AaSoL 01

Chapter 1: Prologue

The figure on the glass was semi-transparent, swaying lightly.

The light inside was dim, barely illuminating half the street through the glass window. She used the light to see a huge black shadow fall on the opposite side of the street, smashing onto the roof of a car.

The alarm sounded immediately.

“What was that sound?” someone asked on the phone.

“A tree broke and smashed a car,” Yin Guo covered her left ear to hear her friend clearly through the loud music. “The snowstorm is too scary. Do you know how cold it is right now? Minus 25 degrees.”

“Who told you to go in the winter? I warned you,” Zheng Yi yawned, still mocking her. “Snowstorms are common in New York during winter. You’re on your own.”

Yin Guo didn’t even have the energy to complain. “I haven’t showered for three days and nights. You have to help me sort out a hotel tonight.”

“Wait a bit, I’m still checking,” Zheng Yi replied.

The phone call ended.

Yin Guo tiredly returned to her cousin Meng Xiaotian’s side. “Let’s wait a while. Zheng Yi is looking for a hotel, she’ll update me soon.”

Meng Xiaotian was having a great time, not caring at all. “If nothing works, let’s just stay up all night here.”

She wasn’t as energetic as him and slumped on the bar, glancing outside.

Who would have thought she would encounter the strongest blizzard in ten years?

First, they were delayed at the Capital Airport for ten hours, flew over the vast ocean to New York. Due to the snowstorm, the plane couldn’t land, circling in the air for over two hours before being rerouted to Chicago.

That night, all hotels in Chicago were fully booked, and the airline couldn’t arrange accommodation.

The siblings spent the night in the airport terminal, one sleeping on a bench, the other on the floor, waiting for the next day’s flight with other stranded passengers. The next morning, they washed up in the airport restroom, excitedly preparing to board. They waited from morning until dark before being arranged on a flight to New York.

This time, they were lucky and finally landed.

As soon as the plane stabilized, the flight attendant informed everyone that there were no available gates in New York, so no one could disembark until further notice.

The group of people who had spent the whole night in the airport continued to sleep on the plane.

They slept for six hours, only waking up to an announcement, red-eyed and slouching as they queued to get off the plane.

After getting off, Yin Guo sat on a luggage trolley, waiting for their bags, and ended up falling asleep again. By dusk, the luggage finally arrived. She thought she had seen the light at the end of the tunnel, only to receive a call from the hotel: due to the delayed check-in, both rooms were canceled.

At that moment, standing at the immigration checkpoint, she nearly cried.

Fortunately, a Chinese girl who had also spent the night at the airport in Chicago stopped her after clearing customs. She said her family was picking her up. The girl told Yin Guo that it would be extremely difficult to get a taxi in this blizzard. She suggested Yin Guo join her and head to Manhattan—it was better than staying at the airport.

Thanks to the kindness of this stranger, Yin Guo and her cousin were taken to the bar.

Although the blizzard continued outside, at least they had food and drinks.

Someone pushed open the iced glass door behind them.

The cold wind ruthlessly blew against the back of Yin Guo’s neck. She shivered and pulled up her down jacket collar.

Meng Xiaotian tightened his coat. “This is really messed up. I feel like I’m in The Day After Tomorrow.”

It really did look like it.

The movie The Day After Tomorrow was filmed in New York—frozen Statue of Liberty, cruise ships washed ashore, and the library that saved everyone… Yin Guo loved disaster films, having watched this one seventeen or eighteen times. She never thought she’d see the scene come to life.

At this moment, the phone showed that the outdoor temperature was minus 25°C, with the wind chill making it feel like minus 40°C. They were wearing the thickest down jackets, but in this weather, staying outside was unbearable.

Just unloading the luggage from the car was almost enough to drive them mad with the cold.

Yin Guo placed her phone in front of Meng Xiaotian, asking him to keep an eye on any updates from Zheng Yi. After explaining, she put on the hood of her down jacket, placed her hands on the bar counter, rested her head, and closed her eyes to rest.

“It’s really cold,” Meng Xiaotian mumbled beside her.

Yin Guo drowsily sniffed the smell of roasted chicken wings in front of her, wanting to eat but too lazy to move.

A band on stage began playing an old song, the melody sweet and soft, like the sun, like clear skies, like everything related to summer. In the gaps between songs, the lead singer spoke softly in English, saying he was singing for the girl he admired, deeply attracted to her, unable to resist, madly in love, but too shy to approach—he didn’t know how to get closer…

It was Yellow.

“Sis,” Meng Xiaotian called her.

“Hmm,” Yin Guo responded.

“Xiao Guo,” Meng Xiaotian patted her, sounding like he had something important to say.

Yin Guo used the last of her energy to lift her head and open her eyes.

In her blurry vision, a strange object appeared—a glass of alcohol.

Of course, there was also a man behind the glass.

A young man. He wore a black down jacket with a black hat, making it hard to tell how long his hair was, but it was clearly not long. His pupils were pitch black, his skin pale, with a thin face and a sharp chin. His nose was not as high as a European or American, but still relatively high.

An Asian? Probably.

A Chinese? She wasn’t sure since he hadn’t spoken yet.

“Here’s for you,” the man said.

Eh? A Chinese?

Yin Guo removed her down jacket’s hood, sat up straight, and was about to speak when another man, wearing glasses and with a similar Chinese appearance, approached and placed a second drink in front of Meng Xiaotian. “This one’s for you.”

