Shrouded Seascape

Li Lu was still in the middle of her postpartum recovery, so the consecutive car and train rides left her extremely exhausted. Fortunately, they found a hotel that didn't require any identification cards to check in.

"Can you let my mom rest for a while? She has just given birth, and I'm just a baby as well," Tobba grumbled.

Anna couldn't be bothered to pay any attention to Tobba.

She bent down to open her suitcase, revealing a man's suit and a clown mask. She took out the clothes and the clown mask. She tossed them aside, and the suit puffed up, transforming into a masked clown.

"You're in someone's arms all day, so how can you even get tired? And we're already here, so come with me in a bit."

Upon hearing that, Tobba sat up straight in his swaddling clothes. His eyes were wide open as he exclaimed, "We're already here?!"

Anna slammed the suitcase shut with both hands. "Charles must be living in a neighborhood not far away from the sea. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for him to go out at sea and fall into the waters."

"Do I really have to go?" Tobba asked, "I need my afternoon nap. Do you not know that babies must get twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep every day? Otherwise, their development will be affected."

Anna strode over and snatched Tobba directly from Li Lu's arms.

Li Lu reached out to snatch her son back, but her hands were stopped dead in their tracks by a line of magic streamers. Obviously, it was the clown's doing.

"Mask, keep an eye on her until my return," Anna remarked.

The clown raised his right hand clad in a pristine white glove and made an "OK" gesture to Anna.

Anna held Tobba in her arms and walked slowly down the street as if she were an ordinary mother. While rocking the baby in her arms, Anna observed the neighborhood around her.

Anna wasn't just familiar with this neighborhood—she was extremely familiar with it. She had created an identical neighborhood atop the World's Crown in an attempt to stop Charles from risking his life out at sea.

Of course, her efforts were in vain. Now that she thought about it, she realized just how foolish she had been. She had done so much for him, and how had he repaid her in the end?

Anna was filled with a hodgepodge of emotions at the scenery before her.

"Young lady, are you looking for someone?" the elderly guard of the neighborhood asked, looking up from his booth to stare at Anna with his pair of reading glasses.

Anna turned to look at the distant building and replied, "I just gave birth, so I came here to visit my parents' home."

Upon hearing that, the elderly man shrank back and said, "Oh, then come here and write your name down. What are your parents' names, and what's their unit number?"

The elderly guard took out the logbook and a pen, but he received no response from the woman, so he looked up to find no one.

"Huh? What's going on here? Where did she go?"

The woman who had just been standing right in front of him had inexplicably disappeared.

Meanwhile, the woman had already disappeared into the neighborhood. She looked up and stared quietly at the fifth floor of a residential building before eventually walking up the stairs.

As Anna climbed the steps one by one, Tobba in her arms seemed to have sensed something. "How do you feel? Are you nervous now? Are you really nervous? Have you ever thought about what you're going to do upon seeing him for the first time?

"I feel like there's something wrong with your attitude whenever he's mentioned, but he's just a child at the moment, so you're not going to torture him, are you?"

Instead of replying, Anna shoved her finger into Tobba's mouth, silencing him in an instant.

Flyers advertising a variety of services were all over the walls, and the sight of them reminded Anna of Charles' memories related to this stairwell. He was born here, and he grew up here. Everything here was a part of his memories.

Anna felt like she could hear the boisterous laughter of Gao Zhiming and his sister playing together in this stairwell.

She could even see a young Charles running down the stairwell, and his clothes were changing constantly—from children's clothes, brand-new clothes for the New Year, the old-fashioned blue-and-white P.E uniform of his elementary school to his sports uniform that got dirty from playing soccer.

Anna also saw Charles clad in fatigues for his military training in middle school; there was also another blue-and-white P.E uniform, and then she saw him clad in a school uniform that got torn because he stood up for his sister.

Eventually, Anna saw Charles clad in his high school uniform and casual clothes to play with his classmates; she even saw Charles sporting a unique hairstyle to challenge the rules of his school.

Anna had forgotten these scenes long ago, but the familiar environment provided the impetus for Anna to remember all of them. In the end, she could finally recall everything that Charles had experienced here.

Anna's heart trembled slightly at the familiar scenery, and she felt like her heart was connected to Charles' heart.

She finally understood why he was so determined and desperate to return home. Compared to life in the Subterranean Sea, life in this quaint neighborhood was like living in paradise.

Upon recalling what Charles had done to her, however, Anna's heart was engulfed in fury—fury so towering that it threatened to engulf her at once.

Meanwhile, Tobba was gnawing on Anna's finger with his toothless gums and was mumbling something indecipherable.

Anna pulled her finger out and smacked his face lightly.

Tobba instantly became obedient.

Anna took her sweet time on her journey to the fifth floor, but regardless of her speed, she'd eventually reach her destination.

Soon, Anna was standing in front of a red locked door on the fifth floor. She was standing right in front of Charles's home—the home he had always been yearning to return to all the time.

Taking a deep breath, Anna reached out and pressed on the doorbell.

Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang, but no one answered the door.

Anna frowned slightly and rang the doorbell again. Still, no one opened the door.

"Today isn't a holiday, nor is there a festival out there. Where did the family of four go?" Anna muttered to herself.

Just as she was about to force her way in, an elderly voice echoed from the stairwell behind her. "Who are you looking for? Why are you ringing our doorbell?"

Anna turned and saw an old lady carrying a vegetable basket. The old lady had a stern face—the kind of face that one would never call "amiable."

Was she Charles' maternal or paternal grandmother? Anna tried to recall anything about the old lady, but she hadn't really paid much attention to Charles' relatives.

"Hello, I'm looking for a boy named Gao Zhiming. Is he home?"

"Gao Zhiming? I don't know him! You've got the wrong place!" the old lady exclaimed. She held the stair railing and walked up to Anna. Then, she took out a key from her waist and got ready to open the door.

"Waaah! Wah! Wah! Ungeee!" Tobba wailed at the top of his lungs from out of nowhere; he was wailing so loud that his face was turning red.

The old lady had just inserted the key into the keyhole, and she paused upon hearing Tobba's cries.

"Can't you see that your child is crying from hunger?" the old lady remarked, sounding displeased, "What kind of mother doesn't feed her child right away? Hurry up and feed him!"

A murderous glint flashed in Anna's eyes, but she suppressed it and replied, "I just fed him, so It's fine. Anyway, can I ask whether this apartment belongs to you, or are you renting it from someone else?"

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