Countdown: Humanity's struggle to survive against yesterday

Chapter 93 Chatting

Jiang Yuan lay in his room, his eyes vacant, and every few minutes he couldn't help but pick up his phone to check it.

"Ding ding..."

Finally, the long-awaited message arrived.

"Jiang Yuan, I'm sorry! Commander Lu just gave us a lesson, so I didn't dare take out my phone."

"It's alright, I understand," Jiang Yuan quickly replied. "I just got back from school too!"

On the other end of the phone was Yang Die, who came from the same place as Yang Haoran. The two met in the Aerospace City Junior Class.

Yang Die is eighteen years old this year. She is slender and petite, with a perfect figure for a gentle and graceful young girl. She is neither too tall nor too short, walks with light steps, and always has a dignified and gentle posture, exuding a quiet temperament.

Perhaps influenced by Sun Fumin, having spent a lot of time with him, Jiang Yuan always heard him talk about what a "good" girl was. In any case, when Jiang Yuan first saw this girl, he couldn't help but be moved.

Later, she met Yang Haoran and learned that she was Yang Haoran's cousin.

This made Jiang Yuan like this new "good buddy" even more.

However, Jiang Yuan only learned from Sun Fumin how to quickly become good friends with men, but he didn't learn how to approach women.

This made him appear very reserved and awkward in front of Yang Die.

Fortunately, Yang Haoran was a good friend. He quickly figured out what he meant and secretly winked at him, encouraging him to pursue his cousin.

But how do we catch up?

After replying to the message, Jiang Yuan suddenly felt his mind go blank.

"Don't you come home every day? Why are you so late today...?"

"I……"

Upon seeing this sentence, Jiang Yuan was stumped again, filled with regret. He wished he hadn't tried to be clever earlier; how was he supposed to respond now?

"I... I actually came back a long time ago..."

Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, but still felt he should be honest. He really liked this girl and didn't want to lie.

After sending the message, Jiang Yuan closed his eyes tightly, not daring to see what the other person would say next. He was extremely nervous, afraid that the other person would get angry and ignore him.

"Do you like me...?"

When Jiang Yuan opened his eyes and saw those words, his mind went blank for a moment. He felt lightheaded, unsure whether it was from excitement or fear of being exposed.

"Who likes you..." Jiang Yuan stubbornly sent a new message.

"Then why do you say good morning, good afternoon, and good night to me every day...?"

"I……"

Jiang Yuan's hands trembled uncontrollably, feeling as if his heart had been struck hard. He really wanted to admit it directly: he liked her.

But the boy's shyness and pride made him stop.

"I just care about you because I see how hard you train every day, you're a girl."

"Why do you care about me?"

"Because you're my good buddy Yang Haoran's sister, and I heard there's some internal competition between you two, he definitely won't have time to care about you, so I'll have to trouble him a bit."

In the space city, Yang Die saw the reply, smiled to herself, and cursed inwardly, "Why is she so stubborn? I already said it, she's so stupid..."

Yang Die didn't pay much attention to this somewhat roguish boy at first, only knowing that he spent the last five days in the space city hanging around Yang Haoran whenever he had free time.

In less than a day, he had become friends with Yang Haoran and another fellow villager from Lanhe Town.

No, to be precise, this boy quickly became friends with all the boys in the class.

Some people in the class initially thought he got in through connections and didn't want to talk to him.

But to everyone's surprise, the boy was eliminated in just one day.

His older brother, Jiang Ning, whom Commander Lu jokingly called "Jiang the Immortal," also didn't help him. Faced with this situation, everyone slowly accepted this somewhat roguish but very outgoing boy.

During those days, whenever training was about to end, the boy would appear on the field with snacks and drinks, handing out towels and carrying luggage for everyone, completely treating himself as everyone's assistant or servant.

He always greets everyone with a smile, either encouraging or praising them.

In the end, everyone had accepted him. Even though he was eliminated on the first day, everyone still hoped that he could stay. Commander Lu even invited him. However, in the end, he left with Jiang Ning.

What impressed Yang Die the most was that the boy seemed to be taking extra care of her.

Because of her girlish intuition, Yang Die quickly realized that the other person might have feelings for her.

Yang Die didn't object to this feeling; on the contrary, she felt a sense of anticipation.

Throughout her more than ten years of schooling, her parents were very strict, and she faced a lot of academic pressure, so she didn't really have many friends.

Although this boy's academic performance was average, his personality was very likable, and his roguishness was more like a kind of dashing charm.

Yang Die told her best friend, who was still in Lanhe Town, about her experience. Her friend said, "The other person is Huang Mao, you mustn't be fooled..."

Yang Die didn't care about this.

"This is probably what youth is all about!" Yang Die looked at the message the other party had sent on her phone and couldn't help but chuckle to herself, thinking to herself, "So what if I've been fooled? What could they possibly have fooled me about..."

Jiang Yuan: "Ah Die, let me tell you, with my physical abilities, I can ride a bicycle for 20 kilometers in one go. It's a real shame for the space city that I wasn't selected as a junior astronaut..."

"Yes, I also believe it's a loss for the country..."

Yang Die watched Jiang Yuan boast quietly, without exposing him, and was quite happy. They chatted casually, one sentence at a time, until the time passed midnight again, and they realized that they had been chatting for two or three hours without realizing it.

Yang Die didn't know what love was, but she liked this feeling, liked the feeling of having someone willing to chat with you, no matter what you were talking about, and never leaving.

If her body hadn't truly given up, she would have wanted to continue the conversation.

But the thought of the assessment tomorrow forced them to say goodnight and reluctantly close their phones.

As she closed her eyes, Yang Die glanced at her phone again. It was already past 1 a.m. She silently estimated the time and thought to herself, "Almost 32 hours have passed. It should be almost back to normal by now! Tomorrow is New Year's Day, Jiang Yuan should be at home, so I won't have to go through the trouble of going home to look for my phone..."

……

Cairo, Giza Pyramids

At two in the morning, before the sun had risen over the desert, hundreds of people stood motionless in front of the pyramids, facing east.

They were "sun worshippers" in Egypt, believing that the sun was reborn every day and that humanity should also accept the cycle.

An elderly man in a white robe stood at the front, reciting the same prayer every day: "God Ra, you are reborn every day, and so are we. This is not a curse, but a blessing."

Nearby, a group of European scientists, having heard that the pyramids possess mysterious powers that might protect people from regression, specially set up a temporary observation post here.

One of them glanced at the time, frowned, and said, "This regression has lasted for 34 hours, breaking the historical record. Why hasn't it stopped yet?"

Another scientist, with a large beard, looked up at the locals performing the ceremony ahead and hesitated, "Could it be that these pyramids really possess some mysterious power?"