“Your Highness has been poisoned by the snake and should not move recklessly. Please find a place to hide while this humble one returns to bring reinforcements,” Qing Xia said decisively, without showing any womanly grief.

Chu Li frowned tightly, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. He thought to himself that this venomous snake was indeed fierce. Just as he was about to speak, hurried footsteps suddenly rang out nearby. The vigilant expression in Qing Xia’s eyes intensified greatly. She quickly lay prone on the ground, pressing her ear to the surface. After a moment, she raised her head and said in a low voice: “The fire must have exposed our location. Three groups of people are approaching – two groups of over twenty each, and another group of over a hundred. We cannot fight them head-on. Let’s leave first.”

She stamped out the fire on the ground with several kicks and doused it with cold lake water. After tidying everything up, Qing Xia helped Chu Li up and asked: “Can Your Highness walk?”

Chu Li nodded and said: “Yes.” However, as soon as he stood up, a wave of dizziness suddenly struck. The moment he exerted force, his face immediately turned snow white. Qing Xia timely supported his body, looked left and right, mentally calculating the speed of the approaching people. After gritting her teeth slightly, she said in a low voice: “Let me carry Your Highness.”

Chu Li’s expression showed slight surprise as he looked Qing Xia up and down. His meaning was clearly conveyed – this little soldier appeared somewhat plump but was short in stature, not even reaching his shoulders. Could he carry him?

“Uh…” Qing Xia was stared at by Chu Li until her words faltered. She said sullenly: “Your Highness shouldn’t look down on my short stature. I’m very strong.”

“How would I dare look down on you? If not for you, I might have died a dozen times tonight,” Chu Li’s voice was indifferent and weak, sounding completely devoid of warmth. But Qing Xia, who knew Chu Li’s character well, understood that for such a cold person to say such words was already not easy. If Xia Qing were truly an ordinary Black Guard soldier, his future career path would surely be smooth sailing.

She hoisted Chu Li onto her back, and Qing Xia’s knees immediately bent, nearly stumbling and falling.

After this series of movements, Chu Li’s poisoned blood rushed upward, his limbs went weak, and at this point, he could barely keep his eyes open. Qing Xia’s hands pressed hard against the sandy ground, the sand being hard and piercing into her flesh. After breathing slowly for a while, Qing Xia struggled to stand up. With a determined expression, she surveyed the surroundings and quickly ran toward the northwest direction.

During her previous wilderness military training, carrying a hundred-pound load was very common. Having been diligent in exercise during this period, Zhuang Qing Xia’s body was no longer as delicate as before. Although it was still somewhat strenuous at the moment, with her extraordinary willpower, Qing Xia still departed this dangerous place at rapid speed.

Everything tonight was obviously designed by others as a trap. The opposition not only laid ambushes and launched surprise attacks on the courier road outside the city, but also deployed large numbers of troops to intercept on the road back to the city. After Qing Xia’s group was ambushed on the return route and barely escaped with their lives through bloody battle, if they were to head toward the capital now, they would definitely fall into another trap.

This group knew everything about Chu Li inside and out, their intelligence coordination was seamless, their actions appeared plausible while being deceptive, and the clues they left behind to lure people into traps were extremely skillful. That Chu Li encountered repeated variables tonight and lost his composure in carelessness was understandable, but Qing Xia couldn’t help but reassess this person.

Struggling to climb to the top of the banyan tree, then using rope to drag the big fellow Chu Li bit by bit up to the high tree – completing all this nearly cost Qing Xia her life. No matter how tough she was, at this moment she still had to stick out her tongue and pant heavily.

She might as well consider this a hostage rescue operation. He had risked coming out of the city for her sake, and had been bitten by a venomous snake trying to save her – no matter what, she couldn’t abandon him.

She untied the cloth binding his wrist and elbow, letting the blood circulate for a minute or two, then tied the strips tight again. Chu Li’s complexion was completely pale, his lips even had a bluish tinge. The cold night wind blew, and the forest was deathly quiet – even the chirping of insects was absent. The banyan tree’s branches were thick and dense, and sitting on them, Qing Xia and Chu Li felt like they were on a spring mattress, with no worry of falling down.

She removed the standard Black Guard heavy coat from her body, wrapped it around Chu Li, placed his head on her lap, took his wrist, and slowly bent down.

Earlier, fearing he would notice, she hadn’t sucked out the poison for him. Now that he was unconscious, she no longer worried. From the time he was poisoned and injured until now, less than half an hour had passed – still within the optimal timeframe for detoxification. Her lips slowly approached, the previous wound still clearly visible. She sucked out a large mouthful of fresh blood, then spat it out with a “puh” sound. After repeating this several times, she tied his wrist tight once more. Qing Xia put down Chu Li’s head and was about to go down to find water to rinse her mouth.

Who knew that just as she was about to leave, a hand suddenly gripped Qing Xia’s wrist tightly, with such force that it nearly crushed her bones. Qing Xia looked back in surprise, only to see Chu Li frowning tightly, eyes closed, still unconscious, but his face showed a trace of pain.

“The wound must hurt very much.”

