An Uncertain Future (1)
Translator: Mr Voltaire
Editor: Chlocolatte
Shui Ruo’s death was like a thorn that had stabbed into both Ling Chen’s and Tian Tian’s hearts, causing them unimaginable grief. No matter if it was Ling Chen or Tian Tian, the pain would remain for a long time… maybe even forever. Luckily, Ling Chen had woken up. They had each other, and even if they were in pain, at least there wasn’t any despair. Their agreement not to leave each other reflected Shui Ruo’s wishes.
Ling Chen’s incredible constitution caused his body to quickly recover once he was awake, and his strength also came back quickly. There were originally more than 10 cuts on his face, but now they had more or less healed, and there weren’t any scars. This monstrous recovery rate had saved him from death countless times. Injuries that were sufficient to kill normal people numerous times could be recovered in just days.
By the afternoon, Ling Chen was capable of walking. He moved his limbs around, and apart from the fiery pain in his body, he didn’t feel any other discomfort. This allowed him to put away his worries. He stretched out his left hand, and saw that the five holes pierced by the Blood Wolves’ leader had nearly fully recovered. After a few days, even the marks would be gone.
While he was recovering his strength, Tian Tian had been leaning against him the whole time. She gripped on to his clothes tightly, as if she was afraid that he would disappear if she let go. He put his arm around Tian Tian’s little body as he softly said, “Tian Tian, after I left that night, what happened? Can you tell me what you know?”
His last two memories were of him holding Long Tian Yun by the neck, then powerlessly falling to the ground, as well as Mu Bing Yao calling him awake, and then falling unconscious again. What happened in between these two memories, as well as afterwards, he had no idea. He guessed that it was Gui Ya and the others who had rushed to the Long family to rescue him. However, with the Long family’s defences, in order to do so, they must have paid a heavy price…
He remembered Mu Bing Yao telling him that Gui Dao was dead… perhaps, in order to save him, even more of his subordinates had died that night. After he woke up, he saw Tian Tian, but not Mu Bing Yao… Ling Chen deduced that they were being chased, and so Mu Bing Yao stalled them while Tian Tian carried him and escaped…
Ling Chen simply couldn’t imagine how Tian Tian carried him so far on her weak body. They were at a place so far away and so remote that the Long family still hadn’t found them. Seeing the blood on her socks and shoes, Ling Chen felt as if a steel blade had pierced into his heart.
Because of Tian Tian, and because of his fallen comrades, he didn’t have any reason to selfishly seek death anymore.
Tian Tian nodded and leaned closer to Ling Chen. Now that he had woken up, she was not afraid anymore. She began to speak, “That night, when everyone found out that big brother was gone, they were all really worried. Big brother Gui Ya said he knew where you went, and he took everyone to find you. In the end, it was just me and big sister Bing Yao. We wanted to go and see big sister, but we found that she was gone.”
Ling Chen, who had been silently listening, suddenly looked at Tian Tian in shock, and his breathing became irregular. He unconsciously grabbed on to Tian Tian’s hand tightly as he asked, “You said… Ruo Ruo was gone? What do you mean? What happened?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know either.” Tian Tian shook her head in fear. She felt extremely helpless as she continued, “When we found that big brother was gone, she was still there. We all saw her. However, after big brother Gui Ya and the others left, she… disappeared. Big sister Bing Yao and I looked around for a long time, but we couldn’t find her. It was as if… she suddenly vanished. Big sister Bing Yao and I were really scared, but no matter where we looked, we simply couldn’t find her.”
“… How much time passed in between you guys discovering that I was gone and discovering that Ruo Ruo was gone?” Ling Chen hurriedly asked. Shui Ruo’s death had catastrophic effects on him, and hearing that her body had disappeared, he just couldn’t remain calm. Could his Ruo Ruo not have any peace, even in death?
“About… About a minute in total.” Tian Tian said in a small voice.
About a minute in total…
At that time, Gui Ya, Mu Bing Yao and everyone else had been there, and must have been very close by. Ling Chen knew that with their abilities, they would immediately know if a normal person came within 50 metres of them. Even Ling Chen wouldn’t be able to stealthily take away a body without them noticing at all.
