Chapter 50

In the first half of the sleep, he was completely exhausted and slept deeply. In the second half, however, the sleep wasn't as steady. It seemed that his body had recovered somewhat, making him more sensitive to the noise and heat from the environment. He felt people constantly walking around him, and the sound of conversations and crying buzzed in his ears. Mu Nan furrowed his brows in irritation. Before his annoyance could build too much, a cool fingertip gently rested on his brow, seemingly trying to smooth out the furrowed lines.

Mu Nan used all his strength to open his eyes and saw Qin Huai lying beside him, looking at him with his own face covered in grime. The dirt made it nearly unrecognizable. Mu Nan couldn't help but smile weakly, his voice hoarse from exhaustion: "Brother..."

Qin Huai responded with a soft "Hmm," and asked, "Are you awake?"

Mu Nan shook his head, feeling like he was still half-asleep, his mind foggy and his body heavy as if a thousand-pound weight was pressing down on him.

Qin Huai said, "If you're still tired, just keep sleeping. It's still early."

Mu Nan asked, "What time is it?"

Qin Huai replied, "It's four in the afternoon. Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?"

Mu Nan felt a bit hungry but wasn't really in the mood to eat. He shook his head, then took Qin Huai's hand and placed a piece of chocolate in it. Although their backpack had some food like bread, he thought Qin Huai might not be able to eat much, so he gave him chocolate to help boost his energy.

However, Qin Huai seemed to misunderstand and, upon receiving the chocolate, unwrapped it and directly shoved it into Mu Nan's mouth.

Mu Nan frowned and said with the chocolate in his mouth, "I gave it to you." He tried to place another piece in Qin Huai's hand.

Qin Huai shook his head and said, "I'm not eating it. I already had something."

Mu Nan was a bit doubtful: "What did you eat?"

Seeing that Mu Nan was being insistent, Qin Huai opened the bag to show him: "I ate two steamed buns."

They had previously prepared a bag of bread, several steamed buns, and a few bottles of water. They didn't pack too much, partly to avoid heavy weight and partly because as long as they didn't let others see their backpack, they could easily access whatever they needed from their supplies.

Satisfied that Qin Huai had eaten something, Mu Nan shifted slightly, feeling a bit sore from staying in one position for too long. He lay flat on his back and glanced around. Noticing that the space next to him was empty and that Xu Ming was still asleep farther away, he turned to Qin Huai and asked, "Where are Jian Chu and Yu Zibai?"

Qin Huai answered, "Jian Chu is getting an injection at the entrance."

Mu Nan sat up to look toward the tent entrance, but since it was a bit far and many people were moving in and out, he couldn't spot Jian Chu and Yu Zibai immediately. He lay back down and asked, "Who is getting the injection? What happened?"

Qin Huai explained, "Jian Chu is getting an injection. He's probably dealing with aftereffects from the earthquake—he has a fever and gastroenteritis. The stress response is quite severe. He can't stop vomiting and wanted to tough it out, so Yu Zibai dragged him to find a military doctor. There are quite a few people like Jian Chu, suffering from stress symptoms after the disaster. Mild cases will recover on their own, while severe cases need injections or medication. We brought two air conditioners from the supermarket and set them up in the tents for injured people to cool them down while they receive their injections."

Qin Huai reached out and rubbed Mu Nan's stomach: "Is there any discomfort?"

Mu Nan shook his head: "No, I'm fine. I'm just wondering about the situation outside."

The heat during the day was unbearable, making it impossible to go out and rescue people under the scorching sun. Those trapped under the rubble might be suffering from the heat. With the days being so long—bright from five or six in the morning until eight or nine at night—rescue operations were hindered by the extended daylight, leaving them helplessly watching time pass by. It was a helpless feeling, watching lives fade away.

While Mu Nan was sleeping, Qin Huai, though wanting to go out to check on the situation, didn't dare to leave. Given the severity of the earthquake, Mu Nan might panic if he woke up and found Qin Huai missing, so Qin Huai stayed put. However, with an additional sunshade set up outside the tent, it was possible to go outside and walk around, provided it wasn't during the hottest part of the day. So even lying there, Qin Huai could hear some sounds from outside and get a general idea of the situation.

