Chapter 190: My Star
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Mo Han held onto the edges of the table tightly. He felt as if he had suddenly been covered in darkness as he said, “Do you know who the deceased were?”
“We haven’t received the notice yet, they only said that it’s a male and a female.”
However, Mo Han did not relax because of this. He felt as if everything was pus.h.i.+ng him forward, and he could only accept the final outcome without any way to deal with this situation.
Mo Han controlled himself, to not make his voice sound too shaky. “When can they confirm?”
“The latest is probably tomorrow night. The team in charge of search and rescue are already sending the dead bodies back and the personnel in charge of noting down the details will be able to identify them very quickly too.”
“Where will the dead bodies be sent to?”
“The Second General Hospital in D City. The dead bodies would be placed in the mortuary temporarily for their relatives to come and get them.”
The staff watched as Mo Han kept s.h.i.+vering. Mo Han could not seem to stand any longer, supporting himself on the table and the staff pa.s.sed him a stool to sit on. “Don’t be too sad. What if the female that died wasn’t your girlfriend? Your girlfriend will return safely, have some hope.”
Mo Han asked softly after a very long while, “Will she really… come back?”
The chance of survival was actually not too high since this sandstorm was a very huge one, not to mention that that tour group seemed to be in the center of the sandstorm. Nevertheless, the staff member could not bear to see Mo Han like this and said, “She will come back… she will definitely come back…”
Mo Han sat on the stool without a word as he had his head down. The staff said after seeing the s.h.i.+vering of the hand that he had placed on his knee, “How about you go back and rest for a while? You can leave your contact details with me and I’ll tell you to come over once the dead bodies have arrived here tomorrow.”
He took out a form for Mo Han to note down his particulars. Mo Han reached out to take the pen and form that the staff had pa.s.sed to him, though he could not seem to hold onto it as the hand that was holding on the pen was trembling uncontrollably. He sighed once as he put down the pen and paper. “I’ll write it later.”
As a lawyer, Mo Han had a habit of always considering the worst case scenario first. He was used to listing all the possible outcomes of something from the worst to the best, and then resolving the outcome that he had expected to be the worst case scenario.
But, he did not dare to think of the worst case scenario when it regarded her.
When he thought about the possibility of Xia Qingyi leaving him, he felt all the energy within him leave. He would be like a doll that had lost the air in it, like he had lost his soul and no longer had any motivation to push him forward.
Do you have that type of person in your life?
It was the type of person that would quietly exude warmth and s.h.i.+ne in a dark night when you walk forward alone. They would exist far away from you and would always be there watching and accompanying you throughout all the pitch dark roads whenever you looked up to the sky in the quiet night.
She was like a star. Even though there were countless stars that were s.h.i.+ning brighter than her in the limitless night sky, she was the only star that belonged to you and you only had the eyes for that star that was s.h.i.+ning weakly.
She was smiling at you, and you were smiling at her too.
Your entire existence became very simple because of that star.
To Mo Han, Xia Qingyi was that star.
However, the unfortunate thing was that Mo Han could no longer see that star that belonged to him now. He had accidentally lost that star.
Mo Han could not do anything. The only thing that he could do seemed to be an endless wait.
A wait for his star to come back.
When Xia Qingyi woke up again, she was surrounded by darkness like before.
Xia Qingyi had almost thought that she had lost her sight because of this. However, she finally realized that it was probably night time afterwards when she felt the soft sound of the wind around her and the cold air on her skin that belonged only to the desert.
She slowly regained her senses, though all she felt was slight numbness and not too much pain. She tried to move her body, using her hands to support her as she got up from the sand under her.
Xia Qingyi saw the boundless sky in the desert full of stars that were spread out in the night sky as she stood among the sound of the slight wind blowing around her.
She had never seen such a pretty starry sky.
However, she was not in the mood to appreciate the beautiful night sky right now. She sat on top of the sand, shouting the names of the people who were in the same car as her.
Xia Qingyi shouted for a few times, though no-one replied. Her hoa.r.s.e voice was the only one ringing in the empty and vast desert.
Gooseb.u.mps had appeared on her bare arms due to the cold air. She felt cold, as she hugged herself and rubbed her arms. It was already night time now and Xia Qingyi could not see anything else apart from the stars in the sky. She decided to rest for a while and wait until the next morning when the sun was up before she would decide on what to do.
