They are in their final year of high school and are heavily dependent on me.

However, what made Lin Mo a little uneasy was that Li Zhihan remembered the route in the following way: turn left, go straight, turn left, go straight, turn right. The messages she sent were also in the same way.

There's not a single marker; it's so damn abstract.

Lin Mo sighed in the rain. Abstraction has to continue. As long as you run fast enough, you can always start over if you make a mistake.

"Sir, can't this door be opened?"

At the school gate, the gatekeeper was carrying sandbags to prevent flooding when he was suddenly startled by a shout in the pitch-black night. He thought it was a ghostly occurrence in the rainy night.

"Where did this brat come from! Can't you see how hard it's raining?! Get back to the classroom right now!"

"Your teachers issued a notice that students aren't allowed to go outside! This electric door is now out of power and can't be opened."

The gatekeeper had barely finished speaking when Lin Mo pushed the door open.

With a "ding-dong," a flash of electricity, and the door instantly opened automatically.

Lin Mo took off running, running incredibly fast.

The old man was shocked: Where did this Flash come from?

"Hey! Where are you going?!" He tried to chase after her, but the door, which had been powered on just moments before, suddenly lost power again, stopping him in his tracks.

There was nothing else the old man could do but call the school teachers.

"Hey, a student ran out of the north gate like lightning! Yes, yes, it's a boy."

"Strange thing."

"Hoo-hoo."

Li Zhihan stopped, exhausted.

She didn't know what to do; all she knew was that a large patch of dark clouds had gathered in the clear night sky within minutes.

It was terribly gloomy.

Immediately afterwards, the almost incessant thunder and lightning made her ears hurt and were incredibly noisy. She covered her ears, thinking she needed to find a place to hide as soon as possible.

But the rain was unreasonable; without the fine drizzle warning her first, or the raindrops consulting her, it attacked her quiet little world amidst the thunder.

With her eyes closed, she sobbed silently in protest, her only thought being to protect the milk she hadn't finished; she planned to save most of it so she could drink it while talking to him on the phone that night.

Because she was so clumsy yesterday, wasting his time, if she had drunk the milk, she probably wouldn't have been so clumsy and unable to speak.

This milk is a very precious thing and must not be allowed to get wet in the rain.

For a moment, her legs wouldn't move; she huddled up, afraid to run around.

Until the puddles on the ground reached her ankles, large raindrops soaked her back, and her disheveled hair obscured her vision.

Then, it seemed like small ice cubes started falling from the sky. There weren't many, but one or two hit her hand and head.

A sharp pain shot through her hand, followed by a throbbing headache. She didn't know whether to cover her head or clutch the milk carton.

By the time I realized what had happened, the milk carton had already fallen into the water and drifted quite a distance down the slope.

She was anxious, so she covered her head with her hands and chased after them, but the rain was really heavy, her hair was blocking her vision, and she was soaked and felt terrible.

I've been chasing it all this way, and I'm completely exhausted. I did manage to find the milk carton, but all the milk inside had leaked out, leaving only dirty rainwater.

When I looked around again,

She didn't know where she was; all alone, she huddled under the eaves of a building, with a closed roller shutter behind her and a torrential downpour forming a curtain of water in front of her.

The floodwaters were still rising, and she could only sit on the highest step, hugging her knees, numbly waiting.

Will her family be worried? Her father is probably not home, and there's no one else at her house.

What was she waiting for here for? She didn't understand either; she just didn't know what else to do but wait.

My hands and feet look like they've been hit by small ice blocks falling from the sky. My hands are red, and when I roll up my pants, my knees are also red, with some areas turning blue. There's also a painful spot on my head that looks swollen.

After calming down and carefully feeling the changes in her body, Li Zhihan realized that the temperature had become very cold, and no matter how much she shook, the water on her body wouldn't shake off.

Unlike the village dogs, she wasn't like the little dogs that could simply spin around and shake off the water.

Thinking of the puppy, she suddenly felt a little sad.

The sadder she felt, the colder she felt; the colder she felt, the more her hands and feet ached; and the more it ached, the more she felt it was a waste to throw away the milk.

Hmm... what should I do?

If only life were as simple as the questions on a test, she could do them all.

For example, when doing a math problem to calculate her mother's age, she might deliberately get it wrong, calculating it to be several hundred years old.

No, I don't have to. Every time I feel lonely, I have to look up at the stars to see my mother.

It seems there are no stars left in the city's night sky.

No one taught her how to live, so she just quietly and vaguely continued living her life.

The girl hugged herself tightly. She should have been crying, but somehow, she felt a little expectant, expecting something. Oh, she had also found a puppy friend.

If you still have friends, you shouldn't be crying.

At that moment, the vibration inside the schoolbag became noticeable, and she suddenly felt it as she curled up in a small ball.

She hurriedly took out her phone and saw that Lin Mo had called her several times.

My phone was on silent in the classroom, but I forgot to turn it back on.

