Shen Jianqiu followed Xu Xinghe and ran deeper into the woods.

Because I was running so fast, the branches scratched my body painfully.

She couldn't help but gasp for breath as she asked, "Why are we running this way? Shouldn't we be running outwards?"

“We can’t run out.” Xu Xinghe didn’t stop. “They know this place better than we do, and we can’t beat them physically. If we rush out now, we’ll be walking into a trap. I just distracted them temporarily. In half an hour at most, they’ll realize I’m gone and they’ll definitely try to block our way out.”

Shen Jianqiu's heart tightened as he recalled what had just happened, and his gaze involuntarily fell on her.

Xu Xinghe's clothes were still neat, and even her hair was not messy. She did not look like she had been bullied at all.

From the moment she was taken away to the moment she returned to the woodshed to save herself, it was at most five minutes. In that short time, she probably couldn't even break free of her restraints. How did she manage to do that?

The two of them put all their strength into running forward with their heads down.

Xu Xinghe only slowed down slightly after entering a dense forest.

Her breathing was still relatively steady, but Shen Jianqiu was already leaning against the tree trunk, panting heavily, her chest burning with pain. "No... I can't run anymore!"

"If you can't run anymore, take a break." Xu Xinghe pulled her into a thicket of bushes, the dense foliage covering most of their bodies. "Just stay here for five minutes, don't wait any longer. The safest thing to do is to head deeper into the mountains and avoid their search area."

"Absolutely not!" Shen Jianqiu immediately shook his head, his face turning pale. "I can roughly guess where this is. There aren't many forests like this around Shanghai. It's probably the mountains around Songjiang County. There are wild animals here. We're unarmed, going in would be suicide! Besides, we didn't bring any food or water, we won't last long."

She took a breath and continued, "We can only hide here for now and can't go deeper into the mountains. The safest way is to wait until we can go down the mountain from the other side, find a village or a road, and contact Lian Xiao."

Xu Xinghe thought about it and realized that this made sense.

If she were alone, with the resources and strength in the space, she could easily go into the mountains to hide for a few days. But with Shen Jianqiu in tow, the unknown risks were too great.

"Okay, I'll do as you say. Let's walk a little further in, avoid the main road, and find a small path down the mountain later."

Five minutes later, the two got up and moved several hundred meters further in.

Shen Jianqiu could no longer hold on and slumped down on a pile of leaves, licking his dry, chapped lips, feeling extremely irritable.

Several hours have passed since she left home, and she has traveled such a long distance without even having a sip of water.

She felt like she was dying of thirst...

But she was not familiar with the area and did not know where there was a water source.

Seeing her like this, Xu Xinghe stood up and said, "You wait here, I'll go get you some water. I've been here with others before, and I remember there's a natural spring not far away."

"Then be careful!" Shen Jianqiu's eyes lit up, and he quickly gave a word of advice.

Xu Xinghe turned and disappeared into the woods, opening up a spatial dimension.

A moment later, she returned carrying several large leaves filled with clear spring water, which was still a little cool.

Shen Jianqiu hurriedly took the leaf, tilted his head back and drank most of it. Just as he was about to drink more, he suddenly stopped and pushed the leaf toward Xu Xinghe, saying, "You drink too, I've had enough."

Actually, her throat was still burning, but there was only so much water available, and if the two of them shared it, it would be enough to last until they got down the mountain. She wasn't going to be that selfish.

Although the kidnapping was caused by Xu Xinghe, Shen Jianqiu remembered how Xu Xinghe had stood in front of her, risking her own life rather than letting her get hurt.

If it were anyone else, they would probably have pushed her out as a shield long ago.

Although Xu Xinghe was involved with two men and was no good, Shen Jianqiu couldn't bring himself to say that she was a bad person.

Xu Xinghe looked at the leaves she handed over and smiled. "I drank some at the spring before coming back. You can drink them all."

Shen Jianqiu nodded and continued to sip the leaf tea.

The two rested against a tree trunk. Xu Xinghe picked up a twig and gestured on the ground, saying, "We just ran in from the northwest. Judging by the sun's position, we should be able to get around to the other side of the mountain if we head east. There should be a village at the foot of the mountain. As long as we encounter people, we'll be safe."

Shen Jianqiu leaned closer to take a look, then frowned. "That's not right. Most of the mountains in Songjiang run east-west. When we were running just now, they should have been running east-west as well."

The two were arguing about direction while facing a tree branch when a sound suddenly came from afar.

It was a man's voice, faint and indistinct.

"Look carefully, those two women can't have gone far!"

Xu Xinghe suddenly stood up, took a few steps forward, and looked down the mountain in the direction of the sound.

Through the gaps in the branches and leaves, you could vaguely see several figures walking up the mountain, holding wooden sticks in their hands, and hurriedly pushing aside the weeds.

"How could it be so fast?" According to Xu Xinghe's previous estimate, it would take at least half an hour for the kidnappers to notice anything unusual, but only fifteen minutes have passed so far.

She even drugged the kidnapper leader to throw them into disarray. As a result, these people abandoned even their own elder brother and started searching the mountain!

Xu Xinghe stared intently at the group, "They must have discovered I had escaped beforehand!"

She counted again carefully. There were originally only three kidnappers, but now there were four or five figures walking up the mountain. "They have accomplices!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a shout came from down the mountain, "Those two women couldn't have gone far. If they're not outside, they must have gone up the mountain to hide! Search them thoroughly!"

Shen Jianqiu's face turned pale instantly, and his hand gripping Xu Xinghe's sleeve trembled. "What do we do now?"

They were too fast, so fast that it made her panic.

"Don't panic!" Xu Xinghe whispered. "What we need to do now is to get out of their search area!"

She pulled Chen Jianqiu up, "Come with me!"

We must now head deeper into the mountains.

As soon as the two stood up, the figures below the mountain seemed to get even closer, and they could even hear the rustling sound of the branches they were parting.

These people must come here often, so climbing the mountain is like child's play for them.

Despite their running, they actually didn't get very far because the mountain path was difficult, which wasted their energy and time.

Xu Xinghe didn't dare to delay, so she pulled Shen Jianqiu into the denser forest, choosing places with lots of vines and deep weeds.

They were small in stature, while the men were quite tall; given the size of the place, they were unlikely to venture in to investigate.

Branches tore their sleeves, and thorns pierced their bodies, causing great pain, but the two dared not stop, only knowing to desperately walk deeper into the mountains.

Shen Jianqiu felt like his lungs were about to explode, but he gritted his teeth and dared not fall behind even half a step.

She knew that stopping now would be tantamount to suicide!

The kidnappers have been enraged and will definitely not be as easy to talk to as before.

As Xu Xinghe ran, he kept an eye on his surroundings. Suddenly, his gaze fell on a steep earthen slope in front of him, which was covered with low shrubs.

"Go that way, slide down the slope, maybe we can leave them behind!"

Shen Jianqiu looked at the almost vertical earthen slope, his eyes filled with fear, but he still nodded.

Xu Xinghe first slid down the slope by holding onto the bushes, and after standing firmly at the bottom of the slope, he reached out and pulled Chen Jianqiu.

Just as the two slid down the slope, they suddenly heard the kidnappers' voices coming from the hillside, "I saw it! There's some of that bitch's fabric over here, and they ran that way!"

Shen Jianqiu suddenly looked down at herself; a piece of her body was missing!

She must have been scratched just now and didn't notice!

what to do?

Xu Xinghe pulled Shen Jianqiu up and darted into the dense forest beside them. "Quick!"