When Jiang Fuyue went in, she was sitting on the bed playing with glass marbles.
Compared to those infected people with gaunt cheeks and dispirited looks, Sansa’s eyes were bright and alert, her little face still plump.
Seeing strangers appear, she wasn’t afraid at all; instead, curiosity showed in her eyes.
“Grandpa, who are they?”
Duoya: “Friends from Huaxia.”
“But they’re wearing the clothes of doctor uncles and nurse sisters.”
Duoya changed his words again: “Doctor friends.”
When Sansa heard that, she immediately revealed a smile toward them.
……
After seeing Sansa, Jiang Fuyue called Duoya aside to ask about the situation: “When was she sent here?”
Duoya thought for a moment: “About two months ago.”
“What symptoms did she have at the time?”
“High fever, vomiting, coma. But for some reason, after one week, all those symptoms disappeared.”
“And how is her condition now?”
Duoya: “She looks very healthy. She doesn’t cry or fuss, and even helps with work.”
“Work?”
“Yes,” Duoya nodded. “She’s responsible for delivering food to each room.”
“In other words, Sansa has long-term contact with infected patients without any protective measures?”
Duoya froze. “Seems like… yes.”
“Then has she shown any infection symptoms?”
“Yes, she coughs, but it’s not serious.”
Jiang Fuyue’s gaze sharpened slightly. “Other than that? Anything else? For example, fever, or coma.”
“No.” Duoya shook his head firmly. “We also find it strange. Clearly everyone else feels very unwell after infection, but only she seems not to know pain. Later, someone who had once been a great shaman in the tribe said that Sansa was a devout believer in her past life, so the Lord bestowed upon her the blessing of staying away from pain.”
The speculation in Jiang Fuyue’s heart was confirmed. She proposed: “I want to take Sansa away. In return, we will provide sufficient food and supplies for the resettlement camp.”
Duoya fell silent.
No one knew how long passed before he raised his head again, his tone solemn: “You won’t hurt her, right?”
Jiang Fuyue: “I guarantee she will grow up healthy and happy.”
“Alright.”
……
Going back into the ward, Duoya informed Sansa about the matter of her being taken away.
Before he could finish speaking, the little girl suddenly burst into loud sobs.
“I don’t want to leave! I’m very well-behaved! I can deliver food, and I can carry water. Starting tomorrow I’ll learn how to make steamed couscous with Sister Sophia. I’ll be very useful… wuwuwu… can you not throw me away?”
Duoya’s aged hand gently touched her head. “Good child, don’t cry. Grandpa isn’t throwing you away, but sending you to a better place. There, you’ll eat your fill every day, wear pretty little dresses, braid cute pigtails, and even go to school to study…”
The little girl listened, completely absorbed, and had long forgotten to cry.
Duoya: “…So you must listen to the doctors, okay?”
Sansa nodded in a daze. “I know. Then will Sister Sophia, Uncle Oakley, Brother Kenyatta… go with us too?”
Duoya shook his head. “No, we’ll stay here.”
Sansa panicked. “Then I want to stay here too! I don’t want food, and I don’t want dresses anymore. Is that okay?”
Duoya sighed, just about to speak, when Jiang Fuyue suddenly stepped forward. “Hello, Sansa.”
The little girl’s clear gaze turned toward her, and she replied timidly: “Hello…”
“My name is Jiang Fuyue. You can call me by my name, or you can call me big sister.”
“Mm… big sister, your name is so hard. I can’t say it.”
“It’s okay. I came this time to invite you to my home as a guest. When you get better and stop coughing, I’ll send you back.”
“Really?” The little girl’s eyes lit up.
Although this place was filled every day with the threat of death, and painful groans could be heard at any time and anywhere, she still regarded it as home.
Jiang Fuyue nodded. “Really.”
“Then… how long do I have to stay at your home? When can I come back?”
Jiang Fuyue: “Two months. When you come back, I’ll prepare a gift for all your friends.”
“Okay!”
Sansa agreed in her soft, childish voice.
Jiang Fuyue’s group immediately took her away.
Duoya escorted them to the entrance of the camp.
Sansa: “Goodbye, Grandpa! I won’t forget to bring you a gift! And Sister Sophia, Uncle Oakley, Brother Kenyatta…”
Zhong Ziang helped Sansa put on the protective suit. Because the girl was really too small, it took a lot of effort before it was finally done.
“What about the face shield? It’s an adult model; she can’t wear it at all.”
Jiang Fuyue: “Just use a mask directly.”
“Okay.”
After finishing all this, Zhong Ziang carried her into the back seat. Before he could even get in himself, suddenly a huge roaring sound came from far to near, extremely fast.
“It’s a helicopter!” Yici shouted.
