After midnight

The unknown area outside Jiunan Park is rarely visited by people. For hundreds of years, few people have gone deep into it. Of course, this has a lot to do with the densely populated islands, the interweaving of rivers and lakes, and the dense forests that block out the sun, making it easy to confuse the direction. So no one knows what kind of unexpected situation will happen inside, not even Su Ziling and the others.

After a few days of trekking, the road became increasingly difficult to walk on. Su Ziling could feel the ground under his feet becoming increasingly loose, and the wind in the air became increasingly salty and humid. However, Su Ziling remembered An Yan's instructions, and as long as he followed him, there would be no problem, so he relaxed again.

After lunch, Su Ziling, who had eaten and drunk his fill, lay on the grass. He found that An Yan's cooking skills were very good, and he could make simple ingredients look good and tasty. Yin was not so good, and could only cook the food to a barely edible level. He secretly evaluated in his heart and excluded himself, who could not cook at all.

During the relatively leisurely rest time, Yin and Anyan each found a place to rest. But they were not far from each other and could see each other as soon as they looked up. Su Ziling was between them. He looked around and couldn't tell whether they were pretending to doze or really asleep, so Su Ziling got up and left quietly.

Su Ziling let out a light breath and felt his whole body relax. Standing in this place with dense trees, chirping birds, and cool and fresh air, he felt much better. If he could continue to get along with Yin and Anyan like this, then he could look forward to a life of escape together.

Su Ziling was looking around here, and suddenly he saw a little red among the green. He was attracted to walk towards it, gradually moving away from the place where he had just rested.

The red was the red of wild fruits, which were round, plump, and translucent, which made Su Ziling reach out to pinch them. There was a tree full of wild fruits in the bushes, which were bright red and juicy, and exuded a fatal temptation. Su Ziling swallowed his saliva, secretly picked one, rubbed it with his hand, and wanted to put it in his mouth, but stopped himself.

Perhaps he finally remembered his pitiful knowledge of survival in the wild. He sniffed it lightly and decided to pick some to take back for An Yan to see.

Su Ziling took off his clothes and walked along the bushes picking fruits. He came to the back with a bag of round fruits. Suddenly, the dazzling red color overlapped and it hurt Su Ziling's eyes.

He stopped and rubbed his eyes, but he was still a little dizzy. He looked up at the blue sky, and for some reason, he felt even more dizzy. He knew he had to go back the way he came, and he could clearly see a deep pit in front of him. The pit was about three or four meters high and very wide, and there was a bunch of messy grass next to the hole, which made it easy to distinguish.

But he clearly wanted to go back and consciously avoided that place, but his legs still went weak and he slipped down.

Su Ziling slid down. He realized that he had fallen and wanted to call for help but no sound came out. His brain was still groggy and he could only subconsciously think of one person, An Yan.

Under the blue sky, a tree full of red fruits stood there abruptly.

An Yan opened his eyes, and his vision became clear again. Yin sat there lazily, fiddling with the grass, wondering what he was thinking about.

"Where is Su Ziling?" An Yan's voice was a little low.

"You fell asleep?" Yin answered irrelevantly and then pointed gently, "He went in that direction."

"How long have you been there?"

"About half an hour." Yin thought for a moment and gave the answer.

"I'll go find him." An Yan frowned slightly and wanted to get up.

"I saw that he looked very relaxed when he left. Maybe he just wanted to hang out for a while. You don't have to be so anxious. Besides, it's not like he hasn't left the team alone before."

"But it was no more than ten minutes, and I wasn't worried about him, it was just time to go."

"Okay, got it." Yin chuckled.

"But what if you didn't find him, and he came back first?" Yin asked again, as if he had thought of something.

"In that case, write to me."

"Ok."

An Yan nodded and was about to walk in that direction, but after a few steps, he turned back and walked up to Yin and said, "Give me some writing paper and a pen. I'll let you know if anything unexpected happens."

