Chapter 144: I’m Not Coming
"If you cannot bring your family to your shelter, then you will come home to us."
Rong Jianfeng’s command left no room for another explanation.
He was no longer asking Jingwei to inspect the building, arrange supplies or restore order. He expected his son to leave Xiling and share whatever happened to the people inside Rong headquarters.
Jingwei understood the demand because part of him wanted to obey it.
It was the part didn’t care that the roads had become impassable or that his arrival wouldn’t add a single day to the building’s remaining supplies.
Instead, it saw his mother kneeling beside an unconscious relative and his sister standing in yesterday’s clothing, her face reddened by the increasing temperature.
It told him that a son belonged with his family.
"I can’t reach you," Jingwei replied.
His father’s expression hardened. "You have spent your life finding routes other people considered impossible."
Jingwei had found those routes because they existed, even if no one else possessed the skill, resources or determination to recognize them. His father had mistaken that ability for the power to create options where none remained.
"Those routes existed," Jingwei reminded him. "This one doesn’t."
Rong Jianfeng rejected the distinction with a sharp movement of his hand. "Then find one that does."
Jingwei’s attention moved toward the garage status displayed beside the call. Three vehicles remained charged, cooled and stocked for evacuation.
And not a single one could cross Yunzhou.
Even if one succeeded, it would only carry him toward a building he couldn’t save.
"It wouldn’t matter if I found a route," he admitted. "Coming to headquarters would add another person who needs water and cooling."
"It would bring us you."
His mother’s quiet response reached him more easily than his father’s anger.
Su Lihua looked exhausted. Damp strands of hair clung to her face, and the sleeves of her blouse remained wet from the cloths she had used to cool her sister-in-law. Qinghe had warned her to rest, but she hadn’t moved from the conference room.
Jingwei wanted to cross the distance between them.
He wanted to take the cloth from her hands, force his relatives to cooperate and restore order before fear dismantled everything he had arranged.
The desire didn’t create a way to do any of it.
Hanchuan remained beside Zhiyi without interfering.
Jingwei resented him for the silence.
An order to remain inside Xiling would have given him something to place between himself and his family. He could have blamed Hanchuan’s refusal, the shelter protocols or the risk to the others.
His friend gave him nowhere to hide.
Rong Jianfeng noticed where Jingwei’s attention had gone and interpreted his silence as submission to someone else’s authority.
"You’re allowing Pei Hanchuan to decide whether you return to your own family."
The accusation drew Jingwei’s gaze back to the screen.
He had spent his life obeying his father whenever the Rong Family required something from him, but remaining inside Xiling wasn’t another order he had accepted without question.
"I’m deciding."
"Then why are you still standing in his shelter?"
Because Zhiyi had been right.
Because Hanchuan had called him 27 days earlier and offered him the chance to survive.
Because remaining inside Xiling meant living, while returning to Rong headquarters meant dying beside people he loved.
"I’m here because leaving would accomplish nothing," Jingwei answered.
"Your mother and sister are trapped inside this building," shouted Rong Jianfeng as he rose from his chair. "Our relatives are becoming ill, and you are living comfortably with five people who apparently matter more than we do. Do not tell me your absence accomplishes nothing."
The camera showed his family’s heat-reddened faces.
Behind Jingwei, Xiling’s cooling system maintained a steady temperature. His breakfast remained unfinished on the table, and clean water filled the glass beside it.
He understood what they saw.
Six people had everything they needed.
His family did not.
Xinyi followed his gaze past the camera and found Zhiyi sitting beneath Hanchuan’s hand.
"Is this because of her?"
The accusation stripped away Jingwei’s guilt. Whatever he owed his family, he wouldn’t allow them to make Zhiyi responsible for decisions she had given them the opportunity to make.
His posture straightened as he focused on his sister.
"Be careful what you accuse her of, Xinyi."
