The mother-daughter pair rushed down from the stairwell, tossed their backpacks onto the seats, and jumped into the driver's and passenger's seats.
The vehicle's headlights flared to life, slashing a wide beam through the darkness.
In the silence of the early morning, the roar of the engine immediately alerted Li Dawei and the others in the building across the way.
Xie Ning deliberately flashed her high beams and honked the horn as a warning. Soon after, a faint light appeared in a window of Uncle Ge Liang's house in nearby Building 79.
"Mom, buckle up. We're leaving."
'I'm a selfish person,' she thought. 'This is the only warning I can give. As for whether they can escape this disaster, that's up to their own fate. Life and death are anyone's guess.'
At the same time, Li Dawei pulled Zhao Yingying to her feet as they frantically put on their shoes and grabbed their bags.
