It was already noon when the last customer left the breakfast shop.

Yet the sky remained pitch black.

Lin You placed the kneaded dough into a basin, planning to go home and make a bowl of oil-splashed noodles.

After preparing the rest of the ingredients, she raised her head and gazed at the night-like world outside the window.

How much longer would this weather last?

Ever since she took over this breakfast shop, not long after its opening, the nights had inexplicably stretched, creeping into every day.

Now, aside from office workers who couldn’t skip breakfast, most people had stopped eating it altogether.

Those who stayed home were even less willing to go out.

As a result, business at Lin You’s breakfast shop had taken a major hit. Over the past two days, barely any customers had come.

She had even developed new products, increasing the proportion of beans and grains compared to typical shops.

The mung bean flour, soybean flour, and purple rice flour pancakes she made had a richer, deeper flavor.

Unfortunately, hardly anyone had tried them these past two days, and her enthusiasm for developing new recipes had gone to waste.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Lin You stood up and wiped down each of the eight dining tables outside the kitchen, then returned the chairs to their proper places.

Seeing the newly renovated shop neat and tidy again gave her a slight sense of relief.

She packed up the ingredients, stepped into the kitchen, locked the door behind her, and left the breakfast shop.

A cold wind swept through the streets.

People walked briskly, occasionally tightening their coats around them.

The scene looked rather desolate.

Strangely enough, the tail end of summer had turned so cold that one might mistake it for late autumn.

Holding the dough basin and carrying vegetables, Lin You paused and turned back.

She glanced at the little shop behind her and, for some reason, suddenly felt worried about its future.

This breakfast shop, named “Hope Breakfast Shop,” held all of Lin You’s hopes for life.

As a former office worker in Ancheng City, she had poured all her savings from five years of work into this small business.

Lin You loved food and had wanted to try a different way of living.

But given how things were going, the shop might not even make enough to cover next year’s rent.

Steadying herself, Lin You turned a corner.

A few meters away was the entrance to her apartment building.

She entered the code and stepped inside. Her home was on the fifth floor.

For the five years she had worked in Ancheng City, Lin You had rented this apartment.

The space was decently sized, with good lighting and convenient transportation. She had chosen the breakfast shop downstairs precisely because she wanted to live close to work, making daily life easier.

Originally, she had imagined running a breakfast shop right beneath her home.

She could work early until noon, then return home to rest. A relaxed, leisurely life—one step closer to her dream.

But just days after opening, reality had dealt her a harsh blow.

Now, she just hoped that by the end of the lease, she could break even and keep the shop afloat.

She reached the fifth floor. Her apartment was the first one around the corner.

Balancing the dough basin on her knee, Lin You freed one hand to fish out her keys and unlock the door.

Darkness rushed at her, replacing what should have been bright sunlight.

After setting the ingredients on the table, she turned on the light, finally bringing some brightness into the apartment.

As she went to draw the curtains, Lin You stood by the window, staring at the oppressive black sky outside.

Suddenly, the approaching clouds seemed terrifying—not distant in the sky, but slowly sinking lower.

The gloom was unsettling.

To make the apartment feel livelier, Lin You turned on the TV. Leaving the remote aside, she carried the ingredients into the kitchen.

“Hope Breakfast Shop” operated from 6 AM to 11:30 AM.

By the time she finished cleaning up, it was nearly noon—just in time for Lin You’s lunch.

She hadn’t had a moment to rest since her first meal at 5 AM.

Though few customers came, the shop had just opened, and there was still a lot to organize and plan. So by the time she finished her tasks, it was already time to clock out.

Now, Lin You’s stomach growled, and she felt a bit hungry.

She turned on the kitchen light and took out the smooth dough placed in the basin.

After kneading it on the countertop for a while, making the surface even smoother and brighter, she took out a rolling pin and rolled the dough into a flat, round shape.

The noodles for oil-splashed noodles needed to be prepared in advance.

Lin You used a kitchen knife to cut the dough into noodles about the width of a finger.

After cutting, she lifted them from the countertop and stacked them aside.

She took a few cloves of garlic, peeled off the purple skin, removed the thin garlic skins as fine as cicada wings, and then finely chopped the garlic on the countertop.

She chopped the scallions in the same way and placed them on a plate for later use.

After plating the chopped ingredients, Lin You suddenly remembered that the ingredients like rapeseed greens and bean sprouts she brought were still outside the kitchen.

She put down the knife, got up, went to the living room, hooked a finger through the strap, and prepared to bring the ingredients into the kitchen.

Just as she was about to leave, she happened to glance up and saw a news broadcast playing on the television.

“Currently, the climate in various parts of the world is undergoing drastic changes, and some previously unmonitored special phenomena are gradually occurring.”

“In the eastern region of our country, most of the time has fallen into darkness, and the temperature has plummeted. Experts predict that even more adverse climate disasters may occur.”

