Chapter 1: Doomsday Prophecy
"...the coming disaster will destroy everything..."
In the heavy rain, one car after another drove out of the village, rushing forward and soon disappeared in the rain.
Jiang Qian sat by the car window, watching the cars passing by one after another at high speed. She became nervous and felt like she was really running for her life.
Yes, they were running for their lives.
As for why she wanted to run for her life, it all started with a live broadcast she watched three days ago.
…
At the end of May, golden waves of wheat surged in the fields, and it was harvest season again.
Jiang Qian was woken up by the heat. Feeling the steam in the air, she finally couldn't bear it anymore and turned on the air conditioner.
The old air conditioner was humming, and the temperature in the room slowly dropped. As the air conditioner fan blades swayed, a slight cool breeze blew through the room.
She sighed comfortably, picked up the phone thrown beside the bed, checked the time, and leaned against the headboard to watch short videos boredly.
In recent years, live video streaming software has emerged in an endless stream, attracting more and more people to the industry. However, after more than a decade, only one or two of the most successful ones remain.
What Jiang Qian was watching was Qingle, the video live streaming software with the most users and traffic on the market.
Short videos and short dramas of moderate length, with concentrated jokes and a concise plot, are much more attractive than long, boring and time-consuming TV dramas and web series.
But after all, there are only a limited number of creators who can truly lead the trend. No matter how attractive something is, you will get tired of it after seeing it too much.
Jiang Qian slid her fingers habitually across the screen of her mobile phone, but she yawned unconsciously and tears welled up from the corners of her eyes.
It's boring, it's the same thing over and over again. Apart from some clichés, there are advertisements from major brands and live broadcasts selling products.
Jiang Qian was just wondering whether to continue sleeping, but the next second, the sound coming from the cell phone speaker attracted all her attention.
"...The end of the world will come in four days, on the night of May 31st. By then, disaster movies will become reality. Zombies, mutated plants and animals, all kinds of disasters will come..."
Jiang Qian looked at the words "jumping off a building live" in the lower left corner of the screen, the number of online viewers exceeding 30,000 in the upper right corner, and the comments scrolling so fast at the bottom that they were almost indistinguishable. She wondered inwardly: How dare these professionals write such a live broadcast script just to attract attention? Aren't they afraid of getting their accounts blocked?
But the middle-aged man on the screen obviously had no such concerns, and his face still had a genuine expression of panic.
"...I'm not lying, this is true..."
"The coming disaster will destroy everything..."
"Hoarding supplies is useless... Even if humans were to acquire superpowers, it wouldn't help. This is a punishment from heaven..."
"Starting tomorrow night, it will begin to rain all over the country, even the whole world. Five days of torrential downpours will submerge everything. When the rain stops, humanity will be doomed..."
His acting was quite convincing, much better than some of the people who are active on the big and small screens nowadays who call themselves actors.
Jiang Qian thought so in her heart and yawned again.
But in just a moment, the man on the screen suddenly disappeared, and the next live broadcast room popped up automatically.
Jiang Qian slid her finger down, wanting to watch the live broadcast again, but she couldn't find it.
She recalled the name of the live broadcast room from her faint memory and entered it into the search box, but still found nothing.
“Harmony is so fast!”
Jiang Qian sighed softly, but didn't care much.
In recent years, the requirements for the live broadcast industry have become increasingly stringent, and website administrators and Internet police are almost always keeping an eye on public opinion and topics on the Internet. Such a sensitive topic, with so many viewers, will definitely attract other people's attention, so it is not surprising that the live broadcast room is blocked.
As for the man who threatened to jump off the building, Jiang Qian was not worried. He was probably taken into custody by the police as soon as the live broadcast room was closed.
She tapped her finger, returned to the homepage, and continued to watch short videos.
This live broadcast did not leave any trace in her heart.
After all, in order to attract attention, internet celebrities will even tailor scripts for the general public.
It is difficult for the audience to know what is true and what is false, and gradually, they become immune to various topics.
Just like Jiang Qian, no matter how bizarre things are, she just watches them for fun and rarely shows any real feelings. After all, no one likes the feeling of being used as a gun or a fool by others.
She felt that the live broadcast must have been a script written in advance to attract everyone's attention and traffic.
Over the years, there have been theories about the end of the world, and even many literary works about the end of the world have appeared on the Internet. However, none of these prophecies about the end of the world have ever come true. They are just some eye-catching gimmicks.
Jiang Qian always felt this way until the next night, when it suddenly rained.
Peanut-sized raindrops hit the ground and roof tiles, and the ground was quickly soaked.
Jiang Qian braved the rain to collect all the clothes drying in the yard. In just over a minute, she was completely soaked.
She went back to her room to change her clothes, and looked out the window at the heavy rain. Somehow, she suddenly thought of the prank-like live broadcast she saw yesterday, and felt a little panicked for a moment.
But she quickly shook her head and suppressed the outrageous guess in her mind. She herself felt it was ridiculous to believe in this nonsensical prophecy.
How could it possibly be the end of the world? As for the prediction of rain, anyone could tell by checking the weather forecast in advance!
But even thinking this way, the man's genuine expression of panic and despair in the live broadcast still planted a seed in her heart, so that Jiang Qian was almost immersed in a bizarre dream for the entire night. When she woke up, her forehead and back were covered with sweat.
Even after waking up, the feeling of helplessness and despair in the dream still lingered and enveloped her. It took Jiang Qian a long time to calm down.
Is this what it means to dream at night what you think about during the day?
