WS - Chapter 97
Chapter 97
As the night deepened, the light at the second camp on Wilderness Planet gradually dimmed, with the production team lowering the lights on the left and the guest team's campfire dwindling on the right.
In the quiet night, only sporadic snores remained, along with the small sounds of people turning in their sleep and bumping into tents or pressing against bamboo poles.
After two days of continuous trekking, both guests and production crew were exhausted. Aside from a few who had things on their minds, most fell asleep the moment their heads hit the pillows. Even those in the poorest conditions, like Mu Xingzhou, who slept in a lean-to shelter with only clothes everyone had pooled together as a pillow and blanket, were the same.
Song Shiyue was among those who fell asleep late. As she watched quietly, the narrow gap between her and Yu Nianbing seemed to grow increasingly indistinct as the fire outside shrank and the light inside the tent grew scarcer.
A blur, as if, just watching like that, some things had disappeared, ceased to exist, been smoothed away by half.
After a long while, Song Shiyue finally turned over gently, and so they slept, back to back.
The mountains and rivers seemed to slumber in this darkness too.
Yet something else seemed to be waking up.
Song Shiyue, long accustomed in the apocalypse to keeping a vigilant sleep lest her brains be eaten, found it hard to shed certain habits even in this peaceful alternate world.
Whether on Beichen Planet, later on the spaceship, in the Old Castle, or at the previous camp, Song Shiyue did sleep, but the taut string in her mind could not be fully loosened in such a short time.
At this moment in the camp, Song Shiyue was naturally the first to notice something amiss.
In the tent, now so dark that only outlines were visible, the two who had originally slept back to back now lay in a spooning position, with Song Shiyue facing the tent entrance and the drowsy Yu Nianbing facing Song Shiyue.
In the darkness, Song Shiyue, who moments ago still breathed shallowly as if sound asleep, suddenly opened her eyes.
Had someone shone a light on Song Shiyue at that moment, they would surely have discovered a clear, vigilant clarity in her eyes, with not a trace of the muddle-headedness of interrupted sleep.
Cocking an ear, listening closely. Song Shiyue's expression turned rather grim.
"Teacher Yu..." Song Shiyue sat up and at the same time gently patted the shoulder of Yu Nianbing, who was now sleeping facing towards her.
Yu Nianbing stirred, murmured something under her breath, but did not wake.
Left with no choice, Song Shiyue raised her voice slightly and strengthened the motion of her hand, calling again: "Teacher Yu, Teacher Yu..."
Only then did Yu Nianbing respond with a "Mm...".
The body Song Shiyue was patting had stirred, but before she could pull her hand back, that hand—sleeve and all—was grabbed by Yu Nianbing, yanked down from her shoulder, and pulled into her...
Embracing the offending sleep-disturbing object in both arms, Yu Nianbing quieted down again, her breathing even, steady...
A beat too slow, Song Shiyue realized that Yu Nianbing's earlier, somewhat drawn-out "Mm..." was not a response to her wake-up call, but more likely a disgruntled syllable uttered when sleep was disturbed... Another beat and a half too slow, she realized exactly what that slightly resilient spot the back of her hand was touching was...
The back of her hand, as if ironed with a scorching brand.
Her brain, as if it had buzzed.
The heat ignited in an instant from the back of her hand and spreading through her entire body collided with a brain that felt like it had been through a shredder, and Song Shiyue actually experienced a momentary blank of consciousness and a stiffening of her body.
Her breathing, so rapid it seemed about to cause instant death.
Trembling, trembling, trembling...
Unable to tell if it was her hand, her heart, or her whole body just beginning to loosen from that momentary rigidity.
All trembling.
Why were her lips, her mouth, her tongue so dry?
Like a traveler who had journeyed for days through a desert without water.
Even her eyes began to burn.
What sort of reaction was this?
In the limited brain cells Song Shiyue still had, and the limited vocabulary those cells could compile... Probably, it was a reaction many times more jolting than opening one's eyes to find a zombie inches from one's nose.
Fortunately, Yu Nianbing in her sleep was no psychic ability user, or else, hearing Song Shiyue compare her to a zombie like this, she would likely fly into a rage and beat Song Shiyue up.
Hand...
