What can sorrow do? What can resentment change? Faced with all this, what can a person possibly do?
Standing in the torrential rain, Sha Yi felt as though a massive boulder had settled in her heart, unbearably heavy, pressing down on her until she could barely breathe—yet she couldn’t move it.
Her current state of mind was like the thunderstorms of the rainy season. If she couldn’t find a fundamental solution, she would forever live under this suffocating weight of pressure and fear.
And it wasn’t just her—Xi Yi and the others in their tribe were no different.
A warm, large hand landed on her shoulder. Sha Yi lifted her head slightly.
Xi Yi was looking down at her, his eyes filled with worry, yet his expression was one of helplessness. His long hair was soaked, and he seemed to hesitate before speaking.
Only then did Sha Yi notice that the torch in his hand had gone out at some point.
His helplessness likely stemmed from that. But there was nothing to be done now. Sha Yi glanced around, searching for any way to relight the torch, but there was none.
Just as she racked her brain, a baby’s cry pierced through the natural cacophony of thunder and rain.
The cry was eerily familiar—yet it didn’t come from the infant in her arms.
Moreover, it sounded exactly like the unnatural, almost vibrating wail she had heard when she first rescued the baby in her arms. It didn’t sound like a normal cry but rather like some strange resonance, carried through the water from behind her…
Sha Yi spun around, belatedly realizing that they had wandered deep into the same flooded area where she had first gotten lost. Only now, they stood on the opposite side of where she had been before.
At the moment, aside from the water level rising slightly, the area remained unchanged—dark, foreboding, and terrifying. The pouring rain churned the murky, deep green water into a muddy chaos, and within the frantic ripples, something seemed to stir.
Sha Yi’s scalp prickled with fear, and she instinctively pressed closer to Xi Yi.
This place had always been unnerving and sinister. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something lurked in these waters. The day before, she had been startled here, though whether by sheer luck or her own paranoia, she had escaped unscathed.
Now, facing it again, fear gripped her heart. Even with Xi Yi beside her, she had a strong premonition that danger was imminent.
Xi Yi sensed her unease and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer. He brushed his chin against her forehead in a comforting gesture and let out a nearly inaudible sigh.
She heard it.
Faced with this storm and their dire situation, he must have felt utterly powerless. He probably wanted nothing more than to lead her out, but he wasn’t from this forest. Even if he knew a path through it, when that path was lost to time, he could only stand by, helpless.
Just as she was lost in thought, Xi Yi suddenly pulled away.
Confused, she looked up to see him set down what he was holding, wipe the rain from his face, and speak to her. Then, he pointed in another direction.
The rain was too loud, making it hard to hear, but she understood his meaning—he was going to scout ahead, searching for a safer route or shallower waters.
Though fear still coiled in her chest, she couldn’t let her emotions jeopardize their chance of survival. Without hesitation, she nodded quickly, and he dashed off.
Moving their belongings farther from the water’s edge, Sha Yi broke off a large leaf to shield herself and the suffering infant in her arms from the storm.
Meanwhile, in a small area struck by lightning minutes earlier, faint green specks of light shimmered along the surface of a thick vine. There were many of them, floating and shifting eerily.
When Sha Yi had cut the vine earlier with her bone knife, the same green specks had appeared in the transparent sap that oozed out.
Now, with these glowing dots suddenly appearing, could it be that the vine had become transparent after being struck by lightning?
Desperate to understand, Sha Yi wanted to investigate—but given the vine’s lightning-attracting nature, she didn’t dare get too close. She could only crouch at a distance and theorize.
Before she could delve deeper, a second thunderbolt exploded, startling her so badly she flinched. Fortunately, she was far enough away to avoid harm.
The lightning had struck the same vine again. In the split second before the flash vanished, Sha Yi’s sharp eyes caught the vine glowing slightly brighter—only to return to normal almost instantly. The most striking change was that the floating green specks had significantly diminished after the strike.
Sha Yi stared in stunned silence before a bold idea flashed through her mind.
—Those green specks inside the vine might be the very thing that attracted lightning. And those golden thread-like strands she and Xi Yi had seen inside it earlier? They probably weren’t nutrient channels, as she had assumed, but rather “conductors” that absorbed the lightning’s energy. Otherwise, how could the vine survive such voltage unscathed?
But… why did the glowing green specks decrease so drastically after being struck?
That part, Sha Yi couldn’t figure out—nor did she have time to dwell on it, because she could already hear Xi Yi’s footsteps returning. Right now, the most important thing was getting out of this forest.
She was desperate to know if he had found an easy, safe path out. This terrifying place—she didn’t want to spend another second in it!
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