Jiang Mu had no idea how San Lai had pulled her back from the cliff edge. Her eyes were fixed only on the raging inferno below until police sirens echoed through the valley from all directions. Chaos erupted around them as the dancing crowd of young people scrambled to their cars and fled, while the racers escaped through various mountain paths.

Cars roared past them as someone shouted, “Someone’s dead! Run!”

Jiang Mu was senseless, completely senseless. Jin Fengzi and San Lai had to drag her to the car, shoving her into the back seat before Jin Fengzi started the engine. San Lai quickly jumped into the passenger seat. Only then did Jiang Mu come to her senses, screaming through her tears, “Jin, Jin Chao… he’s still, still in the car, we can’t leave…”

San Lai looked at the flames shooting skyward in the valley and said, “The police cars are heading there. If we don’t leave now, we won’t be able to leave at all.”

Jin Fengzi was already driving toward the mountain exit. Jiang Mu was nearly hysterical, “There was an explosion, Jin Chao’s car exploded, didn’t you see?”

San Lai turned back and grabbed her wrist, forcefully steadying her trembling as he said, “I know, but we can’t go there. The police will find him. If we go, we’ll just be caught as street racers and won’t help at all. We have to leave first and then figure out what to do.”

Down the mountain, Wan Shengbang and his people were long gone. Jin Fengzi managed to dodge several fire trucks heading up the mountain.

After leaving the mountain, Jiang Mu didn’t say another word. She sat rigid in the back seat, her limbs numb, cold sweat breaking out uncontrollably. In the passenger seat, San Lai had been making calls trying to contact people ever since they’d left the mountain and regained cell signal.

Jiang Mu didn’t know where they were passing through. The shadows outside the window became a blur of film negatives. She couldn’t see clearly, nor did she want to, until the car stopped at Feichi’s entrance. Jin Fengzi opened the back door and called her to get out, but she seemed to still be floating.

After dropping them at the garage entrance, Jin Fengzi hurriedly left with San Lai’s car. Jiang Mu curled up on the small wooden stool by the door, staring fearfully at San Lai, pinching her thigh hard. She felt this must be a dream, a terrifyingly horrible nightmare. If it wasn’t a dream, how could anyone explain that just this afternoon she had been in Jin Chao’s arms? He had fed her, called her a lazy child who wouldn’t grow up, and she had nuzzled against him, acting spoiled, saying she would never grow up and would depend on him forever.

Jiang Mu didn’t know exactly how long “forever” was, but it certainly couldn’t be just half a day. What else could this be but a nightmare?

But even after she’d pinched her leg purple, she still couldn’t escape this nightmare. All the pain was so vivid.

San Lai made one phone call after another, seeking information. She had never seen the usually playful San Lai so angry. Finally, she heard him roaring into the phone, “Are you fucking useless? If there’s no news from the police station, can’t you ask your uncle at the hospital? If that doesn’t work, check the funeral home too!”

When Jiang Mu heard the words “funeral home,” her stomach suddenly convulsed, churning violently. She ran to the roadside and started retching, but having eaten nothing all evening, nothing came up. Sweat and tears mixed in her misery.

San Lai hung up the phone and hurried over to help her up, telling her, “Go home.”

Tears slid down Jiang Mu’s cheeks. She couldn’t speak a word, just shook her head.

San Lai looked at her pale face, clenching his jaw painfully, but still said cruelly, “You must go home. If… if something happened, the police will contact the family.”

The emotions Jiang Mu had been holding back all night finally collapsed completely, and she broke down sobbing.

Following San Lai’s words, she returned to Jin Qiang’s house to wait. She didn’t sleep all night, just sat by the bed. She didn’t dare sleep, afraid she might miss a police call to Jin Qiang in the night, yet even more afraid of hearing Jin Qiang’s phone ring while she was awake.

She took out all the letters from behind the dartboard, reading them over and over until she reached the line “Sorry, your Chaochao who misses you.” She collapsed to the floor, letters scattered everywhere, crying her heart out but not daring to make a sound as she bit down on the web of her hand until it bled.

She waited in a daze until dawn. The good news was that no police had contacted the family. The bad news was that there was still no word from Jin Chao.

She couldn’t wait alone anymore – she was nearly going mad. At six in the morning, she rushed out the door. Arriving at the garage, she saw San Lai’s car parked by the road. Jin Fengzi had returned sometime in the night, and neither of them appeared to have slept.

Seeing Jiang Mu’s swollen eyes, San Lai said compassionately, “We’ve checked every major hospital in Tonggang and nearby. No news of him. You should know that no news is good news, understand?”

Jiang Mu nodded, her trembling lips pressed together. Jin Fengzi watched her haggard appearance as he smoked, asking, “Have you had breakfast?”

