Coming to Myself

They locked Mingtao in the car, though not in the trunk. This way, he couldn’t escape, and with the doors locked, his safety was ensured.

Through the car window, amid Mingtao’s furious, contorted face and his faint, incessant cursing, the two quickly gathered some essentials: a flashlight, a compass, Gu Tiancheng’s dagger, and You Mingxu’s hiking stick—the latter two serving as makeshift self-defense tools—before heading into the woods.

It was a little past four in the morning, still two or three hours until dawn. The entire Wilderness and the forest remained pitch-black, like a vast, dark sack. Braving the cold wind, they pressed onward.

“Did you get through?” You Mingxu asked.

Gu Tiancheng put down his phone and walked back from the edge of the woods, his face lighting up. “Yes! They said they’re sending a car. There are patrol officers nearby—they’ll be here in an hour!”

You Mingxu’s expression relaxed slightly. “That’s great! But… a lot can happen in an hour.”

Gu Tiancheng’s arm dropped, and he gently squeezed her fingertips. “We’ll manage.” His hand was warm and slightly sweaty, yet it carried a steady strength and warmth.

You Mingxu nodded. “Okay, I’ll follow your lead.”

Gu Tiancheng paused, taken aback. He realized that since the two girls had gone missing, this stubborn, resilient young woman seemed to have softened. Perhaps she was truly frightened. In the dim woods, he gazed at her lowered, delicate face. Everything was too quiet, as if no one else existed. Only the rustling wind and the faint, crisp sound of their footsteps on fallen leaves broke the silence. That gentle, white light—evoked by her presence—seemed to shine quietly in his mind once more.

He felt a strong impulse, in this moment of looming danger and profound isolation, to pull this girl he’d encountered by chance tightly into his arms, to kiss her fiercely, without restraint. To caress her, to bring her joy, to make her ache. It felt as though only this could vent the tension, anxiety, emptiness, helplessness, and deep tenderness that a man traveling alone might harbor in such moments.

But he did nothing, merely smiling wryly to himself—a smile she didn’t see. Though they had only known each other for a few hours, it felt as if they had already developed an unspoken understanding. It was a good start. He didn’t want to scare her, to let her sense the wild and untamed side hidden within him. It was far too soon for her to experience that part of him.

Perhaps that day would come. If they truly grew closer, if she was indeed the one he had been waiting for.

It had been over twenty minutes since the two girls disappeared, and they had been walking through the woods for more than ten minutes. Yet, surrounded by endless darkness and with the shadowy foothills visible in the distance, they had found nothing.

You Mingxu was breathing heavily, while Gu Tiancheng stayed close by her side, never more than a meter away, protective and decisive in his actions.

“Do you need to rest?” Gu Tiancheng asked, though his steps didn’t falter.

You Mingxu shook her head. He said, “I’m not comfortable leaving you behind. Otherwise, I’d go search alone.” You Mingxu replied, “I know.”

“How about we chat? It might make the walking easier,” he suggested.

You Mingxu smiled faintly. “Sure.”

Striding forward calmly, he asked, “Have you had a boyfriend before?”

You Mingxu glanced at him, took a few more steps, and then answered, “Yes.”

“How many?”

“One.”"Unforgettable?"

"Not really," she said casually. "We hit it off in college, but grew apart by graduation, so we broke up. I felt that although he was tall and imposing, he still lacked a sense of responsibility, lacked something meaningful."

Gu Tiancheng laughed and asked, "Then do you think I have a sense of responsibility? Would I make a good boyfriend?"

You Mingxu looked ahead. Countless straight trees stood tall, with faint starlight filtering through. A thin, elusive mist in the forest seemed to guide her and him toward an even more uncertain future.

"I don't know," she said calmly. "It takes time to tell. I've only known you for half a day."

He was silent for a moment, then said, "Oh."

For a while, neither spoke. You Mingxu shouted Song Lan and Zou Furong's names several times, and Gu Tiancheng joined in, yelling with all his might. His voice was much louder than hers. After they shouted repeatedly, the surroundings fell back into a deathly silence.

Gu Tiancheng looked at her and said, "We didn't hear any car sounds—they couldn't have gone far. They must have heard us, but as two girls, they might not be able to make a sound."

You Mingxu tightened her grip on the hiking stick and said, "Probably."

