"Snap!"
As Kael Voss sat lost in thought, he suddenly noticed the sunlight outside dimming. Looking through the van's window, he saw that the sky had been covered by dark clouds, and thunder rumbled from deep within the clouds.
Suddenly, a flash of lightning split the sky, like the wrath of a god, tearing open the dark heavens and creating a bright streak that illuminated everything around him.
Raindrops began to fall rapidly. At first, only a few scattered drops landed, but it quickly turned into a torrential downpour, the rain sharply tapping against the ground and the van, producing a crisp sound.
"Is it raining?"
The sight caught Kael off guard. It had been almost six months since the end of the world began, and this was the first time it had rained. Accustomed to the crisp autumn air, the sudden thunderstorm startled him.
Suddenly, a jarring ringtone pierced the silence, and Kael flinched, his head smacking against the van door with a loud thud, causing a sharp pain.
Rubbing his head, Kael looked around, realizing that the ringtone was coming from the phone in his pocket. The ringtone wasn't loud, and with the ongoing thunderstorm outside, there was no danger of the zombies hearing it.
But the problem was, he clearly remembered that he had turned the phone off earlier. Why was it ringing now?
Looking at the phone as it continued to vibrate, he saw that it was an unknown number. Kael hesitated before answering, only to be immediately met with a woman's angry, almost deafening shriek that nearly pierced his eardrum.
"Dorian Hale, you scumbag! Lila Wraith has been so good to you, and you dare cheat on her? If you have the guts, tell me where you are! I'm coming for you, you bastard!"
Kael pulled the phone away from his ear for a moment and glanced at the screen. The number was unfamiliar.
This was strange. It had been six months since the world ended, and with all signals lost, phones were useless, nothing more than a decoration.
If Kael hadn't developed a habit of checking photos on his phone, he would never have bothered carrying it. And with the threat of zombies lurking in the dark at night, the sudden ringtone could have gotten him killed.
Now, a phone that was supposed to be off was receiving a call from an unknown number.
Kael glanced outside through the van window, seeing that the zombies hadn't noticed him. He then pressed the phone to his ear again and whispered, "Hello? Who is this? I'm not Dorian Hale…"
The woman on the other end, clearly still furious, scoffed and mocked, "What? Dorian Hale, are you too much of a coward to own up to it? If you're not Dorian Hale, then who are you?"
"I'm Kael Voss. Who are you?"
"I'm your great aunt, Lyra Solis! If you're a real man, tell me where you are!"
"Uh, I should still be in the city of Manchester... but I'm not exactly sure where!"
...
"Huh?"
Meanwhile, in a brightly lit apartment in London, Lyra Solis pulled the phone away from her ear, looking at the number on the screen. It was indeed the number of that scoundrel Dorian Hale.
How…
Wasn't he just here? How could he be saying he was in Manchester?
This was London, and even if you took a plane, you couldn't get to Manchester in just a few minutes, right? She hadn't dialed the wrong number, either!
"Snap!"
Suddenly, a thunderclap sounded from the sky, causing Lyra to flinch. Cursing the weather under her breath, she turned and walked away from the balcony, heading inside.
"Hello? Hello, are you still there?"
As she entered the room, Lyra heard a series of sounds from the phone, as though the person on the other end had noticed her silence and was repeatedly asking.
Lyra hesitated before picking up the phone again and cautiously asked, "What did you say your name was?"
"Kael Voss. Where are you?"
Earlier, when Lyra arrived at her friend Lila Wraith's house, she found Lila crying. Upon asking, she learned that her boyfriend, Dorian Hale, had cheated on her and had demanded a breakup fee, threatening to release Lila's nude photos online if she refused.
Upon hearing this, Lyra was furious and immediately called to confront him. In her panic, and with the storm raging outside, she hadn't fully listened to the man's voice.
Now, as she entered the room and heard the rough voice on the other end, she realized that it didn't sound anything like the soft, polished voice of Dorian Hale.
Realizing she might have dialed the wrong number, Lyra sighed and quickly said, "Mr. Voss, sorry, I dialed the wrong number. I won't disturb you further…"
"Wait! Don't hang up! How did you get my number?"
Hearing the man on the other end urgently trying to stop her from hanging up, Kael quickly said, "I don't know who you are or how you got through to me, but if you can help, I'm surrounded by zombies!"
"Zombies?"
Upon hearing the word, Lyra raised an eyebrow. She had just dialed the wrong number and scolded the man, and now he was spinning this wild story to try to entertain her?
Well, if he wanted to play, she would play along. She was in no mood for a serious conversation anyway.
With a smile on her lips but a voice tinged with mock fear, she said, "Oh, I have them here too! The zombies are closing in on me! What should I do?"
"Ah!"
Hearing the sound from the phone, Kael frowned. What did she mean by that? She was surrounded by zombies too? But her previous words didn't sound like that at all!
"Sir, should I place a Peashooter in front of the zombies or build a Wall-nut?"
"..."
Kael's mind went blank. What was she talking about? A Peashooter? A Wall-nut? What were those things?
Wait!
Suddenly, something clicked in his mind. Peashooter? That sounded familiar. Peashooter... it came to him: that was from an old strategy game, something from more than a decade ago.
More than a decade ago?
Kael furrowed his brows even deeper and cautiously lowered his voice, "What year is it over there?"
"Huh?"
Lyra frowned slightly and immediately asked in return, "What about you? What year is it where you are? Don't tell me it's from the Victorian era?"
"Victorian era?"
Kael vaguely recalled that the Victorian era was a period in British history. Realizing that she was probably joking, he was still curious to know what was going on with her.
So, he carefully whispered again, "It's 2034 here, not the Victorian era…"
"2034?"
"Pfft!"
Lyra immediately burst out laughing but quickly covered her mouth. The faint sound of Lila's crying could be heard from the next room. Laughing at this time seemed somewhat heartless.
"Sir, you must have mixed up the years! It's 2025 now, not 2034. Time sure flies!"
When Kael heard the indifferent, slightly impatient tone on the other end of the line, a loud buzzing filled his mind. It felt like there were a thousand voices shouting inside his head, drowning out everything else.
"Hello? Hello?"
"Such a weird person!"
Hearing that there was no response from the other end, Lyra concluded that the man must have realized his mistake and wouldn't argue further.
With a smug smile, Lyra hung up the phone, not noticing that as she did, her right hand brushed against a ring on her finger.
A brief flash of light flickered, and the ring in her hand disappeared. However, she didn't notice it.
At that moment, her attention was completely drawn to the sound of Lila's crying from the next room. She rubbed her forehead and decided to go comfort her friend.
As Lyra passed the window, she noticed that the sky, which had been dark and stormy just moments ago, was now clear, with a full moon shining brightly, as if the thunderstorm had been nothing more than an illusion.
"Strange weather, and a strange person," she muttered to herself, before turning to enter the next room to soothe her friend.