Xia Qingyi followed what she had learnt from the books and use her hands to dig up a long pit in the sand. She lay in it and buried her body in the sand, not leaving any hole so that she could retain her body temperature and not die from the cold of the desert night.
Xia Qingyi lied down again on the sand. She had fallen asleep rather quickly, though it might have been that she was too tired or that she felt a little dizzy. She did not have the time to look at the beautiful night sky again.
When she woke up again, the sky was already bright. The sun was hanging high up in the sky and Xia Qingyi could not adapt to this strong sunlight for a moment after opening her eyes. She drew her arm out of the sand and covered her eyes with it for a while before she opened her eyes once more.
Xia Qingyi sat up, taking in her surrounding as she froze suddenly.
Every place she could spot in this endless desert was filled with only yellow. She was the only person. She could not see anything apart from the sand. She could not spot the SUV that they had rode, could not spot any pa.s.sengers from the car, and could not spot any trace of anyone walking past. There was only her sitting in this vast desert.
It was as if no disaster had occurred, and she had been secretly thrown to the desert by a person.
She was even starting to suspect she had remembered wrongly.
Xia Qingyi slowly stood up. The fear in her grew as she looked at the boundless and vast desert, thinking that she was probably going to die in this place.
Mo Han did not return. It was another sleepless night for him as he sat on the chair in the Disaster Prevention and Rescue Center in D City. He did not dare to think about anything as he quietly waited for the staff to inform him of the news of the search and rescue operation.
In the afternoon of the second day, the man that had spoken to him yesterday walked in front of him and told him that the two dead bodies that had been dragged by that SUV in the desert had arrived at The Second General Hospital. The SUV that had been smashed and deformed by the sandstorm had also been sent to a vehicle repair center and was awaiting the brief work arrangement.
Mo Han followed them to The Second General Hospital. They headed towards the mortuary at the bas.e.m.e.nt, and the heavy steps ringing in the hospital corridor made people especially dreadful.
There was a door in front of him, and beyond the door lay the dead body of the female. The staff had already entered while Mo Han stopped in front of the door, not daring to enter.
He was afraid that what was waiting for him after he entered the room was another world.
Mo Han eventually entered the room. The staff helped him to pull down the white cloth covering the female corpse and he could see the complete appearance of that person lying there.
Tears fell first as Mo Han let out a snort. The ends of his lips pulled into a soft smile as his tears continued to fall drop by drop, wetting the white cloth on her.
“Is this… your girlfriend?” the personnel asked.
Mo Han wiped away the tears on his face. He smiled once more as he shook his head. “It’s not her… it’s not her…”
Luckily, the person that was lying in this icy cold mortuary was not Xia Qingyi.
Luckily, it was just a pale and unknown female that was lying in front of him.
Luckily, the hope was still there.
Luckily, he could still continue to wait.
Mo Han personally covered the face of the unknown female with the white cloth once again. After that, he turned to leave the mortuary and towards the corridor outside. His legs crumpled, unable to hold onto his weight as he slowly slid down and squatted on the floor. He buried his face deeply with both of his hands, not lifting his head for a very long time.
Mo Han left the Disaster Prevention and Rescue Center that day and returned to the hotel that Xia Qingyi had stayed in previously. The owner was still guarding the hotel and Mo Han booked the very room that Xia Qingyi had slept in in that hotel.
He had not slept properly for three days now and he had already used all of his energy after walking out from the hospital’s mortuary earlier. He needed to rest, so that he could continue to wait for Xia Qingyi in a better condition.
Mo Han did not even shower after he had returned to the room. He had simply taken off his outer wear before he lay on the bed that Xia Qingyi had slept in before. He inhaled the faint scent of Xia Qingyi lingering on the bed sheets. It was the most comforted he had felt in these few days.
Mo Han hugged the blanket tightly. He closed his eyes, as if she was sleeping quietly next to him right now.
“Xia Qingyi, you have to persevere. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll wait for you right here. Let’s not leave each other again after you’re back.”
This was the only thought Mo Han had before he fell asleep.
Xia Qingyi did not know how long she had walked without a direction. The sun continued to s.h.i.+ne brightly above her and it was still the yellow desert around her. She had not seen anything that could make her increase the speed of her steps.
The skin on her lips were already peeling while her throat and eyes were so dry that she could no longer speak. Xia Qingyi continued forward as she pushed her tired legs. She was getting dizzier. She stopped to shake her head a few times. She blinked her eyes, feeling that the world around her was spinning.