Dense Fog

Part 1

After a beating and a crushing word battle, the four Cayenne bears finally drove away cursing, the dense fog unable to hinder their fretful rush.

Xia Yang insisted on having Ren Feiyu go to the school hospital for a full-body examination: “Doncha’ think that because there are no problems now, everything is just fine.”

Lin Wu and Li Junchi agreed, then turned towards Xia Yang: “Now that you are done talking about others, could you take a look at yourself?”

Today, in the outpatient clinic at the school’s hospital was Doctor Xiang’s, from the Surgical Clinic, work shift.

The school hospital’s surgical clinic had several doctors, and many of them knew Ren Feiyu.

“Why is it you again?” Even though four lads had come in “flapping”, Doctor Xiang’s eyes locked on Ren Feiyu. “I feel you are quite well-behaved, why is it that if you’re not crashing into something you’re bumping against other all day long?

Ren Feiyu lowered his head, not explaining the doctor he had crashed into a car this foggy day, just like all those times before, he also wouldn’t explain the doctor that he was injured due to stepping on the lid of a dry well at the back of the school, that his ankle was sprained for missing his steps at the library’s glossy front steps, that he had knocked against the chairs and tables in the self-study classroom as a result of tripping, or that his mandible’s dislocation was due to grasping a snow beer [2] with his teeth in order to open it.

Only after scolding Ren Feiyu, did Doctor Xiang discovered that hiding behind him was something even more splendid.

Back from the school hospital, Ren Feiyu enjoyed his own little, warm hotpot by himself, setting aside some sausages for his three brothers whom he could almost sacrifice for.

What? Was there a possibility to gather those Daliebas back?

These freshmen, Lin Wu, Xia Yang and Li Junchi, had already given Ren Feiyu their blessing for him to taste this local specialty and with a great tacit understanding chose to forget about this matter.

“In fact, if you steamed this, it would become softer.” Freshman Ren Feiyu said in a way that very much sought to spread scientific knowledge.

Lin Wu, Li Junchi and Xia Yang, right away: “The dormitory doesn’t have a steamer.”

“Boiled borscht [3] would also be delicious…”

“We don’t have soup.”

“A Kvass [4], to chew a red sausage slowly…”

“Our teeth won’t make it.”

“Maybe we could cut open the upper part, or hollow it out and keep the crust as a container to add an abundant thick soup, seafood chowder[5] would be the best, prawns, fish slices and clams, to be precise. Add whipping cream and milk, then steam everything together…”

“We are eating a Dalieba, is there a need to become a Michelin three-star group first?!”

They still ended up eating and munching afterwards, the friendship in the 333 was just this genuine. There’s not much to say, it’s too touching, everything is tears.

The fog had lasted for two days and a half.

This was the noon of the third day.

“This won’t do, my mentality has collapsed.” Ren Feiyu rolled on the bed with a bitter face, glancing desperately at the heavy fog beyond the window from time to time. “How can there be such a horrible thing?”

Li Junchi had just made a bucketful of instant noodles and was in the midst of looking for soap operas stored in his cell phone’s local cache. “Is there a day in which your mentality doesn’t collapse? Don’t shift the blame to the Heavens.”

“But this time it is a greater collapse, it is the “completely and utterly battered” type of collapse.” Ren Feiyu sat up swiftly. “The fog is all over the world, brothers, in all mankind’s history, something like this had never happened before!”

Lin Wu was browsing through Weibo perfunctorily.

Even though Ren Feiyu was obsessed with thinking everything was bound to go wrong all day long, with the ability to be exaggerate his dejection all year round, this time he really wasn’t exaggerating.

The first day was: “A never-seen-before global outburst of dense fog.”
The second day was: “The dense fog’s range expands at a rapid speed.”
The third day was: “The mysterious dense fog has already engulfed the whole world.”

In merely three days, the whole world was completely swallowed by the dense fog.

“Wadda use of us worrin’ helplessly here, wait honestly and sensibly, okay?” Xia Yang and a group of primary school students who were at home after the school’s closure, had just finished their chat while they gamed, his mentality was already alike that of a Buddha, what else could you say to the teammates who left halfway through a match saying: “My mom is asking me to do my homework.” This came up as something just equally upsetting.

