RIACMET chapter 34

 

The woman’s eyes were dull and filled with exhaustion. When she saw them, she showed no extra reaction. Instead, Huang Qian greeted her:

“Miss Lin.”

The little girl was bundled up in a pink jacket, her face half-hidden by a cute panda scarf, with only her big eyes peeking out.

Her eyes were beautiful—clear black and white—but sunken and unfocused, not what you’d expect of a child her age. She seemed awkward and shy, hiding behind her mother in fear.

The woman paused on the stairs, turned her head, and spoke in a hoarse, cold voice.

“Excuse me, is there something you need?”

Seeing the child so frightened, Cheng Jing and the others didn’t approach. They let Huang Qian and Jiang Nian, who seemed the gentlest, step forward to speak with the mother and daughter.

Perhaps because they hadn’t been able to clean up properly in a while, the pair’s clothes were dirty and smelled like a strange mix of strong perfume and fishy medicine.

While Huang Qian spoke with the woman, Jiang Nian glanced at the household registry. The woman’s name was Lin Qin. Her husband was Shan Chengfei, and the little girl was Shan Ya.

After a quick look, Jiang Nian pulled out a lollipop and held it out to the shy girl.

“Xiaoya, right? Don’t be afraid. Here, this is for you.”

Xiaoya seemed to relax a little under his gentle gaze. She stared at the candy, swallowed hard, but didn’t take it. Instead, she tugged gently on her mother’s hand.

The woman glanced down at her and managed a faint smile.

“Go on. Take what your big brother is giving you. Remember to say thank you.”

“…Thank you, big brother…”

Xiaoya’s voice was soft and flat. She took the lollipop and tucked it into her pocket. Her wide eyes peered at Jiang Nian from behind the scarf.

Seizing the chance, Jiang Nian asked where they were headed. Xiaoya instinctively looked at her mother, then answered quietly.

“To the command center for medicine.”

Jiang Nian froze.

“Is someone sick?”

Maybe that explained the smell of medicine.

Xiaoya shook her head.

“Not me… Mama…”

At that, the woman took over.

“Since the apocalypse, I’ve been so anxious. I need medicine just to sleep every day. My husband went out to scavenge and brought back lots of sedatives. But after the accident, he didn’t come back, and the medicine ran out.”

“I’m sorry.”

Jiang Nian sighed, unsure how to comfort the mother and daughter.

The woman shook her head and tears filled her eyes, only to freeze before falling. Her voice was choked, her words unclear.

“I just can’t take it anymore after these past few days, so I thought I’d go get more and maybe ask about Xiaoya’s father. Could you check our home later? I’m sorry. I’m really not well right now. I can’t control my emotions.”

“Don’t cry…”

Seeing her on the verge of breaking down, Huang Qian didn’t press further. She stepped over to Cheng Jing and whispered,

“Boss, let’s check another unit first.”

In weather like this, a mood swing like that could make someone sick, and that was sad enough.

Cheng Jing nodded and told the pair,

“It’s too cold. Try to come back early.”

Then, he led the team upstairs to continue their checks.

But as Jiang Nian stepped onto the stairs, Xiaoya suddenly called out,

“Big Brother, can you save Daddy?”

“Xiaoya, don’t trouble them.”

The woman’s expression changed as she hugged her daughter tightly and wiped the frozen tears from beneath her eyes.

“Sweetheart, these big brothers are busy. They can’t go out.”

“… ”

The others glanced back, then kept walking. Cheng Jing frowned slightly.

Jiang Nian stopped. Those hopeful eyes staring up at him tugged at his heart, but reality was cruel. In the end, he shook his head.

“I’m sorry, Xiaoya. I can’t help you.”

Faced with that empty, pleading gaze, he might have agreed to anything else, but how could he save someone who was lost and couldn’t even find a body?

“…“

Xiaoya stared at him for a long moment, then shifted her gaze to Cheng Jing, who looked stern. Finally, she bit her lip hard and lowered her head.

“Alright… then don’t come… Sorry.”

She turned her head away.

“Xiaoya, that’s rude.”

Her mother scolded her gently. Her eyes were red. She looked at Jiang Nian apologetically.

“I’m sorry. She’s been through a lot.”

“It’s fine. Take care of yourselves.”

Jiang Nian turned and followed the others upstairs. Cheng Jing wasn’t happy, but he didn’t say much.

Once they climbed past the landing, the woman crouched down and hugged Xiaoya tightly. The little girl covered her face with the scarf and bit her lip. Tears rolled down their faces and froze into tiny beads of ice that fell to the ground as they clung together, crying. The child trembled in her mother’s arms.

Walking behind Cheng Jing, Jiang Nian felt a lump in his throat at the sound of their muffled sobs. Tragedy like this was everywhere at the end of the world, but it still hurt to witness it up close.

What made it worse was how much harder life was for women and children in this chaotic world. He wasn’t a saint, but that didn’t mean he was heartless.

Cheng Jing glanced back and patted his shoulder.

“Don’t overthink it. Some things are beyond us. There’s nothing we can do.”

“I know.”

Jiang Nian took a deep breath. The cold air chilled his heart, yet kept him clearheaded.

…

The investigation went smoothly enough. Not every floor was fully occupied, so the workload wasn’t too heavy.

By four in the afternoon, all teams had returned to the command center. Three members from each team stayed behind for the action summary.

Cheng Jing stayed with Jiang Nian and Zhao Lei.

Only a few households across the whole complex were like Xiaoya’s, they were absent when they came by. They planned to check on them again after dinner, when everyone would be home.

They summarized their findings, but no useful clues turned up.

One team even went into the basement again but found nothing new. They only managed to stir up more zombies in the dark and had to take them out.

“…”

In the repurposed meeting room, the others discussed the investigation. As an ordinary team member, Jiang Nian didn’t attract much attention. He picked up the death reports from the Jiaheyuan resettlement site and read them.

People died here every day, and the so-called investigations amounted to little more than a few lines: died of illness, died of cold, went out and didn’t come back, left the unit and vanished.

Jiang Nian focused on the names of a few ordinary folks who had gone missing recently. Though they lived in different buildings and on different floors and had vanished at different times, two things stood out:

First, they all lived alone, either because they were assigned to live alone or because whoever lived with them before had already died.

Second, they disappeared suddenly. They had answered the door to receive supplies the day before, but the night patrol found the door open and the supplies gone the next day.

The investigators therefore assumed that they had gone missing that same night.

Since the doors weren’t locked and no neighbors had heard anything unusual, the report concluded with the standard statement that they were presumed to have left of their own accord.

After all, the resettlement site didn’t restrict people’s movements. Leaving the shelter, day or night, meant taking your life in your own hands.