Su Jin took a bite of the cold steamed bun and felt that life was just like that. "After starting work, my spirit became barren, but I was also not materially well-off. It can be said that we both suffered losses."

Once everyone had arrived, we went into the mountains together and discovered that the wind had been quite strong the night before.

Many small trees have been broken by the wind and are blocking the road.

They had to take a longer route to get there. Su Jin pulled Lin Shi to the riverbank to observe. "Okay, let's rest here for a while."

Lin Shi unscrewed the bottle cap, handed it to Su Jin, and asked her, "How's your strategy going?"

Su Jin looked left and right in fright, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that no one else was around. "Could you please not say that here?"

She spread out the tent fabric, looked at the azure sky, and sighed, "I feel like I would have been better off accepting the punishment from the beginning and dying."

She got really excited about this, "How do you think this system will make me die? Accidental death? Or suicide? Or... will it just make me disappear from this world?"

Lin Shi suddenly recalled some plot points from suspense novels she had read before, "If you disappear completely, will my memories of you also be erased?"

Su Jin laughed and said, "Maybe."

A drop of something watery landed on her face, and Su Jin jumped up instantly. "Holy crap! Bird pee?"

"ah?"

Su Jin wiped her face and sniffed, "Oh no, that scared me to death."

It started to drizzle again that day.

Shen Yanxiu jogged over from a distance, carrying a waterproof tent cloth. "Ajin, come here quickly, don't get wet."

Su Jin quickly huddled beside him to avoid the rain, saying, "Thank you."

"You're welcome……"

Lin Shi also covered their tent with the cloth, pondering whether she should leave and give them some private space.

Su Jin pressed her hand to her chest, feeling uneasy. "This is so strange..."

Shen Yanxiu lowered his head and asked, "What's strange?"

Su Jin's eyebrows twitched wildly; she finally understood why she had felt so strange.

"Birds, there are no birds."

She hadn't heard a single bird call since she came in.

Shen Yanxiu asked, puzzled, "Do you want to see birds?"

Su Jin's breathing became erratic. She pulled Lin Shi aside and asked, "On the way here, did you not see any birds at all?"

"I think so..."

She gripped Lin Shi's hand tightly. "No, how can there be no birds in such a large forest? We have to go down; it's too dangerous to stay here."

Lin Shi asked, puzzled, "Why would it be dangerous if there were no birds?"

Su Jin didn't even have time to grab her bag before she grabbed her and tried to leave.

"Call the others, we have to go down. Even if they don't go down, the two of us will go down together."

“And me…” Shen Yanxiu, who had been silently sheltering her from the rain, spoke weakly.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot about you."

Su Jin awkwardly steadied his arm, "Doesn't it hurt to hold it up like that? Or should I do it?"

With a thought, Shen Yanxiu moved even closer to her, his eyes shining.

"It's okay, I'll do it."

The three of them walked for a long time but did not see anyone else.

Su Jin paced back and forth in frustration. She even considered not looking for them and instead going down the mountain with Lin Shi and Shen Yanxiu. Every minute they stayed longer meant more danger.

Su Jin suddenly looked behind Lin Shi and saw that the trees that had been standing upright were now leaning.

"Run!"

She grabbed Lin Shi and ran in the opposite direction, shouting, "Chen Yanxiu, hurry up and follow!"

Lin Shi's tent flew away, and the two of them were soaked to the bone, their hair sticking wetly to their heads.

"Ah Jin, what happened?" Shen Yanxiu was panting heavily, and his body was soaked with sweat.

"Don't stop, run! A landslide is about to happen here."

"ah?"

This time, without Su Jin pulling her along, Lin Shi ran incredibly fast, her feet barely touching the ground.

Rumble!

The sound, seemingly from nowhere, was like a death knell. Su Jin's heart trembled violently, and she didn't stop for a moment.

He didn't forget to mentally call out to the system, "That damn system! Didn't you say you wouldn't let me die in an accident? What's going on now? I'll haunt you even as a ghost!"

"Ajin! Watch out!"

Su Jin's eyes were blinded by the rain, and there were too many obstacles under her feet, so she couldn't see anything at all.

Shen Yanxiu pulled her back, his voice rising unconsciously, "You almost rolled down the stairs!"

Shen Yanxiu squatted down to check, and found that she had twisted her ankle.

Su Jin didn't care about anything else and was about to keep running.

"I'll carry you on my back."

Shen Yanxiu held her wrist tightly. "I'll carry you on my back, I'll take you down there, I'll make sure you're safe."

His gaze was unusually calm and resolute, unlike his usual expression.

Su Jin hesitated, "You won't be able to run fast that way."

"I can do it, believe me, just this once."

Shen Yanxiu's face was wet with either rain or tears; he had already half-squatted down, gesturing for her to come up.

Lin Shi ran halfway and, seeing they weren't following, ran back, looking exhausted and pale. "What's wrong? Run!"

"I sprained my ankle."

There was another loud boom, this time the sound seemed even closer.

Su Jin wiped the rain off her face, climbed onto Shen Yanxiu's back, and whispered in his ear, "Thank you. If you can't hold on, tell me, and I can get down."

Shen Yanxiu carried her on his back and said, "Hold on tight to my neck."

Su Jin did as she was told, her hurried breaths falling on his neck.

This was one of the few times she completely trusted someone; there was no gap between them, and their lives were intertwined.

Su Jin heard strange noises behind her.

Turning her head, she trembled with fear for the first time in her life, pleading with Shen Yanxiu, "Can you run faster? The ground behind us is cracking..."

Shen Yanxiu seemed to feel her tears falling on his neck. He tightened his grip on Su Jin's legs. "Okay, don't look back. Close your eyes."

With a loud rumble, the entire mountainside, dozens of meters away from them, began to slide down.

It was incredibly moving. Even if Su Jin hadn't been on the mountain, she would have marveled at the power of nature.

Lin Shi was so frightened that she forgot to run. Still shaken, she went to call Su Jin, "Wh-what should we do?"

"Once we get down to a safe place, we'll be safe."

"You seem to have said something pointless..."

...

Gu Xingze played with bread at home. These past few days, the doctor had ordered him not to move around too much, so even the dog was being walked by Jiang Heng.

"Xiao Bao, does your mom really love me?"

Gu Xingze hugged the bread and rubbed its head.

Unfortunately, it couldn't speak; it just stuck out its tongue and breathed.

He sighed, "And what do you know?"

I put the dog on the ground, turned on the TV, and heard a clear and resonant voice announcing the news.

"It is reported that a large-scale landslide occurred at Zhongxiu Mountain at around 10:30 this morning, accompanied by mudslides, which has caused considerable impact on nearby residents. The number of casualties is still being tallied. Please connect with reporters on the scene..."

Later, reporters in raincoats were analyzing the situation on site, but Gu Xingze could no longer hear anything.