Hand...
Hand...
Song Shiyue looked down at her own hand, held in Yu Nianbing's embrace.
In the darkness, Song Shiyue's slightly better vision, while not perfectly clear, was enough to make it out.
Song Shiyue took a deep breath and slowly attempted to pull her hand out.
Trembling, trembling.
Song Shiyue used her left hand to grasp her right forearm, trying to make her right hand steady enough to pull free.
But trembling upon trembling—how could that become steadiness?
Whether it was that her movement had disturbed Yu Nianbing's sleep again, or that Yu Nianbing's fine habit of grabbing hold of anyone beside her who tried to leave had surfaced once more.
As soon as Song Shiyue moved, Yu Nianbing's arms wrapped around Song Shiyue's right hand tightened another fraction.
Thus, you move, I embrace, a subtle back-and-forth...
What had been a general sensation now became focused on a single point.
All consciousness seemed to gather at a certain spot on the back of her right hand, stirring every nerve Song Shiyue had.
The brain that had been through the shredder felt as though it had now been poured into a high-speed blender and completely destroyed.
Didn't Yu Nianbing not want to? When had it come off? This was the last thought that crossed Song Shiyue's mind before her brain disappeared entirely.
Poor Song Shiyue... Yu Nianbing had clearly made the first move, yet Song Shiyue couldn't even manage a proper 'sorry to disturb you.'
All the awkwardness in the universe converged upon this tent on Wilderness Planet.
But it was not only awkwardness that was converging here.
After Yu Nianbing's unconscious action, Song Shiyue nearly forgot her original intent in trying to wake her up.
Only, before Song Shiyue could collect herself and carefully pull her hand free without waking Yu Nianbing to wake her up properly, the things that should not have come had already arrived.
"Mm...?" Yu Nianbing, feeling something strike her lower back with considerable force, slowly began to wake.
Song Shiyue's heart seized up, not only because of what had arrived but also because of the person waking up. All her wits mobilized in that moment, she wasted no time weighing anything else and quickly, taking advantage of Yu Nianbing's still-dazed state just upon waking, yanked her right hand back. As for that strange, line-drawn agony that had become a thread from a point—that was Song Shiyue's own private burden, not fit for sharing.
Yu Nianbing, already in that limbo between sleep and waking, was thoroughly jolted awake by Song Shiyue's action.
"Wh... what's wrong?" In the darkness, Yu Nianbing, with her average vision, saw the outline of Song Shiyue sitting up and was nearly startled. The last threads of drowsy confusion retreated at once.
"It's nothing, don't be scared." Song Shiyue furtively wiped the thin layer of sweat from her forehead and hurriedly leaned over, reaching out to nudge Yu Nianbing towards the center of the tent.
"Just now... something bumped my waist..." Not yet fully awake, Yu Nianbing almost asked whether it was Song Shiyue who had bumped her, but caught herself in time and changed her words.
She had agreed it was merely a life-saving-grace relationship—how could she say something so liable to be misunderstood by the audience and cause trouble for Song Shiyue for no reason... Chiding herself silently, Yu Nianbing shook her head, trying to fling off the sleepiness that was still bobbing up, ready to tackle her.
"It's fine, it's just..." Song Shiyue's gaze darkened slightly, and she lay back down, closing the distance between her and Yu Nianbing, and comforted her: "Just some birds."
"Some birds?" Yu Nianbing felt as if she were dreaming, wondering why she couldn't quite understand what Song Shiyue was saying.
But soon, before Song Shiyue could answer again, yet another thing struck Yu Nianbing's back.
This time, Yu Nianbing was awake, and the sensation was far clearer than before.
It wasn't large, had force, had speed, seemed to come swiftly from a distance, hit the tent, even dented the tent wall somewhat; its front end seemed somewhat rounded, not very hard—it bumped against Yu Nianbing's back...
What was it? What!
The instant that thing struck her back, Yu Nianbing's hairs stood on end, her pupils dilated, and her entire being was about to go to pieces.
"..." Yu Nianbing wanted to speak, wanted to get away from the tent wall at her back that some unknown thing had hit, but her whole person was shocked to the extreme, as if her pressure points had been sealed, unable to move or speak. The only outward sign was trembling... and the only sound she could make was the chattering of her teeth.
