Chapter 120: Flash, let’s go?
Chang Xile seemed to have fallen into a pile of thread balls. She turned over and over but couldn't find the end of the thread, and she couldn't cut it or sort it out.
When she returned to the dormitory, her roommates were already up. Fang Xinai had just finished breakfast and was sitting in a chair watching short videos.
"I heard that there will be a century sunset in the direction of Shanyue Lake next weekend. Do you want to go see it together?" Fang Xinai saw a video and turned to ask Ren Qing excitedly.
"Okay." Ren Qing responded and turned the page of the detective novel he was reading.
Chang Xile was sorting out her thoughts. She sat back in her seat, still in a daze.
"Oh my god...this woman's life is too big, isn't it?" Fang Xinai cursed while scrolling through the video.
"What's wrong?" Ren Qing replied indifferently.
"She said she went outdoors with her friends and picked mushrooms to eat. She posted the photo online, and someone recognized the species of mushroom and told her it was highly poisonous," Fang Xinai gave a brief summary.
Ren Qing finally turned his gaze towards her and asked, "Has that person eaten yet?"
Fang Xinai nodded.
“… Still alive?”
Fang Xinai continued to nod and turned the screen to Ren Qing. "That's the video I sent while lying in the hospital. The doctor said if I had come any later, the toxin would have caused irreversible damage to my nerves."
After she finished speaking, she saw Chang Xile looking up at her, so she simply shared the video in the dormitory group.
Chang Xile watched the video once, then opened the comments section and began browsing. Some comments were about how to identify poisonous mushrooms, while others were lamenting the blogger's good fortune.
"It's best not to eat brightly colored ones like these. Most of them are poisonous, and very poisonous."
"Some mushrooms themselves are not poisonous, but if they grow under this kind of tree, they are all inedible. (Photo)"
"Luckily, the blogger was someone who liked to post on social media, so he discovered it early. Otherwise, if he had waited until the poison took effect before seeking medical treatment, it would have been hard to say for sure."
"Hi, Yama: Why is this person's name flashing?"
"The ancestor must have used all his connections down there."
"Doctor: Another day of rescuing people from the clutches of the devil (wipes sweat)"
The short period of electronic entertainment did divert some of people's attention. Chang Xile couldn't help laughing, resisted the urge to continue scrolling down the video, and turned off the phone.
After a while, she opened the video again and looked at the comment again.
[Why is this person's name flashing?]
Chang Xile thought of the Book of Life and Death with special font that he saw in Xie Wuya's place.
Is it possible that the people listed in the Book of Life and Death don't necessarily die at the time indicated? Just like the girl in the video who accidentally ate poisonous mushrooms, she was able to escape death after lingering on the brink of death thanks to a variety of human factors, including timely warnings from netizens and the painstaking efforts of doctors.
Now Chang Xile was almost certain that many people would die one day for the same reason. But their names flickering in the Book of Life and Death seemed to indicate that their fates still had a chance to change.
But if, as Chang Xile suspected, the earthquake caused the massive casualties, then the disaster would have occurred in just a dozen seconds. What factors could have affected the fate of so many people, causing those who might have otherwise died to change their lives?
She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even hear Yang Guisi calling her.
Chang Xile turned around and saw the three people in the dormitory looking at her.
"What are you thinking about? Guisi asked us if we want to help bring food." Fang Xinai told her.
Chang Xile was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "If someone said that a devastating disaster would hit the mountain city soon and everyone needed to evacuate, would you believe it?"
"If the school is willing to give me leave, even if I don't believe it, I will go home obediently." Fang Xinai said, slumping back in his chair and looking at the ceiling with a sigh, "So, can the school give me a leave for no reason?"
"That depends on whether the other party has any evidence. There are a lot of people making predictions on the Internet now. Look, the rumor of a tsunami in the neighboring country has been circulating for nearly a year, and there is still no sign of it. Do the people of that country really want to leave their homeland and make a living in a foreign country because of a prediction? The price for them is too high." Ren Qing thought seriously before answering her.
