Han Xue’s counterattack to Song Meijing was obviously intentional.
She had firmly grabbed hold of Song Meijing’s sore point.
As soon as she finished speaking, she looked straight at Song Meijing’s now-angry gaze and let out two exaggerated, triumphant laughs.
Uncle Gazi urged us to stop arguing and get moving.
No matter how fierce the quarrel, it wasn’t going to solve our current situation.
Han Xue was the type to stop once she had the upper hand.
Having gotten what she wanted, she didn’t press further.
She turned around and dragged me and Xu Shu toward the cliff edge.
In this short time, the first few black-clad men had nearly crossed to the other side along the rope.
With two ropes tied high and low between the two cliffs, a rope-bridge system had been set up.
We only needed to grasp the upper rope with our hands while using the lower rope as foothold and support.
Three people could move across at once.
The trained black-clad men crossed quickly and smoothly.
I guessed that the reason Suo Tian had taken Lili across first was simply because, with her weak body and injured arm, there was almost no way she could have crossed this rope bridge on her own.
After that, big-beard and others crossed as well.
We all watched their movements very carefully, preparing to imitate them.
The cliff was twenty meters high.
Even landing in the river below would be extremely dangerous if anyone slipped.
Wang Jun was smart enough to swallow his pride.
Even though our relationship with him was strained to the extreme, he still followed along without any sign of leaving.
We didn’t bother acknowledging him—at least with him here, someone would take care of the child, which was still some use.
The black-clad men finished crossing and sat down on the opposite side to rest, clearly thinking we would take much longer.
After a bit of discussion, we decided to send the children over first.
Uncle Gazi was too old to climb while carrying a child, so Shen Feng, Zhou Wen, and Zhang Qicong would each carry Rongrong, Tingyun, and Xiao Hu.
To ensure absolute safety, we sent them across one group at a time.
Shen Feng and Tingyun went first.
Shen Feng moved skillfully—he only paused briefly in the middle, otherwise everything went smoothly.
Zhou Wen and Zhang Qicong were both strong men; carrying children for them was no problem at all.
Ever since entering the mountains, Taozi had been in poor condition.
He seemed extremely uncomfortable with the environment.
After the children were across, we sent him next.
We encouraged him constantly, but halfway across he looked down, screamed, and froze, clinging to the rope and refusing to move.
Zhou Wen, watching from the other side, was frightened.
He tried coaxing him for a long time, and when that didn’t work, he prepared to climb back across.
Taozi, who a moment ago wouldn’t move no matter what, immediately shouted at him not to come, then forced himself to continue and finally reached the other side—where Zhou Wen grabbed him into his arms.
Seeing that, I couldn’t help clicking my tongue.
True brotherhood, huh.
Back in college I read a suspense-adventure novel where the protagonist and another exceptionally heroic man had such deep brotherly affection that I privately categorized it as pure romance.
I’d felt discouraged back then, thinking that kind of bond existed only in fiction.
But after seeing Zhou Wen and Taozi, I realized—my worldview in that regard keeps getting refreshed by these two.
Uncle Gazi managed to cross without much trouble, but Han Xue hesitated for a long time, not daring to go.
In the end, it was Liu Rumiao—built strong like a bull—who stepped forward, and volunteered to escort Han Xue across, finally solving the issue.
That left only five of us on this side: me, Xu Shu, Song Meijing, Wang Jun, and the child tied to Wang Jun’s chest.
Xu Shu and I had no intention of competing over who would go first, so we let the two of them go ahead.
Song Meijing didn’t refuse.
She turned around cleanly, grabbed the rope, and climbed steadily toward the opposite side.
Seeing her movements so much quicker and sharper than before, I couldn’t help but sigh in secret.
They had likely run into no small amount of trouble on their way here. Song Meijing had trained with us for a while, but compared to now, she might as well be a completely different person.
Thinking back to when I first met her, I couldn’t stop myself from letting out a faint sigh.
The world changes so fast, and hearts change even faster.
This world has long since twisted beyond recognition.
Soaking in such a distorted reality, we too inevitably twist along with it.
Meijing simply changed more visibly, more quickly than the rest.
