog doesn’t clear?” Ren Feiyu began to spiral^[10]started to lose control, “What if the weather is like this forever? What if we have to live in a fog forever? Then we won’t be able to see the road when driving and will have to rely on walking. We won’t be able to see each other when talking and will have to shout! Even worse, the plants won’t get any sunlight and won’t be able to grow. Eventually, they’ll all go extinct, and then the herbivores^[11]animals that eat plants will run out of food and go extinct, then the carnivores will run out of food and go extinct, and then we’ll have nothing to eat…”

“Feiyu” Lin Wu, sitting on the opposite bed, reached over and patted his shoulder. “Control yourself.”

Ren Feiyu was about to cry: “I can’t control myself…”

Lin Wu pulled him close: “Brother, think about it. If we really do end up living in a fog forever, there will definitely be corresponding inventions made, just like we have sun protection clothes during the day and night vision devices at night. Cars already have fog lights; are you afraid we won’t have streetlights cutting through the fog in the future?”

Ren Feiyu replied: “But the flowers and grass…”

Lin Wu: “We can make artificial suns.”

Ren Feiyu: “Herbivores…”^[12]animals that eat plants or grass

Lin Wu: “They won’t go extinct.”

Ren Feiyu: “Carnivores…”^[13]animals that eats meat

Lin Wu: “They’ll run happily.”

Ren Feiyu: “We…”

Lin Wu: “We’ll work hard every day and contribute to a bright future for humanity.”

Ren Feiyu: “But what if everything you said fails, and we all go extinct?!”

Lin Wu: “There are also marine animals; life originated in the ocean. At worst, we can evolve again.”

Ren Feiyu: “…”

Lin Wu: “Any more questions?”

Ren Feiyu: “I want to go home…”

—The 333 trio has three major secret weapons: Li Junchi’s campus network, Xia Yang’s arsenal of witty comebacks^[14]best in talking back to defend, and Lin Wu’s insane logical reasoning.

Feeling out of place in the dorm, Ren Feiyu decided to seek comfort in the “Book Mountain Garden.”

Sure enough, as soon as he opened the forum, he found a sea of like-minded people.

Thread: “The apocalypse can’t really be coming, right??”

Thread: “Are we going to go extinct like the dinosaurs…?”

Thread: “I’m so scared.”

Thread: “Is this fog harmful to our health?”

The most popular thread showed a stream of anxious voices.

Ren Feiyu felt a warmth of homecoming and immediately clicked into a post to read carefully—

Thread: “The apocalypse can’t really be coming, right??”

Poster: Ying Duo

Content: “I just called my parents and cried; am I being too pessimistic^[15]gloomy or sad person?”

1st Floor: “Sometimes it’s good to be a bit pessimistic; always prepare for the worst.

2nd Floor: “Maybe the day school ends is when we start struggling in the apocalypse.”

3rd Floor: “In that case, I won’t struggle; I’ll just lay flat and wait to die.”

4th Floor replies to the 3rd Floor: “Don’t give up.”

5th Floor: “If I had known this day would come, I should have been running laps on the playground every night!”

6th Floor replies to 5th Floor: “It’s obvious you’ve never been to the playground at night; that’s the couples’ running time. Single dogs like us should just stay out of the way.”

7th Floor replies to 6th Floor: “Come on, when I went at night, all I saw were groups of big guys.”

8th Floor: “Stop beating around the bush; can we talk seriously? @I’m scared, I’m anonymous. I don’t think you’re pessimistic; on the contrary, I think you’re quite cute. You’re a girl, right? Which department are you from? Let’s be friends!”

Ren Feiyu: “…”

(Can such a serious topic be derailed^[16]lose direction? Is there no decency^[17]respect?!)

He closed it and looked at the second post.

Thread: “Are we going extinct like the dinosaurs…?”

Poster: Mayans

Content: “The reason for the extinction of dinosaurs is still a mystery. Will new creatures find human fossils millions of years from now and feel that the cause of humanity’s extinction is just as enigmatic^[18]mysterious? Just thinking about it makes me so sad.”

1st Floor: “No way; by then, technology would have developed to a point where they could reconstruct ancient scenes in a minute.”

2nd Floor replies to 1st Floor: “Dream on! If the humanity is extinct; where would that technology come from?”

3rd Floor replies to 1st Floor: “You think only humans can develop technology? Who knows, millions of years from now, the rulers of the Earth might be paramecia.^[19]single-celled organism”

4th Floor replies to 3rd Floor: “I could tolerate you saying “rats,” but paramecia^[20]single-celled organism?? Your biology teacher would vomit blood.”

5th Floor replies to 4th Floor: “To be fair, although paramecia are single-celled organisms, how do you know they won’t evolve into more advanced and complex life forms in the future? You have to look at problems from a developmental perspective.”

6th Floor replies to 5th Floor: “You said they would evolve into higher life forms. Essentially, evolved organisms would no longer be paramecia, so the idea of “paramecia” ruling the Earth is still a false proposition^[21]suggestion.”

Ren Feiyu: “…”

(You all are being serious, but you’re totally off-topic!)

Angrily closing the thread, he thought he wouldn’t let this stop him and went on to read the third post!

Thread: “I’m so scared…”

Poster: Anonymous

Content: “I couldn’t sleep all night yesterday. Watching videos can’t dispel the gloom in my heart. What should I do?”

1st Floor: “I don’t know what to do either. I just want to know what you were watching.”

2nd Floor: “Same here!”

3rd Floor: “This is the campus forum, guys. Can we tone down our little impulses^[22]actions or behavior done without a thought?”

4th Floor replies to 3rd Floor: “Anonymous, what are you scared of?”

5th Floor replies to 4th Floor: “Displaying the IP, dude.”

6th Floor: “What the heck? Can the IP pinpoint the dormitory???”

7th Floor: “It’s been three days of no classes. I really want to go to class soon.”

8th Floor: “I miss the tables and chairs in the Yifu Building and the air in the library.”

9th Floor: “And the eternally green plastic grass on the playground and the twisted water channels in the swimming pool.”

Ren Feiyu: “…”

(Could you guys switch topics any more abruptly?)

Stubbornly, he moved on to the fourth post!

Thread: “Is this fog harmful to our health?”

Poster: Explosive A King

Content: “I’ve been running for an hour every day these past two days, and I feel like I’ve inhaled a lot of fog. Although my body doesn’t feel anything yet, will there be any after effects??”

1st Floor: “So why did you have to go out running in this weather?!”

2nd Floor: “When it’s time to do homework, I want to read novels; when it’s time to sleep, I want to scroll through Weibo; when it’s class time, I want to stay in the dorm. When they don’t let me out of the dorm, I want to go downstairs to run. It’s human nature.”

3rd Floor replies to 2nd Floor: “I suspect you’re spying on my life.”

Throwing his phone aside, Ren Feiyu lay back on his bed, completely giving up on finding any resonance^[23]connection.

He was tired.

When a college student thinks alone, they might worry about the country and the people, but when a group of college students gathers, it becomes — even if a silly discussion is late, it will never be absent.

Just when everyone was at a loss and the school had begun issuing notices to continue suspending classes.

That evening, the fog suddenly dispersed.

Just like how it arrived without warning, it faded quietly as well.

The long-lost sunset painted the dusk in a particularly beautiful light.