Xu Qingqing turned off the flashlight on her phone. The battery was running low, and she needed it for emergency lighting.
She looked up at the sky listlessly. Only a solitary moon accompanied her in the vast sky.
After staring at the moon for a while, Xu Qingqing checked on Lu Fenglin. The wet tissue on his forehead was almost dry from his feverish head.
She soaked the tissue in the small puddle again and placed it back on Lu Fenglin's head.
"Lu Fenglin, you must pull through," Xu Qingqing encouraged him.
In this situation, this was all she could do.
She changed the wet tissue on Lu Fenglin's head five or six times. The moon slowly moved to the other side of the sky.
Xu Qingqing felt her eyelids getting heavier and heavier. Her head buried in her knees, she gradually fell asleep.
At night, the heavy rain started again.
The stepmother watched the housekeeper return, soaked to the bone. She asked worriedly, "How's it going? Haven't you found Fenglin yet?"
The housekeeper shook his head regretfully and wiped the water from his hair with a towel. "Madam, we've searched every place the second young master could have gone, but there's no sign of him."
"How could that be? The boy has no money or phone. Where could he have gone?" The stepmother was on the verge of tears with worry.
Lu's father, on the side, showed a hint of relief. He had thought Lu Fenglin would obey his mother's arrangement and go abroad as a coward who refused to admit his mistakes.
But unexpectedly, Lu Fenglin had the courage to resist.
"Why aren't you worried at all?"
The stepmother glared angrily at Lu's father, who was sipping tea leisurely, and was about to start nagging.
Lu's father stopped her in advance. "Don't blame me. You're the one in the wrong this time. You didn't respect the child's wishes and tried to force him away."
"The child just wants to escape your control. That's a good thing."
"You're talking nonsense." The stepmother couldn't stand the thought of Lu Fenglin trying to escape her. "You're clearly being biased. If the eldest son ran away from home, you'd definitely be anxious!"
Hearing this, Lu's father angrily slammed his teacup on the table. "How do you know I'm not anxious?"
Just then, a young man walked in from the rainy night. Without even looking at the stepmother, he reported to Lu's father.
"Mr. Lu, we found that the second young master went to Weishan Island after leaving the airport. Do we need to search the island?"
Hearing that Lu Fenglin had gone to Weishan Island, Lu's father waved his hand. "No need. Weishan Island is Lu Chuanbai's territory. Fenglin will be fine."
Lu Chuanbai returned home dejectedly, his body covered in dirt. He collapsed on the sofa.
Where on earth was Xu Qingqing...
His life had finally improved because of Xu Qingqing. Lu Chuanbai couldn't imagine how he would live without her in the future.
The two children would surely be heartbroken too.
Wangcai saw Lu Chuanbai's dejected state and came over to nudge him with its nose, hoping to cheer him up.
Lu Chuanbai forced a bitter smile, stroked Wangcai's head, and pushed it away. "Go away, Wangcai. I don't have time to play with you."
Ding-dong!
The doorbell rang. Lu Chuanbai dragged his body to open the door. It was Xu's mother, carrying a stainless-steel thermos lunch box.
Xu's mother was shocked to see Lu Chuanbai in such a mess. "Chuanbai, what happened to you?"
Only then did Lu Chuanbai remember that he hadn't changed his clothes. He quickly made up an excuse. "It's nothing. I got my clothes dirty while inspecting a construction site."
"You should change them quickly, or you'll catch a cold," Xu's mother said with concern. Then she craned her neck to look around the room but didn't see Xu Qingqing.
Worry crept onto Xu's mother's face. "Has Qingqing still not come back? The two children were crying and making a fuss to see her. I finally managed to put them to sleep."
"I called her, but her phone has no signal. What on earth is going on?"
"Auntie, don't worry. Qingqing told me she has to work overtime tonight and won't be coming back."
Lu Chuanbai was worried that Xu's mother wouldn't be able to handle the truth.
"The reason there's no signal is that she's on Weishan Island. The signal on the island is always poor, especially on rainy days."
"Once Qingqing finishes her work, she'll definitely call you back."
"Really?" Although Xu's mother was still a little worried, she chose to believe Lu Chuanbai and handed him the lunch box.
"You haven't eaten yet, have you? I brought you some food. Go take a hot shower and have something to eat."
"Okay, thank you, Auntie."
After Xu's mother left, Lu Chuanbai dragged his body like a zombie to take a quick shower.
He had no appetite, but in order not to disappoint Xu's mother, he forced himself to sit at the table and swallowed the food without chewing.
After dinner, Lu Chuanbai sat at the table in a daze. He stayed up until the middle of the night. When his body couldn't take it anymore, he lay down on the table and fell into a deep sleep.
But before 5 a.m., consumed by worry, Lu Chuanbai woke up again. He started packing his things and prepared to go to Weishan Island to continue searching for Xu Qingqing.
The next day, Xu Qingqing was woken up by the sunlight. The sun shone through a hole in the cave ceiling and landed right on her, making her feel warm.
Xu Qingqing rubbed her eyes and subconsciously tried to stretch. But the movement pulled the wound on her back, and she winced in pain. She quickly put her arms down.
Perhaps awakened by Xu Qingqing's cry, Lu Fenglin lying beside her let out a pained groan. Xu Qingqing rushed over to check on him.
Lu Fenglin's eyelashes fluttered a few times, and he slowly opened his eyes. Seeing Xu Qingqing, his voice was hoarse, like a broken radio full of static.
"Where are we?"
Xu Qingqing quickly explained. "We were caught in a mudslide yesterday and fell off the mountain. Do you remember?"
Lu Fenglin's eyes slowly scanned the surroundings and then he nodded.
He tried to sit up but found that he had no strength at all.
Xu Qingqing pressed him back to the ground. "Just lie down. You had a fever all night. You need to rest and wait for rescue."
"Okay."
Hearing Xu Qingqing's words, Lu Fenglin obediently lay back down.
The sunlight illuminated the entire cave.
The cave walls emitted strange colors. Xu Qingqing was attracted and stood up to take a closer look.
She was shocked to find a pattern similar to a bird-headed human figure!
The bird-headed human figure was placed on a black platform like a high altar. There was a blazing fire under the platform, and a group of red humanoid patterns were dancing around the fire.
The next scene showed a golden circular object like the sun hanging in the sky.
Around the circle, black radial lines were drawn. The red human patterns touched by the lines fell to the ground one by one, their faces distorted in horror.