A Graduation Gift

Cassandra was the person Dylon least expected to see here. The situation had been so dangerous, with aftershocks seizing the location every other minute. It boggled him how Cassandra managed to drive up here despite the risk.

"I can't go back now. I need to find Maggie's uncle and his family!"

Cassandra said stubbornly.

Dylon looked at Maggie whose eyes were red and swollen. Her hand was being held by Cassandra tightly. He frowned slightly before answering, "Park the car at the town hall nearby and get on the ambulance with us!"

Dylon pointed at the vehicle he just got out of.

Cassandra smiled at him, grateful with his offer.

"Thank you so much, Dylon!" she exclaimed as she hurried over to the car and drove towards the town hall.

Once she was done, she and Maggie ran to the ambulance and rode with Dylon on the way to A City. Everything was in ruins. The roads were all destroyed, and buildings kept crumbling apart.

"My team was dispatched to the site near the home of Maggie's uncle. You two can come with us. But you must follow me closely,"

Dylon explained to Cassandra and Maggie. They had started to formulate a plan just to ensure all their safeties.

Maggie's uncle lived near the school, where he and his wife worked as teachers.

The house was crumbling and bound to fall any time soon. It was just a good thing that her uncle and his family weren't there. However, some necessities in the house were gone.

Cassandra noted that the towels and quilt were gone. "Your uncle must've come back to take them out somewhere else. Don't worry, Maggie. They probably went to an emergency shelter nearby,"

Cassandra reassured. Maggie's face softened upon hearing her manager's words.

"Thank you, Manager Qin. I'll go and search around in a bit. I saw some tents by the playground when we passed,"

Maggie said excitedly, trying to look for a few supplies before heading out herself. Cassandra followed suit.

The playground was crowded with people. Maggie searched around several times but failed to see her uncle and his family.

Cassandra, however, was determined to find him. She took Maggie to the broadcast station and asked the broadcaster to page Maggie's uncle for them over the loudspeaker.

It only took a few minutes until a middle-aged man peered out of one of the tents. Maggie immediately recognized him and ran towards the tent. The man smiled as she rushed over to him.

"Maggie! What are you doing here?"

The man's eyes were watering from happiness. He never would have expected for Maggie to appear in A City.

"Uncle!"

immediately ran into her uncle's arms and wailed. She was so happy to

reunion. She revelled in the comforting feeling of bringing the family together, trying to dispel the ache in her

her mother, Edith, was

her out of her thoughts. "Uncle, this is Manager Qin. She came with me all the way

beamed at Cassandra gleefully.

and a gentle stature. He wore a pair of glasses to frame his face, which shifted downwards as he looked at Cassandra, holding his hand out to her. Cassandra immediately

way to bring Maggie here. Your journey must have been so dangerous. From the bottom of

uncle was well aware that it wasn't an easy task to accompany someone to such a dangerous place. It also was a rare sight to see a manager going at such great lengths for

been just as worried about Maggie's well-being, especially when he lost contact with her. At least he could rest easy now, since they were all

cousin brother contacted

about whether her cousin brother had contacted

I have no son like

and angry tone. The mere mention of his son's name made him

and held her tongue back. She

Your aunt and cousin sister are not far from here. I'm sure you'd

it. However, he

there's quite a shortage of food and water here at the evacuation center. We do have enough food with us, however. Would you like to join us for

shook her head and declined

with your

planning their entry into one

Dylon, who she found waiting in

in shambles. What was once a tall building had been reduced to two floors. The first floor had sunken so far below that it caved into a basement. Cassandra noted that because of the storm and earthquake, the area was

scaffolding seemed to still be intact but only barely, which was why the search and

was using the thermal imaging to find missing persons underground. They were extremely focused and diligent with their work; a

Are there people still

Dylon as she approached. He was worrying a pen in

we thought that everyone was evacuated. It wasn't as crowded as the other areas since this was a pretty old building and there were only a few business centers inside. However one of the evacuees warned us that the building's security team was still trapped inside. We're trying to find

expression. The rescue

so that if the rescue team managed to

for a day

lives at stake. The rescue team was just about ready to go inside; and Dylon and

We're not even sure if the building's stable enough to do a rescue operation. But it's a risk we have to take.

He was silently

so risky to bring them

bottom lip between

That's why we're all nervous. It's such a risky operation