If saying food just now made the tree hollow fall into silence, then at this moment the tree hollow fell into deathly stillness.

As time grew later and later, the wind outside also grew stronger and stronger. The sound of the wind sweeping up fallen leaves seemed to carry amplification effects as it rang in the ears of the two people.

Yan Luqing felt Gu Ci’s gaze, and her brain instantly became clear. She also finally reacted that something was wrong.

What had she just said?

—Couldn’t we sleep together?

What the hell sleeping together, who gave her the courage to dare say this kind of thing to Gu Ci?

“Not, that, what I actually meant to say was…” Yan Luqing’s brain spun rapidly. She pointed at the sleeping bag and promptly corrected herself: “Look at this sleeping bag, it’s so big. Couldn’t it sleep two people?”

Gu Ci was still looking at her like that.

Tonight the moon was especially large, especially bright. The entrance of the tree hollow was a 人-shaped fork, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. Moonlight shone in through that entrance and the small holes around it. Even without a flashlight one could roughly see the surroundings.

Naturally, one could also see his face clearly.

At this moment Gu Ci had already changed from expressionless to narrowing his eyes slightly with a smile. The smile was faint, but appeared full of interest.

—It was not the kind of interest a man would have towards a woman, but more like the kind of “this lord has never seen such a novel species before” kind of interest.

When Yan Luqing saw him smile, she became even more nervous. She swallowed: “…Isn’t this obviously a double-person size?”

Gu Ci nodded: “So you want to sleep together with me.”

“……”

Damn, these words were simply too ambiguous!!

Yan Luqing tried to salvage: “‘Sleep together’ means, just resting together…”

Before she could continue, Gu Ci cut her off: “Slept a lot yesterday, not sleepy.”

He had indeed slept a lot yesterday, but today after climbing mountains all day it was impossible that he was not at all sleepy. Yan Luqing suspected he still minded.

“But look, now it’s so cold. Even if not to sleep, getting inside to warm up is also quite suitable.”

“Not cold.”

Not sleepy, not cold.

Gu Ci suddenly seemed lazy to speak, as if cherishing words like gold, his sentences concise to the point of coldness.

Actually, if it were another person, regardless of same sex or opposite sex, she would not be so persistent.

But first of all, it was because he had held onto her and thus was dragged here. Secondly… Yan Luqing felt that their relationship had already sublimated. It was no longer only the pity of a transmigrator towards a paper person, nor only friendship.

There was also comradeship in arms.

The two were silent for a long time, silent until Gu Ci had once again closed his eyes to rest. Yan Luqing suddenly had a flash of inspiration, recalling that in the interlayer of her backpack there still seemed to be a great treasure.

“Wait, I suddenly remembered I seem to have brought…”

Yan Luqing rummaged and rummaged through her bag, after a long search finally found what she wanted, that familiar flat thing in sheet form—

“—Warm baby [disposable heating pad].” Yan Luqing was overjoyed. “I really brought it!”

Although she had forgotten what her original intention was in bringing it, Yan Luqing immediately tore open the outer package, took out two pieces, then walked to Gu Ci’s side and sat down. “Have you ever used a warm baby?”

Gu Ci slowly opened his eyes, as if even his eyelashes carried resistance, his whole expression saying, “I see you as a warm baby.”

But they were in wilderness survival! Don’t let it be that before the police uncles came, they would already be frozen. Staying alive was the most important thing.

“Don’t make that expression, this really is a treasure.”

“Come, I’ll teach you.” Yan Luqing moved especially quickly. Taking advantage of Gu Ci’s inattention, she grabbed his right arm in one go. Because the motion was too smooth, she did not notice his momentary stiffness. She pulled him up a little, then stuck the warm baby on the very center of his back. “Warm babies you stick right here, stick them on the back-heart position, it’s the warmest… Eh? Why is your back wet?”

This question slipped out subconsciously.

