Under the moonlight

"Okay." Huang Meng turned to leave, but Xu Ao suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly. He buried his head in her neck and breathed deeply. Huang Meng knew that at this moment, the burden on his shoulders was heavier than anyone else's. He was responsible for everyone here, including the compatriots trapped in the city whose numbers and fates were unknown. This was a heavy burden concerning the lives of many people.

Huang Meng reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist, patting his firm back repeatedly with her palms.

After a long while, Xu Ao finally spoke in a hoarse voice: "Actually, I'm scared too. If I don't make a good decision and kill all of these people, I'll never be able to live a good life again. If we play it safe and don't care about those compatriots trapped in the city, and don't confront the mercenaries head-on, we can protect the embassy from being implicated. At least I can protect everyone here."

“But those people’s lives are about to be abandoned. They may have been desperately waiting for our rescue, and they may still be hoping to see their families. If we don’t rescue them, it’s like letting them die inside. The embassy is only a few kilometers away from them. But if we want to rescue them, we have to gamble with the people inside the embassy, ​​gamble that those mercenaries won’t dare to use weapons against the embassy, ​​gamble that we can rescue them alive from their encirclement. Huang Meng, what do you think I should do?” Xu Ao’s voice grew softer and softer, filled with helplessness.

"Actually, you already have the answer in your heart, Xu Ao. I've always thought you were very capable and competent. You've been at the embassy for so many years; you have your own abilities and methods, and I believe in you. However, whatever your final decision may be, I will support you."

Huang Meng patted his back and said softly. Xu Ao raised his head and looked at her, gazing deeply at her face. He traced the contours of her features with his hands, as if trying to engrave her image in his heart. After gazing deeply, he let out a long breath and placed a deep kiss on her lips. There was no lingering tenderness or affection, but a solemn and affectionate kiss.

"Alright, you should go to sleep now. Look at your dark circles. I'll go find Yuri myself later." Xu Ao said, then took Huang Meng's hand and walked towards the stairwell.

When Huang Meng reached her room, she saw that many other people's doors were already open. It seemed that Jiang Ying had acted very quickly; they must have been dragged directly from their beds to the office by her, leaving no time to close the doors.

Xu Ao pulled Huang Meng into the room, pressed her down onto the bed, reached out and patted her head, saying with a smile, "Okay, go to sleep, goodnight." Before she could react, Xu Ao left the room and closed the door behind him.

Huang Meng sat alone on the bed. To be honest, she always felt that something was wrong with Xu Ao, ever since that kiss.

His expression was solemn, unlike anything she had ever seen before. Xu Ao's kiss was so sudden that she didn't close her eyes and took in the seriousness on his face. However, she couldn't quite understand why he was so serious and why he kept pulling her along. It wasn't until she was sitting alone in the dark, in a quiet place where she could hear the pounding of her heart, that she finally grasped a clue.

He wanted to take a gamble and save the people in the city.

Huang Meng quickly sorted through her thoughts and came to this conclusion.

He couldn't possibly let those people go unchecked. He must have a plan in mind, but he was unwilling to tell her. Huang Meng recalled that on the top floor, Xu Ao's hands kept wandering and lingering over her face, his eyes deep as if they were full of unspoken thoughts, and when he looked at her, he seemed to have something he wanted to say but couldn't.

Huang Meng suddenly stood up and paced anxiously back and forth in the room. She was certain that he didn't want her involved in this matter. If she told him directly that she wanted to join, he would definitely refuse her on the grounds that she was not an embassy staff member. What reason could she give to persuade him to let her join?

Huang Meng paced anxiously in the room when a soft knock sounded at the door. At first, she thought she had misheard, but after holding her breath, she realized that someone was knocking. She opened the door a crack, and there stood Lin Hanshuang.

She should be with Yuri right now, why is she here looking for her?

Huang Meng, puzzled, ushered her in. Lin Hanshuang, without bothering with formalities, immediately asked, "Xiao Meng, what's going on? I just heard Xu Ao say that those mercenaries are monitoring Yuri. What exactly is going on?" Lin Hanshuang nervously clasped her hands to her chest as if in prayer. Huang Meng asked her to sit down and then explained the situation to her.

“We discovered that there was a searchlight on the other side tracking Yuri. Wherever he went, the light followed. I thought that if he did anything he shouldn’t have, bullets would be fired from that beam of light.”

