After an unknown period, Gu Susu opened her eyes and looked up at the azure sky, noticing the sun's rays growing stronger, indicating it was likely noon.
Since there had been no sounds, she assumed the bad guy wouldn't come back.
She slowly stood up, her legs feeling numb. Cautiously, she stepped out from behind the rocks, only to realize she had fled in a panic to a depression on the mountaintop.
Before her, the grass was waist-high, and trees grew in disarray. Even at a distance of a few meters, she couldn't see the path ahead.
No wonder the bad guy hadn't pursued her; it wasn't that he didn't want to catch her, but that the path was impassable. Thinking back, she couldn't fathom how she had recklessly slid down from the heights to hide here.
She was momentarily bewildered. How could she get back to the mountaintop and find the road where cars could drive up?
She had no choice but to wade through the dense grass, trying to retrace her steps to where she had slid down. Climbing back up this way proved difficult.
The area where she had slid down was covered in loose stones and soil. As she used her hands and feet to climb, the soil became looser, like fine sand, and the stones kept tumbling down.
Her elbows and calves were scraped raw, yet she couldn't climb up.
In this deserted place, having fallen into a depression, if no one found her, she would starve to death.
She had tried every method: climbing with all her might, shouting loudly, but nothing worked.
As dusk fell, she was exhausted and hungry, utterly helpless. Leaning against the mountainside where stones and dirt had rolled down, she wondered if she would truly die here.
But she was unwilling to give up. She tried shouting for help again, her voice noticeably hoarse, her throat dry and parched. She hadn't had water all day.
If this continued, she wouldn't even be able to make a sound. How could she expect anyone to rescue her?
"Gu Susu, is that you?"
In her despair, she thought she was hallucinating. It was impossible for anyone to call her name at this hour.
"If you're there, say something. Is it you?"
That familiar voice called out again. This time, she heard it clearly. It was Qin Tianyi's voice.
"It's me, I'm here! In the dense grass below!" Despite her agonizing throat, she cried out loudly, a mix of tears and laughter.
The mountainside was sheer, without any slope. Gu Susu's body was half-covered by the overgrown grass. She had to tilt her head back almost 180 degrees, still unable to see Qin Tianyi above.
Suddenly, stones and dirt rained down, covering her face, making it impossible to open her eyes. She quickly lowered her head, brushing off the dirt.
When she opened her eyes, she found someone beside her, holding her tightly.
After a series of terrifying events, such a warm embrace was overwhelming. She hastily pushed Qin Tianyi away, saying, "Why did you come down? You should have called for help!"
"I came down to check on you first. I've already notified Xiao Anjing to call the scenic area's rescue team," Qin Tianyi said, turning on his phone's flashlight and shining it on her. "Are you injured?"
The light was blinding. Gu Susu shielded her eyes with one hand, saying, "I'm not sure. I just know my left ankle hurts badly when I put any weight on it. I've been walking on my tiptoes."
Qin Tianyi scooped her up in his arms. Looking around, he saw only overgrown grass, with no place to examine her ankle.
"Put me down, I can still walk," Gu Susu tried to break free.
Qin Tianyi said coldly, "Don't you want your left foot anymore? We don't know the extent of the injury yet. If it's a fracture, your stubbornness might cripple it."
"I..." Gu Susu started to say she wasn't afraid, but swallowed the rest of her words.
If it turned out to be as Qin Tianyi said, she didn't want to be disabled.
"It will be tiring to hold me like this the whole way. Wade through this grass. There's a place to rest behind those rocks."
Qin Tianyi shot her a cold glance. Seeing that she had become compliant, he unhesitatingly waded through the grass and carried her to the rocks. He set her down on the ground and personally examined her left ankle, gently twisting it a couple of times.
Gu Susu cried out in pain immediately.
He lowered her ankle and said, "The bone is probably not broken; it's a sprain."
She let out a soft sound, her heart full of blame and resentment. If not for him, she wouldn't be in such a sorry state. "How did you find me?"
"Didn't you call me and send your location? When I saw it, I couldn't reach you, so I tracked down that unlicensed driver. Your phone was in the back seat of his car. Then I beat him senseless until he told me where you might have gotten lost."
So that was it. Gu Susu simply hummed, feeling fortunate that she had sent him the location.
But Qin Tianyi, thinking about what she had gone through, felt both angry and terrified. Yet, seeing her seemingly indifferent expression, he became even more annoyed.
He remembered how anxious he had been when he found the unlicensed driver's car with Gu Susu's phone but without her.
Later, hearing from the driver that she had fallen into a depression on the mountaintop and was in grave danger, he feared something terrible had happened to her.
He personally escorted the driver to the vicinity of the depression and searched again and again, until he finally heard what sounded like human voices, though very faint, almost mistaken for the wind if one wasn't listening carefully.
Fortunately, the faint voice continued to sound, allowing him to pinpoint the location. Upon learning it was Gu Susu, he had Xiao Anjing escort the driver to the police and then seek the help of the rescue team.
From above, he surveyed the terrain of the depression, a place that was sheer on all sides. He wondered how Gu Susu had fallen in.
Perhaps driven to desperation, she had lost her way, falling without seeing the terrain. The thought made him want to beat the unlicensed driver again.
Seeing his expression change again, Gu Susu mumbled a thank you, her words not entirely sincere.
"If I had known, I would have let you die of exhaustion here. You don't seem to care anyway," Qin Tianyi said, his words clearly laced with anger.
Gu Susu, also annoyed, retorted, "I already said thank you. What else do you want? Just because you found me and took a look at my sprained ankle, I have to be eternally grateful? How should I thank you? Kneel and kowtow?"
"You're an adult. At the train station, you couldn't even tell the difference between a legitimate taxi and an unlicensed one? And you have to take care of a child by yourself. Can you manage..."
Gu Susu interrupted Qin Tianyi's lecture, saying with a laugh, "I couldn't tell the difference! But who forced me to come to Lancheng? If I hadn't come to Lancheng, I wouldn't have encountered this!"
"You're just stupid!" Qin Tianyi retorted, looking down at her with a condescending air.