Chapter 663 - 661: Hidden Danger

All Su Li could do now was pray. Pray that she could find a way to escape soon, pray that they would find her soon, and pray that Tang Mo wouldn’t be traumatized by this.

And as for Wu Sheng... Su Li’s heart trembled just thinking about him.

They had gone through so much, waited for so many years, and made so many preparations. They were finally about to walk down the aisle.

But then, something like this had to happen right before the wedding...

’Is it because we were too happy? Is this some kind of test to make us cherish what we have even more?’

Su Li gave a bitter laugh, then forced herself to rally, dragging her exhausted body to her feet.

"I have to get out... I have to get out. I can’t die. Not here. I finally got a second chance and changed my miserable life. I can’t die..."

"Even for Little Mo and Wu Sheng, I can’t die. If I abandon them, I won’t be able to rest in peace."

When someone dies young, the world calls it a pity. But the ones who truly suffer are those left behind.

They may still be alive, but every single day must be an agonizing torment.

Su Li knew that feeling. When Wu Sheng had been injured, she’d felt a desolation in her heart. Even though the world around her was unchanged, her inner world had become a barren wasteland.

It was only when Wu Sheng finally woke up that her heart began to sprout, to blossom, to live once more.

She couldn’t let Wu Sheng spend the rest of his life in that wasteland. She had to live.

She couldn’t let Tang Mo—whom she had raised so well with such difficulty, who had already suffered so much—revert to the way he was in his past life.

What if her death triggered him, causing him to revert to his old self?

"Su Li, get a grip. You’re not just one person. You’re three lives."

Su Li rubbed her hands together, her mind racing as she surveyed the all-too-familiar room once more.

She wasn’t an only child, but at this moment, she had a strange sense of understanding for what only children must feel.

She remembered hearing how only children in later generations said they didn’t dare to die or even get sick. They were their parents’ entire world, their grandparents’ everything. It was one life, but an entire family was tied to it.

Su Li felt that way now. She had to live. For herself, for Wu Sheng, and for Tang Mo, she had to stay alive.

After surveying her surroundings for a long time, Su Li finally picked up a splinter from the broken wooden crate. She walked over to the small window and began to scrape at the frame.

There were walls on all sides and the ceiling was too high to reach. The only possible point of escape she could think of was the small window.

She was too big to squeeze through now, but if she could somehow widen the opening, she might be able to escape.

With that in mind, Su Li stood on her tiptoes and began scraping at the window frame with the piece of wood.

The wood was decayed and Su Li had little strength. After a long while, she had only managed to produce a fine bit of dust.

It fell down, nearly getting in her eyes.

Su Li dodged it, rested her aching hand for a moment, and then continued.

This wasn’t a brick building, but some kind of old house, and its sturdiness was not to be underestimated.

It seemed to be made of poured stone and clay, making it incredibly solid.

Su Li spent the entire day at it. She finally scraped out a small notch and managed to dislodge two small stones.

Su Li was exhausted, hungry, and sleepy. Her strength was fading, but she didn’t dare give in to despair.

She couldn’t let herself dwell on the possibility that she might collapse before she managed to widen the opening.

"I absolutely cannot catch a cold," she muttered. "I’m keeping active. I can’t get sick."

Su Li looked at her hands, which were stinging as if they were about to blister, and offered up a silent prayer.

Su Li hadn’t done manual labor in years. Her hands had grown soft and fair. Now, after just one afternoon of work, they were stinging painfully. She knew blisters were forming.

She looked up at the darkening sky and gave a bitter smile.

’This is when I suddenly miss the rough hands I had in my past life,’ she thought. ’I worked every day and never had to worry about blisters.’

Su Li sat down to rest. She wanted to do something else while there was still light, but she realized there was nothing she could do.

A full day and night had passed since she had fainted yesterday afternoon.

Su Li licked her dry, peeling lips. She didn’t need a mirror to know what a wreck she must look like.

She tried her best to ignore it, but a familiar pain began to assert itself.

Su Li clutched her stomach as waves of sharp, burning pain shot through her.

"I’m sorry," she whispered to her stomach. "I’ve let you go hungry for so long. But you have to hold on. Please, stop hurting. Don’t let me get stomach cancer again..."

Su Li’s whispers gradually faded into silence.

The sky outside slowly darkened until the space where Su Li was trapped fell into complete blackness.

The wind began to HOWL again. Amidst its mournful cries, the snow, which had stopped for a day, slowly began to fall once more.

Su Li had a dream. She dreamed of Wu Sheng and Tang Mo.

She dreamed that Wu Sheng told her he was going to work hard on his cooking until he was actually good at it.

Then he was bustling about in the kitchen, and he actually managed to bring out one delicious, perfectly prepared dish after another.

And Tang Mo, who always loved to compete and bicker with Wu Sheng, was no exception.

He had even made soup and prepared all sorts of fruit juices, bringing them to Su Li cup by cup, bowl by bowl.

"Drink it, Mom. Tell me if it’s good!"

"Su Li, don’t rush to drink that," Wu Sheng said. "Eat some of the food first. If you fill up on soup and juice, you’ll just get hungry again soon."

As Wu Sheng and Tang Mo vied for her attention, Su Li, careful not to show favoritism, made a point of eating the food and drinking the soup to appease them both.

Wu Sheng’s cooking really had improved; it was so fragrant and delicious. And the soup, Tang Mo’s first attempt, was wonderful too...

Su Li felt an inexplicable hunger and thirst. She wolfed down the food and drank bowl after bowl of soup...

Smacking her lips, Su Li awoke from the dream in a daze.

Wu Sheng was gone. Tang Mo was gone. The food and soup were gone. There was only endless darkness.

When reality set in, Su Li closed her eyes and sighed.

"To think... to think I’d have a dream like that."

After that dream, the hunger and thirst became even more unbearable. Su Li got up and pressed herself against the window. Seeing the falling snow, she couldn’t resist standing on her tiptoes and reaching her hand out to catch a few flakes.

And by some stroke of luck, she actually caught one.

The wind blew it right onto her finger.

Ignoring the grime on her hand, Su Li felt its coolness and, without a second thought, licked it off her finger.

It was a negligible amount of water, but Su Li’s eyes lit up. She immediately reached out to catch more.

She persisted, no matter how awful she felt, but the snowflakes were not easy to catch. It took a long time before she managed to get another tiny bit.

But it was a mere drop in the bucket...

Meanwhile, on a sofa elsewhere, Tang Mo suddenly jolted awake.

"Mom..."

Once he was fully awake, the flicker of emotion in his eyes vanished, leaving only an icy coldness.

"What’s wrong?" Wu Sheng, who was sitting nearby, asked softly. When Tang Mo didn’t answer, he added, "You’ve only been asleep for five minutes. You should rest a bit more."

Tang Mo didn’t reply, simply shaking his head in silent refusal.

"You’re still young, and you’re still growing. You need to rest. You haven’t slept since last night, and now all day today. Are you planning to pull another all-nighter with me? What happens if you collapse before we find your mom? What will she think if she comes back and finds you’ve lost weight and gotten sick?"

Wu Sheng closed his eyes, patiently trying to persuade the boy.

Since late last night, Tang Mo had stopped speaking.

He was quiet by nature, but this was extreme. He was growing more and more silent, forcing Wu Sheng to divert some of his focus to keep an eye on him.