Who did it? What had happened? Could it really be possible that Shui Ruo’s body just vanished by itself…
Ling Chen’s heart couldn’t calm down. He stood up, and looked in the direction that Beijing was in. Both his gaze and body were trembling.
He wanted to know what had happened, as well as find Shui Ruo. Although she had passed away, at least… he at least wanted her to rest in peace. He didn’t want her body to just vanish like this…
Tian Tian knew where he was looking. She became extremely scared, and tightly hugged him from behind as she began to cry again, “Big brother! Don’t go… please don’t go! It’s so dangerous right now, and I don’t want anything to happen to you… You just promised me that you would live on, and that you wouldn’t leave me behind… big brother… don’t go… wuu…”
The back of Ling Chen became wet, and he closed his eyes. He gripped his fists tightly, so tight that they became white and almost started bleeding. He knew that he was probably being looked for all over China, and after seeing his power, the Long family definitely wouldn’t allow him to continue to live. There was definitely an inescapable net waiting for him back in Beijing. If he went, he would almost certainly be entering into their trap. But… But…
Ruo Ruo… where are you… what should I do… tell me what I should do
… ……………………
“No… you can’t die!! We worked so hard to save you, and many of us paid great prices… did you know, in order to cover our escape, Gui Dao blew himself up with explosives… if you die, then who will take revenge for all our fallen brothers and sisters? Did you forget how Ruo Ruo died? Don’t you want to take revenge for her? Live, live on!”
……………………
“Master… I know you’re extremely sad from Ruo Ruo passing away. We feel the same way as well! However… you still have us… we’re still here for you! There’s also Tian Tian! We’ll always be here for you… even if you chase us away, we’ll never leave!! Would you really bear to leave us behind? Especially Tian Tian… she’s already lost her big sister… do you know how devastated she would be to lose you as well? If you die, who will look after and protect Tian Tian?” …………………… “Big brother… make sure you take care of Tian Tian. Tian Tian will be by your side from now on. Make sure you live out my share of happiness as well, alright…”
……………………
“Big brother… don’t leave me behind… we said that we’d be together… forever… now that big sister’s gone… I’m so sad… big brother’s also really sad… but I still have big brother, and big brother still has me… I’ll definitely listen to big brother in future… and be as good as big sister… don’t leave me behind… I don’t want big brother to die… wuu…”
……………………
Mu Bing Yao’s shouts, Shui Ruo’s gentle words and Tian Tian’s crying all sounded out in his mind. He let out the breath that he had been holding, and turned around. He lifted Tian Tian up and hugged her, as if she was a little doll. He walked in the direction opposite to Beijing as he said, “Don’t cry, Tian Tian. I already promised Tian Tian that I wouldn’t do anything like that anymore, and that I would take care of Tian Tian forever. I’ll live safely, and won’t do any dangerous things or go to any dangerous places, alright?”
Tian Tian stopped crying, and tightly hugged Ling Chen.
“So what happened after that?” Ling Chen asked as he walked towards where the sound of water was coming from.
“Afterwards… we couldn’t find big sister, so I started crying. After that, lots of people came to our home, and big sister Bing Yao took me and left. We went somewhere really far away, where there were no other people. Big sister Bing Yao left me at a really big tree, and told me to wait for her. She said she was going to save big brother…”
Ling Chen: “……”
“After that, I just waited there. After a long time, I heard big sister Bing Yao calling me. When I saw big brother, you weren’t moving at all, and you were covered in blood. I was so, so scared. Big sister Bing Yao told me that big brother was still alive, and then told me to take big brother somewhere far away, and not to stop or turn back. I carried big brother and kept walking… I don’t know how long I walked or how far. Even after the sun began to rise, I kept walking. At some point, I fell over… and when I woke up, we were here…”
Ling Chen: “……”
Ling Chen silently listened to Tian Tian as he walked. Soon, a creek with incredibly clear water appeared in front of them. The water that Tian Tian had been feeding him every day came from here. Ling Chen stopped walking, and placed Tian Tian on top of a flat rock near the creek. He wiped away the tears on her face, then gently touched the cuts on her face as he softly asked, “Does it hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt.” Tian Tian vigorously shook her head. Since she began to live with Ling Chen and Shui Ruo, she had not even hurt her little finger before. However, in just a few days, she had suffered countless injuries, all for Ling Chen.
