Apocalypse Mode: My Cheat Code Virtual Boyfriend - Chapter 2

His wife was gone! His big, wonderful wife was gone!

The thunderclap was so loud it seemed to short-circuit the entire neighborhood. After the thunder, the sky looked as if a huge hole had been torn open, with someone pouring water out from within. In an instant, the whole world was drenched.

Bai Xun used his phone as a flashlight, feeling his way downstairs to flip the circuit breaker.

Bai Guifang had already beaten him to it. She stood by the breaker, opened the plastic cover, and flicked the switch back and forth a couple of times, but nothing happened.

“The power’s really out. Should we start the generator now?” Bai Xun suddenly spoke up from behind her.

Bai Guifang clutched her chest and turned around to slap him. “You little brat, you scared me half to death! Don’t talk when you’re standing behind someone. Go on, go start the generator.”

Bai Xun rubbed his arm. “Got it, Mom.”

Once the generator was running, the lights in the house flickered back on. With her booming voice, Madam Bai Guifang issued her highest directive: “Turn off the TV, no computers allowed, and at most, no more than three lights can be on.”

Madam Bai Guifang’s admirable virtues of frugality and thrift, combined with her formidable martial prowess, forced the whole family to gather in the living room to play on their phones, except for Grandma Bai.

She was hugging a tablet, still watching the annual mother-in-law vs. daughter-in-law drama. From the tablet came the heart-wrenching cries of a woman: “Mom! What did I do wrong? Don’t you want me and Jizong to live happily together?”

Bai Yu sat cross-legged on the sofa, happily surfing the web. Bai Xun, however, was fidgeting restlessly, unable to focus on his phone.

His dear wife was still locked upstairs in that little dark room, how could he possibly sit still!

“Bro, look at this!” Bai Yu suddenly slapped Bai Xun’s thigh, nearly sending him flying off the couch.

Ouch, ouch, ouch! Couldn’t you slap your own thigh?!

“Look with your eyes, not your hands!” Bai Xun raised his palm defensively, ready to block another blow from his sister.

But instead, she shoved her phone into his hand.

Bai Xun was baffled. “What’s so urgent?”

Bai Yu said, “Just look for yourself!”

Outside the window, wind and rain raged, with sheets of water exploding against the glass like blooming flowers. Inside, Bai Xun scrolled through the phone screen, growing more and more alarmed.

The post that had been 404’d was back. Its eye-catching red title seemed to bleed, and someone had added a countdown timer. Next to the bold headline “Doomsday Countdown: What You Need to Know”, a timer read: 7 hours, 59 minutes, 27 seconds.

“I am a reborn survivor from the future. From the moment I post this, there are only 8 hours left until the apocalypse arrives.

Anyone seeing this post, lock your doors and windows immediately!!! Do not come into contact with this rain, which carries a mutating virus!!!

The rain will cause most animals and plants to mutate, including humans, leading to irreversible changes that strip them of their human rationality.

Contamination is irreversible!!! Contamination is irreversible!!!

Some humans will awaken supernatural abilities, with a wide variety of types and unpredictable directions of evolution.”

404 Not Found.

The post has been deleted by the administrator.

Bai Xun had only seen the beginning, which was practically nothing. He refreshed the page a couple of times, unwilling to give up, but the doomsday post was gone for good.

Bai Yu took her phone back and waved a hand in front of his face. “What’s with that expression? Did your wife run off with the neighbor and take all your hard-earned savings with her?”

“Ugh, shut up! Your wife’s the one who ran off with someone. I’m going to close the windows. Mom, let’s not open for business these next couple of days. The rain’s too heavy, driving out would flood the chassis. And little sis shouldn’t go back to school either. Let’s take a couple days off.”

Bai Xun’s thoughts were all tangled up by that doomsday post. If it was just a prank, fine, but what if it was real? After turning it over in his mind, he decided to just make up some excuses to keep everyone who might go out at home for a couple of days first.

Anyway, with the red rainstorm warning, all flights and passenger stations in the area had been suspended. All these major public transport services had stopped, and for safety’s sake, even deliveries in progress had been halted. Just earlier, his younger sister Bai Yu had complained that the online shop she’d bought from had posted a notice about delivery suspensions, the clothes she’d ordered couldn’t be shipped.

Bai Guifang thought he made some sense: “That’s true. If the car gets flooded, it’ll cost a lot to fix, not worth it. Let’s take a couple days off then. Our family’s cooking is good; we’re not afraid of losing business. And little sis can take a couple days off too, spend a bit more time with Grandma.”

Bai Yu had only seen the title of the post. She was half-convinced, half-doubting, and had been worrying about what excuse to use to stay home for a couple of days. Now that the highest authority in the house had spoken, she just went along with it: “Then I’ll go get a leave note first. I’ll go back to school after the heavy rain passes. Wait for me, bro, I’ll go with you to close all the windows.”

“Closing windows needs two people? Don’t take the chance to sneak upstairs and play on the computer!”

“Got it, Mom!” Bai Yu hurried after her brother with quick, small steps. Closing the windows was just an excuse; finding a chance to talk privately was the real goal.

At the top of the stairs on the second floor, Bai Xun was already waiting. After confirming with a glance that they were co-conspirators, the siblings went in and locked the door in one smooth motion.

Bai Yu plopped down on the mattress, studying her brother’s expression for a moment. “Bro, it’s not really the end of the world, is it?”

“I don’t know. But I just have this inexplicable sense of panic, like something bad is going to happen.”

Bai Xun turned on the computer and typed keywords directly into the search engine. The pop-ups that appeared were mostly joking, teasing posts, with a few being survival guide posts simulating harsh doomsday environments.

There wasn’t a single piece of official news about the apocalypse.

