Chapter 1: Eternal Night
On that day, the sun set and never rose again...
Eternal Night. The world was pitch-black, like an unfathomable abyss seeking to swallow everything.
Daylight had long since become a thing of the past, a legend.
Across the vast frozen earth, a biting wind howled, and a blizzard hammered down. The snow on the ground had already accumulated to the height of a grown man’s waist.
Twin Tree Village was half-submerged in the drifts.
With only forty or fifty households, it looked like a village forgotten by time. In the darkness of the night, one could only see the blurred outlines of clusters of houses.
Amidst the wailing gale, many roofs shook slightly, appearing as if they might be torn off at any moment.
Qin Ming was very weak. Woken by hunger, his stomach growled incessantly. In the cold night, the mere thought of any kind of food made him salivate uncontrollably.
It wasn't just steaming meat or fresh, delicious fruits; even the thought of a cold, hard steamed bun brought a phantom sweetness to his mouth, making his throat ache with longing.
The world was frozen solid. Both inside and outside the house, the darkness was so thick it felt suffocating.
Qin Ming wrapped his tattered quilt tightly around himself. The warmth of the heated brick bed could not block the piercing cold from outside. The air he inhaled into his lungs felt like shards of ice, leaving a stinging trail behind.
He forced himself to stop thinking about food; otherwise, the acid in his stomach and mouth would start to churn.
As he calmed his emotions, he suddenly realized that his mind was very clear. He was no longer groggy like he had been in the past. Could his "mysterious illness" finally be leaving him?
Despite being plagued by hunger and cold, the prospect of a turnaround after a long, incurable illness brought a spark to his eyes. He waited for the arrival of "Shallow Night."
As time passed, the wind gradually died down, and the swirling, goose-feather snowflakes thinned into a light dusting.
Movement stirred in the neighboring yard, followed by the sound of a conversation. It was a young couple, Lu Ze and Liang Wanqing.
"Where are you going? Are you giving food to Qin Ming again?" Liang Wanqing’s voice gradually rose in pitch.
"He’s been very sick. He's only sixteen or seventeen, living all alone. It’s quite pitiful," Lu Ze said in a low voice.
"Don't you know we don't have much left to eat at home? If this continues, our two children will go hungry!" Liang Wanqing said, her emotions becoming heated.
"The blizzard has stopped. There will be a way to solve it." Lu Ze looked out at the pitch-black world.
...
Hearing the couple's argument, Qin Ming felt a deep sense of guilt. He didn't want to accept Lu Ze's kindness anymore; in a year like this, every family was struggling.
He had already gotten up from the brick bed. Even after putting on his cotton-padded clothes, he still felt cold, so he found an old fur coat in the cupboard and wrapped it around himself. He paced back and forth in the pitch-dark room, rubbing his hands together.
After his long illness, his tall frame was now somewhat thin. His shoulder-length black hair had lost some of its luster, and his handsome face was slightly pale. However, his clear eyes were bright and full of spirit. Though he looked sickly, he carried an air of resilience.
A month ago, he had struggled to escape from the mountains. At that time, his hands and feet had turned black, and he had been seriously ill ever since.
As for his companions, they had died the very day they returned.
Qin Ming had been plagued by the "mysterious illness," and many people thought he wouldn't survive.
Yet he had endured until now, and he was clearly improving.
Thinking back to the unknown dangers in the mountains, he still felt a lingering sense of dread.
The darkness outside the house changed, looking as if a drop of ink in a small amount of water had begun to dilute. "Shallow Night" had arrived, which was the "daytime" of this era.
Clearly, this was only slightly better than "Deep Night." The world remained shrouded in night, and distant objects could not be seen clearly.
The courtyard gate was pushed open. Lu Ze arrived. His body was sturdy and strong. Using a shovel, he cleared the snow to both sides, quickly carving out a path to the front door.
Qin Ming opened the door, which had been blocked by snow, and called out, "Brother Lu."
Lu Ze carried a glowing cloth bag. He poured its contents into a stone basin in the snow. A pile of glowing red stones fell with a crisp clatter, their light piercing the darkness.
These were "Sun Stones." Their very name embodied a beautiful wish of the people in this era. At this moment, they illuminated the courtyard.
Lu Ze was surprised. "Xiao Qin, your spirit seems much better."
Qin Ming invited him inside and told him the truth: he was no longer groggy and felt like he was truly recovering.
Lu Ze remarked that he was tough; surviving a "mysterious illness" from the mountains was no small feat. He poured the remaining glowing stones from the bag into a bronze basin inside the room, and the entire space immediately brightened.
