Soul Patch

Chapter 195 Memories of the No Man's Land

Li Shiman's father was slightly taken aback upon hearing this.

Unexpectedly, the two people in front of me knew about my daughter's hysteria.

He originally wanted to get rid of the two uninvited guests as soon as possible, because they still had a lot to do after that.

The boy will be brought over this afternoon; he's the boy they've been searching for, born on the same day, month, and year as their daughter.

After today, my daughter will no longer have to suffer from this terrible illness.

In the year since their daughter fell ill, he and his wife have exhausted all their efforts and money, seeking medical treatment and medicine in various places. They have tried every folk remedy they could get their hands on, but instead of getting better, her condition has only gotten worse.

Seeing his daughter grow increasingly haggard and her limbs become more and more unresponsive, he wished he could take her place.

The wife always felt that her bizarre past experience had harmed her daughter, and her love for her daughter made her feel extremely remorseful and guilty.

Because of this, his wife once secretly attempted suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. Fortunately, he discovered it in time, otherwise she probably would have died.

So that matter was a taboo subject for the family, and they had never told anyone outside of it.

How did this young man know this?

After a moment of stunned silence, Li Shiman's father immediately realized his lapse in composure. He laughed and looked at Wenjie: "Sorry, I didn't understand. What do you mean?"

"Your wife hasn't told you about that experience?" Wenjie didn't know the specifics of the experience or the time period it took.

He had only heard the gist of it, so he could only repeat it vaguely.

Suddenly he noticed that Li Shiman's father was looking nervously at the spot behind him. Before he could turn around, a soft female voice came from behind him: "Xu Dong, let me speak."

It was Li Shiman's mother, standing at the kitchen door with two bottles of Nestlé coffee.

It seems she overheard the conversation in the living room from the kitchen.

"That's great, we're all ears." Wenjie smiled at her.

Li Shiman's mother calmly stepped forward, handed the Nestlé coffee to Liu Qingqing and him, and then sat down next to her husband.

Throughout the process, Li Shiman's father watched her with concern. When she sat down beside him, he put his arm around her shoulder and patted her hard to comfort her.

Li Shiman's mother glanced into the bedroom and saw that her daughter was still sleeping. A gentle smile appeared on her face.

She raised her hand and grasped her husband's hand, squeezing it tightly, and when she looked up again, her gaze became firm and resolute:

"This matter has been weighing on my heart for a long time, and the longer it goes on, the heavier it becomes..."

Her voice was slow and low, and her gaze became unfocused, as if frozen in time at a certain moment in her life.

The man beside them placed his other hand on their tightly clasped hands.

She smiled gently at her husband, a smile that was calm and elegant, as if she had been waiting for this opportunity to express her true feelings.

"That was more than ten years ago. I was in my early twenties, the age when I loved to have fun and be crazy. I joined a hiking and adventure club with a few close friends."

After conquering the high mountains and steep peaks surrounding the city, they set their sights on a semi-developed, remote mountain forest in Yunnan.

My parents objected to this adventure, and I myself considered giving up:

First, I feel it's too far from home.

Secondly, one might encounter unexpected dangers in the semi-developed, remote mountains and forests.

After hesitating for a few days, seeing my friends eagerly preparing all sorts of equipment for mountain climbing and exploration, I couldn't resist the urge and finally signed up to participate as well.

Stepping onto the fertile land of Yunnan, located on the southwestern border of our motherland, and witnessing the vibrant growth of plants and the diverse array of rare birds, one cannot help but marvel at the greatness and wonder of nature.

Broadleaf plants are lush and dense, and towering mountains stretch into the sky. The lush subtropical primeval forests and the achievements of human civilization over millions of years of evolution and reproduction complement each other.

Our destination was the De'ang ethnic region in southwestern Yunnan. Upon arrival, a group of us ran and jumped, immersing ourselves in nature's embrace. It felt like after twenty years of searching, we had finally found the origin of life – a feeling of excitement and joy.

As she spoke, a look of longing and anticipation appeared on her face, which made Wenjie and Liu Qingqing feel equally fascinated.

However, before she could savor the beauty of that memory, it was completely wiped out by the terrifying recollections that followed.

A complex expression appeared on her face, a mixture of pain, fear, and dread, as she murmured:

"However, we deviated from the route and unknowingly walked into the no-man's land of the Chalo Canyon. We ran out of food and water and wandered around in the canyon for three days and three nights."

A sudden downpour made it difficult for us to move, and our hope of survival seemed slim.

The mudslides and landslides unexpectedly separated us from the main group.

My two close friends and I felt the threat of death at that moment.

Both of them were injured in the mudslide. Xiaoli broke her ankle, and Xiaowen fractured her leg. They couldn't walk anymore; only I could move around relatively freely. They asked me to find a rescue team to save them.

At this point, Li Shiman's mother's eyes reddened, and she choked up.

Her husband took her hand, placed it on his knee, and patted it gently.

Wenjie and Liu Qingqing exchanged a glance and made a general guess: she felt guilty for the rest of her life because the other two people couldn't be saved.

They didn't interrupt, and Wenjie silently took out a tissue and handed it to them.

Li Shiman's mother took the tissue, wiped her eyes, and said, "Thank you!"

"But I hadn't eaten for three days and three nights, and I fainted from hunger after walking only a short distance."

As she spoke, her tears flowed like a burst dam. She would take out one tissue after another, and soon there was a pile of tissues in front of her.

Wenjie and Liu Qingqing's hearts were also in their throats as they listened, as if they could feel her difficult situation at that time, where she was starving and freezing, barely able to take care of herself, and with two lives on her shoulders.

"I don't know how much time had passed when a heavy rainstorm started. Large raindrops hit the leaves in the sky, rolled over the leaves, and splattered on my face. I was awakened by the rain."

I struggled to my feet and returned to the mound where Xiaoli and Xiaowen had been hiding, but I didn't see them.

At that moment, I realized I was doomed. They might have been discovered by the main force, and I had just fainted, missing the chance to be rescued.

I was in utter despair. Gathering my last bit of strength, I crawled in one direction.

It was a completely pointless struggle, I knew that myself, but I was just unwilling to die here like that.

I just kept climbing and climbing...

(End of this chapter)