Chapter 351: with translation of chapter title

Thus: Liuba didn't know whether what the other person said was true or not, but he would still do some things, also tell some people, and he himself would take precautions; as for whether others believed it or not, he couldn't control others' thoughts. For something he himself wasn't sure about, there was no reason to force others to comply.

Since that day, in the following days, Thus: Liuba would make a call whenever he had free time, to others and also to 'four sixes'; unfortunately, every time he called, the phone was off.

As the date shown on the phone and the time the other person mentioned drew nearer, Thus: Liuba became unusually anxious. Before, even if he took on a very dangerous job, he wouldn't get this anxious; although it didn't show on his face and others couldn't tell, the pent-up feeling he couldn't vent really made Thus: Liuba almost go crazy. An magnitude‑8 earthquake — is that just a joke? If it happened in Chu Hua Shi, basically hardly any buildings would remain standing.

In Chu Hua Shi, Zheng Tan continued his daily routine as usual, appearing just like before; however, when alone at home he would also secretly turn on the computer and go online for a bit. In fact, it wasn't really 'secret' anymore — Zheng Tan had once carelessly left some 'clues'.

That day, Jiao Ba picked up a cat hair from the keyboard, glanced at Zheng Tan, and then said nothing more; his face showed no other unusual emotion, which made Zheng Tan even more convinced that Jiao Ba knew what was going on in his mind.

As the day drew nearer, when that day arrived, Zheng Tan did not go out; he stayed at home all day, opened a webpage, and kept an eye on several webpages.

Back then, Zheng Tan hadn't paid attention to this matter, so his memory of the timing wasn't precise; he only remembered a rough estimate. Therefore, he just sat in front of the computer waiting. Information online should be faster than TV news, and moreover, Chu Hua Shi is not on an earthquake belt, and it's fairly far from the epicenter, so nothing should happen — this is also why Zheng Tan, even though he knew something abnormal would happen today, still stayed at home.

After going out for lunch at noon and coming back, he continued to lean over the computer. He dozed off slightly, and after waking up he refreshed the webpage — just as Zheng Tan clicked the mouse. Suddenly he felt a shake.

Here it comes!!

Some people in the school felt it. Those coming out of the building, including lab students who were doing experiments, noticed it and quickly ran out as well, but many more people didn't notice. Some were sleeping in the dorms. Some were paying attention to other things. They simply didn't notice what had happened.

Zheng Tan refreshed the webpage; there still weren't many reports. He wandered around the house, then went out to the old tile‑house district, opened his phone, and called Thus: Liuba.

The call wouldn't go through.

He tried again, but still couldn't get through.

Zheng Tan thought, he had already told Thus: Liuba about the matter, and yesterday he had even specially sent a text reminding him of that day's words; Thus: Liuba had replied, so he should have been prepared, yet now the phone wouldn't go through……

It wasn't necessarily that Thus: Liuba had met with an accident; it could be a communication failure.

That evening, newspapers, TV, and the internet were all talking about the afternoon earthquake in northwestern Shu. Many students called their classmates, friends, and relatives there, but many calls failed to connect or were busy.

Zheng Tan went out and called Thus: Liuba again, but still couldn't get through. Perhaps the place where Thus: Liuba was located was more remote, not in a major urban area; if it was a mountainous area near the epicenter, he would likely encounter serious trouble.

That night, many people were destined to sleeplessness.

The next day, Zheng Tan didn't stay at home; he ran to the old tile‑house area, opened his phone, and waited. He urgently wanted to know what was happening on Thus: Liuba's side, as well as how many people had taken precautions and how many could therefore survive.

While Zheng Tan was waiting, in a small town some distance from the city in northern Shu, many of the original residential buildings had collapsed, and the ground was left without roads.

Thus: Liuba sat on the ruins, with nowhere else to go — everywhere was rubble. From yesterday afternoon until now, he hadn't slept. At the time, the inspection team he was with was inspecting an elementary school; he had spent some effort the day before persuading the team leader, and they held a meeting that afternoon on the spacious playground, a school‑wide assembly. The playground was large; when the earthquake struck, part of the teaching building collapsed, but although there had been chaos at the moment, most people survived. And Thus: Liuba himself had been helping a few teammates with rescue efforts; only now did he sit down to catch his breath. If he didn't rest, he would likely collapse outright — covered in dust and dirt, his head dazed, his eyes bloodshot and red.

If this had happened before, Thus: Liuba would never have imagined risking his life to save others; just getting out alive would have been enough. But now, he hadn't eaten, had only swallowed a few mouthfuls of not‑very‑clean water, was in a sorry state, and was following a few people to pull survivors from the rubble. In the team there was someone who looked timid; Thus: Liuba had always thought this person was listless, weak, not manly, yet the person had followed Thus: Liuba and a few others from yesterday's work until now, his condition even worse than Thus: Liuba's — he had almost collapsed just moments before, and only then was someone forced to press him down to rest. In this state, not only would he suffer himself, but he might also make a mistake while rescuing people.

Aftershocks were still continuing.

Hero? Coward? Only when one truly reaches that point can it be seen — how far a person can go, perhaps even he himself doesn't know.

