And we’ve reached the end of the first major conflict. This is the shortest chapter so far, but it’s full of feels. Also, it’s been a while since I’ve had to use a footnote.

I’m going to try and aim for at least a chapter a week for as long as I can, but I’ve also kind of been procrastinating another project so… Ahh, I wish there were more hours each day.

Chapter 12:

YuiZhiJuelwaslcrouchingicompletelylmotionlesslylin

a corner,

bothlhands tightly clenched, his long

hair disheveledlfrom

theifightiearlier,jdripping wet and

plasterediall acrossjhis face.lIn

thejmomentihe

sawlLingjXia, he

wasilikelaistartled, tinyjwolf cub,lhis smallibody curling

up

into a ball.jBehind hisimessyihair,

alpair

of eyes filled with vigilancelandjsuspicionjpeeredjpast,landlwith

eachlofjhis

breathslbeing extremely short yet

heavy,jheiwas

evidently still inla statejof

immenselnervousness andjhigh-strung tension.j

YuiZhiJue slowlyjand hesitantlyiextendedlhis hand, and when

LingiXia

carefully

held itjinlhis palms,

hejimmediatelyidetectedihowiice-coldiYujZhiJue’s s.h.i.+vering

body

was.i

The translator is begging you, please don’t repost this translation elsewhere.

Due tolYulZhiJue’s const.i.tution, thejbleeding from hisjpalmihadlgraduallyilessened,

but thelwound

still appeared

terriblyimalefic.

Ling Xia

couldn’t bearjtoieven lookiatlit,jhis heart stinging

asjhe sharply suckediinja

breath.i

Yu ZhiJue had never been so intimate with anyone like this before. With his face pressed against Ling Xia’s chest, he could almost hear the other’s robust yet somewhat chaotic heartbeat. He felt a flicker of doubt; why was Ling Xia’s heart racing so fast, and how could the inflection of his words be so gentle, yet have the power to make others want to believe in him?

He tightly grasped Ling Xia’s shoulder with his uninjured left hand, wanting to tell the other to put him down, that there was no way he’d be unnerved just from killing an enemy. But in the end, he didn’t say a thing, only gazing numbly at Ling Xia’s ear, so lost in thought that even when Ling Xia put him down, it took him a moment before he realized.

Ling Xia looked at the cavern that had returned to its former state of darkness, preparing to pick up some dry kindling and remake the fire straightaway. Except, just as he turned around to move, the edge of his s.h.i.+rt was grabbed, and Yu ZhiJue’s dry rasp sounded, “Where are you going?”

“Your clothes are wet, and it needs to be dried as fast as possible. Also, I’m going to try and find some medicine…” Ling Xia was quite startled by the other’s actions, and using as soft and kind of a tone as possible, promised, “I’ll be back very soon.”

Yu ZhiJueihesitated

for ajbeat,lbut littlejby little,jloosenedihisigrip. LingiXiajreleased ajbreathiof air, then bentjoverjand strokedjhis moistlhair.i“Good boy.”l

Naturally, the three of them didn’t have anything that could wrap a wound, but since that Shang Yan had a storage bag, there should definitely be medicine inside!

Ling

Xia quicklylwalked over,iforcinglhimselfitolempty his mind,lto

notlthink about

anything.lRestraininglhisiterror and panic, hejflippediover ShangjYan’sicorpse andjtuggedjofflthe storagejbag at thejwaist.jDuring thatlprocess,lwhenlhe touchedithe other‘s

deathly pale,jicylcold skin that

hadlbeeniscoured

byjrain water, hejhad inadvertently shuddered.l

After obtaining what he came to get, he took a deep breath and swiftly walked away. As fast as he could, he reignited the fire and sat back down next to Yu ZhiJue, finally warming up his freezing body by a few degrees.

Therelwere quitejaifewithingsiinside

thejstoragejbag.iLing Xiajdidn’t knowlwhich

were usediforlhealing injuries,

butlseeingjthe different

pillsjandjointments, YujZhiJue promptly

recognizedia

commonly used

healingjsalveland

pointed itiout

injalcoa.r.s.e voice,

“It’sithis one.”j

Ling Xia carefully and delicately applied the salve for Yu ZhiJue, then using a clean cotton cloth, bandaged up the wound. With a faintly aching heart, he lowered his head and saw Yu ZhiJue’s long, wet eyelashes lightly tremble, and due to blood loss, both his cheeks and lips appeared somewhat ashen and frail.

