Bite Your Fingertips

44th -【I promised you】

Under the illumination of the flashlight’s night light, they could see the stones on the ground. Zhang Yueshan pinched a few of them in his hand and moved his fingers like he was playing with a Rubik’s Cube to relieve his anxiety.

“School Flower, why aren’t you afraid? I won’t hide it from you, I’m really very scared. While telling myself to be calm, I can’t help but be frightened. I’m only 17 years old. I haven’t even taken the college entrance exam, nor have I seen my parents’ faces. Will I just… right here? Thinking this way, I just can’t calm down.”

Chu Yu thought for a while. “It’s probably because I’m not afraid of death.”

He easily uttered the word ‘death’.

Chu Yu also stared at the little light of the night light.

His mother had already given up on him and was usually occupied with work. If he really couldn’t return this time, Shi Yaling might still feel sad, but she was never a person who’d let her emotions get the best of her, so she’d soon be back to work.

His brother and sister would definitely cry. However, they’d soon fall in love, get married, have children, and have their own career, family, and future.

Time would easily whittle away the grief.

Lu Shi—

Lu Shi.

Chu Yu’s heart seemed as if it was gripped tightly, a little uncomfortable.

If he died, what would happen to Lu Shi?

That day in the classroom, Lu Shi had said that if he’d only live for a few years, then Chu Yu would be given a few years of his blood. Whereas if he lived for hundreds of years, then until death, his blood was Chu Yu’s.

Or, the two of them could simply die together. That way, after Lu Shi died, he wouldn’t go around drinking other people’s blood.

Chu Yu thought, then what about me.

If I die before you, would you let others suck your blood?

No, it was unlikely.

After all, in this world, it was estimated that there was no second little monster who consumed blood like him.

He didn’t want to have other people drinking Lu Shi’s blood.

Didn’t want it one bit.

Darkness seemed capable of nibbling away all bright emotions.

Chu Yu was leaning on the clammy rock wall, thinking that it didn’t matter if he suddenly died here, he was a blood-sucking monster anyway.

Can’t.

Chu Yu shook his head and shouted stop at himself in his heart.

Can’t have such thoughts.

It wasn’t known how long it took, but suddenly there was an unbearable dry itching and slight pain in his throat. When the familiar heat surged from every blood vessel, Chu Yu realized he was thirsty for blood again.

Since having Lu Shi’s blood, Chu Yu hadn’t experienced this unrelievable feeling of hunger for a long time.

Every nerve seemed to be roasting on fire. The blood vessels in his temples drew taut and throbbed, giving the illusion that they’d burst in the next moment.

Chu Yu shifted his position and plastered his hot palms on the rock wall. “Class Rep, I’ll sleep for a while. I’m a little sleepy.”

Zhang Yueshan, who was lost in thought, nodded when he heard his words. “Okay, you go to sleep.”

He said he was going to sleep, but Chu Yu didn’t fall asleep much.

His consciousness floated back and forth between sleep and wakefulness. Lu Shi’s tranquil sleeping face sunken in a white pillow when he’d woken up this morning involuntarily emerged in his mind. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a dark cave where a large group of black bats was suddenly flying out with their flapping wings.

In a trance, there was light at the entrance of the cave.

Chu Yu muttered, “Someone came to save us?”

“School Flower, are you awake?”

Hearing Zhang Yueshan’s voice, Chu Yu slowly sobered up and realized that he was dreaming, or hallucinating just now.

He rubbed his eyes. “En, I woke up.”

The flashlight was placed on the ground, akin to a small lighthouse in the dark.

Zhang Yueshan was worried. “School Flower, are you ill? I heard you breathing heavily and thought that you had a fever, but I touched your forehead and it seems that you don’t. The temperature was normal.”

Chu Yu shook his head. “I don’t have a fever.”

His throat was a bit hoarse.

At this time, Chu Yu smelled a faint bitter odor.

After a while, Chu Yu remembered that there was a wound on Zhang Yueshan’s lower back, so it should be the smell of his blood.

He wasn’t hungry previously and didn’t notice it.

But now that he was, he was instinctively sensitive to the smell of blood.

“By the way, I found a good method!”

Zhang Yueshan said excitedly, “Isn’t there a battery indicator on my flashlight? There are five bars in total. The night light can stay on for fifty hours, that is to say, every time an indicator light dies out, about ten hours have passed!”

Chu Yu smiled and replied, “Hmm, right, this way we can know the time.”

When the second indicator light diminished, Chu Yu’s reaction had already begun to get sluggish. His heartbeat slammed against his eardrums and his brain was muddled.

He repeatedly pressed his hot palm and the back of his hand against the cold rock wall alternately.

Hearing a small sound, Chu Yu smiled and said, “Class Rep, your stomach is calling.”

