Chapter 198 Back to the Bustling City
As everyone began to leave the cemetery, Yan Yu still held Shen Jin's hand tightly as they left.
Shen Jin felt that Yan Yu thought he was afraid.
Recalling what had just happened, Shen Jin felt a little embarrassed and subconsciously tried to pull away from Yan Yu's hand.
"You don't need to hold my hand anymore, everything's alright now." Shen Jin hesitated for a moment, then said somewhat awkwardly to Yan Yu.
After all, it was just a little noise, and he got so scared. It was really embarrassing.
Hearing Shen Jin's words, Yan Yu smiled faintly: "It's alright, I'll hold your hand."
Shen Jin immediately became somewhat displeased: "Didn't I say I'm not afraid anymore?"
Yan Yu looked at Shen Jin and remained silent for a while.
"Yes, I know. I didn't say you were scared, but I was afraid something might happen, which is why I'm holding your hand." After a while, Yan Yu said softly.
It's so dark in here, and the path is difficult to walk. What if something happens to Chen Jin?
Hearing Yan Yu say this, Shen Jin had no way to refuse him anymore, and could only remain silent in the end.
Afterwards, the group followed the same route out of the tomb.
After they left, the tomb raiders resealed the entrance. They restored it almost exactly as it was before, so even if another group of people came, it would be difficult to tell that there was a tomb entrance there.
"Alright, we've done everything we needed to do. Let's head back to where we slept last night," one of the tomb raiders said after sealing the entrance.
Upon hearing his words, the others responded and then turned to walk back.
Soon, everyone returned the way they came, and before long, they arrived at the place where they had set off that morning.
"So what do we do next?" Yan Yu couldn't help but ask as he watched the tomb raiders start packing up their belongings.
Upon hearing Yan Yu's words, the tomb raider stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Yan Yu.
“We’ve achieved our goal this time, so we’re ready to move on to the next place. However, we’ve been traveling for so long, and everyone is exhausted. So we’ve decided to rest for a while and recharge before continuing our mission in a few days,” the tomb raider said to Yan Yu.
Yan Yu nodded, a knowing look on his face.
It seems that tomb raiders are really busy, with things to do almost every day, and it's not an easy job.
However, the feeling of such adventure is really great, and Yan Yu experienced it firsthand today.
Then, the tomb raiders took out the map they had obtained from the tomb that day, unfolded it, and spread it on the ground.
The tomb raiders were all very interested in the map, so as soon as it was brought out, everyone gathered around, looking down at it and discussing it amongst themselves.
Yan Yu and Shen Jin couldn't understand, so they just watched silently from the side.
The map was drawn in the same way as the current maps, and neither of them could even understand it.
After a moment, Yan Yu, not wanting to remain idle, asked the tomb raiders, "Then you continue your discussion. Is there anything we can help with? Let's go do it first."
Upon hearing his words, one of the tomb raiders replied, "You can go with Ah Jin to find a water source, fetch some water, boil it, and store it. We have no more water to drink."
Upon hearing his words, Yan Yu quickly nodded in agreement.
Then, Shen Jin also got up, picked up the container of water, and walked with Yan Yu.
The two of them searched for a water source together. Fortunately, there were quite a few water sources in the forest. Before long, they found a clean water source and filled it up.
After filling the container with water, Chen Jin carried it all up, intending to take it back directly.
Before Shen Jin could even lift it up, Yan Yu had already reached out and taken the large bucket of water from his hands: "I'll take it."
It took Shen Jin a while to react, and then he reached out to take the water back: "Let me do it myself."
Yan Yu immediately dodged it.
Seeing Yan Yu's actions, Shen Jin was speechless. Right now, Yan Yu was carrying water in both hands, which looked very heavy, while Shen Jin's hands were empty, yet Yan Yu wouldn't let him take any.
Then, Shen Jin tried again to take the bucket of water from Yan Yu's hand, but Yan Yu just wouldn't budge. Shen Jin was afraid of spilling the water and ruining everything, and he couldn't make any big movements.
In the end, Yan Yu carried the two buckets back.
Then, the two started a fire to boil the water. Shen Jin sat next to the already lit fire and slowly added firewood to it.
The tomb raiders were still discussing it.
Shen Jin added firewood idly, getting closer and closer to the fire. Suddenly, Yan Yu tugged at him. Shen Jin was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Yan Yu.
"Be careful," Yan Yu said to Shen Jin.
Hearing Yan Yu's words, Shen Jin looked down and realized that he was very close to the fire, just a little further away from touching it.
