As darkness fell, a storm was brewing.

Xu Nuo had been wandering in the mountains for several hours and was now quite disheveled. Her clothes were stained with yellow mud, her elbows and knees were scraped, and her fair face was covered with dust.

She gently wiped her eyes, afraid of attracting anything, and didn't dare to cry out loud.

There seems to be something ahead.

She took two steps forward, and when she saw clearly, her face turned deathly pale, and she was terrified.

In the depths of the secluded mountains and forests, rows of grave mounds sat under the cover of night.

It was both bizarre and terrifying.

As if to fit the mood, the surrounding wind sounded like ghostly wails.

Xu Nuo took off running.

As darkness fell, her delicate body ran along the mountain path like a frightened little white rabbit, aimlessly bumping into things.

She ran through a dense forest, then stepped on a hard rock and fell to the ground.

Her large eyes were filled with helplessness and fear, and as her eyelashes fluttered twice, large drops of water fell.

"Phew, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt." Xu Nuo cried as she blew on her scraped hand.

There is a big tree nearby.

She got up, walked to the tree, and squatted down, hugging her knees.

The injuries on my elbows and feet throbbed faintly. Because of the darkness, I couldn't see clearly. I gritted my teeth, put my hands over my wounds, and applied the herbal water. The pain instantly lessened.

It was pitch black all around, and the wind howled, making the leaves rustle.

The shadows of the trees were scorching, like some kind of mountain spirit or monster baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.

Xu Nuo buried her head in her knees, her body trembling slightly.

…

The heavy rain poured down, pounding on the leaves like an eerie sonata in the night.

The person huddled under the tree was suddenly awakened and drenched by the pouring rain.

Xu Nuo looked around with a confused and helpless expression, and in her panic, she stepped into a slippery patch of mud.

Below was a small, steep slope, and Xu Nuo slid down it.

Fortunately, the ground below was soft mud and sand, so although she fell and got quite a mess, she was lucky to be unharmed.

But Xu Nuo couldn't hold back any longer and lay down on the slope, crying out loud.

"Waaaaah, I want to go home, I miss home, I don't want to be here, waaaaah, help me."

She had never felt so helpless.

On the other side, a man, soaking wet and looking horrified, was running through the forest.

His voice was filled with unprecedented anxiety and fear: "Xu Nuo."

The sound swept through the woods and reached Xu Nuo's ears.

Xu Nuo was crying her heart out when she suddenly stopped, held her breath and listened intently for a moment, then shouted, "I'm here! Here, I'm here."

Li Xian paused, tilted his head to listen attentively, and suddenly sprinted off in one direction.

"Xu Nuo."

"I'm here..."

Xu Nuo's crying came from the bottom of a slope. Without thinking, Li Xian jumped down. When he saw Xu Nuo lying on the slope, crying so sadly, his heart ached heavily.

All her fear and grievances finally found an outlet. Xu Nuo buried her face in someone's arms and cried pitifully, "Waaaaah, Li Xian, you're here! I'm so scared, waaaaah, so scared! I'm afraid wild animals will eat me...eat me! It's so dark here...waaaah..."

The soft, delicate body in his arms trembled slightly, and Li Xiancai's heart, which had just settled back into place, jumped up again.

He draped his soaked coat over her, gently cupped her head in his large hand, and pressed it lightly against his chest, his voice trembling slightly: "It's alright, Nuonuo, don't be afraid, don't be afraid."

After patting her back and gently coaxing her for a while, Xu Nuo finally stopped crying, sobbing and hiccuping.

The rain showed no signs of letting up. Li Xian looked up, then leaned down and whispered in her ear, "I'll take you upstairs."

Xu Nuo wrapped her arms around his neck and weakly uttered a sob.

Li Xian's expression darkened slightly. He picked up the person with one arm and climbed up the tree on the earthen slope.

With nowhere to shelter from the rain in the mountains, he glanced worriedly at the person in his arms, fearing she couldn't handle it. He then ran as fast as he could and found a cave that could shelter him from the rain.

The cave was cold and damp. Li Xian wanted to put the person down and find some soft grass and firewood to warm her up.

He had just put her down when her eyes, already red from crying, misted over again, and tears welled up in her eyes as her eyelashes fluttered: "Don't go, I'm scared."

Li Xian felt as if his blood had frozen instantly, yet his heart was churning with magma. He knelt on one knee in front of her and whispered, "I'll go find some firewood. You'll get sick if you get caught in the rain."

Despite shivering from the cold, Xu Nuo shook her head with teary eyes, saying, "No."

Li Xian felt a bit hot, and she unconsciously tightened her arms around him, moving closer as she said, "I don't want to be alone, I'm scared."

Li Xian's eyes darkened with a darkness deeper than the night. At this moment, he felt as if he had been inexplicably split into two people: one rationally admonishing him not to have delusions, and the other shouting things he dared not think about.

The dense beads of water on his forehead were indistinguishable as either rain or fine sweat.

Finally, he reached out with trembling hands and pulled the soft, delicate person tightly into his arms.