The horror materials she had seen before coming to Wilderness Planet flashed through Yu Nianbing's mind like a revolving lantern.
So terrified she felt like dying on the spot...
There were plenty of things outside, and this one had come all of a sudden—even Song Shiyue hadn't expected it.
And Yu Nianbing's reaction was far too quick.
Song Shiyue's brain, only recently salvaged from the blender, was a little slow to catch up; a few seconds later she realized that Yu Nianbing's current state was a bit over the top.
"It's okay, it's okay... just birds, just birds." Song Shiyue hurriedly shifted backward while pulling Yu Nianbing towards herself.
Yu Nianbing very much wanted to follow Song Shiyue's lead and move, but she simply could not.
Thankfully, Song Shiyue had great strength. She just propped herself up, used her hand to guide Yu Nianbing's back, and scooped the person over.
The tent was already small. With this movement, Song Shiyue herself ended up practically plastered against the tent door. The two of them resolutely transformed the tent, which had originally only allowed a two-finger-wide crack between them as they slept together, till almost half the tent was empty...
She had... moved away...
Yu Nianbing's body had not yet recovered from the shock, but her mind knew that her back was no longer pressed against the tent wall behind her.
"That..." Still shuddering slightly, Yu Nianbing tried to speak, but all that came out was a breath.
"It's a flock of birds, don't be scared." Song Shiyue had so little room she couldn't sit properly; feeling as if she might tip the tent over, she had to squeeze down and lie on her side, reaching out again to gently pat Yu Nianbing's shoulder. "It'll pass quickly. It'll be over in no time."
Song Shiyue's hand was very warm.
One could even say it was a little hot.
That familiar... sense of safety.
Yu Nianbing, who had once collapsed from fright, could feel the cold sweat on her back and a chill quivering in her heart. Now, with Song Shiyue patting her like this a couple of times, she felt somewhat unsatisfied.
Time and again Song Shiyue said they were birds, a bird flock, but showed no intention of going out to look.
Yu Nianbing stopped asking, stopped even caring what was outside. She just wanted to be an ostrich.
A somewhat cold ostrich, wanting to hide in a somewhat warm place.
Inside the tent, it suddenly became so quiet that one could almost hear the sound of many wings beating outside.
The main force had arrived. Song Shiyue frowned slightly, wondering how the others were faring, whether she should call out a warning, or just let them sleep through it.
But before Song Shiyue could make a choice, Yu Nianbing, who had apparently heard a bit of the noise beside her, slowly squeezed over.
The tent was so small; to begin with, Song Shiyue's dodging and scooping had emptied out half of Yu Nianbing's side.
As Yu Nianbing continued squeezing towards Song Shiyue, Song Shiyue truly had nowhere left to retreat.
Did she have to go outside? Song Shiyue felt that the arm she had deliberately placed as a barrier between herself and Yu Nianbing was now being pressed by the nudging Yu Nianbing.
Going outside wasn't impossible... just that she'd have to take another bath afterward.
Just as Song Shiyue was thinking this and about to move, her ill-fated right arm, which had served as a temporary barrier, shifted.
That right arm, after being nudged and nudged, ended up at a ninety-degree angle to her body.
A fuzzy head, silently and without any particular politeness, pillowed itself on it the next moment, and then very naturally edged closer to Song Shiyue.
From this position, Song Shiyue could feel Yu Nianbing's somewhat rapid breath lightly brushing against her collarbone.
She must be...
Very scared, right...
In the early days of the apocalypse, how many strangers, because of fear, tension, and cold, had huddled together, clinging tight in the darkness, just to obtain a little warmth and comfort.
Yu Nianbing was just like that.
Song Shiyue could understand.
At a time like this, to Yu Nianbing, she was not that person who had once confessed, perhaps still harboring some feelings, but merely a reasonably warm source of heat.
Song Shiyue could understand.
Perhaps... perhaps she wasn't disappointed either.
Song Shiyue slowly moved the right arm that Yu Nianbing was pillowing, tried to bend it a little, and laid her right hand on Yu Nianbing's shoulder, giving it a few gentle pats.
