“Holy shit!”
Someone in the line behind them waiting for treatment let out a startled cry.
Sharp gasps rose one after another.
“What are you doing?!”
The doctor jumped in fright and snatched the bottle of alcohol from Ke Bei’s hand.
“I’m sorry, but Doctor, I really have something urgent and must get home right away. Please just bandage it for me,” Ke Bei apologized earnestly.
The doctor looked at the wound, then at her, her expression complicated.
She seemed as though she wanted to persuade her further, but seeing how determined Ke Bei was, she said nothing more and rolled up her pant leg to begin cleaning the injury.
This time, she worked quickly. Within a little over ten minutes, Ke Bei’s wound had been bandaged.
After thanking the doctor, Ke Bei carried her son and left the first-aid station.
Standing outside the tent and looking at the bustling crowd in the distance, Ke Bei felt momentarily dazed.
She had been too tense just now to think clearly. Only at this moment did it truly sink in—
She and her son had really come back.
Back to eight years ago, when the natural disasters had just begun.
Although it was something she wouldn’t have dared dream of, it had actually come true.
At the thought of this, Ke Bei’s mood lifted. She hugged her son tightly in excitement.
“Mom, let’s hurry and find Dad!”
Cheng Tian was exhausted and nearly drifting off to sleep.
Sensing his mother’s excitement, he nuzzled his head against her chest and repeated it softly.
Ke Bei immediately forced herself to calm down.
Yes, she had to find her husband as soon as possible. There wasn’t much time left before the disaster would erupt on a large scale. Every minute was precious.
The sooner she found Cheng Qian, the greater their chances of making it.
But where could she look?
Ke Bei wasn’t from this city. In her previous life, she hadn’t even been to Tianshui.
She and Cheng Qian had met while fleeing from disaster; that had already been two months into the apocalypse.
As for his past, she only knew that he had once been a special forces soldier. After retiring from the military, he had settled in Tianshui and opened an auto repair shop in the Auto Parts World here, making a living fixing cars.
But where exactly was this Auto Parts World?
“Hey, sis, why are you still here?”
Just as Ke Bei was hesitating, not sure what to do, a voice sounded behind her.
She turned around and saw a young man in his early twenties walking toward them with a cheerful grin.
His head was wrapped in gauze, and the exposed parts of his arms and legs still bore traces of disinfectant that had been applied.
When she looked at him, he stepped a little closer and casually gave her a thumbs-up.
“Sis, you’re amazing! Seriously, you nearly scared me to death just now! That was alcohol! You just poured it straight on like that…”
He clicked his tongue twice and even shuddered slightly.
Ke Bei shot him a glance, then turned her head back around.
She wasn’t in the mood to chat with a stranger.
But the young man clearly wasn’t the type to take a hint. Even without a response, he kept talking on and on.
“I was totally stunned at the time! Didn’t it hurt? If I hadn’t happened to record it, no one would’ve believed me! Such a long wound, and you just poured it straight on…”
At that, Ke Bei turned back to him again.
Her expression sharpened. “You were live-streaming?”
The young man froze for a moment and hurriedly waved his hands. “No, no! I was video chatting with my roommate and just happened to record it.”
Ke Bei nodded and said nothing more.
Seeing her fall silent, the young man instead began to feel awkward.
He glanced at her, then edged a little closer and asked in a lowered voice, “Sis, um… can I post that video on Weibo?”
“Sure. One hundred yuan,” Ke Bei replied without hesitation.
Obviously not expecting such a straightforward answer, he paused before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. “Okay, okay. Should I scan you, or will you scan me?”
“Cash.”
Using her pocket as cover, Ke Bei took out a phone that had been left unused in the corner of her space for a long time and gave it a small shake. “My phone’s dead.”
The young man suddenly understood and grinned, thinking he had it all figured out. “Oh, your phone’s out of battery, so you can’t call a ride, right? But… I don’t have cash either.”
As he spoke, he pulled his backpack around from behind and took out a slightly worn power bank from the side pocket, handing it to her. “How about this, sis, use this first.”
Then he pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down a string of numbers. “Once you charge it and add me, I’ll transfer the money to you.”
In her previous life, the disaster had come so suddenly that there had been no time to prepare, so Ke Bei’s bank savings had never been used. There was still money in her account.
Once her phone could be turned on, many problems would naturally be solved.
With the young man’s help, Ke Bei quickly booked a ride and soon arrived at the Auto Parts World with her son.
The Auto Parts World was located in the eastern suburbs of Tianshui, a vast automobile market covering a large area.
Besides selling parts, there was also an entire section filled with auto repair shops.
Cheng Qian’s shop wasn’t hard to find. It was in the outermost row of the repair district. Although it hadn’t been open for very long, his superb skills had already earned it a modest reputation in the market.
Ke Bei didn’t have much trouble locating it.
“Boss, boss! Someone’s looking for you outside!”
After she explained why she had come, the shop assistant shouted toward the repair workshop in the back.
But no one responded.
The young worker craned his neck to look inside, then turned to Ke Bei and said, “I’ll go check. The boss is probably busy. Just wait a moment!”
Without waiting for her reply, he dashed toward the back courtyard.
Holding her son tightly, Ke Bei stood inside the clean, orderly shop, her heart suddenly growing uneasy.
She glanced at the reflection of herself and her son in the glass display window.
Thin. Disheveled. Dirty.
After eight years in the apocalypse, she had long stopped caring about her appearance.
But now, standing in this bright and spotless shop, an indescribable sense of inferiority rose within her. She instinctively tugged at her clothes and stepped aside, nudging her blood-soaked sneakers farther behind the sofa to hide them.
Sensing his mother’s unease, Cheng Tian opened his eyes.
