Detected a fluctuation in target character Xiao Yao's affection for the host

She had been thoroughly sickened by that earlier "I'd give you my life" nonsense and her own imagination.

Yet the moment she faced Xiao Yao, he had that punchable look again.

Fortunately, Xiao Yao stopped being obnoxious and reached out to Shen Yunzhi.

"I'll pull you up."

Shen Yunzhi ground her back teeth, furious, and snapped at Xiao Yao, "My leg really hurts. I don't know whether it's broken or dislocated. I can't move."

Xiao Yao paused. Looking at Shen Yunzhi's face, which showed no sign of pain, he recalled the abuse she had suffered as a child.

A girl like her could endure this much pain.

Probably because that couple hadn't let her cry when they beat her, afraid someone would find out.

Xiao Yao had no women particularly close to him.

But at a banquet when he was little, he had seen his younger cousin fall and scrape her leg, and her wailing had filled the entire banquet hall.

The moment she cried, all the elders had been terribly distressed.

They had all crowded around to comfort her.

But Shen Yunzhi surely hadn't had anyone to comfort her.

If she cried and made a fuss, she might even have been beaten worse.

After imagining all that, Xiao Yao suddenly felt like a real jerk.

He coughed to cover it up, bent down, braced himself against the edge of the slope, and jumped down.

Xiao Yao didn't even need to ask Shen Yunzhi to see which leg was injured.

Her entire right calf was bent at an unnatural angle, and it was bleeding.

It did look rather serious.

Xiao Yao frowned, took out his walkie-talkie, and told the production crew what had happened.

The crew had already searched quite far away, so it would take them some time to get there and help.

Xiao Yao put away his walkie-talkie and crouched in front of Shen Yunzhi, noticing that the wound was dirty and caked with soil.

Xiao Yao was going to examine her injury.

Xiao Yao said, "Bear with the pain."

Shen Yunzhi nodded indifferently.

It didn't hurt anyway.

She wore a down jacket on top and loose black trousers below.

Xiao Yao rolled up her right trouser leg to just above her knee.

She had woolen leggings underneath.

They fit rather snugly.

Several ripping sounds rang out.

Xiao Yao tore them straight open.

Another pair of thermal leggings appeared underneath.

Xiao Yao: "..."

He was speechless. "Are you that afraid of the cold?"

Shen Yunzhi was perfectly unapologetic. "So what? Without these layers cushioning it, this injury would've been worse."

Put that way, Xiao Yao had nothing to say.

Considering how miserable Shen Yunzhi was, he refrained from making a snide remark.

Xiao Yao tore open the innermost thermal leggings too, finally revealing the injury in full.

Her ankle was out of position as well. It did look dislocated.

Fortunately, the wound wasn't deep.

Half crouching in front of Shen Yunzhi, Xiao Yao carefully held her calf.

He cleaned away the soil caked around her wound.

Touching the wound was unavoidable.

Yet even though he was so close to Shen Yunzhi,

he didn't hear her cry out in pain, and even her breathing hadn't grown heavier.

It was as if she was holding it in.

Refusing to show her vulnerable side to outsiders.

For some reason, Xiao Yao remembered that Shen Yunzhi had only celebrated her twentieth birthday a little while ago.

She was still a young girl.

Without knowing why, he grew a little gentler as he tended her wound.

Xiao Yao also found a few branches and tied them in place with Shen Yunzhi's scarf to immobilize the dislocation.

Only after finishing everything did Xiao Yao notice that it had begun to snow.

He saw Shen Yunzhi with both hands tucked into her sleeves and her neck hunched down, and remembered how many layers she wore.

Perhaps she really was afraid of the cold.

Xiao Yao crouched again with his back to Shen Yunzhi.

"Get on. There's a ranger's cabin up ahead. We can take shelter and see if there's any medicine."

Already in such a miserable state, Shen Yunzhi didn't stand on ceremony.

She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Xiao Yao's neck.

"Thank you."

