The sallow-skinned, emaciated boy lay beside Murong Jing He, clearly exhausted from a day of fleeing, sleeping soundly. Despite his dirty face and ragged clothes, his youthful features revealed that he was no older than fifteen.
If he managed to survive yesterday, perhaps he has the strength to continue living...
The rustling of leaves reached Mei Lin's ears, interrupting her thoughts. A dark brown, flat-headed snake emerged from the bushes near the cave's entrance, its beady black eyes staring as it flicked its tongue twice before slithering into the cave, revealing a body as thick as a child's wrist.
Mei Lin sat there, her gaze calm as she watched the snake. She clenched her fist, her throat moving involuntarily. Just as the black snake began to slither over her leg, blocking its path, her hands shot out. One hand clamped down three inches below the snake's head, while the other grabbed its body. As the startled snake coiled its tail around her arm in defense, she bit down hard on the snake's neck.
Ignoring the snake's struggles and the increasing pressure of its tail around her arm, she tightened her bite until her teeth punctured the cold snake's skin, releasing warm blood into her mouth.
The snake's tail finally began to relax, twitching occasionally, before going limp.
Thud! The four to five-foot-long dead snake was thrown to the ground as Mei Lin, nearly drained of energy, slumped against the rocky wall, closing her eyes to catch her breath. Blood began to seep again from the wound on her left shoulder that had yet to heal.
After drinking a stomachful of snake blood, Mei Lin felt her strength slowly returning, warming her body that had been depleted by blood loss, hunger, and fever. Once she had caught her breath, she opened her eyes, only to be met with a pair of clear black eyes filled with terror.
The boy had woken up. It was clear that he had witnessed Mei Lin's act of biting the snake, or perhaps it was the commotion that had roused him.
Mei Lin thought for a moment, then picked up the dead snake and tossed it in front of the boy. "Eat," she said indifferently. While pine nuts were good, there weren't enough of them to truly satisfy hunger.
The boy shuddered in fear, shrinking closer to the still-unconscious Murong Jing He, stammering, "Y-you... who are you...?"
Mei Lin lowered her gaze. She could explain, but she had no desire to speak or waste energy. Instead, she pulled out two more pine cones from her still-bulging waistband and tossed them to the boy before dragging the dead snake back to herself. Her eyes scanned the cave, eventually settling on Murong Jing He's leg.
Crawling over, she pulled a dagger from his belt, drawing the blade from its ornate sheath. The thin blade gleamed with a cold light—it was clearly a well-made weapon.
Returning to her spot, she began to process the dead snake. She skinned it, removed the head, and gutted it...
As she worked, the boy, now somewhat recovered, picked up one of the pine cones from the ground, still in disbelief. "Y-you... big brother?"
Mei Lin glanced at him but remained silent, continuing to chew in silence. At the entrance of the cave, she plucked a few yellow-green broad leaves, laid them out in front of her, and placed the sliced snake meat on them. The snake skin and bones were buried in a small hole she dug, to avoid attracting ants or other pests.
Cooked snake meat might be delicious, but raw snake meat was far from appetizing. The boy hesitated, staring at the pale flesh in front of him, then at Mei Lin, who was silently chewing. Swallowing hard, he forced himself to pick up a piece and put it in his mouth. However, the cold, slimy texture, combined with the strong, fishy taste, made him retch, and he spat it out immediately.
Watching him vomit over and over, nearly bringing up bile, Mei Lin frowned. She reached over to take back the snake meat, tossing all the remaining pine cones to the boy instead.
"I-I'm sorry, b-big sis..." the boy stammered, wiping his mouth with his sleeve, his pretty eyes brimming with tears of guilt, on the verge of crying.
"It's fine," Mei Lin finally replied. Her voice was slightly better than the day before but still hoarse. The boy immediately recognized her as the person who had sheltered him the previous night.
She wrapped the remaining snake meat tightly in leaves and tucked it into her clothes. Peering outside at the still-pouring rain, she glanced back at the still-unconscious Murong Jing He before crawling out of the cave.
"Big sis, where are you going?" the boy exclaimed, startled, his stammer gone.
"To escape. Do you plan on staying here forever?" Mei Lin replied without looking back. After a moment's thought, she added, "You should leave here soon too. If you wait too long, there might be trouble." By now, the soldiers were probably on their way back to report to Muye Luomei. Once they discovered Murong Jing He was missing, they would likely search the entire forest, possibly even sealing it off, making escape impossible.
"But... big sis, big sis..." The boy glanced at Murong Jing He, still lying unconscious beside him. Forgetting all about the scattered pine cones, he darted forward, grabbing onto Mei Lin's ankle with the agility of a mouse.
"What do you want?" Mei Lin asked, frowning as she turned to look at him.
"Big sis, don't leave me," the boy pleaded, his voice trembling with tears, his eyes red with misery.
Mei Lin was taken aback. She had never expected him to want to stay with her. She had collaborated with others to survive difficult situations before, but they would always part ways once the goal was achieved. There was never any lingering attachment. To her, last night was one of those situations—she had helped him, and he had helped her through the most dangerous part of the night. Even if she had been near death come morning, she wouldn't have blamed him for leaving her. Similarly, when she decided to leave, she hadn't considered taking him with her.
"Alright, let's go," she said after a moment, realizing that his agility could be useful. Traveling together wouldn't be a bad idea.
The boy's face lit up with joy, his smile so bright it was almost blinding.
"Wait for me," he said, quickly scurrying back to where he had been lying, busying himself.
Mei Lin saw that he was gathering the pine cones from the ground and turned her gaze away, crawling out to sit under the large tree outside. She didn't spare another glance at Murong Jing He, lying unconscious inside. If her feelings had been stirred by his inexplicable affection two days ago, they had been completely extinguished by the events of the previous day. He owed her nothing, and she owed him nothing, so his life or death was no longer her concern.
The rain was falling even harder now, droplets occasionally slipping through the still-dense leaves above and landing on her, but it didn’t dampen her mood after a full meal. She stretched out her hand to catch the rain, slowly washing the blood from it, then gazed out at the mist-shrouded forest, pondering her escape route.
"Big sis, let's go." The boy's shout came from below, slightly breathless.
Mei Lin looked down and her face immediately turned green.
The boy stood below, his back weighed down by the much larger figure of Murong Jing He. His face was flushed from the effort, but his eyes shone with inexplicable happiness.
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