Inside a coffee shop on a commercial street in City A.
"With your salary, you think you can have a girlfriend?" The woman sitting opposite Liu Nian suddenly raised her voice, breaking the tranquility of the coffee shop after hearing Liu Nian's answer.
After a rustling sound, the girl opposite stood up.
"I shouldn't have come. Aunt Wang's blind date is really unreliable." The woman muttered under her breath as she adjusted the delicate handbag on her wrist, gave the man opposite her a disdainful look, and then got up and left.
"Heh." Liu Nian gave a numb laugh, then propped his chin up with his hand as if deep in thought. "How many times has this happened?"
Aunt Wang, the cleaning lady at the company, noticed that Liu Nian was getting on in years and still didn't have a girlfriend, so she started arranging blind dates for him.
Unable to refuse Aunt Wang's enthusiasm, Liu Nian arrived at the designated coffee shop on time on the weekend afternoon.
With the girl getting straight to the point, the scene at the beginning of the article came about!
After finishing the still-warm coffee in her cup and swallowing the bitterness between her lips and teeth, Liu Nian thought, "You can't do anything without money." She got up, went to the counter to pay, and left.
The coffee shop was packed on the weekend, with groups of two or three people sitting in pairs or facing each other everywhere you looked.
Everyone deliberately lowered their voices to avoid disturbing others in public, demonstrating the magnanimity of a great nation!
The two of them each ordered a cup of coffee, and the woman also ordered a few desserts. Not many. After quickly scanning the code to pay, Liu Nian smiled apologetically at the beautiful shop manager and walked out of the coffee shop.
It was the weekend, and the streets were bustling with people, with crowds thronging the shops along the street.
Looking at the people coming and going on the street, Liu Nian raised his wrist to check his watch. It was past nine o'clock at night, and he suddenly felt like he didn't know how to kill the remaining time.
The weather at the end of the month was warm and pleasant, making Liu Nian feel languid.
Shaking her head to clear her mind of the chaotic thoughts, Liu Nian quickly merged into the bustling crowd on the street.
———————Divider Line————————
At the same time, a giant hourglass suddenly appeared in the sky above various countries. With a soft sound, the fine sand at the top of the hourglass began to slowly flow into the funnel below.
Strangely, no matter where people are in the wild, they can clearly see the hourglass when they look up, and even the fine sand flowing down the hourglass is clearly visible!
Such a strange event prompted scholars to study the speed at which the fine sand flowed away. They discovered that if the hourglass ran out exactly at 10 PM in the Eastern Time Zone (UTC+8), it would be a truly bizarre occurrence.
Even more extreme, helicopters were dispatched to fly towards the location of the hourglass.
The strange thing happened again: the hourglass seemed to be a projection, and the helicopter passed straight through it.
Nothing happened; it was as if someone had played a prank.
However, the internet exploded with all sorts of opinions about this matter.
Those who firmly believe in doomsday themes have quietly begun building cities and stockpiling food; religious believers have begun to preach their doctrines; only keyboard warriors are banging their keyboards away.
Most people just joined in the commotion with a "let's watch the show" attitude, while a small number of rational people waited for the government's response.
While the government, experts, and livestreamers are busy promoting their views through their respective channels, the fine sand continues to flow away.
Almost there, it's in! The sand in the hourglass has finally run out.
Time is up!
Without warning, it started raining, catching the crowd outside who were there to watch the spectacle completely off guard.
"It doesn't seem like anything serious. Could it really be a prank?"
"Achoo! Oh no, I'm catching a cold!"
"Damn it, I didn't bring an umbrella."
"Ouch! Someone stepped on me! That hurts!!"
With nothing exciting to see, the crowds began to head home in twos and threes. This story after the rain will likely soon become just another topic of conversation.
The night remained dark, but the rain poured down harder and harder!
Every now and then a flash of lightning would streak across the sky, followed by the sound of thunder!
Within the clouds illuminated by lightning, an unknown entity is being conceived.
That night, the people who had been soaked by the rain began to catch colds and fevers on and off.
When medication proved ineffective, the patient's family members took him to the hospital for treatment.
The streets were filled with people heading to the hospital, and vehicles filled every spot, gradually bringing traffic to a standstill.
Even if you manage to avoid the crowds, the hospital is still overcrowded.
Looking around, the lawn in front of the door, the lobby, and even the corridors were filled with patients and their families who had come for treatment.
Two long lines formed at the registration desk, and it was difficult to find a bed for a while.
Faced with the sudden arrival of patients, doctors and police officers who were off duty were woken up by phone calls, hurriedly dressed, and returned to their respective posts.
The once peaceful city was instantly engulfed in chaos.
At the entrance of a hospital's ICU, the attending physician pushed open the door, took off his mask, and conveyed the news of the patient's passing to the anxious family members at the door.
Seeing the heartbroken family members of the patients around him, the doctor softly said "Please accept my condolences" and prepared to leave.
Having been a doctor for so long, the same scenes have numbed a doctor's heart.
Suddenly, a nurse screamed from the ward, followed by the door being violently pushed open.
A nurse then ran out of the ward, her white coat stained with blood.
The sudden turn of events startled the doctor. He steadied himself and was about to ask a question.
The nurse turned her head and looked around, her eyes filled with terror. When she saw the doctor, she ran straight towards him, speaking as she ran.
"Dr. Lin, after you left, the patient suddenly opened his eyes and started biting everyone he saw. He was very strong, and we couldn't subdue him." To prove her point, the nurse released her left hand from her right arm, revealing two rows of clear teeth marks on her right forearm, with blood dripping from the wounds onto the floor, showing how vicious the bites were!
The man, referred to as Dr. Lin, ignored the family members who rushed into the ward and helped the nurse walk towards the duty room, intending to bandage the nurse's wound first, where there were security guards and a first-aid kit.
Before I even reached the duty room, several more patients receiving IV drips in the corridor began attacking those around them.
The patient was very strong, and it took several family members working together to pull "him" off the person who had been tackled.
The patient's eyes were bloodshot, and blood still lingered at the corners of his mouth. He was frantically twisting his body, trying to break free from the restraints of the crowd.
The man who was unfortunately tackled was lying face down, apparently bitten on the neck, and was unconscious except for an occasional twitch.
Just as Dr. Lin was about to squat down to examine her, she was suddenly hugged from behind.
Just as he was wondering what was going on, a sharp pain shot through his shoulder. He turned his head with difficulty and saw the injured nurse opening her mouth to bite his neck.
Dr. Lin used all his strength to shove the nurse away and staggered toward the duty room.
Three meters, two meters, almost there.
He pushed the door open, turned around and locked it. Before he could even catch his breath, he noticed that the nurse in the duty room was also staring at him with bloodshot eyes.
Just as she was about to turn around and open the door, Dr. Lin felt so sleepy and wanted to go to sleep, so she collapsed weakly against the door.
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