Jiang Mu shook her head. San Lai sighed, “She didn’t eat last night either.”

Jin Fengzi stubbed out his cigarette and stood up. “I’ll go buy some baozi.”

San Lai led Jiang Mu into the pet shop, settled her in a chair, and handed her a cup of hot water, saying, “After eight when everyone’s at work, we’ll go to the police station to ask.”

Jiang Mu nodded mechanically, holding the water cup.

Soon Jin Fengzi returned with some baozi. Jiang Mu couldn’t eat, just held a meat bun, taking ages to tear off a bit of the wrapper. San Lai looked up at her distracted state and said, “Mumu, eat something. Don’t collapse before we even get news. We still need to look for him, and you need strength for that.”

Jiang Mu took this to heart and started stuffing the meat bun into her mouth in large bites, though she couldn’t taste anything. She just needed something in her stomach.

San Lai and Jin Fengzi exchanged worried glances when they saw the teeth marks on the back of her hand.

Just after Jiang Mu finished eating, her stomach started churning again, burning like fire. She stood up saying she needed to wash her hands, and stayed in there for a long time. San Lai grew worried and went around back to check on her. The water was still running, and she had thrown up everything she’d eaten. Her face and hair were dripping wet, and she was crouched by the sink trying to hide from them, not making a sound, but her shoulders were shaking uncontrollably.

San Lai bit his back teeth and retreated. Soon Jiang Mu came out, cleaned up with her short hair pinned back, showing no signs of crying. San Lai took a drag on his cigarette, gave her a silent look, then pretended he hadn’t seen anything and turned away.

For an entire day, they visited countless police stations, but no one had received any reports of a car crash or explosion the previous night. They hadn’t even heard about the street racing.

Around noon, Jin Chao’s phone, which had been out of service, suddenly connected – though no one answered.

This discovery energized the group who hadn’t slept for two days and a night. If Jin Chao had his phone during the race, they could at least be certain of one thing: the explosion hadn’t destroyed the phone, which meant Jin Chao wasn’t in the car.

Before finding Jin Chao, this was the best theory they had. Jin Fengzi and San Lai tacitly agreed to tell this to Jiang Mu. They could see the young girl who had been running around with them all day was at her limit, both mentally and physically. If it weren’t for her desperate desire to find Jin Chao supporting her, she might have collapsed at any moment.

Jin Fengzi and San Lai discussed it and decided to personally take Jiang Mu home, informing Jin Qiang in her presence. Firstly, they were worried about Jiang Mu’s current state; secondly, they wanted Jin Qiang to be prepared in case the police called in the next few days.

When Jin Qiang heard about this, he was shocked and said they should report it to the police. Jin Fengzi and San Lai told him they’d already visited all the relevant police stations during the day – if the police knew anything, they would have contacted him already.

On the third day, they decided to return to the mountain where the race had taken place. They hadn’t planned to bring Jiang Mu, but she arrived at the garage before dawn, mechanically feeding and changing Shandian’s water.

When San Lai opened the door, he saw her crouching at the garage entrance holding Shandian, staring vacantly at the quiet morning street. He wondered if she had slept at all the previous night.

Jin Fengzi had arrived early. Not wanting to leave Jiang Mu alone, they decided to take her along to the village near the accident site to inquire at the jurisdictional police station. Strangely, after asking around, even the police officers at the local station knew nothing about that night’s explosion. They told them that if they wanted to report a missing person, they would need to wait 24 hours before following the normal procedures for the case to be filed.

After leaving the small township police station, San Lai and Jin Fengzi each lit a cigarette at the entrance, while Jiang Mu stared blankly at the mongrel in the station’s courtyard. After two days of inquiries, if they hadn’t witnessed Jin Chao’s car explosion themselves, they might have doubted whether that night had happened at all.

They decided to return to the mountain. At the cliff where the explosion occurred, they could still see the impact depression and scorched traces on the surrounding brush and weeds, but beyond that, not a single car fragment remained on the mountain road – everything had been cleaned up completely.

On the way back, the three were unusually silent. Nothing made sense. Jin Chao had vanished into thin air. Logically, if he had truly died in an accident, after forty hours they should have been able to identify the body and contact family. Even if he’d been taken to a hospital, they should have notified his next of kin. How could there be no news?

San Lai and Jin Fengzi had exhausted every connection they had in Tonggang, turning the entire small city upside down without finding any leads. Apart from waiting for the police to contact them, they’d searched everywhere possible.

During these days, Jiang Mu remained in a daze. When she closed her eyes, she never slept more than two hours before startling her awake, and once awake, she struggled to fall back asleep. Every time she began to drift off, she would suddenly find herself amid blinding flames and deafening explosions, then jolt awake again, over and over.

She still went to the garage at dawn to care for Shandian, staying the entire day, neither speaking nor eating much. In just a few days, she visibly lost weight, her eye sockets becoming hollow.

