Shen Mingyue’s fingertips dug deep into Gu Jinghong’s cold palms, as if they were her only anchor in this vast, hopeless predicament. She held her breath, counting his faint, intermittent heartbeats; each interval felt like an agonizing trial, pushing her nerves to the brink of collapse. From the distant rainforest, the low, rumbling roars grew clearer, shaking the sandy ground beneath them. A foul, fishy sweetness mixed with the stench of damp, rotting leaves filled the air, nauseating in its intensity. Within that odor, there was a faint, metallic tang—a harbinger of impending danger.
Frantic, she tore the last remaining strip of fabric from her skirt and, with trembling hands, tightened the dressing on the bone-deep wound on Gu Jinghong’s back. Beneath the blood-soaked rags, purple toxic veins spread like wicked vines toward his heart at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if the footsteps of death were drawing ever closer. Each fraction of an inch the poison advanced tightened the knot in Shen Mingyue’s chest; she dared not imagine the consequences if it reached his heart.
"Hold on," she whispered, her voice choking. She pressed the remaining half of the Jade Pendant against his bloodless lips. The cold jade highlighted the horrific shade of his purple-tinged mouth. Suddenly, the pendant emitted a faint hum, as if answering an ancient call, and began to point slowly toward a patch of glowing, eerie-blue vines deep in the rainforest. Under the hazy moonlight, the faint …
Chapter 48