She shook her head, forgot all the bad memories in her mind, changed her clothes and went out. Breakfast was already on the table and her parents had just sat down.
Thick millet porridge, steamed buns, and a small bowl of pickles.
"It's been raining so hard that I didn't go to the garden to pick vegetables. We'll just have to make do with what we have for now!"
Mother Huang Liping looked at the rain outside, which was not any lighter than yesterday, and was worried.
"I was planning to harvest the wheat today or tomorrow, but now that the heavy rain is coming, I don't know how long I'll have to wait! This weather forecast is so unreliable."
Jiang Qian finished washing up and was about to sit down to eat. When she heard this, something flashed through her mind.
"Why is the weather forecast wrong? Didn't it say it was going to rain?"
"That's right. The weather forecast had predicted sunny skies until June 3rd, with the lowest daytime temperature reaching 34 degrees Celsius. I was worried I'd get heatstroke while harvesting wheat, so I was thinking of buying some Huoxiang Zhengqi water. But who knew it would suddenly start raining so heavily? It's been raining since last night and hasn't stopped yet. Dad, our fields are low-lying. You should go check on them later to make sure the creek doesn't overflow and flood our fields."
"I know, I'll be there soon." Jiang Weimin, who was slurping his meal, replied vaguely, "It shouldn't be that serious. It's only June, so it's not flood season yet!"
Their area is dry and rainy, and the flood season is usually in July.
But as Jiang Qian ate, the feeling of uneasiness in her heart grew stronger and stronger.
After dinner, she didn't help her mother clean up the dishes as usual, but went straight back to her room.
She typed the keyword "end of the world live broadcast" into the search box, but still found nothing. The blankness of the page on her phone almost made her think that the live broadcast she had watched yesterday was just a dream.
But she did not give up. She changed several groups of words and finally found what she was looking for in a post.
[Who watched the Qingle live broadcast that was 404-ed a few days ago? Everyone thinks it's real or fake]
I, I, I saw it.
[The acting is really good. Uncle can debut directly. Shouldn't he win the Best Actor award? ]
[No, you all think it’s fake? ]
【If it’s not fake, how can it be true? 】
[To be honest, I thought it was fake before, but now... let me show you a picture of heavy rain at my house.]
"No way? Are there still people who really believe that guy's doomsday story? That's clearly a script. After being fooled by online rumors so many times, don't you know that every mistake is a lesson learned?"
[The doomsday theory has been around for so many years, but it has never come true. Those who understand will understand.]
[But what's with this sudden downpour? I checked the weather forecast during the livestream, and it was supposed to be sunny for the next week.]
[Isn't there often a time when the weather forecast is inaccurate? Don't make a fuss.]
[I don't want to believe it either, but the weather forecast says it's going to rain for at least three days. It's better to be prepared, right? We haven't seen this much rain in the northwest in over a decade.]
[A red alert has been issued in the south. I just received news from the school that the children will be given a collective holiday this afternoon and will be taking online classes at home.]
[But this doesn’t mean anything, right?]
[But the livestreaming incident has caused such a big stir, and aside from the livestreaming room being shut down, the platform and officials haven't given any notice or explanation. If it were fake, wouldn't a rumor-mongering notice have already been issued?]
[It's terrifying to think about it, can't it be true? ]
[Don't scare yourself. The investigation may still be ongoing, and even the official progress report is not that fast.]
[But since it looks like the rain is going to continue for two more days, it's probably best to stock up on some food at home, right? At least prepare some food and drinks. We need to eat every day anyway, so we can't waste them.]
[We really need to be prepared. The drainage facilities in our old town are not good. The water on the road is almost up to my knees. I am an adult male, 183 cm tall.]
The water level in our river has also risen a lot. The owner of the supermarket near my home has already closed up shop and gone home.
Even if there is no doomsday, be prepared.
[Hahaha, now I have to show off my refrigerator, it's never empty [picture.jpg]]
[You guys didn't really believe this, did you? Have you finished all the salt you bought a few years ago?]
It seems the capitalists' exploitation isn't cruel enough. You're still willing to spread this kind of rumor.
"How can we spread rumors and make you sure the apocalypse is fake? What would you do if it were true?"
[If the apocalypse really happens, can I stand on my head and eat shit? I've reported it, no thanks]
[Then I'll wait...]
…
Jiang Qian looked at it and turned the page with her fingers, but the next second she saw a familiar blank page.
The report was processed quite quickly!
【Author’s words】
Although the end of the world is fake, it is a fictional era. What I say is true! [Bang the table!] - From an author who writes about the end of the world
We met by chance. Thank you all for your support. I hope this work will satisfy you. Love you!
The author's level is limited, and I welcome all the experts to give me some advice! [Bow]
Pre-collected article "Mom, I'm Your Great Aunt (Era)"
[Please collect] This article is also known as "Reporting Spring Sunshine". The manuscript has 160,000 words and is expected to be published in November 2025.
In her senior year, Lin Anan lost her mother due to an accident at a construction site in her hometown.
After graduation, she returned to the newly built house in her hometown where she had imagined a beautiful future life with her mother. However, when she opened the kitchen door, she unexpectedly discovered another world behind this wooden door.
In this world, the elders in her hometown are still young, and her deceased mother is still a little kid. And she has become her mother's adoptive mother.
If you had the chance to go back to the 1980s, what would you like to do?
Lin Anan’s answer was, in this life, I want my mother to live a happy and fulfilling life!
As for helping relatives and friends get rich, Lin Anan said it was just a matter of convenience!
The introduction is poor, so please read the main text.
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Content tags: time travel farming text modern fiction era new style daily
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