"Jiang Shuyin, you're crazy!"
Lu Yan's voice was exceedingly cold and stern. His jawline was taut, and his eagle-like eyes glared at her as if trying to burn two holes right through her.
He tried to step toward her, but the very next second, she shouted to stop him, "Don't come any closer!"
Her slender body shifted even closer to the window ledge.
Seeing that she looked like she could fall at any moment, Lu Yan's heart leaped into his throat.
"Don't joke around with your life!"
Jiang Shuyin's expression was fearless and resolute. "Lu Yan, are you still going to drive me away?"
Lu Yan furrowed his sharp brows, his voice low and hoarse. "Come down first, then we'll talk!"
"No, answer me!"
Seeing her refuse and act as if she was about to jump, Lu Yan had no choice but to shake his head. "I won't drive you away!"
Jiang Shuyin curled her lips in satisfaction. "Will you come back with me?"
Lu Yan pressed his thin, cold lips together tightly, remaining silent for a long time.
Jiang Shuyin stared straight into his complicated, eagle-like eyes. "Do you think doing this is good for all of us? Even if you don't have much time left, you should let your closest ones stay by your side. Taking on everything alone is a cruel punishment for those of us who care about you!"
"Especially your parents. You used to have so many missions and spent so little time with them. Now that your time is running out, you won't even give them a chance to say a final goodbye. Do you want them to die of grief?"
Lu Yan's deep eyes dimmed bit by bit.
How could he not know that everything Jiang Shuyin said was right?
But if he let them see him become emaciated and walk toward death in such a short time, wouldn't that be just as cruel to them?
He had originally planned to call his team right before he died, asking them to hand his ashes over to his parents.
But Jiang Shuyin's words made him realize that his plan was wrong.
Lu Yan's hands, hanging by his sides, clenched tightly into fists before slowly loosening after a long while.
He reached out his long, slender hand toward Jiang Shuyin. "No matter what, come down first."
Jiang Shuyin still shook her head, her cold, delicate face full of stubbornness. "I'll count to three. If you don't agree, I'll jump right now!"
Seeing Jiang Shuyin let go of the window ledge, Lu Yan's eyes darkened. "Stop messing around, come down quickly. I promise you!"
Hearing him finally give in, Jiang Shuyin let out a long sigh of relief.
She reached out both hands toward him. "Come over and carry me, my legs are weak."
Lu Yan took a few quick strides to the window, extending his long arms to pull her slender body into a hug.
Jiang Shuyin took the opportunity to wrap her arms around his neck, looking at him with glistening eyes. "Can you still carry me now?"
Lu Yan's Adam's apple bobbed. "I'm not completely useless yet!"
Jiang Shuyin looked at him up close. His face had grown so gaunt that there was hardly any flesh left. His eye sockets were sunken, and his eyes were bloodshot, making him look incredibly haggard and exhausted.
His current state truly made her heart ache.
After being carried off the windowsill and placed on the ground, she didn't release her grip on his neck. Her slender body remained pressed against his lean chest. She stared at him unblinking. "Lu Yan, the reason you rejected my confession last time was because the lethal Five-Color Flower poison in your body still hasn't been cured, right?"
Looking at the thin mist of tears swirling in her eyes, Lu Yan's cold, hard heart unconsciously softened.
He had thought that by rejecting her and cutting off contact for the past two months, she would completely forget him.
He never expected her to find this small fishing village, nor did he expect her to use such a method to force him to confess his true feelings.
Originally, he was prepared to bear everything alone, but because of her arrival, his heart was thrown into complete chaos.
He had lost to this woman!
He closed his eyes and nodded with a heavy expression. "Yes."
He knew his own physical condition very well.
He didn't have much time left.
What use would it be if he accepted her confession?
It would only add to her pain and sorrow!
Jiang Shuyin looked at the forbearance and restraint in the man's eyes. She didn't say anything more; instead, she recklessly captured his thin lips in a kiss.
The warm breath, soft touch, and intimate contact made Lu Yan's body stiffen fiercely.
Her kiss caught him completely off guard.
Between her lips, he tasted something salty and bitter.
The tears that had been welling up in her eyes had fallen at some point.
They landed between their lips.
His heart unconsciously clenched.
She was someone who rarely cried. Even back then, in the harsh environment of the Black Desert, she would rather die than shed a single tear.
But right now, she was kissing him while weeping.
The walls Lu Yan had so painstakingly built in his heart crumbled in an instant.
He was completely conquered by her.
What was originally just a tentative kiss turned fierce and passionate as he shifted from passive to active.
He wrapped his arms around the woman's soft, slender waist.
He held her tightly, as if wanting to embed her into his very flesh and blood.
They only stopped when they were both nearly out of breath.
A rosy flush had spread across Jiang Shuyin's fair face, and she leaned weakly against the man's chest.
Gripping his shirt collar tightly, she asked unsteadily, "Lu Yan, do you want to be with me?"
Hearing her question, Lu Yan frowned deeply. "I..."
He only managed to say one word before her slender white fingers pressed against his thin lips.
She raised her long eyelashes to look at him. "Even if you don't have long to live, I want to spend your remaining time with you as your girlfriend. Don't tell me you kissed me, slept with me, and now you're too stingy to even give me the title of your official girlfriend?"
She had always been eloquent, and sometimes he simply couldn't win an argument against her.
"Do you really not mind being with a dying man?" He rested his forehead against hers, his voice hoarse, his deep eyes filled with helplessness.
Hearing him say this, Jiang Shuyin's heart ached beyond measure.
She believed there would definitely be a miracle.
She would not give up on him until the very last moment.
"I don't mind!" Jiang Shuyin cupped his gaunt face with both hands. "You care about me too, don't you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have chosen to come to this small fishing village at the very end. And you wouldn't have kicked the door open in a rage when Lin Feng and I got a hotel room!"
Looking at the woman so close to him, Lu Yan finally couldn't help but kiss the corner of her lips.
She was too smart.
She had trapped him with one scheme after another, drawing him into her snare.
If she had just come to the fishing village and tried to force him to leave with her, he absolutely would not have agreed.
Instead, she did the exact opposite. After arriving, she ignored him and treated him like air.
And she even used Lin Feng to provoke him.
It made him restless and wildly jealous.
Thinking of Lin Feng, Lu Yan's gaze darkened as he looked at her. "What exactly is going on between you and Lin Feng?"
Jiang Shuyin curled the corners of her lips. "Are you jealous?"
Lu Yan pressed his tongue against his back teeth. "Damn right I'm jealous. There better be nothing going on between the two of you, or I'll tear that brat to pieces!"
