C93

Yu Meng looked at every inch of the corpse. If only she could find a place that was different from her mother's.

In the end, there was only that jade pendant.

There was nothing more cruel in this world. For children, seeing their mother's body with their own eyes — rotting, ruined, showing off their ugliest appearances — when piled up with so many strange corpses by themselves was like the most useless trash.

It was dark again, and once again, at dark, Yu Meng made up her mind. She was taking her mother home.

She could not let her mother stay in a foreign country without help.

Yu Meng hesitated, not knowing how to take the corpse away. She didn't dare to touch it because it looked too fragile. She was afraid that if she touched it, it would fall apart. Just as she was hesitating, she heard someone call her name behind her.

That "Yu Meng" was filled with anxiety, worry, and anger.

Yu Meng turned her head. She had been sitting here for too long, but she suddenly shifted her gaze. It was as if she was looking at everything that she saw with a layer of scarlet.

Tan Yubai's forehead wrinkled, his facial features stretched, and the corner of his mouth quivered when he spoke.

Strangely, the surrounding crowd that were just passing by all revealed expressions of fear when they saw Tan Yubai, and their footsteps unconsciously sped up.

Tan Yubai opened his mouth, but he could not hide the nervousness in his voice.

"Why are you here?!" He looked older than he had the last time he saw him, bearded, his eyes bloodshot with fatigue, staring at Yu Meng, pulling her up from the ground. "Do you know how long I've been looking for you? Why are you so willful! I wonder if I'll worry about you? "

Yu Meng could not listen to her at the moment. She had been sitting still for a long time and did not have much strength left, so after being pulled by Tan Yubai, she could not stand still.

Falling into Tan Yubai's embrace, she still maintained her expressionless face, allowing to reprimand her.

Tan Yubai was startled, he was a little surprised by Yu Meng's reaction until he saw the jade pendant that was filled with blood in her hands.

Tan Yubai and Yu Meng grew up together, how could they not know that this jade pendant was something that his mother brought with his.

His heart tightened as his gaze fell onto the surrounding corpses. A wave of pain rushed through his heart, and he almost lost his footing as he staggered back a few steps.

The pungent smell and the bone-piercing pain swept through his and Yu Meng's senses. For a moment, he couldn't utter a single word of blame.

It was as if the life and death experiences he'd gone through these past few days weren't important in order to find Yu Meng.

He held Yu Meng for a long time before he finally spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Let's go." Tan Yubai's voice was very light and gentle, carrying a cautious and worried tone, "The corpses have all rotted. If we catch an infectious disease because of this, there's no hope for it."

Yu Meng didn't say anything, but she expressed her attitude with her actions.

She didn't leave. She struggled to break free from Tan Yubai's embrace just to find her mother.

That mother of hers who had personally made a giant three layer cake for her at last year's birthday party had even promised to accompany Yu Meng for the coming of age ceremony!

But now …

Her body was just like trash thrown here. The stench was everywhere, and she didn't even want to look at a passing dog.

How could his mother, who had once been beautiful and had an extraordinary temperament, be reduced to such a state?

Yu Meng couldn't believe it. Even if she died, she wouldn't believe it.

Of course, Tan Yubai would not let her continue with her nonsense, he immediately picked up Yu Meng and turned to leave.

He completely ignored her struggles and resistance.

"Put me down." At the start, Yu Meng's voice had been very soft, but as she walked further and further away, she began to struggle even harder.

"Put me down! I want my mother! I want to take my mother home! "

Tan Yubai wanted to say something, but he was afraid that it would hurt Yu Meng's heart so he swallowed his words.

He wanted to say, "This is not your mother at all, it's just a pile of rotten meat!"

Finally, he changed his tone and told her as gently as he could, "You can't touch the corpse. If you touch it, you might get an infection."

How could Yu Meng listen to her? She continued to struggle and struggle, scream and cry. She used all her strength at the back and could only collapse into Tan Yubai's embrace.

All that was left were empty eyes and a face full of despair.

Tan Yubai searched through all the houses in the area, none of them were suitable for him to stay here for a long period of time.

Tan Yubai really had no other choice, so there was only one place left.

Secret communication station.

This place was underground, dark and damp. It was unknown how many dark tunnels led to this place from left to right. The destination was a four-sided house with all sorts of rooms and wires intertwined together. They were connected to the same machine.

It was a very heavy looking computer.

There was a set of headphones on the table, while the keyboard was an old-fashioned typewriter. This set of headphones looked very strange.

