Yan Luqing had originally been sitting beside Gu Ci playing on her phone, but sitting for so long was too tiring—her waist ached, her back hurt, and even her butt was uncomfortable. Pray tell: who could sit stiffly on the ground when there was a bed right next to them that one could lie on, and not be tempted?

In any case, Yan Luqing could not. So before long, she quietly and gently slipped into the sleeping bag.

While watching videos, Yan Luqing never turned on the sound, from time to time glancing to see if Gu Ci showed any signs of waking. But she quickly realized she was overthinking it—Gu Ci’s sleep was quite deep, most likely because he had been injured the previous night and had not rested well.

Every now and then Yan Luqing would scroll past videos of handsome men, all of which she politely gave a like before swiping past.

Because she followed the principle of riding on trending topics, basically as long as the video was popular, she would comment. But when it came to looks-based videos, Yan Luqing actually preferred beauties, not very interested in handsome men—not interested, so naturally she had no inspiration for divine comments.

It wasn’t that she had an opinion against handsome men, mainly that those videos with added filters and special effects weren’t even as good as the naturally unadorned face of Gu Ci that she saw every day. With that, how could she feel any passion for crafting divine comments?

In the middle of it, while looking at Gu Ci’s sleeping face, Yan Luqing even thought, if she posted a video of Gu Ci with some editing and background music, she could gain hundreds of thousands of followers in minutes.

In short, taking advantage of the entire afternoon while Gu Ci was sleeping, Yan Luqing gained quite a lot.

Although she had not yet leveled up enough to immediately see pictures, with the comments she had posted today piling up, after a few more days she should be able to see images.

But speaking of posting comments on Dou-something to attract attention, Yan Luqing herself didn’t know why—this account of hers, which had never posted even a single video, could gain followers simply by appearing on hot comments too frequently.

She would also receive quite a few people @-ing her with teasing—

【Without this “Runaway Saintess’s” comment, I unilaterally declare it cannot be considered a trending video [dog head]】

【This video is definitely going to blow up! Runaway Saintess, hurry and come comment to secure the front row, babe】

【What will you comment on this video? Hurry and let me copy your homework, grandpa also wants to get on hot comments once, Runaway Saintess】

But she never took it seriously, only occasionally replying when she saw funny content from the people following her.

After sending out the last comment, Yan Luqing’s fingers were a little tired. She wanted to roll over and change her position to rest a bit.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she turned halfway, she saw Gu Ci, eyes open, looking at her.

“…You’re awake?”

At that, Yan Luqing was no longer afraid of disturbing him, and her movements immediately grew larger. She deftly flipped onto her side. Facing him directly, she asked, “How is it, slept well, right?”

He had slept well.

Just, the scene he woke up to was not too good.

But Gu Ci did not mention a single word, because he himself also wanted to forget.

The time Gu Ci woke up happened to be when the sun was setting. Yan Luqing once again grabbed her backpack, and the two of them ate a little something simple, then continued sitting inside the tree hollow waiting.

Although now they could connect with the outside, from afternoon until now, Yan Luqing had no idea how many times she had already shared her location, and it was useless. Little Black on the other side called it straight-up uncanny.

Yan Luqing also felt it uncanny.

Six hours and then another six hours passed—by now, how many sets of six hours had it been?

Could it really be that it would only end after the full forty-eight hours?

When the moonlight descended, the sound of videos playing from the phone echoed inside the tree hollow. Yan Luqing happened to lift her eyes, and at the entrance of the hollow, she saw a black shadow.

At that moment she swept a glance and then shifted her gaze away, and that black shadow, which had been some distance from her, had already disappeared.

Yet after several seconds had passed, when she unconsciously replayed the shape of that shadow in her mind, she realized—

“—Gu Ci!”

Inside the tree hollow suddenly rang out the deliberately lowered voice of a girl.

Gu Ci lifted his head at the sound, and saw that Yan Luqing, who had been sitting opposite him, had already stood up in one movement and taken several steps to crouch down beside him.

Her fingers directly came and clutched at the sleeve of his jacket. Gu Ci saw her eyes, opened wide, her tone panicked beyond measure: “Gu Ci, what do I do? I think I just saw a wolf.”

“Where did you see it?”

“At the entrance. I just swept a glance and saw a shadow, about ten-odd meters away from us.”

“Don’t be afraid first.” Gu Ci turned his head to look at her. “First, confirm that you have seen a wolf before.”

“I really haven’t, only seen pictures.” Yan Luqing recalled again. “I think it was a wolf—the ears, the mouth, really looked exactly like in the pictures. Adding to that, we’re in this deserted old forest—”

The more she thought the more frightened she became: “Look, why was it that when we went out in the daytime there was not a single person around? Maybe they were all eaten.”