“This phenomenon may be related to the long-term large-scale exploitation, excavation, and consumption of Earth’s natural resources by humans. As early as many years ago, biologists warned that the destruction of Earth’s ecological balance and the melting of Antarctic glaciers could release a large number of ancient viruses.”

Lin You stared blankly at the television.

It was not until her stomach growled even louder that she carried the rapeseed greens and bean sprouts into the kitchen.

In fact, while preparing to open her breakfast shop, Lin You had already seldom brought ingredients home.

A large amount of fresh vegetables and meat were stored in the breakfast shop, where there were better preservation and refrigeration facilities. If she wanted to eat something, she could conveniently bring it home from the breakfast shop.

Back in the kitchen, Lin You took out the rapeseed greens and bean sprouts from the bag.

The rapeseed greens were ones Lin You had personally picked at the wholesale market.

Among the many vegetable vendors, she chose rapeseed greens with thick and upright leaves. This type tasted better and could guarantee enough freshness.

Lin You turned on the tap and washed the rapeseed greens under running water.

The vibrant green leaves were covered with sparkling water droplets, making it easy to imagine the crisp taste after blanching.

The bean sprouts were sprouted from mung beans. These sprouts had smaller bean grains at the top, emphasizing the flavor of the stem.

Soybean sprouts were more suitable for stir-frying with meat, as the meat juices could best bring out the rich aroma of the beans.

Lin You heated a pot of water until boiling, then added the noodles.

After a few minutes, she lightly stirred with chopsticks. Seeing that the noodles had softened, she scooped them out and placed them in a bowl.

Using the still-boiling water, she blanched the rapeseed greens and bean sprouts briefly, then quickly scooped them out and arranged them beside the noodles in the bowl.

Next, Lin You sprinkled chopped scallions, minced garlic, chili powder, and Sichuan pepper powder over the noodles.

She then poured in soy sauce and vinegar and added salt.

She heated oil in a pan. When the oil reached about eighty percent of its heat, she lifted the pan and poured the hot oil over the noodles and seasonings.

A sizzling sound erupted, and an intense aroma spread out.

Lin You loved spicy food, so she had purposely added a lot of chili powder.

When the hot oil hit, the fragrance of the chili was so intense that it seemed it could knock a person over.

She could not help but lower her head and deeply inhale the aroma of the oil-splashed noodles, then used chopsticks to carefully mix everything.

She made sure every noodle was coated with the chili powder and seasonings.

The noodles were dyed red by the oil, with chili powder clinging to them, greatly stimulating the appetite.

Food was truly healing.

Just looking at the bowl of oil-splashed noodles, the slight gloominess in Lin You’s heart was swept away in an instant.

Holding the bowl of noodles, she also poured herself a glass of sour plum juice.

Then, carrying the two items, she went straight to the living room.

Summer was the best season for drinking sour plum juice. If the weather had not suddenly turned cold, it would have been even more refreshing.

Lin You felt her taste buds awakened by the sweet and sour flavor, feeling quite refreshed.

She picked up a noodle with her chopsticks and slurped it into her mouth. The warm taste instantly slid down her throat.

Lin You felt a wave of satisfaction.

However, when she looked up, she found that the footage on the television had already switched.

She instinctively turned up the volume with the remote control.

Even though the footage had been pixelated, it still conveyed a brutal and realistic scene.

If it were not for the very clear news channel logo, Lin You might have thought she was watching a documentary exploring the natural world.

Lin You slightly furrowed her brow.

The deafening sounds wrapped around her.

She could imagine the scene’s brutality.

The protagonist in the footage was not a human, but a black bear as tall as a person.

But obviously, it did not have a normal appearance. Its eyes were blood-red, its fangs were bared, and its body was covered in rotting wounds. All these signs showed that something was very wrong.

For some reason, even though it only appeared on television, Lin You felt a wave of panic.

This was not a simple accident but possibly a mutation affecting more species.

Thinking back to the earlier news about melting Antarctic glaciers releasing countless viruses…

At this moment, even the invigorating spiciness of the oil-splashed noodles could not ease her nervousness.

Was the apocalypse coming?

Was the scene that humans had once only imagined in science fiction films truly going to appear in reality?

Amid the hail of bullets, the black bear was hit countless times, its body riddled with bloody holes, yet it remained standing.

Under intense attack, it became even more ferocious, able to slap a human away with a single paw.

Fighting against it was a well-trained team of soldiers.

This team of no fewer than fifty soldiers had to use heavy weapons, concentrate all their firepower, and employ chemical weapons such as tear gas and tranquilizer darts to barely fight the mutated black bear to a standstill.

Lin You watched tensely until the end.

Fortunately, the result finally allowed her to relax.

The black bear’s two arms were rendered powerless by the bombardment and its heart had been thoroughly riddled with holes like a honeycomb.

It finally collapsed to the ground without moving again.

However, the entire battle scene still left Lin You deeply shocked.

This was not only because of the brutality of the video but also because of where the battle took place—

It was less than two hundred kilometers away from Ancheng City.