Because they had to support Saina, the two of them didn’t move very quickly. Halfway through, Jialuo caught up, dragging the half-dead, gaunt man at a rapid pace.
Sha Yi was stunned, but Jialuo shot her a fierce glare, tossed his head, and left her and Saina behind.
It took quite a while to get out of that stretch of forest, but luck was on their side. By the time the massive underground oil pit exploded, they had already made it out completely.
Even so, despite the considerable distance, the explosion’s force was still formidable—nearly flattening the entire area of the forest. Not only that, but the flames and black smoke billowing into the sky set the trees ablaze.
The fire raged fiercely, tongues of flame licking the sky, thick smoke rising everywhere. Even from afar, the devastation was clearly visible.
Sha Yi felt this might be the start of yet another disaster.
A perfectly good forest had just been set on fire. The rainy season was already over, and if the flames continued unchecked, they could consume everything overnight.
What made it worse was that they had no way to extinguish it. They were still quite a distance from any water source, and trying to douse the flames with wooden containers would be utterly futile—like trying to put out a wildfire with a cup of water.
Sitting on a relatively open patch of ground to rest, Saina seemed slightly dazed but said nothing. In contrast, Jialuo was visibly fuming.
The gaunt man, beaten to a swollen mess by him, was now barely breathing and utterly powerless to resist. Jialuo sat right on top of him.
Though Jialuo’s face was also bruised, he was in much better shape than the gaunt man. And right now, he was furious—giving neither Saina nor Sha Yi a friendly look.
Sha Yi didn’t know how to talk to him. Whenever Jialuo was in one of his stubborn, unreasonable moods, there was no reasoning with him. She could only resign herself to it.
Besides, if not for him saving them, they might have ended up dead with nowhere to be buried.
Given that, she really couldn’t bring herself to say anything.
However, her silence didn’t mean Jialuo had nothing to say. After a brief pause, he turned his anger toward Saina again: “Tell him to leave, or I’ll kill him!”
Sha Yi felt a pang of frustration.
Honestly, she truly didn’t want to be entangled with any of the men present.
But the current situation left her no room to refuse. Among the three men: one had paid a heavy price to save her; another had fought fiercely on her behalf; and the last had nearly gotten himself killed trying to murder her.
In the end, aside from the cold, gaunt man, it was hard to justify turning against any one of them for the sake of another.
She didn’t like getting too close to them, but she couldn’t bring herself to be ungrateful or betray their trust. Yet now, she was truly stuck.
Given the complicated relationships between her and these two, taking either side would only muddy things further—even after everything that had just happened.
Moreover, she still had Xi Yi. She didn’t want any misunderstandings to arise between them because of these two.
Besides, their power struggles had nothing to do with her. She had no desire to get involved in their feud.
Glancing at the fuming Jialuo, Sha Yi decided to ignore him.
Unprepared for her indifference, he immediately flew into a rage, unable to hold back his ranting: “How can you be so heartless? I went through so much trouble to save you, and you won’t even do something as simple as telling someone to leave? Is this how you repay me?”
“Then tell me, what was your purpose in saving me?” Sha Yi sighed helplessly. “At least let me know what you expect from me. Don’t tell me you saved me just so I could kick someone out?”
“Is that how you see me?” Jialuo sprang to his feet, looking utterly incredulous. “Why do you always assume the worst of me?”
“Isn’t it obvious? At the very least, you just demanded that I drive someone away. And before that, you outright said you went through all that effort to save me—so of course you’d expect something in return.” Sha Yi shot him an innocent look. “You said it yourself. Why should I think any differently? Besides, whether you’re good or bad is plain for everyone to see. You’re hardly any better than the rest.”
“You—” Jialuo was left speechless, glaring at her for a long moment before finally plopping back down, taking his anger out on the unfortunate man beneath him.
Silence fell between them once more.
This time, Saina, who had been sitting to the side, slowly stood up and said with a smile, “Alright, since there’s nothing else to deal with, I’ll take my leave. No need for you two to keep arguing over me.”
Sha Yi was puzzled. When she instinctively glanced at him, she saw an expression of indifference on his face.
Saina had changed a lot.
Gone was the arrogance and recklessness he’d shown at the beginning, replaced instead by patience.
