Chapter 1: Past Events
【Brain Storage】
[Please read this article rationally, if you don’t like it, please stay away]
[This article is entirely fictional, please do not substitute it for reality]
"Help, is there anyone here?" The childish cry circled at the bottom of the pit like a kite with a broken string. The ending tone with a cry hit the wet rock wall and was deflated when it bounced back.
Ling Shen curled up in a pile of dead leaves. The knees of his jeans were torn by the gravel, leaving jagged holes. Dark red blood scabs mixed with black mud stuck to his skin like a solidified scar.
He looked up and saw that the sky above him was as narrow as a torn strip of cloth. Lead-gray clouds were slowly wriggling, and the last ray of light was tightly covered.
The moss on the rock wall shone with an eerie, watery sheen. He trembled as he clung to the protruding rocks. As soon as his fingertips exerted force, several pieces of gravel clattered down, hitting the bottom of the pit with a dull thud. Cold sweat mixed with lingering tears slid into the corners of his mouth, a salty, bitter taste that made him sick.
A sharp stinging sensation spread across his palms. He looked down to see beads of blood oozing from several streaks. A mountain breeze, tinged with the stench of rotting leaves, wafted through his collar, and the hairs on the back of his neck instantly stood up.
Ling Shen stuffed his frozen fingers into the cuffs of his sweatshirt. A sharp sour feeling suddenly rose at the tip of his nose. The hot tears finally broke through his defenses and fell on the back of his hand covered in mud.
He shouldn't have run out of the guesthouse in anger. Thinking of Jiang Yi chasing and shouting at the door, Ling Shen bit his lip. At the time, he just wanted to hide and make the other party anxious, but this dense forest was like a giant spider web, the more he struggled, the deeper he sank.
The tall fir trees cut the sky into tiny shadows. A hare suddenly jumped out from the pile of dead leaves and scared him so much that he stumbled. When he reacted, the ground under his feet had turned into a bottomless black hole.
Dusk, like spilled ink, quickly permeated the entire mountain forest. In the distance, the low howls of wild animals could be heard, and the crisp snapping of dead branches mixed with the sound of the wind, amplifying tenfold in the silent valley.
Ling Shen hugged his knees tightly, his body shaking uncontrollably, his throat clenched with fear. Just as his consciousness was about to be swallowed by darkness, the sound of dry leaves rubbing against each other could be heard above his head.
"Is there anyone? Help me!" He suddenly pushed himself up, a tearing pain in his knee. A cold, white flashlight beam pierced the darkness. Ling Shen subconsciously raised his hand to block it, and a familiar silhouette vaguely emerged in the halo.
When the man swung down the climbing rope, his sleeve was caught on a sharp branch, and the sound of fabric tearing mixed with a suppressed groan.
Before he passed out, Ling Shen only remembered that the man who saved him had scratched his arm with a branch. Such a long wound must have been very painful. With that last thought flashing through Ling Shen's mind, he completely lost consciousness.
When he woke up again, the smell of disinfectant filled his nose. Ling Shen gazed at the familiar wood grain of the guesthouse's ceiling, then turned to see Jiang Yi sleeping soundly in the next bed. His bandaged arm lay across the pillow, the blood seeping from the edge of the gauze like a dried-up red plum blossom.
Ling Shen almost instantly determined that Jiang Yi was the one who saved him, and deep guilt enveloped him.
"I will treat you well and I will never quarrel with you again." Ling Shen turned sideways to look at Jiang Yi and made a secret decision in his heart.
Jiang Yi, who was sleeping soundly, had no idea that the wound he had sustained due to his playfulness would become Ling Shen's most cherished thing in the future.
Whenever the two of them had a conflict, Ling Shen would see the scar and remember the scene when he was saved by Jiang Yi, and all the unpleasantness would disappear in an instant.
In another room of the guesthouse, the incandescent light illuminated the entire room. Su Nian sat on the edge of the bed with a grin on his face, watching Shen Ran approaching him with disinfectant, and couldn't help but shrink back.
"Did you show off your bravery? You're not that old, yet you dare to save others." Shen Ran muttered as he used a cotton swab dipped in disinfectant to gently wipe the wound on Su Nian's arm.
The moment the disinfectant touched the wound, Su Nian gasped in pain and his facial features wrinkled up.
Su Nian shook her head nonchalantly, pretending to be calm: "Oh, I thought you fell in. Besides, I saw him, how could I not save him? Well, it's just a scratch on the arm, it's okay."
After hearing this, Shen Ran was even more furious, but his hands unconsciously softened a little: "You said, just save people, and you handed them over to others, afraid that they would know that it was you who saved them?"
"Hehe, it's just a small matter anyway. I'm not doing this to get any reward." Su Nian frowned in pain, but he didn't forget to refute. He looked at Shen Ran's serious bandage and felt a warm current in his heart.
"Okay, I can't argue with you anyway." Chen Ran rolled his eyes and carefully bandaged the wound with gauze. "Be careful not to get it wet for the next few days, otherwise it will leave a scar."
Su Nian waved his hands nonchalantly, deliberately straightened his chest and put his hands on his hips: "What's there to be afraid of about getting a scar? I'm a real man." The exaggerated action made Shen Ran laugh out loud, and the room was filled with a relaxed atmosphere, as if the thrilling incident just now had never happened.
The four boys didn't know that, by some strange coincidence, their destinies were entangled by an invisible thread.
And the gears of fate began to turn slowly from this day...
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