WS - Chapter 116
Chapter 116
When Yu Nianbing pulled Song Shiyue over to let Ni Jinghe take a look, in the eyes of the StarNet audience it was nothing but a big, pure piece of candy.
The viewers crunched on that candy, crisp and sweet, enough to somewhat dilute their worry over the Yaoxing Storm. Yet no one knew the unease now filling Yu Nianbing's heart.
Now that the livestream was gone, Yu Nianbing still didn't dare press Song Shiyue with too many questions while so many people were around. The crux of it was... certain understandings between her and Song Shiyue had always been only tacit. And now Song Shiyue was so obviously avoiding the subject; that left Yu Nianbing even more at a loss for where to begin.
In the end the team decided to work their way around the mountain toward the next camp. They wouldn't reach camp today anyway. They would just keep going until they found a suitable spot to set up camp, then make do for the night.
After some bandaging and regrouping, the team set out again.
Up until now, along the natural terrain, there had still been paths that the production team had trodden or deliberately cleared when they first came to Wilderness Planet to set things up. But now that they had abandoned the original cave route, they were truly blazing a trail.
There had never been a path around this side of the mountain, and the forest after the earthquake was full of fissures — some wide, some narrow — fallen trees, and foot-lacerating rocks. Even a healthy, able-bodied person would struggle mightily, let alone these people, frightened, exhausted, and injured as they were.
Everyone was hurt, everyone was tired. It was hard enough just looking after themselves.
On top of that, there was Feng Qianqian...
Setting aside the women, the only men who could manage carrying Feng Qianqian for any distance were Zhuang Jiachuan, Wang Daming, Zhao Da, and Zhao Er.
They were still using the stretcher made of jackets, but now they had cut two additional long poles, threaded them through, and secured everything with vines, making it considerably sturdier than it had been back in the cave. It would not hold up for a long trek, but carrying her for a stretch at a time was feasible.
The four didn't pass the buck; they spontaneously split into two teams. Zhuang Jiachuan and Wang Daming would carry first. When they got tired, Zhao Da and Zhao Er would take over.
The sky was already growing late. By their reckoning it was sometime past four, maybe close to five. If they didn't intend to travel at night, they could walk for two more hours at most before having to stop and figure out how to survive the night.
On average, if one team carried for about an hour, they'd be able to rest.
But the situation at hand — how could it possibly be averaged out like that?
Barely ten minutes had passed when Wang Daming cried out, "I can't! I can't anymore!"
Zhuang Jiachuan said nothing, but he too was panting hard as he helped Wang Daming lower the stretcher to the ground.
According to the earlier agreement, it was now Zhao Da and Zhao Er's turn. The two didn't waste words; they stepped up, took hold of the stretcher, and lifted Feng Qianqian.
When Zhuang Jiachuan and Wang Daming had been carrying, the two had walked slower and slower, gradually falling all the way to the back of the group.
Zhao Da and Zhao Er's strides were much steadier. After they took over, they kept themselves in the middle of the column.
Wang Daming walked behind them, watching the two carry the stretcher with relatively nimble movements. He smiled secretly, then nudged Zhuang Jiachuan with his elbow and flashed a smug little look.
Zhuang Jiachuan: "..."
To be fair, Zhuang Jiachuan felt he could have held on a bit longer, but since his work partner said he couldn't, he had no choice but to put it down. But now, what was Wang Daming playing at? With barely a handful of fully able-bodied people left, why pull this kind of stunt? Zhao Da and Zhao Er didn't look like fools.
By the big boulder inside the cave, Zhuang Jiachuan had already had several exchanges with Zhao Da and Zhao Er, each one hitting a wall. He had glimpsed something beyond their honest faces and did not believe they were so easy to fool or order around.
Song Shiyue, who had gradually fallen to the very back of the group, also saw Wang Daming wink and nudge Zhuang Jiachuan up ahead. Her thoughts were no different from Zhuang Jiachuan's.
Between a petty person without ability and a capable villain, the latter was clearly the one to be more guarded against.
But while Song Shiyue still had attention to spare for observing the team, Yu Nianbing had every bit of her heart hanging on Song Shiyue.
On all their earlier travels — one team leader and six guests — Yu Nianbing and Song Shiyue were used to walking at the rear. But habit aside, the feeling of walking at the rear now was completely different.
Beside her, if she listened closely, she could hear the sound of labored breathing.
Before, Song Shiyue had climbed such high mountains, walked so many roads, carried nearly half a side of beef, and even had to support a whole person with all her strength — yet her face didn't flush and her breath didn't quicken.
But now...
Yu Nianbing couldn't help glancing at Song Shiyue's backpack, from which much jerky had been eaten and whose spare clothes had been donated for bandages and stretcher-making.
The half-empty backpack was limp, already looking weightless.
And the person carrying it...
Yu Nianbing raised her hand beside Song Shiyue's face and just happened to catch a falling bead of sweat — delicate yet perfectly round and full.
These beads of sweat, strung together in chains, were now steadily streaming down Song Shiyue's already damp temples.
Song Shiyue sensed Yu Nianbing's movement. She turned to look at Yu Nianbing's grave expression, swiped carelessly at her face, and smiled. "A bit hot. It's fine."
Right. A little sweat. What's the big deal?
Even Yu Nianbing's own back was gradually becoming damp by now.
But...
Song Shiyue — she ought to be different.
Yu Nianbing couldn't articulate exactly how Song Shiyue ought to be different, but judging from the past few days, Song Shiyue's present condition was certainly abnormal.
And yet... this person had a mouth like a clam.