Thus: Liuba pinched the corner of his eye with his hand, which was covered in dust and full of wounds, felt his pocket, and pulled out a twisted cigarette; his lighter was missing, but there was a mini ignition device on his keychain. He lit it and took a hard drag.

The hand that used to be able to untie ropes flexibly even when tied up now trembled uncontrollably.

Thus: Liuba had always boasted of being unflappable in the face of change, capable of keeping his composure even if Mount Tai collapsed before him, but now he realized he had overestimated himself.

He looked up at the sky; there was hardly any sunlight, the sky was overcast.

Having survived the disaster, yet strangely he felt little joy.

If only he could tell more people……

But there are no 'ifs' in this world.

The tobacco eased some of the stiffness caused by terror and fatigue, and gave him a bit of strength.

Not far ahead, the cracked ground looked like a wound torn open in people's hearts; the surrounding heart‑rending wails had been heard countless times. In the face of ruthless nature, human life is so fragile — a blink, and it's gone. Former greatness and extravagance are just as fragile.

He pulled out his phone from his trouser pocket; at that time, communications were completely cut off, so he couldn't make calls and it was useless. Later, while helping with rescue, he dropped it and almost got smashed by a concrete slab from above; fortunately the card should still work, and he also had another phone in his backpack. Now communications still haven't been restored, so it's still unusable.

After finishing a cigarette, Thus: Liuba felt he had gained some strength; his mind also became clearer. He got up, brushed off the dust on his body, and continued back to help with rescue, also carrying out those who had already died.

Zheng Tan received Thus: Liuba's call on the third day after the earthquake occurred.

After Thus: Liuba's side could make calls, he then received many phone calls and messages. Thus: Liuba didn't have many relatives. Among them, most were his friends and the people he had reminded a few days earlier. Truly counting as friends, there weren't many; Jin Gui was one of them, and also one of the few who knew Thus: Liuba's whereabouts.

"You damn well still alive!" Jin Gui hadn't slept these two days. Every so often he'd place a call, then monitor related information online; now he finally got through.

Thus: Liuba didn't say much more to Jin Gui; time was pressing. After Jin Gui confirmed that Thus: Liuba was still alive, his tense nerves relaxed, he gave a brief reminder, and then went to sleep.

Besides Jin Gui, Thus: Liuba also received several calls, quickly checking the messages on his phone. Although he was young, he had handled many jobs; in this province he knew some people from all walks of life, and even some high‑ranking officials within the system. After the shock, fear, and grief, these people all called to find Thus: Liuba and ask about the situation. Why could Thus: Liuba know about this matter? It's a natural disaster, not **, extremely hard to ascertain. If Thus: Liuba hadn't tipped them off, they might already have been buried under the rubble.

Thus: Liuba temporarily ignored them, swapped SIM cards, inserted the card from the broken phone into it, and then called four sixes.

This time the phone wasn't off, and the other end connected quickly.

Thus: Liuba took a deep breath, suddenly not knowing what to say,

the other side remained the same silence.

The heavy silence lasted nearly a minute before Thus: Liuba spoke; his voice was somewhat hoarse and grating.

"Who are you?"

There were too many questions, too many whys, too many things beyond belief, but in the end he only managed to utter these three words.

Thus: Liuba had asked this question many times before, but never had he been so eager to know the other person's identity as he was now.

The prophecy had come true; the doubts and suspicions he had while sitting on the toilet lid are now gone without a trace. If it weren't for the other person, he would already have been buried with the inspection team under the rubble, and that elementary school might not have had so many survivors.

"Who are you?"

Because of the other's silence, Thus: Liuba asked again. Although his voice wasn't loud, carrying a strong sense of emptiness and fatigue, it nevertheless conveyed a stubborn determination — as if to say, if you don't tell me, I'll spare no effort to investigate until I find the answer.

Another stretch of silence.

"Who-are-you?" — the third inquiry, each word paused, the emotion contained was even stronger than before.

Thus: Liuba thought that after asking three times the other party still had no intention of revealing, and was waiting for them to hang up when a faint rustling sound came from the other end of the line.

He had no earpiece — it had broken yesterday — so Thus: Liuba pressed the phone's earpiece tightly to his ear, focusing all his attention on it.

A tapping sound came from the phone's earpiece; Thus: Liuba raised his hand and, on a cracked piece of wood in front of him covered with a layer of dust, wrote out each letter one by one. The skin on his fingers was already somewhat dry and cracked when he moved, yet he seemed oblivious, concentrating intently as he wrote the five letters translated onto the board.

"g-h-o-s-t"

"Ghost? Spirit?"

Before Thus: Liuba could even think it over, the earpiece transmitted the dial tone of a disconnected call.

Just as he hung up, another call came in.

Liuba answered the call, and at the same time, using the hand that wasn't holding the phone, he wiped the dust off the wooden board clean; the five letters disappeared as well.

Fuck! Liuba, you alright? I almost got buried under my own house, fuck! If it weren't for your heads‑up… hey, you… how do you know this… who told you? Being able to call out the name "Liuba" in that tone shows their relationship is obviously good.

"God." Liuba took a deep breath and sighed softly.

What the fuck?! Not like this……

Without letting the other person say more, Liuba hung up the phone and set it to silent. Looking at the devastated town in his view, he walked forward.

Ghost? God?

Doesn't matter.

I'll find you sooner or later! (To be continued…)