Even though the rain outside was still pouring down, and the water was gradually rising above her knees, she felt cold and aching all over.

But when she saw Lin Mo's puppy avatar, she was still a little happy and clicked to answer the call.

"Li Zhihan?!"

The other person's shrill shout startled her, and the girl's face instantly turned pale.

She vaguely realized that she seemed to have gotten into trouble.

It's like when I was little and broke a vase, my mom would yell at my name really loudly.

"Where are you?! It's raining heavily now, are you alright? Are you okay?!"

like…

In the past... after calling her name, her mother would immediately grab her hand to check if she had been cut by glass and ask her how she was feeling.

"."

Li Zhihan frowned sadly, her heart pounding. She opened her mouth to gasp for breath, but swallowed a mouthful of rainwater and choked.

"Cough cough."

"Coughing? Tsk, did you catch a cold? Are you dizzy? Did you get hit by hail? Never mind, tell me where you are first?"

She looked around blankly, not knowing where she was. A sudden surge of guilt and panic welled up inside her.

"Say it quickly!"

"I...I don't know," Li Zhihan cried out, her voice hoarse and trembling.

He could sense the urgency in Lin Mo's voice.

The girl suddenly realized that she shouldn't be calm right now; it was as if her self-protective instincts had collapsed.

In a flash, a chaotic mix of emotions overwhelmed her. The pitch-black rain and the terrifying thunder were truly frightening.

"Okay, it's nothing, I saw you." But the voice on the phone became calm at that moment.

"It's okay, just stay here and wait for me. Don't be afraid, I'll be there soon."

"I'm sorry," Li Zhihan said, sobbing.

"I'm the one who should apologize to you. I didn't mean to yell at you."

On the other end of the phone, I could hear his heavy breathing, the sound of rain, and the wind whistling as he ran.

"If I don't yell at you, the label on your head won't pop out, okay? That's a bit of a stretch. If you don't understand, it's like if you don't cry out, I won't be able to find you."

"Waaah..." Li Zhihan cried even louder.

"Lin Mo, my body hurts so much."

"It's okay, I'll be there right away."

"It's so cold."

"I'll be there soon."

"The milk has been washed away."

"almost there."

"sorry"

"arrive."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Mo saw a pitiful-looking cat curled up in front of the shop. Its forehead was slightly swollen, its hands and feet were covered in bruises, it was soaking wet, and it was shivering.

Despite being covered in wounds, she seemed completely unconcerned before he arrived.

He sighed, wondering what Li Zhihan had been through in the past. Like that time at the library, too.

They either seem emotionless and like a block of wood, or they break down in tears over some small thing or because they don't quite grasp the situation.

A very extreme duality.

Lin Mo even felt that if he hadn't come, the girl could have stayed there all night, and wouldn't have made a sound even if she had a fever, fainted, and was unconscious.

"Put on your raincoat first."

Lin Mo draped the raincoat he had been saving for himself over Li Zhihan's shoulders.

But the girl wasn't very good at putting on the raincoat, and she couldn't distinguish between the cuts on her hands and head. Soon she was suffocated inside the raincoat and kept crying.

Ideally, Lin Mo would have to hold her wrist while she put it on.

After getting dressed, Li Zhihan's sobs became just quiet sniffles, her shoulders trembling.

The girl looked at him wistfully, then pointed to the milk carton in her hand, which was just as disheveled as she was. Her expression was pitiful.

"Stop thinking about that damn breast." Lin Mo almost laughed out of exasperation. "Are you going home or back to school?"

"I'll carry you back later."

"."

"Uh, I forgot."

Lin Mo then turned on his phone and had Li Zhihan answer it. He then spoke into the phone:

"Where are you going back?"

"Lin Mo, where are you going?" Li Zhihan asked softly into the phone.

"I'll go back to school. I'll probably get scolded if I come out to see you on my own."

"I'll only go with you," Li Zhihan murmured.

Lin Mo sighed and smiled wryly. "Don't try to fish now, sis. How about we just cry instead? Otherwise, you might corrupt my resolve."

Soon, Lin Mo carried Li Zhihan on his back, walking a short distance and then stopping to rest.

The girl said she was wearing a raincoat, but when he carried her on his back, her courage plummeted. She was more like hiding inside the raincoat, occasionally peeking out with her eyes to look around.

He carried her on his back, his raincoat covering half of Lin Mo, while she hid completely inside the raincoat, her small hands tightly gripping the umbrella, trying to shield herself from the wind and rain.

Before Li Zhihan could peek out from under the brim of her raincoat, she would first hide inside the raincoat and record a message on her phone.

After recording, she reached inside Lin Mo's clothes and played the recording to his ear.

With her wet and slippery little hands, she gave him a full massage.

"Lin Mo, where are we?"

Lin Mo felt somewhat helpless, yet also inexplicably amused by the prank.

"Just turned left."

The little hand slipped away, and the girl peeked out to look around before pulling back in to continue recording.

Her little hands slipped inside his clothes again.

"Lin Mo, where are we?"