Chapter 32

Reason is like the most sophisticated gear. After a brief jam, it starts running at high speed again, forcibly sorting out the mess.

The optimal solution is...

Lin Yao's eyes swept across Lu Cheng's pale and bloody face, and across his chest, which had been bandaged by him and was slowly seeping out a little dark red bandage.

A tool that has lost its value, saving it is a waste, and taking him with him is extremely stupid.

But... since we've already wasted the medicine and time, we must squeeze every last bit of value out of him. Make sure he doesn't die immediately, and then, leave him to someone who can handle this problem.

Although the D City exploration team was suspicious of each other, Lu Cheng was, after all, the nominal son of the city lord. As long as they dropped him on the route the D City team had to take, they would not leave his body exposed for any reason after discovering it.

In this way, the rescue efforts I made just now would not be completely in vain.

As for Qin Feng… he had to return as soon as possible. The longer he was missing, the more likely that his emotionally manipulated protector would lose control, attracting unnecessary investigation.

The search for materials...can only be put on hold temporarily, or other methods can be found.

The idea is clear and the logic is self-consistent. This seems to be the only viable solution under the current situation.

The cold feeling of control flowed back into his limbs and bones, dispelling the worries of that moment.

Lin Yao no longer hesitated. He bent down, ready to pick up Lu Cheng like an inanimate object and place him in a preset safe place.

His movements were crisp and decisive, without a trace of unnecessary emotion. But just as his fingertips were about to touch Lu Cheng's shoulder...

A cold hand, stained with blood and dust, suddenly rose up.

The movement was so fast that there was no warning, but it was accompanied by an almost desperate stubbornness that came from the instinct of life.

The hand suddenly grabbed Lin Yao's outstretched wrist.

The force wasn't great, and for a seriously injured man near death, it could even be described as weak. But the hand clenched tightly, like a drowning man grasping at a last piece of driftwood.

Then, in the next second, it pulled Lin Yao's hand and pressed it against its cold cheek.

Lu Cheng still had his eyes closed, deep in the quagmire of coma, his brows tightly furrowed due to the severe pain in his body.

But the moment Lin Yao's palm touched his cheek, his tightly furrowed brows strangely relaxed a little. He even unconsciously tilted his head slightly, burying his cheek deeper and more dependently in the slightly cool palm, rubbing it gently.

Like a tired bird returning to its nest, like a young animal seeking shelter.

An action filled with absolute trust, attachment and... a suffocating sense of happiness.

The cracked lips moved slightly, and the corners of the lips with blood scabs curved upwards in an illusory and satisfied arc. A broken, breathy murmur drifted in the thick darkness like a dream talk.

"Yaoyao...we...will never...separate again..."

Every syllable was like a barbed ice pick, piercing deep into Lin Yao's soul.

Buzz——

Lin Yao's body suddenly froze, as if struck by an invisible lightning bolt.

The hand that Lu Cheng held tightly against his cheek trembled violently and uncontrollably for the first time. The tremor was so great that it almost broke free from the weak yet stubborn grip.

The carefully constructed mask of calmness on his face, which was used for disguise, shattered instantly like ice hit by a sledgehammer.

An unprecedented, pure, and completely detached from any calculation or disguise, bewilderment clearly appeared on his exquisite face.

Those azure eyes that always contained cold calculations or fragile disguises were now empty, as if they had been forced to bear a stream of incomprehensible and unprocessable information, completely shutting down.

What should he do? !

This thought was like an uncontrollable torrent, instantly breaking through the dam of rationality he had just built. Should he ask himself? Or should he ask Lu Cheng, whose consciousness was sinking on the brink of death, yet stubbornly grasped him, calling his name?

The huge sense of absurdity and a feeling of loss of control that almost made his soul tremble, drowned him like an icy tide.

A cold warning rang out sharply in his mind: Danger! Get out! Now! This is a deadly trap! A quagmire that will drag him into an abyss of no return! He was tearing apart the absolute rationality on which he depended for survival with his own hands! He was becoming the fool he once despised the most, controlled by his emotions!

Get out! Now! Immediately!

This instruction is extremely clear, like a law of survival engraved deep in the soul.

However……

Lin Yao's body felt like it was nailed to the spot. The hand that Lu Cheng held tightly against his cheek could easily break free, but it seemed to have lost all its strength, remaining limp against the cold, fragile skin.

He looked at the illusory yet satisfied smile on Lu Cheng's face, at the happiness of reunion that he still believed in even in his coma, and at his hand that he held tightly in his arms like a treasure, refusing to let go even a little bit...

How stupid.

How ridiculous.

How... suffocating.

A tool that he himself implanted false memories into.

A chess piece that he exploited, squeezed out of value, and then silently abandoned.

A burden that he regarded as a nuisance and on the verge of death.

This emotion, built on outright lies and careful calculations, should have been just a prop for him to manipulate on the stage, but now... it was like the toughest vines, entwining his hands and feet, becoming a heavy shackle that bound him and pulled him into the unknown abyss.

He once thought he was a chess player overlooking everything, controlling the chess piece called emotion. But now, this chess piece has trapped him firmly on the chessboard.

A deep emotion, filled with endless fatigue and some indescribable sense of stagnation, weighed on Lin Yao's heart like a heavy block of lead.

final.

All the turbulent struggles, the cold warnings, the sharp sense of absurdity... all turned into a very light, very long sigh, as if it penetrated the long time and endless calculations.

"well……"

The sigh was so light that it almost disappeared into the darkness.

Lin Yao did not pull his hand back.

He slowly, slowly sat down next to Lu Cheng.

The cold, decaying ground sent a chill through his clothes. He let Lu Cheng hold his hand tightly against his cheek, as if holding his only salvation.

He lowered his head slightly, his silver hair falling down, covering most of his face and his blue eyes that were filled with complex emotions that no one could understand, perhaps even he himself could not interpret.

Is it a compromise?

Or something else?

He doesn't know.

I don't want to know either.

He just sat there quietly, beside the trouble that he had created and abandoned with his own hands, in the darkness that was so thick that it seemed to swallow everything.

He let the tightly held hand convey the other person's weak but stubborn heartbeat, and also conveyed an unprecedented...heaviness that nailed him firmly to the spot.