(In previous chapters, Old Man Chen was mistakenly referred to as Old Man Zhang. This chapter corrects that error.)
Old Man Chen’s family was among the first to be hit by the tidal wave.
The towering surge of seawater rushed straight into their broken courtyard and swept toward them.
“We’re done for…”
That was all Old Man Chen managed to say before he was swallowed by the waves, tossed and turned in the raging water.
And it wasn’t just him—his wife, his son, his daughter-in-law, even his young grandson and granddaughter were all dragged into the churning sea.
Old Man Chen could hear the desperate cries of his wife and grandchildren.
The Chen family were natives of Huansha Island and knew how to swim, so being caught in the waves didn’t immediately doom them to drowning.
Though advanced in years, Old Man Chen was still a strong swimmer.
But what worried him were his wife and grandchildren.
His wife had been suffering from leg pain lately, sometimes even needing bed rest. How long could she last in these violent waves?
Truth be told, Old Man Chen had deep affection for his wife. She had stayed by his side through the hardest times, and he had always imagined growing old with her.
She couldn’t die. Not like this.
And the grandchildren—they were twins, just four years old.
At that age, being swept into such a merciless sea meant only one thing: drowning.
They were the little ones he had watched grow up, his precious grandson and granddaughter. How could he not love them?
And if anything happened to them, his son and daughter-in-law would surely hate him forever.
After all, it was his fault they hadn’t evacuated with the military. He had convinced them to stay, insisting they’d be safe at home.
Worse, he had taken money to spread rumors—claiming the typhoon warnings were lies, that Dr. Gu was just fearmongering.
Now, Old Man Chen was filled with regret.
If this wasn’t a typhoon, he’d eat the wind and rain itself!
He regretted taking that blood money.
He regretted stopping his son and daughter-in-law from leaving.
He was wrong. So wrong.
His greed had led to this disaster.
If anything happened to his wife or grandchildren, no amount of remorse could ever make up for it.
“No—I have to save them!”
With that thought, Old Man Chen fought against the current, desperately searching for his wife and grandchildren.
Just then, he spotted figures in blue and green uniforms leaping into the waves.
He recognized them—the soldiers who had urged them to evacuate.
He hadn’t listened to them.
Yet here they were, risking their lives to save his family despite his stubbornness.
Shame burned in his chest.
Soon, Old Man Chen found his grandson.
Another soldier rescued his granddaughter.
One by one, his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren were pulled to safety.
“My wife—she’s still missing!”
Without hesitation, Old Man Chen plunged back into the raging sea.
Again and again, the waves hurled him aside, but he refused to give up.
Yet no matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t find her.
Neither could the soldiers.
Old Man Chen was on the verge of tears.
Had his wife already been swept away by the merciless tide?
Just as Old Man Chen was on the verge of despair, a voice suddenly rang out.
“Found her!”
Sure enough, one of the soldiers had located Old Man Chen’s wife.
But…
She lay motionless on the ground, her face pale and lifeless.
Frantic, Old Man Chen immediately began performing CPR.
“Rulan, wake up! Please, wake up!”
“This is all my fault—I shouldn’t have taken that dirty money!”
“I shouldn’t have spread those lies!”
“I shouldn’t have stopped you from evacuating!”
“It’s all my fault, every bit of it!”
His desperate, rambling words caught the attention of Chen Han, who was standing nearby.
Chen Han’s mind raced—the rumors smearing Dr. Gu, Old Man Chen’s stubborn refusal to evacuate, and now these guilty confessions.
A suspicion began to form in his mind.
Just then, after several rounds of chest compressions, Old Man Chen’s wife finally coughed up seawater and gasped back to consciousness.
As the old man hugged his sobbing wife, overwhelmed with relief, Chen Han stepped forward.
“You just admitted someone paid you to spread rumors?”
“Old Man Chen, you’re coming with us.”
And so, before he could even fully rejoice in his family’s survival, Old Man Chen was led away.
…
Meanwhile, Xingxing, Yueyue, and Lin Shu—who was still carrying the unconscious Goudan—finally arrived at the county hospital.
Exhausted and disheveled, they had no time to worry about appearances.
Then, sharp-eyed Yueyue spotted a familiar figure.
“Daddy!” she called out loudly.
Sheng Zexi had just reached the hospital entrance when a small, familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.
He turned—and there they were.
Xingxing and Yueyue.
The sight of them, alive and unharmed, finally loosened the knot of dread in his chest.
He sprinted over and swept both children into a tight embrace.
“Are you both okay?”
“We’re fine, Daddy!”
“Auntie Lin Shu saved us!”
“Daddy, help Brother Goudan! He’s still asleep from the bad people’s medicine!”
“Alright, let’s get inside first. Your mother’s been worried sick.”
Sheng Zexi quickly took Goudan from Lin Shu’s back.
He instructed the twins to go find their mother while he rushed Goudan to the emergency room.
…
Back inside the hospital, Gu Jianing had been waiting anxiously for Sheng Zexi’s return.
While waiting, she had been browsing the system’s mall for anything useful.
That’s when she discovered a real-time tracking map-one that could locate anyone within the same province as long as she input their name and visualized their appearance through brainwave signals.
Her spirits lifted instantly.
She immediately entered Xingxing and Yueyue’s full names, then focused her mind, reconstructing their faces in vivid detail.
[Ding, Ding! Target persons detected!]
The notification sent a jolt of energy through her.
On the digital map, two small red dots appeared—one labeled Xingxing, the other Yueyue.
The dots were moving rapidly.
And their current location was…
“Qu’an County First Hospital?!”
Gu Jianing froze.
That was this hospital—the very one she was in!
Not only that, but the dots were now just meters away… and getting closer by the second.
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