The Apocalypse Did Not Come
Fang Anyan did not dare imagine how much courage it must have taken for someone like his brother to run out alone in the middle of the night.
His brother had always been so timid. Fang Anyan felt dizzy, especially when his mother grabbed him and shook him. It felt as if he was about to lose his footing. Heavy-headed and light-footed, he pulled his mother’s hand away and said in a low voice, “Be quiet for a moment…”
“How could he run away?! He’s been obedient since he was a child. It’s all because of that vixen seducing him—”
“I told you to be quiet!” Fang Anyan suddenly roared.
Mother Fang was shouted into taking half a step back. Fang Anyan exhaled deeply, held his forehead, and said, “Let me have some quiet…”
Mother Fang stared blankly at Fang Anyan as he stood at the doorway. He glanced toward the stairs and said, “This family… I want to run away too. Even without a vixen, I’d still want to run.”
Fang Anyan did not even look at his mother’s expression. After saying that, he added, “I’m going to change clothes, then I’ll go find my brother.”
Whether it was because of Fang Anyu, or because his body really was unwell, Fang Anyan felt as if he were walking on clouds. Heavy-headed and unsteady, he changed his clothes. Many parts of his body ached, and he badly wanted to rest, but his brother was missing. He had to go look for him.
His brother had never been outside alone like this before. It was too dangerous, especially with the recent weather. Everyone was already on edge. A few days ago, someone had even been arrested for spreading rumours about the apocalypse.
After Fang Anyan changed, he quickly washed up and hurried downstairs. On the last step, he nearly fell to his knees, but fortunately, he grabbed the railing and managed to hold himself up.
Behind him, Mother Fang and Father Fang reminded him to keep in contact and to call home as soon as he found him. Only then did Fang Anyan remember that his phone had run out of battery last night. After getting into the car, he connected it to the car charger and turned it on.
He had only leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes for a moment when notifications for text messages and missed calls began popping up one after another.
They were all from the “vixen” Jun Yueyue, as his mother called her. Fang Anyan truly did not have much patience for Jun Yueyue either. In truth, he really could not understand her. He looked down on the fact that she could not clean up her own messes, yet still came to entangle his brother.
Fang Anyan had blacklisted her many times, but later added her back again every time. Only because his brother looked like he liked her so much. After all those useless little things she had given him died, his brother would stare at their corpses for a long, long time, and even shed tears.
So every time, Fang Anyan would grit his teeth and pull her out of the blacklist again. From time to time, he would receive a message from her. He wanted to see just how far this so-called sincerity of hers could go.
In any case, as soon as she married that President Li, Fang Anyan would be able to make his brother give up on her completely.
Usually, there was almost one message a day. Fang Anyan would check them daily. She probably also knew that he found her annoying, so she never asked him to pass any messages to his brother, nor did she push her luck.
But this time, there were so many messages, along with missed calls. Before Fang Anyan even read them, he already felt that something was wrong. He picked up the phone and read through them one by one, his eyes slowly widening.
She really had done as she had said. She had taken control of the Jun family. She said she would immediately break off her engagement with Li Li, and that for now, she was coming to pick up his brother.
Fang Anyan frowned tightly. A moment later, he called back through the missed call.
Unexpectedly, the other side picked up very quickly.
Fang Anyan said directly, “Where are you? Pay attention along the way. My brother took money and his phone and ran away last night. He should be going to find you.”
After Fang Anyan finished speaking concisely, Jun Yueyue’s shocked voice came through.
“What?!”
“When did he run away?” Jun Yueyue had already entered Qiuhai City. She hurriedly told the driver to pull over at the side of the road. “Last night… the area between your house and the city is very desolate. Could he have taken the wrong road? Where are you?”
“I just left home. I’m going to look for him. Since you’ve arrived, come look too. I don’t think my brother could have gone too far.”
Jun Yueyue’s face was full of worry. After hanging up, she told the driver to drive while also watching the road along the way.
Fang Anyan drove out of the Fang family home. He had just gotten onto the road when someone standing at the roadside stopped his car.
For some reason, Ji Fei was there early in the morning. Fang Anyan hesitated, then stepped on the brakes. The car had already slid quite far forward.