Yan Luqing spoke in a breathy voice by Gu Ci’s ear, tickling his ear, and not only that—she was so frightened she began spouting nonsense, her mouth producing more and more absurd things: “Just now I even saw online someone saying the moon tonight is especially round, how come it’s such a coincidence that we’re meeting a wolf tonight—won’t a werewolf transform under the moon in a while? What do we do, what do we do, Gu Ci what do we do…”

Her words came out at an extremely rapid speed, and in that kind of tone that was not a joke. And precisely this dead seriousness revealed just how nonsensical she was at the moment.

“Yan Luqing.” Gu Ci slightly turned his face, half like a warning, half like a joke, and said, “Don’t make me laugh.”

His voice was pressed very low, carrying that unique timbre of his, with the coolness of youth; when Yan Luqing heard that voice call her name, the panic in her head of “I’m going to die” finally seemed to be soothed.

She at last quieted down.

Gu Ci pried open her tightly gripping fingers, braced a hand against the ground and made to get up: “I’ll go over to the entrance to take a look. You sit here, don’t move.”

“Hey—” Yan Luqing hurriedly grabbed him. “Don’t go! What if you’re seen when you go there?”

Gu Ci nearly wanted to laugh again.

“Then what do we do?” he asked unhurriedly in return. “Didn’t you come to find me, for me to go investigate?”

“…No.” Yan Luqing froze for a moment. “I came to find you, I came to find you because…”

Because he was the only one here?

It didn’t seem so.

Even if there were ten people, a hundred people here, she would still come to find Gu Ci.

She was just too flustered, and when something frightening happened she wanted to immediately call Gu Ci’s name, as if only then she could feel a little more at ease.

Because he seemed as though he could resolve any difficulty, he seemed as though he was omnipotent, he seemed to have that mysterious magic that made people want to rely on him.

Yan Luqing didn’t speak, and Gu Ci didn’t press her. He turned back and once again prepared to get up.

“I’ll go look too,” Yan Luqing held him back and said. “Let’s go together.”

“…”

From beginning to end, Gu Ci knew it was impossible there was a wolf.

She might indeed have seen something, but there was absolutely no possibility of a lone wolf appearing here.

Yet Gu Ci’s movements still paused. He sat back down on the ground, turned his head, and looked at her eyes that were already brimming with watery fear.

“You yourself are very certain that there was a wolf there.”

“…Mm.”

He spoke softly: “Do you think if there really were a wolf, and you went with me, you would still come back alive?”

“…”

After asking this question, Gu Ci saw that Yan Luqing’s emotions, which had just calmed a little, were about to tip back into fear.

“No way,” her hand clutching his clothes began to tremble unconsciously, her voice trembling too, but she still said: “Even so, we still have to go together.”

…

Inside the cave Yan Luqing seemed to be filming an idol drama at the critical moment of life and death. Who would have thought that when Gu Ci brought her to the entrance, it wasn’t only to “take a look”—without even a word, he directly led the way out of the tree hollow with the flashlight. Yan Luqing didn’t react in time, couldn’t stop him even if she wanted to.

Gu Ci just walked over to the spot opposite where she had seen the shadow and stood still.

After a few seconds, he, safe and sound, waved the flashlight toward her, as though calling her.

Yan Luqing, forcing down the weakness in her legs, shuffled out of the hollow. Once closer, she looked up to see Gu Ci’s face carrying a smile: “Miss Yan, please come over here.”

“…”

His gaze was gentle as he looked at her. “Today I’ll be your teacher and give you a lesson.”

That look resembled the expression of adults in those educational ads, eyes full of pity toward mentally disabled children.

“This is a dog.” Gu Ci pointed at the ground, the flashlight shining on that dark shape, and enunciated each word: “Scientific name: Border Collie. You had better memorize it by heart.”

“…”

This dog, mistaken for a wolf, had an injured leg. Right after Yan Luqing had glimpsed the shadow, it had collapsed on the spot. Yan Luqing had not seen the collapse, thought the wolf had run off somewhere, and thus the whole misunderstanding arose.

The border collie’s coat was beautiful, the breed very pure, but it was filthy, and the wound on its leg seemed to be from long years of being chafed by an iron chain.

Gu Ci dragged it into the tree hollow. The two of them used the medicine and bandages from last night, when Gu Ci had been treated, to wrap its leg. Throughout the entire process, it offered no resistance, even wagged its tail.

“It seems to know we’re saving it. With such a deep wound, it doesn’t struggle or cry out in pain…” Yan Luqing couldn’t help but sigh. “Truly worthy of being the most intelligent of dogs.”

“Gu Ci, just now you said it most likely couldn’t stand being tied up all the time, broke free of the chain by itself, and by now has collapsed from exhaustion.” She grew enthusiastic and proposed, “Then let’s take it home and raise it, shall we?”

She spoke so naturally, perhaps not even realizing it herself.

For a moment Gu Ci was stunned.

But he quickly returned to himself. His hands didn’t stop moving, and he even laughed: “Miss Yan, I suggest you first search up the temperament and intelligence of border collies. If you can’t even tell the difference between a dog and a wolf, you might not be able to keep it in line.”

