As troublesome as it may be, this situation is not conducive to her plans, so Yan Zhen intends to find an opportunity to have a serious talk with Zhou Rang.

Zhou Rang didn't return until dark. It was raining heavily outside, and he was carrying seafood in his hands, his trouser legs were soaked.

The two exchanged glances, and Zhou Rang was the first to look away, saying, "I'll go cook."

Before long, Zhou Rang brought out four dishes and a soup from the kitchen. The two sat facing each other. Yan Zhen was just about to take the opportunity of the meal to have a good talk with him when her phone rang.

It was Bian Yuan calling. Yan Zhen glanced at Zhou Rang on the other end before answering: "Hello."

"Sister Ming, help! I'm trapped on the mountain and can't get up." Bian Yuan's voice was trembling with tears, and the sound of rushing water could be heard from the other end of the phone.

Yan Zhen paused, then immediately asked, "Where are you?"

Before Bian Yuan could answer, a scream suddenly came from the other end, followed by several dull thuds, and then the call was cut off.

Yan Zhen quickly called back, but several calls went unanswered.

Yan Zhen's expression turned serious. As she got up, she called the landlord and explained that Bian Yuan was trapped on the mountain and she couldn't contact him: "Call the police now and ask them to go up the mountain to help find him. I'm also going up the mountain to see if I can find him."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Rang on the other end looked at her questioningly. Yan Zhen explained, "Bian Yuan went up the mountain to film today and got stuck there. He hasn't come back yet."

Zhou Rang frowned slightly.

Yan Zhen went to the entryway to change his shoes and said to Zhou Rang, "I'll go with the landlord to see if we can find him..."

Before she could finish speaking, Zhou Rang took off his apron: "I'll go with you."

"No way," Yan Zhen refused. "Your leg isn't healed yet. The path up the mountain is slippery in the rain, and visibility is worse at night than during the day. If you fall again, do you even want this leg anymore?"

Zhou Rang insisted, "If you don't trust me to go up the mountain with you, how can I trust you to go up the mountain to look for someone in the rainy night?"

Yan Zhen was taken aback.

Zhou Rang didn't give her a chance to hesitate or think. He took out a raincoat and flashlight from the cabinet and put on rain boots: "Let's hurry up and find the person as soon as possible."

The two ventured out in the heavy rain and met up with their landlord and two policemen at the foot of the mountain.

The landlord had clearly encountered this situation before, as he brought quite a few tools with him.

Yan Zhen couldn't reach Bian Yuan by phone, so he had no way of knowing Bian Yuan's exact location and could only tell the landlord the information he had.

“When Bian Yuan called me, he said he was trapped on the mountain and ‘couldn’t get up.’ I also heard a loud rushing sound near him. He was going to take pictures of the clouds before the rain. Is there a high and open place on the mountain?”

The landlord frowned and pondered for a moment, then his expression changed slightly: "He wouldn't have run off to the Cliff of Heartbreak, would he?"

Upon hearing the name, which sounded like something out of a martial arts novel, Yan Zhen knew something was terribly wrong: "What kind of place is that?"

The landlord gave her a brief explanation: the highest mountain on the island has a sheer cliff face, and because of its high elevation and beautiful scenery, it offers a panoramic view of the eastern side of the fishing island, where you can see a stunning sunrise. There is also a waterfall cascading down the cliff, making it a popular spot for tourists to take photos.

"If Bian Yuan ran off to the Cliff of Heartbreak, that would be terrible," the landlord said worriedly. "The path to the Cliff of Heartbreak is very steep; it's difficult enough to climb during the day. Searching for someone at night, especially in the rain, makes it twice as difficult. And I'm worried..."

The landlord didn't say the rest, but Yan Zhen and Zhou Rang both knew very well what he was worried about.

Being trapped on the mountain is the most optimistic scenario; the real fear is that Bian Yuan might fall off a cliff.

"Let's go check out the Cliff of Heartbreak first," Yan Zhen said.

