Su Yunbai did not make any promises to Huo Qinian, but she did not pursue the matter of Huo Qinian moving into her house.

From then on, Huo Qinian seemed to let go of his courage and no longer had any scruples. He not only sent voice and text messages to Su Yunbai, but also often sent her all kinds of photos taken casually, with a strong desire to share.

If it were in the past, Su Yunbai might not pay attention to him, but the epidemic has really changed so many things that she actually has some greed for this kind of empty company.

Before the epidemic, Su Yunbai always thought that she was a very homely person. After the news of working from home came out, she actually accepted this working mode well except for worrying about the epidemic.

But she didn't expect that this home office would be measured in months or even years.

The stay-at-home order in the United States is not strictly enforced. If you are brave enough, you can still find someone to have a party until dawn, and no one will watch you strictly.

But the problem is that the epidemic data in the United States is too scary. Hundreds of thousands of new cases every day are not a big deal. With such data, how dare people with a sense of crisis act rashly?

Su Yunbai will never go out unless it is necessary.

But facing electronic products and looking at the distorted faces of students on the computer every day - sometimes the students don't even turn on the camera - Su Yunbai always feels that she is performing a one-man show with no one watching. She doesn't know whether the students behind the windows are really listening to her lectures seriously across the Internet.

Gradually, some students began to skip classes, ask for leave, fail quizzes, and develop psychological problems...

Let alone the students, Su Yunbai could feel an unbearable sense of loneliness. Occasionally, she would suddenly stop in the middle of a lecture, not because her train of thought was interrupted, but because she always felt that there was space around her and wondered if she heard any echo. At

this time, Su Yunbai was very glad that she had kept Mary. With Mary, at least she had someone to talk to in this house.

In the face of the epidemic, tomorrow seems to be full of disturbing uncertainty. Su Yunbai and her colleagues are still working normally, but she has discovered, not surprisingly, that everyone's office efficiency seems to have decreased.

Affected by the epidemic, many people's mentality and perspective on thinking about problems inevitably tend to be conservative, and Su Yunbai is no exception.

When the night was still, she began to think about some questions that she had never thought about before. For example, restraint and indulgence, delayed enjoyment and enjoying it in time...

The world is changing so fast. Compared with the uncertainty of tomorrow, love and hate seem to be light.

Old friends are more precious because of this. After all, no matter what, they are one of the proofs of your existence in this world. And you can't even be sure which will come first, tomorrow or an accident.

A year ago, who could have thought that the world would become like this? If you can't know the future path clearly, shouldn't you let go of those knots in your heart early and give the past a chance to reconcile?

Perhaps influenced by this mentality, when Huo Qinian persisted in sharing his daily life, Su Yunbai did not refuse, and occasionally she would join in the fun.

Time passed slowly while working from home. The domestic epidemic has gradually calmed down, and control has been very strict; the epidemic in the United States has finally survived the peak, and is still developing at a considerable daily rate.

But people here seem to be unable to wait for the lockdown to be lifted.

In the fifty states of the United States, state governments have successively announced the lifting of the lockdown and the resumption of normal business activities. The state government where R University is located finally announced the lifting of the lockdown in the new year.

R University's policy is conservative. Even in response to the call of the state government, the school still adopts a hybrid offline and online teaching model.

But the overall environment has tended to be open.

In the new year, Su Yunbai applied for a new project. The new project needs the support of experimental data, and this experiment is best done at X University in T State. It just so happened that the university invited her to go there for a week-long visit...

Su Yunbai has been hesitating whether to go.

The epidemic infection in T State has not been cleared. In fact, in the concept of Americans, there may not be such a concept as zero. It seems to be a success to control the daily increase to a not-so-exaggerated number.

For the locals in T State, the epidemic does not seem to be a very serious problem anymore. After all, their state government has long announced the lifting of the blockade.

Su Yunbai is a little worried. Because of the pandemic, she had never considered taking a domestic flight to T State. In this way, if she really wanted to visit X University, she would have to drive there by herself.

It takes nearly 20 hours to drive from R University to X University. Su Yunbai couldn't drive for such a long time alone, and she felt a little uneasy being alone.

