Ten Day Ultimatum

"Crack?" The driver yawned and said, "We’re on the Qingyin Expressway now; we’ll be passing through Qingdao soon. Let’s see which shoddy construction project is getting exposed this time."
"A crack has appeared above?" Qi Xia felt a brief flicker of doubt. Although he knew the earthquake was due tomorrow afternoon, he wondered if any strange signs might appear beforehand.

Before he could think further, the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes, the speed plummeting from one hundred and twenty miles per hour. With no seatbelt fastened, Qi Xia nearly hit the front seat from the jolt. "What happened?" he asked, regaining his balance with a confused look.
"Strange… there’s a long line of traffic up ahead," the driver said.
Following the driver’s gaze, Qi Xia saw that the road was indeed heavily congested—a ribbon of headlights stretching endlessly across the expressway.

The driver anxiously checked the time. "Aiya… looks like a multi-vehicle collision. I’ve seen this before—it usually takes at least an hour to clear. We’re right at the entrance to Qingdao… and it’s almost seven-thirty. What now?" He kept looking around, clearly trying to figure out a way to switch lanes and get through the jam.
"Don’t worry, sir. This still counts as arriving in Qingdao," Qi Xia reassured him. "Just keep driving slowly."
"Aiya…" The driver glanced at him through the rearview mirror, a hint of shame in his eyes. "You’re really down-to-earth. Don’t worry, I’ll get you home before eight-thirty."

Qi Xia nodded and fell silent as the driver slowly maneuvered the car to the end of the queue.
What neither of them expected was that the traffic jam would stay frozen from the moment they joined. More and more cars continued to pour in behind them, leaving them trapped in the middle of a motionless line, unable to move forward or back.
"What a strange situation…" After more than an hour had passed, with the time approaching eight-thirty, the driver scratched his head in frustration. "Even with a pileup, it should’ve been cleared by now…"

Qi Xia felt his urgency growing, but at the moment, waiting was the only choice. They were still twenty to thirty kilometers from his home, and walking—like he had done once before—would mean arriving at dawn. With this in mind, he once again pulled out his phone to call Yu Nian'An, but still, no answer. The busy signal only deepened his unease.
Both men fell quiet, the only sound in the car coming from the radio’s faint static.
"Attention, listeners: An unexplained climatic phenomenon has been reported on the Qingyin Expressway. The actual cause is under investigation by experts. Drivers are advised to take alternate routes if possible."

"Climatic phenomenon?" the driver repeated, hearing the unusual term with clear puzzlement.
"It’s probably something like ball lightning or a mirage," Qi Xia said. "It could attract a crowd and cause traffic accidents."
"Really? You know a lot, young man—are you a college student?"

Qi Xia didn’t respond, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes. In his previous timeline, he hadn’t returned to Qingdao that night, so he had no memory of what happened on the expressway. All he knew was that by the next morning, the roads had returned to normal.
That meant this traffic jam wouldn’t last forever. For now, all he could do was wait. But long periods of waiting without answers inevitably stirred frustration, especially when no one knew how long it would last.
As more time passed, the air grew thick with the sound of car horns. Drivers began turning off their engines and stepping outside, striking up conversations. The taxi driver, evidently not one to sit still, soon joined them—lighting a cigarette and chatting with nearby drivers, paying no further attention to Qi Xia.

Qi Xia sighed and pulled out his phone to send a message to Yu Nian'An.
"An, something might happen tomorrow. Pack some daily necessities; I’ll take you out in the morning."
He deliberately emphasized the seriousness of the situation, making sure she understood the importance. Discussions of the earthquake or phenomena could come later.
After sending the message, Qi Xia leaned back and closed his eyes again.

For reasons he couldn’t fully explain, the thought of Yu Nian'An gave him peace—even knowing what was coming tomorrow. His abilities were limited. He couldn’t save everyone. If he tried to spread news of the earthquake, he’d likely be arrested for inciting panic. So within his narrow limits, Qi Xia could only save a select few.
He had never thought of himself as a savior; everything he did was simply to survive.
Qi Xia drifted off for a while, unsure how much time passed, when the sudden sound of the driver opening the car door jolted him awake.

"Young man, you need to come see this!" the driver shouted, not caring whether Qi Xia was still asleep.
"What [N O V E L I G H T] is it?" Qi Xia asked, blinking in confusion. The driver was waving a phone at him.
Taking the phone, he saw a photo—apparently taken at the toll station up ahead.

"This came from a driver in front of us! It’s already spreading all over the road!" the driver said excitedly. "You seem smart—can you figure out what kind of climatic phenomenon this is?"
Qi Xia zoomed in on the image and frowned. If this was a climatic phenomenon, then it was a very poorly studied one.
Above, the sky gaped open with a massive fissure. Luminous objects poured down like falling stars. Many vehicles were trapped beneath the radiant curtain, unable to proceed.
"The sky is splitting open?" Qi Xia murmured.

"Yeah, it really looks like a tear in the sky. Wouldn’t it be cool if this phenomenon was called ‘The Milky Way Descends from the Ninth Heaven’ or something?"
Qi Xia pressed his lips into a line, clearly unamused. "I don’t know what this is, but I can tell you that what you just said definitely isn’t it."
The driver laughed sheepishly and climbed back into the front seat. "Well, they say the crack’s shrinking, so it should vanish soon. Once those glowing things stop blocking the road, we’ll be moving again."

Qi Xia nodded, then pulled out his phone—and froze.
"It’s already past three in the morning?!"
"Yeah…" the driver yawned and stretched. "You’re a solid guy, really. I’m not stingy either—turned off the meter ages ago. Otherwise, the waiting time would’ve cost a fortune."

But Qi Xia wasn’t worried about that. What truly unsettled him was the fact that Yu Nian'An still hadn’t replied.
A wave of unease spread through his chest.