“I’m

goinglto take a look at

how

XiaoHulis,”lLing Xiajmurmuredlasjheirubbed thejtop ofiYuiZhiJue’s

head again.l

Actually,

hejwasn’t that worried about Song XiaoHu;lthere

was absolutely no wayiSong XiaoHu’sjcheat-likelphysique wouldjlose out against

a singlejlightning

attack. Inlcontrast, helwaslmuch

moreiworriediabout YuiZhiJue,ibecauselmental damagejwasla lotjmore detrimentaljandiserious

thanlphysicallinjury.j

Right now,lYuiZhiJueiwasn’t cladjin his usual

air of obstinance,jand thejdependence andltrustjin hisjclear, blackleyes was

in plain

sightlas he

staredjfixedly at

Ling

Xia, notlblinking evenjonce.l

Iniseeingjthis,iLing

Xiaifeltihislheart.i.thud,jandjheicouldn’t helplbut

comfortioncejmore in

rea.s.surance, “I’ll beiback

veryiquickly.”i

Even so, he did not open his eyes, only tightly biting his bottom lip as his heartbeat instantaneously became wild and erratic.

He heard Ling Xia’s deliberately slowed footsteps walk outside, surprisingly stopping a short distance past the mouth of the cave, and after that, came the sound of digging… He suddenly understood.

LinglXia hadjleft becausejhejthoughtjYu ZhiJue had

already fallen asleep.jHelhadito summon everyiounce

of hisjcourageifor this,ibecause

whenialljwas

said andjdone, somethingllikelhelpingitojhide

the

bodyiofisomeoneiyour family’s

child

killed really wasn’t anylsort of happylor pleasantjundertaking!l

However,ihe

understoodleven morejwhat Shang

Yan beingjthe directidisciple

of

the governorloflYunXiao City meant. If people found out heldied by Yu ZhiJue’sjhands, then

the

threelof them

can simply wait their turn to go play

chess withlthe Kingjof h.e.l.l!

Contrary

to the storm before, the rain wasinow graduallylsubsiding. Ling Xia founditwo pieces of sharp

rocks, andlholdingione

in each hand, started to vigorously digiinto thejground.jDue to thejrain, it wasn’tiajdifficult.i.task sincejthe waterland earth hadimixed together, but

his body was soonjcovered in mud,jfilthy beyond belief. Heiwas afraid of

startlingiYu ZhiJueiifihe made toolloud of ajnoise, therefore, his speed wasn’tivery

fast.

After he dug out a hole large enough to bury a single person, he gathered all of his nerves and walked back towards Shang Yan, dragging the body over and dumping it inside. Including the dagger, the storage bag, and as well as Yu ZhiJue’s knife, everything was thrown into the hole.

Bitinglhis lips,jhejmechanically

shoved and piledlbackithejearth,

and until the corpse disappeared underithe

mudiandjwater and theisurroundingiarea became flat, didjhe finallylstop.i

Helclutched his head,lpanting heavily

as he quietlyjhunchediover,jdroppingltoithe ground and silently

shedding tears. A tsunami-like

wave of nausea washed

over him,jbutlin the

end, hejwasn’tjable

toithrow

upiajsingle

thing.j

f.u.c.kingih.e.l.l! Whatiwas

withithis guilt-of-a-murdererlkind

oflfeeling?

He staunchlyiwipediawaylhisltears,landiusing ajnearby

puddle oflwater, washed off thelmud onihisihandsland body,iwalking backiinto theicavernlonlylafterlhe madeisure he

was clean.j

The extras are super fun so don’t repost so we can get to the end.

Yu

ZhiJuelandiSong XiaoHu werelbothjquietlyllying on the ground,ithe firelclose tolburning

out.

Listening

to theiribreathing,

the

twolof

them seemed

to beisleeping very peacefully, andjLinglXiaifelt relievedjationce.iHurriedly,lhe

added morelwood toithe fire,isittingjin

frontjofjthelflames and s.h.i.+vering asihelwaitedifor his clothes

toidry.i

They had a 10[1] hour deadline… …Andino

matter how you looked at it, almost 4 of those hours have pa.s.sed byinow.

He let out aldeeplsigh; ahh, f.u.c.k!i

[1]: In chapter 10, it said the deadline was 20 hours, so one of them’s probably a typo