Chapter 459: Eternity 20.

we’ll

help her leave. If we have to turn around, we’ll turn around. The plan

can change when the facts change."

"You make it sound simple."

"It isn’t simple. It’s just the next thing to do."

Yan felt an ache spread through her chest, equal parts gratitude and

fear. Bai was not promising an easy journey or pretending that strength

could solve everything. She was simply making room for Yan’s wish and

preparing to stand beside her. It was the kind of answer Yan had

secretly wanted and had been afraid to ask for.

"Thank you," she said.

Bai frowned slightly. "For what?"

"For taking this seriously. For not telling me to wait until we know

more. For not acting like wanting to save someone is foolish."

Bai looked toward the balcony doors. "I don’t think it’s foolish to care

about someone."

The words were simple, but something in her tone made Yan look at her

again. Bai had said it as though the idea were obvious, as though there

were no world in which she would mock someone for caring too much. Yan

wondered how much of that certainty came from Bai’s own past, and

whether the other woman had ever lost someone she could not save. She

wanted to ask, but the question felt too personal for the moment.

Instead, Yan reached out and took Bai’s hand. It was a small gesture,

one she could explain if she had to. She was grateful, tired, and

worried. Any of those things might explain why she wanted to hold on for

a moment.

Bai looked down at their joined hands. For one brief second, she seemed

surprised. Then her fingers curled gently around Yan’s.

"We’ll bring her home," Bai said.

Yan closed her eyes. The promise was not absolute, and they both knew

Bai could not control every turn in the road, every person they met,

or every danger hidden behind the gates of the Shanghai zone. But she

had made a choice, and she would put her strength behind it. Yan knew

enough about Bai to trust that much.

"Let’s tell my mother," Yan said quietly.

They stayed together a little longer before returning to the living

area. When they stepped away from the balcony, their hands separated

naturally, but the warmth remained. Yan carried the notebook against her

chest. Bai picked up the repair kit she had left near the door. Neither

mentioned the way they had held hands, and neither needed to.

Telling Mother Yan

Mother Yan was sorting the medical supplies when they found her. She had

arranged the bandages by size and was checking the dates on a few

packages that had been rescued from an abandoned clinic. Lili sat on the

floor beside her with a set of clean cloths, carefully folding each one

into a square. The sight of the two of them working together was so

ordinary that Bai hesitated before interrupting. It was difficult to

imagine telling Mother Yan that they were going to leave the apartment

and travel toward a place that might be dangerous, especially when the

room around them had become the first real home she had known since

arriving in this world.

Yan sat across from her mother. "Mom, we need to talk about Aunt Lan."

Mother Yan’s hands went still over the bandages. She did not look up at

once. "What about her?"

"We can’t keep waiting for another call. The number is switched off, and

we don’t know whether she has another chance to reach us. What she said

yesterday sounded like a warning."

Mother Yan pressed the edge of a bandage flat before placing it in the

pile. "I know."

Bai pulled out a chair and sat beside Yan. "We think we should go to

Shanghai and find her."

Mother Yan looked up then. Her expression shifted through surprise,

worry, and a hope she seemed reluctant to allow herself. "You mean all

of you?"

"Yes," Bai said. "We’ll take the caravan. We’ll prepare carefully, and

we’ll keep the plan flexible. We’re not going to rush into the military

zone without checking the situation, but we can get there and find out

what is happening."

Mother Yan looked from Bai to her daughter. "I can’t ask you to do that.

It’s too far. We don’t know what the roads are like, and if Aunt Lan has

been caught up in something dangerous, going there could put all of you

at risk."

Yan reached across the table and covered her mother’s hand. "You aren’t

asking us. We’re choosing to go. I want to find her, and Bai agrees that

it’s worth trying."

Mother Yan’s eyes became bright, but she blinked the emotion away. "I

don’t want either of you to take a risk you can’t come back from because

I’m upset. I can live with not knowing. I don’t want to lose you too."

Bai heard the fear beneath the words. She understood it, and she did not

dismiss it by saying she was strong enough. Instead, she leaned forward

slightly and answered with care.

"We’re not going to treat this casually. I’ll prepare the vehicle,

supplies, and escape routes. Yan will help plan the route, and we’ll

check each stop before moving on. We won’t take unnecessary risks, and

if we find out the situation is worse than we can handle, we’ll

reassess. But Aunt Lan called you from a place she told you not to

trust. If she’s in danger, I don’t think we should wait here hoping

someone else helps her."

Mother Yan pressed her lips together. For a moment she looked as though

she might argue again. Then she glanced at the phone on the counter. The

screen remained dark. The absence of a new call was an answer of its

own, though it did not reveal what was happening to Aunt Lan.

"I want to go," Mother Yan admitted. "I want to see her. I want to know

why she sounded like that.

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TO BE CONTINUED.