"Okay." Yin began to look through his backpack. "Don't you have any letters? Don't you want to contact Lin Xuanfeng and Lin Nuan?"

"Yes, I just don't want to take it." An Yan said confidently.

Yin's hand that was rummaging through the bag suddenly stopped. He looked up at An Yan's serious face, then lowered his head and continued what he was doing.

"Here you go." Yin took out the letter paper and handed it to him.

"Well, thank you." An Yan's hands were slender but with distinct bones.

After An Yan left, Yin looked at An Yan's back and fell into deep thought.

An Yan walked forward in the direction Yin pointed, and he didn't notice any movement along the way. Logically speaking, a person would not wander around in a strange and dangerous place to prevent himself from getting lost. However, he had walked so far and still didn't see Su Ziling.

An Yan's heart sank. There was still no letter from Yin.

An Yan continued to walk forward, unconsciously speeding up. Two minutes later, An Yan stopped and looked around, then he paused for a moment and raised his foot to change direction. He saw a touch of red hanging on the tree dazzlingly under the sunlight.

An Yan stood quietly by the bushes for half a minute. He noticed that the fruits on the tree had been pulled by someone, but he didn't see Su Ziling around. Could it be that he was a step too late and Su Ziling had already run further?

This red fruit looked familiar. An Yan thought for a moment, but couldn't remember it and planned to leave. But just as he turned around, he saw the red fruit that fell on the ground from the corner of his eyes. He was startled and walked around it quickly.

Time passed by, and neither of them came back. Yin looked in the direction of his finger and had a bad feeling. He quietly waited for An Yan's letter.

The soil in the cave was a bit soft, which made it difficult for An Yan to exert his strength. He slid down carefully and jumped down when he was still more than half a meter away from the bottom of the cave. At the bottom of the cave, Su Ziling was lying on the side, not knowing what was going on. An Yan came to him and squatted down, putting his hand under Su Ziling's nose, not daring to move him easily.

Fortunately, An Yan breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Su Ziling had just fainted. But then An Yan became nervous again, because he found obvious scratches on his arms and legs. He immediately patted Su Ziling's shoulder and called his name repeatedly, but Su Ziling did not respond.

An Yan had no choice but to take a closer look at the red wild fruits scattered around Su Ziling. He was right, the fruit was a phantom fruit.

The phantom fruit is a very poisonous wild fruit. Just touching it can cause dizziness and confusion. Su Ziling must have been in a coma because of the long-term touching.

If you eat the magic fruit by mistake, it is not so simple. Eating the magic fruit by mistake can cause hallucinations and make people unconscious for a short period of time. Taking a large amount at one time or taking it for a long time will have more serious consequences, such as dementia, insanity, and even sudden death.

It seems that Su Ziling was not so stupid as to eat it. An Yan breathed a sigh of relief and gently hugged half of his body. As expected, Su Ziling was limp and had no strength.

An Yan originally wanted to take Su Ziling out directly, but when he looked up and around the cave entrance, he found it a bit difficult, so he gently put Su Ziling back on the ground and sat down himself.

He changed Su Ziling's posture to a more comfortable one, letting him rest his head on his legs. Then he took out a piece of letter paper and wrote a letter to Yin.

Yin was also relieved after receiving the letter. He looked at "Su Ziling is fine for the time being" for two more seconds before reading An Yan's other instructions. An Yan's letter was written meticulously and neatly in a beautiful handwriting. It seemed that Su Ziling was really fine for the time being.

When Yin got ready and arrived there, he just looked down and saw Su Ziling lying on top of Anyan with wounds and dirt all over his face but a peaceful look. Anyan was leaning against the wall with his head down, motionless, and Yin couldn't see the expression on his face.

"An Yan." Yin called him.

Hearing the sound, An Yan supported Su Ziling and stood up shakily. His legs were numb from being supported by Su Ziling. An Yan squinted his eyes slightly to see Yin standing in the sun. The sun was blazing.

Yin untied the rope tied to the tree trunk and said to An Yan, "I'll throw the rope down first."

