Under the moonlight

Nothing happened that night. The next day, Huang Meng was awakened by the children's laughter. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and slowly sat up, feeling as if she had been thoroughly beaten; her whole body ached. She slowly stood up, stretched her arms, and walked to Ya Qin's side. Ya Qin nodded and smiled at her. The two children were lying on the blanket, happily playing and laughing. Huang Meng watched them laugh and smiled along with them. Children are so good; their world is simple, consisting only of eating, sleeping, and playing. Hehe, so wonderful.

Huang Meng sighed inwardly. She turned around and saw that Nasha had already ladled out the cooked spaghetti. She quickly reached out and took it. Huang Meng poured the noodles into her mouth and chewed them vigorously. They weren't cooked enough and were a little undercooked, but at this point, being able to eat her fill was good enough, so she didn't care. She finished the noodles in a few bites. She didn't dare to linger and quickly packed her things to prepare for her journey. Nasha and Yaqin, seeing that they couldn't stop her, packed some food for her to take with her. Huang Meng didn't take it. These things were a bit cumbersome to carry, and besides, she felt that she could definitely find the embassy as soon as possible. They needed the food more than she did, so she declined their kindness.

Huang Meng slung her backpack over her shoulder, and Nasha helped her move the door panel. She squeezed through and saw that the scene was a little better than the previous days. Two days without further bombing had allowed the residents to catch their breath. They huddled together in small groups under the ruins of buildings by the roadside, resting with their eyes closed. The continuous bombing raids had made them afraid to truly close their eyes and sleep. Huang Meng looked up at the distant horizon, where the sun was about to rise. Today, she could finally see the blue sky. A smile crept onto Huang Meng's face; it seemed today was a good day. She turned and waved goodbye to Nasha before striding towards her destination.

She walked on without stopping for a moment. Although she wanted to move forward quickly, the destroyed buildings lay scattered on the road, and piles of rubble, large and small, formed small hills. She used both her hands and feet to climb over these obstacles. Although she had only walked for a short while, she could already feel her strength being gradually depleted. She could only find a flat spot by the roadside to sit down and rest. After sitting for a while, she stood on a pile of rubble, using the time to carefully check whether there was any deviation between the path she had taken and her destination.

By this time, the sun had risen high in the sky, and its gentle sunlight shone over the dilapidated city. However, the people around them had no mood to feel the warmth of the sunlight; this light had no effect whatsoever on the hellish world they were in.

They were like lifeless bodies, their faces covered in soot and dried dark red bloodstains. Their dull eyes held no light. They walked along the roadside like zombies, aimless and unaware of where they were going or could go. They just kept walking slowly, as if only by moving did they show a trace of life, so that they wouldn't look like corpses on the roadside.

Sometimes they would stop to examine a complete corpse as they passed by. If it was someone they knew, they would place the dead person's hands on their chest, tidy their clothes, and find something useful to cover their face. After this, the gruesome corpse that had been lying on the roadside would instantly become peaceful and serene, as if it had never experienced those moments of suffering.

Looking at their lifeless faces, Huang Meng felt an indescribable sorrow. She remembered when she first arrived in this city, everyone's face was filled with warm smiles. This was a well-known tourist destination, with beautiful natural scenery attracting many foreign tourists. Especially since this small country was rich in minerals, there were many family-run workshops. The government organized the local young and middle-aged men to mine the ore, while the women and some older men would polish the raw ore and make various exquisite ornaments. It was tourism and mining that made this small country prosperous. Huang Meng remembered being captivated by the azure sky above her as soon as she got off the plane. Having lived in the north for many years, especially in winter, the sky was always gray, as if veiled. Huang Meng looked up at the same azure sky she had seen when she arrived, but now she felt nothing. Just a few days earlier, that night when the first round of bombing began, she had been filled with fear of this country.

Huang Meng closed her eyes to stop her mind from wandering. People passed by her from time to time. Huang Meng stood up, dusted herself off, and continued walking towards her destination. There were still many piles of rubble on the road. If she continued on her previous path, it was unlikely she would find the embassy before dark. Actually, she could avoid walking in the middle of the road. Before, she wasn't sure of her direction, but now that she had a better idea of ​​where she was, she walked along the side of the road. There, because of the tall buildings along the way, the walls blocked many of the stones that had fallen from above, so there weren't as many piles of rubble.

As Huang Meng walked, she noticed something: there seemed to be more and more people around her. A thought popped into her mind: were they going in the same direction as her? And where were they going? Huang Meng tightened the straps of her backpack around her neck and pulled her coat hood up over her head. She decided to put all that aside for now and get on her way as quickly as possible.

Huang Meng walked without resting until the sun was setting. The city's power had long been cut off, and if she didn't reach the embassy before dark, she would have trouble getting things done that night.

Having not eaten all day, she drank the water in her water bottle in one gulp, showing a determination to fight to the death.

