With a thunderous crash, everything went silent, except for the system in Xie Yizhou’s mind, which was shrieking and wailing.
(Ahhh! Help! Help me!!!)
As a massive impact struck, Xie Yizhou’s mind drifted for a split second. He shook his head and felt a warm moisture at his neck, causing his body to freeze. This was blood.
A thick, metallic scent of blood filled the air. A warm body was pressed firmly against his back, but he realized it was not his own blood. Xie Yizhou understood what had happened. He looked up and met a pair of bloodshot eyes, seeing the fresh blood splattered across Gu Yulan’s face. In that instant, he held his breath.
He stared blankly at the man. For the first time in his life, someone had thrown themselves in front of him without hesitation. Xie Yizhou lowered his gaze and pursed his lips.
“Sss,” Gu Yulan cursed through gritted teeth. “That fucking hurts!”
He looked at the boy, who seemed paralyzed by shock, and knit his brows. “Are you hurt?” he asked, breathing heavily.
Xie Yizhou pursed his lips and shook his head. Aside from minor scratches from the glass, he had no other injuries. Gu Yulan let out a long, slow breath and shifted his body slightly. A sharp, searing pain immediately radiated from his right arm. A large shard of glass was embedded in his forearm, and blood was gushing out. However, he did not have the heart to worry about that now. Being able to feel pain meant the injury was likely not fatal.
“We have to get out first.”
The car was wedged between the truck and a large tree. The dense branches had absorbed some of the impact, and because the modified chassis was incredibly sturdy, the frame had not collapsed despite the violent collision. The money spent on those modifications had been worth it. He felt immensely relieved that the boy had driven this specific car out; otherwise, they both would have died today.
The driver’s side was filled with deployed airbags, and the windshield was covered in leaves, making it impossible to see the situation outside. Xie Yizhou forced open the passenger door. After getting out, he immediately dragged Gu Yulan from the wreckage. The moment he left the car, Gu Yulan let out a long sigh of relief. A profound sense of having escaped death washed over him.
He could not help but smile at the boy beside him. “It is good to be alive.”
Xie Yizhou looked at the wound on Gu Yulan’s shoulder without saying a word. Seeing no response, Gu Yulan paused. He used his left hand to brush aside the hair by the boy’s ear. Seeing the hearing aid still in place, he knit his brows and let out a huff.
“Hey, that is not right. You clearly heard me, yet you keep pretending you cannot.”
As he spoke, he habitually curled his finger, preparing to flick the boy’s forehead. However, not only did he fail to land the flick, but a sudden, intense wave of pain shot through his arm. Xie Yizhou took the opportunity to pin Gu Yulan’s shoulder and, in one swift motion, pulled out the shard of glass embedded there. Gu Yulan’s eyes widened, and he hissed through his teeth.
“You could have given me a warning before doing that!”
Xie Yizhou still ignored him. He simply lowered his head, tore a piece of fabric from his own clothes, and shredded it into two long strips, tying them together. He silently held the man’s shoulder and tied the fabric tightly to stop the bleeding. Gu Yulan was numb. He looked at the makeshift tourniquet on his shoulder and arched an eyebrow. “Quite a professional technique.”
Xie Yizhou did not speak; he only raised his eyelids to look at the man and tilted his chin slightly. Seeing this, Gu Yulan could not help but curl his lips into a smile. They moved around the crashed vehicle and stood a short distance away, watching the truck with its flickering lights.
Gu Yulan reached for his phone to call the police, but the screen was black; it would not turn on at all. It must have been broken in the crash. Something about this accident felt wrong. A truck appearing suddenly in such a remote area was highly suspicious. He looked at the truck’s cabin for a few seconds, hesitating. Eventually, he decided to go and check. Regardless of what happened, a life was a life.
Gu Yulan patted the boy’s shoulder. “I am going to take a look. Wait for me here.”
However, the moment he moved to stand up, he was grabbed from behind. Gu Yulan turned back and saw a look of firm persistence in the boy’s clear eyes.
Xie Yizhou shook his head. Gu Yulan was stunned for a few seconds. Suddenly, the roar of an engine broke the silence. The red truck, like a mechanical giant, lurched to life and began driving toward them. The driver, his face covered in blood, stared at them with a dark, murderous gaze. Without a moment’s hesitation, he floored the accelerator and charged directly at them.