He felt that his brain was strangely slow to react. By the time Ji Fei caught up, opened the door, and got into the passenger seat, she asked him, “Are you going to work?”
Only then did Fang Anyan turn his head somewhat slowly. He pinched the space between his brows, his voice a little hoarse. “No… my brother ran away last night. I’m looking for him.”
“Your brother… the one I met that time at the hotel?” Ji Fei asked.
Fang Anyan nodded and started the car again. “Yes… he… he can’t speak, and he can’t hear. I don’t know where he went. Last night, I noticed the door wasn’t closed properly. I should have gone to check his room. I…”
Fang Anyan was somewhat incoherent, his face filled with guilt and self-blame. Ji Fei looked at the abnormal redness on the side of his face, then suddenly reached out and touched his forehead.
Her hand was so cold that Fang Anyan instinctively shivered. Ji Fei pressed her lips together. “Pull over.”
“What for?” Fang Anyan asked. “Oh, right, sorry. Where are you going? I’ll take… I can’t take you. I have to find my brother. Sorry. Are you getting out here?”
Fang Anyan pulled the car over to the roadside. Seeing Ji Fei get out, he also got out from the driver’s seat. He unplugged his phone, which had charged a little, and while making a call, said to Ji Fei, “It’s hard to get a car here. I’ll call one for you…”
But Ji Fei snatched the phone from his hand, pressed hang up, then pulled him from the driver’s door to the back door and pushed him into the car.
Fang Anyan did not know what she wanted to do. He was a little angry, but he did not have the strength to lose his temper. He only said, “Come find me tomorrow. Today I have to find my brother.”
Ji Fei held the back car door and looked at him. Suddenly, she lowered her head with particular gentleness and kissed his forehead.
“Your brother being deaf and mute is not your fault. Him having legs and running away by himself is not your fault either. You got home so late, didn’t you?”
Fang Anyan almost cried.
No matter what happened, everyone asked him what to do. Everyone waited for him to solve it. He was used to taking responsibility. He was used to blaming himself first whenever anything happened. But no one had ever told him that none of this had anything to do with him.
Still, he frowned and licked his somewhat cracked lips. “But…”
“Do you know you have a fever right now?” Ji Fei said. “You’re like a burning piece of charcoal, and you still want to drive? Are you looking for your brother or sending yourself to your death? You need rest.”
Fang Anyan stared blankly at Ji Fei. He touched his own forehead but did not feel that it was hot. Only when Ji Fei reached out to touch his forehead again did he feel how icy her hand was. He had thought her hand was cold when she touched him after getting into the car because she had been standing outside for too long.
“Lie down. I’ll take you to the hospital. I’ll help you search along the way. As long as he turned off onto a dirt road at a fork, there are no traces I can’t find.” After Ji Fei finished speaking, she lowered her head and kissed Fang Anyan’s burning forehead again, pressing him down onto the car seat.
When no one said anything, he could still force himself to hold on. He could still drive. But once someone said it aloud, Fang Anyan immediately felt dizzy, heavy-headed, aching all over, and truly found it difficult even to sit upright.
He did not know why he reached out and hooked his arms around Ji Fei’s neck. Nor did he notice how pitiful his tone was, carrying a nasal sound like a little puppy.
He knew Ji Fei was definitely better at finding people than he was, so he clung to her and begged, “Help me. Thank you…”
Ji Fei raised her brows and patted the side of his waist. “Lie down and relax. I’ll find him.”
Fang Anyan really lay down. His eyes half-closed, his head throbbed as if it were splitting open, and he felt somewhat nauseous. After lying in the back seat for a while, he began to feel cold and curled up. Once the car started, Ji Fei drove while taking off her jacket. Wearing only a combat vest, she tossed her jacket over the seat toward the back, and it landed right over Fang Anyan.
There was a row of pockets hanging inside the jacket, heavy with who knew what. Fang Anyan was hit by it. His eyes opened a narrow slit and looked toward the woman in the driver’s seat. He tightened the heavy coat around himself.
