Night Without End-Chapter 1 - Eternal Night

The day the sun set and never rose again...

***

Eternal Night, the world was pitch-black, like an unfathomable abyss swallowing everything.

Day had long become a thing of the past, turned into legend.

The vast frozen soil, the biting cold wind, and the blizzard dumping snow accumulated half a person's height on the ground.

Shuangshu Village was half buried in heavy snow.

There were only forty or fifty households, a village seemingly forgotten by time, where in the dark night only blurry outlines of clusters of houses could be seen.

In the howling wind, numerous roofs were slightly shaking, as if about to be ripped off.

Qin Ming was very weak. Awakened by hunger, his stomach rumbled incessantly, and in the cold night, the thought of any type of food made him swallow his saliva uncontrollably.

Not to mention steaming meat dishes or delicious fruits, even thinking of a piece of cold, hard bread brought a sweet taste to his mouth, stimulating saliva.

The bone-chilling cold made the inside and outside of the houses feel suffocatingly dark.

Qin Ming wrapped himself in an old quilt. The warmth from the fire kang couldn't keep out the severe cold from outside; the cold air sucked into his lungs felt like shards of ice scraping by, slightly painful.

He restrained himself from thinking about food, or else acid would start to rise in his stomach and mouth.

After calming his emotions, he suddenly realized that his mind was very clear, no longer groggy like before; could the "strange illness" be leaving?

Despite the biting hunger and cold, the prospect of recovery from a prolonged illness brought a sparkle to his eyes as he awaited "Shallow Night."

As time passed, the wind gradually died down, and the goose-feather-heavy snow also slowly turned into sparse snowflakes.

There was a disturbance in the neighboring yard, voices carried over, a young couple Lu Ze and Liang Wanqing were talking.

"Where are you going, to bring Qin Ming food again?" Liang Wanqing's voice gradually rose.

"He's been seriously ill, only sixteen or seventeen, living alone, it's quite pitiful," Lu Ze said softly.

"Do you realize, we don't have much food left at home either, if this continues, our two children will go hungry!" Liang Wanqing became emotional.

"The blizzard has stopped; there will be a way to deal with it," Lu Ze looked into the pitch-black land.

...

Hearing the couple's argument, Qin Ming felt uneasy. He no longer wanted to accept Lu Ze's kindness; in times like these, every household was struggling.

He had gotten up from the fire kang, and even after putting on a cotton jacket, he still felt cold. He then pulled out an old fur coat from the cabinet, wrapped it around himself, and kept moving and rubbing his hands in the pitch-dark room.

The source of this c𝓸ntent is frёeweɓηovel.coɱ.

After his severe illness, his tall body had become somewhat thin. His hair hanging past his shoulders had lost some of its luster, and his handsome face was slightly pale, but his clear eyes were bright and spirited. Despite his sickly appearance, he had a resilient demeanor.

A month ago, he had struggled to escape from the mountains. By then, his hands and feet had started to turn black and he had been ill ever since.

As for a few fellow travelers, they had died the day they returned.

Qin Ming was afflicted with the "strange disease," and many believed he wouldn't survive.

Yet, he had endured until now and was evidently improving.

Thinking of the unknown dangers in the mountains, he still felt a lingering fear.

The darkness outside had changed, like ink dripped into a small amount of clear water and fading, "Shallow Night" was approaching, which meant "Day" had arrived.

Obviously, this was only slightly better than "Deep Night"; the overall view between heaven and earth was still enveloped in night, with distant objects hard to discern clearly.

The courtyard door was pushed open, Lu Ze arrived, a robust man who used a shovel to push the snow aside, quickly clearing a path to the house door.

Qin Ming opened the door that had been sealed by heavy snow and called out "Brother Lu."

Lu Ze carried a glowing cloth bag, pouring its content into a stone basin in the snowy ground; a bunch of brightly shining stones fell, striking crisp sounds, their light cutting through the night.

These were "Sun Stones", their name itself a reliance on some beautiful wish of the people in this era, now illuminating the courtyard.

Brother Lu was surprised, "Xiao Qin, it seems your spirit has improved a lot."

Qin Ming invited him into the house and truthfully informed him that he was no longer groggy and actually might be getting better.

Brother Lu mentioned that he was tough; it was truly not easy to survive the "strange illness" he contracted from the mountains. He poured the remaining glowing rocks from the cloth bag into the copper basin in the room, instantly brightening the whole room.