"The main focus now is on rescuing at the hospital. Some of the victims' families can't accept the decisions being made and are causing a scene."

Just as Qin Huai finished speaking, loud crying could be heard outside their tent.

"You're saving people! Why aren't you saving them? They're buried under the rubble—why haven't you sent rescue teams? Why hasn't anyone come? They're right under that building! They're waiting, waiting for someone to rescue them... They're still waiting... Ugh..."

A middle-aged woman, crying hysterically, was on the verge of a breakdown. The soldiers she was pulling at could only remain helplessly silent.

The soldier looked no older than twenty, his sunburned face smeared with mud and grime, his eyes red from enduring the middle-aged woman's accusations. What could he say? In such a disastrous situation with massive casualties, rescue workers are always prioritized. When external help is unavailable, rescuing even one medical worker might save more lives in the future.

But at this moment, no one wanted to hear such things. No one could understand rationally. Their family members were buried under the ruins, and every minute felt like torture. The rubble contained their parents, partners, and children—people indispensable to their lives. Yet, in the face of such a disaster and the lost lives, all they felt was powerlessness.

Eventually, it seemed that the soldier's superior came out, pulled the soldier away from the woman, and patted his shoulder: "You go inside for now."

Turning to the anguished woman, he said, "We are doing everything we can with the fastest speed and the greatest manpower to carry out rescue operations. Your outcry doesn't help our rescue efforts; it only puts immense psychological pressure on my soldiers and could even delay the rescue. This delay impacts your loved ones' lives. Madam, I understand your feelings but do not agree with your irrational behavior. Instead of using your energy to cry here, save it to join the rescue efforts after the sun sets."

The superior left without looking back. They didn't have the energy to reason with the distraught families. Although rescue operations could only be conducted after dark due to the current environment, it didn't mean they were idle during the day. They needed to organize existing supplies, count people, maximize resource use, and consult survivors about local building structures. Blindly digging through rubble would waste more time. With time running short, they had to focus on efficiency.

After the superior left, the middle-aged woman continued to cry uncontrollably. Some emotions aren't easy to control, but clearly, she had taken in what was said earlier and stopped venting her fear and frustration on innocent people.

Mu Nan watched through the window for a while and then sat back down. Their tent had windows, and although the additional sunshade outside prevented direct sunlight, it was still hot. However, it wasn't unbearable, so one could still move around outside a bit. The tent windows were open since, without air conditioning, keeping them closed would only make the tent more stuffy. Mu Nan's sleeping area was right under the window, so he could see outside with a slight tilt of his head.

Once the noise outside faded, including the crying, Mu Nan sighed lightly.

Qin Huai, having woken up early, had listened to several confrontations between the public and soldiers that afternoon. The woman was merely crying and shouting, but there had also been direct conflicts with soldiers. If Qin Huai didn't have someone so important sleeping beside him, he doubted he would have been any more rational than those seeming to lose control.

Those people were just seeking a release of their panic and fear, their pain from losing loved ones, and their anxiety about the future. Some people instinctively redirect these emotions, while others suppress them, eventually either accepting them gradually over time or collapsing under the mental strain.

This was also why Qin Huai wanted to take Mu Nan home. Although home was somewhat isolated, it would shield him from the indirect or direct emotional impacts of the outside world. Emotions are contagious in groups, and he preferred Mu Nan to be at home, distracted by TV shows and thinking about what to eat each day, rather than being surrounded by boundless fear and despair.

As for whether such protection might end up being harmful, Qin Huai was more at ease with it. They had agreed that if things got too bad, they would face it together. He would never leave Mu Nan's side or abandon him. So if Mu Nan could find some comfort during such times, it was worth it.

Most of the people in their tent were relatively uninjured, but those who are injured were few. Families who were lucky enough to all be together were rare. Most had only managed to get out of their homes because the buildings couldn't be secured, narrowly escaping the disaster. Their relatives who stayed behind were not as fortunate; few were rescued immediately. Once the survivors in the tent started to recover a bit, they became restless and couldn't sit still, but they couldn't go outside because of the harsh sun.