In silence, the two of them together shaped this posture, something akin to an embrace.
Song Shiyue sensed that Yu Nianbing seemed not averse to her action, and even snuggled further into her arms.
She really was frightened out of her wits...
In her light sleep, Song Shiyue had heard something off, and thinking how timid Yu Nianbing was, had wanted to wake her up first. But then some... minor issues occurred. Although Yu Nianbing had woken up, she was still very scared.
Just as Song Shiyue was racking her brains for something else to say to comfort her, she felt the person in her arms stir.
Then... Song Shiyue felt... a soft hand gently come to rest on her waist.
Very warm, very soft. In the darkness, both of them blushing, thought so too.
The sound of wings was still there. Song Shiyue even heard Guan Yongyi in the tent behind waking up and uttering a "Holy crap!"
The people in the two lean-to shelters on the side were also awake now. Only Zhuang Jiachuan in the farthest tent seemed still asleep.
Song Shiyue heard the sound of Guan Yongyi opening his tent zipper and could bear it no longer.
"I'm going to say something loudly, don't be scared." Song Shiyue said to the person in her arms, gave her shoulder another gentle, soothing pat, and then loudly called out: "Teacher Guan, don't open your tent. It'll be over soon."
The sound of Guan Yongyi opening his tent zipper behind stopped.
The two lean-to shelters on the side quieted down for a moment as well.
Then came Ning Chuyang's voice: "What's going on? Something seems to be hitting my shelter!"
"It's fine, the shelter is very sturdy," Song Shiyue said again. "For now, don't come out."
"So what exactly is it..." Mu Xingzhou's voice also came over.
Song Shiyue gently patted the person in her arms and didn't answer.
Then, Guan Yongyi could be heard again with a "Holy crap, it's a b..."
"It's birds!" Song Shiyue's voice instantly drowned out Guan Yongyi's, and she reiterated loudly, "It's birds, lots of them. Don't come out."
Guan Yongyi in the back fell silent, followed by what seemed to be the sound of a tent zipper being closed.
"Is it... bats..." In Song Shiyue's arms, Yu Nianbing whispered, her breath tickling Song Shiyue's collarbone.
"No, it's birds," Song Shiyue's tone was, as always, resolute and calm.
Yu Nianbing: "..."
This person, really... Although Yu Nianbing was still very scared, she could not help but let out a laugh even as she continued to tremble uncontrollably.
Meanwhile, on StarNet, a good portion of the audience staying up late to watch the livestream was, just like Yu Nianbing, frightened out of their wits...
The only difference was that many people didn't have someone to immediately hide in the arms of, which was also quite pitiful.
"I originally thought this program, being called The Wilderness Journey, was actually as safe as a countryside outing, with everything we encountered on the way neatly arranged by the production team. I was too naive!"
"Too naive! I thought having a king cobra at the start was already over the top, I really couldn't help but say holy crap—but now it can actually get this over the top!"
"When the livestream just now suddenly cut from the mosaic in the tent to a night-vision distant shot, I even checked the time, thinking it was cutting to show us the sunrise! How could I be so naive!"
"Truly terrifying, I also saw that first one, a whole churning mass, I really almost fainted."
"Such a horrifying scene and they don't mosaic it, but they only know to mosaic the guests—is the production team stupid!"
"How many friends tonight will have nightmares so bad they wet the bed—the production team is too wicked."
"I won't be wetting any bed, I just want to ask—when they cut to the distant shot of the bat swarm, Song Shiyue woke up. Why did she wake up Yu Nianbing? Did she hear something, or did she guess?"
"I think... Sister Song just wanted to wake Little Ice Block up to go pee. (Sorry, I'm just saying whatever...)"
"How could she hear or guess, she's not a god. Speaking of which, Song Shiyue really never forgets a white lie, does she."
"Hahaha, right, before when she saw a spider, she said what was it, a tree branch, right? And now bats can be called birds."
"Truly doting... the kind of doting where I shoulder all the terrors outside alone, while you just have to smile at me at home."
"So jealous..."
"I also really didn't expect, watching such a horrifying scene, I actually still got some candy."
"A divine CP never forgets to feed the dogs even at the hardest of times..."
