Chapter 1: Red Mist, Valley, and Canned Goods

Mali woke up from the darkness and first glanced at his phone.

The time was 7:55.

He got dressed and went to the kitchen, twisted open a bottle of mineral water to pour into a saucepan, and quickly finished washing up while the portable butane stove brought the water to a boil.

He took a bag of instant noodles from the storage rack, tore it open, and added the seasoning packet and the noodle cake into the boiling water one after another.

Next, using another cast-iron pan, he fried two slices of leftover luncheon meat from the night before, paired them with two spoonfuls of baked beans in tomato sauce and a marinated egg, and a nutritionally balanced breakfast was officially ready.

Mali carried the bowl to the dining table and pulled back the curtains.

Outside the window was a red mist so thick it felt substantial.

Mali didn't know when this red mist had appeared; by the time he opened his eyes in the hospital, the city was already shrouded in it.

At first, Mali was very wary of the red mist; after all, the color didn't look normal, and there wasn't the slightest sign of it dissipating.

But a week later, he bit the bullet and entered the red mist.

Mainly because he had no choice; the food he could find in the hospital had been mostly eaten, and only a few bottles of water remained.

Furthermore, the red mist was in a gaseous state and had completely mixed with the air; theoretically, hiding inside a building wouldn't be of much use.

Of course, besides the potential toxicity of the red mist itself, other dangers might lurk in the thick fog.

Mali still remembered a movie called "The Mist," which was about a mist that suddenly enveloped a small town, from which all sorts of terrifying monsters would emerge.

Therefore, during the first week, he was very resistant to leaving the inpatient building. Even when he later had to go out to scavenge for food and water, he was fully armed, carrying a fire axe and keeping his spirits at a heightened state of alert.

At the same time, he tried his best to stay within the hospital grounds and not go out the main gate.

However, as time passed, Mali never encountered any monsters, nor did he see any traces suspected to be left by monsters.

Gradually, his courage grew, and he began to actively head to the streets outside.

From three minutes to five, twenty, and then to an hour, two hours... the time Mali spent outside grew longer and longer.

The good news was that he still hadn't run into any monsters; the bad news was that he hadn't run into any other people either.

Not only were there no people, but even the animals and plants seemed to have disappeared.

In the entire city, it seemed that only Mali remained... as a living thing.

And the more he explored, the more Mali was left completely baffled.

Although electricity and tap water supplies were lost, and the factory production lines had stopped running, the city's infrastructure remained relatively intact and hadn't suffered much damage.

Even the supermarket shelves still held many undamaged goods; the instant noodles, mineral water, luncheon meat, and canned beans Mali was eating now were all brought from a nearby supermarket.

The production dates were mostly between 2024 and 2025, looking quite fresh.

But this made it even stranger.

Since supplies were still relatively abundant and there were no monsters in the red mist, why was he the only survivor?

Where had everyone else gone?

Unfortunately, there was no internet here anymore. Mali could only try to find answers in newspapers and magazines, yet the latest dated newspapers he could find were all stuck on August 19th.

Judging from the news above, everything was no different from usual; the front-page headline was a piece of news about a world humanoid robot sprint competition, and the second page introduced consumer loan subsidies.

The people in the city seemed to have moved away overnight, leaving only Mali behind.

So in the fourth week, realizing that the situation might not improve, Mali finally made up his mind to leave the city and take a look.

He found a Seal, loaded it with food and water, and cautiously drove onto the Lianhuo Expressway, heading west all the way.

As a result, at a place called Yue Gou on the map, the expressway suddenly broke off, and what cut it off was actually a mountain peak.

Mali was dumbfounded; he had traveled this road many times before, and this area should have been flat land.

Moreover, not only the expressway, but even the aluminum plant by the road was cut off by the sudden mountain peak, leaving only half of the factory building, as if it were growing on the mountain.

Mali didn't believe it and changed direction, only to be blocked by the big mountain again.

This mountain range was also wrapped in red mist, and its height could not be seen.

Mali tried to climb, but the rock wall was very slippery and steep. He climbed about six or seven meters high, unable to see the sky or find a trace of the ground. The fear in his heart climbed to the peak at this moment, and he could only return the way he came.

However, after some persistent exploration, Mali finally found a way out between Xiao Zhai Cun and Kou Ma Cun.

Calling it a way out, it was just that there was no longer the obstruction of a cliff; in its place was a valley.

Everywhere were black stones of various sizes and strange shapes. In such terrible road conditions, ordinary family cars could no longer pass.

Mali could only carry his mountaineering backpack. He brought about three days' worth of food and drinking water, but he only lasted half a day before he had to end this expedition hastily due to a sprained ankle and return to the city.

Besides the sore and swollen ankle, the fear of the unknown on the other side of the valley was actually a major reason hindering Mali from moving forward.

He hadn't forgotten the protagonist in "The Mist," who made almost every choice that seemed correct at the time, yet in the end, only received the most desperate ending.

In the end, it was because he had too little intelligence. How were other cities doing now? Were they also shrouded in red mist? What was on the other side of the valley? Were they survivors who had evacuated, or terrifying monsters lying dormant?

Or perhaps the outside world had already been destroyed, leaving only a desolate wasteland.

Mali sometimes felt that staying in the city was not bad.

Although he was the only one, at least it was quite safe, and the remaining supplies here were enough for him to live until he died of old age. However, after a period of time, he still made the decision to continue exploring the outside world.

It wasn't because of loneliness; it was mainly because not having fresh fruits and vegetables to eat was truly too uncomfortable.

Although he found many canned goods—tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, peas, eggs... and fruits like yellow peaches, oranges, lychees, and apples—the texture was completely incomparable to fresh ones.

So far, Mali could barely accept it, but at the thought of still eating these things decades later, he couldn't help but shudder.

Sure enough, he still had to go outside and take a look.

As the saying goes, food is the first necessity of the people.

As a Chinese person, not being able to eat properly was especially uncomfortable.

So even if it might cost him his life, Mali still planned to head to the other side of the valley, even if it was just to dig up some radishes to bring back. ===== CHAPTER 2 =====