"It depends on who said it." Yang Guisi answered simply.
Chang Xile scratched her head in distress. Before she figured out how to deal with the situation, she decided not to create panic. She waved her hand and said, "It's okay. I'm just asking out of curiosity."
The three of them dispersed. Only Yang Guisi suddenly asked Chang Xile if she wanted to accompany her to the cafeteria to buy food before leaving.
"I'm afraid it will be difficult to carry four portions." Yang Guisi blinked.
When the two of them walked side by side on the road, Chang Xile was still preoccupied. Yang Guisi had never seen her so silent.
"What you said in the dormitory, you didn't just say it casually, right?" Yang Guisi asked, "Is there something that you can't say in the dormitory?"
Chang Xile nodded distressedly and summarized the general situation with Yang Guisi.
"Then what are you going to do?" Yang Guisi almost immediately believed Chang Xile's words. She then asked, "Do you know the exact time of the earthquake? The epicenter? The magnitude? The scope of the impact?"
"Probably on December 24th..." As for the rest, Chang Xile shook his head dejectedly.
Aside from the date, she knew no details about the disaster and had little concrete evidence.
So what can she do?
Does it mean that she can understand cat language, or that she has secretly taken a look at the Book of Life and Death in the underworld?
Even if she had evidence and the energy to convince others, the mountain city had a permanent population of tens of millions, and many people had never left the city from birth to death. Even if she convinced them, would they really be willing to leave the city?
Yang Guisi's mood also became heavy.
"Actually, before returning to school, I had a fight with Anping." Chang Xile mentioned the two meals prepared by the cafeteria auntie and sniffed.
"You two can still quarrel?" Yang Guisi was a little surprised. "I can't imagine it."
"It wasn't really a quarrel... it was probably just an argument."
While the two of them were staying at Anping's house, Chang Xile was still pondering what Xie Wuya had said to her. Anping suddenly asked her, "Did you see the specific contents of the document? Did you see... any familiar names?"
"No, the words were all reversed, and Xie Wuya was staring at me very closely, so I didn't have a chance to read it." Chang Xile fell silent as she spoke, because she noticed that Anping's expression was colder than usual.
He suddenly stood up and said, "Wait for me here for a while, or take some sleep, okay?"
"Where are you going? Is there something urgent?" Chang Xile blinked. They were just chatting about serious matters, so why was Anping about to go out?
"Well, there's something important." Anping smiled, touched her head, and then went out.
Chang Xile had been through a trance and was indeed mentally exhausted. After An Ping touched her head, her previously confused heart inexplicably calmed down. Chang Xile sprawled on the sofa, blinked slowly a few times, and then fell asleep.
Before going to sleep, she thought vaguely that his smile seemed a little forced.
Chang Xile slept very soundly that time, but when she woke up, she found that only an hour had passed.
When she opened her eyes, Anping was already sitting next to her, holding up his face and looking at her intently.
"Why didn't you wake me up when I came back?" Chang Xile sat up and rubbed his eyes, his voice still a little hoarse.
"You are too tired. It doesn't matter if you sleep a little longer," Anping said.
"So what did you do just now?" Chang Xile glanced at him and suddenly found something wrong.
She reached out and grabbed Anping's wrist, which was supporting his face. After feeling his subtle force in the opposite direction, she said in a deep voice, "Let go."
Only then did Anping obediently let her pull her hand down.
There was a shocking bloodstain on the part of his cheek that was just covered by his palm.
"Who did this?" Chang Xile leaned in to look at the wound, almost speechless with anger. "You...did you go out to pick a fight just now?"
Anping shook his head, answered the question irrelevantly, and called Chang Xile's name.
"You tell me," Chang Xile replied, preparing to take him out to buy medicine with a distressed look on her face. "Your face is already disfigured. You need disinfection... Does it hurt?"
