Chapter 99: Exile Road 41

The team members in the surrounding vehicles all held their tongues.

The world around them was silent, save for the wind.

By rights, the higher-ups had only ordered the execution of those who resisted arrest. Ye Liuyun had laid down her weapon and surrendered of her own accord, so she ought to have been treated leniently. And yet she was so aggressive, so full of force. Moreover, her relationship with that person seemed far from ordinary.

The man stared at her through clenched teeth. After a long while, he slowly opened the fist that had been tightened so hard it trembled, revealing a small red medicine case that had been crushed almost beyond recognition.

He asked Ye Liuyun, “What is this?”

Ye Liuyun’s face turned pale. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.

“This was found in your home,” the man said in a low, steady voice. “Shouldn’t you be coming clean with me about a few things?”

Ye Liuyun bit her lower lip.

She said nothing. He remained silent as well, only his chest rising and falling violently, as if he were so enraged he could scarcely breathe. At last, he forced out a single question from deep in his throat.

“Where is the child?”

A stab of pain shot through Ye Liuyun’s chest.

However often reason told her she had done nothing wrong, the moment this man mentioned the child, it still felt as if a wound were being torn open.

Deliberately hardening her heart, she said, “There was no child. Only a gestational sac.”

“Where is it, exactly?” he snapped, raising his voice. Veins bulged at his temples.

Ye Liuyun could not endure it any longer either, and she roared back, “I threw it away! I buried it! Are you satisfied now?”

“Ye Liuyun! Have you lost your mind?” he barked. “Why didn’t you go to the hospital?”

“Because I didn’t want to!” Ye Liuyun drew a deep breath and fixed him with a steady stare. “Because I didn’t want to. It’s that simple. I. Did. Not. Want. To.”

His eyes nearly split with fury. “To become a gestational mother is the highest honor!”

“But the price of that honor is my freedom!” Ye Liuyun shouted.

The man stared at her in shock.

Ye Liuyun gave a powerless smile. “Commander, if I don’t want this honor, am I really in the wrong? If I don’t want to be a gestational mother, do I not even have the right to be a person?”

He endured it again and again, then, with a darkened face, said each word with deliberate precision, “Come back with me. Go to the hospital. Undergo a full examination.”

Ye Liuyun was still smiling. She shook her head.

He clenched his teeth, his voice thick with an indescribable resentment. “Then never come back!”

Ye Liuyun turned and walked away at once.

The man watched her retreating figure, his face black with rage.

Perhaps they would never meet again.

……

Shi Xianyu kept glancing back from time to time, her heart anxious to the extreme.

No one knew how long she waited before she finally saw Ye Liuyun’s vehicle return. She immediately let out a breath of relief and got out to meet her.

Big Beard and Radish jumped down as well and ran over.

“Boss! Are you all right?”

Ye Liuyun stopped the car and got out, waving a hand. “I’m fine. Let’s go. They won’t be chasing us anymore.”

Shi Xianyu could tell her eyes were red and could not help asking, “Did you cry?”

“Huh?” Ye Liuyun paused, then rubbed at her eyes. “No. It’s just that the sandstorm was too strong and got in my eyes.”

Big Beard looked up at the sky and frowned. “The weather changed in the blink of an eye. It was clear just a moment ago, and now the wind’s picking up again.”

“Looks like a sandstorm is coming,” Radish said, also looking toward the distant sky.

Ye Liuyun said, “Let’s go. We should find somewhere to shelter from the storm first.”

In the distance stood a huge crimson sandstone outcrop, perfect for taking cover from a sandstorm.

Ye Liuyun led the way and drove toward the red rock, but the storm came too quickly. Before they could reach their destination, their view had already been swallowed by a curtain of filthy, swirling sand.

She had no choice but to slow down, so as not to lose her companions.

They drove on for a while longer, yet still could not find the sandstone outcrop. Ye Liuyun began to suspect they had unknowingly veered off course within the storm. Otherwise, by the calculations of time, they should have seen the rock by now.

Visibility in a sandstorm was limited. If they had indeed lost their bearings, continuing onward would be extremely dangerous.

Ye Liuyun stopped the car and discussed it with the others. In the end, they decided to rest where they were and set out again after the storm had passed.

The three vehicles lined up nose to tail and huddled as closely together as they could, in order to resist the storm’s assault.

The sky was dark as night, the wind driving sand and stones through the air. Sand scraped against the windows with a harsh rustling sound. Inside the vehicles, each person had their own thoughts, silently pondering where their future lay.

Shi Xianyu and Lu Li fell asleep leaning against each other.

She had not slept all night. After rescuing Lu Li from Yu Jing, her nerves had remained taut the entire time, and now she could finally make up for some lost rest.

Lin Yuan looked at the two of them sleeping soundly, then turned to the turbid sand and stones beyond the window. After a while, he too closed his eyes.

A sandstorm was miserable weather, enough to give anyone a headache. But at the same time, it also gave them protection.

……

Two hours later, the sandstorm began to weaken.

Four hours later, visibility had basically returned to normal.

Ye Liuyun dozed for a while too. When she opened her eyes, her first thought was to find that red sandstone outcrop and judge how far they had drifted from their original direction.

She looked around and saw many rock formations in view, each at a moderate distance.

Ye Liuyun carefully tried to determine which one was the rock they had seen before.

But as she looked, something gradually felt wrong.

Her expression turned grave. She opened the car window, but wisely did not get out, and called softly to the companions in the next vehicle. “Big Beard, Radish…”

Big Beard lowered his window and glanced outside. He let out a long breath. “Damn near suffocated me. The sandstorm’s finally stopped.”

He was just about to get out when Ye Liuyun immediately said, “Don’t get out!”

Big Beard froze, then looked around warily. A moment later, the same suspicion appeared on his face as had on Ye Liuyun’s. “This place is…”

“Doesn’t it look a lot like the Clos stone formation?” Ye Liuyun said grimly. “We went the wrong way and drove into the lair of the Clos wormbeasts.”

A man as tough as Big Beard now went pale as paper, muttering, “Is heaven refusing to give us a way out…”

Radish was startled senseless as well. His eyes flew wide with panic, and he stammered, “Th-then let’s go! Boss, before the wormbeasts come out, let’s hurry and drive away!”

“You idiot!” Big Beard could not help cursing him. “It would be one thing if we didn’t drive, but once we do, the wormbeasts will sense the vibrations on the ground and come out immediately!”

Shi Xianyu opened her window. Hearing their exchange, she was frightened as well and looked hesitantly at Ye Liuyun. “Sister Ye, are we… are we trapped here now?”