Su Yunbai tried to ask Mary, thinking that she would get an opposing answer, but Mary agreed happily without hesitation.

For Mary, she would rather stay up late and drive, even if it takes nearly twenty hours, than stay at home - she is a generation that grew up under the influence of American culture, and is more adapted to the rich outdoor activities in the United States. She was almost going crazy.

With Mary's support, Su Yunbai weighed the pros and cons again and again, and finally agreed to the invitation from University X.

University R is in the north of the United States, and the temperature can drop to minus ten degrees Celsius in winter. State T is in the southernmost part of the United States, and the climate is relatively warm. Even at this time in February, the highest temperature in the local area where University X is located can reach fifteen or sixteen degrees Celsius, which is almost comparable to Hainan in China.

Su Yunbai planned to rest for one night on the way. Considering that they would be in the car all the way, and the temperature in X University was relatively warm, she reduced the thickness of the clothes she brought.

Even so, she still brought two down jackets, one large and one small, just in case. After all, although the journey was from north to south, most of the time would be spent in colder areas.

Except for some setbacks on the road, Su Yunbai's trip to X University was generally very successful. The experiment went smoothly, the data results were in line with expectations, and the visit was "very enjoyable for the guests."

The temperature in X University is indeed warm for winter. Even if the purpose of this trip is not considered official, it is not in vain if it is just for fun.

After the visit, Su Yunbai rested for a day, and left X University before the weather forecast said the temperature would drop, and drove all the way north.

Before the car left the county where X University was located, it started snowing on the road.

It rarely snows in T State in winter, just like it is rare to see snow in the south of the country. Now it is snowing here, which is already considered quite extreme weather.

Sure enough, there were children on the road shouting for snow.

Su Yunbai and Mary did not take the snow too seriously, thinking that it would stop soon, so they did not stop to rest.

Who knew that this time, their luck was so bad. Not only did the snow not stop, it got heavier and heavier, and it lasted longer and longer.

Finally, everyone realized that T State was experiencing a cold temperature that could be said to be rare in a century. The temperature was usually around ten degrees Celsius, but after several freezing rains and freezing snows, it was close to minus ten degrees Celsius in just two days.

Extreme climate brings not only temperature changes, but also a series of subsequent disasters.

Urban construction in the United States was completed in the 1960s and 1970s and has been in use since then. Although it is said to be inspected every year, in fact, except for the infrastructure in big cities, many facilities in other places are really old.

Heavy snow and cooling have brought a heavy burden to the local power grid. Many lines were crushed by the snow, causing large-scale power outages.

Sometimes it doesn't even snow in T State in winter, so how could there be snowplows? The snow, 10 to 20 centimeters thick, was like a huge carpet, covering all the land in T State, large and small. At a glance, it was all white. The car was stuck in it, and there was not enough power to push through the snow to make a path, let alone find a way out.

When most cities in T State were built, this extreme climate that only happens once in a century was not taken into consideration. The cold temperature exceeded the limits of many infrastructure designs, so after the power outage, the water supply was cut off as expected. The water pipes were even frozen and cracked, and many people's homes became a sea of ​​water.

The water and power outages and the sudden drop in temperature, the roads were blocked, the logistics were interrupted, and the epidemic was still affecting...

Two days later, deaths began to occur in T State due to this snowstorm.

The local municipal management was not in place, and no disaster warning was carried out in advance. Although Su Yunbai and Mary knew that the temperature would drop recently, they were used to living in a place where the snow accumulation could even reach 20 to 30 centimeters in winter. They didn't think that this drop in temperature would be a big deal.

The incident happened suddenly, and the two were trapped in T State. The local roads were blocked, and the water and power outages inevitably led to the outage. Twenty-second hours after the network was cut off, the local base station was out of power and there was no signal.

Su Yunbai and Mary officially lost contact with the outside world.

Huo Qinian simply couldn't believe the news he heard. He kicked over the chair in anger and said with gritted teeth: "America in 2021! There will be water, electricity, network, traffic, and even death due to a sudden heavy snow!

"Jonathan, tell me, is it the media around the world that exaggerates your strength? Are you actually living in the third world?

"What about power restoration? What about disaster relief?... Are all the fucking people in your government dead?!"

