Your Daughter Is the Savior

The wind and snow howled all night long; the next day, the rain stopped. Su Jin woke from sleep and sat up. Having let his mind run wild the night before, he had slept more securely than ever before, and his spirit had recovered greatly. Turning his head, he glanced at the window, his expression complicated. The regime had declared its dissolution, the Cold Canopy missiles had detonated and sent the temperature plunging, and the army had vanished without a trace. The situation had already deteriorated as far as it possibly could. There was nothing left to fantasize about. There was no one to ask for help. Everything depended on himself alone. At this moment the temperature outside was very low, perhaps close to fifty degrees below zero, and indoors, with no heating, it was almost the same as outside. He let out a long breath of stale air, which turned into a puff of pale white mist. Su Jin threw off the quilt and got out of bed in a thick down jacket. He crouched down and looked at the rat cage in the corner by the bed, wrapped layer upon layer in clothing, with foam insulation arranged at the bottom. The candle had burned out, but there was still movement inside the cage. Seeing that the rat was still alive, he relaxed. The source of infection was still a mystery. If this batch of lab rats froze to death, it would be an enormous waste. Fortunately, they had barely made it through the night. Even though he had put on several extra layers and piled on plenty of warm coverings, after sleeping a whole night his limbs were still somewhat stiff and cold. He had only one quilt, and he had laid in few winter clothes. If he hadn't also kept a few alcohol stoves lit, with bricks stacked around to hold in the heat, he might well have gotten frostbite that night. Fu Qingdai had come over last night, and he had given her a few alcohol stoves too. The Fu family's situation was different from his own. They surely had no shortage of cotton quilts at home, so getting through the night was no problem at all. As for the other people in the building, they should have gotten through it easily too. Every household had a gas canister, and there was enough fuel to burn. Su Jin made a round of his room. Seeing that apart from the water bucket being completely frozen over there was nothing amiss, he dug out a few spoonfuls of lard for breakfast and then went straight out the door. He knocked on the Fu family's door, and it was opened almost instantly. Fu Qingdai's little face, frozen white, appeared, and then Fu Hu's face, full of dejection and gloom, showed up. When he saw Su Jin, he was greatly startled. "Let's talk inside." Su Jin raised a hand to cut him off and stepped through the door as a matter of course. The room was a wreck. In the middle of the living room lay a heap of ashes left by a bonfire. Judging by the surroundings, they had obviously broken up the sofa to use as fuel. The whole family had spent the night in the living room. After looking around, Su Jin turned to Fu Hu and came straight to the point. "I was the one who sealed your door." "What! You?" "Hear me out." Su Jin spoke with a grave face. "Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Li Haocheng, director of the National Critical Risk Intervention and Implementation Bureau." "I... I know that," Fu Hu stammered. Su Jin shook his head. "You know who I am, but you don't know what the National Intervention Bureau is really responsible for. It isn't what I told you earlier. Our department is in fact the one responsible for studying supernatural forces. Among the various agencies it's out of favor, and it's small." "Thirty years ago, the nation excavated relics dating back two thousand years in the Northwest. After examination, we named them the Maya civilization. I don't know whether they were aliens or had some special ability, but by deciphering the stone tablets the Maya left behind, they predicted the course the later ages would take, including this disaster." "The founding of our department was aimed precisely at the study of the Maya civilization." Fu Qingdai and Fu Hu froze where they stood. Su Jin went on. "At first the nation took the discovery of the Maya civilization very seriously, but after thirty years of development, our department has almost been forgotten. Even internally we've split into two factions. Many people long ago started treating it as a sinecure. Only I'm different." "What on earth are you talking about? I can't understand any of it!" Fu Hu asked in alarm. "Are you all right?" "My mind is perfectly clear," Su Jin said in a low voice. "According to the prophecy the Maya left behind, there would be a savior who would foresee this disaster. I followed that lead and found your daughter. Actually, I lied to you before. I had already been in contact with Qingdai before I moved into your home." "To put it simply... your daughter is the Savior in the prophecy. I'm completely certain of it. You've seen this disaster for yourself now. I think you already have your own judgment about whether to believe it or not." "Wait, just wait a moment!" Fu Hu pressed a hand to his forehead, his expression somewhat pained. A zombie infection; only yesterday he had learned that the nation was broken and his family ruined; and now someone had jumped out to tell him that his daughter was the Savior of the future. Taken together, the string of events was more than his brain could possibly digest. "You mean to say you knew all along that something like this would happen?! Not only did you not tell the nation, you came running over here to place your hopes on my daughter?" Fu Hu's tone held a hidden anger. Su Jin remained inwardly calm. "The nation knew this news long ago. Do you think it would have done any good for me to say it again?" "Why do you think I had you buy bows and arrows, buy batteries? You think I wanted to hide out here, that I didn't want to rely on the nation's power? Our department won't even fucking approve my budget!" Hearing Su Jin's final outburst, Fu Hu was completely struck dumb. That was true... after all, they wouldn't even approve a budget. "Do you know what the nation's situation actually is right now?" Fu Hu asked, his voice trembling, a hidden expectation in his eyes. "The nation... can't be relied on anymore. We only have ourselves." Fu Hu's face rapidly darkened. He turned to look at his daughter again, and his heart wrenched once more. Su Jin went on. "Lao Fu, you were a soldier. You know weapons too. You've seen the effect of the Cold Canopy missiles now. When do you expect the temperature outside to warm up again?" "I don't know... I can't say. Maybe a week. It's summer now, so maybe less than a week..." Fu Hu waved a hand feebly as he spoke. "A week, then..." Su Jin pondered. The Cold Canopy missile had bought him roughly a week of buffer time. The cold outside had already begun to affect the zombies, indoors and out. By a conservative estimate, he had three days to clear the residential complex of zombies and gather up supplies and manpower. "Director Li, please go back. I don't know what you're trying to do, but right now I don't want to get mixed up with you." Fu Hu looked utterly listless. "My wife is unconscious, and she still hasn't woken up. I got the text message and I heard the broadcast too, but I believe the nation won't collapse that easily. I'm going to wait for rescue..." "Lao Fu!" Su Jin shouted sternly. "What are you still deluding yourself about? The nation can't be relied on! If it could, there's no way we still wouldn't have seen the shadow of a single soldier! If it could, why would they have fired missiles at the city?" "Fine! Let me concede everything — even if the armed forces are still out there... in the situation we're in now, would rescue even be coming for you? You're an ordinary man of the streets. What makes you think they'd save you! How long can you wait for rescue? This time you got lucky, the Cold Canopy didn't land on top of our heads. If another wave of missiles comes to scour the ground, will you survive?"