Gu Yulan’s expression turned grim. He instinctively grabbed the boy and ran toward the nearby bridge. “Run!”
His face darkened completely. He realized instantly that this was no accident. Someone had hired a killer to commit intentional murder. Meanwhile, 0377 was vibrating with shock in Xie Yizhou’s mind.
(What the heck! The original text said it was an accident! Is my memory wrong? Is this not a classic BL novel? Why is there a mystery subplot?)
As 0377 spoke, it began frantically scanning the original text for any clues. Xie Yizhou’s brows knit together. (Can you shut up?) he said in his mind. He decided that once they got back, he would look for a system-mute function. 0377 went silent instantly, not daring to make a sound.
Gu Yulan felt the boy’s grip on his hand tighten and assumed he was terrified. A scene straight out of a movie was playing out; the red truck was chasing them down relentlessly. The high beams behind them grew brighter and brighter, like a death warrant forcing them to move faster.
The truck drew closer. They had already reached the bridge. Below was a river, its current raging due to the heavy rain. Jumping in offered at least a slim chance of survival; staying on the bridge meant becoming roadkill. They reached the edge, but the truck showed no signs of slowing down. Gu Yulan’s gaze hardened. He looked at the boy beside him and made a choice.
Xie Yizhou looked up as if sensing something. Seeing the look of finality in Gu Yulan’s eyes, his heart tightened. In the next second, he was shoved away by a massive force. Their eyes met for a fleeting moment in mid-air. Gu Yulan’s lips curled into a smile, and he shouted, “Live well!”
Although he had found the boy annoying at first, being deaf, mute, reckless, and disobedient, he realized, looking back at their noisy time together, that it had actually been quite interesting.
The moment Xie Yizhou was pushed, his pupils shrank. Time seemed to hit a pause button. The red truck roared past him, the bridge railings snapped like twigs, and glass shards flew everywhere. Gu Yulan’s figure vanished into the darkness. The man had stood in front of him once again.
In that moment, Xie Yizhou felt a sharp, minor pain in his chest from his heart pounding. He frowned. He could not understand why someone would disregard their own life for another. In his previous life, it seemed everyone only thought of ways to survive for themselves. Sacrificing one’s life for another was a concept he had never encountered and could not comprehend.
In the original text, Gu Yulan had only been crippled by this accident. Now, because of the butterfly effect caused by his presence, Gu Yulan had lost his life. He had seemingly made things worse. As a savior, his role had been negligible. Since arriving in this world, his life had perhaps been too comfortable.
Xie Yizhou’s eyes darkened. 0377 let out a despairing wail, spiraling into a breakdown at the thought of the demotion it would face for a failed mission. (It is over! Gu Yulan is dead, and everything is ruined!)
“Shut up! You are very noisy!”
0377 silenced itself immediately. Suddenly, it noticed something was wrong. Xie Yizhou reached out and grabbed the back of the truck. The vehicle’s speed slowed down instantly. 0377 was stunned. As expected of a high-energy soul from a post-apocalyptic world, his strength was on another level.
Xie Yizhou’s hands gripped the truck’s guardrail tightly. The veins in his neck bulged, looking terrifying. Soon, he felt a wetness at his nose, liquid was trickling out, and he tasted a thick, sweet metallic flavor in his mouth. His brows were locked, but that single second of resistance was enough.
Gu Yulan, who had been thrown toward the edge, instinctively used that split-second opening to leap and grab onto a jagged, broken piece of the railing. A second later, the truck plummeted past him. His heart was in his throat. With a massive splash and a boom, the truck plunged into the river. Gu Yulan let out a breath, but he had celebrated too soon. The railing could not support his weight and began to creak and snap. He did not know how much longer it would hold.
One second, two seconds, his body began to slide downward. He let out a bitter laugh; it seemed he really was going to die here today. At the very last moment of his strength, as his body slipped, he closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate. Suddenly, his wrist was caught in a tight grip. Gu Yulan’s heart jolted. He opened his eyes and saw five fingers, pale from the force of the grip, clamped around his wrist. He looked up and met those clear eyes.
In that moment, it felt as if something had struck Gu Yulan’s chest.