Unexpectedly, he felt a sense of peace he had never felt before. Ji Fei was clearly a desperado, yet she was the only person who repeatedly made Fang Anyan feel at ease.
Through the rear-view mirror, he looked at half of her face. Her features were too sharp, her lips pressed tightly together. She did not look like a woman. She was always shouting about fighting and killing, pointing guns at people at the drop of a hat, her whole body covered in hard muscles, and so many scars there was almost no good skin left…
Dazed, Fang Anyan closed his eyes, cutting off his own gaze. He curled up properly, his hands pressed over his chest, but he could not suppress his wildly beating heart.
He must be seriously ill. Fang Anyan drifted in and out of consciousness, and at some point, lost awareness completely.
Ji Fei did exactly as she said. At every fork in the road, she got out and examined the ground carefully. Not only that, while driving, she did not drive quickly. She kept watching the weeds on both sides of the road to see whether anything had been pressed down unusually. Whenever there was anything, she got out to check.
From the villa area all the way to the city centre, she only found traces left by animals. She used Fang Anyan’s phone to take pictures of every trace caused by animals and shared them with Jun Yueyue, whom she had not yet met.
“I’m certain he didn’t leave the main road,” Ji Fei said over the phone. “If you haven’t found anything along the way either, I advise you to turn back quickly. He probably already found a car to go to you. I heard from my little darling that when his brother left, he took money and a phone from home. Try contacting him.”
Jun Yueyue had actually already turned back and was on the road. When she heard Ji Fei say that Fang Anyu had not left the main road, she had already thought that he must have found a car.
The driver had driven almost all night and had already been thrown behind by Jun Yueyue in Qiuhai City. She hired a new driver and was now heading back.
She looked at the long-lost blazing sun outside and felt grateful that today was not pitch-black. When she heard that Fang Anyu had run out from home in the middle of the night, she had nearly been scared to death. Fang Anyu was afraid of the dark. Jun Yueyue did not even dare imagine how he had walked alone through the darkness for an entire night.
The world was already silent to him. Near the Fang family home, apart from that one road, both sides were barren hills. Pitch-black darkness combined with dead silence would give a person the illusion that they were the only one left in the entire world. He was so timid…
Sitting in the back seat, Jun Yueyue watched the road while calling Li Li. By now, he should have already taken Jun Yu to Pingchuan. If Fang Anyu really had safely taken a car to his destination, then Li Li could hold him there first.
The call connected. Li Li was also driving. After hearing the news, he immediately said, “We’re about to enter Pingchuan. Where do you think he’ll go to find you? I’ll go wait there now.”
“The Jun family?” Li Li said. “Alright. I’ll take Yu’er to Xiude Town.”
After Li Li hung up, he turned the car around and headed straight for Xiude Town.
In the car, Jun Yu sat in the back seat. Her entire body was stiff, resistance written all over her. After meeting Li Li’s gaze countless times through the rear-view mirror, she finally could not help saying, “President Li, even if your engagement with my sister is fake, I’m not interested in you.”
“I understand what you’ve meant during this period,” Jun Yu said, her expression indescribable, because her feelings were indescribable too. Anyone who kept receiving little thoughtful gifts from their “future brother-in-law” would feel creeped out.
Especially since her relationship with her sister was not very good to begin with. If that kind of misunderstanding arose, she would not be able to explain herself no matter how many mouths she had.
Jun Yu had originally thought she could use her caregiver, Qi Wen, as an excuse to make Li Li give up. But she had not expected that after Li Li went to find Qi Wen once, Qi Wen gave up on her first…
The way he looked at her no longer gave her goosebumps. He no longer came close to her for no reason. He behaved so properly it was ridiculous.
Last night, Li Li used the excuse of taking her back to Pingchuan and brought her to the largest Western restaurant in Qiuhai City. He booked the entire place. The floor-to-ceiling windows on the top floor overlooked the night view of the entire city. It was extremely… terrifying to Jun Yu. Heaven knew she was like a little deer with a broken leg, unable even to flee.
She could only endure the goosebumps all over her body, not trying to provoke him, but also not agreeing. She treated all his flowery words about taking care of her for a lifetime as nothing but nonsense.