The next second, she suddenly recalled the bloody smell she had smelled before, and the final impact when the two of them rolled down. She quickly grabbed the flashlight at the side and shone it—

The wetness her palm had just touched was blood.

And on the inner wall where Gu Ci was leaning, a layer of dried red was also hanging.

He was wearing a whole body of black. If one did not shine light there, in this kind of dim environment one could only see that the clothing was torn. Even if the black fabric was soaked in a large patch, one could not see it.

Looking at that red, Yan Luqing suddenly thought of the way they had rolled down the slope. At that time, her consciousness was very blurred, she was being held and had her eyes shut, could not see anything, and even had the energy to complain. Her clothes were rubbed torn in a few places, aside from her ankle she had not suffered much injury.

In truth, it was only that someone had taken it in her stead.

Yan Luqing’s heart inexplicably had a kind of tugged-tight, faintly suffocated feeling.

Yet Gu Ci very casually broke free of her hand, speaking in a very faint tone: “Got scratched a few times.”

As if explaining it to her on purpose.

“……”

The feeling of her heart being wrung had not yet passed, when hearing this she stared at him in shock: “You call this scratched a few times???”

Gu Ci changed the phrasing: “If not for crashing into this tree at the end, it truly would have been just scratched a few times.”

“Then… why didn’t you tell me when you’re bleeding so much here?”

Gu Ci blinked once. “I heard what’s in your bag, I know what’s in mine. Since there’s no medicine, what use is there in saying it.”

No use… but.

It was still better than enduring it alone.

Yan Luqing was the kind of person who, if she felt unwell, would definitely immediately take the initiative to ask for help from someone she trusted. Just like earlier when she found her ankle wrong, she at once told Gu Ci.

She did not know if Gu Ci, after experiencing his parents’ tragedy, had changed his temperament, becoming too guarded, or if it was simply his nature.

When together with a group of old classmates it was the same. After Yan Luqing became close with the twin sisters she spoke more, but before that she did not even know the two sisters.

Yan Luqing had always felt that humans were social creatures, yearning for bustle and vitality, that sowing seeds upon barren earth would bloom into a garden. But Gu Ci was not like that.

He was someone who clearly could have lived a brilliantly flourishing life, yet deliberately chose loneliness.

So—was it precisely because of such a temperament, that he was destined to never love anyone, and thus obtain that kind of ending in the book?

Yan Luqing did not notice that her thoughts had drifted farther and farther; her expression had changed several times, and under the moonlight shining through the little hole her eyes looked a little too moist, rippling with light.

“Oh…” Gu Ci spoke again beside her, his voice carrying a smile as he deliberately drew out the tone, “So it turns out you can make Young Miss Yan cry.”

Yan Luqing immediately snapped back to reality: “…Who cried!”

She had only thought a bit far, thinking of that ending that angered her so much, feeling a little wistful.

Her thoughts quickly returned to the present; she blinked a few times to clear away the moisture, then looked at Gu Ci very seriously: “Even if saying it is useless, you still can’t not say it. Don’t say you fell because I pulled you down today; even if you didn’t fall and get hurt because of me, I would still want to know your condition.”

“Reason?”

“Because we—”

Gu Ci interrupted her, “Are friends?”

Yan Luqing was taken aback: “…Right, you even buzzed in the answer.”

After saying that she rummaged in her bag for her water, clean toilet paper, and all the supplies that could be used to clean a wound.

Gu Ci laughed behind her; she didn’t know what made him find it amusing. After a moment he said:

“Young Miss Yan, truly unoriginal.”

When Yan Luqing had been carried in on Gu Ci’s back earlier, because her ankle hurt so badly she hadn’t noticed that Gu Ci’s jacket and the back of his black T-shirt had both been ripped. Shining the flashlight you could directly see the wound.

As Gu Ci had said, at first it was probably just scratches. After all, this was the mountains; branches and twigs have barbs. Those wooden splinters may originally have just stuck to the wound, but because of the final violent impact they were driven in.

