Chapter 372 - 250: Song in the Rain

Turner Centennial Hall.

A sudden winter rain had fallen in the night, washing the last of the snow to dust.

People experience a peculiar emotion when they witness extreme weather.

Jiang He still remembered being in high school, watching a violent storm rage outside. It felt like the end of the world, yet everyone would get inexplicably excited.

He later asked Teacher Shen if there was a psychological explanation for this.

Teacher Shen had said, "Extreme weather yanks us out of our weary lives. In that moment, we form a connection with nature and all living things. We can feel our own true existence within the universe, giving rise to a sense of... the sublime."

Su Zhi quickly made her way through the crowd to Jiang He's side.

She said gravely, "Dr. Jiang, the blizzard is worse than expected, and the roads are icing over badly. Given the situation, our press conference scheduled for tomorrow might have to be postponed."

Jiang He nodded calmly. "Understood."

According to Jiang He's original plan, he was going to drop all the data for the miRNA early screening project at the end of today's symposium.

But he later discovered that Johns Hopkins University had a very rigid conference schedule, and each speaker's time was limited.

It wasn't a suitable environment for unveiling a completely new technology.

So, he had Su Zhi specifically request an extra day to hold an independent press conference.

Let the bullets fly for a while.

News had to be broken one story at a time.

What happened in the auditorium today was enough for the media to write about for three days and three nights.

♫: "Three days and three nights, deep in the dead of night, don't you stop dancing~"

Give it the time it takes to play a Zhang Huimei song, and public opinion across the United States would have Miller's plagiarism case dead to rights.

And then.

He would have a proper chat with them about the miRNA early screening.

Perfect pacing!

It was like Jinx triggering Get Excited! plus Lethal Tempo (a humorous metaphor)!

"Is the car ready?" Jiang He asked Su Zhi.

"It is. It's right outside the main entrance."

"Good. Let's go."

The moment the doors opened.

A torrent of wind and freezing rain surged in.

Someone ran over with an open umbrella, fighting to hold it steady against the gale as they shielded Jiang He and Shen Yu.

"Dr. Jiang, Miss Shen, watch your step! Get in the car, quickly!"

Jiang He shielded Shen Yu as they hurried down the steps. He pulled open the car door, helped Shen Yu into the back seat, and then quickly got in after her.

Su Zhi, sitting in the passenger seat, turned around and said, "Dr. Jiang, the situation outside is worse than we thought. The consulate's advice is for us to go straight back to the hotel and not go anywhere else. Because of this, we'll probably have to stay in Baltimore for another two or three days."

"No problem. We'll follow their instructions." Jiang He's tone was even as he looked out the window.

By now, the sky had grown completely dark.

The streetlights flickered, the city's power grid strained by the ice storm.

The blizzard's force was almost unbelievable. In the distance, a billboard, torn at by the wind, looked ready to collapse.

Jiang He sighed to himself.

'This counts as a mistake on my part.'

'In my previous life, I didn't know much about the history of the United States.'

'I only remembered the major events that happened back home in '08, but I failed to account for this extreme ice storm in Baltimore today.'

'If I had known we'd run into a natural disaster like this, I never would have asked Shen Yu to come with me.'

'It's too dangerous.'

"I'm sorry," Jiang He said, turning his head. "I didn't expect the weather here to get like this. If I'd known, I wouldn't have brought you along."

Shen Yu shook her head and squeezed his hand in return. "What are you talking about, you dummy."

Jiang He gently squeezed her palm, his gaze once again turning to the window.

The car was just passing through an intersection.

Huddled by a subway ventilation grate on the side of the road were several ragged homeless people.

They shivered in the ice storm, in temperatures well below freezing.

No one paid them any mind. The occasional police car that passed simply sped by with its siren wailing...

Back home, in a snow disaster of this magnitude, the country would immediately launch a saturation rescue effort. They would never abandon a single ordinary person trapped in the storm.

But abroad?

It was hard to say. It was really hard to say.

Jiang He thought of the infamous Hurricane Katrina in the United States.

It was a Category 5 hurricane that struck the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast in late August 2005, ultimately causing over 1,800 deaths. It was the most devastating disaster in the history of New Orleans.

The crucial point was that this disaster was not entirely natural.

The storm itself didn't directly destroy the city. It was the subsequent systemic failure of the flood levees, which led to 80% of the city being flooded, that turned it into a catastrophe.

The rich evacuated early in their private cars, while the poor were trapped in the Superdome, lacking food and water. Riots even broke out, and they ultimately died in despair...

Here, rescue efforts were a matter of cost-effectiveness.

For the elites at places like Johns Hopkins University, a blizzard like this was, at worst, an inconvenience—a reason to complain about internet outages and flight delays.

But the homeless people outside that door might well freeze to death silently on the streets tonight.

When the storm passed, specialized garbage trucks would come and haul them away, just like clearing snow.

Then they would become just another cold statistic in the death toll.

"Jiang He, what are you looking at?"

"Nothing." Jiang He pulled his gaze away. "I just want to go home."

The car struggled through the wind and snow, finally arriving at their hotel.

The hotel manager was at the entrance, his brow beaded with sweat as he greeted guests.

Jiang He and Shen Yu walked over with a security escort, clearly looking like important people.

The manager immediately hurried over. "Sir, Miss, my sincerest apologies for the inconvenience this terrible weather has caused you."