Now, Yu Nianbing lifted her eyes to the sky, which no longer held any blazing light. Even with all the worry in the world, what could she possibly do?
She could only place her hope in what Ni Jinghe had said: Song Shiyue was simply over-exhausted. With some rest, she would recover on her own...
"Let me carry that for you." Yu Nianbing's hand landed on Song Shiyue's backpack strap.
"No, no need." Song Shiyue instinctively tried to evade.
What answered her was Yu Nianbing's hand firmly gripping the strap, and eyes that were gradually reddening.
Song Shiyue paused. Even her steady stride faltered. The backward evading motion stopped, and her tensed shoulders relaxed.
"Alright." Song Shiyue obediently removed the backpack, her eyes filled with an unmelting gentleness.
Yu Nianbing got her wish and took the load from Song Shiyue. The half-empty backpack was, as she'd thought, not actually heavy. But Yu Nianbing's heart sank — and kept sinking.
Song Shiyue was the sort of goody-goody who could not bear not to offer a helping hand to everyone, yet she would not accept help from others herself. Especially this kind of help, help with physical strength.
But now...
Yu Nianbing searched Song Shiyue's eyes, and saw not a trace of reluctance, only...
Beneath that layer of gentleness — was it relief? Or was it indulgence?
Yu Nianbing wanted to look further, but Song Shiyue had already turned her face and was looking ahead again.
And neither the rolling beads of sweat, the flushed face, nor the gradually deepening pants decreased or lessened in the slightest with the transfer of the backpack.
Just when the string of Yu Nianbing's heart had been pulled to its tightest, about to snap —
The group ahead stopped again.
Looking ahead, a short distance further, Zhao Da and Zhao Er had set down the stretcher and turned to speak with Wang Daming and Zhuang Jiachuan about something.
As they spoke, Song Shiyue and Yu Nianbing from the rear also drew near.
"Totally beat. You two carry for a while, then we'll swap again." Zhao Er loosened his grip, then clenched his fists and pounded his arms a couple of times.
Zhuang Jiachuan glanced at Zhao Da and Zhao Er and started toward the stretcher.
But Wang Daming would have none of it. He grabbed Zhuang Jiachuan and raised his voice at Zhao Da and Zhao Er: "You've only been carrying a little while — how can you be tired already? You were walking just fine."
Before Zhao Er could open his mouth, Zhao Da smiled. "You two also carried for about that long earlier. We didn't ask you why you were tired when you were walking just fine, did we?"
"We'll carry." Zhuang Jiachuan pulled Wang Daming back.
But Wang Daming, who was normally quite polite when staying with the production team and occasionally passing along messages or explaining rules to the guests, now seemed to be straining against someone with all his might. The already exhausted Zhuang Jiachuan couldn't budge him at all.
"How can we possibly compare to you? Look at us, then look at your muscles — one of you is easily worth three of us. Besides, aren't you the bodyguards? This is exactly the time you should be protecting us." Wang Daming stuck out his own arm, pinched the flesh, and spoke with a face full of righteous anguish.
"We've all been through a lot today. We should be considerate of each other and share the burden — can't just rely on a few people, right?" Zhao Da smiled again. "What's more, since we are responsible for everyone's safety, we need to keep a little more energy in reserve. Otherwise, if something happens and we can't react in time, how are we supposed to protect everyone?"
"Like you actually protected us back in the cave earlier," Wang Daming muttered under his breath, still grumbling.
"I remember... during the earthquake, you were tucked behind me the whole time, yeah?" Zhao Da still wore a slight smile, but before Wang Daming's expression could change he went on: "It's fine, protecting you is our duty. Right now, with the Yaoxing Storm happening, the protective shield covering this filming zone should already be down. Beasts from other areas of Wilderness Planet could show up at any moment. So don't you think we should conserve a bit of energy? Everyone shares the work?"
Right — the protective shield was useless...
Wang Daming glanced at the blades hanging on Zhao Da and Zhao Er. His previously eloquent mouth seized up at once.
Song Shiyue watched silently from the back — watched Wang Daming lash out, watched Wang Daming capitulate, watched Zhuang Jiachuan and Wang Daming lift the stretcher again. All just a matter of a few sentences.
Now they couldn't use their wristbands to check the time, but by Song Shiyue's estimate, the amount of time Zhao Da and Zhao Er had just carried the stretcher was about the same as the previous stint by Zhuang Jiachuan and Wang Daming. In other words, Zhao Da and Zhao Er were only using their strength advantage to apply a little verbal pressure, but in practice they were still willing to share the workload with everyone else. That was a good sign.
It's just... who knows how long this good sign will last...
Even as she thought this, when she lifted her foot, another wave of dizziness hit. She nearly caught her left foot with her right and went sprawling on the flat ground.
But although Song Shiyue steadied herself in time, the uncoordinated, abnormal movement had been noticed by Yu Nianbing beside her.
Song Shiyue instinctively looked over at Yu Nianbing, who had also stopped walking.
Sigh... it's always that red-eyed look that I can least bear to see.
"When everyone sits down to rest in a bit, let's go to the bathroom," Song Shiyue rubbed her dizzy head, then subconsciously corrected herself. "I mean, let's go take care of some personal business together."
There are some things that, if not entrusted now, there may not be much more time to say.
Song Shiyue gazed at Yu Nianbing before her, eyes red, expression angry, yet still docilely nodding. She couldn't help but reach out and gently stroke Yu Nianbing's eyes, smiling. "If only there were a mirror — I'd show you a big magic trick: now you see a rabbit, now you don't."
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