Emerging from the crowd surrounding the registration desk, Yun Nian had a sticker with her name written on it stuck to her arm.
Looking crestfallen, Yun Nian muttered, “Her ledger didn’t have my mom and dad’s names listed.”
Su Cheng patted her shoulder to comfort her. “Don’t worry, they’re definitely searching for you too. We can check the next hospital or other places.”
“Sister, what about your family? I want to help you find them too.”
Su Cheng didn’t conceal the truth. “My parents have already passed away, and my grandparents live very far away. Once I find the way back home, I’ll be able to see them again.”
Startled, Yun Nian hadn’t expected to trigger Su Cheng’s painful memories. Looking guilty, she apologized: “I’m sorry…”
“It’s fine. Since your parents’ info isn’t here, let’s go check somewhere else.”
“Okay.”
As the two turned to leave, the staff member who had earlier carried the toddler away hurried over and called out to stop them.
“Where are you going ******?”
Su Cheng’s brows knitted tightly together. She understood the first sentence, but the second… she silently looked over to Yun Nian.
Yun Nian stepped up to take on the role of translator.
“She’s asking if we’ve registered our information anywhere yet.”
“Then tell her that we’re searching for family members and have already registered our info.”
Nodding, Yun Nian communicated fluently in English with the woman.
Su Cheng couldn’t help silently giving Yun Nian a mental thumbs-up. This spoken English was way better than hers; a fresh young brain was certainly handy.
After finishing her chat with the volunteer, Yun Nian wore a trace of delight on her face as she turned to relay the conversation to Su Cheng.
“She said the local authorities have arranged dedicated vehicles for survivors who don’t want to wait around for news to search for family members across various hospitals. We can tag along with their team.”
Su Cheng hadn’t expected the locals to make such thoughtful arrangements. “That would naturally be wonderful.”
The volunteer offered a friendly smile, tapped her watch, and gestured for the two to follow her quickly.
Realizing the other person was squeezing time out of a busy schedule to help them, Su Cheng uttered one of her most practiced English phrases: “Thank you.”
The volunteer smiled, uttered a “Good luck,” and waved goodbye as she walked away.
The truck showed no signs of leaving immediately. Su Cheng guessed they were either waiting for someone or hadn’t reached the departure time yet.
The hospital’s side entrance lacked the massive crowds of the main gate, but vehicles still pulled in and out continuously, bearing injured victims loaded onto stretchers.
Some suffered fractures, some remained unconscious, and others had foreign objects impaled in their bodies…
The most severe case Su Cheng spotted was a casualty with a wooden pole driven straight through his abdomen, staining the stretcher with blood as he wailed in agony while the crowd spontaneously carved out a path for him…
Yun Nian witnessed the scene as well. Ever since climbing onto the truck, she had kept glued to the side railing, scanning all around in an attempt to spot a familiar face among the tents.
Watching the receding stretcher, Yun Nian’s eyes reddened at some unspoken thought, yet she forced her eyes wide open to inspect the coming-and-going crowds…
She was naturally drawing parallels to her parents’ situation.
Su Cheng could only pat her back in comfort.
Ten minutes later, a golden-haired woman rushed over. After greeting the driver briefly, she boarded the truck. Spotting Su Cheng and Yun Nian, she paused for a fraction of a second before offering a smile.
“Vroom…” The truck started moving.
It turned out she was the final person the truck had been waiting for.
The blonde woman began chatting with the two men, speaking entirely in English.
Su Cheng vaguely caught a few isolated words, but failed to grasp the longer sentences.
Leaning close to her ear, Yun Nian translated in a whisper: “They said a woman named Nanla found her child here, so she doesn’t need to go to the next stop anymore.”
Su Cheng nodded.
The truck departed the hospital. Due to the narrow roads and heavy crowds, the speed remained quite slow.
Gazing at Su Cheng and Yun Nian, the blonde woman took the initiative to start a conversation: “Are you two sisters?”
Yun Nian answered her first: “Yes.”
Then she leaned close to Su Cheng’s ear. “Sister, she’s asking if we’re sisters.”
Amused, Su Cheng glanced at her. “I understood that sentence.”
Seeing that Su Cheng didn’t understand English, the blonde woman shifted her conversation to Yun Nian.
After every few sentences she spoke, Yun Nian would answer and then turn around to translate for Su Cheng.
From Yun Nian, Su Cheng learned that the blonde woman was a survivor of the tsunami who was searching for her husband and daughter.
She hoped they could exchange information regarding themselves and their loved ones so that if any of them spotted someone else’s family member while searching, they could help notify them.
It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
The blonde woman pulled a notebook from her pocket, letting Yun Nian write down her parents’ names.
At the same time, she tore off a slip of paper for Yun Nian containing the names of her husband and daughter.
The two men searching for their wives and daughters also exchanged information with Yun Nian, leaving all four of them holding a slip of paper.
A thin sheet of paper carried heavy expectations.
…
Half an hour later, the truck halted at another hospital.
Everyone on board disembarked one by one. After the driver exchanged a few parting words, he didn’t wait around, turning the vehicle around and driving off instead.
Yun Nian translated what the driver uncle had said: “It’s getting late, so he’ll come back tomorrow morning at 8:00 to pick us up right here.”