His sister flinched, but fear pushed her onward. "You barely knew her a month ago. Hanchuan married her, put her inside a shelter and decided everything else had to be saved for her. Now you’re choosing her warning over your family."
"This isn’t Zhiyi’s fault."
"Then why is she there when we aren’t?"
Hanchuan’s hand settled more firmly against the back of Zhiyi’s chair.
Jingwei stepped closer to the communications wall before his friend could respond.
"She’s there because she knew what was coming. She gave us 27 days to prepare. Without her, none of you would have reached headquarters before the roads failed."
"We went there because you told us to," Xinyi argued.
"I told you because she was right."
"Then why didn’t you take us somewhere safe?"
The question stripped the anger from the room.
His mother looked at him differently.
Jingwei had placed them inside Rong headquarters, supervised the emergency modifications and filled several floors with supplies. They had believed he was preparing their refuge.
He had known it wasn’t one of the nine shelters.
"You knew," Xinyi whispered. "You knew we weren’t going with you."
Jingwei didn’t insult her with a denial.
His mother closed her eyes.
"You brought us here and left," she murmured. "You knew the building wouldn’t protect us for long."
"I knew it was your best chance."
"A chance for what?"
He couldn’t tell her that Zhiyi remembered four years of Heat.
The people inside Rong headquarters were already resisting water restrictions and refusing to leave private offices. If they learned that the disaster would outlast every supply stored in the building, fear would destroy what remained of their discipline.
Jingwei needed them to follow instructions before they could survive long enough to face the truth.
"Right now, you have a functioning building and a plan," he replied. "Follow it. Move everyone into the protected areas and stop wasting resources on people who refuse to cooperate."
Rong Jianfeng returned to the desk.
"You are still avoiding the choice," he hissed, his voice dropping like he didn’t recognize his own son.
"There is no choice that changes what you need to do."
"There is." His father placed both hands on the desktop. "You can remember who your family is."
The accusation reached deeper than any practical argument.
Jingwei had chosen Hanchuan long before Zhiyi entered their lives. Their friendship had survived their families’ expectations, corporate conflicts and dangers neither household knew existed.
When Hanchuan called and asked him to prepare for an impossible disaster, Jingwei had trusted him.
He hadn’t understood that surviving beside his friend might require refusing everyone else he loved.
His father looked beyond him.
"If you value my son as much as he values you, you will understand why he has to leave."
Hanchuan met the older man’s gaze.
"If Jingwei chooses to go, I won’t imprison him."
Jingwei experienced no relief.
He had wanted Hanchuan to stop him. His friend had recognized that desire and refused to carry the responsibility for his decision.
Xinyi wiped the tears from her cheeks.
"Of course he’ll let you leave. He already has what he wants."
Her attention returned to Zhiyi.
"He has his wife, his shelters and his future. What does he lose if you die with us?"
"That’s enough."
Jingwei’s voice silenced her before Hanchuan could speak.
A security officer entered his father’s office and reported that several senior relatives continued refusing relocation. An argument had also begun outside the residential showers after someone attempted to fill private containers despite the water restrictions.
Rong headquarters was deteriorating while his family demanded that he prove his love by joining them.
Jingwei looked at his mother, who was exhausting herself caring for relatives who ignored Qinghe’s instructions. He looked at Xinyi, whose fear needed someone to blame. Finally, he looked at his father, who still believed authority could force the world to obey him.
Jingwei loved them.
That love was the reason he had placed guards at every water station, prepared the protected floors and given them the best instructions available.
It was also the reason he couldn’t give them what they wanted.
If he attempted to reach Rong headquarters, they would wait for him instead of accepting that no rescue was coming.
His father would continue fighting to preserve the family’s old hierarchy, his mother would continue sacrificing herself for every relative and Xinyi would continue believing her brother could make the impossible disappear.
They needed to understand that Jingwei wouldn’t arrive and restore their former lives.
They needed to begin surviving without him.
He faced his family and gave them the only answer that might keep them alive.
"I’m not coming."