But now that they were already on the way back, and Jun Yueyue also knew that she was with Li Li, Jun Yu was no longer so afraid. She began to refuse him gently.
“President Li, I know you can do everything you said, and I know you’re an outstanding, good man,” Jun Yu said. “But I don’t like your type. I hope that in the future, you won’t keep taking me around on your own decisions like this.”
Li Li’s expression turned ugly. His grip on the steering wheel tightened. He gave a sneering laugh and said, “Then what type do you like? A hypocrite like Fang Anyan? I can pretend too. Wait until I show you.”
When Jun Yu saw him sneer, she knew there was no getting through to him, so she simply stopped speaking. Frowning slightly, she leaned against the back seat and did not say another word for the rest of the journey.
Li Li was tangled up to death the whole way. After all this time, Jun Yu had not recognised him at all. Li Li had thought that this was better. After all, he had previously used such vile, filthy words to provoke her. Now that he had a chance to start over, that was not bad either.
He had originally thought Jun Yu’s constant resistance was because of his supposed identity as her brother-in-law. But unexpectedly, she simply did not like his type at all?
During this time, Li Li had found out that Jun Yu had almost gotten engaged to Fang Anyan before. He was so jealous he nearly split apart. Although he had never truly gone to look for her seriously, this person, after experiencing so many things, had appeared before him again looking just as she had back then. And he now had enough ability to support this delicate flower. This was fate given to him by heaven. If he still let go, would he even be human?
But the little delicate flower said she did not like him.
Li Li drove in silence, radiating cold air. When they were almost at the Jun family home, on the road outside the main gate, Li Li suddenly stopped the car. He got out from the driver’s seat, walked around to the back seat where Jun Yu was sitting, and opened the door.
Jun Yu looked at him somewhat fearfully, though her voice remained fairly calm. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” Li Li tugged at his suit trousers, then pulled at his tie. He half-squatted on the ground, a very ungraceful posture for a well-dressed beast.
“Hey, let me ask you. What type do you like? Let me see if I can still be saved.” As Li Li spoke, he slapped the seat beside Jun Yu with one hand and looked up at her from below.
Jun Yu was startled by him. She was indeed afraid that he would go mad and do something, but they were already outside the Jun family’s gate, and her grandfather was at home. Jun Yu did not believe that, while still cooperating with her family, he would truly act without any restraint.
“President Li, I really…”
Li Li’s eyes were gloomy and sinister.
Jun Yu’s words got stuck halfway. She was still stubborn. Although she looked soft, her words were firm. “I don’t know what type I like. President Li, why force it? I still need to go see my grandfather. Please send me back.”
“You don’t know?” Li Li nodded. He changed from half-squatting to half-kneeling, blocking the car door and refusing to move aside. Staring at her, he said word by word, “I know what type you like. Want to bet?”
Jun Yu simply felt that he was insane. When Li Li raised his hand, she instinctively dodged, thinking he was going to do something. But Li Li only grabbed his own hair, then tugged hard.
A head with closely shaved stubble suddenly appeared before her eyes. Under Jun Yu’s stunned gaze, Li Li slowly turned his head to one side and pointed at the scar on the back of his head.
“I think you should remember me.”
Li Li grabbed her hand and pressed it onto his wound. “Do you remember? That summer, every day, you pushed a wheelchair down such a long tree-lined road to buy grilled sausages. You didn’t even eat them. You told me you were doing poverty relief.”
Jun Yu’s hand pressed against the scar on the back of Li Li’s head. She stared fixedly at his face, her eyes widening as if they were about to pop out. Red spread rapidly from the roots of her ears across her entire face. She froze, even forgetting to pull her hand back.
“And don’t tell me you had your eye on the fat guy with me. Your eyes swept over me every time. That summer, you were trying to pick up this brother, weren’t you?”
Jun Yu pulled her hand back as if burned. Her mind was full of impossible, impossible. Her brain felt as if it were about to boil.
But Li Li was still moving closer, pressing her. “You said you don’t know what type you like. I know. The one you like is exactly my type. Back then, you were the one who took the initiative to provoke me. Don’t even think about going back on it!”
