Forced love, an inescapable fate

It was very dark in the dense forest and they had no torches to illuminate, so walking was very difficult. Mu Qingli was tripped by branches and weeds from time to time. At the same time, she had to pay attention to Jiang Ci who was pretending to be scared behind her. After a while, she was sweating profusely, and her hands and face were scratched by the branches.

The darkness itself can magnify people's fear several times, not to mention the place and situation they are in now. The creepy cries of strange birds and the growls of wild beasts coming from the distance from time to time, Mu Qingli only felt his calves go weak and his hands slowly became cold.

At this moment, she regretted her impulsiveness. Although the chaos tonight allowed the two of them to escape temporarily, it was obviously too reckless to rush into this dense forest. Even if there was a torch at this time, it could drive away the wild beasts.

But considering Jiang Ci behind her, she could only force herself to move forward. If she showed fear at this time, what would the person behind her do?

Jiang Ci naturally felt her fear, and at this moment he was full of anticipation as to how far Mu Qingli could go.

The two of them walked forward, one step deep and one step shallow. The night was too dark and they couldn't tell the direction at all. They could only rely on their instinctive perception to move forward.

Mu Qingli has been afraid of the dark since she was a child, let alone in this dense forest full of unknown dangers. She forced herself to ignore the surrounding environment and only thought about whether she could find a cave where they could stay temporarily or a place where they could stay tonight and continue their journey at dawn. It was still too dangerous to walk at night.

But due to her high mental concentration and physical exhaustion, she felt that she was about to give up. Her hands and feet were already shaking slightly, but she still held Jiang Ci's hand tightly.

Jiang Ci behind him looked at the person in front with complicated eyes. His situation was much better than Mu Qingli's. After all, he had been secretly practicing martial arts in the past few years. Although his body looked thin, that was just the perception given to outsiders.

Feeling Mu Qingli's body trembling, he felt a little bit of pity in his heart.

When this thought came to his mind, he felt extremely uncomfortable.

In the end, he just opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Mu Qingli felt that her physical strength had reached its limit and she had no strength left. Calculating the time, they had been traveling for nearly two hours and she really couldn't walk anymore.

She turned around and asked Jiang Ci.

"Brother, can you still walk? Should we stop and rest for a while?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she heard the clear cry of a wild beast. Judging from the direction the sound came from, it was very close to them.

Her heart skipped a beat, her back felt cold, and her whole body went limp.

It was probably the howling of wolves, a chaotic mess, and there were quite a few of them, only a few hundred meters away. Jiang Ci listened to the direction the sound came from and roughly knew the location and number of them.

He knew that Bai Yu and the others were following behind him, so he was naturally not worried about any accidents. But Mu Qingli was different. When she heard the wolf howling, her brain stopped thinking for a short time and she became dazed.

Seeing that she seemed to be frightened, Jiang Ci had no choice but to shake her hand, with fear and panic in his voice.

"Sister, what should we do? There seems to be something in front."

Jiang Ci's voice brought the dazed Mu Qingli back to reality, and she suppressed her trembling voice.

"Don't... don't be afraid... don't be afraid, brother... I will protect you."

However, the stuttering tone revealed the intense fear in her heart.

Seeing her like this, Jiang Ci no longer had the mood to tease her. After looking around, he saw a big tree with triangular branches that should be able to support the weight of the two of them.

He made a sound of mock surprise.

"Sister, look over there, there's a big tree, let's climb up."

Mu Qingli followed the direction of his finger. Although it was not very clear, the shape was indeed a very thick tree. Wolves should not be able to climb trees.

At this moment, she didn't have time to think about anything else. She pulled Jiang Ci and ran towards the tree in a hurry.

Her legs were so weak that she was afraid she couldn't climb up, so when she reached the tree, she let Jiang Ci go up first.

After all, she was just a soul occupying someone else's body, but Jiang Ci was different. He was still young and had a long way to go in life. Moreover, he was in danger now because of his own inconsideration.

"Brother, step on my shoulders and I'll help you up first. Don't worry about me, just keep climbing up, the higher the better."

Jiang Ci was a little bit incredulous, and even suspected that he had heard it wrong, but Mu Qingli had already squatted down and motioned him to step on her shoulders.

Jiang Ci was stunned and stood there motionless.

"Brother, hurry up, it's too late, get up quickly." She reached out and pulled Jiang Ci's clothes.

Jiang Ci finally reacted, but hearing the wolf howling getting closer, he did not hesitate and climbed up by stepping on Mu Qingli's shoulders.

When he had almost climbed up, Mu Qingli, whose hands and feet were weak, slowly stood up by holding the tree trunk and tried to climb up using his hands and feet.

However, after trying several times, she was only half a meter from the ground. But at this time she could even hear the sound of wolves running. Her whole body became weaker, and her hands and feet that were holding the tree trunk were constantly moving, and she was about to slide down.

Jiang Ci had already climbed to the tree branch. Seeing Mu Qingli still below, he felt a little inexplicably panicked in his heart.

He shouted at Mu Qingli without any hesitation.

"Sister, climb up quickly, I'll pull you up from above."

Jiang Ci's voice seemed to give Mu Qingli some strength. She hugged the tree trunk tightly and used her remaining strength to climb up.

However, at this time the wolves had already arrived under the tree, and Mu Qingli, who was hanging on the tree trunk, was the most delicious dinner in the eyes of the wolves.

Mu Qingli could even hear the wolves growling and drooling under her butt. She suddenly felt her scalp tingling and her hands and feet seemed to be out of control. She was almost unable to hold on to the tree trunk with her hands and feet and was about to let go.

At this time, she was thinking:

Are you going to become the wolves' dinner? Are you going to be eaten?

She really couldn't hold on any longer, but this way of dying was too painful.

Before coming here, she had died from a fall from a height, practically shattered to pieces. Was she destined to be eaten by wild beasts this time? That would be truly tragic; her body wouldn't be intact. Fortunately, Jiang Ci was out of danger for the time being; at least he had done something useful.

Some of the wolves had already jumped high, trying to pull the people down from the tree. Mu Qingli felt that her sagging clothes were being bitten, and she could even smell a fishy stench coming from the mouths of the wolves below.

The wolves also felt that the food in the tree had reached its limit, so they were not in a hurry and waited patiently below. Only a few wolves kept jumping and trying to pull Mu Qingli down.