Guide Fire
Jiang Jingyuan lowered his head quietly, his eyes gently falling on this hand, the palm of which was facing upwards.
I don't know if she was too dizzy to notice this, or if it suddenly changed at some point after she raised her hand to touch it...
The fingers not covered by the sleeves were naturally clenched upwards. Under the slender nails, each joint of the finger was like a small bag, fleshy and strong, bulging outwards. If you look closely, you can see that the surface of the five fingers is faintly covered with thin fine hairs.
Jiang Jingyuan fell into deep thought.
Could she believe this was a human hand?
After a moment, Jiang Jingyuan raised his head as if nothing had happened, walked forward slowly, and put down his hand naturally.
After walking five or six steps, there was still silence behind her. Did the person leave or catch up? Jiang Jingyuan didn't know and didn't look back, but she slowly stopped walking.
She raised her head straight and looked into the distance with a faint gaze. The front was as dark as ink.
That’s right, pitch black.
Jiang Jingyuan thought that since all the lights were broken, it would probably be pitch black everywhere.
That's it...right?
But why, Jiang Jingyuan stood there silently, why was there so much silence in his ears and no sound in the distance?
The rustling sound of fallen leaves in the wind was extremely clear, even harsh.
"Where are we going?"
Jiang Jingyuan was in deep thought.
"It's better to stay where you are than to wander around randomly..."
Jiang Jingyuan's eyes suddenly turned gray and dim, and he stood motionless in the cold wind.
For a long while, she stared straight ahead, silently walking towards a large tree in front of her.
Go around, stand under the tree, and wait for someone to come find you.
Jiang Jingyuan waited for a long time, and couldn't help but call out "Xu Qinglin" in his mind, saying, "Go see if that thing behind has left."
Xu Qinglin looked behind her silently, then withdrew his gaze calmly, "Let's go."
That’s good… Jiang Jingyuan relaxed all over.
"Behind you." Xu Qinglin added.
Jiang Jingyuan: “!!!” He jumped up instantly.
She subconsciously turned around to attack, but saw nothing behind her, and the fox face she had imagined was not there at all.
After a pause, Jiang Jingyuan's brows furrowed slightly, and he said unhappily, "I hate your inappropriate jokes."
Xu Qinglin remained silent.
But she was scared to death... Jiang Jingyuan was still frightened and turned around again.
After all, humans and ghosts are different. She was frightened by the loneliness and darkness, but Xu Qinglin still had the leisure to joke.
Suddenly, a white cross-collared shirt appeared in his field of vision. Jiang Jingyuan blinked, then slowly raised his eyes.
A strange and eerie fox face came close to her nose.
The fox's face was pale with fur in the tear troughs, on the cheeks, and around the mouth, with spots of dry yellow and dark red stuck together in clumps.
Under its narrow eyes, crimson stripes looked like blood, and its white eyeballs moved as it looked at her carefully.
Jiang Jingyuan's pupils trembled slightly.
The fox's mouth was almost hitting her face, and a foul odor hit her in the face, forcing Jiang Jingyuan to hold her breath.
Jiang Jingyuan almost subconsciously wanted to turn around and run, but she had only taken half a step back when she suddenly realized that there was a fox in front of her and a tree behind her, binding her tightly.
There is no escape.
The fox brought its smelly muzzle close to her face and sniffed with its nose twitching.
Jiang Jingyuan's mind went blank for a moment, "Ah! Ah!" Then she burst into a scream. Her consciousness grabbed Xu Qinglin and shook him madly, screaming:
"Xu Qinglin!!! Hit it!!"
Xu Qinglin's eyes blurred and his expression twisted, "Let go!" He grabbed Jiang Jingyuan with his backhand and quickly thought of something.
A large cloud of mist surged out from behind the girl in white at night, like thousands of horses galloping or huge waves surging, and in an instant, the figure with the fox face was blown away.
"Bang!"
The pale figure crashed into the darkness, and the moment it landed on the ground, it melted into the soil little by little like snow in the warm sun.
The mist was as thin as a veil in the night, floating lightly and flowing slowly. Under the tree, the girl in white clothes, who had shrank back slightly, stood up and took out the lantern.
In the glowing orange light, Jiang Jingyuan closed his eyes, exhaled a long breath, opened his eyes, and asked calmly, "Xu Qinglin, can you find the way back to the campfire?"
Xu Qinglin uttered "huh" in an ambiguous but sarcastic tone.
Jiang Jingyuan: "..."
"I was wrong. I should have thought of this a long time ago. Xu Qinglin has always been steady and reliable over the years. He would never make such a joke."
Jiang Jingyuan said sincerely:
"Luckily it's you who came. Xu Qinglin isn't like others who don't know the difference between the important and the unimportant. I shouldn't have subconsciously thought of you like this just because of others. Xu Qinglin isn't that kind of person. Xu Qinglin is different from those people in the world!"
Xu Qinglin closed his eyes and hummed, but the corners of his mouth rose slightly.
Jiang Jingyuan changed the subject, "So...Xu Qinglin, you are so powerful, can you find the way back to the campfire?"
The curve of Xu Qinglin's lips froze, then slowly straightened. She coughed lightly, "Let me take a look," and released a vast, barely perceptible cloud of mist to explore the way.
Jiang Jingyuan tried his best to show his eyes full of expectation and admiration.
Xu Qinglin gritted his teeth silently.
After a long while...
Jiang Jingyuan's eyes were twitching, but Xu Qinglin still didn't say a word. Jiang Jingyuan asked silently, "Did you... find it?"
Xu Qinglin was silent for a moment, then quickly retracted the large cloud of mist and said, "There's something strange about this place."
That means it was not found and there is no way.
Jiang Jingyuan understood what he meant.
