Chapter 40
Sidney glanced at the mountain in front of them. The soil, softened by the heavy rain, seemed likely to collapse at any moment.
He immediately shouted. “Get out of the car and run into the fields, now!”
However, after making the rounds, only he and the young girl in front of him seemed to be alarmed. The others remained unmoved.
“Isn’t this normal? It happens every rainy season, The young people nowadays have been spoiled, getting worked up over small incidents, someone commented.
Faint snickers even echoed.
Zoe’s fiery temper was about toBelonging to NôvelDrama.Org.
should I get worked up over ide, and she was ready to run off herself. If they didn’t care about their own lives, why
Seeing this, Sidney raised an eyebrow and snatched the bag of the person closest to him, then pulled Zoe off the bus and dashed away.
The man whose bag was snatched was stunned and instantly enraged. “Get them. Get them!”
All of the passengers knew each other. Seeing this, they all gave chase.
As Zoe was pulled along by Sidney, she couldn’t help but praise, That’s an impressive move.”
A soft chuckle left Sidney as he replied, “Watch your step. Don’t get distracted.”
They ran far away together.
Only when both parties were gasping for breath did Sidney stop and toss the bag aside.
The man stepped forward to pick it up. Counting on the crowd to back him up, he was even about to get physical, but with a thunderous boom, countless rocks cascaded down from the hill behind him, accompanied by a torrent of mud surging forth.
The bus was instantly buried
Everyone’s faces turned deathly pale. What a narrow escape. Had it not been for our lucky escape, we might all be dead on that bus now..” they thought
Thinking of this, they looked at Sidney and Zoe with a mix of guilt and gratitude. “Sorry”
“Hmpli” Zoe pouted. She ignored them and turned directly to Sidney, asking. “Ar you coming with me? I know the way out of here.”
“Sure” Sidney didn’t hesitate and followed Zoe as they left. The passengers were obviously locals and didn’t need to be worried about.
Fortunately, the mountain path was bordered by fields, and aside from the sprouting crops they trampled on, it was relatively safe for now.
However, given this trend, it was uncertain whether the landslide would evolve into a mudflow…
To ensure safety, they needed to contact the outside to evacuate people in the vicinity, and they had to leave as well. Although Zoe wasn’t a local folk of Maple Mountain, she had visited it many times and was fairly familiar with the routes.
“My name is Zoe Stevem, what about you?”
“Sidney Pauley
“The rain is too heavy. We need to find a shelter.”
As the dark clouds rolled in and the thunderstorm raged, Zoe and Sidney were both drenched to the bone, trapped in a place with no village in sight, their phones still having no service.
“Aren’t you supposed to know the way?” Sidney chuckled, teasing “I only followed you because you seemed so familiar with the route. Don’t tell me you’re lost now too?”
“…” Zoe admitted she was a bit boastful earlier, muttering. “Every road here looks the same…. I clearly remember visiting this place before, but as we walked, things just didn’t feel right…”
She scratched her head, pacing anxiously. “Sorry, should we turn back?”
Turning back now would be pointless. Sidney let out a sigh. “Follow me.”
Fortunately, it wasn’t night yet, the dim light was manageable, but the relentless downpour was unbearable-they would only get colder and more exhausting, leading to sickness sooner or later.
After walking for quite a while, they finally spotted a dilapidated building up ahead.
“Let’s go there to take shelter, Sidney said.
The small building seemed long abandoned, with no door and piles of wood and rusty farming tools inside.
As soon as she entered, Zoe was choked into a series of sneezes.
Sidney wasn’t faring much better, but being a man of poise, he endured the dust and filth to roughly clean the place, making it barely habitable.
Zoe was soaked through, and with a gust of wind, she shivered from the cold.
Sidney pulled out a lighter from his wallet, fiddled with the wood for a while, and finally managed to start a fire. Then, turning away, he said, “Take off your clothes and dry them by the fire.”
Zoe was stunned
Alone in a room with a man was already awkward enough, and now I had to take off the wet clothes to dry? What if he had ill intentions towards me? After considering her options, she clutched the pepper spray by her side, hesitated for a moment, and then began to undress slowly.
Apart from the howling wind and distant thunderclaps, there was the faint rustling of clothes. As a gentleman, Sidney harbored no dirty thoughts, his back at her throughout
Zoe gradually relaxed.
Just then, a piece of wood burning fiercely crackled, and a spark leaped out, landing right on Zoe’s hand and causing her to scream in pain instantly.
“What happened? Sidney was startled, turning around instinctively, only to see the girl by the fire with her beauty partially revealed.
The small building fell silent for three seconds.
Then Zoe let out a sharp scream, grabbed the pepper spray beside her, and roared, “You scoundrel!”
With a press of the pepper spray, she meant to teach Sidney a lesson, but she didn’t realize the nozzle was pointed right at herself. The moment she pressed it, she was stunned.
“Ah! Help!” She burst into tears, rolling on the ground in pain, her eyes unable to open. Streams of tears flowed incessantly.
Sidney felt like laughing, wondering, “How could there be such a silly girl?”
But the pepper spray was no joke; it could really harm her eyes.
So he didn’t care much and rushed forward, pulling off his wet clothes to hold down the struggling Zoe, saying, “Don’t move, I’ll wipe you down!”
Zoe was in pain but had no choice but to let Sidney help.
After Sidney wiped her eyes for a while, Zoe could barely open her eyes.
Her face was red from the spray, and her eyes were red like a rabbit’s,
She sat there hugging her knees, silent, pitiful, and helpless.
Sidney rubbed his nose, momentarily speechless over the awkwardness, and after a while, coughed softly. “Well, actually, I’m a doctor, so So he couldn’t entertain any other thoughts.
But when Zoe, all ruffled, heard this, her swollen red eyes glared at him, her face filled with shame and indignation. “I command you to forget it. Why are you bringing it up again?”
Sidney immediately surrendered, delivering a clumsy performance. “Hey, it seems like I’ve lost my memory. remember anything at all!”
Zoe shot him a resentful glare, her anger subsiding.
I can’t
It was because of this episode that the initial formality between the two strangers who had just met disappeared, reducing the distance and adding a few degrees of familiarity.
At the same moment, Tiffany and Richard found themselves stuck on a small road 10 miles away from Maple Mountain, aa terrifying landslide had completely blocked the entire path.