Li Li pointed at Jun Yu’s nose, his finger a short distance from the tip. His words were truly roguish. That damn thing had happened so many years ago. Back then, he had rejected her so decisively, and now he was using that incident as an excuse. This was worse than being a bastard.
Jun Yu shrank back with both her hand and her body, glaring at Li Li. Li Li lightly tapped the tip of her nose with his finger.
“Little thing, don’t hold grudges. Back then, when brother said those words, it was because brother had an inferiority complex. I was afraid I couldn’t afford to keep you. You were too clean, so I didn’t dare touch you carelessly.”
Li Li looked at Jun Yu’s flushed, smiling face and smiled. Without the wig, with his stubbled head and scar, he looked exactly like a well-dressed beast who had taken off the “well-dressed” part, leaving only the beast. Even his smile looked like he was acting like a hooligan.
“Don’t be afraid. Go home and remember properly. Remember how you felt when you liked brother back then.” Li Li stood up, patted his trouser legs, put the wig back on while looking at the car window, and even found a pair of glasses from the small compartment in the car to put on. Then he turned his head and gave a short, bright whistle at the still-dazed Jun Yu. “Brother will send you home now.”
Even after Jun Yu got out of the car, she still had not recovered. When she saw Old Master Jun in the study, he had already woken from a nap and looked much better. He did not tell Jun Yu about Jun Yueyue “forcing the palace.” The two only talked about Jun Yu’s rehabilitation training and condition.
Li Li stayed at the Jun family home the whole time. He only occasionally drove out for a round to ask around the surrounding villages, following Jun Yueyue’s instructions and waiting for Fang Anyu.
But Fang Anyu did not return. Fang Anyan had gone to the hospital because of his high fever. Jun Yueyue was rushing toward Xiude Town as fast as possible, constantly trying to send Fang Anyu messages. But all the messages sank like stones into the sea. Fang Anyu did not reply. When Jun Yueyue called, his phone was still turned off.
By the time she returned to Xiude Town, Li Li had already asked around every nearby village and town. He had even thrown out money and photos, saying that anyone who saw the person in the photo and brought him to the specified place would receive a heavy reward.
After Fang Anyu had been missing for twenty-four hours, Fang Anyan, who had already been discharged from the hospital after receiving an IV drip, called the police.
Apart from them, the police also began investigating. After two full days of checking, they found surveillance footage of Fang Anyu getting into a car at the intersection between the Fang family villa and the city.
Following the surveillance footage, they found the taxi. When the police arrived, the driver’s face turned deathly pale the instant he saw them. He tried to run, but was quickly caught.
That damn bastard had indeed picked Fang Anyu up four days ago. He saw the money and phone in Fang Anyu’s hands. Seeing that Fang Anyu could not speak, could not hear, had come out alone, and was even wearing slippers, he developed crooked thoughts. He did not take Fang Anyu to Pingchuan according to the address typed on his phone. Instead, halfway there, on a rural road, he used the excuse of getting out to use the toilet. After making Fang Anyu get out, he abandoned him alone on that rural road.
He took the money. He did not dare sell the phone, so he threw it away directly.
“I-I-I didn’t hit him! I didn’t!” The driver held his head. “That area is a rural road. There are villages not far away. He’s an adult, even if he’s disabled. No matter which house he went to for help, nothing too serious should have happened. The money has already been spent…”
Outside the interrogation room, Jun Yueyue, Fang Anyan, Li Li, and Ji Fei listened. Jun Yueyue wanted nothing more than to kill that driver. She swore that after finding Fang Anyu, she would make him go to prison. Even if the apocalypse came, he had to properly pay for what he had done first!
Fang Anyan could not control himself. After that man was brought out by the police, he rushed straight over and kicked him in the lower back, sending him curling up on the ground, unable to get up. If Ji Fei had not stopped him, he would have grabbed the nearby water bucket too.
But Ji Fei could stop Fang Anyan. She could not stop Jun Yueyue. Jun Yueyue picked up the chair she had been sitting on and swung it straight at the person lying on the ground. In the end, she also failed to swing it down because Li Li held her back.