And who among us can truly swear that we harbor no ill will toward others?
For example, right now—I honestly hoped Wang Jun would fall off that rope and drown in the river below.
But of course, what one hopes for rarely comes true.
Wang Jun cherishes his life, and with a child on him, he crossed with the utmost caution and made it over safely.
After that, I let Xu Shu go next.
She didn’t hesitate.
She only reminded me to be careful, then grabbed the rope and climbed across.
As expected, the time we took to cross was at least twice as long as the black-clad group took altogether.
It was already afternoon when we reached the cliff, and after all this fuss, the sky was beginning to darken.
I hadn’t noticed before, but now looking into the distance, the forest ahead was already sinking into half-darkness.
Our side of the ravine was more open, so we could still see our surroundings clearly.
The opposite side was a good place to camp.
Likely on Suo Tian’s orders, the black-clad men who had been sitting on the ground began collecting dry wood and lighting a campfire.
It seemed they intended to stay there for the night.
I glanced at Xu Shu, who had made it halfway, and since I still had some time, I took some biscuits out of my backpack and started eating to restore my strength.
The climb would require effort.
By the time Xu Shu safely reached the other side, I had just finished the last bite.
I dusted the crumbs from my hands, adjusted the backpack on my shoulders, took a deep breath, and grabbed the rope.
The moment I hung my entire body from the rope, I realized this was not as easy as it looked.
But after having climbed vines and descended cliffs before, at least mentally I was no longer as nervous as I used to be.
After climbing for a while, the sound of rushing water below became suddenly sharp and clear.
I knew I was now directly above the river.
This was absolutely the wrong time to look down—doing so would only increase the psychological pressure.
If fear made my hands loosen for even one moment… tears would be the least of my problems.
I paused briefly, took two deep breaths to steady myself, and continued inching forward with my head lowered.
But just as I focused on the repetitive movement of my hands—one forward, then the other—the rope supporting all my weight, the rope I trusted almost completely, made a crisp snapping sound somewhere ahead.
One moment it was taut, the next it suddenly slackened, losing all tension.
My hands instantly felt the weight disappear.
Before I could even scream, the emergency rope below caught me and broke my fall—but it was just a rope, after all.
It only halted my descent for a split second.
I reached out blindly for something to grab, but the upper rope had already snapped on one side.
There was nothing to support me.
My body lost balance immediately.
And then, I plunged—straight down, hard—into the river twenty meters below.
Amid Han Xue and the others’ screams, gravity took hold of me instantly, and I plunged straight into the river below.
The moment I hit the water, my mind went completely blank.
I sank deep, kicking and clawing several times before I finally surfaced.
The instant my head broke through the water, I nearly burst out swearing on the spot.
This river was about twenty meters wide—two or three times wider than the previous rapids.
And because I had judged it from twenty meters up, I’d made the stupid mistake of thinking the current wasn’t that fast.
But now, feeling my body being carried forward at ridiculous speed, I finally realized—this damned river was treacherous! And it hid it well!
There were countless hidden currents churning below the surface, and every so often I’d get dragged toward a small whirlpool.
Compared to the rapids from before, this was pure misery.
Relying on the paddling experience I gained last time, I desperately thrashed my arms and legs, doing everything I could to keep my head above water just long enough to breathe.
I vaguely heard a splash behind me—someone else must’ve fallen in—but before I could even process it, I was pulled under again.
I had no choice but to beat the water even harder.
The sensation of being repeatedly submerged was unbearable.
At first, I could still faintly hear Xu Shu, Han Xue, and Yangyang shouting from above.
But after being carried downstream for barely half a minute, their voices had completely vanished.
All I could hear now was the roaring rush of the river, mixed with my own ragged gasps whenever I managed to get my head above water.
I held on as long as I could, but with how hard I was fighting the current, my strength drained fast.
My arms refused to move like they had just moments ago.
When the water swallowed my head again, I felt a wave of complete hopelessness wash over me.
In this wide, raging river, I was the only one being dragged up and down by the current—no idea where it was taking me, no idea how long I could hold on.
No one could help me…
In a single second, despair flooded my entire mind.
— The end of the Chapter–
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