Chapter 107 Escape from Desperate Circumstances
The two men looked at each other and put their hopes on that tree.
The tree, however, was growing on the right side, also on the side of the masked man.
Vivian moved to the right, trying to give herself a chance to grab the big tree, since that might be the only chance to survive.
But the masked man is likely the biggest obstacle to her survival, and she must take her chances.
Both men leaned to the right, seeing that they were about to reach the tree, but because they were both on the right, increasing the resistance, the water rushed ferociously, causing the thick wooden pole to slope steeply into a vertical downward flow.
All of a sudden they were further away from that tree.
“I’m pulling you, you let go.”
Vivian took the masked man’s hand directly and told him to let go of the thick wooden pole and swim towards the river, even a little bit of struggle would be enough to win her chance of survival.
At this moment, Vivian had no choice, even if it was a ray of hope, even if the masked man might survive and then cut the rope, she had to fight for it.
Because …
She didn’t want to die!
The pair of eyes under the mask of the masked man gave Vivian a meaningful glance before directly releasing her.
The rope was tied between the two men and he fought to his right after he let go.
Ten meters …Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.
Six meters …
Three meters …
One meter!!!
The distance of ten meters was just a blink of an eye, but at the moment the masked man was still some distance away from the tree.
Vivian was so scared that her heart tense, and she was so nervous that she was afraid of missing another opportunity.
But in the nick of time, the masked man suddenly pulled out a dagger and held it tightly in his hand, and as he narrowly brushed against the tree, the dagger in his hand jabbed into the trunk of the tree.
Vivian immediately let go of the thick wooden pole she was holding, lest the overwhelming impact wash the masked man away with it, cutting off any chance of a final struggle.
The man, even though Vivian was putting pressure on him, reached out and clutched the thick wooden pole and climbed up little by little and managed to get out!
Vivian was still in the water, and with the strength of the rope, she tugged it little by little and crawled towards the masked man.
But the masked man raised the dagger in his hand, and with a flick of his hand, Vivian would be swept away with the river!
Her heart was pounding, never at any moment would she be so full of desire to live as she was at this moment.
Vivian didn’t say anything and continued to swim towards him, seeing that he was close, but the dagger the masked man was holding up stabbed straight down.
In that moment, her heart went cold, as if she had already seen death.
But Vivian was not resigned, and at the last moment fought against the odds, reaching out and tugging, trying to hug the trunk, but still underestimating the impact of the water.
She was washed away another few dozen centimeters!
Was she, really, going to die here?
But at that moment, the masked man tugged her hand and pulled her over, and the two of them climbed up the tree that grew diagonally along the shore.
Exhausted, the two men lay on the shore, too tired to struggle any more.
Vivian, however, asked, “Why would you save me?”
The moment he finally stabbed his dagger down, she thought the masked man was going to cut the rope and send her plunging into the rushing river, but the man put away his dagger and reach out to tug her out of harm’s way.
The masked man didn’t answer.
The two men just lay on the shore and waited until they had regained their strength before standing up and heading off into the distance.
“Who the hell are you?”
Through the woods, away from the sound of the ferocious river’s waves, everything became quiet, even the rain had stopped.
Vivian then asked the man beside her.
He was no longer hunched over and limping as he had been before, but stood erect and fit as a normal man.
Vivian should have found out that the man’s identity was suspect, but since their decision to come to Dongpu Village was made not long ago, and the masked man had been in the village long before they arrived.
That was why she didn’t think the masked man could have been wrong.
As it turned out, it was still her gullibility.
The masked man ignored Vivian, and the two just kept walking towards the front, but the surrounding area was deserted, and eventually the two chose to climb up the mountain.
As they stood panting at the top of the mountain, looking around them, they could see no one or village at all, except for the mist rising up.
“At this rate of flood flow, it’s at least 40 kilometers per hour.”
Vivian said as she raised her hand to check the time on her wristwatch.
Five hours had passed since she’d gotten up in the morning.
From the village chief’s house to the river, it took half an hour; from the water up to the mountain, it took an hour, which means that they had supported themselves for three and a half hours after falling into the water and were already 140 kilometers away.
This distance was too far.
Vivian was not familiar with the geography of this side, and was a bit confused for a while.
The rain that had just stopped was continuing to fall again, while Vivian felt limp and weak and could not walk with any energy.
She looked down at her right hand, which was horribly swollen with a large cut on her arm, whitened and swollen with water.
And at her wrist, after saving the masked man, from being bitten by a snake last time, she had also cut a cross on her wrist to let blood out, and although it had gradually healed, the scab that had been made after being soaked in water had fallen off.
Vivian’s arm hurt, but there was nothing to reduce the inflammation at the moment, and her greatest fear was that the wound would turn septic.
She tied her wrists with her clothes, but it kept raining and tying her wrists backfired.
So she let it be.
The masked man took one look at her wound, didn’t say a word, and walked towards the bottom of the mountain.
Vivian followed the masked man, the two of them made their way down the mountain. Not knowing how long she had been walking, she was getting slower and slower.
“You’re going too fast, can you walk a little slower?”
Vivian could not keep up with the pace somewhat, so she spoke to the masked man.
Unbeknownst to her, the masked man had already slowed down a lot in an invisible way, she just didn’t notice it.
“If we don’t get out of here, we’re likely to starve to death.”
A hundred miles around, if it remained deserted, would be a great challenge for them.
There was no way to drink the murky yellow water that was everywhere after the storm, and walking long enough would drain their strength to get very far without something to eat.
With great willpower, Vivian followed the masked man all the way forward, and eventually, at nightfall, she sat down on the ground in physical exhaustion, unable to walk any further.
Hearing a voice behind him, the masked man turned around and saw a pale woman sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree, his eyes complicated.
The masked man walked up to her, pulled out a dagger, the sharp blade pointed at Vivian, as if to say: since you are dying, I will give you a hand, so as to finish my mission.
Vivian slowly closed her eyes, not struggling, not speaking.
Because she knew that if the masked man wanted to make a move, he would have done it already, why would he wait until now?
With an abrupt sound, the masked man stabbed his dagger into the tree behind her, “I’ll let you off the hook today, if I see you again, you will not be lucky like now.”
With those words, he turned and walked straight away.
He left the dagger to her.
For returning the favor she offered to have saving him that day on the mountain.