Sun Stones were taken from "Fire Springs." Although they glowed with a fiery radiance, their temperature was nowhere near as high as a human's body heat. They would extinguish automatically after several hours and needed to be sent back to a Fire Spring to be "nurtured" again.
"Here!" Lu Ze handed over a food box.
Qin Ming had been sick for a month. His food stores had run out many days ago, and he had relied entirely on Lu Ze’s help. Having heard the couple’s argument earlier and knowing their situation wasn't great, he felt guilty.
"Eat it while it's hot." Lu Ze was an honest man who believed in repaying kindness. Once, he had been lost in the pitch-black, boundless forest, and it was Qin Ming who had called his name over and over again to lead him back.
Looking at the steaming black-flour steamed buns, the intense hunger made Qin Ming instinctively swallow.
"Why are you just standing there? Your body hasn't recovered yet. You can't get better if you're hungry. Are you really going to be a stranger now?" Lu Ze placed the food box directly into his hands.
"Brother Lu!" In the end, Qin Ming didn't stand on ceremony. He tore off a piece of the bun. It felt coarse, but as he wolfed it down, it tasted sweet and fragrant.
"Call me if you need anything," Lu Ze said before turning to leave.
As the hunger receded, Qin Ming’s energy returned. The various discomforts in his body were vanishing, confirming that his lingering ailment was truly fading.
He wanted to go out for some fresh air and a walk. He pushed open the courtyard gate and stepped onto the street. The weather was exceptionally cold; every breath he took turned into a thick white mist.
During Shallow Night—this era's "daylight"—every household had the fiery glow of Sun Stones flowing within, giving the streets a faint light as well.
"Qin Ming, is your body alright now?" someone noticed him.
"Xiao Qin, let me have a look." Granny Zhou from the north street pulled him over, looking him up and down. She found that his complexion was much better than the last time she saw him.
Qin Ming greeted her with a smile and told them that his health was indeed almost restored.
There weren't many people at the intersection, and they all wore expressions of disbelief. Could one truly recover after being afflicted by a "mysterious illness"?
"Xiao Qin, even if your health is improving, don't be in a hurry to go out. It's very dangerous outside right now," Granny Zhou warned, looking toward the ink-black world outside the village.
Other neighbors also looked troubled. It was a bad year, and the lack of food was a major problem. If things continued like this, people would starve to death.
Qin Ming noticed that the once kind and gentle Granny Zhou was now pale, her body so thin and frail that she looked like she might blow over in the wind.
After the others had left, Granny Zhou carefully took a few pieces of dried ground-potato from her pocket and pressed them into Qin Ming’s hand.
Qin Ming quickly pushed them back. The old woman was so elderly and clearly hungry herself; how could he take the rations she needed to survive?
Every household had cleared the road near their homes, but not thoroughly. There was still snow that crunched underfoot. Breathing out white mist, Qin Ming walked forward.
As he neared the edge of the village, he stopped.
In front of a larger courtyard, there was a small threshing floor. A black mountain goat, nearly as tall as a grown man's shoulder, was pulling a stone mill, crushing mutant wheat that looked like silver particles.
Not everyone was short on food; clearly, this family at the edge of the village was doing well.
Qin Ming stared at the black goat with burning eyes. Now that food and warmth were a struggle, he naturally hadn't eaten meat in a long time. He truly craved it.
The black goat was quite tall with thick horns and looked somewhat fierce. Sensing Qin Ming's gaze, it seemed startled, and its upturned tail immediately drooped.
"Xiao Qin, recovered? Those who survive a great disaster are bound to have good fortune later." A stocky middle-aged man with a beard stood at the courtyard gate. He assumed Qin Ming was looking at the mutant grain under the millstone—Silver Wheat. He continued, "There are many mouths to feed in the house, and it's being consumed too quickly. This is the last of my family's stores."
"Uncle Yang is impressive, being able to take care of such a large family in a year like this," Qin Ming said with a smile. He certainly didn't believe the man only had one bag of Silver Wheat left.
After greeting Yang Yongqing, he walked all the way to the edge of the village.
The "Fire Spring" was just ahead, illuminating the surroundings brightly.
It was a pool about sixteen feet square, enclosed by stacked stones. The stone wall was only knee-high, and inside was a mass of fiery red light.
In this blizzard season, although the Fire Spring inside was nearly exhausted and no longer bubbling up, it was still wreathed in flickering flames.
There were two trees in the pool, which was the origin of the name Twin Tree Village. One tree had pitch-black leaves, while the other had snow-white leaves. Neither withered in the bitter winter.