“It’s really too much, thanks,” Meng Xiaotian chuckled awkwardly.

“No need to be polite,” the man with glasses said. “We’re fellow countrymen.”

Meng Xiaotian quickly introduced Yin Guo. “This is my sister.”

They knew each other? How could that be? Meng Xiaotian was visiting New York for the first time.

Yin Guo looked at her cousin.

“They came in when you were on the phone. They’re sitting at the table next to mine,” Meng Xiaotian explained. “I overheard them speaking Chinese, so I casually asked what drinks are good here.”

Yin Guo understood.

The man with glasses smiled and asked, “Did you two not find a hotel? Are you stuck here?”

In this weather, no one would come to a bar to kill time with three luggage bags, so it was reasonable to assume the siblings were stuck here.

“Yes, we had a hotel booked, but it was canceled. We’re waiting for a friend to find us one,” Meng Xiaotian volunteered. “Hopefully, we can find one. If not, we’ll just stay here until tomorrow morning. At least we have food and drinks.”

The man with glasses smiled. “He called a car. If you confirm the hotel, he’ll take you there.”

The “he” he referred to was, of course, the quiet man.

“That’s great.” Meng Xiaotian was thrilled.

“Wait until you book it,” the man with glasses said with a smile. “If it’s early, just follow his car. If not, I’ll take you. The subway here is very convenient, and you can get to almost any place.”

Meng Xiaotian happily raised his glass. “Thanks, bro.”

“No problem,” the man with glasses clinked glasses with him.

The two chatted happily.

The quiet man at the next table ordered some snacks, sipping his drink while watching the band perform.

Yin Guo wasn’t as outgoing as her cousin, and lowered her head to look at her drink, killing time.

Her cousin’s drink was milky white, while hers looked like it was made for women—orange with small fruit chunks. Curious, she sniffed it. The alcohol smell wasn’t strong, so she stirred it with a straw and closely examined the drink.

Suddenly, she noticed the man glancing at her with amusement.

As if to say: Afraid there’s something in it?

Yin Guo released the straw, pretending to tuck her long hair behind her ear, playing dumb.

Her phone vibrated, and Zheng Yi’s WeChat message popped up.

Thank God, it was a screenshot of the hotel and contact details, followed by a message: There aren’t many rooms left in Manhattan, and they’re extremely expensive. I managed to book a room in Queens, the last one. You need to go now. They’re only holding it for two more hours.

Yin Guo elbowed Meng Xiaotian and showed him her phone.

“That’s awesome!” Meng Xiaotian exclaimed. “We got it.”

“Pretty quick,” the man with glasses praised. “Looks like your friend is reliable. Where’s the hotel?”

Meng Xiaotian handed his phone to the man with glasses.

The man shook his head, then placed Yin Guo’s phone in front of the quiet man. “How long until your car arrives?”

“Ten minutes.”

The quiet man spoke his second sentence of the night.

“Not long then,” Meng Xiaotian put down his glass. “I’m going to the restroom.”

“Let’s go together,” the man with glasses said as he led Meng Xiaotian away.

Now, only Yin Guo and the quiet man remained.

Yin Guo kept her head down, chatting on WeChat, reporting to Zheng Yi that she had met two Chinese men who seemed friendly, bought them drinks, and even offered to take her to the hotel. She was moved but also worried about safety, and quietly discussed with Zheng Yi whether it was safe. Zheng Yi’s judgment was—on a day like this, even scammers wouldn’t be working, but who knew if they’d encounter someone with ulterior motives?

Zheng Yi: Just be careful, try to get to know more about them.

Yin Guo turned off her phone.

She stirred her drink slowly with the straw, looking over at the man sitting a step away.

Before long, the man sensed her gaze and looked back.

“Are you a student?” Yin Guo asked politely. “Or are you working here?”

“A student,” the man replied.

“New York University?”

The man shook his head.

He looked at the flicker in Yin Guo’s eyes and guessed her unease. “Afraid I’m a bad person?”

Yin Guo smiled awkwardly and didn’t deny it.

The man pulled a wallet out of his coat and placed a Chinese ID card on the bar in front of her. Then, he took out a magnetic card and placed it next to the ID.

“This is my school ID,” he pointed to the name on it. “You can compare it.”

He then pointed to his face, indicating that she could compare it to the real person.

He usually didn’t carry his ID, but it just happened to be useful today.

Yin Guo’s gaze dropped, and she first saw the magnetic card.

Georgetown University? Zheng Yi had one; she had seen it. Could he be an alumni of the same school?

Yin Guo remembered that Zheng Yi’s school was located in a wealthy district of Washington, D.C., and it was a prestigious, expensive university. This ID didn’t seem fake. The ID card also seemed real.

The photo on the ID matched the one on the magnetic card.

Should she verify it with Zheng Yi? How? Should she take a photo and send it?

That seemed disrespectful, so she decided against it.

Yin Guo stacked the ID and magnetic card together and was about to return them, but the man reached into his coat again—

What else was he going to take?

In the confusion of Yin Guo’s gaze, the man pulled out a phone, unlocked the screen, and opened his album. Soon, he turned the screen toward her, showing her the information page of his passport, with the same name:

Lin Yiyang.

LIN, YIYANG.