Li Li said, “You go to the village entrance he mentioned and search first. Leave things here to me. Don’t worry.”
Li Li looked at the person on the ground and rolled up his sleeves. “I’m good at this kind of thing. I have buddies inside, and buddies outside too. Don’t worry.”
Using violence in front of the police would normally result in detention and discipline. However, at the time, there had only been one female officer walking ahead in the corridor, asking questions, and she had not seen what happened behind her. When she turned around, she only saw Fang Anyan holding the water bucket from the self-service dispenser, and Jun Yueyue swinging a corridor chair. Neither of them had actually injured anyone, so they were only verbally warned and fined. By coincidence, the corridor surveillance camera was broken. Li Li insisted that he was the one who hit the man. Only then did Fang Anyan avoid being detained.
After leaving the police station, the three followed a group of officers to search the place the taxi driver mentioned.
This search lasted three days and three nights.
They searched every nearby village. No one had seen Fang Anyu. They even searched the deep ditches at the edges of the woods. Several of them went without sleep day and night. In three days, Jun Yueyue only drank a little water and ate two biscuits.
The weather was already showing signs of the apocalypse. Violent winds, torrential rain, thunder and lightning, and blazing sunlight alternated frequently in three extremes. It was impossible to distinguish day from night, because those who were keeping track of time were shocked to discover that blazing sunlight had appeared even at night.
On the seventh day after Fang Anyu disappeared, with only two days left until New Year’s Eve, Jun Yueyue knew that once New Year’s Eve arrived, they would step into an unknowable world.
The search area expanded without limit. Police cars from different districts coordinated to help each other. But seven days had already passed. If Fang Anyu had not entered anyone’s home, had no money, was deaf and mute, and was caught in this kind of extreme weather, the chances of surviving were too small.
Even Fang Anyan became more and more silent from fear. But Jun Yueyue insisted that he was still alive, that he was definitely hiding in some unknown corner.
But New Year’s Eve was soon. Even with this ghostly weather, people still had to celebrate the New Year. The police were normal people too. They also needed to go on holiday.
After they withdrew, Jun Yueyue spent a huge amount of money to hire a group of experienced outdoor hikers. Money could make ghosts grind millstones. They were more experienced than ordinary people, but the torrential rain that appeared from time to time washed away all traces. Even Ji Fei could no longer track him.
On the eighth day, Fang Anyan collapsed with fever again. Not only him, but Ji Fei, Li Li, the hired people, and Jun Yueyue herself all developed high fevers.
The heavy rain continued without rest. The search could no longer go on. Jun Yueyue’s fingers trembled. Her heart ached until it went numb. Gritting her teeth, she drove back to Xiude Town.
Looking at the time, it was already evening. In a few more hours, it would be New Year’s Eve. Jun Yueyue knew the apocalypse was about to arrive.
The rain poured down as if the sky had sprung a leak. The windshield wipers kept moving, but visibility was still extremely low. Jun Yueyue drove very slowly. Her vision blurred. Fang Anyan and Ji Fei were in the back seat. Li Li was the only one, like Jun Yueyue, still able to grit his teeth and hold on, driving with another driver following behind their car.
The road began to feel infinitely long. The water on the road had almost submerged the exhaust pipe. Jun Yueyue stared numbly ahead. Time passed second by second. She felt as if she were driving toward the apocalypse, toward that world filled with countless man-eating zombies.
But she had lost the treasure she had finally managed to find. She could not find him.
Jun Yueyue could actually guess that, back in the apocalypse, Fang Anyu must not have actively wanted the world to become so terrifying. Perhaps he had hated. Perhaps he had wanted her to experience what he had experienced once. But he definitely would not have been willing to let everyone fall into a world like that.
Although Jun Yueyue had not seen it with her own eyes, she could guess. The only reason everything had gone out of control and the world had fallen was that Fang Anyu had lost the ability to influence the world.
He had died.
Her rebirth in this life, her crossing paths with him, were all the resentment he could not erase even in death.
Tears streamed down Jun Yueyue’s face. She could no longer see the road ahead.