Careful not to touch Shen Yunzhi's injury, Xiao Yao hoisted her onto his back before remarking casually,

"You could just snap at me less. That'd mean more than anything."

He only heard Shen Yunzhi huff a couple of times beside his ear.

She sounded a little indignant.

Shen Yunzhi had always had a sharp tongue.

Most of what she said either infuriated people or made them laugh themselves silly.

She seemed heartless, only ever acting bizarre and unhinged.

In truth, even when Shen Yunzhi and he had disliked each other most, she had awkwardly thanked him upon learning that he had called the nightclub security guards.

Xiao Yao gave a quiet chuckle without saying anything and carried Shen Yunzhi to a slope where he could get a foothold.

He told Shen Yunzhi to hold on tightly herself for a moment, then climbed out of the ditch in a few moves.

Winter had arrived, and the rangers had all gone down the mountain.

The cabin was empty.

But since mountain foragers would sometimes come up to gather mountain produce, the door had been left unlocked so they would have somewhere to shelter if anything happened.

The cabin was tiny and very basic, with a coal stove for warmth.

Xiao Yao lit the stove, then rummaged through the cupboards and found some supplies for treating wounds.

Xiao Yao said, "There's iodine solution. I'll disinfect it for you."

Xiao Yao had inexplicably turned serious, carrying her out on his back and then running around tending her injury.

It made Shen Yunzhi feel a little uncomfortable.

Shen Yunzhi cleared her throat, preparing to thank Xiao Yao.

"No one's ever been this good to me. Thank..."

She had barely started saying "thank" when a system notification appeared before her.

[Pain suppression duration: half an hour. Expired.]

A sudden surge of agony erupted from the injury Shen Yunzhi hadn't been able to feel.

From the scraped wound and dislocated ankle, pain shot from her right foot through her entire body.

Shen Yunzhi burst into tears from the pain, but she still remembered her unfinished sentence. "...Thank... thank you, waaah..."

Aaaaaah!

It hurts like hell!!

But to Xiao Yao, it looked like this-she had said, "No one's ever been this good to me," then, as though recalling some miserable past, choked out another "thank you."

Shen Yunzhi had cried.

Yet even with such a serious injury and so much pain earlier, she hadn't cried out.

He had only done something simple, tending her wound, showing her a little kindness.

Yet it had moved Shen Yunzhi, who always armored herself in strength, to tears.

Xiao Yao: "..."

Shen Yunzhi was crying miserably.

Because it really freaking hurt!

Damn this stupid system!

Why couldn't it give her more time?!

Shen Yunzhi had originally wanted to tell Xiao Yao, "Thanks. I'll insult you less from now on."

But it hurt so much she couldn't even finish speaking.

Tears and snot streamed down her face, but because she was pretty, even her crying was pleasing to the eye.

Strings of tears spilled from those beautiful eyes and fell like pearls onto the front of her clothes. Her nose was red, her lashes wet, and a rosy flush spread at the corners of her eyes.

She exuded an indescribable air of brokenness.

She saw that even Xiao Yao's usually casual expression had stiffened somewhat.

Feeling rather embarrassed, Shen Yunzhi could only try to stifle her sobs.

The coal stove's firelight danced across her face, illuminating her tear tracks and vulnerability with particular clarity.

-Shen Yunzhi was actually pretty decent-looking.

Xiao Yao, who was always bickering and messing around with Shen Yunzhi, had no idea why that thought suddenly popped into his head.

He looked away, found some tissues, and handed them to her.

Shen Yunzhi had thoroughly embarrassed herself this time.

Too mortified to speak, she took the tissues Xiao Yao offered and wiped haphazardly at the tears on her face.

She had been about to say something to salvage the situation.

The system notification suddenly sounded.

[Detected a fluctuation in target character Xiao Yao's affection for the host.]

[Affection: +10%]

[To avoid wasting the host's efforts, the considerate Smart Assistant has automatically accepted the romance storyline mission for the host: win over Xiao Yao.]

Shen Yunzhi: "..."

System: "..."