Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Deeply Afflicted

Blood flowed out from the wound, soaking the clothes on the body, a horrifying sight.

Apart from the obvious scars on Lin Xu’s cheeks, the other wounds on her body were concealed by fresh blood and indistinguishable in the dark night.

“Are you stupid?” Seeing her severe injuries, Ji Zeqiu’s pupils constricted and a surge of irritation welled up. He clenched a handful of his hair fiercely, “Why didn’t you let go? Was falling down with me fun?”

“Why are you being so fierce! I’m already so badly injured, and you’re still scolding me.” Lin Xu pouted grievously and retorted loudly.

Ji Zeqiu choked and, seeing her teardrop-sized tears and slightly parted lips wanting to say something but hesitating, ultimately didn’t utter a word.

He forced himself to calm down and reached for his mobile phone in his pocket.

His hand touched the silky red robe on his body, and he paused in his actions.

He had been filming just before and did not have his mobile phone with him.

“Do you have your mobile phone?” He turned his head and asked Lin Xu.

Lin Xu felt her pocket, her voice still tinged with a cry, “It’s gone.”

Having rolled down the slope for so long, it was hard to know where it had fallen.

“What else do you have on you that we can use?” Ji Zeqiu asked.

Lin Xu fumbled in her pockets, finally pulling out a cracked, small light stick.

Switching it on, the multicolored light instantly flickered through the pitch-dark forest, resembling the atmosphere lights of a dance floor in a KTV.

“Ji Zeqiu, I love you” – these six small characters on the light stick were clearly visible, striking Ji Zeqiu, causing him to shudder.

In such a dangerous setting, his thoughts were momentarily scattered.

Lin Xu used to say she was his fan.

What type of fan, a girlfriend fan perhaps!?

“Great, it still works!” Lin Xu waved the light stick excitedly.

This was a fan gift from those two girls, only the length of a finger, carelessly stuffed into her pocket.

Unexpectedly, it was actually proving useful now.

A light lit up in the dense forest, dispelling the darkness, comforting Lin Xu somewhat.

The cheerful sound snapped Ji Zeqiu out of his thoughts, his gaze towards the light stick tinged with caution.

“It’s too dark now, it’s not safe to walk around blindly, let’s stay here and rest, the crew members should be looking for us.” Ji Zeqiu walked to a tree, sat down leaning against its trunk,

He shut his eyes. His body ached subtly, and the faint scent of blood entered his nostrils, agitating his nerves.

Lin Xu agreed with his suggestion and seeing Ji Zeqiu a bit far, she propped herself up and walked over to sit beside him.

Ji Zeqiu suddenly opened his eyes: “Why are you coming over?”

“I’m scared alone,” Lin Xu said

Hearing her trembling voice, Ji Zeqiu closed his mouth and ultimately couldn’t bear to push her away.

He crossed his arms, closing his eyes to rest.

Thinking about what to do if they still couldn’t be found by tomorrow.

The whistling wind and the chirping of insects resonated in the quiet forest. The dry branches crackled in the cold wind, the surroundings filled with suffocating terror.

Lin Xu shivered, too anxious to sleep, and initiated conversation with Ji Zeqiu. “Did you fall asleep?”

“…” No response.

“My body hurts so much, my arm hurts, and my head feels dizzy.”

“…”

“I might be dying.” She murmured pitifully.

Ji Zeqiu moved slightly, finally reacting, lifting his dark eyes to glare at her, and said gruffly: “If you don’t want to die, shut your mouth.”

This woman talks so much, it’s making his ears buzz.

Wen Li was always gentle and quiet, never as annoying as her.

“But it hurts so much,” Lin Xu’s lips puckered up again.

Other than bruising her knees when she fell from a tree as a child, this was the most severe injury she had ever suffered.

“My body hurts just as much, but I’m not making a big deal out of it like you,” Ji Zeqiu’s narrow eyes showed a hint of impatience.

“Maybe it’s because my skin is delicate, not tough and thick like yours,” Lin Xu explained.

Ji Zeqiu rolled his eyes, turned over, and faced away from her with his back.

Soon, he felt something poking his back, and a voice rang out at the same time, “Ji Zeqiu, don’t go to sleep yet, talk to me.”

The veins on Ji Zeqiu’s forehead throbbed, he really wanted to sew her mouth shut.

He said impatiently, “Talk about what?”

“You…” Lin Xu hesitated for a while, then asked, “You said before that you hate your mother, why?”

Hearing that statement back then had made Lin Xu depressed for several days.

She had been reflecting on whether she had done something wrong in the past that made him hate her.

As a child, Ji Zeqiu was always the one most attached to her, and as soon as she arrived at the door, he would run to her with tottering steps and dive into her embrace.

At that moment, she would pick up little Zeqiu and receive a slobbery kiss on her cheek amidst his giggling smile.

Back then, he was adorable and clingy, always shouting that his favorite person was his mom.

Yet, twenty years later, she had become the person he hated.

Lin Xu was deeply hurt.

The atmosphere suddenly turned icy cold, and after a long moment, Ji Zeqiu spat out an indifferent phrase, “Who do you think you are? Why should I tell you?”

He apparently didn’t want to discuss it with anyone.

Lin Xu also grew silent, her mood downturned.

After a while, she hugged her arms and whimpered pitifully, “It’s so cold.”

“If it’s cold, endure it.” Already upset about the mention of his mother, Ji Zeqiu grew even more irritated upon hearing her murmurs.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Before Lin Xu could grumble a second time, suddenly a robe was thrown over her head.

She clutched the robe, sobbing with gratitude, her lips slightly parted.

“Say one more word, and I’ll take the robe back,” Ji Zeqiu said coldly.

Fine then.

Lin Xu closed her mouth, covered herself with the robe, and quietly fell asleep.

As time passed, the glow stick placed on the ground for illumination progressively dimmed, casting its last bit of light before plunging into silence, retiring prematurely.

During the early part of the night, Lin Xu was so cold that she clutched her arms tightly but by the latter half, she broke out in a dense sweat. Her back soaked through with sweat as if she were in a steam room, her body burning hot.

“Wake up, someone’s coming.”

“Stop sleeping, wake up.”

“Lin Xu!”

With furrowed brows in distress, Lin Xu was overwhelmed by the heat, unable to muster any strength, unable to open her eyes even though she heard Ji Zeqiu calling her.

However, upon hearing that someone was coming to rescue them, Lin Xu’s tightly wound nerves relaxed, and she fell into a burden-free sleep.

Ji Zeqiu was awakened by the nearby search and rescue sounds. He reached out to push Lin Xu, who had at some point discarded the robe covering her.

In the glaring bright sunlight, Ji Zeqiu finally saw clearly the various shades of wounds covering her body, the crimson blood coagulated, nearly obscuring the original color of her clothes.