“Then, what if you can’t wait for the fog to dissipate?” Said Ren Feiyu with his crazy brain holes. “What if the weather is always like this from now on? What if we have to live in the midst of the dense fog forever? At that time, we won’t be able to see the road clearly when we drive and will only be able to rely on walking, that is to say, people, who won’t be able to see clearly, will only be able to rely on howling. Something even more terrifying is that plants cannot grow without sufficient sunlight, so finally, they will die out in a large scale, afterwards, herbivores, who will have nothing to eat, will also die out. Then, carnivores, who will have no food, will die out too, and then us, who will have nothing to eat, will also die out.”

“Da Yu. [6]” Both of them were facing each other on the bed, Lin Wu reached out to give his shoulder a pat. “Restrain yourself a little.”

Ren Feiyu wanted to cry: “I can’t restrain myself.”

Lin Wu grasped his arm: “Brother, think about it, if we really have to live in the fog from now on, suitable equipment will definitely be invented, just like sun protecting clothing for daytime, there are also night-vision devices for the night, all cars have fog lights now, are still afraid that later streetlights won’t be able to penetrate the thick fog?”

Ren Feiyu: “Can flowers and plants…”

Lin Wu: “A man-made sun can be created.”

Ren Feiyu: “Herbivores…”

Lin Wu: “They won’t die out.”

Ren Feiyu: “Carnivores…”

Lin Wu: “Will run happily.”

Ren Feiyu: “And us…”

Lin Wu: “We will make progress everyday, because humanity will contribute to the resplendent future.”

Ren Feiyu: “Then, what if everything you said doesn’t succeed, everything will become extinct!”

Lin Wu: “There are still sea animals, life originated from the sea, if worst comes to worst, evolution will happen again.”

Ren Feiyu: “……”

Lin Wu: “Have you got any other problem?”

Ren Feiyu: “I want to go back home.”

[1] Michelin Three-star group: The Michelin Guides are books published in France since 1940, it rates selected establishments with up to three stars and this has a great influence in the establishments reputation.

[2] Snow beers: They are a brand of beers from Shenyang in China, they were first launched in 1993.

[3] Boiled borscht: is a very hearty soup involving several varieties of vegetables, sometimes meat, beetroot in it.

[4] Kvass: It is a traditional Slavic and Baltic fermented drink.

[5] Seafood chowder: It’s a type of seafood thick soups, I believe it may be like this one:

[6] Da Yu: I didn’t clarify this before, but the word “Da” used before the name of a person is used like a “nickname”. It means big or eldest in this context so it would be something like “Big/Great Yu.”

T/N: I don’t really know how to translate Xia Yang’s dialect, I will use some expressions in English I’ve heard or researched, there won’t be much accuracy, though. Also, I’m not trying to be disrespectful towards anyone’s way of expressing themselves, just trying to transmit the character’s way of talking. As always, I’m open to suggestions.

Also! I’ve found the way to make the links in the footnotes be two-way so you can you go back and forth!!!!

Hope to see you around here soon again, have a nice day!

Part 2

The three heavenly forces of the 333 consisted of Lin Junchi’s on-campus relationships network, Xia Yang’s Tianjin scolds storage and Lin Wu’s crazy logic.

Ren Feiyu, who would hardly get any sympathy in the dormitory, decided to go “Shushan’s Shabby Room” to seek some consolation.

As expected, once he turned the forum on he could see like-minded friends filling his vision.

Subject: The end of the world is not coming for real, right?

Subject: Will we become extinct just like the dinosaurs…?

Subject: I’m too scared, ah…

Subject: Is this fog harmful to the body?

Ren Feiyu felt a warmth alike that of finding home, he immediately clicked on one post going through it earnestly.

Subject: The end of the world is not coming for real, right?

Poster: Cherry Blossoms

Description: I just gave my family a call, and I cried with my parents for a while, am I being too pessimistic?

1st Floor: Sometimes being a little pessimistic and prepare for the worst in everything is okay.

2nd Floor: Maybe the school’s lockdown that day was just the beginning of our struggle in the end of the world.

3rd Floor: Then, I won’t struggle for certain, I will just lie down and wait calmly for death.

4th Floor’s reply for the 3rd Floor: Don’t admit defeat yet, ah!

5th Floor: Had I known earlier such a day would come, I would have run some laps around the sports field every night to gain some physical fitness!

6th Floor’s reply to the 5th Floor: Never consider going to the sports field at night, night-time is the moment for couples run, single souls should be self-aware and avoid it.