Perhaps this restrained side of him had always existed, but due to his upbringing or never having faced significant setbacks, he’d often acted impulsively without thorough consideration. Now, however, he was entirely different.
When they’d first moved into the new cave settlement, she’d noticed something odd about him—a shift in his demeanor that had eventually led to this transformation.
During that time, she realized his way of handling things had fundamentally changed.
Like now—he could calmly ask her so many questions and endure Jialuo’s provocations without retaliating. In the past, he would’ve immediately risen to the challenge.
Back at the start of the rainy season, when she’d first met him, he’d deliberately provoked her and Xi Yi.
But now, none of that mattered anymore. Times had changed, and so had people.
She stayed silent, but Jialuo couldn’t hold back any longer: “If you’re leaving, then hurry up and go! Why waste words? Do you think I’d beg you to stay? Let me tell you, if you dare linger another moment, I’ll finish you off myself!”
“No need for the concern.” Saina’s tone remained calm as the bloodied man turned back. “If you really want to settle things with me, I’ll oblige later. But now isn’t the time for us to be at each other’s throats. I suggest you focus on the bigger picture and not let your temper dictate your actions.”
Pointing at the barely conscious gaunt man on the ground, Saina continued, “This man is likely from that large migrating group with many women. Why he targeted Sha Yi, I’m not entirely sure. What you do next is up to you—I won’t oppose you for now.”
“For now?” Jialuo leapt up again. “So you’re saying you’ll oppose us later?”
“The future is uncertain. I can’t make promises, and neither can you.” Saina replied lightly. “I’m just being honest.”
“And what good does honesty do?” Jialuo snapped. “If you’re just going to be trouble later, I might as well deal with you now and save us the hassle!”
“If you think you can handle that new, large group on your own, then by all means. Right now, you hold the advantage—my objections wouldn’t matter anyway.”
“Never thought you’d have such self-awareness. Too bad you lacked foresight earlier. If you’d known it’d come to this, you wouldn’t have schemed against me. Look at how miserable you are now.” Jialuo clicked his tongue mockingly. “Well then, maybe I should just grant your wish. Since you’re so self-aware, I shouldn’t disappoint you, right?”
The pale-faced man said nothing, merely raising a brow as if to say, *Do as you please.*
Sha Yi, however, couldn’t stay silent any longer: “Jialuo, enough! That man is still here, and you two are still at each other’s throats? Do you want our enemies to know all your dirty laundry so they can use it against you?”
“I never said that!” Jialuo glared at her indignantly. “Hasn’t he hurt you enough? All the problems between you and me are because of him! After all the evil he’s done, you’re still defending him? Have you ever considered how I feel? If I really wanted him dead, I would’ve done it already!”
“So you’re saying problems shouldn’t be resolved, grudges shouldn’t be let go, and no one should ever soften their heart?” Sha Yi stood up, thoroughly exasperated with the thick-skulled man. “If we followed your logic, shouldn’t you and I still be at odds? Shouldn’t we still hold onto our initial hatred? If helping and saving each other doesn’t count for anything, then should I just ignore the fact that you saved me this time?”
Once again left speechless, Jialuo fumed but couldn’t muster a retort. In the end, he just spat out angrily, “I can’t argue with you!”
And with that, the argument came to an end.
Sha Yi had no energy left to waste on him. She shot Saina a look, urging him to leave quickly.
The latter said nothing more, offering only a faint smile before turning and walking away slowly.
Seeing this, the fuming Jialuo finally seemed satisfied. He stared at Sha Yi for a long moment before suddenly remembering something and slapping the gaunt man across the face. “Quit playing dead! I’ve got questions for you. If you want to die, keep wasting my time!”
The gaunt man, however, gave no reaction. His dull gray eyes remained lifeless, showing no intention of responding.
Sha Yi was at a loss but didn’t intervene. After all, this man had tried to kill her—whatever Jialuo did to him was no loss to her.
If he could pry some information out of the man, all the better. If not, killing him wouldn’t be a pity. He’d caused enough trouble—letting him suffer a bit wasn’t a bad idea. Better than risking him stirring up more trouble later.
Right now, the priority was to interrogate him thoroughly—or at least keep him under close watch.
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