Drip, drip.
A red liquid dripped onto his face and lips; a metallic taste spread in his mouth. He saw blood pouring from the boy’s nose and mouth. He froze, his eyes widening as they began to sting. The boy alone did not have the strength to pull him up; they would likely both fall into the river from exhaustion.
His eyes reddened as he said hoarsely, “Let go.”
Xie Yizhou was at his limit. He clenched his teeth and opened his mouth. A tearing pain came from his throat as his long-unused vocal cords struggled to force out two blurry words.
“Never!”
He would absolutely not let go. He pulled upward with a violent surge of strength. Hearing those two blood-soaked words, Gu Yulan was shocked. His heart began to race, and a wave of soreness spread through his chest. He felt his body moving upward. If the boy refused to give up, what reason did he have to quit?
Feeling himself being pulled higher, he used his injured right hand to hook onto the bridge surface. Ignoring the pain, he climbed back up until he finally reached the bridge. They looked at each other and both shared a smile of pure exhaustion. Xie Yizhou felt a wave of relief, but the overexertion made him sway. His vision went black, and his body pitched forward.
Gu Yulan saw the boy, who had just been smiling, collapse toward him. He panicked and, without thinking, pulled the boy into his arms. The boy felt weightless in his embrace. Looking at the blood-stained collar, the amount of blood was terrifying. Gu Yulan looked at the boy’s pale face, his voice urgent. “Do not scare me! Wake up!”
This was a remote area far from the city, and few people passed by. Gu Yulan felt a sense of despair. However, the boy did not respond to his calls. Xie Yizhou’s consciousness had drifted into a deep sleep due to the massive energy depletion.
[Fate deviation value increased by 20%. Current mission deviation is 38%.]
0377 was both happy and sad at the result. “Host, wake up! If something happens to you, how am I supposed to live?” It wiped away its tears. It circled in the air, bit its lip, and decided to sacrifice a portion of its own energy. The host had worked so hard; the system could not be useless.
Soon, Xie Yizhou opened his eyes. He had a splitting headache, and the crying in his mind forced him awake. He said weakly, “Shut up.”
0377 went silent, but tears soaked through its book-like form. “Host,” it sobbed.
Xie Yizhou knit his brows. “I am not dead. Stop crying.”
“You are not dead, but you might have fallen into a deep sleep and never woken up!”
Xie Yizhou went quiet at 0377’s words. “Then how did I wake up?”
0377 looked at him aggrievedly. “Needless to say, I gave you some of my energy. You cannot let me down. My current energy can only last for six hours. After that, I will enter a dormant state, and you will have to fight alone.”
Xie Yizhou frowned. “How long will you be dormant before you wake up?”
0377 sobbed. “Complete the mission quickly and gather enough points, and I will wake up.”
Although he felt a bit better, Xie Yizhou was still weak. He was hungry, incredibly hungry. “Then help me find something to eat. I am hungry.”
0377 became even more upset. “Host, are you not even a little sad at this news?”
Xie Yizhou paused. While he sometimes found the system noisy, he felt a bit guilty now, having just accepted its help. “I am a little sad,” he said, then added as comfort, “But it is just dormancy, not destruction.”
This made 0377 feel a bit better. It quickly searched for the nearest restaurant but discovered a surprise instead.
[Host, I have good news! We are only about seven kilometers away from home! There is food at home!]
Xie Yizhou remembered he had prepared some food at his place earlier. Having decided to go home, he slowly opened his eyes. Gu Yulan discovered with joy that the boy in his arms had moved, and he was too nervous to even breathe.
“You, you are awake.”
Xie Yizhou opened his eyes and saw Gu Yulan looking at him with red, nervous eyes. He looked as if he had cried. He had never seen Gu Yulan cry before and reached out curiously. Although Gu Yulan did not know what the boy was doing, he froze in place and let him.
To his surprise, the boy only reached out and gently touched his face. Gu Yulan was stunned, and his ears suddenly turned beet red. Was the first thing he wanted to do upon waking up touch him? Gu Yulan’s entire body went stiff. Even in such heavy rain, the boy had chased him from home all the way here and faced so much danger. Even when exhausted, he refused to abandon him.
Gu Yulan’s throat bobbed. So, does he really love me that much?