They moved swiftly away from the stream.
Emma led the way ahead, deliberately choosing a more difficult but concealed route, using dense vegetation and complex terrain to mask their tracks. Gu Liang followed closely behind. The bandaged palm throbbed intermittently, yet strangely sharpened his focus. He was no longer merely trailing behind; his gaze began to mirror Emma's, scanning the surroundings, watching for snapped branches and potential traces on the ground.
The wails of the bound bandit had long faded behind them. The forest had reclaimed its surface tranquility, yet a palpable sense of danger hung thick in the air like viscous ink, reminding them of the ever-present threat.
After walking for over an hour, Emma slowed her pace. She stopped before an inconspicuous rock wall, thickly covered in vines.
"We'll camp here tonight." She parted the vines to reveal a cave slightly larger than last night's, drier and more concealed. The entrance was narrow, requiring them to duck to enter, but the interior offered enough space for both to stretch out awkwardly. Its elevated position also provided effective cover from some ground-level threats.
Gu Liang raised no objection. The intense mental strain and physical exhaustion had pushed him to his limits.
Upon entering the cave, Emma first scanned the interior with her flashlight, confirming no signs of snakes or insects, then placed her backpack in a corner. Instead of resting immediately, she retrieved her notebook again. By the light filtering through the entrance, she swiftly marked the location of their encounter with the bandits, the stream's position, and their approximate current coordinates on the map.
Gu Liang slumped against the rock wall, exhaustion washing over him like a tide. He watched Emma's focused profile—the fluid strokes of her map-drawing, that innate composure as if born for this wilderness—a stark contrast to any "modern person" he remembered. The fog surrounding her was denser than the Black Forest's night.
"Here." Emma's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. She handed him half a biscuit and a flask of treated stream water. Still splitting the food evenly, still offering it with the same unadorned simplicity.
"Thanks," Gu Liang accepted, his gratitude this time tinged with more sincerity than before. He took small bites of the biscuit, feeling the sugar and calories replenish his weakened body.
The cave fell silent except for the sounds of chewing and drinking. The atmosphere was heavy, yet not awkward. A faint sense of mutual dependence, born from their shared struggle against the enemy, quietly blossomed in the silence.
After finishing their meal, Emma began organizing the items in her backpack, taking stock of their remaining supplies. Gu Liang's gaze fell on a small packet of seeds she had pulled out, and he couldn't help but speak up, his voice sounding slightly jarring in the confined space:
"You brought seeds too?"
Emma didn't pause, carefully tucking the seeds back into an inner pocket. "Yeah. If we find a suitable place to settle, we can't rely solely on hunting and gathering for food."
Settle. The word made Gu Liang's heart skip a beat. He had never thought that far ahead. His goals had always been "escape" and "survival." But Emma, it seemed, had been planning for the "future" from the very beginning.
"You..." He chose his words carefully, trying to glean more information without prying into her deepest secrets. "It seems like you knew from the start that you'd be staying here for the long haul."
Emma zipped up her backpack, lifted her head, and met his gaze. The cave was dimly lit, yet her eyes were clear and calm.
"Since we can't go back, we have to find ways to live better." Her answer remained evasive yet pointed to a brutal truth—neither of them could return. This realization extinguished the last shred of unrealistic hope within Gu Liang.
He fell silent, staring at his bandaged palm. No going back. So what was he supposed to do, trapped in this savage world? Like Emma, strive to "live better"?
The sky darkened rapidly. Night fell swiftly in the forest, bringing a sudden plunge in temperature that seemed to devour everything.
Emma pulled the silver thermal blanket from her backpack and handed it to Gu Liang.
Gu Liang stared at the blanket before him, hesitating to take it. He remembered last night—she had given him hers, and he had sat there alone all night.
"You..." His Adam's apple bobbed. "Don't you need it?"
"I brought one," Emma said, pulling another identical blanket from the side pocket of her backpack and showing it to him. "One for each of us."