"Be careful of the fire, don't get burned," Yan Yu continued to say to Shen Jin.
Hearing Yan Yu's words, Shen Jin remained silent for a moment, then said "oh," took a few steps back, and said nothing else.
After a long time, Yan Yu boiled all the water and put it in the bottles that the tomb raiders used for drinking water, so that he could drink it directly.
Yan Yu has already finished all these things, while those people are still discussing the map.
"Shall we go take a look?" Yan Yu looked at them for a while, then turned to Shen Jin beside him and asked.
Shen Jin glanced at Yan Yu, then nodded.
So the two of them went over together, looked at the map, and discussed it with each other.
"After discussing this for so long, have you come to an answer yet?" Yan Yu asked the tomb raiders.
Upon hearing Yan Yu's words, one of the tomb raiders replied, "Yes, we have some answers, but we don't know if they are accurate."
"What is it like?" Yan Yu asked.
The tomb raider pointed to a spot on the map with his hand.
"Look, you can see this is a very large map because it includes both ocean and land. However, the map becomes more detailed when you get to the ocean, so we think the treasure is located in the ocean," the tomb raider said.
Listening to his words, Yan Yu looked down at the map and found that, just as he said, once they reached the ocean, the map became more detailed, and some places even had markings.
"Then we found the location of this mountain on the map. Although it has changed somewhat since then, we can still see its general shape," the tomb raider continued.
Yan Yu listened to his words and looked down; it was indeed as he had said.
"Later, we fitted this ancient map into the current route and finally discovered that the map ultimately pointed to the sea to the east, and we were exactly to the east." The tomb raider chuckled and continued to explain to Yan Yu.
So he thought they were quite lucky to have found a treasure map that happened to be right where they were.
You know, they are very interested in these things.
Yan Yu understood their explanation and nodded, feeling somewhat admiring of them. It was truly remarkable that they could understand such a complex map.
At this moment, Shen Jin asked, "So, do you know where the final treasure is located?"
Before the tomb raider could speak, someone else chimed in, "We'll definitely have to wait until then to look for it, but it's definitely on the eastern sea."
“Yes,” the man replied, then paused and added with some doubt, “But speaking of which, what could possibly be on the surface of the sea? This map looks really mysterious.”
This map was quite different from any they had seen before, so they had no idea what exactly was on it.
"I don't know, could it be some unknown island?" someone asked doubtfully.
This answer was agreed upon by several tomb raiders, so everyone thought it was possible, and then they all speculated whether it could be something else.
After discussing it for a while, someone said, "Instead of discussing this here, why don't we just go over there and take a look? Wouldn't that answer everything?"
"Okay, it's settled then." Someone immediately agreed.
Everyone else agreed.
And so, the decision was made to follow this map to the eastern sea.
Then, the tomb raiders turned to Shen Jin and asked, "Ah Jin, do you want to come with us?"
In the past, they wouldn't have asked Shen Jin for his opinion, because Shen Jin used to seem to have nowhere to go and basically just followed them around.
This time is different. The danger level of this operation will be much higher than before, and most importantly, there is now Yan Yu involved. They believe that the relationship between Shen Jin and Yan Yu is not ordinary.
Actually, they had a feeling before that Shen Jin might leave with Yan Yu.
Therefore, for this mission, they first asked Shen Jin if he wanted to go with them.
Upon hearing the tomb raider's question, Shen Jin nodded: "Of course I'll go with him."
Yan Yu, standing to the side, seemed taken aback, somewhat surprised.
He thought that after the matter at the cemetery was over, Shen Jin would return to the city, but he didn't expect that he would have to go out to sea with them.
"Forget it, the sea is too dangerous," Yan Yu said to Shen Jin after a moment of silence.
Upon hearing Yan Yu's words, Shen Jin turned and glanced at him.
"No, I have to go." Shen Jin was silent for a while before saying to Yan Yu.
“But…” Yan Yu choked for a moment, instinctively wanting to dissuade Shen Jin.
Seeing that Yan Yu still wanted to speak, Shen Jin interrupted him directly: "There are no buts. If you are afraid, you don't have to go."
Anyway, he didn't want to be with Yan Yu; he felt awkward being with the two of them.
"I..." Yan Yu was at a loss for words. "That's not what I meant..."
Finally, Yan Yu shut up and didn't say anything more. No matter what, he would not separate from Shen Jin, and he would never let Shen Jin go alone.
He had finally found Shen Jin, how could he easily separate from him again?
So even if he really didn't want to go, he had to go with them.