There was only a very small bed in the room.

Yu Meng sat on the bed, Tan Yubai took out some food from the cupboard.

Compressed biscuits and mineral water.

"Just by looking at you, I can tell that you haven't had any good food these days." Tan Yubai sighed, opened the biscuit bag and took a small mouthful to feed Yu Meng.

"Here, have some."

Yu Meng opened her mouth and swallowed.

She was no longer feeling saturated with hunger. Her whole body was numb, and so was her brain.

Tan Yubai once again poured the mineral water into the bottle and fed it to Yu Meng.

At least seeing that she had eaten something, Tan Yubai was a little relieved. He sighed and sat beside Yu Meng, gently holding her hand.

"Perhaps, this jade pendant was stolen by someone because your mother lost it. That person could not even see his face, so who knows if he made a mistake or not?"

These words could only be used as a form of consolation. There was no room for further consideration.

Yu Meng didn't say anything. She just sat there in a daze.

Tan Yubai pinched Yu Meng's palm.

"Talk to me. You have been so silent. I feel very uncomfortable."

Yu Meng was still in a daze.

Tan Yubai knew that all of this wasn't just a mere blow to Yu Meng, it had caused her entire world to collapse.

"Do you want a hug?" Tan Yubai asked her: "Let's hug."

Yu Meng was finally moved. She turned her head and looked at Tan Yubai hesitantly.

He took her in his arms, gently.

"I'm still here." His voice was calm and delicate, as he tried his best to help Yu Meng piece together her shattered heart bit by bit.

Yu Meng's tears flowed uncontrollably once again.

"I'm fine." Tan Yubai patted Yu Meng's back.

However, Yu Meng shook her head and buried her head even deeper.

"I can't go through it, I'll never be able to go through it …"

She muttered, as if answering Tan Yubai, but also as if she was talking to herself.

Tan Yubai looked at Yu Meng, his heart clenched tightly, almost to the point of wanting to die.

After an unknown amount of time, Yu Meng's breathing finally calmed down. She nestled into Tan Yubai's embrace with her eyes closed, looking like she was sleeping. But his hand, had been tightly grabbing onto Tan Yubai's sleeve the entire time, unwilling to let go.

Tan Yubai also couldn't bear to let go of her. He hugged her like this, his legs becoming numb from the pressure, but he didn't move an inch.

After staying in a place like Sri Lanka for so long, he was very clear on just how important peace was to a single person. He was not willing to break Yu Meng's rare moment of tranquility.

"Ugh …"

After sleeping for only a short period of time, Yu Meng felt as if she had fallen into a nightmare. Her eyebrows were deeply furrowed, and she was struggling and trembling.

"Mengmeng …" Tan Yubai carefully shook her body, and only woke her up after a long time.

"Have you had a nightmare?" Tan Yubai sighed: "It's all fake, don't be afraid."

When Yu Meng opened her eyes, her eyes were filled with fear. She sat up, breathing heavily. Her mind was filled with the scene from her dream.

What she dreamed wasn't a nightmare at all, but a hell.

Looking at her mother's miserable state when she died and the process of her body rotting step by step over the past few days, she dreamt of everything that she feared and dreaded the most. It was vivid and lifelike, as if she had experienced it all personally.

Humans were such tangled creatures. The more afraid they were, the easier it was for them to see anything.

Tan Yubai held onto Yu Meng, clearly feeling her trembling body.

Yu Meng held Tan Yubai's arm, listening to his voice, and slowly calmed herself down.

She saw the tattoo on Tan Yubai's arm, the symbol of a fierce tiger.

Yu Meng screamed and pushed Tan Yubai away.

Tan Yubai was startled.

He could see the nervousness in Yu Meng's eyes, and when he followed her gaze to his own arm, he probably understood what she was afraid of.

Tan Yubai quietly put down his rolled up sleeves, covering the fierce tiger's tattoo.

"What's that?" Yu Meng pointed at Tan Yubai's arm. "Why is there a tattoo on your arm?"

Having stayed in the Sri Lanka for so long, it was impossible for Yu Meng to not have seen the people of the LTTE before.

Of course, the tattoos on their arms could be seen, as well as the tiger-like heads that had been opening their bloody mouths all this time.

And at that moment, she saw the exact same thing on Tan Yubai's arm.

Yu Meng's heart was in turmoil. There were so many things she needed to accept and digest that she could no longer hold herself back. Her head was thrown back, and she fell heavily onto the ground.