Fortunately, there was an elevator on this side of the Zhao Family garage as well. When Shen Jue arrived, Zhao Junxi was loudly shouting Rong Qingqing’s name at a door, and the housekeeper was frantically trying to unlock it with the key.
"Are you sure she’s inside?" Shen Jue asked.
"The Zhao Family’s housekeeper says this is a storage room for tools, and it’s never locked. Today, it was mysteriously locked, but no matter how we call, we haven’t heard Miss Qingqing respond. That’s why we thought to just open the door first," Lin Bufan said, anxiously stomping his feet.
It’s because the door is never locked that when it suddenly was, the housekeeper took several minutes to find the key.
"The door is open!" With everyone staring at him, the housekeeper was sweating profusely. The door to this storage room had never been closed, so the key was left casually with the rest of the keys.
The housekeeper just grabbed one key based on memory and tried it. Luckily, it worked on the first try.
This storage room housed some tools, like a lawnmower. The storage room wasn’t large and didn’t have windows; once the door was locked, not even air could circulate inside.
Zhao Junxi was the first to walk in and was almost choked by the air inside.
"Rong Qingqing!" Zhao Junxi shouted, his voice echoing in the pitch dark in front of him where he couldn’t see anything.
The housekeeper felt around at the entrance and then turned on the light in the storage room.
As the light came on, everything in the room, along with the people in it, came into full view.
Seeing this, Zhao Junxi noticed Rong Qingqing, who hadn’t responded to their calls, was curled up sitting on the floor, hugging her knees, and burying her head in them.
She was curled up there, trembling all over.
"Rong Qingqing!" Zhao Junxi walked over and reached out to nudge Rong Qingqing. "We’ve been calling you, why aren’t you responding? I almost thought you weren’t here."
Zhao Junxi complained to Rong Qingqing, but when he saw no reaction, he reached out to nudge her again.
Unexpectedly, with just that nudge, Rong Qingqing toppled over while maintaining her curled-up posture.
It was as if something had restrained her; she trembled all over but didn’t move.
"Rong Qingqing, you..." Zhao Junxi was taken aback, turning to look at the crowd standing outside. "What’s happened to her? It’s like she can’t hear anything."
"Claustrophobia in specific environments." Follow current novels on N0v3l.Fiɾe.net
Rong Kuo stood outside the door, his eyes full of astonishment.
"She’s already entered a state of self-protection, where she can’t hear us," Rong Kuo said. "Let the one closest to her, the one she trusts, call her repeatedly. That might get a response."
"She might respond to the voices of those she holds dear and trusts," Rong Kuo urged, "Mr. Shen, quickly! And also, get her to the hospital as soon as possible!"
No one noticed that as Rong Kuo was speaking, the hand of the trembling person curled up on the ground moved slightly, her fingertips extending as if reaching for something.
Shen Jue stepped forward, looking at the person trembling on the ground, feeling as if a huge chunk had been suddenly scooped out of his chest.
"Rong Qingqing." Shen Jue began to speak, only then realizing that even his voice was trembling.
He slowly bent down, then carefully, gently—as if handling a fragile porcelain doll—gently lifted the person from the floor onto his own lap, wrapping his arms tightly around her.
"Rong Qingqing." Shen Jue called her name again, then maneuvered the wheelchair to move backward while gently kissing her on the forehead.
Extremely gentle, yet exceptionally heart-wrenching.