Some people had already resigned themselves to the worst, their despair and sorrow rendering them almost without a will to survive. They were alive, but it felt little different from being dead. Some couldn't accept this reality and sought comfort from those around them, talking about their high floors and how, if buried, they would be among the first to be rescued. They even mentioned the food and water stored at home, thinking they could survive a few days or nights and that help would eventually come, as if saying it would make it true.

Meanwhile, others, already anxious and irritable, had little patience for such talk. Annoyed by the incessant chatter, they began to argue and even fight.

Until a man in his sixties, who looked very robust, shouted: "It's getting dark! Hurry up and eat something and drink some water to restore your strength. We'll need it to go to the collapsed sites of our own homes. If you can't handle this, what will happen to your family? What about those waiting for you to rescue them? The outside situation is tough, but the country won't abandon its people. Given the severity of this earthquake, the higher-ups must be arranging rescue efforts. Before they arrive, we need to be able to help ourselves. Yelling and fighting won't save those buried below!"

At such times, chaos is inevitable without leadership. When a firm voice stepped up to impose order, the crowd was calmed, finding some reassurance and focus. The panic and disorder subsided somewhat.

Mu Nan leaned closer to Qin Huai, relieved to see the people in the tent being calmed down. However, he knew that they could only rely on self-rescue. There was no external help available, not because it was just a local earthquake, but because it was a global-scale quake. This earthquake had wiped out many countries from the map and buried countless lives.

He didn't know the national figures, but he knew that in their city alone, with a population of nearly fifteen million before the quake, only about seven million had survived according to preliminary statistics. And this was just the post-earthquake count, many had died in the aftermath of the earthquake and from the ensuing epidemics.

Qin Huai held Mu Nan's hand and noticed some scratches from debris on his palm. He gently rubbed it and asked, "Does it hurt?"

Mu Nan shook his head: "It's nothing. It's not as deep as the cuts I got from sharpening a pencil."

Qin Huai asked, "Why not use a pencil sharpener?"

Mu Nan chuckled at the naive question: "Do you think I'm using a 2B pencil for homework? A sharper pencil isn't always better. I have a sharpener, but for some lines, too sharp isn't suitable."

Qin Huai pulled out his phone. Although communication was cut off, if the phone still had power, they could watch downloaded movies or play offline games. They had downloaded quite a few games beforehand, and he intended to use them to pass the time for Mu Nan. There were still a few hours until dark.

Mu Nan shook his head: "No, I don't want to play." At such a moment, even if he didn't have relatives trapped under the rubble, the environment's impact made him not inclined to play with his phone.

Qin Huai said, "Take out a small electric fan."

Mu Nan responded and reached into a nearby bag, pulling out a palm-sized battery-operated fan and two spare batteries from the small pocket of the bag.

Qin Huai placed Mu Nan's head on his shoulder and used the fan to cool him: "Close your eyes and rest for a bit."

Afraid Qin Huai might get too hot, Mu Nan whispered near his ear, "Want some ice water?" He revealed a segment of a straw from the bag, indicating what he had inside.

Qin Huai was indeed feeling hot, so he slightly lowered his head and drank several sips of ice water, which helped clear his drowsy mind and alleviated some of the heat. Seeing Mu Nan preparing to drink, Qin Huai said, "Drink slowly, don't gulp too fast."

Mu Nan nodded and took small sips, then put away the ice water from the bag.

After a short while, Jian Chu and Yu Zibai came over. Although they looked relatively clean because they had changed clothes, their exposed skin was as gray as concrete, so their actual condition was hard to discern. Mu Nan asked, "How are you? Feeling better?"

Jian Chu nodded: "Much better."

Yu Zibai helped him sit down and put away the medication from the military doctor. Medicine was still available now, but in a couple of days, it might be gone.

Jian Chu admired Mu Nan's resilience. Clearly, Mu Nan had better endurance. Looking at the busy scene, Jian Chu couldn't help but sigh: "I didn't expect it to be this severe."

Their province had rarely experienced significant earthquakes, mostly just aftershocks from neighboring areas. Even though they had seen news about earthquakes on TV, they hadn't imagined it would be this serious when they were at the small square. The square had seemed manageable, but the smoke made it hard to see far. It wasn't until they found their neighborhood that they realized the earthquake was far worse than they had thought, to the point of causing heart-pounding anxiety even now.

