# Chapter 95: Yu Nian'an's Unease
Qi Xia steadied himself and looked up at the staircase.
Under the tremendous shaking, the old building began to develop large cracks.
Qingdao was a coastal city where earthquakes were rarely seen, so the houses built here had no idea what magnitude of quake they could withstand.
Qi Xia worried the building could collapse at any moment. He had to find Yu Nian'an as quickly as possible.
"An! Can you hear me?! Come down now!" Qi Xia shouted again.
The entire building was shaking, and the deafening noise quickly drowned out Qi Xia's voice.
"An..." Qi Xia steadied himself and continued running up the stairs.
But an earthquake disrupts a normal person's sense of balance, let alone running up stairs. Qi Xia could only feel his legs covered in bruises from all the falls, yet he continued climbing with both hands and feet.
If Yu Nian'an died in this earthquake, Qi Xia would have no reason to go on living either.
"Damn it... still shaking..."
Qi Xia fell again, his entire knee going numb.
He had seen news reports that the most intense tremors usually lasted only a short time, at most three minutes.
But Qi Xia felt the ground had been shaking for nearly five minutes already, with no sign of stopping.
Just how massive an earthquake was this?
Finally, dragging his battered body, Qi Xia reached the third floor.
The building continued to shake persistently. Qi Xia wanted to knock, but then remembered Yu Nian'an might be hiding under a table—running around randomly would be more dangerous. So he pulled out his keys from his pocket.
But he simply couldn't insert the key into the lock.
He was shaking, his hands were shaking, the building was shaking.
Everything in his field of vision was shaking. In the distance, loud crashes continued, along with the sound of breaking glass.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
Qi Xia gripped the key with both hands and finally jammed it into the lock.
With a click, the door swung open.
"An!! Are you in here?" Qi Xia shouted, but the room was utterly silent.
He suddenly realized something.
No one answered. There was only one possibility.
Yu Nian'an had already left the house.
Qi Xia turned to leave without a second thought, but then remembered the phone call Yu Nian'an had made to him.
"No, there's a second possibility..."
She had collapsed from illness!
Qi Xia was suddenly caught in a dilemma. The entire building was shaking more and more violently. If he didn't escape soon, he would surely die here.
But he absolutely could not abandon Yu Nian'an.
"An! Are you in here?"
Qi Xia pushed the door open and entered the room. The empty room had no one speaking. A few simple pieces of furniture were tilted and scattered from the earthquake. Qi Xia glanced under the small dining table—it was empty.
"Not here... maybe in the bedroom?"
He grabbed the single sofa and trudged forward, reaching the bedroom door in three or five steps.
If Yu Nian'an was still home, she could only be in here.
"An!"
The moment he pushed the door open, Qi Xia showed a hint of relief. There was no one in the bedroom at all. The only things in sight were a desk and a chair.
Qi Xia let out a long breath. He knew Yu Nian'an had most likely already escaped to safety. Even if he died now, there was nothing to fear.
Just as he was about to turn and flee, he suddenly froze as if struck by lightning.
Something wasn't right.
A creeping chill gradually rose in Qi Xia's heart, making every hair on his body stand on end. He couldn't calm down for a long time.
Amid the massive earthquake, Qi Xia turned his head blankly and looked at this strange "bedroom."
Why was there only a desk and a chair?
Where was the bed?
Completely ignoring the small debris falling from the ceiling, he walked step by step to the desk. In his memory, there was a photo of himself and Yu Nian'an on the table.
But when Qi Xia approached and picked up the photo, he found only his own dazed face in the picture.
He stood expressionlessly by the sea, staring at the camera, leaving behind this lonely photo.
"An...?"
Qi Xia seemed to lose his mind. The balance he had just regained disappeared completely.
He felt the world spin and returned to a state of stumbling with every step. He fell countless times before crawling back to the living room.
There was a single sofa and a small dining table for one.
The room didn't even have a seat prepared for a second person.
"What the hell..." Qi Xia revealed a desperate smile. "What the hell are you people playing at with me?!"
He thought of something else, scrambled to the door, and found a small shoe cabinet there.
Qi Xia gritted his teeth and opened the cabinet door.
Inside was only a pair of men's leather shoes.
From the inside out, this room had no trace of Yu Nian'an having lived here.
Qi Xia suddenly lost all his strength and slumped to the ground.
Every memory of being with Yu Nian'an was vivid before his eyes.
The scent of her body, the warmth of her palm, the curved eyes when she smiled—every detail Qi Xia remembered clearly.
But why wasn't she here at all?!
Qi Xia couldn't understand.
He couldn't understand anything that had happened.
Yu Nian'an had called him less than an hour ago. How could she not be here...?
Qi Xia tremblingly pulled out his phone from his pocket and dialed "A" again.
He slowly swallowed, his entire body shaking uncontrollably. It seemed he already sensed what was coming.
"Hello, the number you dialed is not in service. Please check and dial again."
As the cold bilingual recording played, Qi Xia's phone slipped from his hand and fell to the floor.
This was too terrifying.
Yu Nian'an... doesn't exist?
"Impossible..." Qi Xia's eyes suddenly became firm. He could clearly recall the first time he met Yu Nian'an, and he could remember every day they lived together.
She couldn't possibly not exist.
"Qi Xia, you know?" Yu Nian'an's voice echoed in his mind. "There are many roads in this world, and everyone has their own."
Qi Xia suddenly stood up, standing erect in the shaking room. He thought for a moment, then walked to the bedroom again. Without a word, he pulled open the wardrobe.
Among the many men's clothes hung an old white shirt.
He took the white shirt and flipped it over. On the chest was sewn a patch of a cartoon sheep.
Yu Nian'an had sewn it by hand.
Qi Xia never mended clothes; torn clothes were simply thrown away. If Yu Nian'an didn't exist, this little sheep shouldn't exist either.
"Damn it... I understand..." Qi Xia looked up coldly toward the window. "Zhongyan Land... you want to drive me crazy? You want me to think I'm a madman?"
He slowly stood up, his expression filled with unprecedented hatred.
"Even if you are 'gods,' I'll make you give Yu Nian'an back to me."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Qi Xia saw huge cracks splitting open in the sky outside the window. The gaps were filled with pitch black, like an endless universe.
The entire ceiling also came crashing down at that moment. With a world-shattering roar, Qi Xia was crushed under the falling rubble.
In his dying moments, Lin Qin's voice sounded in his ears.
"I'm really curious about you."
"I don't mean to offend you, but you're a liar. What kind of person is your wife?"
"You have a wife... even if the two of you live together, you still sleep sitting up every night?"