This was a young boy, an L Island local, at most eighteen or nineteen years old. He was wearing the uniform of the Ronaia Hotel room service staff—a white shirt paired with a black vest—but now his clothes were disheveled and stained with blood.
Yuxi glanced at the name tag on his chest, which was written in the international language: Simon.
She led him a few steps down the hallway to an area where the doors were closed and the smell of blood was not as strong. “Simon, I want to understand the current situation. Your people came to our floor earlier, but they didn’t provide much information about the rescue efforts. Has the hotel received any response from the rescue teams?”
Simon, who didn’t have a high level of education and had managed to get this job at a five-star hotel through connections, was smart, quick, and diligent. His proficiency in the international language had quickly promoted him from a porter to room service.
The guest in front of him seemed much calmer than others, polite, and fluent in the local language, which gave him a natural sense of familiarity.
He looked around, then lowered his voice and said, “Yes, the rescue call was sent out after the first wave of the tsunami, but we haven’t received a response. L Island isn’t very big, and our police force and rescue resources are limited. The situation elsewhere on the island is worse than it is here. So under these circumstances, rescue might not reach us quickly. Our main concern right now is getting those severely injured people to the hospital. The hospital buildings are taller and further from the sea, so they should be in better condition. But the water hasn’t receded yet, and if it weren’t for the surgeon among the guests, we wouldn’t know what to do…”
“Is it the person we saw inside just now?”
“Yes, his name is Lin, like you, he’s from China. Luckily he stayed back at the hotel due to a slight fever today; otherwise…”
Seeing her frown, Simon tried to comfort her, “But you don’t need to worry too much. You’re not injured, and our hotel is well-stocked. Even without immediate rescue, we’ll be safe as long as the water recedes in a few hours.”
However, Yuxi couldn’t feel at ease. Not receiving a rescue response and being told that more critical cases would be prioritized were two different things.
Moreover, even if the water recedes, the island’s only airport will likely be unusable in the short term. With sea transport being inconvenient and air transport impossible, L Island would be isolated.
Unless external rescue teams come, given the tsunami’s scale, nearby large islands and coastal areas will likely also be affected. In a major disaster, the rescue principle of proximity means external aid might take a long time to arrive.
And would the water really recede in a few hours? The tsunami had passed, but the water level remained around the fourth floor, which seemed unusual.
“How about this—if you receive any rescue response, whether immediate or delayed, could you notify me? My surname is Yu, and you know which room I’m in.”
“Of course, Miss Yu, no problem.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
After leaving the sixth floor, Yuxi continued down to the fifth floor, where there were few people. The entire hallway was wet, with some rooms tightly shut and others with guests discussing whether to move upstairs.
The fourth floor was partially submerged, so Yuxi didn’t go down. She looked out from the fifth-floor stairwell window and saw several rubber dinghies tied to the outer wall, with ongoing rescue efforts. Not far away, locals were rowing boats, salvaging usable materials from the water.
When Yuxi returned to the seventh floor, the crowd had thinned a bit. She registered her room card number and passport name, collected a meal, and went back to the thirteenth floor.
The staff had left, and most of the previously open rooms were now closed. As she passed the neighboring room, the door opened, and the woman she had seen earlier greeted her politely.
“Hello, thank you for the reminder earlier. If only I had gone downstairs, I don’t know what would have happened…” She shivered involuntarily at the memory of the tsunami.
“You’re welcome, it was just a casual remark.”
“But you indirectly saved my son and me. My name is Yuan Qi, from H City.”
“My name is Yuxi, from S City.”
“Sorry, my international language isn’t very good. Could you tell me what the situation downstairs is like?”
Yuxi briefly explained what she had seen.
“Thank you. Actually, my sister, who is fluent in the international language, also came to L Island with us, but she went out to sea for a trip this morning. I don’t know where she is now…”
Yuan Qi’s voice trailed off, clearly worried about her sister, who likely faced dire circumstances in the tsunami.
“Mommy…” Her son came out and tugged at her hand. “I’m hungry. When are we going to eat with Auntie?”
Yuan Qi’s heart ached, and she squatted down to hug her son. “It’s Mommy’s fault for forgetting the meal time. Let’s go downstairs and eat now, Yuan Yuan.”
Yuxi had no intention of giving Yuan Qi her own meal, as the hotel still had sufficient supplies and it wasn’t necessary yet.