"Ah, what? That, that's it!" Lin Hanshuang covered her mouth in surprise.

“Yes, they are snipers. They are observing Yuri. I guess Xu Ao is in your room right now,” Huang Meng said, looking into Lin Hanshuang’s eyes.

“Yes, yes, he’s in our room. He said there was an emergency he needed to talk to Yuri, and Yuri told me to come find you first because he was worried I would worry.” As Lin Hanshuang spoke, her eyes filled with tears.

"Don't worry, this isn't targeting Yuri, otherwise they would have acted already." Lin Hanshuang lowered her head slightly and gently wiped her eyes with the silk scarf draped over her shoulder.

“They may have been monitoring the embassy’s activities all along, and it was only when Yuri appeared at the embassy that they became alert. After all, Yuri’s appearance at the embassy came after they had sealed off the area, and they may have mistakenly thought that we had rescued Yuri from the main city.”

Huang Meng looked at her without saying anything more, then reached out and pulled back the curtains. She frowned as she looked at the mercenaries already arrayed outside. Lin Hanshuang calmed herself down and, seeing Huang Meng's furrowed brow, asked, "Xiao Meng, what's wrong?"

Huang Meng didn't intend to hide anything, and she said directly, "The number of mercenaries outside has increased a lot, and several armored vehicles have also arrived."

Huang Meng drew the curtains wide open, and Lin Hanshuang leaned closer to take a look. Although she couldn't see the person or car she was talking about, the towering lights, the crackling and fluctuating electrical current, and the heavy, rhythmic footsteps across the street made her sense the changes on the other side.

She sat back down by the window, and Huang Meng drew the curtains. She asked in confusion, "Didn't they already lock down the city? Why are they making all this commotion?"

Huang Meng sighed and said, "They probably have some new orders. These mercenaries are always willing to risk their lives for money. They'll do anything as long as the money is right."

Lin Hanshuang was unaware of Huang Meng's true worries. Hearing her say this, she simply took it as a complaint and continued, "Yes, these people treat everyone the same, regardless of age or gender. They're like they have no flesh and blood, no humanity at all." After Lin Hanshuang finished speaking, she looked at Huang Meng and saw her smiling slightly at her. Her tense mood relaxed, and she opened up and started talking.

"You don't know, back then, when the explosions first started, we were running away, and there were explosions all around us. Sometimes it was bombs falling from the sky, and sometimes it was explosions coming from the damaged residential buildings behind us. Those explosions were terrifying. A loud bang could shake a person so much that they couldn't even walk steadily, let alone run." Lin Hanshuang paused, looking away as if recalling the scene at that time.

"We supported each other, persevering through the explosions. There was no other way; if you stopped, even if you weren't killed by the bombs, you would be crushed by the collapsing buildings. In bombing attacks, how many people are actually killed by the bombs themselves? Most of the bombs are dropped on tall buildings, and many people are crushed to death because they can't run away in time."

As Lin Hanshuang spoke, tears welled up in her eyes. She lifted a corner of her shawl to wipe them away and continued, "I don't know how long Yuri and I ran, but Yuri started to feel unwell. The smoke and dust from the explosion made it difficult for him to run fast. He didn't want to be a burden, so he thought of taking me to the embassy. We took a detour, which was probably in the suburbs. There weren't many tall buildings there, just bungalows, so it was relatively safer."

"That was also the longest road we had ever traveled. It bypassed the main city and was a small road that encircled the outer perimeter of the city. The houses along that road were mostly inhabited by poor people, unlike the bustling main city. The people there suffered relatively less damage. Although the explosions were concentrated in the bustling areas of the main city, they were still being thrown indiscriminately. Many of them were either injured by the explosions or crushed by the falling trees, houses, and rubble. As we walked along that road, we would sometimes hide in the roadside ditches when we encountered explosions. There was plenty of weeds there, so we could take cover. That's how we walked and hid, taking such a long detour before finally arriving here."

After Lin Hanshuang finished speaking, she looked at Huang Meng. There was no need to say anything more; Huang Meng already knew everything.

"Well, you guys were pretty farsighted, unlike me who only got here after the explosion stopped. By then it was already sealed off, and I had to face those terrifying mercenaries," Huang Meng said with a sigh.

