In an instant, flas shot skyward.
The heat wave from the explosion knocked over several people closest to it, and gray-black smoke billowed upward.
"Ah—"
Screams rang out again, with cries and wails echoing through the crowd.
"Mama!"
Shen Nian'an's cry was sharp and piercing, yet it couldn't evoke any sympathy from others.
She squeezed through the crowd trying to run toward the car, but had only taken a few steps when Qiu Ye lifted her up from behind.
Everyone was running toward safety, afraid the car would explode a second ti.
In the pushing and shoving, Qiu Ye could only sit on a chair, one hand gripping the back, the other firmly holding Shen Nian'an. Her arm muscles bulged as she remained unmoved in the flow of people.
But she couldn't withstand Shen Nian'an's struggles in her arms.
"Let go! I want to find Mama!"
Shen Nian'an had cried herself hoarse, clutching at Qiu Ye's hands, saying word by word: "I must be with Mama!"
"An'an, be good. Miss Shen won't be in danger," Qiu Ye stared intently into the black smoke, her gaze sharp. "The uncles will rescue Miss Shen."
The next second, fire trucks arrived from all directions and stopped. Firefighters jumped down and began extinguishing the fire.
Police followed closely behind, clearing crowds and roads to prevent stampeding incidents.
Shen Nian'an's watery big eyes stared fixedly at the black smoke, murmuring "Mama" over and over.
She saw those uncles running into the smoke, making gestures and saying sothing. Because of the distance, she couldn't hear clearly—only Qiu Ye's voice reached her ears.
"Call 120... person alive... alive..."
"An'an, Miss Shen isn't dead! Miss Shen is still alive!"
Tears welled up and overflowed from her eyes. Shen Nian'an burst into wailing sobs: "Mama! Mama..."
She sobbed and couldn't say anything else.
When the ambulance arrived, Shen Nian'an saw with her own eyes as Shen Xiaoyu was carried out. She couldn't hold back any longer, pushed away Qiu Ye's hands, and ran over shouting "Mama" while pushing past people in front of her.
"Mama! Mama!"
"Little one, it's dangerous over there. You can't go."
Soone reached out to stop her but was pushed away by Shen Nian'an: "That's my mama! I want to find Mama!"
Hearing this, the people around all looked troubled, exchanging glances before looking at Shen Nian'an again with sympathy.
Qiu Ye also squeezed through the crowd, apologized to those around, then picked up Shen Nian'an and turned to leave.
"We'll drive to the hospital."
There was no ti to get on the ambulance now—they could only drive themselves.
Walking along the road, Qiu Ye called Shi Qiubai on her phone, briefly explained what happened, then told her the hospital na.
Without waiting for a response, Shen Nian'an impatiently hung up and called Su Huan instead.
As soon as the call connected, tears fell from her eyes as she cried breathlessly: "Mommy, Mama was hit by a car!"
Su Huan's expression changed dramatically upon hearing this: "Where are you now?"
"Aunt Qiu is taking to the hospital to find Mama. Mommy, please co back quickly," Shen Nian'an cried.
"I understand. An'an, don't worry, I'm coming back right away." The background on Su Huan's end was very noisy—unclear what she was doing—but her voice was very gentle, soothing Shen Nian'an's anxiety.
"Stay with Shi Qiubai and don't go anywhere, understand?"
"I understand."
"Then Mommy is hanging up. Rember to call if anything happens."
Shen Nian'an softly agreed before hanging up.
Su Huan's face was grim. She turned to look at the busy researchers: "Tang Tang's system has made its move. Shen Xiaoyu was in a car accident—we don't know her condition yet. I'm going back imdiately. I'll leave this to you all. Call imdiately if you discover anything."
After speaking, she turned and walked out, tossing her keys to the driver: "Let's go, we're going back."
Su Huan had stayed up all night and had been sowhat drowsy, but now she couldn't sleep at all. Her heart was in her throat with anxiety, her fists clenched so tight they were sweating.
With trembling hands, she took out her phone and searched online for terms like "car accident explosion."
Soon, videos from the scene appeared, though not from the very beginning—only showing firefighters and police doing cleanup work at the scene.
Su Huan searched extensively but couldn't find the video she wanted, her hands shaking even more violently.
Finally, on Weibo, she found the video she was looking for.
The cara shook wildly, making it almost impossible to see clearly, with only the terrified screams from around audible.
Soon the cara stabilized, and a figure appeared in the fra—it was Shen Xiaoyu!
She seed injured, her face pale with traces of blood on her body. She was dragging her leg, trying to stand but unable to.
Finally managing to stand up with great difficulty, she tried to walk to safety but could only move slowly because of her injured leg.
She had barely taken a few steps when a thunderous boom rang out—the car exploded. Burning flas shot up and black smoke spread, completely obscuring the cara.
The video ended there and automatically jumped to the next one.
Shen Xiaoyu was lying on the ground covered in blood, being lifted onto a stretcher by dical personnel and then loaded into an ambulance.
Su Huan's face was as pale as paper, her body shaking like a leaf in autumn wind. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down before looking at her phone again.
More and more videos from the scene appeared. In one of them, Su Huan saw Shen Nian'an—the small figure surrounded by crowds, crying heartbreakingly, making Su Huan's heart clench painfully.
Su Huan bit her lip, forcibly suppressing the panic in her heart, and called Li Xiang with red eyes.
"Shen Xiaoyu was in a car accident. I'm on the road back from Yancheng and won't arrive until evening." She briefly explained the situation. "Help watch the hospital. Before I return, don't let anyone except Shi Qiubai and them get near her!"
