Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I huddled in the cab. Before long, my engine died too.

Fortunately, I’d been bigger and sturdier than most people since I was a kid. Even though the temperature kept dropping, I could still hold out for a while.

I had no idea when rescue would come, or how much longer the people in the other trucks could last.

I called over the walkie-talkie for ages, but all I got in response was hissing static.

The snow was just too heavy. Terrifyingly heavy.

Would anyone really come to save us? Or would we be abandoned out here?

As the temperature sank lower and lower, I couldn’t stop my thoughts from running wild.

Just then, it seemed like someone knocked on my door from the outside.

I froze. Could someone from another truck have come looking for me?

Mao Hu’s truck should have been not far ahead of me.

I shoved the door open with all my strength, but outside, aside from the snow whipping through the air, there wasn’t a single person in sight. There weren’t even any footprints on the ground.

I hesitated in confusion and was just about to close the door when a wave of warmth suddenly swept over me.

The wind and snow before my eyes seemed to stop all at once-

“Brother Long!”

Mao Hu, Xu Song, Wu Da, and Wu Si had gotten out at some point. They had climbed over the roadside barrier and were standing in the vast white wilderness, waving at me.

Beside them were piles of straw stacked into haystacks, and not far away, there seemed to be several farmhouses with cooking smoke rising from their chimneys.

There really were people nearby? Were we saved?

I was just about to get up and climb out when Grandpa Wang’s warning from that morning suddenly echoed in my mind.

“To get to Dong’an, you’ll pass through a stretch of Wild Ditch. That section of road… be extra careful.”

That was right. We were clearly still on that stretch of Wild Ditch. There weren’t even fields on either side of the road, so where would farmhouses have come from?

I hesitated and didn’t put my foot out. But the people waiting for me seemed to grow anxious.

They waved at me desperately. Could there be some kind of danger on the road?

I was still wavering over whether to get out when the walkie-talkie, silent for so long, suddenly crackled to life.

Xu Song’s voice came through in broken bursts. “The snow’s too heavy… No matter what, do not get out!”

My mind roared. I snapped back to myself, and everything before my eyes turned into a blur of white. I couldn’t see a thing.

The hand I had on the door was being cut by the bitter wind, almost frozen solid.

I used every last ounce of strength I had, finally hooked the handle, and forcibly dragged the door back shut.

But before I could even catch my breath, I turned around-and a bone-piercing chill rushed straight at me.

There was someone sitting in my passenger seat.

Someone frozen stiff, their entire body crusted with ice.

But how could there be another person in my truck?

My mind instantly went blank. I forced my vision to clear, trying to see who exactly was sitting beside me.

But when I finally saw clearly, it felt as if my heart stopped.

I saw myself.

The one frozen to death was me?