With evening drawing close, the sky was indeed beginning to darken.
Su Cheng stroked Yun Nian’s hair. Fortunately, having a translation whiz like Yun Nian around solved her massive language-barrier problem completely.
“Let’s go, let’s head over there to take a look first.”
Simple canvas tents stood pitched outside this hospital as well.
Numerous disaster survivors, alongside the wounded, had been brought here. With nowhere else to go, people rested temporarily beneath the shelters before embarking on the road home or continuing their search for family.
A notice board caught the attention of Su Cheng and Yun Nian. Walking up to it, they found the board plastered completely with missing persons notices.
Aside from Su Cheng’s duo, two men and a woman were inspecting the notices one by one.
Standing on tiptoes, Yun Nian scanned through the information posted on the board.
Su Cheng remembered Yun Nian mentioning her parents’ names when they first met: Yun Cheng, Li Murou…
Asian names stood out easily among a sea of English names, yet after combing through notice after notice, they failed to find the characters they hoped to see.
“Don’t worry, let’s go check inside.”
Su Cheng and Yun Nian walked into the hospital lobby, which also housed a registration desk.
Ignorant of English, Su Cheng had to leave Yun Nian to handle the negotiations herself.
Only, as Yun Nian chatted with the brown-haired woman at the desk, the two seemed to get into a dispute, and the brown-haired woman grabbed Yun Nian tightly by the arm.
With a deep frown, Su Cheng strode up swiftly and grasped the woman’s wrist. “Let go.”
Noticing Su Cheng’s displeased gaze, the brown-haired woman released her grip and offered a helpless string of English explanations.
Su Cheng looked down at Yun Nian. “What’s wrong?”
Unhappily, Yun Nian explained: “She said I should go to a government-arranged temporary children’s shelter, but I refused, and so this happened.”
“Does she have info on your parents here?”
Yun Nian shook her head. “No.”
“Do you want to go to the shelter? The local government should help you search for family members.”
Yun Nian shook her head decisively. “But I don’t want to passively wait for a result that could either be good news or bad news—I want to look for my mom and dad myself.”
“Alright, let’s go then.”
Su Cheng led Yun Nian away by the hand. The brown-haired woman wanted to block them, but backed off intimidated under Su Cheng’s glare.
Outside the hospital tents, the two searched for Asian faces while calling out the names written on their paper slips…
Reaching the final row of tents, Su Cheng spotted volunteers distributing free sleeping bags in the corner. She looked at Yun Nian. “We’re spending the night here, we need to grab one.”
Nodding, Yun Nian stepped forward to communicate with the volunteers and returned with two sleeping bags.
Holding their sleeping bags, the two picked an unoccupied spot under a canvas tent to serve as their campsite for the night.
With dusk falling, few vacant spots remained. Unwilling to squeeze in among strange men or pick an overly secluded corner, they searched for a good long while before securing a suitable location.
Su Cheng’s storage pouch still contained 5 pieces of chocolate and 1 bottle of water.
Pulling out three pieces of chocolate, she and Yun Nian each ate a piece and a half.
They shared the bottle of water between them, swallowing a cold tablet preventatively along the way. The remaining half-bottle of water went back into storage.
Between hunting for people at the two hospitals earlier, they hadn’t bothered to ask whether the hospitals offered free supplies or if relief stations had been set up elsewhere…
They still had three days left in this dungeon; how could they manage without sufficient food?
Crawling into her sleeping bag, Su Cheng planned to have Yun Nian help ask around tomorrow.
Once a body that hadn’t rested properly finally relaxes, fatigue and drowsiness take over immediately, but Su Cheng didn’t sink into deep sleep straight away.
Perhaps out of habit brought over from the previous dungeon, she maintained a sliver of vigilance even while sleeping outdoors, ready to wake instantly if anything felt amiss.
Lights flickered on as night fell.
Tonight’s sky featured a crescent moon accompanied by a dense cluster of twinkling stars.
Yet the people dwelling beneath the sky possessed zero inclination to admire the scenery when looking upward. Gazing at the silver-radiating crescent, their minds dwelt instead on scattered, missing loved ones…
Unlike the noisy bustle of daytime, beneath the canvas tents at night the crowds quieted down, punctuated only by faint, suppressed weeping… sorrow permeated the night.
Sensing something, Su Cheng turned her head to see the person beside her curled up inside a sleeping bag, trembling slightly…
Infected by the atmosphere, Su Cheng couldn’t help recalling unpleasant memories of her own. Closing her eyes, her thoughts fell into silence.
Though called a dungeon, everything felt far too closely aligned and real compared to the world Su Cheng lived in…
Lifting her head to gaze at the brightest moon in the dark night, Su Cheng couldn’t help doubting: were the dungeons accessed via the apartment elevator truly fictional?
The apartment could transport bound residents into dungeon worlds and even awaken something called a “gene lock” to enhance human potential… one could only describe it as both mysterious and formidable.
Anyone who managed to successfully secure a pass and leave the apartment in the end would undoubtedly be an absolute powerhouse.
Su Cheng glanced down at her black wristband. Just what kind of existence was the apartment system, anyway…?