The glow of the phone screen was glaringly harsh in the pitch-black room. Wendy Lynch stared at the email from the future. It felt as though all the blood had been instantly drained from her body, leaving her hands and feet ice-cold.
[Over 80% severe burns across the body]
[Not sure if the child will survive the critical period]
These few lines were like red-hot steel needles piercing mercilessly into her nerves. The relaxation and comfort of the day vanished without a trace, replaced by a deep chill seeping from her very bones.
Should she call the police? The thought flashed through her mind for only a second before she immediately dismissed it. How would she explain the source of the information? Tell them she had received an email from the future? By the time the police believed her, if they didn’t just laugh it off as a joke, precious rescue time would have been wasted.
She glanced at Charlotte Lynch, who was sleeping soundly beside her with a faint smile on her lips, and couldn’t bear to wake her. She had to handle this matter herself. Wendy quietly threw off the covers and tiptoed around to get dressed.
She picked up the hotel brochure from the table and quickly opened the scenic area’s digital map on her phone. Her brain worked in overdrive, matching the keywords from the email. An eighty-degree hot spring... Without a fence...
On the map, open-air hot spring pools of various sizes were dotted all over the area. There were at least a dozen with temperatures hovering around eighty degrees. Searching alone in the dead of night for an unfenced hot spring pool was not only like finding a needle in a haystack, but it was also fraught with danger. No, she needed help.
Taking a deep breath, Wendy forced herself to calm down. She grabbed her room key and hurried out. The hotel corridor was completely empty in the middle of the night, the thick carpet absorbing the sound of her footsteps.
"Hello, how can I help you?" The receptionist at the front desk wore a professional smile.
"Hi," Wendy said, trying her best to keep her voice steady. "I accidentally dropped a necklace while I was touring the area earlier today. But it’s too dark outside now, and I’m a bit scared to go out alone. Could you trouble someone to accompany me to look for it? I can pay a little extra for the overtime." With that, she pulled out five hundred yuan in cash.
Although the excuse was a bit far-fetched, fulfilling a guest’s request was a fundamental service at a five-star hotel. The receptionist didn’t ask any questions and immediately contacted the security department via walkie-talkie. Soon, a burly middle-aged man in a security uniform walked over.
"Miss, I can accompany you," he offered.
"Thank you."
As the two stepped out of the brightly lit hotel lobby, a blast of damp, cold air tinged with the smell of sulfur hit them. The scenic area, which had looked shrouded in ethereal mist during the day, now appeared somewhat eerie under the cover of night. The white steam rising from the hot springs drifted through the woods like predatory phantoms waiting to devour their prey. It was a good thing she had someone with her. Otherwise, she probably would have been scared to death halfway there before even finding the spot.
The security guard was clearly very familiar with the area. Sweeping his flashlight around, he led Wendy to inspect the pools one by one. They checked seven or eight hot springs in a row, but none matched the description in the email.
Wendy’s heart sank little by little. Had the information in the email been wrong? Or had she misunderstood it? Logically speaking, an eighty-degree hot spring was basically only good for viewing. For the safety of the tourists, fences and other safety measures would definitely be installed. It seemed highly unlikely that such a professional scenic resort would leave such a glaring loophole.
Seeing her brows furrowed in worry, the security guard comforted her. "Don’t worry, miss. There is still the Divine Turtle Spring ahead. It’s the last high-temperature pool in this area. Let’s go take a look."
The two bypassed a dense bamboo grove, and an irregularly shaped hot spring pool came into view. In the center of the pool rested a massive black stone turtle. Its back was densely covered in coins that glinted faintly in the beam of the flashlight. Evidently, it was yet another deliberately designed wishing spot.
Wendy’s gaze quickly swept around the perimeter of the pool. The entire pool was enclosed by a waist-high faux-wood fence. This wasn’t it either... How could this be? All the hot spring pools that met the criteria had been checked, and all of them had safe fencing.
Wendy even began to doubt whether her future self had gotten the information wrong. Maybe the hot spring where the accident happened wasn’t eighty degrees, but seventy, or some other temperature. However, just as she was about to turn and leave, a strange reflection flashed into her line of sight. She squinted. The source of the reflection was a metal warning sign.
But wait. She looked closer and finally realized that because it was too dark, her earlier observation had been flawed. There was indeed a fence around the Divine Turtle Spring, but it didn’t completely enclose the pool. The reason was simple: the inner side of the Divine Turtle Spring was pressed tightly against a steep, natural rock cliff. It was virtually impossible for a normal person to climb up the rock face, so the staff subconsciously assumed that this spot didn’t need a fence. As a result, the fence around the Divine Turtle Spring enclosed it on three sides but left the fourth completely open.
However, the staff had clearly overlooked certain special circumstances—such as children with more unpredictable thought processes. If a child climbed onto the rocks, they could very easily slip and fall into the water.
This was it. She had found it.
Wendy’s taut nerves finally relaxed a little, but a thornier problem quickly followed. She had found the location, but what about the time of the accident tomorrow? The email didn’t mention it at all. Did she have to stake out this spot from early tomorrow morning until the parent and child appeared? That was completely unrealistic, and her strange behavior would very likely arouse suspicion.
"Miss?" the security guard couldn’t help but ask when he saw her staring blankly at the rock cliff for a long time. "Excuse me, Ms. Lynch. If we can’t find it, we could always take another lap, or perhaps take our time searching for it tomorrow during the day?"
After all, having received a five-hundred-yuan tip for his overtime, the security guard’s customer service attitude was quite excellent.
Wendy snapped back to reality. Her mind raced, and a bold plan slowly took shape. She turned her head, displaying just the right hint of fluster and relief on her face. "I’m so sorry. I just remembered—I think I tucked my necklace into the inner compartment of my bag."
Hearing that she hadn’t lost her necklace, the security guard didn’t show any dissatisfaction. Instead, he smiled. "It’s good that you didn’t lose anything, Ms. Lynch. Should we... head back now?"
Wendy nodded. "Let’s do that." She paused briefly, then pointed at the rock cliff behind the Divine Turtle Spring. "By the way, I don’t think this spot is very safe. I traveled to Riverton a while ago, and there was a similar pool in one of the parks there. When we visited, a mischievous kid happened to climb up the rocks, lost his footing, and fell into the pool. Fortunately, the pool wasn’t deep, and the child wasn’t hurt. But it’s different here—that’s an eighty-degree boiling hot spring down there. If a child accidentally falls in, you’ll have a massive problem on your hands."
Hearing this, the security guard shone his flashlight toward the rocks and nodded in agreement. "It is indeed a bit dangerous. Since there haven’t been any accidents before, no one paid much attention to it. Tell you what, I’ll report this situation to our manager tomorrow."