“Yes, you’ll definitely run into them if you take the main road in the city. The side road we took was, Yuri said, almost on the edge of the city. That’s where they started bombing. But they probably thought there were fewer people in the suburbs, so many residents had already fled to the city. They bombed the city first, and then sealed it off.”

"Bombed the outer perimeter first? How did Yuri know?" Huang Meng's mind was like it had grasped a thread but it was quickly slipping away. She was eager to grab onto something and quickly asked the question that was on her mind.

“Oh, it’s a friend of Yuri’s. He lives in that area. We ran into him on our way to the embassy. He injured his leg. He told us that the explosion started here, but it was a small one. Many houses were only partially destroyed, and most were intact. But people fled to the main city like frightened animals. It was safe there at the time. If they had stayed, they wouldn’t be trapped in the main city. Sigh.”

Huang Meng quickly went through Lin Hanshuang's words in her mind. This time she finally grasped a little clue, but there was still a place that seemed to be hidden in the shadows. The more she tried to find it, the deeper it was hidden. Huang Meng lowered her head and pondered. Seeing that she was not speaking, Lin Hanshuang thought that she was probably tired, so she also stopped talking.

The room fell silent for a moment, with only occasional noises coming from outside. After a while, Huang Meng suddenly seemed to remember something, excitedly stood up and walked to Lin Hanshuang.

At this moment, she was dozing off, propping her head up on the table with her hand. Huang Meng, disregarding everything else, said loudly, "You said that the path you took was almost deserted because it was attacked at the beginning, right? You arrived at the embassy a day before me. When I arrived, it was already blocked. So, you didn't encounter any mercenaries because you took that path. Does that mean they didn't block that path?"

Lin Hanshuang looked at the light in Huang Meng's eyes, nodded blankly, and then said, "Yes, Yuri also speculated that their bombing was more like..." Lin Hanshuang paused.

"It's more like herding sheep, driving people into the main urban area, and then bombing the area. People are either dead or injured, and they are all trapped in the main urban area. Then they are sealed off, so everyone is like a flock of sheep, confined within the main urban area. They are shrinking the area of ​​control."

Although Lin Hanshuang didn't understand why she was so agitated, she agreed with her and nodded.

"In other words, their main focus is on the main urban area, while the small road you came from has a small population to begin with. In addition, after the initial bombing and eviction, there are almost no people there, so they certainly won't set up defenses there anymore."

Huang Meng became more and more excited as she spoke. As if she had thought of something, she turned to Lin Hanshuang and said, "You wait here for a moment, I'm going out for a bit." After she finished speaking, she turned around, opened the door, and ran out.

Lin Hanshuang stood up, caught up with her, opened the door a crack, and watched her squeeze into her room.

"I have something to say."

As soon as Huang Meng entered, she said to Xu Ao, "He was obviously reluctant to let me in when he opened the door. Luckily, I'm thin enough to squeeze in. I was afraid he would kick me out, so I said anxiously as soon as I came in."

"What do you want to say?" Xu Ao didn't want her involved in the first place, but seeing that she not only didn't listen to him and go to sleep, but instead looked excited, he knew that he couldn't persuade this girl. He looked at her with a mixture of helplessness and affection.

"Yuri, where were we?" Huang Meng asked Yuri, ignoring Xu Ao.

Yuri glanced at Xu Ao sitting opposite him. There was helplessness on his face, but his eyes were full of love and tolerance when he looked at her. Yuri smiled slightly. He understood Xu Ao's state of mind at this moment, just like when he was worried about Lin Hanshuang and didn't let him secretly take food for him.

When you love someone, you're willing to face any danger, even mountains of knives and seas of fire; when you love someone, you'd rather go against your own heart than let her worry about you.

Yuri smiled and said to Huang Meng, "We were talking about tomorrow's plans, would you like to hear them?"

Hearing this, Xu Ao suddenly looked up at him, but Yuri still smiled and said, "You probably can't stop this girl. You can tell by how she rushed in like this."

Xu Ao glanced at Huang Meng and said, "This matter concerns the embassy. You are not our employee, so it has nothing to do with you." Huang Meng was not annoyed by this. She had expected Xu Ao to use this excuse to shut her up. Hearing him say this made her feel calm and composed, as if she had known it all. She ignored Xu Ao, turned around, and sat down next to Yuri. Looking at Yuri, she said, "Well, tell me about it."