"Wait, am I the only one who noticed that the mosaic on the Song-Yu CP's tent is positioned a little oddly?"
"... Originally the two mosaics covered the whole tent, but now it seems like on one side you can see a little of the bottom of the tent."
"Whoa, you're right! This time, is there any expert who can calculate the overlapping mosaic area? Waiting online! So urgent!"
"!!!"
...
Let's leave aside how the StarNet audience's eyes were sharp as torches, still managing to fish some candy for themselves even as the bat swarm descended.
Inside the tent, Yu Nianbing had just been coaxed into a brief laugh by Song Shiyue's stubborn insistence, but that brief moment of joy was soon interrupted.
Just then, the sound of wings seemed to suddenly intensify. Yu Nianbing heard the tent behind her get struck heavily twice in quick succession; the entire tent quivered twice, and from the lean-to shelter next door came a rather sharp cry of alarm from Ning Chuyang.
Multiple sounds burst out at once, with one incident after another. Amidst the chaos, Yu Nianbing, frightened by the sudden turn of events, instinctively shrank into Song Shiyue's arms.
Outside, more and more people seemed to be waking up. Mingled with the sound of wings, human noises grew increasingly louder.
While Yu Nianbing could perhaps only clearly make out the cries and loud complaints from the guest side, Song Shiyue could hear even the commotion from the production team—someone had come out to check, then got a face-full and cursed as they rolled back into their tent.
Many voices uttering the word "bat" echoed throughout the camp.
Some, at volumes loud enough for Yu Nianbing to hear.
Yet this time, Song Shiyue did not raise her voice to drown them out, nor even quietly soothe and change the subject.
And Yu Nianbing neither showed curiosity at the sounds outside, nor asked Song Shiyue anything further.
Silent, still.
No... it should be said that inside this tent where the two of them were right now, there was a dead silence.
It seemed as if everything outside—the terrifying, the noisy, the troublesome—had nothing to do with the two inside the tent at this moment.
As if they had instantly entered some kind of barrier, a world that contained only each other.
A world scorching enough to make one's head spin, hazy enough to mist one's eyes, stunning enough to numb one's limbs.
And... so unbearably awkward and flustered that time seemed to stop and consciousness seemed to flee.
How long had it been.
Perhaps an instant.
Perhaps an eternity.
After having shrunk into Song Shiyue's embrace, Yu Nianbing silently moved her lips away from that point of accidental contact.
And the two of them remained like that, stiff and silent, for a very long time.
It was not until Ning Chuyang and the others' voices came from the tent entrance that the consciousnesses of the two, which had drifted off who knows where, began to slowly return.
Amidst the voices calling for them outside the door, the two sat up.
No words, no eye contact, no touch.
After what seemed like another long while, Song Shiyue slowly lifted a hand and pulled out a corner of the thing pressed under the pillow.
A rustling sound made Yu Nianbing subconsciously look over, but then, as if her eyes had been burned, she averted her gaze in an instant, abruptly turning her back.
Behind her came the sounds of the blanket, and what seemed like the rustle of clothing...
It was only when Song Shiyue spoke: "You come out in a bit, I'll go out first and take a look."
Yu Nianbing did not dare turn around.
And these very normal words, which Song Shiyue often said, now carried an almost imperceptible quiver as they were spoken. Having said that, Song Shiyue did not wait for Yu Nianbing's reply but briskly unzipped the tent, went out, and re-zipped it.
Inside the tent, only Yu Nianbing remained.
Face burning as if on fire, eyes like rosy clouds.
Then, Yu Nianbing heard Ning Chuyang's voice outside the tent.
"Why is your face so red? Are you okay?"
Yu Nianbing lowered her eyes, finding it very difficult to put into words her current state, a tangled mess so complicated she couldn't even find a loose thread. Usually she didn't seem to have any knack for zeroing in on the main point—why, at this moment, had she so... homed right in on it? It was a mortifying awkwardness that could kill her, enough to make her stop breathing...
And she felt even more at a loss. If given another chance, when Song Shiyue had written that question on the cardboard about "Could you take that off?"—would she still nod her head?
Perhaps...
She would.
Yu Nianbing gently bit her lip, lowered her head, and covered her burning face.
Comments
Post a Comment