7th Floor’s reply to the 6th Floor: Forget it, why was it that every time I went out at night all I saw were groups of guys?

8th Floor: Don’t spout nonsense, can you be serious? @I-am-horror-stricken-I’m-anonymous, I don’t think you are pessimistic, on the contrary, I think you are rather cute, are you a girl? Which institution are you from? Do want to make friends?

Ren Feiyu: “……”

Can such a solemn topic also have such devious replies? Do you have any humanity?!

He closed the post and entered the second one.

Subject: Will we become extinct just like the dinosaurs…?

Poster: Maya People

Description: The reason for the dinosaur’s extinction has been a riddle up till this day, when the new life forms find mankind’s fossils, will they also find the reason for humanity’s extinction impossible to unravel? I feel sad just thinking about it, ah.

1st Floor: Impossible, in several millions of years, with technology, what kind of development cannot be accomplished? One that can restore the scenes from the ancient times for you in a matter of minutes.

2nd Floor’s Reply to the 1st Floor: Dream on, all humanity will fucking get extinct, what technological development can even come?

3rd Floor’s Reply to the 1st Floor: Is humanity the only one who can develop technology? How can you be sure that in several millions of years paramecia won’t rule the world?

4th Floor’s Reply to the 3rd Floor: If you had said mouse, I could have still bear it. Paramecia? Your biology teacher must be vomiting blood out of anger.

5th Floor’s Reply to the 4th Floor: I have to say that even though paramecia are unicellular organisms, how can you know they won’t evolve successfully to become more complex, high-level animals? Every problem should be viewed from the perspective of development.

6th Floor’s Reply to the 5th Floor: You also said that evolution will turn those life forms into higher-level animals, if we considered it, in essence those evolved life-forms would have already stopped being paramecia, therefore, “paramecia” ruling the world would still be a false proposition.

Ren Feiyu: “……”

You were serious enough, but you still strayed away from the topic!

He closed the post angrily, it was unbelievable, and opened the third post.

Subject: I’m too scared, ah…

Poster: Anonymous

Description: I couldn’t sleep last night, watching movies can’t disperse the haze in my heart, what’s to be done?

1st: I don’t know what’s to be done, I just want to know what movie you watched.

2nd Floor: Me too!

3rd Floor: This is the school forum, brothers can you have the restless little pink lamps[1] in your hearts exercise some restraint?

4th Floor’s reply to the 3rd Floor: Anonymous, are you scared, ah?

5th Floor’s reply to the 4th Floor: Display the ip, brother!

6th Floor: What a thing! Can the ip be accurate at the dormitory???

7th Floor: Classes have been suspended for three days, I really miss hurrying to class.

8th Floor: I miss the desks and chair of the Yifu Building, I miss the atmosphere at the library.

9th Floor: The sports field’s plastic ever-green grass and the pool’s uneven sewer too.

Ren Feiyu: “……”

The way you paint things can still become harsher?

Obstinate youths will never give in! Fourth post!

Subject: Is this fog harmful to the body?

Poster: Bursting “a” King

Description: I have insisted on running every day for an hour these two days, I feel I have inhaled a lot of mist, I haven’t perceived anything on my body for the time being though, but will I present any sequelae?

1st Floor: Then why did you insist on going out for a run with this kind of weather?!

2nd Floor: Wanting to read novels when doing homework, wanting to browse through Weibo when it’s time to go to bed, wanting to hang around in the dorm when it’s time for class, wanting to go out for a run when it’s not allowed to go out of the dormitories, this is humanity’s instinct.

3rd Floor’s Reply to the 2nd Floor: I suspect you have been spying my life.

Putting his cell phone aside, Ren Feiyu laid on the bed calmly, giving up completely on looking for resonance.

He was tired.

When it is time for a college student to reflect on their own, perhaps he can worry about the country and the people, but when a crowd of college students gather together, then—— their sillines may arrive late, but it’ll never be absent.

Just when everyone was helpless facing the crisis and the school had already started to issue the notification of the indefinite class suspension.

The fog dissipated in the evening.

Just like how it came without prior warning, it dissipated quietly without making a sound.

The sunset glow they had not seen for a long time and the evening’s splendour just a while ago, were exceptionally moving.

[1] I may be wrong but by these (小粉灯-little pink lanterns) they may be referring to some kind of foot massage business which have their establishments lit up with pink lights (lanterns) at night and provide customers with “special service.”