novelsmap Chapter 1903 - 453: Caught Off Guard, Top Priority 2
Chapter 1903 - 453: Caught Off Guard, Top Priority 2
Those brows and eyes looked as if they’d been carefully carved by the hands of the gods themselves—sword-like brows, starry eyes, a straight aquiline nose, thin lips tilted and sexy. Put together, the face was so strikingly handsome it could never be forgotten.
Just sitting there, he was like a sword about to be unsheathed, every bit of his sharp edge hidden behind those eyes. The moment he opened them, it felt like the entire world would be reflected in their depths.
She couldn’t help thinking, how could there be such a handsome man in this world, he was practically someone who’d walked straight out of a painting.
The man opened his eyes and glanced over lightly. Lin Shishi’s heart jolted, and she hurriedly withdrew.
——
That night, Lin Shishi came to bring him dinner. Before knocking, she took a deep breath; only after hearing permission did she push the door open and go in.
The man was standing in front of the window, his tall back silhouetted like the towering bulk of Kunlun Mountain itself.
"This is your dinner, eat it while it’s hot, otherwise it’ll get cold soon." Lin Shishi said softly.
The man stood there without moving.
"I know you want to leave, but the whole place is under tight surveillance. It’s not that easy to get out. Even if you manage to escape from here, if you can’t find the way down the mountain, it’ll all be for nothing."
"But I know the way down. When the time comes, I’ll draw them away, and you can slip out. But I have one condition."
Yan Song turned his head and gave her a glance.
Lin Shishi’s heart gave a heavy thump. Forcing herself to stay calm, she said, "I’m being forced to stay here by them. You have to send me home. If you promise me that, I’ll help you get out of here."
——
"Right now, our top priority is to find the Family Head. If we wait until the Xing Clan emerges, it’ll be too late."
"But the Family Head is thousands of miles away. Even if he wants to help, he’s powerless...."
"The Family Head has his own responsibilities. For now, we must protect this man. He has the Fire Cloud Dragon—if he loses control, the consequences are unimaginable. And on top of that there’s the looming threat of the Xing Clan. The only thing we can do at the moment is lock him up first, to prevent the situation from escalating. Elder Feng, you’ll be responsible for the safety of the Bai Family descendants. That’s the top priority. I really can’t feel at ease leaving things in Helian Zisheng’s hands."
"Elder Xing, you’ll monitor the movements of the Xing Clan and make sure they don’t appear ahead of time and catch us off guard."
"As for me, I’ll stay behind on Kunlun Mountain."
Just as Elder Yun finished giving out orders, a guard rushed in. "Three Elders, bad news, that man is missing—and that girl is gone too."
"What?" Elder Feng’s face changed drastically. "Spread everyone out and search. You must find them for me."
Elder Xing let out a sigh. "Too late."
Helian Zisheng walked in from outside, smiling. Elder Yun pointed at him angrily. "This is your doing, isn’t it?"
Helian Zisheng could only shrug helplessly. "Their legs are on their own bodies. What can I do?"
"You... Hmph, you’re good for nothing but ruining things." Elder Yun snorted coldly, flung his sleeve, and strode off.
Elder Feng and Elder Xing also left in a hurry.
Helian Zisheng narrowed his eyes at the three departing backs, then wandered out, swaying slightly as he walked. He glanced up at the sky. "This weather’s about to change."
——
By now Yan Song had already left Kunlun Mountain and was running swiftly along the mountainside. Having once moved freely through the primeval forests of Africa, a mountain like this couldn’t possibly hold him.
"Sir, wait for me!" Lin Shishi called out breathlessly.
Yan Song stopped, arms folded over his chest, leaning against a tree. The setting sun streamed through the gaps in the branches and fell across his face, making his already exquisite features even more breathtaking.
Fueled by one last burst of energy, Lin Shishi rushed after him; his looks alone were enough to give her infinite motivation.
