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Chapter 11: Leaping into the Firmament
"Start the car and honk. We’ll find Old Liu first."
This wasn’t a decision that required deliberation.
Without hesitation, Lin Song started the military jeep and sounded the horn.
Li Xingyuan could hear raindrops rising from below, colliding with the vehicle’s undercarriage. The water cycle between heaven and earth was operating in ways beyond human comprehension. While some rain returned to the sky as droplets, larger bodies of water ascended like reversed rivers, surging upward into the heavens.
It wasn’t just water—scattered rocks on the road and fragments of vehicles began creaking and groaning, lifted skyward as well. This world, held together by gravity, was unraveling. When gravity returned, everything would be smashed to pieces.
Old Liu heard the car horn and poked his head out from the back of a truck. Realizing the situation, he watched as his poncho began lifting upward, fluttering wildly toward the sky like a flag caught in a fierce wind.
"Get in!" Li Xingyuan rolled down the window, no longer concerned about the rain.
Old Liu took two steps toward the car but stumbled, unsteady as though walking on water.
It was the wind.
Wind surged from the ground, carrying rain and debris skyward. The gravitational anomaly affected not only solids and liquids but gases too.
This was a localized gravitational disturbance. Air directly beneath the unknown celestial gravitational source was being violently sucked upward, while air from surrounding areas rushed in to fill the void.
Fear etched itself onto Li Xingyuan’s face. This gravitational anomaly was far more terrifying than anything he had imagined.
The airflow was still relatively mild, but as the anomaly intensified, it would soon become an inverted maelstrom of unimaginable force.
In such conditions, movement would be impossible—or rather, avoiding being torn apart by the ferocious winds would be considered fortunate.
Old Liu silently gazed at the jeep, waving as if bidding farewell. He didn’t attempt to walk over again but instead turned back into the truck.
"Don’t move," Li Xingyuan instructed Lin Song hastily, leaning forward to grab the tow rope from the driver’s seat. More accurately, the rope floated into his hands, guided by the shifting gravity. He tied one end securely around his waist with a tight knot and fastened the other end to the vehicle's frame.
When he tried to open the door, it felt as though it were welded shut. The wind pressing against it resisted fiercely. Li Xingyuan braced himself, using his shoulder to push against the door in a desperate struggle against the howling gale.
Though a writer unaccustomed to physical exertion, he summoned extraordinary strength in that moment. The wind grew stronger, yet for now—at least for now—it couldn’t overpower human will. With a final effort, Li Xingyuan forced the door open and stumbled out of the vehicle. His eardrums throbbed painfully under the abnormal air pressure, nearly bursting. Over the roar of the storm, he could hear his own heartbeat pounding like distant thunder.
Water, mud, and small stones battered his body as he fought to stay grounded. The door slammed shut behind him, pinning the tow rope tightly. But he had anticipated this—he already held most of the rope coiled in his hand.
Enough. Li Xingyuan reassured himself silently, then took his first step toward Old Liu.
The absurd gravitational pull tugged him skyward, while winds from all directions sought to impede his progress. His body felt like a bird unable to resist its yearning to fly.
Fly.
His body trembled with excitement at the prospect of soaring into the heights.
Li Xingyuan couldn’t explain why humanity—a species that had never evolved wings—felt such an intense longing for the sky.
But he resisted the temptation. Step by step, he approached the truck where Old Liu waited, his movements stiff and labored. Old Liu reached out, grabbing him and attempting to haul him aboard.
"Wait! Wait!"
The wind nearly blinded Li Xingyuan as he shouted hoarsely: "Grab me, Old Liu!"
He didn’t hear a reply, but he felt Old Liu’s hand press firmly against his shoulder, understanding his intent.
Li Xingyuan untied the tow rope from around his waist and secured it to the truck’s frame, double-checking its stability before speaking.
"Old Liu, pull me up!"
Though called a “pull,” Old Liu’s main role was to anchor Li Xingyuan. As soon as he slightly lifted one leg, the gravitational pull threatened to yank him skyward.
Once inside the truck’s cargo area, Li Xingyuan collapsed, covered in dirt and aching all over, resembling a disheveled vagrant.
There was no time to scold Old Liu for giving up hope so easily. After catching his breath and calming his overtaxed lungs, Li Xingyuan outlined his plan.
"We need to fly into the sky."
Old Liu frowned slightly, clearly surprised by Li Xingyuan’s words.
Li Xingyuan understood his reaction. "The gravitational anomaly is affecting the air too. Near-ground oxygen levels will drop rapidly. If we stay on the ground, we’ll die from wind pressure, suffocation, or ruptured blood vessels. We must ascend—but not too early. If we rise too soon, we risk being struck by debris following us upward, reducing our chances of survival even further."
The gravitational shift was happening too quickly. They couldn’t return to the military jeep and escape the anomaly zone before gravity became strong enough to lift the tires off the ground.
This truck was the best-preserved vehicle among the wreckage, likely why Old Liu had chosen it as shelter earlier. Its lower altitude during the previous gravitational anomaly suggested it might fare better this time too.
Though bloodstains smeared the interior, indicating lethal impacts upon descent, it was still preferable to the other mangled vehicles.
Binding the military jeep and the truck together with the tow rope, their combined mass might help keep their ascent lower.
The ideal height was low enough to avoid fatal injury but high enough to breathe normally.
Human effort was nearly futile now. Even the powerful engine of the military jeep would prove useless once the tires left the ground, reduced to nothing more than a trapped beast.
They had done all they could. Now, survival depended solely on luck.
Li Xingyuan accepted this reality with resignation, leaning back in his seat as they awaited their leap into the heavens.
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