Xiao Lingzi also looked towards Li Mohan.
Li Mohan felt a bit bewildered by the gazes of the person and the bird.
"Do you need me to do something?" he asked proactively.
"You and she have a fate string connecting you, so you share the same destiny, the same root. Kiss her, perhaps she can wake up!" the eighth brother said.
Xiao Lingzi opened his mouth, then closed it, swallowing back his words. His expression was one of reluctance.
Li Mohan did not hesitate, saying only one word, "Alright!"
He cupped Ye Huohuo's face, his gaze falling upon her lips, where a trace of blood from her earlier spitting remained, a hint of seductive red.
He took a deep breath and, under everyone's watchful eyes, lowered his head and kissed Ye Huohuo's lips.
In that instant, he felt his vision suddenly darken, as if entering a black, empty space.
He could see nothing, only a small figure in a distant corner.
Was that Ye Huohuo?!
He slowly walked towards the figure, gradually discerning her appearance.
She was crouched on the ground, her small body curled into a ball, her head buried between her legs, her shoulders trembling with sobs.
Was she… crying?
Ye Huohuo, as he remembered her, was always fearless, rarely showing such vulnerability. Seeing her like this pained him.
Li Mohan crouched down and gently held her trembling shoulders. "Huohuo, it's alright, come out with me!"
Ye Huohuo's body visibly shivered upon hearing his voice. She slowly raised her head, her long eyelashes still clinging with tears, and looked at the person before her with disbelief.
"Li Mohan? You're not dead?"
"I'm fine, perfectly fine, not even a scratch!" Li Mohan gently wiped the tears from her face.
He then lowered his head and kissed her eyelashes, sucking the tears into his mouth. They were a little salty.
"Are you lying to me? I clearly saw that shadow pierce you! How could you be fine? Are you deceiving me into living alone?" Ye Huohuo refused to believe him. She couldn't believe her eyes were mistaken. That shadow could easily pierce through a thick display board; how could it hit Li Mohan without any effect?!
It was precisely to avenge him, to eliminate the person who wanted to harm him, that she had risked her own life without hesitation!
"I don't know why I'm fine, but I truly am. Hurry and come out with me. Don't let your senior brother's life-risking effort to retrieve your divine consciousness go to waste!" Li Mohan urged.
"Senior brother came?" Ye Huohuo seemed surprised. Her memory was still stuck at the confrontation with the man in black. After she was hit by the dark energy, her divine consciousness had scattered, and finally, her perception of the outside world had completely vanished.
"Your senior brother saved you; otherwise, you would have died at the hands of that man in black. You were so impulsive. Knowing how dangerous it was, why did you go?" Li Mohan scolded with a stern face.
Ye Huohuo’s gaze darted away, avoiding Li Mohan’s eyes, clearly looking guilty.
"Was it for me?" Seeing her silence, Li Mohan asked directly.
Ye Huohuo’s gaze flickered even more erratically. "No, it wasn't. I just didn't like that guy and wanted to teach him a lesson! I didn't expect him to be so powerful! You… you really need to be more careful in the future!"
Li Mohan narrowed his eyes, watching Ye Huohuo’s clumsy acting, a gentle warmth spreading through his heart. He pulled Ye Huohuo into his embrace and kissed her lips fiercely.
His kiss was like a conquest, ravaging her mouth until she went soft in his arms, her breath almost gone, before he reluctantly released her.
"Listen, little liar, you're not good at lying. Don't lie to me anymore. If you do, I'll kiss you every time! Got it?"
He then bit her lip lightly.
Ye Huohuo felt her entire body turn to water, unable to even move out of his embrace. To prevent him from kissing her again, she quickly buried her head in his chest.
"No biting!"
Hearing Ye Huohuo's muffled voice from within his arms, Li Mohan felt happier than he ever had before.
Just then, a voice suddenly entered his ear. It was unfamiliar, a voice he hadn't heard before. Yet, he quickly guessed who it was.