Thinking this, Qing Xia tried to pull Chu Li’s hand away, but after several attempts, Chu Li gripped even tighter.

“Don’t send me away.” A pained voice suddenly rang out slowly, very quiet, but in such a silent night, it seemed so loud. Qing Xia raised her eyebrows in confusion. Was he having a nightmare? She reached toward Chu Li’s forehead – it was ice cold, showing no signs of fever.

Qing Xia had never seen Chu Li with such an expression. This man had always been domineering and forceful – he could be sinister, cold, charming, or imperious, but this kind of vulnerable expression seemed like it shouldn’t belong to him. He frowned, a deep crease etched between his brows, tightly gripping Qing Xia’s wrist, his voice carrying pain and unwillingness, hatred, and seemingly also pleading.

“Your Highness, wake up, you’re dreaming.” She gently shook Chu Li’s shoulder, calling softly.

“Don’t send me away… Mother…”

Qing Xia’s hand immediately stiffened. She stared blankly, not knowing how to continue. The lone moon in the sky was like a large jade disc, coldly casting its clear radiance over the ground. Chu Li’s whole body was ice cold, the black heavy coat covering him made his pale complexion even more apparent.

“I won’t send you away.” Qing Xia suddenly gripped Chu Li’s palm in return, slowly leaning to his ear and saying in a low voice: “You don’t need to go anywhere.”

The moonlight was cold and stark, and in the distance, torches once again illuminated this peaceful patch of land.

This body truly wouldn’t do – after just one night, she had become so exhausted that she fell asleep, not even noticing when enemies approached right beneath her feet. If not for the banyan tree’s thick foliage, they might have been exposed by now.

Just as she opened her eyes, Chu Li immediately covered her mouth with his hand. This man who had been poisoned last night now looked alert, his eyes sharp and bright – clearly he was completely awake. He slightly raised his eyebrows at Qing Xia, meaningfully glanced at the area below the tree, obviously afraid that Qing Xia, having just awakened, might not be clear about the situation.

An eight-man search squad was lingering below. Fortunately, they had no vicious dogs with them, or there would be nowhere to hide.

Chu Li slowly turned his head to look at Qing Xia, then pointed at the soldiers below and made a slashing gesture across his neck. Qing Xia immediately understood the meaning. She nodded slowly, quietly drew the dagger from her boot, held it in her mouth, and took out the grappling hook she always carried at her waist, preparing to stand up.

Her belt made of linked rings was suddenly grabbed. Qing Xia looked down strangely, only to see Chu Li’s eyes calmly narrowed slightly, his mouth forming the silent words: “Be careful.”

In that instant, it was as if she was back in the African jungle facing hardships with her comrades from Division 9. Qing Xia nodded with some emotion, reached out to grasp Chu Li’s injured wrist, opened his hand, and wrote with her finger: “You too.”

“The hunting dogs indicated this direction just now. You few, climb up the trees to look.”

In the end, they had searched here after all.

One banyan tree after another appeared before them like round rooftops. Qing Xia stood atop the tree, and before the people below could climb up, she suddenly threw out her grappling hook, which landed on another tree with a “bang.” Gripping the rope with both hands, she suddenly exerted force with her feet, and Qing Xia instantly shot out like a bird.

“Over there!” With such a large movement, the people below couldn’t have failed to notice. Eight soldiers simultaneously pointed upward and shouted shrilly, chasing in Qing Xia’s direction.

“Shoot arrows! Life or death doesn’t matter!” One soldier suddenly drew the crossbow from his waist and shouted loudly. Qing Xia’s gaze turned cold. The moment her feet touched another treetop, she immediately threw out the grappling hook and flew out again. She took the dagger from her mouth into her left hand, swinging on the rope with one hand while fiercely slashing downward with her left.

With a thunderous crash, a thick section of tree trunk was completely cut down. At this time of year the branches were dry and brittle, extremely easy to chop. One broken branch pressed down another, and in an instant, a large section of thick branches crashed down mercilessly toward the heads of several soldiers.

Although these tree trunks weren’t enough to kill them, they caused such chaos that the soldiers couldn’t dodge in time, ending up disheveled and dusty. By the time they crawled out from the dirt, where was Qing Xia’s shadow to be found? A man who appeared to be the squad leader shouted: “Chase!” Everyone scrambled out of the grove and ran forward.

At this time, however, a figure was slowly approaching from behind.

“Bang!” The two men running in front suddenly crashed to the ground, one’s head striking a stubborn rock, immediately causing blood to flow. Qing Xia crouched behind a large tree, flicked her wrist, and the grappling hook in her hand swung back from another tree. She looked coldly at the group of soldiers, sprang up from her position, and ran rapidly away.

The group was furious and pursued relentlessly.

Qing Xia ran and leaped with the agility and nimbleness of a leopard. Everything in this forest seemed to be her natural barrier. Back in the Afghan mountains, terrorists couldn’t catch her even using high-tech equipment like thermal sensors and satellite positioning devices, let alone these soldiers who only knew how to swing long blades. In the blink of an eye, Qing Xia had once again hidden among the forest vines and trees, disappearing without a trace.