Outside the window, lightning split the sky again. The ink-black curtain of the heavens was torn apart by a red, web-like network of veins. The next second, thunder rumbled with immense force, and where it struck, an orange-red flame ignited.

“Bro! Bro!” Bai Yu stared in terror at their own glass window, which was shaking uncontrollably from the thunder.

“What’s going on?” Bai Xun immediately looked at his sister, only to see her covering her mouth in horror, a trembling finger pointing outside the window.

He followed her finger and, completely unprepared, came face-to-face with a pair of yellow, vertical pupils the size of light bulbs!

The siblings screamed in unison.

“What are you two hollering about?” Bai Guifang heard her children shouting at the top of their lungs upstairs, loud enough to nearly lift the roof off. She grabbed a rolling pin from the kitchen and charged straight up.

Bai Yu, wrapped in a bedsheet and huddled under the covers, wailed, “Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom!!!”

“Mom what, mom! Open the door! Open it right now for your mother!” Bai Guifang grabbed the doorknob and found it locked. “Why’d you lock the door? What are you two sneaking around doing behind my back?”

Bai Xun, legs weak and steps unsteady, finally shuffled to the door, looking back every few steps. “Mom! There’s a snake! A huge snake!”

Bai Guifang, rolling pin in hand, scanned the room like a searchlight as she entered. She didn’t see any snake, but she did notice the monitor was lit up.

She narrowed her eyes and stared straight at Bai Xun, who shuddered and instinctively straightened his back and buttocks into a rigid line.

“What snake? Did it crawl under the bed or something? What did I just say? No computers, no computers! I knew you two little brats would ignore me like I was farting!” Bai Guifang planted one hand on her hip while the other waved through the air like a conductor’s baton.

Bai Yu was completely wrapped in a blanket, only her head poking out like a triangular rice dumpling. “Mom, Brother and I really aren’t lying. Just now, a huge snake was crawling right outside the window, its head was thicker than the melons growing on our muskmelon vines.”

Their glass window not only had a security grille welded outside but also an extra layer of mosquito netting. Bai Guifang’s expression was skeptical as she strode forward, rolling pin in hand, and reached out to pull the window open.

Bai Xun hadn’t expected his mom to be so reckless. Terrified, he scrambled over and grabbed her arm. “That’s a snake, a snake as thick as a bowl! Mom, don’t scare me like that!”

Bai Yu was stunned for a moment, then immediately rolled off the bed and wrapped her arms around Bai Guifang’s waist. “Mom! You might not be afraid, but I am! What if it’s venomous and bites you? With all this flooding, even an ambulance would have trouble getting here!”

The giant snake outside the window had long since slithered away. Beyond the security grille, there was only the relentless sound of pouring rain.

Bai Guifang looked at her clumsy son and daughter with disdain, giving each of them a smack on the butt with her rolling pin. “Back in the day, I caught a snake as thick as my arm bare-handed in the fields and made snake wine out of it. How did I end up with two kids who only know how to cry for their mom?”

Times had changed. Bai Xun shot Bai Yu a meaningful look, and she immediately picked up the cue, clinging to Bai Guifang’s arm and cooing, “Mom is just amazing! Since the snake’s gone, let’s leave it be. I’d be scared even if you caught it. Brother, go check if all the doors and windows are locked. I have some secrets to share with Mom.”

Bai Xun nodded, turned off the computer, and left the room to inspect every door and window in the house.

Fortunately, just as the rain had started, they had already tightly closed and locked all the security doors, glass windows, and mosquito netting. Not even a snake as thick as a bowl could get in, not even a fly could slip through.

After checking the doors and windows, he headed to the living room to ask Grandma Bai for the tablet. Grandma Bai was engrossed in a drama about a runaway daughter-in-law and pretended not to hear him.

“Grandma, just two minutes. I’ll download two more drama series for you to watch in rotation. Remember when the router broke last time? Watching dramas then cost money because we had to use data. If they’re downloaded, it won’t cost a thing.” Bai Xun held back a laugh as he reasoned with her, hitting right where it mattered most.

At the mention of “costing money,” Grandma Bai’s hearing miraculously returned. She promptly shoved the tablet into Bai Xun’s hands. “Download, download! Get me The Temptation of Returning to the Village, The Second Spring of the Little Daughter-in-Law, and all the others too.”

Bai Xun worked on it while responding, “Alright, I’ll look for the resources. How about Parents’ Love, Grandma?”

“Watch it!”

Bai Xun downloaded several extremely long drama series and dozens of movies as well. If the world really did end someday, this little stash of entertainment could sustain them through many boring years.

Provided they survived, that is.

Though it was just a censored post, he couldn’t help but pay extra attention to it, subconsciously believing that the world-ending scenario described in it was real.

Bai Xun shook his head, trying to dismiss this absurd thought from his mind. He couldn’t just believe it because the post mentioned heavy rain, what if the person who fabricated the lie had simply checked the weather forecast?

But there was no need to worry too much, right? In novels, when the world was about to end, the protagonist would always stock up on food first and then survive the crisis by relying on their stored supplies at home. His family had plenty of food and resources, so holding out until the government came to the rescue shouldn’t be a problem.

The sudden downpour showed no signs of stopping. Raindrops falling from the sky had already accumulated about 50mm of water on the streets, and the water level was still rising steadily.

Bai Xun tossed and turned on his comfortable bed, listening to the relentless patter of rain and the occasional flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder. He finally drifted into a fitful sleep in the early hours of the morning.

Just as he sank into a deep slumber, the world had already begun to change quietly. The most obvious change was a new indentation that appeared on his bed.

A fluffy, long tail emerged from under the covers. Its snow-white fur was adorned with one black circular spot after another, and the tip of the tail twitched rhythmically. It was the tail of some large feline creature.