Su Cheng’s smiling appearance with blood still coating her mouth startled Yun Nian. Fearing that Su Cheng’s mind might be breaking under the strain, she cried out in a panic, “Sister… what’s wrong with you? Don’t scare me!”
Realizing how genuinely terrified Yun Nian was, Su Cheng wiped the corner of her mouth. “Don’t worry, I made it through…”
Yun Nian glanced at the bloodstain on Su Cheng’s mouth. Though still somewhat skeptical, she nodded anyway.
Su Cheng pointed to her own face. “If you don’t believe me, look—aren’t the cuts on my face a lot better?”
Opening her eyes wide, Yun Nian took a careful look before nodding in astonishment. “The cuts on sister’s face have formed scabs!”
Hearing her say that, Su Cheng finally set her mind at ease, faintly feeling that the pain in her abdomen had also eased somewhat, and her body had regained a bit of strength.
Yun Nian wiped away the lingering tears on her face. “Sister, I want to go home, I want my mom and dad…”
Su Cheng wanted to go home too, and wanted to see her parents again, but while the former still had a chance of coming true, the latter was forever impossible.
…
The two clung to the tree together until the water currents gradually grew calmer.
As the land re-emerged from beneath the surface, the pain in Su Cheng’s abdomen had subsided by more than half. Rolling up her shirt, she saw that the bruise was still there, but she felt vastly better.
Su Cheng’s previous water bottle had fallen off and been swept away, leaving her with no choice but to pull out a fresh one.
Taking a couple of small sips to wash away the coppery taste of blood in her mouth, she passed the bottle to Yun Nian. Her remaining inventory of water was limited, so the two of them had to ration it carefully.
Finally feeling the return of hunger and appetite, Su Cheng took out a piece of chocolate and shared it with Yun Nian.
Seeing Su Cheng’s complexion improve, Yun Nian relaxed and recovered some of her high spirits.
With the physical crisis resolved, Su Cheng finally had the energy to plan her next move.
The massive tree was already showing signs of warping. If rescue failed to arrive soon, Su Cheng worried whether it could withstand another onslaught of tsunami waves.
Two choices lay before them: first, remain in the tree; second, search for a new piece of high ground.
Pondering between the two options for a moment, Su Cheng chose the former: staying put in the tree.
The fact that this massive tree had withstood one wave indicated that its root system was indeed robust. Whether it would collapse during the next wave was purely a matter of probability.
However, relocating meant not only marching blindly into an unknown direction, but also risking injury along the way or having the terrible luck of running into an earthquake or the next wave with nowhere to hide.
“Rescue will reach the vicinity sooner or later. We need to do something to attract attention…”
Glancing down at the ground, Su Cheng’s gaze landed on the pile of piled-up fabrics and miscellaneous items of all sizes, sparking an idea.
“Nian, I’m heading down first to find some useful things.”
“I’m coming with you!”
“Okay.”
Clambering down from the tree cautiously, Su Cheng found the ground extremely soft and yielding. Fortunately, both she and Yun Nian still had their shoes on, sparing them from direct cuts to the soles, though they still needed to tread carefully to avoid sharp debris.
Taking the lead, Su Cheng called back instructions over her shoulder: “Go slow, don’t slip.”
“Got it.”
Finding a branch on the ground that matched the thickness and length of a walking stick, Su Cheng handed it to Yun Nian to use as a cane for clearing away small scattered obstacles.
Su Cheng herself drew the iron shovel from her storage slot, scraping away sharp objects buried in the mud that might pierce their shoe soles.
Approaching the debris pile, Su Cheng discovered that the mud-caked mass consisted of a television set, a smashed refrigerator housing, a few broken wooden planks, and a red fabric strap wrapped around the planks.
Crouching down, Su Cheng tugged out the mud-slicked red fabric, unrolling it to reveal a silk scarf.
Crouching beside her, Yun Nian asked in confusion, “Sister, what are we looking for?”
Su Cheng answered, “Looking for colored fabrics, empty cans, and flashlights—anything like that works.”
“Okay! I’ll look over there.”
“Be careful.”
Rummaging further through the pile, Su Cheng found no more fabric, but discovered a water-logged mobile phone tucked in the gap between wooden planks; sadly, it wasn’t a waterproof model and refused to power on.
A non-functional phone was worth less than a brick.
Tossing the phone back into the debris with a trace of regret, Su Cheng tied the red silk scarf around her waist and turned toward another pile of wreckage not far away.
Avoiding a puddle on the ground, Su Cheng nearly slipped on the mud, managing to steady herself just in time by leaning on her shovel.