Xu Qinglin's cloud detection range was wide enough that he could normally find a fire even if he couldn't find a campfire. But he found nothing, which meant... there was something strange about this place.
Jiang Jingyuan looked around. The surroundings were still dead silent and dark. He pondered, "If that's the case, I won't see anyone even if I wait here..."
"Should we leave?" Jiang Jingyuan lowered his eyes and thought, "But if we just wander around, will it be..."
Her thoughts suddenly paused, and she quickly transformed the thought that flashed through her mind into clear words: "No, that's not right. There's something strange about this place... That is to say, it is..."
Jiang Jingyuan frowned slightly.
It is always difficult and difficult to translate empty thoughts into words.
But she had a bad memory. If she didn't write it down immediately, she would never be able to catch those fleeting thoughts and feelings again.
"That's right, even if I don't leave, I'm constantly changing my position..." Jiang Jingyuan's heart suddenly relaxed, and then he thought, "Here, there's no such thing as a position. I can't judge by direction at all."
Jiang Jingyuan suddenly tutted, "So, whether I leave or not, whether I can find someone, whether I can get out, all depends on what others think."
"Then why am I leaving?"
This sentence suddenly appeared in Jiang Jingyuan's mind.
Move a chair to the ground, put it on the ground, and then she falls on it, just let it go?
Thinking of this, Jiang Jingyuan really took out the chair from the storage bracelet, turned his head to look around, walked out from under the tree, and placed the chair in an open space.
She turned around and was about to fall back into the chair when Xu Qinglin's voice rang in her mind: "There is a fire in the distance."
Jiang Jingyuan: "?"
"Are you sure?" Jiang Jingyuan said doubtfully, but still extinguished the lantern in his hand.
In the darkness, the shadows of tall trees are stacked one after another, and in the front and side, in the gaps between the lush branches and leaves, a little orange-red firelight flickers.
There really is a fire... Jiang Jingyuan was stunned, but he just paused for a moment and then fell back into the chair.
"Why don't you go take a look?" Perhaps because of what happened just now, Xu Qinglin rarely took the initiative to suggest, "I'll go take a look?"
Jiang Jingyuan said, "No need."
Xu Qinglin gave her a strange look.
Jiang Jingyuan curled his lips and said softly, "Wait for it to come find me."
It's nothing more than seeing that she's not going anywhere, so he throws out a carrot to lure her in. What a joke, does she look like someone who would take the bait?!
After saying that, Jiang Jingyuan glanced at the fire, closed his eyes, and leaned back.
In his mind, Xu Qinglin reported in real time: "The fire seems to be getting closer."
"Closer."
“Closer.”
"The fire shifted to the right."
"close."
"Close, right in front."
Jiang Jingyuan suddenly opened his eyes, stood up with the help of the chair armrest, without looking back, and put away the chair and lantern with a wave of his hand. He looked at the fire in front of him and walked forward in the darkness.
Xu Qinglin: "? Why did you leave?"
"Don't be so aggressive," Jiang Jingyuan said calmly. "That's enough. Otherwise, if he gets angry, he might just make me unable to even see the fire."
Xu Qinglin was silent for a moment, then said, "You're right."
At night, the firefly-like light slowly fell in front of us.
Jiang Jingyuan pushed aside the branches and leaves, or walked around the trees, as if he was in some kind of confusion. His eyes were fixed on the fire, and he was unwilling to look at anything else, and walked away.
Anyway, Xu Qinglin is here, and Xu Qinglin is on guard everywhere... Jiang Jingyuan thought lightly.
In the past, in the attic of the fairy mountain, Xu Qinglin could withstand those unknown ghosts for a long time. Could it be that in this mortal world, there is still something that Xu Qinglin can't stop?
No... Jiang Jingyuan's lips curled up as he said to Xu Qinglin, "Xu Qinglin, I believe you."
Xu Qinglin: “?”
Xu Qinglin didn't understand what was going on. Even though he had just felt elated by Jiang Jingyuan's words, he suddenly felt uneasy when he heard her words.
The nice words that some people say and the efforts that some people are willing to put in are not in vain.
After seeing the mirror of the past, how could Jiang Jingyuan, a lazy person who would not do anything without profit, suddenly say such disgusting words?
Xu Qinglin's mind was suddenly in chaos.
Jiang Jingyuan seemed to have said it casually, and forgot about it the moment he turned around, continuing to walk forward, staring at the growing fire.
After a moment, Jiang Jingyuan frowned and thought to himself, "Are you kidding me? How come I've been walking for so long and I can only see the shadow of a campfire?"
Jiang Jingyuan slowly stopped, pursed his lips, and stared at the orange-red fire in front of him with his dark eyes.
The wind came and went, and the orange-red flames trembled behind the layers of tree shadows, silently calling her.
There is only the rustling of leaves in my ears, and the loneliness and emptiness.
Jiang Jingyuan's face was calm but a little cold, but he was angry in his heart, "I'm not leaving!" He took out a chair and fell down neatly.
"The fire seems to be getting closer." Xu Qinglin's voice was a little cautious.
Jiang Jingyuan sneered, and opened his eyes that had just been closed. He stood up, glanced at the fire, sneered again, picked up the chair, turned around, and sat down with his back to the fire.
Jiang Jingyuan closed his eyes.
Xu Qinglin fell silent immediately. Logically speaking, she had no reason to be afraid of Jiang Jingyuan. It was not uncommon for them to bicker with each other on a daily basis.
It was just that Jiang Jingyuan usually said she was angry, but in reality, she wasn't angry at all. There were a few times when Jiang Jingyuan showed signs of anger, and although it wasn't directed at her, she still subconsciously kept quiet.
The dark woods were silent. Jiang Jingyuan and Xu Qinglin remained silent, and the firelight behind them flickered quietly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