"I carved markers along the way. If we keep going for about another two hours, we’ll be out of the mountains. Let’s hurry and try to get out before sunset, otherwise we’ll have to spend the night up here—and we still have to watch out for pursuers behind us...."
Although she really did want to spend a night in the mountains with this man—just one man and one woman alone, who knew what might happen? The very thought made her a bit excited.
Yan Song glanced at the marks on the tree trunk, the corner of his mouth curving slightly, then walked down a different path.
Lin Shishi hurriedly said, "Wrong way...."
Yet when she found herself standing at the foot of Kunlun Mountain, the trip taking only half the time it would have by her route, her cheeks flushed on their own. She snuck a look at the tall, stern man at her side who kept his face cold and his mouth shut, feeling thoroughly like she’d shown off in front of a master.
"So you knew the way down the mountain?"
"No." Yan Song replied lightly. His long legs ate up the ground, and in a few strides he’d already left Lin Shishi dozens of meters behind. She had a hard time keeping up, and it was only thanks to her decent physical condition that she wasn’t left in the dust.
"Then how did you...?"
"Instinct." Yan Song answered in a word.
A soldier’s instinct.
By the time they came down from Kunlun Mountain, dusk had deepened. A winding mountain road stretched into the distance. Everything around was deathly quiet, not a soul in sight. Lin Shishi was so exhausted she could barely move, collapsed on the ground like a dead pig.
"I can’t, I really can’t walk anymore."
Yan Song scanned their surroundings, then continued forward without slowing, with no intention of waiting for her. Lin Shishi resigned herself, climbed to her feet, and staggered after him.
Later they finally came across a passing tractor. Relying on her silver tongue, Lin Shishi persuaded the driver to give the two of them a lift to the nearest town.
The tractor chugged noisily along the mountain road. The sun was sinking in the west, and everything felt strangely calm and peaceful.
Lin Shishi glanced at the man who, even while sitting in the back of a tractor, still sat upright and proper as if he were in a luxury sedan. She couldn’t help sighing. Now that was what you called aura—he could make a tractor feel like a Rolls-Royce.
"I still don’t know your name. You could say we’re pretty fated to have met. I’m Lin Shishi, a current grad student in the History Department at Jingdu University. What about you?"
The man sat up straight and rigid, as if he hadn’t heard her at all. His eyes were half-closed, making it obvious he didn’t want to talk to her.
Lin Shishi once again witnessed just how cold this man could be. It was also her first time observing him from this close. His back was so straight, and even though the tractor kept jolting and swaying, he never bent so much as half an inch.
It seemed like she’d never seen him smile. With such a god-given face, how stunning would he be if he did?
Propping her chin in her hands, Lin Shishi stared carefully at his face. The more she looked, the more familiar he seemed, but she just couldn’t remember where she’d seen him before.
"Have I seen you somewhere before?"
"I must have, I definitely have. I just can’t remember for the moment."
For a while, the only sounds in the world were the clattering of the tractor and Lin Shishi’s endless chatter.
Soon they reached the nearest small town. The town wasn’t big, and once night fell, the streets emptied out and turned pitch-black.
After getting off the tractor and saying goodbye to the driver, Yan Song found a small convenience store with a faint light on. The lady boss saw a man standing half in shadow, an invisible noble air pressing toward her, and her heart involuntarily tightened.
"What can I get you?"
But the man said nothing. Instead, he picked up the old landline phone on the counter. The lady boss watched his long, rough fingers press down on the keypad, and in that moment she was left with only one thought.
Those hands are really handsome.
"Boss lady, get me a bottle of water, I’m dying of thirst." Lin Shishi walked in, fanning herself with one hand, looking utterly spent.
The lady boss eyed her carefully, took a bottle of Nongfu Spring from the cooler and handed it over, then asked in a low voice, "Girl, is that your boyfriend?"
"Cough, cough..." Gulping the water down, Lin Shishi choked at those words.