Main Story Chapter 11-01: Along with the Sins (与罪同行) | Light and Night 光与夜之恋

Before reading this chapter, please check out the LIGHT END and NIGHT END of Chapter 10!

Along with the Sins (与罪同行)

It was still that round of escape two months ago during the last time the door was knocked on.

Zhou WeiCheng leaned against the bedside, looking into the single sliver of the sky through the slit of the curtains, quietly waiting for the person standing outside the door to leave.

It's eerily dark. Looks like it's about to rain again. Medicines are already running out, so today should be the day to head out for purchases.

He turned himself around. After moving here for so long, there are almost nobody asking him for his condition, and he doesn't have a clue on how exactly are the people from the outside managing to find this place.

Zhou WeiCheng pressed and brightened his phone, beginning to look at the recording that, who knows how many times he has replayed. The red flames in the screen became the only light source of the room.

Yet, despite half an hour has passed, the person standing by the door has never left.

The sounds of knocking gotten hurrier, yet it is heard that it is done out of politeness and patience. This makes Zhou WeiCheng feel that he might seem to be a little different.

???: Mr. Zhou, I am here to bring everyone for hospital treatment.

Zhou WeiCheng finally climbed up from the bed.

He gestured a 'shh' to the boy sitting at the corner, kicking off the bag of instant noodles that are filled with charred black oil, and locked the door of the house in alertness.

A slit is opened from the door as light surges in. Zhou WeiCheng squinted, and aggressively examined the youth standing before him.

Zhou WeiCheng: Who are you? How did you know I'm here?

Xiao Yu: Hello, Mr. Zhou. I am Xiao Yu from "LianShan Society", we are in charge of rescuing people of special societies. This is my name card. We have learnt about the situation. It must've been very difficult for you to have led a group of victims of fire to stay here. I am here today to bring everyone for treatment at the hospital.

Zhou WeiCheng: You're saying... You guys are going to treat everyone?

Zhou WeiCheng turned the name card around as he looked at it repetitively, and suddenly got reminded of something.

Zhou WeiCheng: What happens after the treatment?

Xiao Yu: Don't worry, we have found a nursing home for you. Everyone's lives will be secured.

Zhou WeiCheng: What happens next?

Xiao Yu became at a little loss of words after being questioned. The skinny man stood before him grabbed his wrist, and asked again.

The pair of black pupils are fixated onto him, and there was a short instant where Xiao Yu felt like he is his saviour.

Xiao Yu: Sir... what do you mean?

Zhou WeiCheng: What happens after you've helped these people to settle down? Is there nothing else?

Xiao Yu: What more do you want, sir?

Zhou WeiCheng: Since you managed to find this place, you should probably have known my identity. As a survivor of the incident, I can tell you this very certainly. This sickening plan has been going on for almost five years, and there are countless people who have died throughout this period. They are not the first batch that manages to escape, and they won't be the last.

His finger pointed towards the room, expressions showing some resentment. 

Zhou WeiCheng: Similarly, you aren't the first one that have looked for me. What I need, is to announce  all of these sins to the public; to see the villains being brought to justice, so there will no longer be victims. It's not just the so-called aftermath settlement. Only with a guarantee like this, that I will let everyone to go with you.

Xiao Yu: I understood what you mean now. Please bear for it for a moment, we will do that afterwards. Since this is not a simple feat, we still have to make plans from the scratch. How about this, you bring everyone to come with me, and let's first solve our current problem. This is the most important thing, no?

Zhou WeiCheng: You mean you'll be getting rid of us in order for you to have good days to come, right? If this is your answer, then hurry and leave, and don't ever come back again.

He showed a cold expression, and slammed the door shut aggressively. Because his movements were too quick, that the winds brought in have blown the highly stacked letters on the desk to the floor.

There are many photographs contained within, with charred and unidentified bodies from fire scenes, eerily isolated rooms, and the man with a bright red cross drawn on his face.

How many of those has he sent out? He has no longer had a clue of it. Yet those letters have all sunk into the deep seas altogether, not bringing out the slightest bit of ripple at all.

He stared at those letters angrily, and there are still a couple more news images that were newly printed laying by the side.

Among the images, the words "Guang Qi First People Hospital" are being framed.

???: Uncle Zhou... My body feels like it's boiling...

A sudden call of help is heard from the room. Zhou WeiCheng quickly ran towards the screaming girl.

He picked up the girl's body that was just about to fall off from the bed, and helped her to put on the mask that has fallen off again.

Zhou WeiCheng: Xiao Zhen, can you hear me? How do you feel now?

The girl's face looked extremely twisted from pain, her blackened skin that cracked from dryness made her to look like a dying elderly.

It only took her a week for her entirety to only have bones with a thin layer of skin left.

The familiar decaying smell where the vessel is about to die shrouded Zhou WeiCheng.

His nose felt sore, and he can't help but to hug her even tighter.

Xiao Zhen: Uncle Zhou, am I going to die soon? Before Granny Wang died, she told me, her body will feel hotter and hotter, then even hotter, then it'll start burning...

Zhou WeiCheng: You won't, our Xiao Zhen is so brave, there will eventually be a day where you'll recover. Haven't you been wanting to go out to play in a floral dress? By the time you recovered, you won't have to lie on the bed, and you can go out to play without putting a mask on. So Xiao Zhen, you can't give up.

Xiao Zhen: Will the uncles and aunties, grandpa and granny in this place recover too? Will there be no more people that will become like me from now on?

Zhou WeiCheng: Uncle will make you a promise, there will definitely be a day like that to come.

Her beautiful large eyes brightened suddenly, glancing across each and every person on the bed, then dimmed very quickly.

Xiao Zhen: How long more will it until that day comes...? I'm so afraid, that I am already dead before that day comes. Uncle Zhou, I overheard the conversation you had earlier.

Zhou WeiCheng startled.

Xiao Zhen: I know, uncle you have been wanting to let everyone to notice us, so I am willing to use my life to exchange for the results. You have done enough for us, so I think, it is very worth it for me to do this.

Hearing the flash of thought that he had being spoken out through Xiao Zhen's words, Zhou WeiCheng felt ashamed, and he felt that he is completely useless and despicable.

Xiao Zhen: Uncle, don't feel sad, you can definitely make it...

She spoke softly, seemingly having her strength all used up. She finally lied down slowly, and slowly caressing the dirty little yellow chick plush by her hand with full of yearning.

It's as if she's bidding farewells. 

Zhou WeiCheng recalled that this is what he found from a trash can at the pet store from the corner of the streets. He washed it repetitively before gifting it to Xiao Zhen.

Something that even dogs didn't want have instead became Xiao Zhen's treasure.

She did not cry, but Zhou WeiCheng's tears have instead rolled down.

Zhou WeiCheng: Uncle promise you, that I will definitely make the bad guys pay the price.

The rain pattered, washing off the dirt accumulated over the years on the bluestone slab. Sounds of horns are audible, and a new day begun as usual.

From a coffee shop across the street, the employee turns the board with 'OPEN' written on it. The endless working class carried their coffee takeout bags and rushed into their paths to work.

Nobody would have noticed this little shop that with "Stretch Repairs*" written has never opened for business from the beginning, it's just like there would be nobody that have noticed how many people have disappeared again today.