"We've searched this area. Let's check over there." He pointed in a direction, and You Mingxu followed him.

After walking a short distance, Gu Tiancheng said, "Actually, I really loved my ex-girlfriend."

You Mingxu remained silent, listening as he continued, "She was like you—strong-willed, full of ideas, and not the least bit conventional. Not like girls such as Zou Furong. She also liked men with a sense of responsibility."

You Mingxu smiled. "So she ended up with you?"

Gu Tiancheng also smiled faintly, gentle and calm. "Yes. She stayed with me for five years, giving me the best years of her life. Later, she was gone."

You Mingxu said softly, "My condolences. The dead cannot be brought back to life."

He was silent for a moment, then said, "I know. I've known for a long time. I'll smoke a cigarette to perk myself up." He stopped, cupped his hand to shield the wind, and lit the cigarette, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Want one?"

You Mingxu thought for a moment and said, "Sure. Last one for today."

He said, "Yeah, the last one."

She took a cigarette from the pack in his palm and placed it between her lips. He leaned in slightly, the flickering flame illuminating his handsome, profound face. You Mingxu suddenly remembered how he had first driven by, the young man turning to look at her through the misted car window, his gaze as elusive as the ever-drifting clouds over Tibet.

She leaned in, using his hand to light her cigarette. His eyes, very close, stared at her, filled with tenderness and a hidden past. You Mingxu took a drag and smiled, pretending not to notice anything.

They stood there for less than half a minute.

Suddenly, Gu Tiancheng threw his cigarette to the ground, stomped it out, and roared, "Stop!" He charged forward. You Mingxu jerked her head up and indeed saw a dark figure flash past in the woods ahead. Vaguely, she could make out a tall build, strikingly similar to that man.

Gu Tiancheng clearly had no time to worry about her now. You Mingxu broke into a run. She watched as Gu Tiancheng dashed ahead like a black panther, her own long legs pounding over the fallen leaves. The surroundings were eerily silent, filled only with the sound of their frantic footsteps, one after the other."Ah..." Suddenly, You Mingxu heard an extremely faint cry for help in her ears, coming from far behind her—the exact opposite direction from where that person had fled. You Mingxu froze, then quickly halted to listen more carefully, but only the rustling of the wind remained.

Yet her intuition told her she hadn’t misheard.

She lifted her head and shouted, "Gu Tiancheng! Gu Tiancheng!" But in the brief moment she’d hesitated, Gu Tiancheng had already run far ahead. Whether he heard her and ignored it or didn’t hear at all, she couldn’t tell—she only saw his figure flash once before vanishing into the darkness ahead.

You Mingxu stood still, deliberating for just a few seconds, then resolutely turned and ran toward the direction where the woman’s faint cries seemed to originate.

Surrounded by pitch-black emptiness, only the thin beam from her flashlight pierced the oppressive darkness. She had no idea where she was running, only that the surroundings grew increasingly desolate. All she could hear was her own ragged breathing.

"Song Lan! Song Lan—Zou Furong—" she yelled loudly.

"Whimper..." She truly heard it again—a woman’s muffled sobbing, as if something were blocking her throat, struggling to make a sound. You Mingxu felt the blood in her entire body heat up, her scalp tingling with a fine, electric thrill of fear. Gripping her hiking stick, she held it horizontally in front of her, while her other hand steadied the flashlight. Clenching her jaw, she advanced cautiously, step by step.

The flashlight beam swept across her field of vision, illuminating a row of trees, bushes, a face... You Mingxu’s mind buzzed, her palms breaking out in a cold sweat. She swiftly swung the flashlight back to the spot it had just illuminated.

There was a person there.

No, two.

It was actually him.

The young man with the innocent, childlike eyes had appeared. He stood beside a large tree, with Song Lan slumped on his back. Her eyes were tightly shut, her head covered in blood, and she lay motionless against him—unconscious, perhaps dead, her condition and whether she had endured any torture unknown.

You Mingxu had no idea how long he had been standing there or how long he had been watching her. Their eyes met, but his originally clear gaze now seemed veiled in a haze of gray. It was impossible to discern what lay behind it. And as he stared at her, the corners of his mouth slowly, very slowly, curled into a faint, subtle smirk. Only then did You Mingxu realize that such a handsome face could, in an instant, become so sinister and cold.