There are two routes to the Cliff of Heartbreak. Since they didn't know which direction Bian Yuan was climbing the mountain from, the five of them decided to split into two groups.

Two policemen searched the mountain from the west, while Yan Zhen, Zhou Rang, and the landlord searched from the east, as this was the shortest route.

The three set off with flashlights. The landlord, who knew the area well, led the way, followed by Yan Zhen, and Zhou Rang brought up the rear.

The group climbed up a bit, but the water on the path was getting thicker and thicker, rushing down and reaching above their ankles.

Yan Zhen didn't notice that Zhou Rang, who was walking at the back, was becoming increasingly unsteady on his feet.

After a bumpy and difficult journey that took nearly two hours, the group finally reached the Cliff of Heartbreak.

The rain intensified, and the small waterfall on the cliff edge, gathered by the rainwater, became a massive jet of water, as if a dam had been opened.

"Bianyuan? Bianyuan?"

Yan Zhen and the landlord began to shout Bian Yuan's name loudly.

But the cries were immediately drowned out by the sound of rain and waterfalls.

Zhou Rang didn't shout along, but instead squatted down and began to examine the weeds at his feet.

No one had come to the Cliff of Heartbreak for a while, and the weeds underfoot were growing lushly. After people walked by, they trampled the weeds and made them crooked. Zhou Rang eliminated the route that the group had taken when they went up the mountain, and soon found the drone remote control and backpack by following the crooked weeds.

"This way." Zhou Rang waved his flashlight at Yan Zhen and the others.

Yan Zhen went over and took a look: "It's from Bian Yuan."

Zhou Rang continued searching along the trampled weeds and soon found Bian Yuan lying unconscious at the foot of the waterfall.

The person has been found, but the current situation is somewhat tricky.

About three meters down from the waterfall, there is a platform sculpted by the water flow over the years; below that is a cliff, making the terrain treacherous.

There was also a drone on the platform. It seemed that the drone had landed on the platform due to the weather. Bian Yuan went down to retrieve it, hoping for the best, but ended up getting stuck there.

But why did he faint?

"He might have been bitten by a snake." The landlord shone a flashlight on Bian Yuan's foot. He was lying on the platform, wearing only one shoe. The left leg of his trousers was rolled up to his knee, and the shoelace was tied at his ankle. Although the specific situation was not clear, it looked like he had received emergency treatment after being bitten by a snake.

After hearing what the landlord said, Yan Zhen could almost guess what Bian Yuan had experienced on the Cliff of Heartbreak—the drone had landed malfunctioned and stopped below the waterfall. Bian Yuan climbed down to retrieve it, but the cliff was slippery due to the rain and he couldn't climb back up.

So he called Yan Zhen for help, but before he could explain his location, he was bitten by a snake. In his fright, his phone fell off a cliff, and he could only wait for rescue.

While waiting, he suffered a stroke from the snake venom and fainted.

After sorting out the cause and effect, Yan Zhen sighed, thinking that if Bian Yuan were still awake, she would definitely scold him a few times.

Putting away her flashlight, Yan Zhen prepared to go down and bring the person back up, but Zhou Rang, who was next to her, started taking off his raincoat first.

Yan Zhen immediately understood what he was trying to do as soon as she saw his movements, and she grabbed him, saying, "No, you can't go down."

His leg injury had not yet healed, and he could not support Bian Yuan's weight of 130 or 140 pounds.

“I can do it,” Zhou Rang insisted.

“I’ll go down,” Yan Zhen said. “I can carry you and Bian Yuan on my back. Besides, I’m light, and together with Bian Yuan, we only weigh a little over 200 pounds. You guys can pull the rope up here, and it will be easier to bring us up.”

“I can rock climb, and I’ve even won awards.” Zhou Rang didn’t give her a chance to argue. “Stop arguing. Bian Yuan’s condition can’t be delayed any longer; any further delay could be fatal.”

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like