This was a pile of broken furniture: a sofa pressing down against a metal door frame, littered with fragments of light fixtures and an overturned refrigerator nearby.
Using her shovel to shove aside plastic debris of all sizes scattered on the ground, Su Cheng stepped forward and pulled open the refrigerator door first.
A bottle of juice was wedged in the side wall of the fresh-food compartment; the freezer section was completely empty.
Prying the jammed juice bottle loose with some effort, Su Cheng tucked it into her pocket, storing it alongside the slot holding her drinking water.
“There’s a rope here too…”
Su Cheng unwound several loops of nylon rope tied around the base of the sofa.
While untying the nylon rope, she spotted a lighter buried in a mixture of plastic bags and dirt.
Pulling out the lighter, Su Cheng clicked it: “Fizz, fizz…”
Broken?
Refusing to give up, she wiped the moisture off the lighter against her clothes, adjusted the flame to maximum, and clicked it repeatedly. Finally, the lighter sputtered to life with a whoosh, sparking a flame.
“Nice.”
Su Cheng then turned her attention to the sofa. Following a ripped seam in the fabric, she pulled out the damp cotton wadding inside.
Unbinding the silk scarf from her waist, she spread it out to pouch the cotton wadding and the lighter, fashioning a makeshift bundle that she carried in her hand.
As for the newly retrieved nylon rope, she tied it around her waist in place of the scarf.
“That’ll do for now.”
Wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, Su Cheng noted the scorching sun hanging high in the sky, casting a blinding, fiery glare. Just a short bit of activity had her sweating profusely.
Returning to the tree by the same route, Su Cheng laid down all her items and stored the shovel back in her inventory.
Spreading out the silk scarf and taking out the lighter, she laid the cotton wadding out to dry.
With the sun blazing and zero wind, the scattered cotton wadding would dry out in no time.
Glancing at Yun Nian, who was still rummaged through the debris pile, Su Cheng waved her over.
Without lingering, Yun Nian trotted back, stepping tiptoe past a muddy patch before running up to her. “Sister, I found this!”
She hoisted up two semi-damp jackets—one red, one yellow—both in vibrant colors.
Su Cheng offered generous praise: “That’s amazing!”
“Next, I plan to use the dried cotton to generate smoke. We need to climb up the tree and snap off some slender branches.”
Su Cheng shared her plan honestly with Yun Nian. Ever since Yun Nian displayed a precocity far exceeding her peers, Su Cheng stopped treating her as an ordinary child needing dependence, treating her instead as an equal conversational partner.
Yun Nian asked, “Can’t we use those wooden planks over there?”
Shaking her head, Su Cheng explained, “Those planks are soaked through; they won’t dry anytime soon and probably won’t catch fire.”
Nodding in understanding, Yun Nian wore the enlightened look of someone learning a new lesson in class. “So that’s how it is.”
Climbing back up the tree one after the other, the two stood on thick branches and carefully snapped off slender side shoots surrounding them, also plucking some dry leaves from the tips of the branches.
Su Cheng hung the two jackets Yun Nian found up high in the treetops, adding two conspicuous flashes of color to the ancient tree.
Mindful of the risk of falling, the two worked slowly when snapping branches until they had gathered a small pile on the ground before climbing back down.
During that time, most of the cotton wadding had dried out.
Rolling the dried cotton into strips as kindling, Su Cheng laid them over the fine twigs and dry leaves. Once the lighter ignited the cotton, the flame quickly spread along the wadding to catch the branches below.
Wisps of smoke began to rise…
Both Su Cheng and Yun Nian watched anxiously, hoping it would bring good news.
Su Cheng picked up the silk scarf and nylon rope. “If rescue still doesn’t show up by tonight, we’ll use these to tie ourselves to the tree so we don’t accidentally fall off while sleeping.”
Yun Nian’s eyes lit up. “Sister is so smart!”
With the sun blazing overhead, sitting close to the campfire would only make things hotter. Seeking shade under the tree, Su Cheng and Yun Nian rested together, finishing off the remaining bottle of water.
Su Cheng’s wristband showed the current time in the dungeon as 12:10 PM.
For the rest of the day, Su Cheng had no intention of doing anything during the hottest hours. With limited food and water, conserving physical energy by resting in the shade was an excellent survival strategy.
With a slight weight on her shoulder, Su Cheng turned her head to see Yun Nian leaning heavily against her.
Reaching out to feel her forehead first, Su Cheng found no fever; aside from dry, peeling lips and a normal complexion, she was simply drowsy.
Relieved, Su Cheng let her rest her head on her shoulder and drift into a deep sleep.
A child’s stamina couldn’t match an adult’s, and Yun Nian had done remarkably well to keep up and persist this long trailing behind her.