"Q-quickly bring her out, o-otherwise, you'll both be trapped in the sea of consciousness and w-won't be able to get out!"
Senior brother's voice?
Not the somewhat sharp and noisy voice of that eighth brother, but a slightly deep male voice.
Li Mohan knew this was the final ultimatum. He dared not delay, so he helped Ye Huohuo up. "Huohuo, we are in your sea of consciousness now. Your senior brother said if we don't leave soon, we won't be able to. Do you know how to get out?"
Ye Huohuo hadn't wanted to leave before because she believed Li Mohan was dead, and subconsciously, she didn't want to face it.
Now that she knew Li Mohan was fine, her mental block cleared, and she could naturally leave.
She smiled faintly at Li Mohan and raised her hand, snapping her fingers.
A golden light flashed from her fingertips. The world before their eyes darkened, and then all sorts of chaotic sounds flooded their ears.
"Senior brother, will this trick of yours work? You're treating Ye Huohuo like Snow White, who wakes up with a prince's kiss. And even if Huohuo is a princess, Mr. Li here isn't exactly a prince!" Xiao Lingzi's noisy voice quickly reached Ye Huohuo's ears.
"It-it shouldn't be, people whose souls are connected have a sense of each other. C-could the book be wrong?" Brother Ba hopped onto Ye Huohuo's head, pecking at her scalp, trying to stimulate her with pain to wake up.
"So you haven't used it before? The book is purely theoretical. If you haven't used it, how can you just take it and use it? It's been ten minutes already. By now, they'd be almost at the hospital for emergency treatment!" Xiao Lingzi complained.
"In the b-book, there is Yellow…"
"…Golden House, and in the book, there is a beauty like jade. Senior brother, it's always these two sentences. You're not bored, but I'm tired of hearing them!" Ye Huohuo had intended to rest her eyes for a while longer, but this person and bird were driving her mad.
Unable to bear it any longer, she finally spoke.
"President Li, President Li is also awake! Thank heavens, it's finally alright!" Mina's voice came from not too far away.
Ye Huohuo opened her eyes to find that all the people from the conference room had also rushed out. Half of them were gathered around her, while the other half were lifting the unconscious Li Mohan onto a nearby table, fanning him and splashing water on him, busy as well.
Her gaze passed through the crowd to Li Mohan, and seeing that he was also looking at her.
Ye Huohuo scanned him again, confirming he was indeed unharmed, not even a scratch on him, before she finally relaxed.
She let out a sigh of relief, but before she could sit up, she quickly rummaged through her bag.
"What are you doing? What are you looking for? I'll help you. You just woke up, don't rush around," Xiao Lingzi offered to help her search.
"Soul collecting bottle!" Ye Huohuo pulled out a small glass bottle that looked quite unremarkable, except for some strange runes seemingly etched onto its body and lid.
"What do you need that for? Didn't you scatter Lihua's soul?" Xiao Lingzi asked, perplexed.
Ye Huohuo shook her right fist mysteriously at him. "Am I that stupid? Of course, I had to find a way to keep such an important clue!"
As she spoke, she opened her fist towards the soul collecting bottle. Indeed, a faint black energy entered the bottle.
"When did you collect it? I didn't see you collect it!" Xiao Lingzi's eyes, already large, widened like two copper bells.
Ye Huohuo smiled mysteriously. "It's a secret! If I tell you all my trump cards, how will I still be able to pretend in front of you later on!"
Although her complexion was pale and her voice weak, she was such an optimistic person that she could face any hardship with a smile.
It was precisely this character that allowed her to survive stubbornly through countless trials.
"That person ran away, but they left this behind!" Li Mohan walked to her side, handing his phone to her as he spoke.
"I knew that guy would run when Senior brother saved Huohuo. Brother Cheng could never catch him," Xiao Lingzi leaned over to look at the picture on Li Mohan's phone.
"This is…" As Xiao Lingzi and Ye Huohuo saw the picture, both their expressions changed.