Chapter 138: Ch 138: Chase and Bandages

While Su Wanyan, Mo Xingxue and PD Xu Cui rested beneath the old trees, chill and relaxed as they gazed at the sleeping omega, Lin Xuanyu was still running wildly, crying as he ran.

He bumped into many villagers along the way, even causing some to falter in their steps and almost fall, but Lin Xuanyu didn’t care. Elbows, shoulders, the corners of baskets—none of it registered beyond the brief impact. He kept running, the grievances of being shouted at still heavy in his chest.

I’ll definitely tell this to CEO Gu! Lin Xuanyu thought inwardly, gritting his lip as tears fell on his cheeks. The path ahead blurred and cleared in uneven cycles; the only fixed point was the need to find Gu Chengze and turn the afternoon’s humiliations into someone else’s problem.

Behind him, the assistant director ran after him, his expression caught between fear and annoyance. Scared because if this matter reached Gu Chengze’s ears, not only his career would be in danger, but also his safety and life. Annoyed because there were too many people in front of him, hindering his pursuit of the omega. Every time a villager stepped into his line of sight he felt the delay like death looming closer.

"Move!" the assistant director snapped as he shoved a villager aside. The man landed hard on his bottom. Nearby villagers immediately gathered around him, steadying his shoulders and casting dark looks toward the assistant director’s retreating back.

"What is with those people?" one villager asked as he helped the fallen man up.

The people around them shook their heads. "This is why I was against letting outsiders get in our village," one woman said, glaring after the assistant director.

"They must think that we’re easy to bully because we are from a small village, right?" another man added, his tone dripping with disapproval. The villagers around them echoed the sentiment, voices overlapping in quiet, shared resentment. By the time the dust settled, the conclusion had already formed: the outsiders acted with the same rudeness, the same entitlement.

Unbeknownst to the other guests, staff, and PD Xu Cui, they had been collectively ostracized because of Lin Xuanyu’s little tantrum. The village paths that had been merely unfamiliar an hour ago were beginning to close.

Just then, the three staff members who were running after the assistant director and Lin Xuanyu stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of so many villagers gathered in their pathway. One of them craned his neck, searching for any sign of the assistant director’s figure or Lin Xuanyu’s, but the crowd and the winding path offered nothing.

The staff member scratched his head roughly. "We lost them," he said, the frustration plain in the way he dragged his fingers through his hair.

The other two rested their hands on their knees and panted. "Go ask a villager, hurry," one of them managed between labored breaths.

The first man nodded and approached a villager. "Excuse me, sir," he called, drawing the man’s attention without realizing the ground he was stepping onto.

The busy discussion among the villagers stopped at once. Every pair of eyes turned toward him. The staff member felt the shift and found it strange, but he pushed the unease aside and managed a tired but professional smile.

"Sir, have you seen a man with a beard and a beanie running after a delicate-looking man?" he asked, already cringing at how poorly the description landed once it left his mouth.

Hearing that, the villagers frowned as they looked at him. The man he had addressed huffed and crossed his arms. "Why, you with them?" he asked, his tone already grown harsh.

Although confused by the hostility, the staff member nodded. "Yes, sir. Have you seen them by any chance?" His voice brightened with the hope that recognition might still produce useful information.

Hearing the confirmation, the man scoffed again and glanced at the villagers behind him, sending them a short nod. The staff member took an unconscious step back, the sense that something had turned against him sharpening.

Then the man faced him once more, a cold smirk in place. "We did see them alright," he said—and grabbed the staff member’s collar.

"Eh?!" The staff member yelped, startled by the sudden contact. Hearing the exclamation, the other two staff members looked up and hurried to his side.

"Tell those friends of yours that if they have a problem with us, tell that to our faces," the man said through gritted teeth. The crowd behind him echoed the sentiment in a low, unified murmur. The three staff members looked at one another, the confusion on their faces identical and complete.

Before any of them could form a question, the man pushed the first staff member back, bumped past him, and walked away. The crowd followed, returning to their interrupted lives with the clear message that the conversation was over.

The staff member fixed his collar and looked at his co-workers, still processing the exchange. The same unspoken question sat in all three of them.

What the hell was that?

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Meanwhile, in the bus outside of the indifferent—Jingxue’s—man’s house, the two alphas laid the unconscious Gu Chengze down on the floor of the bus.. specifically the pathway one.

The aisle was narrow. Gu Chengze’s shoulders nearly touched the bases of the seats on either side. One arm had fallen palm-up; the other was trapped awkwardly under his own weight. Blood had dried in uneven patches along his collar and the corner of his mouth. Without the earlier arrogance holding his features in place, he looked smaller, almost.. ordinary.

"Won’t he get sick because of this?" Qin Yuran asked as she sat down on a seat, wiping the sweat that had gathered on her forehead. The effort of carrying him out of the forest still sat in her shoulders and the backs of her arms.

In response, Zhao Yichen turned to her and shook his head. "Nah, trust me, he won’t," he said with a grin.

Qin Yuran looked at that confident expression of his and back to Gu Chengze on the floor. "You’re right. His skin is thick as fuck, after all."

The remark pulled a snicker out of Zhao Yichen. He turned away and began searching for the first-aid kit PD Xu Cui had mentioned, opening overhead compartments and checking under seats with the half-hearted thoroughness of someone who wanted the task finished rather than done well. After a minute, Qin Yuran followed his example and started to search as well, moving toward the front of the bus.

After a while, Qin Yuran spotted the kit near the driver’s seat. She shook her head. "Why didn’t I search here before?" she lamented out loud before turning toward Zhao Yichen. "Dumbo," she called.

"Huh?" Zhao Yichen let out, still half-buried in a side compartment.

Qin Yuran snickered. "So you admit you’re dumb?"

Zhao Yichen only took the first-aid kit from her hands and rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah," he said, already focused on getting the whole thing over with so he could reunite with Han Jiho.

The plastic case clicked open under his thumbs. Inside, the contents were packed with the impersonal neatness of something that had never been used in a real emergency: sealed cotton balls, rolled gauze, antiseptic wipes, ointment tubes, medical tape, scissors still in their protective sleeve.

Qin Yuran sat back down on the seat she had claimed earlier. "So, what do we do now?" she asked, watching Zhao Yichen’s busy figure.

Zhao Yichen took out the cotton balls and gauze, then simply tipped the rest of the kit’s contents onto the floor beside Gu Chengze’s shoulder. Packets and rolls scattered in a small, chaotic pile. He turned to Qin Yuran. "I don’t know what to put, so I’m just going to put all of these on."

He said it with the calm confidence of someone who had never been responsible for another person’s recovery. He did not know that the decision would, before long, send Gu Chengze’s cries across half the village.

Also unaware, Qin Yuran nodded. "Yeah, do that." She picked up a roll of gauze. "I’ll help you finish this early."

The two of them began to work—tearing open packets, pressing cotton against dried blood, wrapping gauze with more enthusiasm than accuracy. Neither of them checked which ointment was meant for what. Neither of them considered that an unconscious man could still feel pain once the antiseptic met open skin.

The bus remained quiet except for the soft sounds of packaging and the occasional shift of Gu Chengze’s weight against the aisle floor.

Outside, the village continued its ordinary rhythm. Inside, two alphas methodically prepared a recovery that would be anything but gentle.. and the man on the floor, still lost to consciousness, had no way of knowing what was about to wake him.

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BRO, I ALMOST MISSED THE UPDATE SHI! I WAS BUSY WITH SOMETHING Y’ALL! I’M SO SORRY!

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Nevermind! LMAOO!