Stealing the Pen: Kirin's Primordial Lotus

"Black Bear, don't you think we've been going around in circles?"

Looking out the car window at the unchanging scenery and the road that seemed to lead nowhere, Black Glasses thought, "Looks like someone doesn't want us to get out of here."

While Xie Yuchen was still racking his brains trying to figure out how to solve the mystery, Black Glasses had already reached the driver's seat and dealt with the driver who had long since become a puppet.

Black Glasses grabbed Xie Yuchen's hand, pulled him into his arms, kicked open the car door that was still speeding by, and jumped out when he saw the opportunity.

"You are crazy!"

Xie Yuchen felt a dizzying sensation and before he could recover, he asked the question.

"Staying in the car will only delay our deaths by a few minutes! If we jump out, we have a chance of surviving!"

The man with the black glasses looked at Xie Yuchen with a sly grin, even though he looked extremely disheveled.

"See, we survived, didn't we?"

"Yes! You survived! But what about your injuries? In this godforsaken place, we have nothing. If your wounds get infected, you'll just have to wait to die!"

Xie Yuchen looked at the wounds all over Black Glasses' body, caused by the fall from the speeding car when he jumped down to protect him, from the branches and pebbles on the road.

"Xiaohua, this is necessary. A car that has lost control is the most dangerous. If we can't make a quick decision, the consequences will be far more serious than just this minor injury!"

Despite his own pain, Black Glasses pulled Xie Yuchen, whose eyes were red and swollen, into his arms.

Xie Yuchen wanted to push Hei Xiazi away, but when he touched the wounds on Hei Xiazi's body and heard a gasp from above, the tears that were already hanging in his eyes finally fell.

"And what about me! Do you think I'd just watch you get hurt? You always make all these decisions for me without asking!"

"I'm not the little kid who hid behind you anymore. I can share everything with you now!"

Black Bear stroked Xie Yuchen's head, "Yes, our Little Flower has grown up, she's a big kid now! But,"

Hei Xiazi straightened Xie Yuchen's body, removed his glasses, and revealed those light gray eyes filled with deep affection: "But I don't believe my flowers will be harmed in any way, not even if they are just scratched!"

Black Bear stood up as if nothing had happened. "Flower, the darkness you've encountered is what we want you to experience, but the deeper darkness will always stay away from you."

"What your father and I went through was far darker than you can imagine, so stay safe in the protective circle we've given you."

Xie Yuchen sat on the ground, looking up at the black bear in the backlight. It seemed that only at this moment did he suddenly realize that the scars he had once used to show off were not even one ten-thousandth as good as theirs.

"Get up! The ground is cold."

Hei Xiazi reached out and helped Xie Yuchen, who was sitting on the ground, to his feet. "I don't know if we can stay here any longer. What if we can't get out?"

Hei Xiazi shielded Xie Yuchen behind him and walked towards where they had jumped out of the car, not forgetting to tease them about their current predicament.

"If we really can't get out, dying together would fulfill one of our wishes, wouldn't it?"

Xie Yuchen took a few steps forward, his swaying arm close to Hei Xiazi's hand, their fingers intertwined.

"We'll share the same fur coat in life, and the same grave in death!" Black Bear looked down at the two hands clasped tightly together. "But, but I can't bear to part with them!"

"Flower, I can't bear to see you die in this place that is not worthy of you. You should be growing brightly under the sun, not rotting in the swamp with me."

"There's no such thing as being worthy or unworthy; it all comes down to my own willingness."

Xie Yuchen's and Hei Xiazi's eyes seemed to have switched places. Hei Xiazi looked at the hand being held tightly and the person walking in front of him.

The two walked back to the cement road they had been on, looking at the car that had lost control and crashed into the cliff.

"Go check if there's anything usable left in the car."

Black Bear protected Xie Yuchen as they walked toward the car.

The driver, his face ashen, pupils dilated and emaciated, slumped over the steering wheel, his head lolling to one side. A gruesome wound on his neck stained his pristine white shirt crimson.

Black Bear ransacked the driver, practically skinning him alive. "A lighter, a pack of cigarettes, and a few steel pins. He's even poorer than me!"

"I always keep a first-aid kit, alcohol, and some loose chocolates in the car."

Xie Yuchen found a first-aid kit in the slightly more intact back seat, along with several bottles of purified water, a small amount of baijiu (Chinese liquor), and a few pieces of chocolate to prevent hunger during the long journey.

"It's much better than I expected. At least it's somewhat usable, so we won't be completely unarmed in this godforsaken place."

Hei Xiazi rummaged through the passenger seat and found some handy weapons, tossing one to Xie Yuchen.

Xie Yuchen held it in his hand and gestured a couple of times. "At least it's usable. At least we won't have to face those unknown dangers empty-handed."

After looting the place, the two walked one after the other on the endless highway. The sun, high in the sky, seemed to never set, hanging silently over their heads.

The mist on both sides seemed to be drawn by an invisible force, slowly converging towards the center. Originally, it was quite a distance from the two of them, but now it had silently spread to their feet.

Black Bear's keen eyes were fixed on the approaching thick fog ahead, and he thought to himself, "This thing is coming on strong..." Suddenly, he sensed that there were several blurry figures walking slowly but steadily towards them from within the thick, inky fog.

Standing beside him, Xie Yuchen also noticed the unusual situation. He frowned slightly and said in a deep voice, "Be careful. Their sudden appearance at this time is probably not a friendly move." After saying that, he gripped the sharp knife he had just found in the car tightly and gently placed his other hand on a metal bracelet on his wrist.

Upon hearing this, Hei Xiazi's lips curled up slightly, revealing a barely perceptible smile. He teased, "You should take care of yourself. I've been walking on the edge of life and death for years, so I'm used to it." Despite saying this, Hei Xiazi never let go of the pistol tucked into his waistband.

"Black Bear, there's one on the left too!"

Xie Yuchen noticed that there seemed to be a figure in the white mist to their left, but there was only one.

"Run to the left!"

Hei Xiazi glanced to the left and immediately grabbed Xie Yuchen, running towards the thick fog on the left.

"But..." Xie Yuchen ran while looking back at the spot they had just been, "But there seems to be no movement over there!"

"The silence is the biggest disturbance!" Hei Xiazi knew without turning around that those figures were just trying to mislead them.