Ye Chuqi's smile deepened. Bracing herself against the tree trunk, she watched the Bone-Rot Soldier Ants draw closer. "Shut the door and wipe out the ants." They were almost upon her. "If you don't leave now, it'll be too late."
"What can I do?" Kang Nan had no idea what Ye Chuqi intended, but his instincts told him he shouldn't simply leave.
"That works too." Ye Chuqi jumped down from the branch. Despite the height, she drifted down like a feather and landed before Kang Nan, stirring only a breeze that brushed his bangs. "Stand right here without moving. Do you dare?"
Ye Chuqi pointed Kang Nan to a spot beneath a tree a few steps away. It looked like nothing special.
Behind Ye Chuqi, a black tide of Bone-Rot Soldier Ants surged closer, as though it could swallow her slight figure at any moment.
Kang Nan felt the hand holding his little packet of medicine tremble. Yet under Ye Chuqi's bright gaze, he somehow heard himself say, "All right." He regretted it at once. The Bone-Rot Soldier Ants were already upon them. At this distance, even he would have to fight desperately to escape—if it wasn't too late already. Despair filled him.
Ye Chuqi earnestly reminded him, "Don't move. If you do, you'll die."
Kang Nan swallowed hard. His throat felt dry enough to catch fire, and the little packet in his hand seemed like his only lifeline. He nearly crushed it to powder. He dared not move, but every instinct urged him to run. He felt torn in two, struggling between ice and fire.
Seeing Kang Nan's expression, as solemn as if he were about to march to his death, Ye Chuqi couldn't help smiling. She walked to the middle of the narrow path worn by footsteps and