After picking up her son, Yuan Qi hesitated and then asked, “If there are any notifications from the hotel later, can you help me translate? I’m sorry to trouble you, but I don’t speak the language…”
It was a small favor, and Yuxi nodded to indicate it was no problem.
She returned to her room, and just as she closed the door and turned on the light, the room suddenly went dark. Moments later, footsteps and panicked voices echoed in the hallway. Darkness in such situations could amplify fear.
Fortunately, ten minutes later, the lights came back on, presumably powered by the hotel’s backup generator.
The backup power only provided lighting, as the air conditioning and other electrical appliances remained off. Yuxi opened the sliding glass door to the balcony. The rain and tsunami had dispelled the island’s heat, making it less hot.
She turned off all the main lights in the suite, leaving only a floor lamp in the living room, and prepared to have dinner. Having been shaken by the disaster in the afternoon, she didn’t feel like cooking and took out a container of Cantonese-style pork rib and dried scallop congee and a box of char siu from the Star House storage.
These were part of the takeout meals she had ordered over the past five days, stored in containers that kept the food warm, as if freshly made.
In this unfamiliar, otherworldly place, the familiar food brought a sense of security.
The pork rib and dried scallop congee was warm and savory, with soft rice, fragrant dried scallops, and tender ribs that melted in her mouth.
The char siu was sweet and salty, appetizing, with each piece perfectly balanced between lean and fatty, tender and juicy, especially delicious with the dipping sauce.
She adhered to the principle of not wasting food, eating everything cleanly before packing the empty containers into a plastic bag and storing them back in the Star House. Then she took out a cup of honey grapefruit tea.
The tea shop used red grapefruits, with the bright red pulp floating in the refreshing honey water, and ice cubes added, making each sip icy and refreshing.
Since she had already showered at noon and didn’t feel hot, she decided not to waste the hotel’s water by showering again.
She washed her hands and face, locked the sliding glass door to the balcony, secured the room door, and entered the bedroom. After closing the door, she propped a chair under the handle.
Yuxi opened all the bedroom curtains and cracked open a window to let in the faint, flickering light reflecting off the water outside. She lay down on the large bed.
She was already exhausted, having entered the task world at midnight, her usual sleep time. Now, she had stayed up for over ten hours, essentially pulling an all-nighter. She fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
She woke up to a knocking sound, and after retrieving her phone from the Star House, saw it was just past 5 AM.
The phone showed a remaining battery of 40%. This was the phone from the task world, as her own phone had not followed her into this world during the dimensional shift.
Yuxi made a mental note that only items stored in the Star House could transition to different worlds with her.
Realizing she hadn’t stocked up on charging cables or power banks, she noted that once the remaining 40% battery was used up, the phone would have to be shut off.
With no signal on the island, she couldn’t make calls, but the phone could still be used for light and checking the time, which was useful.
She put the phone back in the Star House, thinking she should see if the hotel had any power banks available, and got up to answer the door.
The person knocking was Simon, still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. His eyes were red, his face weary, as if he hadn’t slept all night.
“Miss You,” he said, sounding excited. “I’m sorry to wake you so early…”
Simon brought good news: the hotel had received a rescue response not long ago. Although there had been no contact with the capital island, the rescue team on the main island was expected to arrive in about two hours. The evacuation direction was towards Sea View Mountain, which, despite being closer to the opposite coast, had been less affected due to its elevation.
Sea View Mountain had a five-star hotel, two three-star hotels, and numerous smaller inns and guesthouses, enough to accommodate many people.
The two nearby hospitals had moved part of the survivors, medical staff, and equipment there the previous night.
“So, the water has receded?” Yuxi asked, addressing the critical issue. Simon’s expression turned grave.
“You haven’t looked outside, have you? The water hasn’t receded. In fact, it rose several steps overnight.”
Many hotel staff were locals from L Island. After the tsunami hit, they were worried about their families. But since the water hadn’t receded, leaving was impractical, and the hotel management pressured them to stay, so they held on temporarily.
But when the water hadn’t receded by nightfall, the anxious employees couldn’t wait any longer. They privately discussed and took several of the hotel’s rubber dinghies along with some food and water supplies.
Nearly half the hotel’s staff had left, leading to a shortage of manpower and a loss of morale. Simon’s workload had increased dramatically, allowing him only two or three hours of sleep all night while keeping an eye on the water level at the fifth-floor emergency stairs.