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Gillian, calm down, calm down. Brother, I know you are anxious, but scolding people can't solve the problem, okay? In fact, if it makes you feel better, scolding the government is indeed what every American is doing..."

A sneer came from the other end of the phone.

Jonathan was really a little weak, "Okay, okay, I'm not kidding. Listen, Gillian, we all know the tricks of politicians. The election has just passed, and no one cares what's going on in T State. Yes, there are dead people there, and local government officials are even on vacation...

"What I mean is, don't expect politicians to understand, right? We have to act ourselves..."

On the other end of the phone, after a deep breath, Huo Qinian's voice came: "Help you find someone, I don't care who you find, security companies, veterans, or even □□... In short, I want someone who can do it. This time, I owe you a favor.

"The last time I contacted her was 22 hours ago. At that time, she was in J County in the north of T State. There were two of them, both of whom were Asian. The other one was called Mary, and she was her bodyguard. I will send you the photo later.

"Professor Su drove a white Lexus with a license plate number of...

" "Twenty-seven hours ago, Mary's latest selfie on Twitter showed that she was wearing a long black down jacket that day...

" "They plan to return to R University from X University in T State, and they should follow the navigation provided by Google Maps. You should ask people to look for them along the way first. If they can't find them, search the surrounding area..."

Huo Qinian quickly reported a series of information, and then said, "I'm leaving for the airport now. I will make a plan on the way and land at the nearest and most convenient airport. I will tell you my destination before I leave... I hope to hear good news from you after I land.

"Also, help me get some snowsweepers!"

He took a deep breath, "Qiong En, please!"

After the call, Huo Qinian did not delay any longer, and got up and strode out the door.

While the car was driving to the airport, he called Director Huo: "I'm going to Yunbai right now, you take care of the company."

He waited for Director Huo's response, and the inevitable curses before the response.

Who knew that this time, Director Huo was just stunned for a moment, and asked: "Did something happen to Yunbai?"

Huo Qinian was silent for a few seconds, pursed his lips: "Extreme weather in T State, snowstorm... Yunbai, lost contact."

On the other end of the phone, Director Huo's breathing became heavier.

After a short moment, he said: "I'll take care of the company, your father is not dead yet, go ahead."

Huo Qinian really stopped caring.

He called people and looked up information, and determined the take-off and landing airport of the private jet in the shortest time possible, then opened the map of T State and zoomed in.

Huo Qinian's brain worked quickly.

It started snowing at two o'clock in the afternoon...but when will the snow get heavy? Yun Bai is a person who seeks stability. If it snows heavily, she will definitely not leave.

She left at around eight o'clock in the morning local time. According to the speed of the car, she could probably reach the

place before it snowed... Huo Qinian thought about everything he could think of, but his heart still couldn't calm down.

He couldn't help but look through the foreign news again.

T State's once-in-a-century cold winter...

extreme weather...

somewhere a family of three lived in a garage, burning firewood for heating and suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning...

five people were killed or injured...

the more Huo Qinian read, the more anxious he felt.

He knew that Su Yunbai was going to X University in T State, and he expressed his support. She had been staying at home for a year, and the only activity she did was to go to the supermarket every month or so... How could a normal person stay locked up like this?

He was afraid that she would get sick, and when he heard that she would take Mary with her when she went to T State, he didn't object.

That's it! She hadn't been out for almost a whole year, and just like that, she encountered such a natural disaster.

He was not sensitive enough, thinking that it was just a bit of cold weather, who knew it would be so serious.

He should have warned her earlier. It was obvious that they could still get in touch at the beginning. If he had let her prepare at that time, wouldn't she have been so passive?

He should have gone to see her earlier.

China-US flights are often cancelled, so what if the air tickets are in short supply? What is he doing with all that money? Can't he afford this little money?

So what if he has to be quarantined for nearly a month each way back and forth? Couldn't he have asked Assistant Xu to deliver documents to his house every day?

The epidemic has been going on for more than a year. Can't the Huo company really not function without him?

Why didn't he go to see her earlier? !

He should have gone there earlier.

Huo Qinian was angry and regretful.

He held the phone. He had always been proud and believed in his own abilities, but for the first time he humbly prayed that luck would be on their side.

She must be safe.