Chapter 127 The Weight of My Heart: Why Don't You Touch Me?

Pushing aside the overlapping mulberry leaves in front of her, Qitang swung her toes excitedly.

"Take it all, take it all..."

Her gauze dress was completely stained crimson, her face was patchy with black and purple, and her hair was disheveled, with a few strands sticking to her eyes with the honey stains, making her look like a deer that had just crawled out of a mud pit.

The ripe crimson fruit was squeezed between her fingers; with the slightest touch, its juice dripped through her fingers and soaked her skirt.

Qi Tang shook her head, completely unconcerned, and with her other hand she gripped the hem of her raised skirt, stuffing the whole bunch of fruit into her bulging arms.

After taking a deep breath of the sweet fragrance, it raised its head with its eyes curved, suddenly released the branch, lightly touched the ground with its toes, and carefully jumped down from the tree.

She spent a lot of time searching for sage in the mountains, and picking mulberries took even longer. She rubbed her nose and hurried down the mountain.

After a busy morning, I need to hurry and collect the fishing nets.

Otherwise, one of the wolf cubs would go hungry.

.

Qi Tang reached the mountainside with light steps.

The sun had already climbed above the treetops, making it undeniably hot, but the wind blowing in our faces suddenly carried the stench of blood.

Qi Tang's breath hitched. The mulberries she had carefully protected all the way suddenly fell from her arms and were trampled over, leaving a trail of messy crimson footprints.

The tattered fabric of her gauze skirt clung to the withered branches, tearing and ripping open. Her breaths mingled with the sound of the wind, growing more rapid with each breath.

The pungent smell of blood mingled with the damp air, growing stronger and stronger. Qi Tang's face turned pale, and her heart tightened instantly as if by invisible threads.

On the path by the stream, mud splattered everywhere, broken shrub branches lay fallen, and drops of blood clung to the edges of the leaves.

The puddles were stained murky with blood, and the bloodstains, a hundred times more pungent than rusted iron, meandered toward the other side.

Ignoring everything else, Qi Tang subconsciously suppressed her wildly beating heart and followed the trail of blood...

It was a reed forest, and the smell of blood mixed with the stench of rotting mud was almost tangible.

Shouting loudly in the desolate wilderness fraught with danger would undoubtedly invite even greater trouble, so she could only bite her lip, suppress the thirst and panic in her throat, and hunch over as she crawled into the reeds.

The reeds, taller than a person, grew densely, and the air was filled with the rustling sound of the reeds swaying in the wind.

Qi Tang looked around, her breath unsteady, and grabbed the tangled reeds, pushing them aside—

With a creak, the light slit was lifted, finally startling the monster in the bushes.

The moment the stench hit their nose, those bloodshot blue eyes locked onto the intruder.

The exposed half of his face was covered in dark red bloodstains, and his sharp teeth were stuck in a river of blood between his jaws, along with small pieces of flesh that he hadn't had time to swallow.

His gaze was so fierce that Qi Tang subconsciously swallowed and looked away, focusing her eyes on the prey in his hand.

—It could no longer be called prey; it had been skinned and deboned, reduced to pieces of dead flesh scattered on the ground, with intestines and liver mixed in, still steaming.

The wolf cub's nose twitched, and it remained silent, but its hands kept fiddling with the flesh, grinding its blood-covered fangs deep and shallow into the blood and flesh, forcing the back half of its neck chain to drag on the ground.

The scene of chaos was truly terrifying, but Qi Tang remained unmoved. After scanning him several times, her tense expression gradually relaxed.

It's good that you weren't injured.

As the pressure on his hand eased, the bent stem brushed past his shoulder, followed by the sound of leaves colliding, which startled Ah Leng and made him sit up abruptly.

As if an alarm bell were ringing in her ears, Qi Tang subconsciously took a step back.

