A World Asunder - Chapter 1

November in Suicheng offered not even a shred of respect to the Start of Winter. For young guys, it was the kind of weather where you could head out and fool around in nothing but a T-shirt.

Zhao Yexi had been playing basketball all afternoon. He was playing with total abandon, his blood pumping with excitement. His teammates were all strangers, which was a common sight on the courts where a single game could forge a “plastic brotherhood” between total strangers.

Zhao Yexi patted a teammate’s arm and asked, “Not bad, bro. You go to SYSU too?”

The teammate, a large hand gripping the basketball while he caught his breath, replied, “I’m only fifteen. Still in middle school.”

Looking at the guy’s solid muscles and the stubble on his chin, Zhao Yexi gave a dry laugh. “Stop joking around, man.”

The teammate insisted, “I’m not joking. I’m really fifteen.”

Zhao Yexi’s smile slowly vanished. He turned to another teammate and asked tensely, “You’re definitely a college student, right? Tell me you are!”

Teammate Number Two said, “I just started sixth grade!”

Zhao Yexi stood there in silence. He had been playing all afternoon with a bunch of elementary and middle schoolers, and they were actually evenly matched. He felt a phantom hand strangling him; he was suffocating.

“What about you, man?” Teammate Number One asked. “What grade are you in?”

Zhao Yexi looked numb. “Twelfth.”

Teammate Number Two was shocked. “You look younger than me!”

Zhao Yexi felt like a knife was twisting in his heart. “No, it’s just that you guys are overdeveloped. Can I ask what you usually eat?”

Claiming to be a high schooler was Zhao Yexi’s final act of stubbornness. In reality, he was already a third-year grad student. This year was even his Zodiac year of birth. His face hadn’t changed much since high school. Usually, when people first met him, they assumed he was sixteen or seventeen. His classmates, who were already worrying about receding hairlines and beer bellies, looked at his collagen-filled face and youthful aura with eyes red with envy. But only he knew the bitterness behind it.

He was forever being stopped at the doors of bars and internet cafes; even if he got in, he’d have his ID checked. When kindergarteners called him “Big Brother” on the subway, he would always put on a smile and say, “Call me Uncle, thanks.” Today, his baby face had dealt him a fatal blow: he had degenerated to the point of finding joy in playing ball with elementary schoolers.

To be fair, having a baby face wasn’t tragic. What was tragic was having a baby face but the heart of a “Macho Man.”

Teammate Number One pulled out his phone. “Let’s add each other on WeChat. Let’s play again next time.”

Teammate Number Two looked unhappy. “My mom has my phone. I only get it on weekends. I’ll add you then.”

Zhao Yexi didn’t think there would be a next time, but he provided his QR code anyway. Teammate Number One scanned it, paused, and asked uncertainly, “Your name is ‘I’m a Macho Man’?”

Zhao Yexi nodded calmly. “That’s me. Got a problem?”

Teammate Number One and Two locked eyes, looked back at Zhao Yexi, and burst into loud laughter.

Zhao Yexi felt a heavy weight in his chest. After saying goodbye, he dove straight into a milk tea shop.

“One Cheese Peach Oolong, normal ice, normal sugar, double cheese foam!” he ordered.

Taking a huge gulp of the cheese foam, Zhao Yexi felt instantly healed. He found a seat and scrolled through his phone while drinking. A news headline caught his eye regarding a sudden flash of fire over Northwest China, followed by a massive meteorite crashing into a no-man’s land. The impact created a mushroom cloud of dust. Netizens in multiple regions had witnessed the light.

Zhao Yexi clicked the link, but a prompt popped up stating, “To view the full story, please download our News Client APP!”

He immediately gave up.

Returning home for the weekend, Zhao Yexi ignored his father, who was watching TV in the living room, and called out, “Mom, I’m back!”

Zhao Senior looked at him like he was a disappointment and said, “Your mom is on a business trip.”

“A sudden trip? Why didn’t she mention it?”

“It’s because of that meteorite landing. She went to the site.”

Zhao Yexi’s mom was a physics professor at his university, specializing in all sorts of high-end research. Zhao Yexi had suffered under her influence since childhood and loathed physics. Although he had focused on sciences in high school, he refused to follow in her footsteps when picking a major, choosing something more liberal arts-leaning instead.

Zhao Senior said, “According to your mother, this meteorite doesn’t seem like an ordinary one.”

Thinking of movie plots, Zhao Yexi said expectantly, “Could it be aliens?”

If that were true, maybe he wouldn’t have to write his thesis. His professor had already sent it back for revisions twice; one more time and he might hang himself from a ceiling fan.

A few days later, while Zhao Yexi was grinding away at his thesis in his room, his father called him out. “Zhao Yexi, come see your mom! She’s on TV!”

The news was broadcasting a press conference about the Northwest meteorite, and he immediately spotted his mother speaking.

Zhao Senior frowned. “Did your mom lose weight?”

“Looks like it.” Zhao Yexi sat down next to his dad. “What did she say?”

