The Blood Sun

Unable to sleep, Jiang Zhi stood on the balcony. Takes out a cigarette and lights it. The sky tonight is completely dark, the full moon is covered by clouds, and the stars are hidden.

Thinking back to Shen Yize's question, Jiang Zhi felt that his life was about to take a 180° turn. His hard-earned job would have to be given up just to do something 'crazy'. However, his recurring dreams and Shen Yize's attitude made him feel that this doomsday was coming quickly.

It was clear that this was the craziest thing he would ever do!

He exhaled the last of his cigarette smoke, pressed the wick into the ashtray, and entered his room. Staring at his reflection in the mirror, Jiang Zhi undressed, seeing a lean body with no muscles and no fat.

Too skinny, he thought.

If he wants to be strong, the first thing to do is to pay attention to his body condition. He should start exercising more.

Despite going to bed late, he woke up very early and put on gym clothes. Do some light stretching before leaving the room.

Hearing the movement, Shen Yize, who was sleeping on the sofa, opened his eyes to see Jiang Zhi wearing gym shoes. He yawned softly and hoarsely asked, "Is it work time already? You're so diligent!"

Jiang Zhi glanced at him, seeing Shen Yize struggling with sleepiness. He casually replied, "Going for a morning run."

"Ahhh, go ...." Shen Yize went back to sleep, rolling himself up in a blanket on the narrow sofa.

Jiang Zhi didn't bother to care about the man. He went out for his morning run around the community. Panting and feeling a burning sensation in his chest. What a labor of love! Fortunately, as soon as he entered the apartment, the smell of food immediately greeted him, making his mood a little better.

It's so good to have a little assistant, he thought cheekily.

After breakfast and cleaning up, the two people were ready to go. This Sunday, they had a special agenda. Meeting potential buyers for Shen Yize's penthouse before finding a contracting company to build a house in Jiang Zhi's parents' hometown.

Neither Shen Yize nor Jiang Zhi had any family anymore, so their movements were very free, with no need to ask permission or explain this or that.

"About the construction. Should we pay attention to it or just take it as it comes?" Shen Yize asked when they had just left the contracting company.

Jiang Zhi thought about it for a moment. "We have to pay attention to make it fit, right?"

Shen Yize nodded his head. He gave Jiang Zhi a long look. What this means is that I can't handle things on my own while you're away at work.

Jiang Zhi is not a mind reader, nor is he a man who is good at translating the meaning of another man's gaze. So he frowned.

The gesture made Shen Yize snort in disgust. Straight man!

"Aren't you going to resign from your job? I'll submit my resignation tomorrow. What about you?"

"I don't know." Jiang Zhi shrugged indifferently and entered the car, followed by Shen Yize. They drove home after having dinner outside.

The next morning, Jiang Zhi went for another morning run, this time for a longer distance. He also made an appointment with Zhang Rui to go to the gym after work. Shen Yize officially resigned, which surprised many people, especially Zhang Rui. Everyone who knew Shen Yize went to ask Jiang Zhi and didn't get the answers they wanted.

Their lives went on like that. Jiang Zhi was still working while Shen Yize took care of the purchases and hid them.

And Shen Yize changed his appearance. He cut his long hair, going for a relaxed-looking male hairstyle. Even so, the gentle side of a woman is still visible. Perhaps it's because he recently changed his appearance preferences.

Even though they were getting busier, Jiang Zhi never stopped his morning runs, no matter where they were. He would also practice his punches and kicks.

Until they completed their base, Jiang Zhi decided to resign from his job. They moved into the base, buying a large car. Slowly moving things into the base, little by little, and collecting jerry cans of fuel.

That morning, Jiang Zhi arrived with a pile of instant food in the car. He honked and subtly forced Shen Yize out to help move things.

"So noisy!" Shen Yize complained with an annoyed face.

Jiang Zhi didn't care about him, indifferently saying, "Do me a favor."

Shen Yize moved his hands and feet, helping to move things out of the car and into the food storage.

"Should we stack the meat, too?" Jiang Zhi asked as he closed the car door and followed Shen Yize into the house.

"Yes." Shen Yize sat on the sofa, turned on his laptop, and checked the list of items that had been moved. "Even though the power will go out on doomsday, we can eat it when people start getting sick."

Sitting on the other side of the sofa, Jiang Zhi collapsed in a moment and yawned. It wasn't easy to drive the car all night and move so much stuff.

"I'll buy it tomorrow. By the way, it's very difficult to get numerous medicines at once."

Shen Yize turned his gaze to Jiang Zhi and pursed his lips. Medicine was not something that could be bought in bulk, and there were even some medicines that required a doctor's introduction.

After a moment of silence, Shen Yize's low voice was heard. "It's okay not to collect a lot of medicine. My superpower seems to be healing. We can't stay in this place for long, anyway."

Jiang Zhi nodded weakly, rising to his feet to enter the room and get a few hours of sleep before starting his training.

It would be nice if they had a magical storage room.

In the afternoon, Jiang Zhi practiced with the help of Shen Yize. This was their regular agenda. Since Shen Yize was strong and agile, Jiang Zhi asked to teach him. After he finished practicing, Jiang Zhi didn't enter the house right away. He lay down in the backyard and stared at the darkening sky.

"Don't you want to eat?!" Shen Yize shouted from inside. Jiang Zhi reluctantly got up and replied, "Of course."

However, his footsteps did not enter the house directly but approached a large tree that was not cut down during construction. For some reason, he was suddenly drawn to this tree. Taking a small, pointed stone, Jiang Zhi scratched the bark and wrote his name.

Throwing the stone carelessly, it happened to hit a large boulder. However, what interested him was something poking out of the ground near the stone.