Yan Luqing had toilet paper and water in her bag; she first simply wiped the area around his wound dry, then tried to wipe her own hands clean as well, and then…

Then she had no way to deal with those wooden splinters that had been driven in.

After a while, Gu Ci slightly turned his face, “If you don’t pull them out, don’t shine the light.”

Yan Luqing in this life or a previous life had never done this kind of thing; she took a deep breath and reached for the first splinter.

When she pulled it out she thought Gu Ci would tense his muscles, would tremble slightly, would make a muffled groan — a whole series of reactions that would amplify her nervousness.

But there was nothing.

Dealing with the wound, Yan Luqing felt as if she were tending an anatomical dummy.

“Actually, when you were fiddling with your left hand earlier I already wanted to ask…” Yan Luqing asked genuinely puzzled, “Gu Ci, don’t you feel pain?”

He did not say he didn’t feel pain, nor did he say he did feel pain.

In the hush he said, “Pain is something one gradually grows to endure.”

Before Yan Luqing had time to absorb the meaning of that sentence, a burst of electric-sounding noise abruptly rang in her ear —

Not long after, she heard that familiar Young Imperial Voice voice she had been trying to contact for a long time.

“Maria—! Ah, I was so worried! When you had the accident just now, I don’t know why I was forcibly logged off,” Makka Pakka’s speech was rapid, “and I found that when you’re next to Gu Ci I also have a hard time connecting to you. I kept trying just now and couldn’t get through; now I switched to—”

Yan Luqing quickly cut it off in her mind: “My cheat function, Gu Ci is all shielded from. That you’re blocked by him isn’t strange at all. Alright, since you’re out, don’t waste words. Talk business—how can Gu Ci and I get out?”

As she asked, her eyes still fixed tightly on Gu Ci’s back, her movements careful as she pulled out splinters.

“Maria, I think the system malfunctioned this time. You already repaired the opportunity for them to know each other. Unless they suddenly turn against each other, there shouldn’t be another punishment… unless something else has changed…”

Yan Luqing grew anxious: “Just get the two of us out first! Talk about those things later! Before, my WeChat could only receive and not send, the phone couldn’t call the police, what the hell is this?”

Makka Pakka replied after five seconds: “Your classmates must have already called the police for you long ago, but… I think this place is most likely somewhere outsiders cannot find.”

Yan Luqing’s hand froze.

She asked mentally: “…What did you say?”

“That is to say, the system’s punishments generally cannot be easily lifted by outside forces—like your previous high fever, taking medicine had little effect, only treated, and when the root problem was gone, the punishment automatically disappeared.”

“……”

That did indeed seem to be the case.

Just as Yan Luqing was about to curse, Makka Pakka continued: “But! But all punishments have a time limit! Using six hours as a unit, six hours to forty-eight hours is eight levels, and when the time comes, it will automatically lift.”

That was to say, at most two days before they could be found.

Yan Luqing paused, then asked it: “In short, you can’t save me now, can you?”

A soft female voice said: “Sorry, Maria, I don’t have permission. This connection was also forced… Why Gu Ci affects me, I don’t know either.”

Yan Luqing said: “No need to apologize.”

“But, if you can’t save me, then can you provide me with some material things?” Yan Luqing looked at Gu Ci’s back. “For example… medicine for treating external injuries, and some bandages?”

……

Sensing Yan Luqing had gone silent for too long, and her hands had stopped moving, Gu Ci turned back to glance at her: “What’s wrong with you?”

Yan Luqing had just touched the new things in her backpack and thus stopped her hand.

“How should I say this…” Yan Luqing blinked nervously, meeting Gu Ci’s gaze. “Just now… I found another treasure in my bag.”

“……”

Gu Ci was silent for three seconds, then asked expressionlessly: “What is it.”