Wolves are extremely protective of their food; even among their own kind, they will confront each other and fight over food. Coveting the best parts of a food is seen as a challenge to their dominance.

In the brutal wilderness where the strong prey on the weak, every cruel act of feeding is fraught with hidden danger.

But she didn't intend to take it from him.

The wolf cub, however, seemed not to have let down its guard and walked straight toward her. As if provoked for a moment, it lowered its head and gaze, and let out low growls from deep in its throat.

Those emerald eyes were hidden beneath their brows, concealing an indescribable restlessness.

——It’s over.

Qi Tang stood rooted to the spot, frowned, and tapped her head, cursing her bad luck.

Just as she was racking her brains for a way to comfort and explain, the nauseating fishy smell filled her nostrils, and the smell of blood clung to her skin like a mist. She subconsciously tilted her head back and looked down sharply.

The wolf cub raised its hand, panting heavily, holding a bloody, mangled piece of internal organ in its rough palm, staring intently at her like a standing wolf.

The sticky, fishy blood trickled down her elbow. Seeing her lean back, he gripped her hand tighter and, with a hint of confusion, pushed it forward again.

Qi Tang stared wide-eyed at the still-warm liver, unsure how to react.

No normal person would tear out organs in a bloody manner and force them into someone's mouth. How is that any different from the behavior of a wild animal?

But he was precisely a wild beast that had not yet been awakened.

Qi Tang couldn't help but think one step further, following the train of thought of a wild beast.

The liver is considered by wolves to be the most delicious part of their prey.

Why should he give it to her?

A jumble of confused thoughts raced through her mind. Just as the wolf cub's fingertips were about to pierce through the dirty flesh, Qi Tang stiffened her hand and took the steaming liver.

She could naturally handle meat, but whenever she held a bloody liver in her bare hands, she couldn't help but feel a sense of disgust.

But, strangely enough.

The fishy, ​​pungent smell that had been churning in my stomach vanished without a trace in that instant.

I don't know where they went.

She felt as if she were holding a handful of scalding thorns, which were prickly and itchy, and the steam was seeping into her muscles and bones, going deeper and deeper.

Her heart was being pulled along by something invisible, beating slowly, thump-thump, and she was somewhat at a loss.

In a daze, I felt that this was not a disgusting, creepy liver connected by fascia, but that inside it was a kind of budding, scalding heat.

—It looks more like a naked heart.

This sudden weight made her wrist inexplicably ache.

The newly arrived sword spirit held the lump of raw meat in both hands, unsure of where to put it. He looked down, then up again, his lips opening and closing repeatedly, unable to utter a suitable question for a long time.

What should she ask?

Not understanding why she wasn't happy, Ah Leng's lips drooped, her fingers twisted together for a moment, her expression remained unchanged, but she couldn't help but glance at her again and again out of the corner of her eye.

His heart felt as if it had sunk into dark water, feeling stuffy and damp, mixed with a sense of anxiety and doubt, urging him to do something more.

His breathing also became heavy.

The bite marks on her arm started to tingle and itch again. Ah Leng tried her best to resist the urge to scratch and bite, and silently turned around again to wrap the tender meat that had already been separated with a whole piece of deer skin.

Then, one step, two steps.

His fingers were taut, but his arms were still straight as he tucked them into her arms.

It was hard and unyielding, leaving no room for refusal.

It was as if he was proving to her that he never intended to eat alone, but only wanted to emulate the wild rabbit that had been bled.

Ah Leng wouldn't waste her blood, but she also vaguely sensed that this deer was different from her.

Suddenly, without wanting or being willing, he tore at and sucked the blood from the entire roe deer in front of her, like a real wild beast.

What bothered him more than some deeper, inexplicable, vague thought was...

He hadn't forgotten how he had bitten her neck more than once. If she was powerless to resist, she would end up like this female deer, skinned, dismembered, and eaten by him.

Like an ordinary prey.