The few guests on the fifth floor had already been moved to the seventh and eighth floors. Due to the darkness and the exhaustion of many guests and survivors, most hadn’t noticed the water level outside.
Hearing this, Yuxi told Simon to wait a moment and walked to the balcony. She opened the sliding door and looked down at the hotel. The early morning light was faint but enough to see the situation below. The deep gray water reflected shimmering ripples, still at yesterday’s level.
The worst-case scenario had happened—the water hadn’t receded!
Seeing her frown, Simon added, “Fortunately, we’ve received a rescue response. Please gather on the eighth floor in two hours. We’ll start arranging for everyone to leave the hotel.”
He paused, then added, “Miss Yu, given the severe disaster, rescue resources are limited, so we might evacuate in batches. The injured, women, children, and the elderly will be prioritized. Please try to get downstairs early.”
“Thank you,” Yuxi said, sending Simon off before starting her morning routine.
The hotel only supplied water for half an hour in the evening, none in the morning, but this didn’t affect her.
From the Star House’s stored items, she retrieved a washbasin, filled it with hot water, and used the hotel’s toothbrush and toothpaste to wash up. After freshening up, she took out a serving of small wontons and a box of soup dumplings.
These famous bubble wontons floated in a rich bone broth, topped with golden egg strips and green onions, the aroma alone whetting her appetite.
The soup dumplings were also well-known, with thin skins and large, juicy fillings. She carefully picked one up with chopsticks, placed it in a spoon, gently bit into the skin, and let the savory broth flow into her mouth.
There were six soup dumplings, just enough for a meal when paired with the small wontons.
Yuxi sat at the coffee table in the living room, eating breakfast while watching the sky gradually brighten. As more people woke up and noticed the unchanging water level, the hallway grew increasingly chaotic.
She began to reflect on whether she was being too relaxed. Amid a natural disaster, everyone was anxious for their survival, while she was leisurely enjoying breakfast in her room.
“Am I taking this mission too leisurely?” she mused, but continued eating until the last drop of bone broth was gone.
【……】
Oddly, she sensed the Star House had something it wanted to say but held back.
After packing up the empty containers, she put the half-finished bottle of mineral water in her backpack, then left her room with the backpack on.
The hallway was somewhat chaotic. Guests, still shaken from the tsunami, were panicking again at the sight of the unreciprocated water.
Post-tsunami, it wasn’t unusual for water to recede slowly, typically due to topographical issues like high coastal positions and low-lying central areas where water would pool.
But in this case, the water had not only not receded but had risen several steps, as if the entire island was submerged.
Such an abnormal phenomenon inevitably triggered fear, and fear often led to chaos.
Yuxi knocked on Yuan Qi’s door. Yuan Qi looked pale and had red, puffy eyes, appearing somewhat disoriented.
“What is it?” she asked in a hushed tone, likely not wanting to wake her child.
Yuxi glanced at the hallway, considering the shortage of rescue personnel, unsure how many people were aware of the situation. To be cautious, she stepped into Yuan Qi’s room, closing the door behind her, and whispered, “I was informed earlier that rescue will arrive in about an hour and a half, but due to limited personnel, evacuations will be in batches, prioritizing the injured, women, children, and the elderly.”
“Really?” Yuan Qi, who hadn’t heard about the rescue, looked overjoyed.
“Yes, I’m heading downstairs now. You should come early too.”
“I’ll pack right away.” Yuan Qi hurried into the other room, then returned after a few steps. “Thank you for telling me. Can you wait a few minutes? I’d like to go with you.”
Since it was still early, Yuxi nodded, expecting it to take a while as Yuan Qi had a child, and packing essential items would take time.
But Yuan Qi only woke her son, changed his clothes, gave him some water, then grabbed a large backpack by the bed and came out carrying her child. “Let’s go.”
Seeing Yuxi’s surprised look, Yuan Qi explained, “My sister always insisted on this. She said that when traveling, one should always have essentials packed and ready in case of emergencies… She’s a special police officer, always prepared for crises…”
Mentioning her sister, lost in the tsunami, brought a look of sorrow to Yuan Qi’s face.
Yuxi sighed inwardly, then said, “Let’s go,” opening the door and leading the way.
Reading Settings
#1a1a1a
#ef4444
Comments