And then he saw from Yan Luqing’s so-called food-filled backpack, she pulled out… povidone-iodine, alcohol, a can of medicine powder specifically for external injuries, a small tool kit for treating wounds, and… a roll of bandage.

“……”

Gu Ci’s gaze shifted from the backpack back onto Yan Luqing.

Yan Luqing forced herself to laugh dryly: “Look at my backpack, isn’t it just like Doraemon’s pocket?”

Gu Ci nodded: “Indeed.”

“Ah, I also dug it out from the interlayer of my backpack… haha… you didn’t expect me to be this meticulous, right… haha…”

The more she spoke, the more Gu Ci fixed his gaze on her. That gaze carried no suspicion, no aggression, yet it could still bring a certain kind of pressure.

Anyway, with Gu Ci looking at her like that, she couldn’t go on speaking.

What kind of gaze was this?

It was the same gaze Gu Ci had given her that time when her thirty-nine point five degree high fever subsided in an instant. Deep and unfathomable, the meaning unclear.

Now, in the face of this “miracle,” that gaze appeared once again.

But had Gu Ci seen her act strangely only a few times?

Had he ever up till now asked a single extra question?

Was there any need to tell such a lie?

This series of three questions left her asking herself speechless.

“Forget it,” Yan Luqing weighed it over, then simply and decisively opened the tools and medicine to apply on his back. Taking a “smash the pot once it’s cracked” attitude, she said, “Don’t ask, if you ask, I’m Dora-A-Qing.”

“……”

With Dora-A-Qing’s help, a certain princess’s back was temporarily safe.

It was already midnight. Yan Luqing felt that the energy she had just now was all brought out by the sudden incident; her body was already exhausted beyond bearing. But now came the problem of who the sleeping bag would go to.

Yan Luqing felt the two of them had truly switched roles. She was like a knight painstakingly persuading, while Gu Ci was the noble and powerful princess who had just protected the knight, and she was urging the princess: Your Highness, please come sleep quickly.

“Even if we’re only waiting for people to come, the injured must of course rest first—and in weather this cold, huddling for warmth is completely normal, isn’t it?” After she finished speaking, Yan Luqing gave herself a patch, “Cough, huddling for warmth is just a metaphor, not literally huddling.”

Princess Ci said nothing, so Yan Luqing started to play rogue.

“If you don’t go in, I won’t go in either, it’s just wasting.” Yan Luqing pointed at the sleeping bag that looked extremely comfortable, “You go in, then I’ll go in.”

—You jump, I jump.

……

Two minutes later, Yan Luqing finally lay down securely inside the sleeping bag—her opposite was Gu Ci.

After all, in an emergency situation with limited conditions, this could be considered literally sleeping together.

Perhaps because both of them were thin, lying face to face like this, there was still quite a bit of space in the middle of the sleeping bag.

Yan Luqing was now in a state where the moment her head hit the pillow she would fall asleep. But considering that Princess Ci was surely unwilling, and likely had never slept together with the opposite sex before, she forced herself to speak to Gu Ci: “Don’t worry, I sleep very soundly.”

“Don’t worry, if there’s any danger in the wild I’ll wake up too.”

“You don’t really think I have such a big heart, right?”

—She fed him three reassurance pills.

It took only about three minutes.

By Gu Ci’s ear came the even, obviously already-asleep breathing sounds.

“……”

After this night passed, he could no longer even summon a speechless feeling.

Gu Ci half propped himself up, reached out and picked up the backpack beside the sleeping bag, and found inside it the warm baby Yan Luqing had wanted to stick on him—that so-called “treasure.”

He tore open the outer package, then tore off that adhesive backing. When it began to heat, his hand reached to Yan Luqing’s back—

Half-asleep, Yan Luqing felt something warm spread across her back. It was so comfortable that she drowsily murmured: “Mm… what is it?”

“Nothing.” Gu Ci withdrew his hand, his voice in the deep night sounding especially gentle. “Didn’t you say, sticking this is warm?”