Under the moonlight

Nothing happened that night. Huang Meng woke up early the next morning. She had forgotten to close the curtains when she went to bed last night, and the sunlight outside was shining brightly into the room.

Huang Meng lay sprawled on the pillow, watching the sunlight spill across the floor and create a halo. For a moment, she was stunned, as if she had never been to S country, as if it were all a dream, and that she was still the carefree Huang Meng who spent her days playing around with her friends.

"Knock knock knock~" A knocking sound interrupted her beautiful daydream. Huang Meng sighed helplessly, then threw off the covers and went to open the door.

It's that girl from yesterday. She's all ready and I'm going to call her to have breakfast together.

Huang Meng smiled and invited her in while she tidied herself up. Then the two of them went to the main hall together.

The atmosphere seemed off today. The staff I saw earlier all had serious expressions, and they ate their meals hastily, barely managing a few bites before rushing off. Those who stayed to eat were all speculating whether something had happened again.

At this moment, Huang Meng saw Xu Ao walking over. He grabbed a steamed bun and left without even sitting down. As he walked, he kept glancing at his watch, as if he had something urgent to attend to.

Huang Meng took her food and found a seat. A little while later, the girl followed her over. After sitting down, she began to introduce herself: "Hello, sister. My name is Li Linlin, and I am 18 years old."

Huang Meng took a bite of the steamed bun, smiled, and nodded. As she ate, she observed the people around her. At that moment, she caught a glimpse of a middle-aged woman who was taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to quickly put the steamed bun into her bag. Then, she casually took some food and put it on her seat. Why was she stealing food?

Seeing Huang Mengdong staring blankly at something, Li Linlin waved her hand in front of her and said with a smile, "Sister, why are you spacing out while eating?"

Hearing her say that, Huang Meng laughed awkwardly twice and didn't reply. After dinner, Li Linlin took Huang Meng for a walk around the building, which gave Huang Meng a clear understanding of the building.

The first floor was the staff canteen, originally only for employees to eat, but as more and more Chinese people fled here, more tables and chairs were added. The second floor was their accommodation, also originally only for staff. Their rooms were only cleaned up shortly after the attack. The third floor was a recreation area, where many people gathered to pass the time. The fourth floor was their office. When Huang Meng and Li Linlin came up, they saw a sign at the entrance of the building: "Work Area, No Unauthorized Personnel Allowed." They stood at the entrance for a while. The layout here was similar to the second floor, with individual rooms. The name of the office was posted on the wall outside each room. One of the rooms was labeled "Meeting Room," and the door was not completely closed. Huang Meng could hear a heated argument coming from inside.

The fifth floor was probably where the archives were stored; every room was locked.

They didn't linger on the fifth floor and went straight to the top floor. Huang Meng stood to the side, gazing at the city in the distance, which was almost indistinguishable from ruins. She felt a sense of suffocation and let out a long sigh. She turned to Li Linlin beside her and asked, "By the way, I haven't asked you yet, how did you get here?"

Li Linlin held onto the railing with both hands, leaned back, and slowly said, "I just graduated from high school and didn't get into university. My family is relatively well-off, so my dad wanted to send me out here to get some experience before I went back."

Seeing that she was pouting and didn't seem very happy, Huang Meng could roughly guess that leaving her alone in this small country that was neither prosperous nor had any good universities was like getting rid of a burden.

Huang Meng remained silent. Li Linlin, leaning on the railing and resting her chin on her hand, continued, "My dad had an affair. My mom dragged her feet on divorcing him for the sake of the inheritance. Later, that mistress had a child, but it was a daughter. My dad started to despise me in every way. Right after I graduated, he said he was going to send me here, calling it studying abroad. Humph, what a load of rubbish! He just didn't want me causing trouble for that mistress. My mom was only thinking about getting his money and didn't have time to care about me. Sigh, I'm unloved by both my parents." After saying this, she gave a self-deprecating chuckle and looked at Huang Meng.

Looking at her helpless and sad expression, Huang Meng didn't know how to comfort her. She could only smile and say, "Every family has its unspeakable troubles. They're all the same. At least your mother is right about one thing: it would be a huge loss to get a divorce now."

Li Linlin turned her head and cupped her face in her hands, staring blankly at the sky. The two of them didn't speak again. Huang Meng turned her head and looked at the sky in front of her. It was vast and empty, with one or two birds flying by from time to time.

They stayed on the rooftop for a while before going downstairs and returning to their rooms. Huang Meng looked out the window at the bright sunshine and the azure sky, thinking how wonderful it would have been if none of this had happened.

She was just about to lie down on the bed to rest when she heard some noise in the hallway, followed a moment later by a woman's shrill scream, "Ah! A rat!"

Huang Meng got up and opened the door, only to find many people standing sideways at the entrance, peering in the direction of the sound, just like him. In the room on the far left of the corridor, the door was wide open, and scattered bedding lay outside. The woman stood beside the door, pressed tightly against the wall, huddled together as if terrified.

The person closest to her was a middle-aged man. Curious, he walked to the door, looked inside, and said to the woman, "You have mice in your room?"

The woman nodded. The man didn't say anything more, but just as he was about to take a closer look, a rat suddenly darted out from under the door, startling him and causing him to take a step back. The large rat ran down the corridor to the stairwell and disappeared. The man didn't want to look any further. He stood there for a moment, muttering, "How could there be a rat?" Then he turned and went back into his room, slamming the door shut.

Seeing that the excitement had died down, and fearing that more rats might sneak into their rooms, everyone closed their doors.

Huang Meng glanced at the woman again. At that moment, the woman was tidying up the bed sheets scattered by her door. Huang Meng remembered that she was the woman who had secretly hidden the steamed buns in the cafeteria.

As Huang Meng lay in bed, she thought about how the mouse hadn't appeared in her room out of nowhere. She recalled the scene she'd witnessed at the restaurant that day, but why had she stolen the steamed buns? The restaurant provided food every day, and although the quantity wasn't large, it was enough for everyone to eat their fill three times a day. There was no need for her to steal food. Why had she done that?

Huang Meng tossed and turned, unable to figure it out. Suddenly, she sat up abruptly, turned her head to look at the bright moonlight outside the window, and thought of Nasha's family.

I wonder how that family is doing now. I heard the mercenaries sealed off this place the other day; I wonder what they're up to? What about the people in the city? Do they have any food?

When regimes are divided, ordinary people have to suffer the consequences.

Huang dreamed that on the third day after the large-scale bombing began, they started to carry out small-scale bomb attacks every now and then. Those people sat in helicopters and dropped small bombs aimlessly, and then disappeared into the sky. Every time a helicopter appeared, it meant that a group of people would be killed or injured.

Whenever people let their guard down, they would launch an attack. After several rounds of attacks of varying range and time, everyone's nerves were on edge, and they dared not relax at all. Even at night, the refugees spontaneously formed a habit of men taking turns keeping watch while women, the elderly, and children rested.

Huang Meng kept moving around with the crowd, and even in the middle of the night she dared not fall asleep. She only dared to rest with her eyes half-closed. As soon as she heard the roar of the propeller, she would immediately run away like a frightened animal until there was no more sound behind her.

They gradually wore down people's spirit and will. Huang Meng witnessed a man's mental breakdown during another bombing attack. While the crowd had scattered and fled, he stood there, looking up at the bombs flying overhead, laughing wildly with his arms raised. As the explosion rang out, his laughter was drowned out. Huang Meng and the others hid in a safe area until all the sounds subsided. When they peeked out, the man had already turned to ashes.