At this moment, the tomb raiders also noticed that the atmosphere between the two of them was not right, and they were immediately a little embarrassed.
"Ahem, you two shouldn't be arguing all the time." One of the tomb raiders coughed twice, trying to smooth things over.
Then, looking at Shen Jin, he said, "Yan Yu is doing this for your own good. The risks at sea are indeed greater than before, you..."
"It's okay, I'm not afraid. I just think it's quite interesting, and I just want to travel around with you guys." Shen Jin immediately smiled and said, "I want to go."
"This..." Upon hearing Shen Jin's words, the tomb raider opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something more.
However, before he could speak, Yan Yu spoke up first: "It's alright, let him be..."
Yan Yu smiled bitterly, knowing that he was no longer anyone to Shen Jin and had no right to stop him...
Hearing Yan Yu say this, the tomb raiders didn't say anything more and decided on the matter.
Shen Jin glanced at Yan Yu and felt that Yan Yu's words just now sounded like a reprimand.
“If you don’t want to go, then don’t go,” Shen Jin said after looking at Yan Yu for a while. “This is enough. You don’t need to follow us anymore… Go back to the city.”
Yan Yu was stunned for a moment before finally saying, "No, no, I want to go."
Shen Jin withdrew his gaze and remained silent.
The two fell silent; the atmosphere was tense.
"Alright, you two stop talking. We need a lot of things for this voyage, so we'll rest for a few days and then prepare to set off. You should also get ready," one of the tomb raiders said to the two.
Yan Yu and Shen Jin both nodded in agreement.
The tomb raider spoke a few more words to them, then turned and left.
After he left, Shen Jin got up to leave as well. Yan Yu hesitated for a moment, then immediately followed him.
Shen Jin knew that Yan Yu had followed, but he ignored him.
"Um, you're not angry, are you?" Yan Yu asked Shen Jin after a moment of silence.
Upon hearing Yan Yu's words, Shen Jin paused slightly, remained silent for a while, and then replied, "No."
Yan Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
For the next few days, everyone spent their time playing in the mountains, enjoying the scenery. It was much more relaxing than the previous days.
After resting for a few days, everyone began to descend the mountain and prepare to leave for a coastal city.
The group arrived at the foot of the mountain where they parked the car. Just like last time, Shen Jin Yan Yu was still in the same car with the two tomb raiders. This time, their destination was the city.
“We’re going to sea this time, so we’ll definitely need to prepare a lot of things. We’ll need a boat, water, and food. If you need anything, you can buy it there,” said the tomb raider who was driving.
“Okay.” Shen Jin nodded in response.
Afterwards, the group started chatting again.
Yan Yu only chatted for a few minutes before stopping, turning his gaze to the scenery outside the window. The car gradually left the mountainous area, and even the road gradually became easier to drive on.
After a whole day of driving, we finally arrived at a coastal city.
"Alright, we're here. Get out of the car." The tomb raider stopped the car and said to the two people behind him.
Shen Jin and Yan Yu both got out of the car.
When they saw the city, they were both stunned, hardly believing their eyes, feeling it was all very unreal.
They had been living in the mountains for over a year without seeing a city, and now, seeing such magnificent and imposing buildings, they both felt as if they had been transported to another world.
"It seems like it's been a long time since I've been here." Yan Yu finally came to his senses and turned to Shen Jin with a wry smile.
Shen Jin looked at Yan Yu's smile, pursed his lips, and finally gently withdrew his gaze without answering Yan Yu's question.
“Alright, let’s go take a look around. The others haven’t arrived yet, let’s wait for them,” the two tomb raiders who were with them said to them.
"Okay." Yan Yu nodded in response.
So the four of them wandered around the city. Yan Yu and Shen Jin hadn't been to the city for a long time, so they would look around every now and then, finding everything new and exciting.
Seeing the two of them like this, the tomb raider couldn't help but chuckle.
Afterwards, the tomb raiders found a place for Shen Jin and Yan Yu to stay.
Then, the remaining tomb raiders arrived one after another, and the group gathered in a less crowded spot to discuss what to do next.
“Next, we’ll prepare the boat and food in the smoke-free zone, along with some other things we need for going to sea. We also need to store the things we got from that tomb last time with you, so you two can’t be of much help. We’ll split up for now,” the lead tomb raider said to Shen Jin and Yan Yu.
Both of them nodded in agreement, offering no objections.
"Alright, that's settled then. You two must be tired, go back and rest first. We'll come find you after we've finished our business," the tomb raider said to them.
"Alright, then you can go ahead and do your things," Yan Yu nodded in reply.