He reached up with his small hand and gently touched Ke Bei’s face, comforting her. “Mom is pretty. They’re talking nonsense. Mom isn’t some ‘auntie.’ Mom is prettier than all of them!”
His voice was soft, his little hand icy cold.
Because he had exhausted his strength, even saying those few sentences left him slightly out of breath.
But his eyes were wide open, his little face puffed up with indignation. It was obvious that the way the nurse and that young man had addressed Ke Bei had truly bothered him.
Ke Bei couldn’t help but laugh.
Warmth filled her heart, and her earlier unease vanished completely.
She lovingly kissed her son’s dirty cheek and whispered, “Mom knows. Rest for a bit. Don’t talk anymore.”
Cheng Tian nodded, but instead of closing his eyes as told, he gazed expectantly toward the back courtyard.
After quite a while, the door between the front shop and the rear yard was suddenly pulled open, and an impatient voice called out—
“Who’s looking for me?”
A tall, broad-shouldered man stepped out.
At the sight of that familiar figure, Ke Bei’s body trembled.
“Dad!”
Before she could react, Cheng Tian, who had been lying in her arms, suddenly straightened up and shouted loudly at the man.
His voice was filled with pure joy.
As he called out, he stretched both arms toward him. Even his pale little face, weakened from exhaustion, flushed faintly with excitement.
Cheng Qian halted mid-step, his expression stiffening for a brief moment.
The young worker behind him sucked in a sharp breath as if from a toothache, then couldn’t help bursting into laughter.
Ke Bei felt utterly mortified.
Only then did she realize she had forgotten to tell her son not to call him “Dad” right away.
In her previous life, Cheng Qian had disappeared while out looking for medicine for their son and never returned.
At that time, Cheng Tian had only been two years old and had no memory of his father at all.
For the next four years, it had been just the two of them, mother and son, relying on each other.
But every child is curious about their father, and Cheng Tian was no exception.
Whenever he asked about him, Ke Bei would carefully take out her phone and show him the family photos saved in the album, pictures of the three of them together, and tell him that his father was a hero, that his father loved him very much.
So although he had never truly known his father, Cheng Tian had developed deep feelings for him and had etched his appearance firmly into his heart.
Returning to a time before the apocalypse was something Ke Bei had never even dared imagine, so there had been no way she could have prepared her son in advance.
After coming back, everything had happened so quickly and so much at once that she had completely overlooked this matter.
It actually made the very first meeting between father and son turn out like this.
Fortunately, Cheng Qian reacted quickly.
He didn’t respond to Cheng Tian’s call of “Dad,” only smiled faintly and treated it as childish mischief.
He stepped forward a few more paces until he stood in front of them and asked, “Were you looking for me? Did your car break down?”
As he spoke, his gaze fell on Ke Bei.
When he noticed the bloodstained leg of her trousers and the gauze wrapped around her calf, a flicker of surprise flashed through his eyes.
He thought for a moment, then asked, “Did you come from the Riverside Bridge? Where exactly did the car break down? Do you need us to tow it?”
It was obvious that the news about the bridge’s collapse had already been publicly reported.
Ke Bei looked deeply at the husband she had not seen for so long, a thin mist gathering in her eyes.
Facing Cheng Qian’s concerned gaze, she forced down the surging emotions in her heart and tried to speak in the calmest voice she could manage. “Cheng Qian, I need to talk to you about something personal. It’s important. Could we find somewhere quiet and have a talk?”
Even though she had tried her best, the excitement and joy of seeing her husband again made it impossible for Ke Bei to fully keep her composure.
Her eyes shimmered with tears, and her voice carried an irrepressible tremor.
Meanwhile, after calling out “Dad” several times and being ignored, Cheng Tian finally burst into tears.
He leaned half his body toward Cheng Qian, stretching out his little arms and sobbing, “Daddy, hug me! I’m Xiao Tian! Hug me!”
The little boy grew stubborn. Ignoring his mother’s attempts to stop him, he twisted and lunged toward Cheng Qian with all his strength.
Tears and snot streamed down, mixing with dust and grime to smear his entire little face.
But his watery eyes were filled with grievance and confusion, and from overwhelming sadness, his small body trembled all over.
Even Cheng Qian, who considered himself experienced and worldly, had never encountered such a scene before. He stood there, completely at a loss.
Instinctively, he reached out to take the child.
But faced with such a soft little child, crying his heart out until he was hoarse, Cheng Qian stretched out his hands, then helplessly drew them back.
He shot Ke Bei a questioning look, silently asking what on earth was going on.
But at this moment, Ke Bei had no attention to spare for him.
Because of his special ability, whenever Cheng Tian’s body changed in size, his mentality would change along with it.
The way he spoke and acted would unconsciously align with the corresponding age.
Normally, the child could control himself a little. But now, seeing Cheng Qian had stirred his emotions too intensely, and he was completely unable to rein in his feelings.
So at this moment, his mindset was truly that of a two-year-old.
And with a child of that age, especially when he was this devastated, what reasoning could possibly work?
Ke Bei was drenched in sweat, desperately trying to restrain her son and stop him from crying.
But clearly, no matter what she did, it was useless.
The little guy couldn’t hear anything at all right now.
He only stared at Cheng Qian, crying and calling “Daddy,” sobbing as he begged, “Daddy, hug!”
The scene was slipping out of control.
The young employee who had followed them was utterly stunned.
Eyes wide, he stood off to the side, quietly watching everything unfold, sneaking glances at his boss from time to time.
That look in his eyes made it seem as though he were watching some scumbag who had abandoned his wife and child, only to have them show up demanding answers.
Cheng Qian felt his scalp go numb under that gaze.