“…”

Yan Luqing had no way to refute. Tonight had been truly humiliating—humiliating enough to be broadcast all the way to Ultraman’s hometown—as long as Gu Ci lived a single day, he would never forget the shame she brought upon herself today.

But rather than die socially by passivity, better to take the initiative.

Yan Luqing straightened her expression: “Gu Ci, I’ve decided we’ll keep it. I’ll take the chance to give it a name right now.”

He asked: “What name.”

“Let’s call it Wolf.” Yan Luqing stroked the dog’s head. “From now on its formal name is Wolf, and its nickname is Little Wolf.”

“…That’ll do.”

Gu Ci lifted his head and looked at her, his beautiful eyes full of mirth, and for once he actually praised her: “Miss Yan, your courage in facing mistakes truly is admirable.”

At the moment the medicine was applied, it happened to be nine o’clock.

Just after Gu Ci had finished praising her, Yan Luqing’s ears suddenly caught a familiar sound—that was a voice belonging to other people.

—It was the voice of the search and rescue team that had finally arrived.

Falling down at nine o’clock last night, to being found at nine o’clock today, it had been a full twenty-four hours.

It was over.

At the instant she heard the sound, the tree hollow seemed to freeze for a moment.

It was as if there was an invisible boundary line; the atmosphere before hearing the voices of the rescue team and after was entirely different.

One moment, there were only the two of them, just having made a great blunder, the boy’s tone gentle as he ridiculed the girl’s ignorance, the girl giving a name to the dog she wanted to raise, being praised for her courage.

The next moment, they were about to leave.

Gu Ci lowered his head to look at Wolf. Yan Luqing could not see his face clearly, nor could she explain what she herself felt in that instant.

Yan Luqing stroked Wolf’s head, listening to the increasingly distinct voices, and suddenly asked:

“Gu Ci, we’re about to leave here. Are you happy?”

“…”

Gu Ci straightened his body, his eyes half lowered as he looked at her.

Yan Luqing seemed to have asked casually, her expression just as relaxed as when they had been chatting earlier.

The beam of the flashlight lit up half her face, and Gu Ci inexplicably recalled the moment under the moonlight when she handed him packet after packet of medicine.

When he had first grabbed her hand, Gu Ci had not expected the series of events that would follow—or rather, he had not expected that, even after realizing something was wrong, he would still not let go of her hand, would even drag himself down along with her.

In two lifetimes, he had rarely done things outside of his expectations, rarely acted without thinking.

Grabbing Yan Luqing counted as one.

Spending nearly two days in this tree hollow counted as another.

Only—

Things done without thinking usually did not have good outcomes.

“Of course.” Gu Ci smiled at her, the curve of his lips just right. “And you?”

Yan Luqing was stunned.

He said of course.

That is to say—“to leave here, of course I’m happy”—that meaning.

Yes, to be rescued, to leave this cramped tree hollow where nothing was convenient, to leave this desolate place—who would not be happy?

But as for her.

Why exactly had she asked such a foolish question???

Yan Luqing blinked, as if something in her heart had settled into dust. She quickly gathered up those strange emotions, and also gave Gu Ci a bright smile.

“Ah, me too.” Her smile looked far more radiant than Gu Ci’s, her eyes curved. “I’m really happy, we can finally get out.”

After saying that, she immediately stood and walked out of the tree hollow.

Then, in a manner entirely in keeping with her personality, like a lost primary-school student finally reunited with the group, she shouted at the top of her lungs: “Uncle police—! We—are—he—re—!”

When the two who had been trapped at the foot of the slope were finally rescued, what should their reaction be?

Tears on the spot? Hugs for friends and family?

Yan Luqing didn’t know either. She merely thanked many people. By rights she ought to have been more excited, but she hadn’t done those things — and Gu Ci had done even less.

Moreover, their mental states were not bad at all; they even had an extra rescued dog with them, which left their classmates and Big Black and Little Black all staring in stupefaction.

“If it weren’t for your torn clothes, and Gu Ci has bandages on his back,” the two sisters Xia Yutian and Xia Xuetian gaped at them, “we would’ve thought you two secretly went off on a private trip for a day and a night.”

Big Black and Little Black looked the same, seemingly about to cry, only to be cut off when they saw the actual pair: “You guys……”

Yan Luqing sighed helplessly: “We’re probably just a little better than you imagined.”

During the time they were missing and out of contact, everyone else couldn’t sleep soundly; when contact was reestablished today they felt temporarily relieved, and only now were they entirely at ease. Seizing the opportunity they crowded around the two, chattering and unloading:

“Why did you have to fall behind so far?”

“Exactly! What’s so secret you couldn’t tell us to our faces? What couldn’t be done in front of us?”

“Even if you two kissed, so what?! Everyone here is an adult! One kiss is survivable, no need to run so far, okay???”

“…………”