Before the words had even fallen, several helicopters had already flown over from the distance, arrogantly circling above the resettlement camp.
Then, the cabin doors actually opened…
Xie Dingyuan’s expression changed drastically. He pulled Jiang Fuyue into his arms and rolled toward the nearby sand dune, while shouting loudly at Zhong Ziang and Yici: “Get down!”
Though the two didn’t understand why, the muscle memory formed by long-term training kicked in the instant they heard those two words, and they immediately dropped prone on the ground.
At the same time, a huge boom suddenly sounded from the slanted rear of the resettlement camp. Then flames shot into the sky, black smoke billowed, and the smell of gunpowder drifted through the air.
Zhong Ziang felt his eardrums shake violently, the pain unbearable.
Meanwhile, Yici’s left shoulder was struck by flying debris, making him suck in a sharp breath.
Luckily, they had gone prone in time; otherwise, the situation would have been even worse.
After observing the surroundings, the two quickly got up and swiftly hid behind the nearest sand dune.
Boom,
Another loud explosion.
Flames erupted again. The enormous blast wave kicked up yellow sand everywhere, mixed with black smoke, reducing visibility to almost zero.
“Ah, pui…” Zhong Ziang spat out the sand in his mouth. “These d*mn b*stards! Starting a firefight without even checking the place, there are still so many people in the resettlement camp…”
Yici: “I thought the war wouldn’t reach this side. Didn’t expect it to still burn over here.”
Zhong Ziang: “Now what…”
Before he could finish speaking, another loud explosion rang out.
Suddenly, Zhong Ziang seemed to step on something soft and blurted out: “Holy sh…”
At the same time, a cry of pain rang out: “D*mn! My foot!”
Zhong Ziang and Yici widened their eyes in shock. In the yellow sand, a middle-aged man was sitting in a sand pile. Half of his glasses had been blown off, his hair was a total mess like a chicken’s nest, and both hands were protecting a camera, clutching it tightly to his chest as if hugging his own child.
“Who are you?!”
“And who are you?”
Both sides asked at the same time.
After Yici introduced himself, the middle-aged man instantly burst into tears, “That’s great! Really great! I thought I was dead for sure this time! I didn’t expect to run into military uncles, wuwu… I can live again! Thank you, thank you, thank you to the motherland, thank you all…”
The man grabbed Zhong Ziang’s arm as if clutching a lifeline.
Zhong Ziang: “……” Who are you calling uncle?
Yici: “And you are?”
“I’m an overseas reporter dispatched by Huaxin News Agency. I came to Kenny Bay to report on the situation in the resettlement camp. I didn’t expect…”
Before he even made it through the door, he was stunned by these helicopters bombing.
But he quickly reacted. Amid the chaos, he instinctively raised his camera and captured the scenes of the bombardment. Once these materials were spread to the international community, they were bound to cause a sensation.
He bent deeply toward the two men and bowed, giving a salute: “If necessary, please protect my camera first! I beg you! The whole world should know the truth!”
After hearing this, Zhong Ziang and Yici were filled with solemn respect and gave him a military salute.
……
On the other side, Jiang Fuyue was protected in Xie Dingyuan’s arms several times, each time successfully avoiding danger.
But the surging shockwaves still made her eardrums ache.
Xie Dingyuan: “Open your mouth!”
She immediately did as told.
“How is it? Is it any better?”
Jiang Fuyue nodded. “I…”
Just then, a faint crying sound drifted over.
“It’s Sansa!” Her face turned pale.
When Zhong Ziang and Yici went prone, they had completely forgotten that there was still a little girl in the car.
At this moment, the two of them had already taken that reporter and hidden behind a distant sand dune.
Coupled with the enormous noise from the helicopter rotors, they didn’t hear the crying at all, let alone return to rescue her.
Jiang Fuyue broke free from the man’s embrace and instinctively rushed outward.
Xie Dingyuan grabbed her back. “What are you doing?!”
“Sansa is still in the car. Nothing must happen to her!”
Not only because she carried antibodies and was the key to conquering the Schankwo virus, even if she were just an ordinary child, Jiang Fuyue would never sit by and do nothing.
“Let go!”
“Don’t be impulsive. Going out now will only, ”
Boom!
Another loud explosion.
Xie Dingyuan was struck in the back by splashing stones and instinctively loosened his grip.
And Jiang Fuyue had already seized the moment and rushed out.
She was not acting on a moment’s impulse, nor was she being reckless. Before charging out, she had already planned the route in her mind.
From one sand dune cover to another, then to the next, she successfully avoided several airdrop attacks, drawing closer and closer to the off-road vehicle.
The girl’s crying also gradually became clearer.
