Translator: Cinder Translations
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Su An's tall figure fell straight to the ground, without any struggle or movement to support the surrounding trees.
It seemed like he had lost consciousness long ago, and it was Su Xiaoxiao who had been dragging him the entire way, pulling him out.
She did not give up.
Struggling to lift his head, the fatty saw this scene, and his throat rolled. He then looked towards Jiang Cheng, but before he could speak, he saw Jiang Cheng jump up and then run madly towards Su Xiaoxiao and Su An.
A few seconds later, the fatty seemed to snap out of it and got up, rushing to help.
However, what he saw was Jiang Cheng lifting the small-framed Su Xiaoxiao, as if tossing a sack, and throwing her towards himself.
Then he grabbed Su An and ran.
It was as if something in the forest was chasing them.
After what happened earlier, the fatty's fear of the forest reached its peak. He didn't dare to look any longer. He grabbed Su Xiaoxiao and immediately turned to run.
Jiang Cheng dragged Su An, moving so fast it seemed like he was about to take off. The fatty, carrying Su Xiaoxiao, couldn't catch up even though he tried. It wasn't until they reached the foot of a cliff that they stopped.
Once stopped, Jiang Cheng immediately knelt down to check their injuries.
Su Xiaoxiao was relatively fine. She only had some minor scratches, likely from brushing against things in the forest. At this moment, she tightly closed her eyes, and if it weren't for her rapid breathing, she really looked like a delicate porcelain doll.
But Su An's condition was not good. Besides the same scratches as Su Xiaoxiao, he had additional deep gashes on his lower left rib and waist, likely caused by a sharp object.
The blood stained his clothes.
The fatty, being quite observant, helped Jiang Cheng remove Su An's blood-soaked clothes. The blood had stuck to his skin, and during the process of being dragged, it had gotten covered with dirt.
"Doctor," the fatty suddenly shouted, "What is this?"
Jiang Cheng, who had been frowning while inspecting Su An's left rib, looked up and followed the fatty's finger. The next moment, his pupils shuddered.
On Su An's right shoulder, slightly below, there was a blood-stained wound, surrounded by slight burns. As Su An's weak breaths rose and fell, small amounts of blood leaked out.
It was a gunshot wound!!
Someone had fired a gun in this forest!
Upon hearing Jiang Cheng's words, the fatty's face trembled, and he gathered the courage to kneel down and inspect Su An's right shoulder carefully. After a while, he stuttered, "Doctor… are you saying that in this forest, they encountered people with guns?"
"No," the fatty quickly corrected himself, speaking cautiously, "Do you mean something with a gun?"
Jiang Cheng didn't respond. His eyes occasionally glinted with light, old information breaking apart while new pieces reformed.
"Doctor!" The fatty seemed to have thought of something, "Could it be the old woman's teammates? They… they're not dead, they're still in this forest!"
In the old woman's story, before the shipwreck, a group of people suddenly took over the ship, enforcing various prohibitions, and they were armed with a large amount of weaponry.
It was said that the ship had even been equipped with whaling cannons.
The clues were starting to connect, but the fatty's face grew darker. His voice was hoarse as he said, "That ship came for the whale! The previous shipwrecks weren't accidents, they were caused by the whale. It's guarding this place!"
"They came this time to kill it!"
When he saw the bullet marks and recalled the old woman's story, the fatty's mind was almost at its breaking point.
After hearing the whale song, the fatty's perception of the whale fundamentally changed. Now, he would rather face a ferocious ghost than confront this whale.
Was that ethereal and vast sound something that humanity could match?
Jiang Cheng shook his head, then gave the fatty an even more unexpected answer, "What you said isn't accurate. They're not here to kill it, but to capture it."
He paused, looked out towards the sea, and after a few seconds, continued, "They want to capture it."
The fatty froze for a moment, then an icy chill surged from his heart. Just as he was about to say something, Jiang Cheng slowly stood up and looked at Su Xiaoxiao beside the fatty.
She was tilting her head, her eyes tightly closed, still unconscious.
"You can keep pretending and continue eavesdropping on us," Jiang Cheng said calmly after a while, "But I want to tell you, we haven't stopped the bleeding on your brother. His blood is running out."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Su Xiaoxiao opened her eyes and stood up. Though her frail body swayed, it was clear she had been awake for some time.
Without saying a word, she went straight to Su An's side. After a brief check of his injuries, she ripped her outer clothes off and tore them into strips to bandage him.
The fatty noticed a sharp-edged rock where Su Xiaoxiao had been lying earlier.
But he distinctly remembered that when he had placed Su Xiaoxiao there, the spot had been empty.
That cunning woman.
After using her outer clothes, Su Xiaoxiao looked at the fatty, then sized up Jiang Cheng for a few seconds before extending her hand, saying, "Give me the clothes."
Jiang Cheng squinted but remained unmoved.
"Give me the clothes!" Su Xiaoxiao ordered. "If you want to know what's in the forest…"
She paused, and her tone shifted to one of threat, "If anything happens to my brother, then we all die together."
"Fatty," Jiang Cheng looked at the fatty, "Give her the clothes."
"I don't want his, they're dirty. I want yours!" Su Xiaoxiao's voice became more urgent. "Hurry!"
Having been dragged by Jiang Cheng for about 100 meters from the cliff, the fatty's wet clothes were covered with sand and gravel. It wasn't surprising, but hearing it made him feel a bit stung.
Jiang Cheng took the clothes the fatty handed him and directly threw them at Su Xiaoxiao's face, rolling his eyes in an exaggerated manner and said, "If you have any backbone, try and not use them."
Without any further words, Su Xiaoxiao quickly tore apart the fatty's outer clothes and picked a clean part to bandage her brother. Her movements were practiced, clearly not the first time she had done this.
Then the fatty helped carry Su An, now wrapped like a dumpling, to a wind-sheltered rock.
Due to excessive blood loss, Su An's face and lips began to turn pale.
The chance of him surviving was slim. At least, that's what the fatty thought. They had no medical supplies, food, or water.
Su Xiaoxiao came over and sat next to Jiang Cheng. Her physical development seemed disproportionate to her age, and the fatty couldn't help but glance. This girl looked like someone not to be messed with.
Without any unnecessary chatter, such as asking what he wanted to know, Su Xiaoxiao directly said, "There's something strange in that forest."
(End of the Chapter)
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Translated 4 Series, 1.65K+ Chapters and 2.01M+ Words.