"Leave the mountain city. The farther away, the better. The sooner, the better." An Ping said suddenly. He didn't look at Chang Xile's surprised eyes. He just kept talking to himself, "Why don't you leave tomorrow? I'll take you home."
"How can that be possible?" Chang Xile didn't expect An Ping to say that suddenly. She had no reason to leave the mountain city at this time. "The school holidays are still a long way off, and I still have a lot of things to deal with... How can you just leave like that?"
"Can you ask for leave from school? Or I can just conjure up a form of you to come to school." An Ping answered her in an orderly manner, although he felt in his heart that by the time, Yamashiro University might no longer exist.
But he didn't say this clearly, but continued to persuade her: "As for the other unresolved matters, tell me what they are and I'll help you, okay?"
"...The people in the mountain city may face life-threatening danger at any time. I have to help them, right?" Chang Xile said.
"We can tell them the news and then leave," said Anping.
"But... we haven't got any convincing evidence, and we have no idea about the time, source, and magnitude of the next earthquake. My friends may believe me, but it will take more than a day or two to get the people in the mountain city to believe me, a stranger to them," said Chang Xile.
Anping was silent for a moment, then asked, "What if they still don't trust you and are unwilling to leave until the very end?"
Chang Xile also calmed down.
"Everyone has their own destiny. After listening to what you say, whether they choose to leave the mountain city is not something you and I can change." Anping said calmly.
In the face of life and death, he was surprisingly indifferent. This was completely different from the Anping that Chang Xile had in mind. It was as if Anping had become a completely different person after waking up from sleep. Chang Xile turned his head away, and after a moment of silence, he said, "You may be right, but I don't want to leave Shancheng just like that. Please don't force me."
An Ping stared at her. The expression on his face made Chang Xile feel unfamiliar, as if he was deeply hurt. He softly repeated her words: "I forced you?"
Chang Xile knew that what she said was a bit too much, but she couldn't say anything to show her submission, so she just lowered her head.
"Chang Xile." An Ping rarely called her by her full name. He said sadly, "In the face of a natural disaster, it's impossible for you to save everyone. The most important thing you should do is to protect yourself first."
"I know. I understand what you're saying." Chang Xile knew what Anping meant. If that time really came, she would leave, and of course she would. But before that, "I should at least give it a try!"
Anping looked at Chang Xile in shock. She covered her eyes with her palms and tears rolled down her cheeks.
"So many people are about to die. If I could have saved one more person but didn't, even if I lived to be a hundred, it would be no different than dying this year." Chang Xile lowered his head, wiped away his tears, and said, "At least I should have tried once."
Anping looked at her and sighed softly.
That’s right, if not, she would not be the Chang Xile he was familiar with.
"Xi Le." An Ping called her again, this time his tone noticeably softer. He pursed his lips and said, "I understand. I'll help you. But for the rest of the time, let me stay by your side, okay?"
Chang Xile nodded and took the tissue handed to him by Anping to wipe his face.
Her tears were not entirely because of what Anping had just said, but also because she had never felt the burden on her shoulders was so heavy.
She was a little scared.
But Chang Xile's emotions faded just as quickly as they came. She began to seriously consider Anping's words, then said, "It's not feasible for him to stay with me all the time. I usually live in school."
"I can buy a house near the school and you can live with me." Anping did what he said and picked up his mobile phone to start looking at properties.
"No, wait a minute." Chang Xile held his hand down, looked into Anping's slightly shaking pupils, and couldn't say the words he wanted to stop him.
His hands were trembling slightly, a sign that Anping was afraid. Perhaps it had started yesterday, or perhaps it was because of the trip he had just taken.
"Are you worried about my safety?" Chang Xile looked at the wound on his cheek and suddenly asked, "What happened when you went out just now?"
Anping lowered his eyes, thinking of that man's cold smile and indifferent words.
The wound on his cheek was indeed painful, but he was no worse off than the other man.
He told Chang Xile, "There's nothing to worry about."
Because I will never let anything happen to you.
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