“Alright, don’t speak now.
Conserve your energy, I’ll take you away from here.”
A little sunlight filtered through the Hollow’s fissure, falling upon the two of them.
Fu Hua’s gentle brows and eyes, along with Zhu Yuan’s stubborn yet flustered expression in her arms, allowed ambiguity and warmth to quietly spread within the perilous Hollow.
Danger piled up layer upon layer deep within the Hollow, and superior Ethereals were still prowling nearby.
Staying any longer would only lead to them being surrounded.
Moreover, she was carrying an injured person, and most importantly, her disguised shadow knight armor had been quietly left under her bed, so running away first was definitely for the best.
Fu Hua had an extremely strong memory.
After passing through several spatial fissures, she quickly scanned her surroundings and locked onto a small natural shelter formed by a depression in the rock wall.
The rock strata here were thick, capable of isolating aether turbulence and blocking the Ethereals’ field of vision.
Small, enclosed, and relatively safe, it was a rare temporary haven in this Honkai-corrupted space.
The moment they stepped into the shelter, the roars and chilly aura from the outside were mostly blocked by the rock wall.
Fu Hua bent her knees and squatted down slowly with the utmost gentleness, carefully laying Zhu Yuan flat against the cold rock wall.
She placed her own Red Kite small pouch underneath as a pillow, trying to make her lie down as comfortably as possible.
This place was bizarrely abnormal.
After entering the deep layers of the Hollow, all normal communications, positioning, and forward detection maps completely failed.
The space in the entire area was chaotic and distorted, paths were randomly rewritten, and the way ahead was completely lost.
It was utterly impossible to actively break through or find an exit.
The only choice right now was to remain trapped in this temporary shelter, stay quietly behind, and wait for the main forces of the Public Security Bureau and the Hollow support team to rush over for search and rescue.
(System:???)
(Fu Hua: Shut up, don’t ruin this great opportunity for me to farm affection points!)
“Judging by the situation, this is a relatively safe dead end.
Let’s rest here for a moment.”
Fu Hua squatted on her knees in front of Zhu Yuan, her tone soft and soothing, like she was comforting a frightened person.
“I didn’t bring a ‘radish’, the Hollow space is turbulent, walking around blindly will only lead to getting completely lost and bumping into more Ethereals.”
Zhu Yuan leaned against the rock wall, cold sweat soaking her bangs.
Waves of intense pain surged up, leaving her entire body weak and powerless.
She tried tapping the public security “radish” on her hand.
The screen kept flashing garbled code, the area map was completely blank, and directions, distances, and evacuation routes had all vanished.
It was obvious that it had been damaged in the recent battle, which also completely severed any thoughts of breaking through on her own.
Icy despair intertwined with the severe physical pain, causing this usually tough elite public security officer to bite her teeth hard and tremble all over.
Seeing this, Fu Hua redeemed warm water, disinfectant cotton pads, hemostatic dressings, bandages, and anti-inflammatory ointment from the system.
She leaned in close, her gaze soft, and softly comforted her.
“Don’t move, I’ll help you bandage it.
If the wound is exposed for too long, aether erosion will invade your bloodline, and the consequences will be even more troublesome.
Rest assured, I have battlefield doctor experience.”
Zhu Yuan initially wanted to open her mouth to refuse, maintaining a public security officer’s pride.
But the exhaustion of her whole body, the excruciating pain of the fracture, the dizziness brought by blood loss, coupled with the calm and gentle gaze of the young girl before her, forced her to swallow back the tough words that had reached her lips.
She pressed her pale lips tightly together and slightly nodded.
“Thank you.”
A desperate predicament, keeping each other company in solitude, severely injured, and an unknown path ahead—in the enclosed, cramped shelter, only the two of them remained.
Outside were the roars of monsters and the distorted aether storm, while inside there was only Fu Hua’s calm breathing and gentle movements.
The stark contrast caused Zhu Yuan’s tense nerves to soften bit by bit.
Fu Hua first treated the deep, long tear wound on her thigh.
Her fingertips were light and steady, and her actions meticulous and gentle.
She deliberately lightened her touch during disinfection, and whenever she noticed Zhu Yuan’s body trembling slightly, she would pause her movements and comfort her softly.
“Endure it just a little longer, it will be fine very soon.
Only after disinfection will it stop continuing to inflame.”
She would gently blow toward the wound to relieve the stinging pain, gentle and meticulous to the extreme.
After dealing with the external injuries came the most tricky fractured arm.
Fu Hua’s technique was professional and restrained.
She carefully fixed the dislocated bones, bound them with hard bandages wrapped around pieces of wood she had picked up, hung it in front of her chest, and steadily supported the broken arm to reduce pulling pain.
Throughout the process, her gaze was focused, her expression serious, and her brows were full of patience for caring, without a shred of perfunctoriness.
At close range, Zhu Yuan could clearly see her fair profile and the warm blue eyes beneath her glasses, feeling the slightly cool yet exceptionally reassuring touch of her fingertips.
Her vigilance disintegrated bit by bit, and her tough outer shell peeled off layer by layer.
The Criminal Investigation Special Response Team leader, who had originally been on full guard and filled with alienation, was now curled up in the corner of the rock wall, her face pale, her breathing shallow, and her strength drained away by the pain, revealing a rare vulnerability, cuteness, and helplessness.
She didn’t dare look straight into Fu Hua’s eyes, and could only turn her head away.
The tips of her ears were thoroughly red, her fingertips unconsciously clutching her hemline as she whispered softly.
“…Thank you for saving me.”
Her voice was very soft, carrying weakness, completely devoid of her usual sharp and commanding demeanor.
Fu Hua raised her eyes to look at her, her azure pupils reflecting Zhu Yuan’s outline.
“No need to thank me.
Being in a perilous situation, taking care of each other is only natural.”
She tidied up the bandage supplies, unscrewed the warm water bottle, and handed it to Zhu Yuan’s lips.
“Come on, drink some water to replenish your strength.
Rescue will still take some time, just rest assured and wait here.
I will guard you, no monsters will come close.”
Inside the shelter, it was quiet and secure.
Outside, crises lurked on all sides, the path ahead had no clues at all, the map had completely perished, and there was nowhere to go.
The two of them were trapped in this small safety corner.
Fu Hua’s gentle care, along with the quietly fermenting ambiguity, slowly heated up inside the cold Hollow.
Emmm…
Recently scrolling through Douyin, I saw a bunch of fan art of Zhu Yuan.
Ahem, she is so pretty~