Countdown: Humanity's struggle to survive against yesterday

Chapter 108 Staying Up All Night

From late at night to dawn, and then back to late at night, the first cycle of staying up all night has already lasted 24 hours.

During these 24 hours, there are many bizarre videos online of people insisting on staying up.

Some people choose to stay up all night to avoid hunger, but because they can't stand the hunger, they eat a big meal and then get dizzy from the carbohydrates, failing 19 hours later.

Some people chose to soak in water and take a cold shower when they got tired, successfully persisting for 24 hours.

Among the various live streaming forums, the most persistent are the game players, who team up with each other to level up quickly in the new server.

To motivate themselves, some players have even started a bet: everyone who participates in the game to level up or competes contributes one point to a shared points pool, which is then distributed proportionally to the player who stays up all night. Players can also receive corresponding rewards on the level leaderboard and the battle power leaderboard.

Sanmiao Village, Group 17.

Sun Dahai was the first to give up. He had been paralyzed by a stroke before the disaster, and now, as the world goes backward by a day, his condition is getting better day by day, but he can't sit still.

In the 17th hour, I tried to close my eyes and rest, but I ended up falling asleep.

Then, the three women in the group couldn't hold on any longer and surrendered after about 19 hours.

Sun Zhen's father, a 71-year-old man, persevered for 24 hours and successfully secured 3 points on the first day.

A new day begins at four in the morning. It's late at night in Asia, early morning in the Americas, and early morning in Europe. This is the time when the number of awake people worldwide is the lowest.

That was also the most difficult time.

The side room next to Fumin Supermarket was brightly lit.

This side room was usually where Sun Fumin ran his mahjong parlor. His house, like Jiang Hua's, faced east and consisted of five connected rooms in a row. There was a passageway in the middle, and the two rooms on the south side were a supermarket, while the two rooms on the north side were a warehouse and a card room.

The only difference between the two houses is that Sun Fumin has erected a steel shed in the open space in front of his house, which extends to the roadside. This shed provides shade during the day and can also be used to store goods when business is good during the Spring Festival.

"Six of a kind..." Sun Fumin yawned and threw a card on the table.

"White tile, no, I'll pong..." Sun Lingmin played a tile, then quickly took it back, put the tile he had just drawn back, and said a little embarrassedly, "I'm confused, I'm confused."

"No way!" Sun Chengwu quickly disagreed. "We bet on Red Bull, and we rely on it to stay up all night. I can't let you have it."

"Exactly, no regrets once the card is placed!"

Sun Chengxian doesn't usually play cards, but this was his first time at the card table to kill time. Everyone says that newcomers have good luck, but after playing for three or four hours, he had already lost all five bottles of Red Bull that he hadn't wanted to drink during the day. He was getting a little anxious and shouted loudly.

Sun Zhen and Jiang Hua, who were standing to the side, did not participate in the card game, but instead chatted idly while brewing strong tea.

Hearing the group arguing heatedly over half a glass of Red Bull, they couldn't help but chuckle to each other.

Sun Zhen took a small sip of strong tea and remarked, "Not feeling sleepy and staying up all night are two completely different things."

"Exactly!" Jiang Hua yawned widely and forcefully stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray. "The world war was going on for a while, and I was so worried that I couldn't sleep. I was so excited every day. Now it's fine. The more I don't want to sleep, the less sleepy I am."

"Dad, can I have one too? I've been smoking secondhand smoke here all night!"

As Jiang Yuan spoke, he quietly reached out to touch the table.

"Snapped!"

Jiang Hua raised his hand and slapped it down hard.

Jiang Yuan was beaten until he grimaced and kept shaking his hands, crying out, "Ouch, ouch, ouch!"

"It hurts, that'll be good for you!" Sun Zhen couldn't help but chuckle as he watched. "If you can avoid smoking, then don't. Once you learn, you can't quit."

"What's there to be afraid of? Even if the world regresses, it won't harm your body!"