His mom explained that the meteorite came from a spiral galaxy 15 million light-years away. Her team had discovered a completely new element on it, and research was ongoing.

“A meteorite? A new element? No, this is exactly how doomsday movies start.” Zhao Yexi felt a bit panicked. “Dad, should we go to the supermarket and stock up on supplies?”

Zhao Senior squinted at him. “Even if the world ends, you’ll be carrying your Master’s diploma into the wasteland. And while we’re fleeing, you’d better finish your PhD for me.”

His mom was gone for over a month. By the time Zhao Yexi was almost finished with his thesis revisions, she still hadn’t returned. In December, Suicheng was finally flirting with the edge of winter, and Zhao Yexi finally put on long sleeves.

Leaving the library, Zhao Yexi picked up a call from his best friend, Tao Qiaosheng. Before he could even say hello, Tao Qiaosheng blurted out incoherently, “My… my cat… AH!”

“You finally laid a hand on your cat?” Zhao Yexi asked.

Tao Qiaosheng was terrified. “It wasn’t me! No matter how insane I am, I couldn’t get a male cat pregnant!”

Zhao Yexi didn’t quite follow. “Hello?”

“My cat—a male cat—is pregnant!”

Zhao Yexi had never been this speechless in his life. After a two-second silence, he said, “I have something to tell you, too.”

“Tell me!”

“I’m pregnant, too.”

Tao Qiaosheng went quiet for a few seconds, then whispered, “Has animal-to-human transmission already started? Wait, you’re pregnant? Holy shit! Who’s the other father?!”

“Your grandpa’s who. Tao Qiaosheng, I haven’t messed with you lately, so why are you treating me like an idiot?”

Tao Qiaosheng went frantic. “I’m freaking serious! Haven’t you seen the trending topics today? Get your ass on Weibo right now!”

Zhao Yexi hung up. Before he could open the app, he heard someone calling his name.

“Zhao Yexi.”

Zhao Yexi turned around and saw a guy in a black hoodie and a baseball cap. The guy had broad shoulders and long legs. He was very tall, with deep features and a hint of arrogance. He possessed an unrefined, reckless kind of handsomeness.

Zhao Yexi gave a cold greeting. “What is it?”

The guy looked Zhao Yexi up and down, his gaze shifting from his face to his lower abdomen. He said, “Congratulations. How many months along?”

Zhao Yexi looked down at his own stomach. “Fuck.”

The guy was Lu Huangzhi, a junior in the same major. Their respective advisors were the two big shots of the department. Because of their differing academic views, the two professors had been bickering for half their lives, and by extension, their students also couldn’t stand each other.

“Two months. I’m carrying your father,” Zhao Yexi said coldly.

Lu Huangzhi raised an eyebrow and nodded. “Well, let me know when you’re in labor.”

Zhao Yexi looked at him warily. “Why?”

“To support you,” Lu Huangzhi said. “And maybe cut the umbilical cord.”

“Who are you to be in the delivery room?”

Lu Huangzhi replied naturally, “The guy whose father you’re carrying?”

Zhao Yexi once again recalled the horror of being dominated by Lu Huangzhi during their previous debate. If he ever wasted another word on Lu Huangzhi, he was a dog.

Zhao Yexi treated Lu Huangzhi like thin air and opened Weibo. The top trending topic was exactly what Tao Qiaosheng had been bugging him about: “Mammals in multiple regions are developing secondary genders; cause still under investigation.”

Zhao Yexi was reading the comments intently when he suddenly felt someone tugging his collar from behind. The person’s hand was a bit cool; the fingertips brushed the back of his neck, making him shiver for some reason.

Zhao Yexi turned around and looked at him.

Lu Huangzhi gripped his collar, pulling him closer, and said, “Watch where you’re going.”

Though there were no cars on this path, walking while on a phone was indeed unsafe. Zhao Yexi didn’t snap back; he was still in a state of massive shock.

“Did you see that news about secondary genders?” Zhao Yexi asked.

Lu Huangzhi was calm. “I saw it.”

Zhao Yexi glared at him. “You believe it?”

Lu Huangzhi shrugged. “The authorities released an official bulletin. Doesn’t matter if I believe it or not.”

Zhao Yexi stood dazed for a long time. He decided to make one last stand and sent a WeChat message to Tao Qiaosheng asking where he was.

“At the pet hospital, getting an ultrasound for my son,” Tao Qiaosheng replied with a “life is meaningless” emoji.

Zhao Yexi told him to send the address and turned to leave. Lu Huangzhi asked where he was going.

“To find proof of this secondary gender nonsense.”

“Count me in,” Lu Huangzhi said. “I’m pretty curious, too.”

“No, stay away from me. If the professor catches me with his rival’s favorite student, I can kiss my thesis goodbye,” Zhao Yexi said, quickening his pace.

Lu Huangzhi laughed. “That’s easy. If we get caught red-handed, just say I forced you.” He took off his baseball cap, tossed it onto Zhao Yexi’s head, and pulled the brim down. “You fought back with your life, but unfortunately, you failed.”