Li Xiang agreed.
After hanging up, Su Huan held her head in her hands, burying her face in her knees. Tears fell silently as she pounded her head forcefully, her body trembling as she cried.
Damn it, damn it, damn it!
If she could have been faster, faster at controlling the system, wouldn't Shen Xiaoyu have avoided danger?
If, if sothing happened to Shen Xiaoyu... what would she do?
Su Huan straightened up and saw her tear-stained face in the rearview mirror.
She closed her eyes and prayed in her heart: Dear God, please, please protect Shen Xiaoyu's safety once more.
Please let her be safe!
○
At the hospital.
Upon receiving the news, Shi Qiubai rushed to the hospital imdiately and ran to the operating room to see one large and one small figure sitting together.
"Where's Sister?" Shi Qiubai's face was frighteningly pale as she gasped for breath and walked over to Qiu Ye in two steps.
She seed to have been crying—her eyes were sowhat red, her gaze sinister and cold.
Qiu Ye stood up: "After we arrived, Miss Shen went into the operating room. She hasn't co out yet—we're also waiting for news."
Shi Qiubai closed her eyes, steadied her breathing, then asked: "Why was there a car accident? Weren't you all together?"
Qiu Ye hung her head guiltily: "Miss Shen went to buy milk tea. Halfway there, a car charged toward her. After Miss Shen dodged, the car hit a streetlight, and then..." She paused. "Then there was an explosion."
Shi Qiubai's vision went black and her body swayed. She slumped into a chair, her brow furrowed so tightly it could crush a fly, murmuring: "How could this happen? Why did this happen?"
Just, just a little bit more!
The little room for Sister was already prepared, just waiting for Sister to co back and move in, but it had to be at this mont that she had a car accident.
Shi Qiubai's heart kept sinking, the pain making it almost impossible to breathe. But soon she rembered Su Huan's words.
Pursuit...
Sister was a pursuer—Sister couldn't possibly die!
Shi Qiubai's eyes darkened as she pursed her lips tightly.
This must be punishnt from the system because she couldn't successfully pursue her. Sister couldn't possibly be in real danger!
Once Sister ca out of the operating room, she would definitely confess to Sister and control Sister's pursuit progress, absolutely never letting her encounter such things again!
She told herself this, and her anxious heart finally cald down a little.
The group waited outside the operating room for two hours before the doors opened and a doctor erged.
"Which of you is the patient's family mber?"
"!"
"!"
Shi Qiubai and Shen Nian'an spoke in unison.
Shen Nian'an tugged at the doctor's arm saying: "Doctor, doctor, I'm Mama's daughter, I'm the family mber! My mommy is coming soon. Is my mama okay?"
The doctor hesitated, looking at Shen Nian'an, then at Shi Qiubai: "You're the family mber, right?"
"Yes!" Shi Qiubai pressed down Shen Nian'an's head and answered decisively.
"The patient is not in life-threatening danger, but she has multiple abrasions on her body. Because she was relatively close to the explosion source, there are extensive burns on her back with many glass fragnts embedded. Her left foot has a moderate sprain, and the patient's forehead hit the ground, though there's no obvious bleeding. We'll do a brain CT scan in a mont and observe further."
"When can she co out?" Shi Qiubai asked.
"Shortly. After the brain CT is done, she'll be sent directly to a ward. You should go handle the hospitalization procedures first," the doctor said. "We'll discuss the specific brain condition in detail after the CT results co out."
Hearing this, Shi Qiubai's heart, which had just settled, rose to her throat again. She could only nod in agreent.
"Okay."
"I'll go handle the hospitalization procedures," Qiu Ye said before turning to leave.
After hearing the doctor's words, Shen Nian'an had been standing there in a daze. Her nose felt sour and her eyes reddened once again.
She looked up at Shi Qiubai, tears dropping one by one from her eyes, choking as she asked: "Is my mama in danger?"
Shi Qiubai felt a tightness in her chest. She glared at her: "Don't talk nonsense. The doctor said Sister isn't in life-threatening danger! Sister is just injured—she'll get better."
She will definitely get better.
Shen Nian'an reached up to hug her legs, sobbing uncontrollably.
Listening to her crying, Shi Qiubai felt irritated and restless, yet couldn't bring herself to say anything more reproachful.
After all, she was just a five-year-old child who had witnessed her mama's car accident with her own eyes—how could she not be afraid?
She sighed with complex emotions, bent down to pick her up, and wiped away her tears: "Did you contact your mommy? When is she coming?"
Shen Nian'an rubbed her eyes: "Mommy said she can only co this afternoon and told to stay with you."
Shi Qiubai sneered: "How relaxed of her. If anything happens to Sister, I'll make her pay!"
"You can't say that! Mommy won't be in trouble!" Shen Nian'an pouted, reaching up to hug her neck and burying her face in her shoulder, while her eyes stared straight at the operating room as if she could see through the door to the person inside.
But they didn't wait for Shen Xiaoyu to co out. After Qiu Ye handled the hospitalization procedures, she told them the room number.
Shi Qiubai directly took the child to the ward.
After waiting a while longer, Shen Xiaoyu was finally brought back.
She was wrapped in bandages all over her body, lying on the hospital bed with a pale, bloodless face that made one's heart clench painfully.
"Mama..." Shen Nian'an was careful not to touch her.
Shi Qiubai's eyes instantly turned red. She struggled hard to keep her tears from falling.
The brain CT results ca with Shen Xiaoyu as well.
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