Ah Leng subconsciously resisted going down, and also subconsciously resisted letting the deer see a similar scene.

So, with unspoken thoughts in his mind, he dragged the female deer all the way here, and, imitating the wolf pack's ritual of dividing food, tore her into even pieces.

Finally, he easily violated the principle of sharing the food, leaving all the tenderest parts for her.

But which step went wrong?

Why.

He pursed his lips, took two deep breaths, and bit down hard on the soft flesh in his mouth as if to relieve the pressure in his heart.

—Why not like before?

Qi Tang stared blankly at the casually wrapped deer skin, which was heavy, like a carefully prepared bundle before a trip.

But who would have guessed that it was filled with scraps of meat and internal organs?

Just like you never knew that bringing home a stray puppy on a rainy night would mean receiving everything from it.

The campfire that had been flickering in the rainy night was now silently reignited.

Qi Tang's eyelids felt a little sore, as if she had two unripe bayberries stuck in them, and even her throat felt a little choked up. She never knew that her eyes were so sensitive.

But.

She only realized it then.

When a sword without flesh and blood feels valued, it turns out it's no different from a human being.

As the trembling arm gradually fell to its lowering position, the blood-stained bundle of venison was finally snatched away and held to the chest as if it were some rare treasure.

As she moved, the pungent, sticky blood seeped through the seams, staining the entire front of her dress, as if trying to permeate her entire being.

The sweet, cloying scent of mulberries was nowhere to be found, but she seemed oblivious, hugging him tightly and whimpering, "Why are you so good to me? I was planning to get my revenge on you after we got out..."

She frowned and pretended to cry, her voice growing softer and softer. Before she could finish speaking, seeing the wolf cub's panicked and anxious face, she suddenly burst into laughter, her eyes crinkling.

She hopped around a few times while clutching her bundle before squatting down and showering him with sweet words, "Ah Leng is so nice, how can she be so nice!"

"The best Ah Leng in the world likes me the most, right?"

She blinked and eagerly led him out of the reeds, saying, "Make something delicious for A-Leng right away, isn't A-Leng hungry?"

In the midst of his panic, he suddenly remembered the mulberry mountain halfway up the mountain, the tinderbox in the cave, and the sage in his arms.

Suddenly, a million urgent matters rushed into her mind. Before Qi Tang could decide which to prioritize, the wolf cub suddenly approached her.

This step was so quick and abrupt that it was hard not to notice something was amiss, and she subconsciously stopped.

Feeling being watched, Ah Leng subconsciously lowered her eyes and head, her lips moving slightly before being suddenly bitten tightly.

His eyes drooped, and his brows furrowed with frustration and irritability. The little wolf, receiving no response, didn't know how to relieve the gloom in his heart.

All they could do was sullenly bump into it, stiffening their necks, pressing their heads against the soft waist and abdomen, silently and resentfully demanding what they wanted—

Qi Tang loosely put her elbow, which was barely clean, around his arm and gently coaxed, "What's wrong, A Leng? Are you hungry?"

He didn't speak, he just kept his head down and bumped his hand against hers.

It was a very light touch; it's hard to imagine that such force could come from a wolf that lives in the wild.

The underlying meaning was truly obscure; she wasn't a mind reader. Qi Tang would always secretly think this when A Leng remained silent.

But looking at the trembling eyelashes in front of her, she suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

It was as if soft cotton threads connected the two of them from their hearts. She suddenly opened her eyes and looked at her palm. Her hand was covered with blood mixed with fruit juice, so smelly and muddy that it was unbearable to look at.

Qi Tang subconsciously withdrew her fingertips.

Normally, she would never put it in someone's hair.

But.

The bloodstains etched into the lines of his palm pressed against his green hair, staining everything, making it both fishy and filthy. Yet, as if he had finally received some kind of response, even the lines at the corners of his eyes subtly narrowed.

But the wolf boy said, "Why don't you touch me?"

She also smiled.