On the fourth afternoon, exhaustion finally overcame her. As she dozed off against Shandian, a thought echoed in her foggy mind. Minutes later, her eyes snapped open. After securing Shandian in the garage and locking up, she ran toward Xi Wa Ao – her last hope. Under the blazing sun, she ran faster and faster. Reaching the place where the elderly usually played chess in the cool shade, she learned that Grandfather Hai’s daughter had taken him to Guilin for vacation a few days ago.

For the next two days, Jiang Mu frequently returned to Xi Wa Ao asking if Grandfather Hai had returned. Finally, on the third day, she met Old Tao buying vegetables, who told her Grandfather Hai had returned the previous night and could be found at the pavilion.

Without even thanking Old Tao, Jiang Mu ran toward the pavilion. The morning pavilion was crowded with elderly people playing cards, chess, and various games. The circular pavilion was packed, and Jiang Mu anxiously weaved through the crowd. After searching for what felt like forever, a voice called out from beneath a banyan tree: “Jiang Nanshan.”

When Jiang Mu turned and saw Grandfather Hai sitting under the large tree in his vest, her eyes reddened with emotion. Grandfather Hai was startled and quickly had another elderly man take his place, walking toward Jiang Mu and asking, “I heard you’ve been looking for me these past days. Why are you crying?”

Jiang Mu roughly wiped her eyes and said, “I need to find Officer Lu. Please help me, Grandfather Hai.”

Ten minutes later, Grandfather Hai personally led Jiang Mu to Officer Lu’s parents’ home. When they knocked on the security door, Lu’s father warmly invited Grandfather Hai in. As old neighbors of many years, he was quite familiar with Grandfather Hai. Hearing that the young girl needed to find his son, Lu’s father called Officer Lu in front of Grandfather Hai.

As the dial tone rang, days of anxiety peaked. Jiang Mu’s hands trembled nervously. Grandfather Hai led her to sit on the sofa. When the call connected, Jiang Mu jumped up from the sofa, gripping the phone with a tight voice: “Hello, Officer Lu, this is Jiang Mu.”

The person on the other end seemed surprised, his voice somewhat stern: “How did you find my home?”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I had no choice…” Jiang Mu choked back tears. “Jin Chao… do you know where he is?”

Silence on the other end – a long, heavy silence. Jiang Mu felt her soul being slowly pulled from her body. Time stopped; the whole world stopped. She began to lose her balance, clutching the table corner until her nails dug into her flesh, asking Officer Lu: “Is… is he alive?”

Officer Lu paused for two seconds before telling her: “I’m busy right now. Wait a moment, I’ll call you back.”

He hung up immediately. Grandfather Hai repeatedly asked beside her, “What exactly happened? Don’t worry, sit down first. I’ll have Old Lu’s son help figure something out.”

Lu’s father agreed, “Yes, young lady, don’t worry. Come, sit down and have some water.”

For the next few minutes, Jiang Mu sat on the sofa clutching the phone, not daring to look away for even a second. About ten minutes later, Officer Lu called back. Jiang Mu answered immediately. Officer Lu asked, “This is Jiang Mu, right?”

She held the phone to her ear with both hands, breathing heavily as she responded with a simple “Yes.”

Then Officer Lu told her: “Jin Chao is fine, he’s safe and well. Don’t worry. As for where he is now, I can’t tell you at the moment. Do you understand what I mean?”

When Jiang Mu heard this news, she nodded vigorously until she caught her reflection on the TV screen and realized Officer Lu couldn’t see her nodding.

After learning that Jin Chao was safe, Jiang Mu could eat and sleep again, though she still startled awake easily. Every day she would stare at her phone, sending many messages to Jin Chao. Though they all went unanswered, she thought Jin Chao would see them eventually. As long as he was alive, he would finish whatever business he had one day and return to her side. He still hadn’t taken her traveling, hadn’t answered whether he would go to Nanjing with her. She had to wait for him, wait for him to come home.

She still went to the garage daily to care for Shandian, sitting with him at the garage entrance all day. Life seemed to return to normal, but her heart remained empty. Besides waiting for Jin Chao’s return, she couldn’t find interest in anything.

It wasn’t until Yan Xiaoyi called asking about her test scores that she realized she could check her results. Logging in, she saw her score was higher than expected – enough to get her into her dream university.

She should have been laughing joyfully, even celebrating. After all, she had worked harder than others, taking four years to achieve this result.

But Jiang Mu sat before the computer without a trace of a smile. The person she most wanted to share this with was missing, and until she saw him with her own eyes, she couldn’t let go of her worry.

However, what she didn’t expect was that the day after the scores were released, someone would appear at Jin Qiang’s home, having flown from distant Australia to find her.