The Sun Stone, sourced from Fire Spring, radiated a rainbow of flames, but its temperature was far lower than that of the human body. After a couple of two hours, it would automatically extinguish and needed to be returned to Fire Spring to be rewarmed.

"Here!" Brother Lu handed over a food box.

Qin Ming had been seriously ill for a month, and his stockpile of food had run out several days ago. He relied entirely on Brother Lu's help, and he felt guilty upon hearing a recent argument between him and his wife, realizing their situation was not good either.

"Hurry and eat it while it's hot." Brother Lu was a straightforward man who knew how to return favors. Originally, he had been lost in a pitch-black dense forest, and it was Qin Ming who called out his name over and over again, guiding him back.

Looking at the steaming black-faced buns, a strong sense of hunger made Qin Ming's mouth water.

"Why are you standing there motionless? Your body hasn't recovered yet, starving won't help, why the hesitation?" Brother Lu directly placed the food box in his hands.

"Brother Lu!" Ultimately, Qin Ming set aside his pretenses, tore off a piece of the bun which felt quite coarse, yet as he devoured it, it tasted incredibly sweet.

"Call me if you need anything." Brother Lu turned and left.

As his hunger subsided, Qin Ming felt even more spirited, and the various discomforts in his body started to fade away; he was confident that his chronic illness was abating.

He thought of going outside to get some fresh air, to walk around. He pushed open the door to the courtyard and stepped onto the street; the weather was extremely cold, and white mist formed with each breath.

Shallow Night, which is "Day" in this era, saw every household's flow of the fiery glow from the Sun Stone, and the street itself held a faint light.

"Qin Ming, is your health alright now?" Someone spotted him.

"Xiao Qin, let me have a look." Granny Zhou from North Street grabbed him, looking him over from left to right, noticing his complexion was much better than when she last saw him.

Qin Ming greeted them with a smile, telling them his health was indeed recovering.

There weren't many people at the intersection, all displaying incredulous expressions. A recovery from a "strange illness"?

"Xiao Qin, even if you feel better, do not rush to go out. It's dangerous outside right now," Granny Zhou warned, glancing towards the village outskirts which looked as dark as spilled ink.

The other neighbors also showed worried looks. The year's harvest was poor, and now the lack of food was a severe issue—it could lead to deaths from starvation.

Qin Ming noticed that Granny Zhou, previously kind and gentle, now had a paler complexion and looked thin and frail, as if she might collapse with a gust of wind.

After the other few people left, Granny Zhou carefully took some sweet potato chips from her pocket and stuffed them into Qin Ming's hand.

Qin Ming quickly pushed them back. Considering her old age and apparent signs of hunger, how could he accept the food meant for her sustenance?

Each family had cleared their nearby roads, but not thoroughly; there was still snow, which crunched underfoot. Qin Ming, exhaling white breath, walked forward.

Near the head of the village, he stopped.

In front of a large courtyard was a small threshing ground, where a Black Mountain Goat, as tall as an adult's shoulder, was pulling a stone millstone, milling the silvery grains of mutated wheat.

Not everyone lacked food, clearly, this household at the head of the village was doing well.

Qin Ming stared at the Black Mountain Goat, his eyes intense. With warmth and food being issues, he had not tasted meat for a long time and intensely craved it.

The Black Mountain Goat, quite large with thick horns, appeared somewhat fierce. Feeling Qin Ming's gaze, it seemed startled, its raised tail instantly drooping.

"Xiao Qin, have you recovered? A blessing follows surviving a great disaster," said a stocky middle-aged man with sideburns standing at the courtyard door, thinking Qin Ming was looking at the mutated grains—silver wheat—below the millstone, before speaking, "Family has many mouths, the consumption is too fast, this is my last reserve of food."

"Uncle Yang is impressive, managing to take care of a large family in these hard times," Qin Ming chuckled, clearly not believing that only a bag of silver wheat was left.

After greeting Yang Yongqing, he headed towards the head of the village.

Fire Spring was ahead, casting bright light nearby.

It was surrounded by a stone enclosure forming a square pond only knee-high, inside glowed with fiery red light.

During this blizzard season, although the Fire Spring was nearly dry, no longer gushing out, it still wrapped in flames.

Inside the pond were two trees, which gave Shuangshu Village its name—one tree had black leaves, the other white, both thriving in the harsh winter.