Under the forceful wind carrying yellow sand, it ruthlessly pounded over. Fortunately, Jiang Fuyue still had her protective mask, so she wasn’t blinded by the sand, but each drop still caused visual obstruction, because visibility was truly too low.
Finally…
She felt her way to the side of an off-road vehicle. “Sansa?”
There was no response, but she could hear the crying coming from behind.
So, not this one!
Jiang Fuyue continued moving backward, feeling her way with her hands as she went, until she finally found the right one.
The girl’s crying was right at hand.
She tried to open the car door, only to find that it had been welded shut and simply couldn’t be pulled open.
Fortunately, the car window was open, lowered about a quarter. Although she couldn’t pull the child out, she could reach one hand inside.
Jiang Fuyue tried to open it from the inside, but the door still didn’t budge at all.
Sansa was crying pitifully. When she saw it was her, she immediately moved close to the window, both hands pressed against the glass. “Sister… sister… I’m scared…”
With the hand she had reached inside, Jiang Fuyue touched her face. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here. Don’t cry anymore, okay?”
The little girl immediately stopped crying, though she was still sobbing. Then her two small hands grabbed Jiang Fuyue’s hand and gently rubbed it against her cheek. “…Okay, I won’t cry.”
“Good.”
Boom, boom, boom,
Another round of bombardment, and it was getting denser.
The off-road vehicle was too big a target. Sooner or later, the people in the helicopters would notice it. She had to get Sansa away immediately!
Jiang Fuyue looked around. The sky full of sand blocked her vision; she couldn’t see far at all, and there were no handy tools to be found nearby.
Suddenly, she noticed a very small crack on the window glass. If one didn’t look carefully, it would be hard to spot…
These off-road vehicles had all been modified at the base. The window glass had bulletproof properties and was extremely sturdy, but the shockwaves caused by explosions were likewise not to be underestimated, so this thin crack had appeared.
Jiang Fuyue braced both hands on the glass and tested the force.
Even with the crack, it was still solid.
Without a suitable tool, it simply couldn’t be broken…
Suddenly, Jiang Fuyue thought of something; her brows and eyes moved slightly.
“Sansa, step back a little.”
“Okay.” The girl sniffed and did as told.
“Not enough. Step back more.”
Only when the girl’s back was completely against the other side door did she nod. “That’s good.”
Sansa didn’t know what this sister was about to do.
But looking into her eyes, she suddenly didn’t feel afraid anymore.
She saw Jiang Fuyue remove the protective mask from her head, aim at that crack, and smash down hard.
Clang,
It didn’t shatter.
Then a second hit, a third hit…
No one knew how many times she struck, nor how many more explosions sounded around them, until finally…
Crash, in an instant, the glass shattered.
But Jiang Fuyue’s hand was also cut open. Fresh blood snaked down from her palm to her wrist, then flowed to her arm, drawing out a long trail of blood.
Yet she seemed not to see it at all, stretching both hands into the car. “Come, Sansa.”
“Sister…” The little girl opened her arms.
Jiang Fuyue lifted her out and held her protectively in her arms. After waiting for this wave of roaring sounds to pass and visibility to recover slightly, she seized the direction and, following the route planned in her mind, ran back with the child.
But just at this moment, the people in the helicopter not only saw the off-road vehicle, they also saw her!
There were actually still living people darting about right under their noses? Judging by the movements and figure, she even dared to hope to evade the attack?
“Heh, ridiculous!”
Boom!
He first aimed at those off-road vehicles and dropped munitions. With a huge rumble, the vehicles shattered into pieces, tongues of fire sweeping over them.
Next, it was that living person…
Jiang Fuyue sensed the vehicle behind her being blown up and knew she had been exposed.
Fortunately, the yellow sand kicked up also obstructed the view of the person in the helicopter, preventing him from pinpointing the exact location of the “living person” in time.
Taking advantage of this gap, Jiang Fuyue ran at her fastest speed.
The other side, already enraged and humiliated, began bombing wildly.
A heavy explosion went off beside Jiang Fuyue, less than five meters away.
She dropped down in time, using her body to shield Sansa.
“Sister, are we going to die?”
“No, we won’t. Believe me, okay?”
“Mm!” The girl nodded hard.
Ignoring the pain in her body, Jiang Fuyue gritted her teeth and struggled to get up.
Suddenly, someone supported her arm, it was Xie Dingyuan.
“Go, ”
He took the one big and one small forward just a few steps when another dense round of bombardment came.
Jiang Fuyue knelt to the ground, slowly closing her eyes, her hands instinctively shielding the child.
And Xie Dingyuan spread his arms, firmly pulling both the girl and her into his embrace, his back completely exposed.
Not far away, the middle-aged reporter who happened to witness this scene raised his camera. With a click, he froze the image forever.
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