Why did the system take my request to take photos with a cosplayer seriously?

The shaking continued. The car swayed from side to side, and the sound of gravel rolling down the hillside could be heard outside.

Bai Ma instinctively hugged Ding Heng tightly.

"It's an earthquake..."

More than fear, Baima's judgment was an instinctive one.

Children who grow up in Tibet are used to such things.

Ding Heng didn't speak, but looked out through the windshield. He could vaguely see a thin crack in the road, winding but not deep, and without any collapse.

The tremor lasted for about ten seconds before gradually weakening and finally subsiding completely.

Silence returned to the surroundings, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.

Bai Ma released Ding Heng, his body covered in sweat.

"It's alright now."

Ding Heng patted the little girl, then got out of the car shirtless.

A cold wind blew in through the gaps in the car door, making Baima shiver.

There are clothes in the trunk.

"Oh……"

After getting dressed, Baima got out of the car and stood on tiptoe to look into the distance.

Beyond the halo of the car headlights lay unfathomable darkness, and the sound of gravel rolling down in the distance continued intermittently.

Baima clicked his tongue in amazement: "It startled me. I haven't experienced such a strong tremor in many years."

Ding Heng asked curiously, "Does your hometown often experience earthquakes?"

"Ah."

Baima rubbed her arms, which were chilled by the cold wind, and walked over to Ding Heng.

"The Qiangtang seismic belt has long been a key monitoring area. Small earthquakes are very frequent, occurring every few days, but most of them are in uninhabited areas and are not strong enough to be felt. Moderate earthquakes are also common, occurring several times a year. As for large earthquakes... I experienced one when I was a child, a magnitude 6.x. The epicenter of that earthquake was not too far from the county town, and several herders died."

Ding Heng didn't speak, but looked up into the distance.

The Eye of True Sight quietly activated, dispelling the darkness and revealing distant scenes layer by layer in the field of vision.

Wasteland, mountains, winding national highway, sparse lights in the distance... Then, his pupils dilated.

To the southeast, about thirty kilometers away, in a narrow valley, you can see clusters of buildings.

Gaitan County, Baima's hometown.

Several houses on the outskirts of the county town have collapsed, with entire walls falling down, and figures can be vaguely seen moving among the ruins.

Ding Heng withdrew his gaze, his expression unchanged.

"what happened?"

Bai Ma noticed Ding Heng's unusual behavior and looked up at him.

"nothing."

Ding Heng turned around and walked back to the car, put on his coat, and casually took out his phone to turn on the screen.

The signal bar was empty, so he could only pretend to say, "The epicenter is in the county town; it was on the news a few minutes ago."

He didn't say how he knew the information, and Baima didn't ask.

The little girl's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

"Brother."

"Ok?"

How far are we from Gaitan?

"More than 30 kilometers."

"That……"

Baima asked anxiously, "Can we get there in time? I mean... is there anything we can do to help?"

Ding Heng glanced at the hood and could basically confirm last night that the car was totaled.

Are you going to carry the white horse on your back and walk there yourself?

It's possible, but...

Ding Heng was hesitating when he suddenly noticed a horse grazing leisurely on a meadow not far from the roadside.

It had dark brown fur, thick limbs, and its mane swayed slightly in the night breeze.

There was a Tibetan-style saddle on the horse's back; the craftsmanship was rough, but the stitching was solid.

Ding Heng raised his chin: "Bai Ma, where did this horse come from?"

Bai Ma followed Ding Heng's gaze and wasn't too surprised.

She explained, "It's probably because the wall of the stable collapsed during the earthquake, and the animals ran out of one of the herders' sheds. It's common for livestock to run away during earthquakes in pastoral areas, so it's nothing unusual."

Ding Heng gazed at the horses quietly, lost in thought.

The horse was also looking at him.

Their eyes met, the horse lowered its head, snorted, and pawed at the grass with its hooves, as if hesitating whether to run away.

Ding Heng suddenly asked, "Can you ride a horse?"

"what?"

Baima was stunned: "Yes... I do know how. I rode one when I was little. But I haven't ridden one in many years, so I don't know..."

"Let's check the luggage first."

Before she could finish speaking, Ding Heng turned around, walked to the back of the car, and opened the trunk.

He pulled out a hiking backpack, stuffed in a few bottles of water and some dry food, then took two thick coats, packed them up, and slung them over his shoulder.

Only then did Baima realize what was happening and blurted it out.

"Brother, you wouldn't be thinking of riding a horse to Gaitan County, would you?"

"Correct."

"But I haven't touched a horse in so long, I'm afraid..."

If it were just Baima by herself, riding a horse would be fine, but with Ding Heng along, she was really unsure of herself.

"It's okay, I'll ride it."

Ding Heng closed the trunk.

Baima asked in surprise, "Brother, you can ride a horse?"

"Give it a try."

Ding Heng handed the backpack to Bai Ma, gesturing for her to stand further away. Then, he raised his hands, placed his thumbs and forefingers to his lips, and whistled.

The sound was clear and resonant, echoing across the vast wilderness.

The horse, which had been circling in place, pawing the ground restlessly, suddenly pricked up its ears and galloped over at full speed.

The horse's hooves clattered on the frozen turf, finally stopping two steps away from Ding Heng.

It lowered its head and nuzzled its head into Ding Heng's palm.

Ding Heng touched its nose and patted its neck naturally, as if greeting his old friend whom he had raised himself.

Baima's eyes widened, but she couldn't utter a single word.

"Let's go."

Ding Heng hung his backpack on the saddle, climbed up and sat down first, then reached out his hand to Baima.

Baima reached out her hand.

"Brother."

"Ok?"

"What else can you do? Tell me all at once, so I can be mentally prepared and stop being so easily startled."

"Your brother knows a lot of things, and I'll let you experience them sooner or later."

Ding Heng grasped Bai Ma's wrist and gently lifted it.

"Sit still and hold onto the saddle."

He gently squeezed the horse's flanks with his legs, and the horse immediately took off galloping across the wasteland.

The night wind rushed towards me, as cold as a knife.

Bai Ma squinted and subconsciously shrank back into Ding Heng's arms.

The wind whistled in my ears, and the distant horizon was pitch black.

She recalled the feeling of riding horses as a child, and her heart raced faster and faster...

Before dawn, the outline of Gaitan County gradually became clear in the morning light.

Ding Heng pulled on the reins, and his brown horse snorted and came to a stop.

Pema lifted her head from his embrace, looked at the county town in front of her, and felt a lump in her throat.

The scene before her was vastly different from the Gaitan she remembered.

When she left as a child, the county town only had one main street, a bumpy cobblestone road lined with gray mud-brick houses on both sides, with only a few brick and tile houses, which were the most impressive buildings.

In the morning light, the county town was much larger than she remembered. One- or two-story cement buildings could be seen along the road, and the government building was four stories high with white exterior walls and a flagpole on top.

But right after the earthquake, everything was reduced to ruins again.

Formal rescue teams have not yet arrived; only a small number of staff are organizing spontaneous rescue efforts by the public.

In the distance, several old mud-brick houses had collapsed halfway, and the occasional sound of children crying could be heard intermittently.

Some people were squatting on the ruins digging through them, while others were carrying the things they dug out to the roadside. The elderly, women, and children were left to stand blankly on the street, wrapped in thick Tibetan robes, their faces ashen.

Pema gazed at her hometown once more, and her nose began to sting with tears.