He curiously observed the object and started digging. It was a small, old wooden box that looked like it had been buried for a long time. Perhaps due to the movement of the earth and the changing climate and weather every year, it slowly emerged from the ground.

Jiang Zhi carried it into the house and curiously tried to open it.

"What is it?" Shen Yize asked as he saw Jiang Zhi enter with the ancient object.

Jiang Zhi shrugged his shoulders without looking at him.

"No matter what it is, the point is to wash your hands before eating. Gross!"

Putting the box in the kitchen, Jiang Zhi went to wash his hands. After that, he ate with Shen Yize. They designed this place like a normal mansion so that it wouldn't make people suspicious, except that there were more rooms used to store things.

Shen Yize sighed heavily, looking a little depressed. "Only a few months," he said incoherently.

"Yes," Jiang Zhi responded casually, completely ignoring the expression on Shen Yize's face.

"Aren't you depressed? There are only a few months left before doomsday comes. It's really... scary." Even if she was no stranger to doomsday, it still gave him goosebumps. Shen Yize felt that his mood would worsen during these days.

Jiang Zhi tapped the surface of the table. "Don't get too depressed or you'll get sick and be unprepared for the changing world."

"I know. I know." Shen Yize got up and left Jiang Zhi's presence.

After finishing his meal, Jiang Zhi went back to trying to open the box he had found earlier. His hard work paid off in the middle of the night. Even drowsiness was defeated by that perseverance.

Inside was a white pendant the size of a coin. It looked ordinary and inconspicuous, suitable for both men and women. In this day and age, where people have great taste and love unique items, they would ignore this pendant in the corner of a warehouse. It's a good thing it was found by Jiang Zhi, who doesn't have an artistic eye.

Jiang Zhi looked for a necklace chain to hang the pendant, then he put on the necklace, hiding it under his shirt.

The days passed quickly, and it already filled their house with many things. Grains are also planted in the yard and they dry the vegetables before being packed in plastic vacuums. Shen Yize worked hard at it, while Jiang Zhi made many trips to get gasoline and other valuables.

"We could start renting a car," Shen Yize told him as they rested after gardening.

"Yes, starting tomorrow we'll go rent a car." Jiang Zhi followed Shen Yize as he sat under a tree, taking off his shirt and shaking his hands to give his face a little breeze. Sweat dripped down their foreheads. "How many cars do we need?"

"As many as possible. The farm will be emptied after today's harvest, so it can be used to store cars." Shen Yize glanced at Jiang Zhi and was slightly stunned at the man's body, couldn't help but praise, "Hey, nice body shape."

Jiang Zhi's body was no longer skinny, muscles were forming on his abdomen as well as his arms, clearly looking more reliable. Although not as big as a sports athlete, but enough to make others envious. Not to mention his physical strength had also increased. At Shen Yize's insistence, the bangs covering Jiang Zhi's eyes were cut and combed back.

His clothing style didn't change much, but his aura was different, which led to the change in appearance.

Jiang Zhi didn't respond to Shen Yize's teasing. He continued to fan his face. However, for some reason his heart was beating faster than usual, just a little faster. After all, after months of knowing and even living together, there was little ambiguity between them. It's just that Shen Yize's attitude is very straightforward as if each other is not interesting at all. Jiang Zhi tried to think of Shen Yize as his 'brother'.

The next day they left the house as planned, rented a car for 1 month, and returned home with a jerry can of gasoline. This was done repeatedly for 3 weeks. The empty front yard and garden were now filled with off-road cars and several SUVs. Jiang Zhi also made a cover in the garden to expose the cars to direct sun and rain.

One week before doomsday, Jiang Zhi and Shen Yize decided to rest at home. They don't do any outdoor work, there's a gym inside for simple exercise, and there are all sorts of electronic devices to monitor the situation outside.

5 days before Shen Yize's doomsday, the sunlight seemed darker. The next day, the sun rises from the west and the characteristic yellow light turns red, like bright blood.

Jiang Zhi hadn't slept, so he stared at the sunrise through the bulletproof glass in the top-floor monitoring room. Shen Yize ran up the stairs and entered hurriedly, pulling the curtains to cover the glass.

"Don't look!" he called out sternly. "We can't see or be exposed to this blood sun directly, let alone for long."

Jiang Zhi nodded and sat in front of the surveillance monitor, taking in the surrounding scene. Shen Yize sat beside him, turning on the computer and searching the news channels.

"In a few days, many people will fall ill, usually with fever or weakness to the point of immobility," Shen Yize explained. He had said this before, but not specifically because of their limited time until he forgot about it.

"Will those who get sick become zombies?" Jiang Zhi asked, taking out a pack of candy. He had given up smoking in recent weeks in favor of chewing candy.

Shen Yize looked uncomfortable. Sweat dripped down his forehead, and his breathing was unsteady.

"No... They will be people with different superpowers." He paused, taking a deep breath before letting it out with reluctance. "But there are more people who turn into zombies because their bodies are not strong enough to withstand the changes caused by the emergence of superpowers."

Jiang Zhi pondered this for a moment while watching Shen Yize, who looked pale. After a moment Jiang Zhi asked, "Then, are there people who don't get sick?"

Shen Yize nodded. "There is. They are ordinary people on doomsday. They don't become zombies and don't have superpowers either."

"Oh, yeah!" As if remembering something, Shen Yize turned to Jiang Zhi. "Actually, it's not called a superpower, but a special ability. Because there are different types of powers."

Jiang Zhi muttered a low 'Mn' and maintained the computer screen. The information provided by Shen Yize was almost the same as most doomsday games.

News channels covered the number of people who fell ill at the same time. The phenomenon caused a conversation among smart people, and even the government began to issue precautionary policies. There was chaos everywhere.

When they were about to go downstairs to eat, Shen Yize suddenly fainted.