Seeing the young couple falling further and further behind the group, Jiang Zhiyu worried that something unexpected might happen again, so he stopped walking to wait.
But as soon as he stopped, the distant figure carrying someone on his back unexpectedly stopped as well at a leisurely pace. From afar, it looked like a still statue on the mountain path.
It was unclear whether they were whispering to each other or just taking a rest.
"Keep going, why did you stop?" Chai Xiaomi lay on his back, unable to resist urging him, her finger pointing far away at the figure that had shrunk to the size of a fingernail.
"Brother Yu is waiting for us over there."
Wu Li narrowed his eyes slightly, a mocking smile on his lips. "Oh, you can actually tell? I thought it was a wild mountain boar blocking the middle of the road."
"?" Chai Xiaomi found this simply unbelievable. Looking at him, then at the distant figure, she almost doubted her own eyes.
She rubbed her eyes suspiciously and opened them again.
Far as it was, the colors were still distinguishable.
"Such a bright moon-white long gown, who else could it be but him? Or have you ever seen a mountain boar wearing clothes?"
"Oh, so what if it's him? Let him wait," Wu Li's lazy voice drifted from the front, betraying no emotion. "Nobody begged him to wait."
He stood there idly doing nothing, tilting his head slightly. From the corner of his eye, his gaze swept meaningfully over her profile with a hint of probing. "Could it be that your heart aches for him?"
Chai Xiaomi retorted without thinking, "Why would my heart ache for him? The one I feel sorry for is you, okay!"
She really wanted to imitate Song Yueyao and raise her hand to knock a lump right onto his forehead.
But on second thought, she held back.
It would hurt.
He was different from Jiang Zhiyu; he didn't grow up pampered and precious.
He had hurt too many times already.
Besides, she didn't even know where he was injured.
"When no one asked you to be a gentleman, what kind of gentleman are you pretending to be here?" She twisted her waist gently on his back. "If your body can't take it and you can't carry me anymore, just say you want to put me down. It's not like I'm going to laugh at you."
"What an absolute joke!"
The young man bristled, like a cat whose tail had suddenly been stepped on.
He jerked his head to the side, the word "absurd" practically written across his face, his pitch rising several degrees:
"Which eye of yours saw that I couldn't take it?!"
He gritted his back teeth.
From the moment he started carrying her until now, had his breathing hitched even a little?
Growing up in the stronghold, what heavy object hadn't he carried? The prey he used to hunt was heavier than several of her combined, and even when he was a few years younger than he was now, he could still drag it back alone.
And yet, with her light, airy little frame.
She was actually questioning him?
"Weren't you just clamoring to fly out of here?"
Before his words even faded, he suddenly grabbed the arms she had wrapped around his neck. His waist suddenly exerted force, and with a clean flip, he actually pulled her off his back like an over-the-shoulder throw.
Chai Xiaomi felt the world spin around her.
Before her cry of alarm could escape, her entire body had flipped 360 degrees. The next second, she landed securely in a solid embrace, her feet dangling in the air without even touching the ground.
"Come, I'll take you flying right now."
The young man pulled his lips into a wicked smirk, a pointed canine tooth playfully revealing itself.
Alarm bells blared in Chai Xiaomi's head.
Bad.
Very bad!
The next instant, the young man's figure shot up suddenly like an arrow released from a bowstring, sweeping her up as he charged straight for the sky.
"Wait, wait, wait..." Chai Xiaomi subconsciously gripped the lapels on his chest tightly, urgently calling for him to stop. "Your bow! Your bow!"
Just now when he pulled her, his bow had dropped to the ground.
"It's fine, Ah Nan can pick it up for me."
And who was Ah Nan?
Chai Xiaomi simply didn't have time to think before she was suddenly carried high into the sky.
Earlier, when Wu Li rescued her from the claws of the nine-tailed demonic beast, he had only leaped to the height of a rock.
But this time, it was as if he had deliberately gathered all his strength, taking her straight through the sea of trees, rising to a dizzying height where they could almost overlook the entire silhouette of the rolling mountain ranges.
Was this... reasonable?
What kind of lightfoot martial arts could fly a person like a kite to such an altitude?
Chai Xiaomi could only wrap her hands in a death grip around his neck, praying she wouldn't fall.
The two were still flying upward, the fierce wind whipping past their ears, drowning out all other sounds.
In a daze, she seemed to hear him make a very soft tsk sound. Then, the young man's voice, mixed in the wind, vaguely drilled into her ear: "We're doomed."
The wind was so loud that the distinct hint of teasing in his tone went unnoticed by the girl.
Her heart plummeted. "What's wrong!?"
His tone suddenly turned unusually serious. "It seems my inner energy can't keep up."
If she wasn't misunderstanding, did this mean the thrusters were out of fuel and they were stalling in mid-air?
She knew this was unreasonable!
Which otherworldly master's lightfoot skills could be used like a helicopter?!
Chai Xiaomi was going crazy, almost howling out loud, "Ah? Then what do we do!"
"There's no way around it." He sighed softly, his voice revealing a helpless resignation to fate. "We can only hope that when we fall, we don't shatter into too many pieces."
The moment his words fell, Chai Xiaomi clearly felt the force supporting her suddenly loosen.
An intense feeling of weightlessness struck her.
"Ah——!"
She screamed until her voice almost cracked.
This feeling was exactly like bungee jumping!
Wu Li, you are a psycho!!!
Why are you showing off for no reason!
Taking on something you can't handle!
In her heart, she cursed the young man's ancestors back eighteen generations over and over again.
Chai Xiaomi kept her eyes tightly shut, using both her hands and feet like a frightened octopus, tangling herself around his body with all her might, her entire face buried dead into his chest.
As if sensing her desperate desire to cling to a lifesaver.
A pair of strong arms firmly wrapped around her waist.
Pressing her tighter and more thoroughly into his embrace.
The force was astonishingly strong, almost as if he wanted to crush their bones together and embed them into each other's flesh.
Chai Xiaomi had never hugged anyone so tightly in her entire life.
Only the shrill roar of the wind remained in her ears.
She desperately prayed that Jiang Zhiyu could see these two weirdos courting death in mid-air from below, and hurry up to think of a solution!
Suddenly.
"Stop screaming, idiot."
Wu Li's voice came through clearly. "Your howling is making my ears hurt."
Chai Xiaomi froze.
The sound of the wind... seemed to have quieted down?
It was no longer the ear-splitting din of a rapid descent, but had turned into a gentle, slow breeze brushing past her ears.
But she still didn't dare to open her eyes; her body's instinct told her they were still in the air.
Wu Li chuckled softly, his voice coaxing, "Open your eyes and look."
Chai Xiaomi buried her face deeper into his chest, only shaking her head vigorously.
After a good while, she finally answered aloud.
"I! Don't! Want! To!"
The young girl's soft, sweet voice was muffled by the fabric at his chest. When it drifted out, it sounded subdued and tinged with anger, revealing a bit of charming naivety.
He looked down at the top of her head. A few soft, fluffy baby hairs had escaped from her hair bun, swaying back and forth in the wind.
It was as if, no matter how much they were brushed down, they stubbornly insisted on sticking up.
Just like her when she was angry.
Ridiculously fun to tease.
