Qi Xia steadied himself again and looked up at the stairs. Under the immense shaking, the old building began to show numerous cracks. Qingdao was a coastal city where earthquakes were rarely seen, so there was no telling what magnitude of earthquake the houses built here could withstand.
Qi Xia worried the building could collapse at any moment. He had to find Yu Nian'an quickly.
"An! Can you hear me?! Come down, quick!"
Qi Xia shouted again. The entire building was shaking, and the tremendous noise soon drowned out Qi Xia's voice.
"An..."
Qi Xia steadied himself and continued running upstairs. But an earthquake disrupts a normal person's sense of balance, let alone running up stairs. Qi Xia felt his legs were covered in bruises from bumping into things, but he used both his hands and feet to keep climbing upward.
If Yu Nian'an lost her life in this earthquake, Qi Xia would have no reason to go on living.
"Damn it... it's still shaking..."
Qi Xia fell to the ground once more, his entire knee going numb. He had seen on the news that the most intense tremors of an earthquake usually only lasted for a short period, no more than a few minutes at most.
But Qi Xia felt as if the entire earth had been shaking for nearly five minutes, with no sign of stopping. Just how massive of an earthquake could this be? Finally, Qi Xia dragged his wounded body to the fourth floor.
The building was still shaking continuously. Qi Xia wanted to knock, but he suddenly remembered that Yu Nian'an might be hiding under a table. Running around now would be even more dangerous, so he could only take the key out of his pocket.
But he couldn't get the key into the lock at all. The person was shaking, the hand was shaking, the building was shaking. Everything in his field of vision was shaking.
Loud noises continued to come from the distance, and there was even the sound of shattering glass.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
Qi Xia held the key with both hands and finally inserted it into the lock. With a "click," the door opened.
"An!! Are you in there?"
Qi Xia shouted, but the room was completely silent. He instantly thought of something. No one answered from inside.
There was only one possibility. Yu Nian'an had already left. Without a second thought, Qi Xia turned to leave, but he suddenly remembered the phone call from Yu Nian'an.
"No, there's a second possibility..."
She had fallen ill! Qi Xia was instantly caught in a dilemma. The entire building was shaking more and more violently.
If he didn't get out soon, he would surely die here. But he absolutely could not abandon Yu Nian'an.
"An! Are you here?"
Qi Xia pushed the door and entered the room. The empty room was silent, and the few simple pieces of furniture had been knocked askew by the earthquake. Qi Xia glanced under the small dining table; it was empty.
"Not here. Could she be in the bedroom?"
He supported himself with the single sofa and walked forward with difficulty, reaching the bedroom door after about four or five steps. If Yu Nian'an was still at home, this was the only place she could be.
"An!"
The moment he pushed the door open, a look of relief appeared on Qi Xia's face. There wasn't a soul in the bedroom. As far as his eyes could see, there was only a desk and a chair.
Qi Xia let out a long sigh of relief. He knew that Yu Nian'an had most likely already escaped to a safe place. Now, even if he himself died, there was nothing to be afraid of.
He was just about to turn and run when he suddenly froze on the spot as if struck by lightning. Something didn't seem right. An eerie feeling slowly rose in Qi Xia's heart, making the hairs on his body stand on end, and he couldn't calm down for a long time.
Amidst the massive earthquake, Qi Xia turned his head blankly and looked at this strange "bedroom." Why was there only a desk and a chair? Where was the bed?
Completely ignoring the small fragments falling from the ceiling, he walked to the desk, one halting step at a time. In his memory, there was a photo of himself and Yu Nian'an on the desk. But when Qi Xia got closer and picked up the photo, he discovered that only his blank-faced self was in the picture.
He was standing by the sea, staring expressionlessly at the camera, leaving behind this lonely photograph.
"An...?"
Qi Xia seemed to have lost his mind. The sense of balance he had just regained completely vanished. He only felt the world spinning, returning to a state of stumbling with every step.
He fell countless times before he managed to crawl into the living room. Here, there was a single sofa and a small dining table for one person. There wasn't even a seat prepared for a second person in this house.
"What kind of joke is this..."
A despairing smile appeared on Qi Xia's face.
"What kind of joke are you playing on me...?!"
He remembered something else and hurriedly crawled to the doorway, where a small shoe cabinet was placed. Qi Xia clenched his teeth fiercely and opened the cabinet door. Inside, there was only one pair of men's leather shoes.
From inside to out, this house had absolutely no trace of Yu Nian'an having ever lived there. Qi Xia suddenly lost all his strength and sat down on the floor with a thud. The scenes of his time together with Yu Nian'an were all vivid in his mind.
Her scent, the warmth of her palm, the way her eyes curved when she smiled—Qi Xia remembered every single detail clearly. But why was she not here at all?! Qi Xia couldn't figure it out.
He couldn't figure out any of what was happening. Yu Nian'an had called him less than an hour ago, how could she not be here...? Trembling, Qi Xia took his phone out of his pocket and dialed the number for "A" again.
He slowly swallowed. His whole body was shaking uncontrollably, as if he already had a premonition of what was to come.
"Hello, the number you have dialed does not exist. Please check the number and dial again."
As the cold, bilingual announcement in Chinese and English sounded, the phone in Qi Xia's hand also fell to the floor. This was all too terrifying. Yu Nian'an... doesn't exist?
"Impossible..."
Qi Xia's gaze suddenly became firm. He could clearly recall the first time he met Yu Nian'an, and he could recall every single day of their life together. She couldn't possibly not exist.
"Qi Xia, do you know?"
Yu Nian'an's voice echoed in his mind.
"There are many paths in this world, and everyone has their own."
Qi Xia abruptly stood up, standing tall in the shaking room. He thought for a moment, then walked to the bedroom again and, without a word, pulled open the wardrobe. Among the many men's clothes was an old white shirt.
He took out the white shirt and turned it over to look. A cartoon sheep patch was sewn onto the chest. This was sewn by Yu Nian'an's own hands.
Qi Xia never mended clothes; he would just throw away old ones. If Yu Nian'an didn't exist, this little sheep shouldn't exist either.
"Damn you... I understand now..."
Qi Xia raised his head indifferently and looked out the window.
"'Land of Endings'... You want to drive me mad? You want to make me think I'm a lunatic?"
He slowly stood up, his expression filled with an unprecedented hatred.
"Even if you are 'Gods', I'll make you give Yu Nian'an back to me."
The moment he finished speaking, Qi Xia saw massive cracks actually splitting open in the sky outside the window. The fissures were pitch black, like the boundless universe. The entire ceiling also collapsed at this moment with a world-destroying bang, and Qi Xia was ruthlessly crushed beneath the rubble.
In his final moments, Lin Qin's voice sounded in his ear.
"I'm really very curious about you."
"I don't mean to offend you, but you're a con man. What kind of person is your wife?"
"You have a wife... Even if you two live together, do you still sleep sitting up every night?"
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