Late at night.
Liu Hongmei was already asleep.
She rolled over and casually flung an arm out.
To her surprise, the space beside her was empty.
She instinctively opened her eyes. Lin Dazhi wasn't there.
She didn't think much of it.
'Maybe Lin Dazhi just went to the bathroom?'
She rolled over, preparing to go back to sleep.
But then, she heard faint, intermittent sounds coming from outside.
For the past two days, the news had been filled with reports of entire families being massacred.
This made her scalp prickle with sudden terror.
Lying in bed, she listened intently to the activity outside.
It sounded like someone was alternating between crying and soft laughter.
This bizarre behavior made Liu Hongmei increasingly terrified.
Any trace of sleepiness vanished in an instant...
She lay there, remaining still for a moment longer.
Only then did she faintly make out that the person outside, crying and laughing, was none other than Lin Dazhi.
