Chapter 650 - 665: Different

"I have no home now." The old woman’s cry struck a chord with An Ning.

She wanted to say something comforting, but she remembered the old woman lived all by herself. This house held all of her memories.

’With the house gone, everything really is gone.’

The four of them came up from the bottom of the stairs. Jack kept muttering, "Oh my God, oh my God." He lifted one foot but had absolutely no idea where to put it down.

The floor was littered with the old woman’s belongings—photographs, her favorite bowls and chopsticks, cherished handmade crafts, balls of yarn. Every item he saw made Jack pull his raised foot back again.

In the end, he placed his foot on top of his other one.

Seeing this, An Ning thought for the first time that this "arrogant" Jack was actually a little bit cute.

"Oh, Jack, please, have mercy on your poor foot."

The old woman chuckled at Jack’s antics. A relieved smile spread across her face as she said, "It’s alright. You can’t do any more damage to them."

Jack gave an awkward but adorable laugh and finally lowered his other foot. He stood there, at a complete loss, and asked, "So, what do we do now?"

’Yeah, what *do* we do now?’

An Ning looked at the house. Its roof was gone, and two of its walls had been blown away completely. Branches and decaying leaves covered everything inside.

"Let’s go outside and see."

An Ning led the way out. She didn’t even need to open a door.

The scene outside wasn’t much better than the one inside.

Neighbors emerged one by one to survey the damage, all sighing and lamenting the destruction.

It had been years since they’d seen a storm this bad.

An Ning and Jiang Xia stood back, watching the old woman talk with her neighbors.

"The planes definitely won’t be flying."

"Looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a few days."

They exchanged a look and decided to head back inside to find their IDs.

Jack had the same idea. You could lose your luggage and clothes, but losing your ID was a massive headache.

The old woman didn’t talk for long. She soon returned to her house to search for anything valuable.

The four of them rummaged through the debris. About ten minutes later, they heard Jack let out a cheer. He had found his wallet.

Waving his wallet in the air, Jack ran over to where An Ning and Jiang Xia were, holding it up and doing a little dance.

"I found it! I found it! I’m so lucky!"

Jack’s celebration might have been a bit ill-timed, but it brought a genuine spark of joy.

At least it was *some* good news, right?

Next, the old woman found a photo album. She sat alone on the staircase, a happy smile on her face.

The damage to the house didn’t seem to matter anymore. All she cared about were these memories.

An Ning and Jiang Xia found their suitcase too, and with it, their IDs. It was a huge stroke of luck amid all the misfortune.

The atmosphere lightened a little after that. They found moments of joy amidst the hardship, celebrating the discovery of an undamaged loaf of bread and cheering when they found a bottle of Coke.

The four of them cleared the debris out of the house and salvaged what drinking water and food they could. Under the rainbow that appeared after the storm, they sat on the front steps. Each held a slice of bread, a bottle of Coke, or a half-full can of milk, and they raised them for a toast.

Jack raised his can of milk toward the rainbow.

"To us. We’re still alive."

"To us. To being alive."

The four of them touched their makeshift glasses together, toasting to life.

After a lunch that couldn’t have been any simpler, the four of them went back to cleaning up.

When night fell, many people were outside, wrapped in blankets to get through the night.

An Ning and the other three didn’t go out. They stayed inside, using whatever they could find to build a temporary shelter, and waited.

"Generally, when do rescue teams get here?"

"I don’t know. And what could they do if they did come?"

The old woman looked at An Ning and Jiang Xia, not quite understanding.

’What can rescue teams do? So, so much.’

An Ning told the old woman about a flood she had experienced before. The old woman shook her head again and again as she listened.

"Impossible! How could that be?"

"Your soldiers do things like that? Heavens, that’s unbelievable!"

The old woman was stunned by this glimpse into Eastern culture. It was the first time she’d ever heard of soldiers doing so many different things.

She had always thought their only job was to fight wars.

Their second day on the island, An Ning and Jiang Xia had endured the storm.

The third day was another day of patching things up.

Truly, no one came to offer any real aid. Only the local fire department was performing some rescues, but they were focused on emergencies.

For people like the old woman, they could go to a local church where blankets and food were being distributed, but that was the extent of the help available.

The old woman didn’t leave. An Ning, Jiang Xia, and Jack didn’t leave either—mostly because they couldn’t leave even if they wanted to.

Many of the airport’s facilities had been damaged by the wind and needed repairs.

The earliest that flights could possibly resume was a week away.

Jiang Xia and An Ning suddenly felt like fate was truly playing a joke on them.

If they were stuck here for a week, they would have even less time to find Li Chengze.

On top of that, they also had a wedding to attend.

An Ning had contributed the least to this wedding, but Jiang Xia, Lin Cuihua, Grandpa Jiang, and Master Tang had poured an immense amount of effort and care into it.

Jack wanted to leave too. He had a job to get back to, not to mention a wife and kids at home.

On the way back from the airport, Jack sighed. "If only we could make a call. I wonder when the signal will be back."

"I have a phone. You can use it to let your family know you’re safe."

An Ning offered him her phone, but Jack didn’t take it. "I have a phone," he said, "but there’s no signal."

"I know. That’s why I’m telling you to use mine."

An Ning insisted. Jack finally took the phone, dialed the number he knew by heart, and it connected.

Jack’s eyes went wide. He pointed a finger at the phone, sputtering, trying to say something, but the call was answered almost immediately.

"Honey, I’m fine! I’m okay, I’m safe."

After reassuring his wife, his tone quickly softened. He must have been talking to his child.

"Okay, I’ll find a way to get back. Don’t you worry."

"Uh-huh. Goodbye. I love you."

Jack hung up and handed the phone back to An Ning. "Thank you."

"Of course. You have a beautiful family."

For the first time, a truly genuine smile spread across Jack’s face.

"My wife is wonderful. She’s very different from you, but I love her very much."

"She doesn’t need to be like me, and I don’t need to be like her. We’re our own people. That’s why you fell in love with her, isn’t it?"

"You’re right. I love my wife for being one of a kind."

The three of them chatted with an ease they hadn’t shared before, and for a moment, it felt like they were old friends.

When the three of them got back to the old woman’s house, she greeted them with good news: a cruise ship was preparing to depart.