An Yan carried Su Ziling on his back and hummed softly.

The rope dropped down, and An Yan took the end of the rope and used it to wrap around their waists a few times to tighten it. At this time, Su Ziling's head leaned on An Yan's shoulder.

Yin gently threw down a few broken tree trunks, and An Yan inserted them into the wall of the cave, one high and one low. He first pressed them with his hands to test the strength, and finally stepped on the lower broken wood.

An Yan held the rope with one hand and searched for a fixed point on the wall with the other. At the same time, Yin began to pull them upwards with all his strength. In this way, An Yan gradually led Su Ziling out of the deep pit, and then a pair of hands appeared above An Yan's head.

An Yan stretched out his hand and the two hands clasped together. At this time, Yin let go of the other hand holding the rope, gritted his teeth and dragged them both up.

An Yan calmed down his breathing and remembered that Su Ziling was still injured, so he didn't care about his unstable breathing and quickly loosened the rope. Seeing this, Yin also stood up and came to help him.

"Put him on my back." After the rope was untied, An Yan pulled Su Ziling's arm and said to Yin.

"How about I carry it, you take a rest."

"No, I'll carry it."

"Okay then." Yin said as he helped press Su Ziling onto An Yan, who was half-squatting with his back hunched.

An Yan stood up steadily. On the way, Yin followed An Yan silently. He carefully looked at An Yan's thin shoulders, and then fixed his eyes on Su Ziling's sleeping but somewhat pale face.

"I'm sorry, Zi Ling." Yin said silently, reaching out and carefully ruffling Su Zi Ling's hair. An Yan didn't notice his action.

After returning to the camp, Su Ziling was changed and the medicine was applied. When everything was ready, the sun was already setting. An Yan and Yin sat face to face outside the tent, watching over Su Ziling without saying a word.

"He will probably need to sleep for a while longer." An Yan suddenly spoke up, shifting his gaze from Su Ziling to Yin.

"Yeah." Yin responded.

An Yan then looked at Yin's arm. Yin looked down and said nonchalantly, "It's okay. It was probably just a scratch."

"Give me your arm, I'll apply some medicine for you." An Yan stretched out his hand to Yin.

"I'll do it myself." Seeing An Yan's fingers all red, Yin wanted to refuse.

"Your right arm is injured, it's not convenient. Let me do it." Without waiting for Yin to refuse again, An Yan carefully pulled him over. He took the ointment that he had just applied to Su Ziling and began to apply the ointment with his head down, concentrating on applying it.

The wound felt burning with pain after the cool ointment was applied. Yin stared at An Yan's hair in a daze.

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice."

"Huh?" Yin didn't seem to expect An Yan to apologize to him for this. "Oh, it's not a big deal, you don't have to apologize."

"Yeah." An Yan hummed, and the two fell into quiet silence again.

"You know, this is just the beginning." After applying the medicine, Yin finally spoke to remind An Yan.

"I know." An Yan's tone was ordinary. He began to bandage Yin, wrapping the white bandages around Yin's arm. Of course, he knew that everything was just beginning, but he selfishly wanted to make life a little calmer and everyone a little more stable.

I'm afraid that blindly hoping might lead to bad things. After wrapping the bandage, An Yan stood up.

"You rest here and check on Su Ziling's condition. I'll be leaving for a while."

"Where are you going?" Yin, who had never asked about An Yan's whereabouts, asked for some reason.

"I have to take care of that."

"That's what I was thinking. Why don't I go over there?" Yin also stood up. "This minor injury won't cause any trouble. Besides, it's better for you to take care of Su Ziling."

When An Yan heard this, he turned around. He saw Yin's dark and bright eyes, thought for a moment, and finally gave in.

"Okay then, I'll leave it to you."

Ten minutes later, Yin stood at the entrance of the cave where Su Ziling had just fallen. He looked at the red fruit, then at the bottom of the cave, and finally turned around and returned the same way.

I'm sorry, Anyan.