Chapter 36: She doesn't care about you at all.
"Cough cough."
Jiang Xiliu clutched her chest and coughed violently a few times. She struggled to get up from Jin Zhao's body and sat on the rough rock, panting with her back against the uneven mountain wall.
They were now on a narrow stone platform that stretched across the mountainside.
Looking up, there is an almost vertical rock wall, making it impossible to climb. Looking down, there is a bottomless steep slope. Trying to go down from here could lead to slipping and tumbling at any moment, and you wouldn't even know where you died.
Jiang Xiliu never thought she could get out of this mountain on her own; she was just stalling for time.
Even if her father trusts Liao Zhu, her parents will still feel something is wrong if she doesn't show up for a week.
so.
Jiang Xiliu looked into the distance. She only needed to hold on for six more days, and someone would come to rescue her.
Just like mentioned in the original storyline.
"I never expected that this person could hold out for so long with the kidnappers."
"By the way, I heard she's in the same hospital as Grandma now, Jin Zhao, do you want to go see her? At least..."
She will survive; she just needs to persevere.
Jiang Xiliu slowly recovered. She ignored the "wailing" cries of System 0777 and finally focused her unfocused gaze on the motionless man not far away.
She didn't move, but asked the system in her mind, "Is Jin Zhao dead?"
[System 0777's lament abruptly stopped: Of course not. He is the chosen one of this small world. The probability of him dying before the plot ends is lower than your chance of winning the lottery jackpot.]
"That's so illogical," Jiang Xiliu said calmly to the system. "He fell from such a height, and I was hit on top of him, so why didn't he die?"
[System 0777 is confused: Huh? You and he are both alright, isn't that a good thing?]
[System 0777 paused for a moment, then quickly provided a scientific explanation: Mainly, during your fall, many tree branches cushioned the impact, allowing him to survive.]
"Oh?" Jiang Xiliu's long eyelashes drooped, and the corners of her mouth had a very slight curve, as if she was just curious. "Then if we drain all the blood from his body, or stab him in the heart and cut his neck, would he die like a normal person?"
System 0777 affirmed without hesitation: "Of course, these are the most basic rules governing the operation of this small world. Even the chosen one cannot defy the limits of physics and physiology."
[System 0777 added: But... as long as there's a glimmer of hope, the chosen one will surely turn misfortune into good fortune.]
Jiang Xiliu stopped talking to the system. She pushed herself up from the uneven ground and walked with difficulty to the man lying on the ground. She squatted down and reached out to check his breathing. She confirmed again that his breathing was very light, but the slight rise and fall proved that he was still alive.
Tsk, it really proves that saying: the more worthless a person's life is, the tougher their fate becomes.
She looked at his bloodless face with regret: It's such a pity he's not dead.
Jiang Xiliu expressionlessly searched his body. Apart from the cheap lighter he had taken from Huang Mao, his pockets had been emptied and there was nothing left.
Annoying calls came from an unknown bird in the mountains. Jiang Xiliu, unusually patient, stared at him for a few seconds, then casually wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand.
Then, amidst the system's screams and alarms, she struggled to pull up Jin Zhao's arms.
[System 0777: Young Miss, no! Alert! Warning! ...Detected—a tendency to harm the Chosen One.] [System 0777 seems to be crying again: You will be devoured by destiny for killing the Chosen One, and be plagued by bad luck for the rest of your life.]
Jiang Xiliu ignored him and gritted her teeth as she half-dragged and half-pulled him up.
Instead of pulling the injured and unconscious Jin Zhao towards the safer area, she dragged him step by step towards the steep hillside.
If Jin Zhao were pushed down and suffered a second impact without receiving help, could he still survive?
The system didn't know, and neither did Jiang Xiliu.
But she just wanted to take a gamble, a gamble with no known outcome.
System 0777 has no way to turn off the built-in alarm sound in the program; it can only frantically try to stop the young lady amidst the piercing alarm.
[System 0777 incoherently reminds you: The agreement we signed clearly states that the Chosen One cannot be harmed. Before you act, you will be punished by the main system for violating the agreement! It's not too late to stop now—]
It's too late.
From the moment she had the idea to take a gamble to the moment she took action, it only took a few seconds for the penalty mechanism in the agreement to be passively triggered.
Jiang Xiliu couldn't tell whether the punishment from the autonomous system was electric shock or impact. She only felt as if an invisible hand was churning her internal organs, and a feeling of wanting to vomit blood surged up in her chest.
Jiang Xiliu groaned, forcing down the metallic taste in her mouth; she could still bear it.
She seemed determined to keep the person who might have killed her in the original storyline here while Jin Zhao was unconscious.
In her anguish, her mind, no longer capable of rational thought, wandered into chaotic ideas: perhaps the dissipated fortune of the chosen one would help this barren mountain regain its vitality.
Just like her life, it will also break free from its predetermined ending and become smooth sailing again because of his disappearance.
But Jiang Xiliu never thought of taking matters into her own hands. Her upbringing instilled in her an instinctive aversion to anything illegal or criminal.
Not to mention murder.
So she left the choice to Jin Zhao, who was in a coma.
She pulled half of Jin Zhao's body off the slope, not to push him down.
