Countdown: Humanity's struggle to survive against yesterday

Chapter 15 Disorder

Sanmiao Village is located at the junction of three townships under the jurisdiction of Yicheng County.

This position is awkward; when things are peaceful, it's a no-man's-land, but when things get busy, it's a matter of concern for all three.

On weekdays, the biggest entertainment activity in Sanmiao Village is playing cards. If you walk along the main road in the village, you can see at least five card games.

But ever since the world went backwards, the villagers suddenly found that winning or losing was no longer interesting, because after sleeping for one night, everything would be back to normal the next day. As a result, the once lively card games were no longer attended, and the village became much quieter.

"Uncle Dahua, are you going to check on those tomato plants again?"

Sun Fumin stood under the shed of his own mahjong parlor, smoking idly, when he saw his neighbor Jiang Hua riding a tricycle past his door. He quickly went up to offer him a cigarette, and said with a sigh.

"My aunt said that the tomato plants were growing very well, but now they've declined. All that watering has gone to waste. It looks like we won't be able to eat any new tomatoes this year."

Jiang Hua stopped the car, glanced at the shed, then at the cigarettes Sun Fumin offered him, and said indifferently, "I can't afford these cigarettes."

"Hey, Uncle Dahua, what are you saying?"

Sun Fumin chuckled awkwardly, continuing to hold up his cigarette. "I know you've always looked down on me running this place, Uncle Dahua, but you also know that my dad's health hasn't been good these past few years, and I'm an only child. The revenue from this small supermarket can't even cover the expenses of my family. Setting up this place is just to sell more stuff. Besides, I don't have the guts to actually run a place and make that kind of unscrupulous money."

When Jiang Hua heard Sun Fumin mention Sun Dahai, his expression softened, and he reached out to take the cigarette.

"Is your dad feeling any better?"

"Hey, that old man's been more energetic than me ever since he found out the world was going backwards! He keeps saying he'll ask you for those ten acres back once he can get back to farming, saying he wants to keep planting. If you ask me, the world's gone backwards, what's the point of farming anything..."

The Jiang family is the only non-family in Sanmiao Village. For the past two generations, the family has only had one son. Sun Dahai and Jiang Hua are childhood friends who have been playing together since they were young. Their families are also neighbors. Although they are not related by blood, they have developed a life-and-death friendship over the past half a lifetime, so the two families have always had a good relationship.

In the village, the Jiang family used to have very little land, only six mu (approximately 0.33 acres), and they couldn't make any money growing grain. After the old man passed away, Jiang Hua handed over all the land to Sun Dahai to cultivate.

Unexpectedly, a few years ago Sun Dahai suffered a stroke and became paralyzed on one side. Sun Fumin couldn't bear the hardship of farming, so Jiang Hua took over all the work after returning to his hometown and switched to growing vegetables.

Of course, another reason is that Jiang Hua and his wife felt that their son was successful and they no longer needed to work hard. It would be good for them to go back to their hometown and grow vegetables.

But...

Thinking of this, Jiang Hua's expression turned serious.

Seeing Jiang Hua's unfriendly expression, Sun Fumin thought he had said something wrong, so he quickly stopped talking and asked instead, "Uncle, is it still impossible to contact Xiao Yuan?"

After saying that, he muttered to himself, "Sigh~ You know, this kid used to get into a prestigious university in Shanghai, which brought so much honor to our village. How come he's so easily discouraged?"

"Hmph... If you can't speak properly, then don't speak at all. You're always up to no good, just seeing you makes me angry..."

Jiang Hua tucked the cigarette behind his ear, snorted heavily, twisted the accelerator hard, and the tricycle shot forward with a "whoosh".

Sun Fumin quickly dodged to the side, his face full of grievance.

This old man's sworn brother is good in every way, except he's too old-fashioned. He's very meticulous when it comes to growing and selling vegetables, and even now that the world has regressed, he's still so meticulous. He can't take a joke.

"But it seems I've gone too far!"

As Sun Fumin watched Jiang Hua leave, he couldn't help but slap himself lightly, deeply regretting that he had spoken without thinking.

Others may not know, but doesn't he?

Since Lin Wei's death, Jiang Ning has been devastated and then seemed to have disappeared without a trace. No one else in the village knew about this, but his own family did.

In the past, the two families would avoid talking about it when they met, but today I couldn't help but speak my mind.

"Beep beep beep..."

Sun Fumin was about to go back to the shed to continue smoking, and seeing that no idlers had come to play cards yet, he suddenly heard the sound of a tricycle horn behind him. He turned around and saw Jiang Hua riding a tricycle and stopped at the intersection, looking at him.

"Fumin, come with me to the shed and catch a few chickens. We'll give your dad something to eat for lunch."

"Second Uncle!"

Sun Fumin chuckled, quickly threw down his cigarette butt, and started running.

The two arrived at the vegetable garden, and before the tricycle had even stopped, Sun Fumin shouted and jumped off:

"Ouch, what a bastard did this, slashing the shed like that..."

Sun Fumin cursed and kicked away a large piece of plastic film that had been cut and fallen to the ground. Through the hole, he looked at the mess of romaine lettuce in the middle of the vegetable garden.

"Gagaga..."

A few chickens waddled around the vegetable patch, seemingly oblivious to the approaching visitors, continuing to nibble on some delicious green leaves.

"Oh dear, Uncle, are there too many chickens...?"

……

Jiang Ning walked along the overpass for almost three hours straight until he was exhausted, and then stopped at a riverside park.

He was deeply moved by what he saw along the way.

In the face of this "great disaster," what problem is the most serious?

It's undoubtedly a traffic problem; you can see a car accident scene almost every few steps.

More than the car accidents themselves, what struck me most was the despair on the faces of some truck drivers.

Jiang Ning could imagine that if he drove from A to B yesterday, and then rolled back today, the car would return to A, and he would also return to A.

Even more amazingly, the car I drove yesterday disappeared, but today it reappeared in A.

Therefore, all the cars parked on the highway in this entire city represent those that rolled back from B.

Jiang Ning didn't know where these cars were originally headed or where they were, but he could imagine that this was definitely a journey that would never reach its destination.

More importantly, these freight drivers who are away from home year-round can only wait passively, and can only briefly return home after the world turns around.

"Sigh~"

Jiang Ning sat on a park bench, quietly reflecting, "Besides that, ordinary people may no longer be able to travel long distances, and humanity will gradually be confined to a certain area."

Just then, a tall, beautiful woman with a high ponytail and wearing a light gray tracksuit appeared in front of Jiang Ning.

She had a light sheen of sweat on her forehead, radiating youthful energy. Her face was beautiful and captivating, yet she appeared tense.

"Big brother, can you help me? I feel like I'm being followed..."

"I won't help!"

Jiang Ning stood up and turned to leave, amidst her bright, surprised gaze.

Are you kidding me?

In terms of physical strength, my weak body probably can't even compare to this beautiful woman who's jogging in the morning.

If there's real danger, the one who runs the slowest will definitely suffer.

Besides, Jiang Ning is now certain that he will not change as the world regresses.

This means that one may still experience birth, aging, sickness, and death.

If I am injured or die, then when the world reverses tomorrow, I will likely remain injured, or even disappear altogether.

If someone is asked to be a hero and rescue a damsel in distress in this situation, it can only mean that the other person was unlucky and picked the wrong person.