Jiang Yuan stood up and muttered to himself.

Jiang Yuan returned in the afternoon, so including him, there were exactly 11 people in Group 17.

Jiang Hua glared at Jiang Yuan, and seeing him looking dejected as he watched the others play mahjong, he then continued his conversation with Sun Zhen.

"Zhenzi, do you have any thoughts about going to heaven?"

Sun Zhen was taken aback at first, then laughed nonchalantly: "What can I do in heaven? There's no shortage of village secretaries in heaven. Besides, I've spent most of my life in the village. Even without a major disaster, I would feel uncomfortable leaving the village."

"I see!"

Jiang Hua hesitated, but then stopped himself. He did have 1 points on his phone, which Jiang Ning had transferred to him.

After receiving the points, the elderly couple didn't think much about it. They were happy that their son had the will. They never thought about going to heaven.

The reason I asked earlier was to see what this old neighbor's attitude was.

"What about Chengwu and Chengxian?" Jiang Hua asked again.

"Them!" Sun Zhen squinted at his two sons who were playing mahjong, paused for a moment, and then said frankly, "The second son, Chengxian, wants to fly to the sky."

At this point, Sun Zhen's face was full of worry, and he lowered his voice somewhat embarrassedly.

"Old Jiang, you know Chengxian has a girlfriend, right?"

Jiang Hua turned to look at Sun Chengxian, and asked thoughtfully, "I've heard Xiuyun mention this before. Does that girl want to fly to the heavens?"

"Yes, that's right!"

Sun Zhen sighed softly, "I thought that with this disaster, there would be no more dowries, but who knew that with the introduction of the 'Soberness Value,' we still have to prepare dowries to get our children married."

Jiang Hua nodded noncommittally; he knew about it.

Even before the concept of "wakefulness value" was officially promoted, there was already heated discussion about it online.

The discussion started with the idea that sobriety points would replace currency. Then the conversation veered off course, with some people analyzing that since people have no worries about food and drink now, what use do sobriety points have besides the chance to ascend to heaven?

This discussion was like opening Pandora's box.

The open atmosphere that had been fostered by the major disaster was immediately halted, and the newly formed dating market that focused solely on feelings was also put on hold.

Immediately, people posted online, making appointments in advance to find partners to stay up all night with, just to go to heaven together and take up the great task of human reproduction.

Well, now that this post has come out, the atmosphere has changed immediately.

Even Li Xiuyun no longer dared to keep bringing up the matter of finding a partner for her child before going to bed every day.

As Jiang Hua pondered this, he also glanced at Jiang Yuan, who was pacing around the mahjong table.

"Sigh~"

Seeing Jiang Hua's gaze, Sun Zhen also looked at Jiang Yuan and couldn't help but sigh again.

"It's a pity about Xiao Yuan. I just don't know if Cheng Xian's physical condition will allow him to go to heaven once he has accumulated enough points."

"What did the woman say?"

Jiang Hua turned his head away, clearly not wanting to talk about Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan had failed the selection for the young astronaut and was also found to be physically unsuitable for spaceflight, so he was destined to have no chance.

As for Sun Chengxian, he's practically watched him grow up. If his girlfriend doesn't make too many demands, he wouldn't mind helping the newlyweds.

"The woman's side is also very understanding and doesn't have too many demands. Her parents love their child very much and don't care whether they themselves are admitted or not. They just want to send their daughter to heaven, so they only ask that Chengxian also be qualified to go to heaven."

"I see!"

Jiang Hua nodded, understanding the situation, and decided not to reveal his full confidence right now.

He thought to himself, "It's a good thing to let the two children work together and slowly cultivate their relationship. Only in this way will they cherish each other when they go to heaven together. If one of them really has an accident in the end, it won't be too late to help them then."

On the other side, Sun Fumin saw Jiang Yuan circling the card table and couldn't help but tease him, "Little Yuan, are you still in contact with Yang Die?"