Gu Liang paused, then finally took the blanket. Her preparations... were indeed thorough.
Wrapped in their respective blankets, they settled down against opposite walls of the cave. Complete darkness enveloped the small space, broken only by the faint sound of their breathing.
Gu Liang was utterly exhausted, but closing his eyes only flooded him with images from the day—the bandits' greedy stares, the whistling of stone arrows, the sensation of flint shattering bone, Emma's cold profile as she swung her blade... And earlier still, A Lie's possessive golden pupils.
He snapped his eyes open, his chest heaving violently as cold sweat drenched his hairline. The PTSD haunted him like a specter, thriving in the silence and darkness.
"Can't sleep?" Emma's voice suddenly broke the darkness, soft, without hesitation, just a straightforward question.
Gu Liang stiffened, offering no reply. He wasn't accustomed to exposing his vulnerability.
A faint rustle of fabric came from the darkness. Emma seemed to adjust her sitting position. Then she began to speak, her voice steady, as if stating a fact unrelated to either of them.
"I was thinking," she said, "the bandit's accent was slightly different from the Leopard Clan's. His language was cruder too. They might be from more remote, chaotic settlements, or simply outcasts driven from their tribe."
Gu Liang froze. He hadn't expected her to bring this up. And not only had she understood, she was analyzing linguistic nuances?
"You... can understand them completely?" he blurted out, finally voicing the question that had gnawed at him. She'd spoken fluent Chinese from the moment she appeared, yet her grasp of Beast World languages seemed... too swift and precise?
Emma paused for a few seconds before offering an explanation that came close to the truth: "When I was sent here, it seemed I was 'granted' the ability to understand their language. Like an instinct—no learning required."
This explanation carried an unnatural tinge, yet it instantly untangled one of Gu Liang's deepest knots. Right—if time travel could happen, then being "bestowed" with language ability seemed comparatively plausible. It perfectly explained why she could integrate seamlessly into this linguistically alien world—she wasn't well-prepared, but rather "equipped" with the necessary skills.
This realization unexpectedly eased some of his suspicions toward her. If her abilities stemmed from some uncontrollable "bestowal" rather than calculated "preparation," then her motives might indeed be as pure as she claimed.
"Oh," he murmured softly, choosing not to press further. This explanation sufficed, for now.
His attention was drawn to the implications in her words. "Being expelled from the tribe... means this forest isn't ruled solely by the Leopard Clan. Where there's order, there's always the edge of chaos."
"Mm," Emma affirmed his deduction. "So we must not only avoid the Leopard Clan, but also be wary of these threats lurking in the shadows."
This brief exchange about the external environment strangely shifted Gu Liang's focus, pulling him temporarily from his nightmare-like memories. He stopped dwelling on those painful images and began to ponder the information Emma had revealed—the distribution of forces in the forest, the potential sources of danger.
Rational thought was the best weapon against emotional breakdown.
Outside the cave, the distant, mysterious cries of nocturnal creatures echoed faintly.
Gu Liang closed his eyes once more. This time, the tumult within seemed to subside somewhat. Physical exhaustion finally overpowered everything, and consciousness gradually sank into darkness.
Before falling completely asleep, he thought vaguely: At least tonight, the night watch could be trusted a little bit more.
On the other side, Emma lay awake in the darkness, listening to the steady, deepening rhythm of the breathing beside her. She knew Gu Liang had finally fallen asleep. She gently adjusted the position of her hunting knife, ensuring it could be drawn instantly if needed, then leaned her head against the rock wall and closed her eyes.
She did not fall into deep slumber, maintaining the hunter's vigilance. Yet for the first time since crossing over, she sensed that the weight on her shoulders had been lifted by an imperceptibly slight measure.
The night stretched on. Within the cave, two solitary souls, balancing precariously on the tightrope of survival, drew a fraction of an inch closer to each other—a shift born of a moment shared side by side and an explanation that edged them nearer to the truth.
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and then Add to home screen.