If Fang Anyu was gone, if her world no longer had him in it, then no matter what kind of world it was, living again would have no meaning to her.
The hands on the dashboard moved toward eleven thirty. In the end, under the condition that her entire being was collapsing, Jun Yueyue braved the pouring rain and brought Fang Anyan, Ji Fei, and the car behind them back to the Jun family home.
As soon as the cars entered the gate, several bodyguards rushed out of the house and helped everyone out of the cars.
Before the apocalypse, there were also people who would not develop a fever no matter what. After the apocalypse, they would become ordinary people.
Jun Yueyue was supported out of the car. Even though a raincoat was draped over her, she could still feel the storm pounding down on her head. Her whole body was soft and weak, without strength. Through the gap in the raincoat, when lightning split the sky, the corner of her eye caught a black shadow flashing past outside the gate, beyond the fence.
Perhaps it was only the shadow of a tree. Perhaps it was an illusion from her fever. It might even have been the shadow cast by the raincoat over her head.
But Jun Yueyue still stopped in her tracks. She struggled free from the people supporting her, turned around, and fell into the knee-deep muddy water. The icy rainwater cleared her mind a little. She shook off the people who came to help her and, as if possessed, struggled toward the gate.
Her heart was pounding wildly. Her reason told her it was impossible. How could Fang Anyu possibly find this place? How could he possibly be out in such heavy rain…
Jun Yueyue threw caution to the wind and rushed out of the gate. She could not see anything. The rain poured down so heavily that she could not see anything. She could only grope along the railing, moving bit by bit toward the direction where she had just seen the black shadow.
But when she got there, she forced her eyes open and saw clearly by the light of lightning. It was only a clump of weeds. There was no human figure at all.
The person who had come to help her caught up. Jun Yueyue turned and reached out her hand, preparing to leave. But when she let go of the railing, her foot slipped. She slid straight down and fell into the water by the roadside, which was deep enough to reach a person’s thigh.
She swallowed a mouthful of muddy water and was about to feel around and stand up, but suddenly froze.
Then, like a madwoman, she gritted her teeth and exerted all her strength, hoarsely screaming for the person grabbing her to pull hard.
That person used all his strength and pulled two people out of the puddle together…
He had not even seen clearly whether the person pulled out was dead or alive, but Jun Yueyue had already pinched that person’s nose, taken a deep breath, and pressed her lips to his.
Rescue breaths. Chest compressions. Rescue breaths.
When the ice-cold person finally spat out a mouthful of water and began coughing, Jun Yueyue also exhausted all her strength and collapsed weakly onto the person still choking and coughing.
Before she fainted, she saw only lightning tearing through the curtain of rain. The lush green mountains stopped their frenzied swaying. She… heard the heartbeat of the person beneath her.
She felt as if she had come alive again.
No matter what they were about to face, it no longer mattered.
When Jun Yueyue woke again, it was because the blazing sun was shining on her face. Her lashes moved. Dazed, she opened her eyes. Her throat was so dry and cracked it felt as if it were about to burn.
The sunlight dazzled her until her vision blurred slightly. She felt water being brought to her lips. Someone held the back of her head and helped her rise a little, feeding water into her mouth.
The pleasantly warm water slid down her throat, soothing the dry, burning pain. Jun Yueyue closed her eyes. When that person was about to withdraw his hand, she turned her head, stretched out both arms, and hugged him tightly.
The movement of him holding the cup paused. With his waist wrapped in her arms, he slowly bit his lip and smiled silently.
The cup was placed on the bedside table. Jun Yueyue’s tears soaked the front of the person in her arms. Her shoulders trembled for a long time, and she did not raise her head. Her voice was hoarse and ugly, but she had no scruples, because the person in her arms could not hear.
Fang Anyu truly could not hear, but he could feel.
He stood by the bed, repeatedly stroking Jun Yueyue’s hair and the back of her neck.
When Jun Yueyue finally calmed down and let go of Fang Anyu, he sat down by the bed, pulled her into his arms, and patted her back for a long while.
Finally, he took out a phone and typed:
I’m sorry.