So the tomb raiders left quickly, leaving only Shen Jin and Yan Yu in the same spot.
Afterwards, Yan Yu and Shen Jin returned to their temporary residence to rest.
After a long day of running around, the two of them were quite tired, so they slept for a few hours.
When Yan Yu woke up again, it was already evening.
In this city, life truly begins at night. Once night falls, six or seven lights illuminate the streets, many shops open their doors, and the docks are packed with people.
After standing at the door for a while, Yan Yu went to Shen Jin's room to find him.
At this time, Shen Jin was still sleeping, so Yan Yu quietly went in and stood next to Shen Jin, watching him sleep.
Yan Yu watched quietly, without the slightest impatience; on the contrary, he found it quite enjoyable.
After a while, Shen Jin's eyelashes trembled slightly, and then she groggily opened her eyes and woke up. Yan Yu hadn't even reacted yet when he stared blankly at Shen Jin.
Shen Jin opened his eyes and saw Yan Yu, his feelings were complicated.
The two of them just stared at each other.
"What are you doing?" Shen Jin looked at Yan Yu and spoke in a muffled voice, his voice still a little hoarse from just waking up.
"I..." Yan Yu uttered one word, then didn't know what else to say.
"Why don't you go and rest?" Shen Jin continued to ask.
"I'm already awake." This time, Yan Yu answered quickly.
Shen Jin didn't ask any more questions. He got out of bed and didn't seem to care about Yan Yu. Yan Yu immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
He thought Shen Jin was going to get angry.
After a while, Shen Jin put on his coat and prepared to go out.
"Are you going out?" Yan Yu asked, watching Shen Jin's movements.
Upon hearing Yan Yu's words, Shen Jin paused for a moment, then continued.
“Okay, I’m going out for a walk,” Chen Jin replied.
"Can I go with you?" Yan Yu asked without thinking.
"No need, I'll just go out for a stroll by myself." Shen Jin refused without even thinking.
Yan Yu was stunned for a moment, and then he was also somewhat taken aback.
Finally, when Shen Jin left, Yan Yu followed him with satisfaction.
Actually, he really didn't want to come out with Yan Yu, but refusing was useless. Yan Yu insisted on coming along, and he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't very well hit him, could he?
"Shen Jin, what do you want to buy?" Yan Yu asked Shen Jin with a smile.
He felt like a country bumpkin who had finally come to the city and wanted everything he saw.
"I don't know." Shen Jin thought for a moment and replied, "I'll just take a quick look."
He just wanted to buy some things he needed, but he didn't know what he needed.
And he hadn't been to the city for a long time. Looking at the bustling metropolis, he suddenly felt a pang of emotion.
Hearing Shen Jin's words, Yan Yu glanced at him and remained silent for a while.
"Let's go buy some clothes. Our clothes are all worn out." Yan Yu thought for a moment and then suggested to Shen Jin.
After saying that, Yan Yu grabbed Shen Jin's hand and led him toward the clothing street.
When they passed a pawnshop, Yan Yu went in and exchanged some of the treasures he had casually taken from a tomb for some money, and then continued shopping with Shen Jin.
“I don’t think we need to buy new clothes. We can wear the old clothes we’re wearing,” Shen Jin said to Yan Yu.
He didn't care; it didn't matter anyway. To him, it was all the same—as long as it was wearable, that was enough. He didn't have many other requirements.
Furthermore, more than a year has passed since he fell off the cliff, and he has been living in the deep mountains for the past year. He has almost become a wild man.
“No, it will be cold at sea. This coat is no longer warm enough, so we need to buy a new one,” Yan Yu replied to Shen Jin immediately with a serious expression. “Besides, it won’t cost much.”
Shen Jin opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but Yan Yu continued, "Really, I'm not lying to you, this is really important. There are many things you haven't seen at sea, and look, you don't have any clothes on, it's so inappropriate..."
"..." Shen Jin pursed his lips, then thought it made sense, since he really didn't have any clothes on him.
"Alright then." Shen Jin said calmly. Anyway, it wasn't Yan Yu's money, so he didn't feel like he owed him anything.
Seeing that Shen Jin had agreed, Yan Yu immediately smiled and couldn't help but reach out and take Shen Jin's hand: "Then let's go."
When his ten fingers touched, Shen Jin was slightly taken aback. Upon closer inspection, the touch felt both familiar and strange. Then, he calmly shifted his gaze and gently withdrew his hand from Yan Yu's.
...He no longer wants to hold the hand he has already let go of, nor does he have the energy to maintain a wrong relationship.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com