As Nasha had said, the embassy was at the end of the road. She wiped the water from the corner of her mouth, her eyes fixed on the road ahead, and continued walking. More and more residents surrounded her; some leaned on canes, some carried babies, and some older people were being helped along by younger people. She looked back and saw only a constant stream of people moving forward. She was certain they were going in the same direction, but she wondered where they were going, dragging their injured bodies and families. What were they going to do?

Huang Meng continued walking, her mind racing, when suddenly someone beside her exclaimed, "We're here! We're here!"

Huang Meng suddenly raised her head and looked ahead in the direction the person was pointing. She was petite and could only see a tall building in front of her. She climbed onto the pile of stones beside her, and when she saw that splash of red floating above the ruins, her heart, which had been adrift and filled with fear and unease for so many days, finally settled down on solid ground.

She was so excited she almost shouted out loud. She quickly got off the pile of stones and walked forward. The crowd in front of her was already quite dense. Taking advantage of her petite size, she kept squeezing in and out of the gaps until she was finally blocked by the noisy crowd at the front.

Curious, she tiptoed and peered around. It seemed like the road ahead was blocked, and people couldn't pass. Someone was arguing loudly. Huang Meng listened carefully and quickly understood.

"Hey, why won't you let us through? Why are you blocking our way?"

“We want to go to the Chinese embassy. We just want to borrow some food. What’s wrong with that? You’ve bombed our city like this. Do you want us to stay inside and die?”

"That's right, that's right, move aside, move aside~"

"Bang~"

A gunshot rang out, followed by a thud as someone fell to the ground, then a woman's piercing scream. The surrounding noise immediately subsided, and then a voice came from across the crowd.

"You all stay put, or this will be your fate if you go any further."

The woman's cries gradually subsided, and the crowd slowly backed away, making way for her. Huang Meng was pushed aside as she watched a man being carried out by two men, with a woman beside him weeping sadly. As they passed Huang Meng, she noticed a hole the size of a coin on the man's forehead, from which blood was gushing.

This tactic of making an example of someone to scare others was quite effective. Including Huang Meng, the surrounding crowd almost all fell silent, hanging their heads and slowly retreating. Only after the crowd had mostly dispersed did Huang Meng realize that they had been surrounded by mercenaries.

All the passable intersections in front of her were blocked by spiked wooden stakes. Behind them was a group of mercenaries, dressed in combat uniforms, their faces veiled except for their eyes. Each of them carried a submachine gun, with two magazines hanging from their shoulders. They paced back and forth, patrolling each intersection. The embassy was no more than a hundred meters behind them.

Huang Meng cursed her bad luck inwardly. She was only a few hundred meters away from being safe, but it seemed that she would need to negotiate with them before she could get there.

Huang Meng stood there. The crowd in front of her had dispersed, but they hadn't gone far. Instead, they found a place to sit down nearby. Huang Meng stared blankly at the bright lights in the high-rise building across the street, their eyes filled with near despair. She knew that they, like her, had pinned their last hope on this place.

Huang Meng quickly attracted the attention of the mercenaries opposite her. After all, under the threat of weapons, she was the only one still standing in front of them. Seeing their unfriendly, even slightly mocking, gazes as they looked at her, Huang Meng couldn't help but curse inwardly.

"If I had a gun, I'd turn you into a sieve!"

However, she calmed herself down and thought for a while before stepping forward. Perhaps because she was alone and a girl, the people didn't make any big moves, as if they didn't take her seriously.

It wasn't until Huang Meng walked up to them, separated only by the fence, that the mercenaries became alert. One of them, a tall and burly man, stood up. Huang Meng watched him walk towards her with a gun in his hand. The oppressive and terrifying feeling emanating from that dark gun muzzle was so tangible at that moment, but the desire to survive outweighed it. She nervously swallowed.

Huang Meng looked up and could only see half of his face. She tilted her head back and said in a slightly trembling voice, "I am from country C, please let me through."

The mercenary tilted his head, sized her up, and asked, "How can you prove it?"

Huang Meng took off her hat, then looked up at the mercenary. She then took out her passport from her bag and held it up for them to see. The mercenary looked at the passport in her hand and was about to reach for it when Huang Meng took it back.

She forced a dry laugh and said, "This thing can't be lost."

The mercenary chuckled and said nothing. He turned and walked to a car, took out a walkie-talkie and seemed to say something. Then he walked over and said coldly, "You can go now, but you have to leave your things behind."

He then turned and gestured to one of the mercenaries behind him to take off her backpack and coat. Huang Meng didn't know what they were going to do at first, until they took her backpack and coat and searched her, then she realized they were afraid she had brought something with her.

In the end, Huang Meng only took her passport and ID card, and walked over wearing a vest and trousers. She reached the fence, glanced back at the crowd, and saw surprise and envy in their eyes, but mostly despair. Huang Meng didn't dare linger and ran quickly towards the building. As the bright red light drew closer, a long-lost smile appeared on Huang Meng's face, then everything went black, and she collapsed. She vaguely remembered someone picking her up, but after that, she knew nothing more.