A somewhat harsh sound echoed as a roller shutter door slowly descended. Mu Nan watched the shutter door close from the rearview mirror of his small truck before stepping on the gas, driving an empty truck away from the equally empty warehouse. The goods that should have been delivered to the warehouse were all secretly packed into his space, hidden under the guise of the truck.
Mu Nan had a secret—discovered when he was sixteen—he possessed a space, a mysterious world that seemed to exist within his mind. He still didn't know how large the space was, but no matter how many items he stored, it had never filled up. However, apart from this storage function, his space could not hold living things.
The sudden emergence of this space initially threw Mu Nan into a mix of panic and excitement. For a teenager forming his worldview, such a scientific anomaly felt unique and mysterious, making him feel distinctly different from others.
However, that sense of exploration and thrill quickly faded when Mu Nan realized that this seemingly magical space did not significantly alter his life. Aside from making it a bit easier to hide things when he needed to, he couldn't exploit it for financial gain while adhering to the law.
Gradually, Mu Nan put the notion of space aside, occasionally using it for convenience while otherwise leading a normal life.
Until that year he graduated from university, his plans for the future were shattered by disaster after disaster, and it was this space, which seemed useless in daily life, that became his largest lifeline.
Initially, no one expected that one heavy rainfall or haze could overturn the entire world. People knew air quality had been deteriorating, and everyone promoted environmental protection while simultaneously wasting resources.
When the haze arrived unexpectedly, aside from more people wearing masks on the streets, daily life was not significantly affected. However, as illnesses spread—coughing, fever, skin rashes, red eyes—until it turned to lung swelling, difficulty breathing, and ultimately death.
Growing numbers of people succumbed to the same symptoms; it was not just within the country but almost all nations experiencing haze. Even though the source of the epidemic was known to be the haze, efforts to save dying lives mostly yielded little. The contagion rate of lung swelling caused by the haze was low, but the death rate was frighteningly high, marking the tragic beginning of the end times.
As the sick numbers rose, the healthcare system collapsed completely. Nations and cities could not offer support, each struggling to cope with their crises. This chaos was the beginning of the apocalypse.
At that time, Mu Nan had never envisioned a complete unraveling of the world. He believed in the strength of the nation and the optimistic slogans broadcast daily on television and the internet that tragedies would eventually pass. Most importantly, as someone living alone, he did not feel the profound pain of losing loved ones in this disastrous time, even if these calamities were near yet felt distant.
Mu Nan was a full-time artist. Following his passion for drawing, he had decided his future career path since high school. His talent in painting was considerable; even before entering university, he had turned his passion into a means of livelihood. By the time he graduated, he sold character designs for prices ranging from fifty to sixty thousand, which was a respectable income in the art community.
It was precisely due to this home-based career that he was not greatly affected by the haze, allowing him to comfortably stock away food in his space for convenient access. His space acted as a constant presence; whatever he stored inside remained unchanged when taken out. After years of accumulation, his stockpile of food was quite substantial. Since he had never encountered a food crisis before, he eventually fell victim to the perils that his food supplies would bring.
Eventually, as the haze dissipated, life appeared to return to normal for many survivors. However, they did not realize that an even harsher future awaited humanity.
Not long after the haze cleared, the weather became unusually hot. In China, the hottest places had never exceeded fifty degrees Celsius, but that summer saw temperatures soaring to the highest ever recorded at fifty-nine degrees Celsius. To put this in perspective, the highest temperature recorded in the African deserts was only fifty-five degrees. Despite living areas never hitting over forty-five degrees before, the seasons in their country seemed distinct, yet that year kept reaching high temperatures even into December. The number of heat-related deaths began to rival those from the previous haze.
People then realized that perhaps this time, the apocalypse truly was upon them.
Later, each region's government was directly controlled by the military, counting the population and issuing new identification cards. Even though the people tried to follow the government's lead, they still couldn't resist the relentless onslaught of natural disasters: mountain floods, tsunamis, droughts, earthquakes, and pests. The word "tomorrow" no longer represented hope, but rather a deeper, unknown despair.
Mu Nan, possessing a special space, fared much better than many. No matter the circumstances, he could at least have food to fill his stomach. Unfortunately, while he could withstand natural disasters, he could not escape man-made calamities. Because of a moment of compassion, he gave a skeletal little girl a small piece of corn bread, which led to his own demise. At that time, the government was leading the people in rebuilding their homes. Although not everyone was well-fed, the famine hadn't reached the point where people killed each other over a morsel of food; otherwise, no amount of naivety would have caused Mu Nan to show such compassion at that moment.
Reflecting on the taste of death before it struck, Mu Nan could still feel a faint pain at the spot where he had been stabbed. Despite having the space, he died in such a suffocating manner.
When he opened his eyes again, Mu Nan found himself reborn, back three months before the cataclysm.
After his rebirth, Mu Nan took time to reflect on that brief life. He had a life-saving trump card that others lacked, and in facing such an apocalyptic reality, he was careful but still harbored an imperceptible disdain. Because food was easy for him to obtain, he couldn't grasp the harsh realities of the end times as deeply and intuitively as others might.
Whether it was death or hunger, despite being caught in the turmoil, he had never truly experienced it. The difference between feeling secure and insecure in end-time struggles was substantial. Even though his parents had passed away early, his life had been straightforward and simple—he faced the apocalypse without having undergone the rough experiences of life in society.
Thinking back on his previous life, Mu Nan didn't feel much regret but acknowledged some small disappointments.
After returning the truck, he stopped to grab several servings of rib noodles from an old restaurant, which had been open for decades and still retained its original taste. After the haze cleared, the restaurant had never reopened, so Mu Nan bought a lot whenever he passed by. His space was already stocked with plenty, but these would disappear one meal at a time.
Mu Nan now lived in an old building, one of the earliest residential developments in the city that included elevators, where he resided on the seventeenth floor of a twenty-three-story building—a respectable level. He had lived there since childhood, but now he was the only one left of the original family of three.
Looking at the dusty photo of his parents hanging on the wall, Mu Nan sometimes thought that perhaps their early death was a blessing. At least they had not endured the torment of the apocalypse.
After setting down his backpack, Mu Nan took a clean set of clothes and went to shower, washing away the fatigue and dust of a day spent outside. Once he had dried his hair to a damp state, he sat down to eat, feeling refreshed. The meal consisted of food he had cooked himself, with vegetables he had previously bought from outside, secretly stored in his space, still steaming as he took them out.
Mu Nan didn't know how to cook before the apocalypse, surviving on takeout, and after the end times began, he lacked the conditions to cook. However, since his rebirth, his culinary skills had improved. Whenever he was home, he would experiment with various dishes, storing them in his space for the long haul, anticipating that there would be no opportunity to cook for quite some time, so he needed to stock up on ready-made meals.
Three months had passed since Mu Nan's rebirth. He had stockpiled necessary survival supplies long ago. Even for safety's sake, he had spent a considerable amount on some lethal weapons. While he couldn't afford a handgun, he had the time and space to smuggle items, but he lacked the means. Even if he went abroad, such things couldn't simply be obtained at will. Considering his current position, Mu Nan was quite content—at least this time, he wouldn't be trapped in a room, powerless and facing death.