Chapter 256: Ghost Marriage Tales (9)
Once that group of NPCs had moved far away, Shen Yu led Ji Ning in the opposite direction, toward a sparsely populated area.
It was still early, not even noon yet. Since the two planned to act at night, they absolutely had to avoid being discovered during the day.
The loess slopes had no dense, towering vegetation for cover; the terrain was practically a panoramic sweep. Picking the wrong direction could easily get them spotted from afar.
So Ji Ning was quite nervous. She felt like she was in a nightmare, being chased by a homicidal maniac across a desert—that absurd sense that no matter how she ran, she would still be caught.
Fortunately, Shen Yu was a calm, collected science and engineering man with a rather decent physique. Staying by his side made Ji Ning feel inexplicably reassured.
This feeling couldn't simply be summed up as a sense of security. It was more like the reassurance an elementary school kid feels sticking with an adult during a trip to an unfamiliar place.
Ji Ning quietly mused, watching Shen Yu's back as he moved ahead of her. Dust-laden, long-forgotten memories surfaced one by one.
She recalled that when she attended his classes back then, he hadn't handled people and situations with quite this level of ease.
He'd been a young teacher in his twenties, wholly absorbed in lecturing and answering questions, his classroom transitions still slightly stiff.
Now Shen Yu's hair had grown a bit longer and was swept back, making him look mature and steady. Yet his personality remained forthright and reserved, leaving men of similar looks but glib tongues in the dust—a total precision strike on a woman's romantic preferences.
Just as Ji Ning was thinking this, Shen Yu suddenly turned his head to look at her.
She had no choice but to stop, slowly blinking to ease the guilt of having been mentally sizing him up, and waited for him to speak.
Shen Yu said evenly, "Is it easy going? Do you want me to lead you?"
"It's easy going, teacher." Ji Ning nodded. As it happened, she was wearing sneakers, slip-resistant with good grip. It was Shen Yu's shoes that didn't look very convenient for climbing. She didn't want to be a burden.
"Good." Shen Yu acknowledged, then turned and continued forward.
Ji Ning let out an almost imperceptible breath. When Shen Yu had glanced back at her just now, her heart had actually raced.
Was it her imagination? Or had her standards lowered after going through so many games, making her more amorous and wanton, prone to overthinking things the moment she slept with a man?
Ji Ning shook her head, casting the improper, lustful thoughts out of her mind.
After nearly an hour of walking, the two switched to another hill and found an abandoned cave to temporarily hide in.
After a stimulating morning of running around, once she stopped, Ji Ning felt both tired and hungry. Fortunately, the cave was cool; after sitting for a while, the dry heat dissipated.
To conserve energy, she curled up against the mud wall and closed her eyes to rest. Having slept poorly the night before, she soon dozed off.
To guard against NPCs finding them, Shen Yu sat quietly at the cave entrance, eyes closed, discerning the faint sounds carried by the wind.
After a long while, he opened his eyes and turned his head to look at the former student, already asleep with her back to him.
The feeling was extremely subtle yet wondrous.
A sense of aftermath he hadn't had time to process welled up, making not just his emotions a little taut, but his spirit as well.
He didn't actually adapt well to the rules and laws of the game world. But he was still young; having his personal will persist in this form could be considered a good thing—at least better than death.
Things that violated his personal wishes had happened before, but none had hit Shen Yu as hard as this time.
Ji Ning was about ten years younger than him. Setting aside the fact that she was his student, even if she were an unrelated ordinary person, he wouldn't pursue her.
Ji Ning called him "teacher" at every turn. He could see that even though they were no longer in the normal world, she hadn't forgotten their brief teacher-student bond or her respect for a teacher.
Therefore, he too should remember this, and must not harbor actions or thoughts beyond morality.
Shen Yu silently admonished himself.
The daylight gradually dimmed like his state of mind. The boundless brightness imperceptibly turned into a gray, cold tone.
Autumn skies darkened quickly. It would take them a while to trek back, so the two immediately decided to turn around, repeatedly confirming the details discussed that afternoon and the responses for different scenarios as they moved.
Along the way, they saw no NPCs still patrolling the hills looking for people. Those people had likely reported back long ago.
By the time Ji Ning and Shen Yu climbed back to the slope behind the Yang family's cave dwelling, the sky had gone completely dark.
The night in the ravine was far denser than the city's. So the lamplight below the slope appeared especially bright.
The Yang family had probably already sent away all the outsiders except the players. Now they had brazenly tied up the remaining female guests and laid them out in the courtyard.
The yard was filled with sacrificial offerings and empty coffins, and strange patterns had been drawn on the ground with lime. Only a few people were left guarding it now. The rest were likely inside the cave rooms.
When Ji Ning fled in the morning, someone else had probably slipped away in the chaos. There should have been five female players; now only three remained.
She had no idea where the other five male players were now or what they planned to do. They might also be hiding somewhere, waiting for an opportunity to act.
What Ji Ning and Shen Yu were about to do held a certain degree of difficulty. She was a little nervous now, slowly taking deep breaths to calm down.
"Don't be afraid. Trust me." Shen Yu looked at her and said softly.
Ji Ning raised her head to look at him. Although she couldn't clearly see Shen Yu's expression or features, his usually solemn eyes held a hint of tenderness under the faint moonlight.
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