"What? My little sister is missing?"
The news struck Yang Xun like a bolt of lightning. He shot up from the bed, his face instantly turning deathly pale. In disbelief, he roared into the phone, "Dr. Chen, what happened? My sister is a cancer patient! How could your hospital lose track of her?"
Seeing Yang Xun’s fury, Dr. Chen immediately said, "Mr. Yang, please, calm down. When the nurse was doing her rounds this morning, she found the bed empty. The blanket was folded neatly, and all her personal belongings were gone. It doesn’t look like she was taken. It seems more like she left on her own."
"She’s an eighteen-year-old girl! Where could she possibly go in the middle of the night?"
Yang Xun clenched his fists so hard the veins on them bulged, his voice trembling. "Check the surveillance footage, now! I’m on my way!"
After hanging up, Yang Xun’s mind went completely blank.
He frantically threw on some clothes, rushed out of the villa’s main gate, and sped toward the hospital on his electric scooter.
The entire way there, his heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, leaving him breathless.
’Yang Cai... She was the most important person in the world to him.’
Strictly speaking, Yang Cai was not his biological sister.
When Yang Xun was ten, his mother died of illness. Two years later, his father married his stepmother, and Yang Cai was the daughter she brought with her. She was only five at the time.
Despite having no blood relation, Yang Xun never treated Yang Cai like an outsider.
Growing up, he cared for her like a real older brother, taking her to school, cooking for her, and tying her hair in braids. If any classmates bullied her, he would stand up for her.
In Yang Xun’s heart, Yang Cai was his real sister—closer than any biological sibling could be.
Later, his father and stepmother both died in a car accident. Before he passed, his father grabbed his hand and used his last bit of strength to say one thing—
"Xiaoxun, after Dad is gone, you must take good care of Cai Cai. She is your real sister..."
That year, Yang Xun was eighteen, and Yang Cai was thirteen.
From then on, the two unrelated siblings relied on each other to survive.
Yang Xun worked himself to the bone to support Yang Cai’s education. He lived on scraps, but he never let her suffer even the slightest bit.
After Yang Cai got sick, Yang Xun went so far as to marry into the Xu Family to raise money for her treatment.
In this world, Yang Cai was his one untouchable weakness.
He would fight to the death anyone who touched her.
...
「Fifteen minutes later!」
Yang Xun burst into Zhonghai City People’s Hospital.
He threw open the office door and roared anxiously, "Dr. Chen, the surveillance footage?"
Dr. Chen was already prepared and immediately turned the computer monitor toward him.
The surveillance footage showed a small, thin figure walking out of the hospital room at 3:47 a.m.
She was wearing a thin white jacket and a small pink backpack, walking alone down the empty hallway. Her movements were cautious, as if she were afraid of waking the other patients.
When she reached the elevators, she pressed the button for the first floor and then disappeared from the screen.
"It’s my little sister..."
Yang Xun stared intently at the frail figure on the screen, a storm of emotions churning within him.
From the video, it was clear that Yang Cai had left on her own accord; no one had forced her.
Moreover, she had even made the bed and taken all her personal belongings, which meant it was all planned.
’This girl... where on earth did she run off to?’
Yang Xun’s fists clenched so tightly they cracked. He was both worried and furious.
A cancer patient!
Running out of the hospital alone in the middle of the night!
What if something happened to her?
"Dr. Chen, thank you. I’m going to find her."
The more Yang Xun thought about it, the more terrified he became. He didn’t linger, rushing out of the hospital and immediately dialing Yang Cai’s number.
"BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... The number you have dialed is switched off..."
"Fuck!"
Yang Xun slammed his fist onto the handlebars of his scooter and began weaving frantically through the city.
Internet cafes, parks, malls, bus stations...
An hour passed, then two.
He searched every place he could think of, but there was still no trace of Yang Cai.
「High noon!」
The sun beat down as Yang Xun squatted by the side of the road, clutching his head in his hands, on the verge of a complete breakdown.
’His sister was so weak. Running out in the middle of the night... what if she fainted on the street? What if she was kidnapped? What if...’
He didn’t dare to let his thoughts go any further.
"RING RING RING!!"
Just as he was sinking into despair, his phone suddenly rang.
Yang Xun whipped out his phone. The screen displayed a number saved under the name "Sister Mi Ting."
Mi Ting!
She was his neighbor from Xiaoxie Village, an older sister figure who had watched him grow up. She was four years his senior, and they had always gotten along well.
But since he had married into the Xu Family, they had rarely seen each other.
’Why would she suddenly call at a time like this?’
Yang Xun didn’t overthink it and immediately answered. Before he could speak, Mi Ting’s gentle voice came from the other end.
"Xiaoxun, Cai Cai is at my place. Don’t worry."
BOOM!
Her words detonated in Yang Xun’s mind like a thunderclap. He asked excitedly, "What? My sister is with you?"
"Mhm," Mi Ting said. "Cai Cai knocked on my door early this morning. She said she’d left the hospital, but your place was locked so she couldn’t get in. I had her stay here with me. The poor girl’s phone died, so it’s off. You couldn’t find her, could you?"
"I was worried sick! Is she okay?"
"Don’t worry, she’s fine. She had breakfast and is sleeping now. You should hurry back."
"Okay! I’ll be right back!"
The moment he hung up, Yang Xun felt as if all his strength had drained away, and he collapsed onto the curb.
’As long as she’s okay...’
’As long as she’s okay!’
He took several deep breaths. Once his heart rate returned to normal, he got on his electric scooter and headed for Xiaoxie Village.
...
「Xiaoxie Village!」
This was one of the oldest urban villages in Zhonghai City, located in the southeastern corner of the metropolis.
Compared to the surrounding skyscrapers, Xiaoxie Village was like a corner forgotten by time.
Low brick-and-tile houses were packed densely together, with alleys so narrow it was difficult for two people to walk side by side.
Overhead, electrical wires were tangled together like a spiderweb. The walls were plastered with all sorts of small advertisements, and the air was filled with a mixed smell of cooking fumes and dampness.
Yang Xun had lived here for over a decade and knew every alley like the back of his hand.
He parked his electric scooter at the village entrance and walked briskly down a familiar alley.
He paused when he passed his own front door, taking a look.
It was a brick-and-tile house, less than forty square meters, with a rusty iron lock hanging on the door and a thick layer of dust covering the windows.
Since he had married into the Xu Family, no one had lived here. It had been abandoned for nearly two years.
Yang Xun sighed and turned toward his neighbor Mi Ting’s house.
"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!"
He had only knocked twice when the sound of light footsteps came from inside.
"CREAK—"
The moment the door opened, a tall woman appeared before Yang Xun.
When he saw the woman in front of him, he froze on the spot.
’So... so beautiful!!’