You Celebrate Like This Here
It's snowing.
Snowscapes are always stunning, especially those in small towns.
In Nanshui Town, snowfall is not a good omen.
The images of the townspeople who had suffered frostbite and frozen to death were still vivid in Yu Xing's mind. He reached out and caught the goose feather that fell in front of him. The icy temperature seeped into his palm and remained there steadily without melting.
His hands were cold too.
Fang Xiao also stopped talking abruptly, first lingering for a moment on her younger brother's skin that could hold snowflakes, then suddenly looking up.
Under the stark white sky, snowflakes fell one after another, like goose feathers.
The snow came abruptly, on the most "joyful" day; the white seemed to be burying the red, arriving with overwhelming force.
The smiles on the faces of the surrounding townspeople froze.
Their movements became slower and slower, until finally they all stood there blankly, looking up at the sky.
"What heavy snow." Yu Xing touched her arm and sighed softly.
He ignored the strange behavior of the mannequins and only paid attention to Fang Xiao's expression.
Fang Xiao's complexion was very poor, and she looked pale.
In the past three months, the Nanshui Town has been in trouble and is on the verge of collapse, and the heavy snow is the most direct manifestation of this.
Although the Snow Festival is called the Snow Festival, in fact, there is no risk of the world collapsing in previous years. In the hearts of the townspeople, heavy snow represents happiness in the coming year.
This year is different.
This year's heavy snow is a harbinger of the end times.
The only characters with their own personalities created by the book are those in Baibao Street. The townspeople outside Baibao Street are just soulless extras in the background of the "movie," and they are extremely vulnerable to being infected by bugs in a world on the verge of collapse.
Just like now, those red-clad passersby silently looking up are incredibly creepy to look at.
"..." Fang Xiao's throat moved, as if he wanted to say something, but he quickly swallowed it back.
However, Yu Xing was still enjoying the snow in a good mood. "This must be the heaviest snowfall in the past few days. I'm starting to understand the feeling of the snow disaster described in the book."
Fang Xiao closed his eyes briefly.
Why does my brother always bring up things he shouldn't talk about?!
At the same time, the joy he felt from shopping with his brother suddenly faded, replaced by an overwhelming sense of urgency.
An idea seemed to be fermenting in his mind—he couldn't waste any more time; he had to hurry.
Hurry up...
Hurry up and take Fang Xing to the dock.
Why?
A moment of clarity flashed in Fang Xiao's eyes. Even though his perception had been distorted, he wasn't stupid. This emotion was too obvious, and he noticed something unusual during the rapid shift in his mood.
Moreover, he had considered taking control of Nanshui Town together with his younger brother after his return, and he would take his brother to the dock sooner or later.
But it's impossible to be in such a hurry.
What does it mean to be too late?
His snake-like pupils contracted, his heart pounded like a drum, and snowflakes melted on his neck, turning into icy water that flowed down his muscles and into his collar.
At the same time, the unsettling thought in his mind vanished without a trace.
Yu Xing noticed his brief unusual behavior and subtly curled the corners of her lips into a smile.
He originally planned to subtly hint at the crisis in Nanshui Town while traveling with Fang Xiao, making the Snake Woman consciousness hidden in Fang Xiao's mind anxious.
The snow came at just the right time, helping him and saving him a lot of trouble.
With just a few words of guidance, the Snake Woman, who had been setting up her scheme in Nanshui Town for so long, would inevitably become impatient and reveal a flaw in front of Fang Xiao.
Fang Xiao is too smart.
He is a human who can undoubtedly seize opportunities. Once the Snake Woman discovers that Fang Xiao might become a threat to her collaborator and her body...
The Snake Woman will most likely not have Fang Xiao take him to the dock again, but will arrange for someone more suitable.
Yu Xing, whose every move was purposeful, planned to add fuel to the fire. He smiled and asked Fang Xiao, "Brother, is the whole town this lively today?"
Fang Xiao snapped out of her daze, suppressing her unease and strangeness, and thought for a moment before replying, "Yes, everyone will celebrate."
He pointed to the strange townsman beside him. "There are probably few like that. Let's go, let's find somewhere else to play, so as not to spoil the fun."
"Shall we go to the hospital and take a look?" Yu Xing's smile widened, and he put his arm around Fang Xiao's shoulder, acting like best buddies. "I'm quite curious how they're going to present the Snow Festival at the hospital!"
Those who had previously frozen to death or suffered from frostbite—the townspeople in the movie who had a plot hole—were all sent to the hospital, which held a unique position as the town's only hospital.
The atmosphere in the hospital was oppressive and eerie, as if it were a completely different world from the town that celebrated the Snow Festival... although the main reason for this contrast was that the Doctor had secretly taken control of the hospital.
Fang Xiao looked at Yu Xing with a deep sense of doubt.
Given his personality, he should have asked suspiciously why he was so interested in the hospital situation, and then wondered if his younger brother had already discovered something through the hospital that led him to return to the Fang family.
But now, a rebellious thought also lingers in his heart.
"Great, we ran into Doctor so early in the morning, what a coincidence! Let's go see him today." Fang Xiao pulled up his wide sleeves and suddenly remembered that he had never been to a hospital since he was a child. Whenever he was sick or injured in a fight, that old man Fang Deming would call Doctor to come to his house to treat him.
The Doctor at the beginning were all old men. Looking back now, they all looked and had similar personalities, which was full of Fang Deming's stereotypes about traditional Chinese medicine.
Later, as more tourists came, some students studying Western medicine probably "arrived" at the hospital. He still didn't need to go to the hospital; the Fang family was very powerful, and Doctor were eager to come to him.
It wasn't until he successfully usurped the throne and wanted to find Doctor to "treat" Fang Deming properly that he personally went to the hospital and selected a young, newly arrived Doctor clearly lacked medical ethics.
This is the one I'm looking for now.
The hospital's peculiarity only became apparent in the last three months. The townspeople who had experienced the glitch were all sent to the hospital for various reasons and then locked up.
More and more people went in, but the hospital never said it was short of beds. Frostbite victims were like raindrops in the sea; once they were in, they could never come out.
Fang Xiao realized that subconsciously he didn't have the idea of going to the hospital to find out what was going on. If his younger brother hadn't brought it up today, he would still be in the dark.
The two then went to the hospital.
There were small carts on the street that took people to visit tourist attractions. Fang Xiao hailed a rickshaw decorated with red ribbons and bells. The two tall and long-legged people nestled side by side inside, quietly watching the snow scene.
The heavy snowfall was spreading rapidly, and as time passed, it covered the surrounding scenery with a thick layer of silvery snow.
This unchanging scene was finally shattered the moment it came into view of the hospital.
The hospital was shrouded in a gray haze.
The somber atmosphere, contrasted with the festive cheer across the street, created an indescribable sense of estrangement.
"Ah!!!!"
A scream pierced the air inside the hospital gate. Fang Xiao and Yu Xing had just gotten out of the car and immediately looked into the gate.
The patient, dressed in a pale hospital gown, was covered in blood and clung desperately to the gate railing. Behind him, a sinister-looking security guard pulled the patient back with one hand and struck him hard on the back of the head with a stick in the other!
The stick sliced through the air, shattering a fragile head and causing Fang Xiao to open his eyes wide in shock. (End of Chapter)