After showing Jun Yueyue, Fang Anyu took the phone back and typed again:
I overestimated myself. I thought taking a car would be enough. I brought enough money. I didn’t expect the driver to do that.
After Jun Yueyue read it, she sniffed and took the phone to type:
Where have you been these days? Where did you go after getting out of the car? What did you eat and drink? How did you find the Jun family?
Fang Anyu touched Jun Yueyue’s anxious face and smiled to comfort her. Only then did he type:
I don’t know where I ended up either. I just kept walking, walked very far, and then I arrived at the town we went to the first time in Taishan County. I found that old granny from that family. At the time, I had a high fever. She took me in for two days, but her family weren’t home, so she had no way to send me here. I could only follow the road in my memory and walk toward the Jun family.
As Jun Yueyue read, her heart clenched tightly. Fang Anyu typed again:
I just wanted to see you. Anyan already told me. I made you all search for so many days. I’m sorry.
Jun Yueyue leaned into Fang Anyu’s arms and typed:
You still remembered the road here?
Fang Anyu hesitated, then shook his head and replied:
I didn’t remember clearly. These past few days, I kept going in circles. I only finally found it last night.
Jun Yueyue almost cried. They had kept searching according to the taxi driver’s information. They had not expected that during these days, Fang Anyu had been circling not far from the Jun family home. If it had been normal times, someone might have found him and brought him back for the reward. But recently, with this ghostly weather, everyone was hiding at home. Who would dare come out…
Although he described it lightly, Jun Yueyue could imagine him taking the wrong path again and again, breaking down again and again. Her heart ached so much it felt as if it were shattering.
She could not help typing:
It’s been two lifetimes. Can’t you be a little smarter? You’re always so silly. If you had been this brave in the last life, why didn’t you grab me when I left?
Fang Anyu lowered his head and looked at it for a while. Then he raised his head to look at Jun Yueyue, his eyes filled with confusion. Jun Yueyue’s heart sank. Sure enough, after a long while, Fang Anyu replied:
What last life?
Jun Yueyue looked at Fang Anyu. A moment later, she smiled, took the phone back, deleted all those words, and said:
Nothing. I was muddled. I was too worried about you. Don’t be this silly again in the future.
Fang Anyu hugged Jun Yueyue and kissed her cheek.
He had heard everything from Anyan. She had not given up on him. When he ran away from home, she had already prepared everything and was on her way to pick him up.
He really had been too foolish. He should have waited a little longer. But at the time, Little Fish and Little Turtle had both died. He missed her so much he could not bear it. Then he discovered that the door to his room had not been closed, so he gathered his courage and went to his mother’s room to take the phone and money…
Jun Yueyue hugged Fang Anyu, her emotions complicated.
He did not remember anything from the previous life at all…
That was good too. This way, he did not have to constantly fear that she would fall in love with someone else again.
Whether it was because the sunlight today was too fierce, or the temperature too high, Jun Yueyue felt herself beginning to sweat a little. She glanced at the clock on the wall, then looked at the bright sunshine outside. The day and night that had been chaotic for so many days had finally matched up again.
Jun Yueyue narrowed her eyes and paused. Suddenly, she remembered that on the first day the apocalypse arrived, the sun also seemed to rise on time—
Alarm bells blared in her mind. She let go of Fang Anyu, threw off the quilt, and jumped to the floor. She looked outside through the window. There were many people standing in the courtyard. Jun Yueyue narrowed her eyes and observed carefully. These people all looked normal and were currently clearing the standing water from the yard.
But that was not enough to dispel her doubts, because these people were all ones who had not developed fevers in the past two days.
It was not until Jun Yueyue, holding the mop handle from the room and dragging Fang Anyu, sneaked downstairs suspiciously, and met the puzzled gazes of everyone in the living room happily eating, that her sweat-slick hand finally relaxed slightly.
It was now past eleven in the morning on New Year’s Eve. Everyone was there, and they all looked completely normal. Even Old Master Jun sat in the main seat, looking quite well.
Jun Yueyue slowly let go of Fang Anyu’s hand. Then she released the mop handle in her other hand.
The sound of the mop handle falling to the floor was crisp and pleasant.
The apocalypse had not come.
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