He then pointed to the biscuits. “Would you like to eat some first?”

The hungry Zhang Yueshan tossed and turned but couldn’t sleep. Unexpectedly, Chu Yu had heard the sound of his stomach grumbling. He was indeed quite hungry, but he also knew that they only had this little food in total.

Chu Yu knew what he was thinking. “It’s okay, we have four packs of biscuits. Open one pack and eat, and drink a little water as well. Then quickly sleep and have a good rest.”

After hesitating for a while, Zhang Yueshan didn’t object again. He opened a packet of biscuits, took out two pieces, and quickly put them in his mouth. He poured a bit of water into his mouth as he swallowed the food. The feeling of hunger in his stomach was only half gone.

Zhang Yueshan fell asleep.

Chu Yu stretched out his hand, took out the remaining piece of biscuit from the wrapping paper and hid it in his pocket, pretending that he’d eaten a biscuit too.

At the villa.

Seeing Fang Ziqi coming in, Dream-Ge stood up abruptly and hurriedly asked, “How is it? Did anyone find them?”

“Still the same, no progress.”

Fang Ziqi poured hot water to reduce the moist and cold water vapor on his body.

“The search and rescue team is already in place, but the most troublesome thing is that we can’t confirm School Flower and Zhang Yueshan’s exact location.” He gestured the numbers with his fingers. “This time, the Qingming Mountain landslide has collapsed in three places, one in the south and two north of us. People went to these three locations and are looking everywhere. But, there’s no definite aim for digging, thus there’s no efficiency. Not to mention it’s a waste of rescue time.”

Dream-Ge basically didn’t sleep, so there was a layer of greenish black beneath his eyes. He patted his forehead and thought hard. “When Class Rep took School Flower out of the villa, I asked where they were going to find Matsutakes. Class Rep answered that they’ll leave it to luck.”

Several people had been recalling the scenes before Zhang Yueshan and Chu Yu had left countless times, but they hadn’t remembered any useful information.

Dream-Ge lay on the table, saying the words he’d said an unknown number of times, “If only I had persuaded them to stay when they were about to leave.”

Li Hua patted Dream-Ge on the shoulder and said nothing.

Fang Ziqi put down the cup and suddenly remembered. “By the way, where’s Lu-Shen?”

Li Hua shook his head. “I don’t know, Lu-Shen went out last night and hasn’t returned until now.”

He still clearly remembered how Lu Shi’s face had suddenly paled when he learned that contact with Chu Yu had been lost and it was unknown whether he’d met with disaster.

At that moment, he’d worried if Lu Shi could stand stably.

Dream-Ge’s eyes were red. He wiped the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand and spoke in a low muffled voice, “We were obviously still telling ghost stories the night before, why did this happen all of a sudden? School Flower and Class Rep are so good, surely they won’t get into trouble, right?”

Li Hua turned his face away, his eyes flushing badly.

Outside the villa, Shi Yaling, Chu Xi, and Chu Xuan were all there, listening to the analysis of experts from the search and rescue team.

“According to several students, they left the door between 7:30 and 8:00 in the morning… Based on their walking speed, here to here, is the farthest range they can go. But it doesn’t rule out the possibility that they were washed down by the mudslide and buried. Also—”

Chu Xi’s assistant hurried over and leaned to Chu Xi’s ear. “Young Master Yu’s classmate is looking for you!”

Chu Xi wanted to wait a while before going, but when it reached her lips it changed to, “Mom, Brother, you guys listen first.”

Chu Xi walked to the villa’s yard.

A boy of 16 or 17 was standing on the lawn. His whole body was soaked with rain and because his clothes were sticking to his skin, his figure appeared thin. His attire was a bit dirty, probably due to walking through the woods for a long time, and several holes were cut into them. There were also blood marks scratched by branches and vines on the back of his hands.

His back was ramrod straight, but it seemed to be held up by a breath. When that breath dispersed, the boy would no longer be able to stand.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Lu Shi turned around and looked at Chu Xi.

Chu Xi met Lu Shi’s dark black eyes and felt that there wasn’t the least bit of vitality in them, causing a chill to suddenly rise from the bottom of one’s heart. She composed herself and said, “I am Chu Yu’s sister. Were you looking for me because you have any clues?”

His clean-cut hair碎发: lit. fragmented/broken down hair. Idk what haircut that is -> I think it can be split or whatever at the front, as long as the sides are cut 2-3 inches high from the ear to the back. was drenched by the rain and stuck to his forehead. Lu Shi’s voice was very hoarse. “Bring a few specialists and follow me, I found where Chu Yu is.”

• 1碎发: lit. fragmented/broken down hair. Idk what haircut that is -> I think it can be split or whatever at the front, as long as the sides are cut 2-3 inches high from the ear to the back.