But it was the last chip she added to this gamble—she hoped he would choose to die.
Perhaps with just a gust of wind, or perhaps with just an unconscious turn, the man, half his body dangling outside, will fall from here again.
This time, what awaited him was not a fragile twig, but a thick, sturdy tree trunk that could be vaguely seen deep in the mountains.
Will he get hit and killed?
The moment this thought occurred to her, the pain in her body intensified, and Jiang Xiliu couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood.
The warm, slightly fishy liquid splashed onto Jin Zhao's pale face, from his forehead to his chin, adding a splash of color to his bloodless complexion.
Jiang Xiliu staggered and lowered her head, her vision blurred as she looked at Jin Zhao's face.
The man's dark eyelashes trembled almost imperceptibly, and he slowly opened his eyes a crack, eventually opening them wide.
His father's.
Jiang Xiliu's vision went black, and before she fainted, with her last bit of consciousness, she mentally slapped the incessantly noisy little ball of light: "Was it you who did this?"
It wasn't caused by incompetent, stupid artificial intelligence.
It was the young lady's blood.
When Jin Zhao fainted, he had a vague and sluggish sense of the outside world. However, he was unable to move or respond in any way, somewhat like a person in a vegetative state.
Not long after, he smelled the young lady's unique fragrance, which wafted strongly around his nose. His fingers twitched slightly, but the young lady didn't notice.
—Is Jiang Xiliu safe? She fell from such a height, was she injured? Did she survive?
Countless questions flashed through his mind and then disappeared, until he was certain that her scent was still around him, and only then did he believe that she was really alright.
The tension in Jin Zhao's heart finally eased, and the force that had sustained his faint consciousness collapsed as well, his breathing grew weaker and weaker.
Just then, familiar yet unfamiliar blood sprayed onto his face, and he heard the young lady's heavy breathing.
—It's blood, Jiang Xiliu's blood.
He thought vaguely: He can't die yet.
...
"Yes, Mr. Jiang, I will convey your message to Miss."
"Okay, okay."
"Goodbye, Mr. Jiang."
Just a second ago, he was being respectful and polite to Assistant Liao on the other end of the phone. But after hanging up, he quickly removed the mask of gentleness from his face. Now, he was staring intently at the twenty-odd people standing with their heads down in front of him with a gloomy expression.
"So many people, and you can't even keep an eye on a little girl? You let her escape in your own base, and you've been trying to catch her all afternoon but haven't succeeded? If I had known you were so useless, I shouldn't have agreed to let you take action ahead of time."
The bespectacled man, whose glasses were already crushed, stepped forward to smooth things over: "Brother, don't get so angry, and don't scare everyone. This is a desolate place, the roads in front and behind are blocked, they can't escape our grasp."
Liao Zhu glanced at him sideways, his expression unchanged. He said coldly, "They couldn't escape because of my prior arrangements. A group of people couldn't keep an eye on two drugged people, and you still have the nerve to say that?"
He turned around, his back to the crowd, his voice filled with undisguised sarcasm: "With your level of skill, you don't seem like people who have been lying low for ten years. You're more like useless people who have wasted ten years and are clumsy with their hands and feet."
The man with glasses, Liao Ting, froze for a moment, then waved to the others: "Don't just stand there, keep looking, search carefully."
The others looked at each other, and seeing that the man at the front didn't say anything, they all took their flashlights and scattered after entering the mountain.
Liao Ting walked to Liao Zhu's side, sighed softly, and said helplessly, "Brother, don't be too harsh on everyone. You have to understand, none of them, including me, were as lucky as you to be taken away by Jiang Fuhuai to continue their studies. Back then..."
He paused for a moment: "In that situation, many people dropped out of school to make a living before they even finished compulsory education. It's already good that they've survived this long. And what we do only requires their brute strength. Don't expect too much from them."
Liao Zhu turned his gaze away, not even looking at Liao Ting, and coldly uttered, "Can we allow any mistakes in what we're doing now?"
One wrong move and the whole game is lost.
Liao Ting opened his mouth, but ultimately gave up on arguing and stood silently beside him.
The two brothers, whose profiles are remarkably similar, looked down from the window.
A dozen or so flashlight beams swayed in various locations, from the foot of the mountain to the summit; catching the two of them seemed to be only a matter of time.
Jiang Fuhuai, who had just hung up the call with Liao Zhu, looked at the little girl standing in front of him.
He said in a deep voice, "You just heard it too. My daughter took...that young man out to sea on a whim. Don't worry, your neighbor should be back soon."
“No.” Yi Sile shook her head. She didn’t care when Jin Zhao would return. She still insisted on the story she had told when she barged in. “The young lady wouldn’t just leave me without a word. We even agreed to have one last meal together.”
She looked up hopefully: "You probably can't get in touch with her either, right? No one's replying to my messages, it must be—"
Jiang Fuhuai interrupted the little girl, his tone full of pity: "You probably don't know my daughter well enough. She never likes to tell anyone her schedule, and it's common for her to not reply to messages when she's having fun. If you're struggling with a meal, I can tell you the answer for her."
"She doesn't care about you at all."
"So I forgot."
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