On a chilly, damp morning in late August, Xue Dingyuan woke to his phone vibrating, his head pounding like he was hungover. He had played ranked League of Legends until three in the morning, even scoring a pentakill. He pulled open the curtains. Thick fog blanketed the entire city like cotton wadding, obscuring the outlines of the buildings across the street until he could barely see his own hand. His phone lit up, but there was no signal, and even the Wi-Fi icon had turned into a red X. A dense fog at the end of August was a once-in-a-century sight. In the mirror, his muscular build, honed through martial arts training, and his close-cropped hair and square face caught the light. Outside, all was white as though something were slowly straightening up deep within the fog.