Mu Nan comforted him: "At least we're okay, and we were lucky to escape. Look forward; the disaster will pass." Although he didn't know when the disaster would end, holding onto such hope was better than complete despair about the future.

Yu Zibai noticed that Xu Ming had also woken up and was rubbing his head as he sat up slowly. He then asked, "Will you be participating in the rescue efforts later?"

Qin Huai replied, "We might head back home first."

He then explained, "We have a solar power generator at home. It'll be more comfortable to stay indoors during the day than to endure the heat outside."

Mu Nan was surprised that Qin Huai was revealing details about their home. He instinctively felt uneasy. Although they had interacted quite a bit with their neighbors over the past few months and their relations were good, they hadn't known each other long. Sharing information about their solar power generator made Mu Nan nervous. In his previous life, he had suffered greatly due to revealing a bit of food, which made him wary. Besides Qin Huai, he found it hard to let his guard down around anyone.

Qin Huai subtly squeezed Mu Nan's arm, and though Mu Nan was surprised, he didn't show it and maintained his position leaning against Qin Huai.

Jian Chu and the others were taken aback. They hadn't expected Qin Huai to openly mention such a useful asset. If it had been Mu Nan, they might not have been as surprised, since Mu Nan seemed genuinely naive and less guarded. But Qin Huai, despite not being a seasoned socialite, was clearly someone who thought things through carefully. It seemed unlikely he would have shared such personal details so early.

Yu Zibai, however, was slightly moved but kept his feelings in check. Jian Chu looked sturdy but had endured a tough childhood. He worried that Jian Chu might not handle the stress of the disaster well. Hearing about the solar generator made Yu Zibai think about whether it would be possible for Jian Chu to stay at their place for a few days to recover. However, he soon realized that asking someone to stay at his home when they weren't close was unrealistic. Even if Yu Zibai and Jian Chu were good people, it was hard to expect someone to trust them.

Unexpectedly, Qin Huai continued, "Our homes are actually right next to each other. If the balcony in our home weren't enclosed, it would be even more convenient to connect them. If we could open up the two balconies and run a wire over, we might manage with one or two air conditioners, but if we only need to power a fan, it should be manageable."

They indeed had a lot of batteries prepared, but given the scale of the disaster, restoring power soon seemed unlikely. Battery consumption would eventually deplete their reserves, so the generator would be necessary. But using it would be hard to hide, especially since air conditioners make noticeable noise. Rather than being secretive about it later, it was better to be upfront. Additionally, Qin Huai wasn't comfortable leaving Mu Nan alone at night if he couldn't go outside.

With Jian Chu's condition, Qin Huai believed Yu Zibai would probably not let Jian Chu participate in the rescue. It was better to have two people at home than one. Also, if they could connect the two balconies, it would provide an extra exit in case of emergencies.

Yu Zibai's surprise at the offer was immense; it was almost too good to be true. However, just opening the balcony wouldn't solve everything: "Opening the balcony is one thing, but we have a wall that will remain exposed."

Qin Huai smiled, "That depends on your handiwork. I have an iron door that hasn't been installed yet, along with lime and foam glue. With one night's work, we could knock down the wall, smooth the cement, and let it dry in the sun during the day. We could then seal the door at night, and cover it with a layer of sun-blocking fabric. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be usable. It would give both sides a way to connect, providing a fallback option."

Qin Huai then looked at Xu Ming and added, "However, our home and Dr. Xu's place are a bit far apart, so running a wire might be difficult."

Jian Chu said, "That's not a problem. As long as we can find a long enough wire, our bathroom window is close to Xu Ming's. If necessary, Xu Ming could stay at our place too. Even if it's just for sleeping during the day, with the current situation, having some electricity is more important than being picky."

Xu Ming agreed, "I don't mind at all. Even though you're a couple, I'll ensure you have your privacy. If there are any inconveniences, just let me know."

Before Yu Zibai could respond, Jian Chu's temper flared, "Who said we're a couple?"

This made Mu Nan look at the two of them with confusion, "Aren't you?"