Chapter 402 - 398: Fortunate

Chapter 402: Chapter 398: Fortunate

’How many days has it been since I last washed? There are bloodstains—my own, and the enemy’s... Even I can’t stand the smell. I’d better not get it on Nuannuan...’ As he thought this, his mind told him to step back, but his heart’s reluctance was plain to see. He stared with infinite regret and longing at the Jia Ren so close to him. In Gu Nuan Nuan’s eyes, that look made him seem utterly improper.

"I’m trying to be serious with you. What exactly happened in your past life?"

Gu Nuan Nuan grew annoyed. ’How did he become like this in this lifetime?’ In their past life, even though he was more cunning and calculating than most, he always managed to maintain a dignified facade. ’Why is he acting this way now?’ She wanted to yell at him, but her brow furrowed at the sight of the bloodstains covering his clothes. Her intended angry outburst softened into a question tinged with both irritation and helplessness.

"Our past life—"

At the mention of this, all romantic notions vanished from Luo Hongyi’s mind. A bitter, grief-stricken smile touched his lips. "It was this same mission. Because of faulty intel, not only did we fail to complete it, but in the end, only Fourth and I made it back. We were in far, far worse shape then than we are now, just barely hanging on by a thread. If we hadn’t been so desperate to get home, clinging to the idea that we had to be buried in our own soil, we would never have been able to keep pushing each other on. We probably wouldn’t have survived."

Luo Hongyi’s hand clenched into a fist, tightening unconsciously until the veins bulged. His eyes turned red, and his expression grew almost savage. But in Gu Nuan Nuan’s eyes, it wasn’t scary at all. On the contrary, her own heart seized in pain. Her eyes welled with tears as she reached out and took his hand. Luo Hongyi relaxed at once, turning his hand to grip hers tightly, as if drawing strength from her.

Even so, he struggled for a long time before he could regain his composure. He took a deep breath. "In the end, the two of us made it back, but the other three..."

He trailed off, inhaling and exhaling deeply again. Finally, tears he could no longer control streamed from his eyes.

A long, heavy silence fell.

Gu Nuan Nuan lowered her head, her own tears falling like a string of pearls to the ground. Her voice was unavoidably hoarse. "You never mentioned any of this back then..."

An unavoidable pain stabbed at her heart, and along with it came a deep wave of guilt.

She couldn’t help but reflect on her own actions once again. ’I didn’t do well in our last life, either. If only I had been truly strong from the start and had the courage to say "no" to his family’s improper behavior...’ She never understood back then. He didn’t need a clinging vine; he needed a steadfast pillar of support. The kind of support that would let him fight for his life on the battlefield without being distracted by worries or troubles back home.

He reached up and gently wiped the tears from Gu Nuan Nuan’s face, his expression softening with infinite tenderness. A helpless, doting, and yet bitter smile touched his lips as he sighed. "What would have been the point of talking about it? What good would it do, other than making you worry and feel sad like this? And... regulations didn’t permit me to say much, anyway."

In an instant, the tears Gu Nuan Nuan had just stemmed began to gush out once more.

"A whole lifetime has passed, and you still haven’t changed. Still such a crybaby, huh?" Luo Hongyi felt his large hand was no match for Gu Nuan Nuan’s ceaseless tears, and he sighed in helpless resignation. "You’re one to talk! Look at yourself," Gu Nuan Nuan retorted. She took out a handkerchief to wipe her eyes, then pulled out a second one and tossed it to him. Luo Hongyi’s face flushed for a second before he broke into a shameless grin. He caught the clean handkerchief but held onto it without using it. Instead, he plucked the one she’d just used from her grasp and dabbed it against his own eyes for show.

Luo Hongyi wrapped the damp handkerchief inside the clean one, carefully folded them together, and tucked the bundle into his inner pocket. When he looked up, he saw Gu Nuan Nuan staring at him, her eyes wide with indignation. He rubbed his nose and chuckled sheepishly. "Why be so wasteful? You already used this one, so we might as well share. There’s no need to dirty both and waste water washing an extra handkerchief."

Gu Nuan Nuan: "..."

She secretly pouted. She wanted to say something, but ultimately just pursed her lips tightly. After a moment, she couldn’t hold back anymore and asked, "What happened then?"

"Then? Then we barely made it across the border before we collapsed, unable to hold on any longer."

The wave of intense emotion had passed for Luo Hongyi, and he sounded much calmer as he continued. He glanced toward the Alliance, then looked back at Gu Nuan Nuan with a sigh. "We were a terrifying sight. With the region being so unstable, the border guards almost mistook us for people trying to cross over illegally because we couldn’t make it on the other side. But seeing how ghastly we looked, they acted out of humanitarian spirit and didn’t overthink it. They sent us straight to the local public hospital. But what kind of major emergencies could ordinary doctors in a place like that have ever seen? They took one look at us and declared us beyond saving."

Luo Hongyi pouted with a mix of disdain and smugness. "I found out later, luckily, that I remembered to send a signal right before I passed out. Our guys found us in the nick of time. That’s why we were immediately flown by private jet to Beijing, accompanied by the area’s top doctors, to receive the best care—instead of being sent to the crematorium. Heh. I hadn’t even met you back then. Dying like that would have been a terrible injustice."

Gu Nuan Nuan’s eye twitched, but she managed to hold back from snapping at him.

He continued with a sigh, "But in the end, Fourth’s injuries were too severe. His body was fundamentally damaged, and he had to leave us. I was in better shape, but I still spent over six months—almost a year—in the hospital. And even though I seemed to have mostly recovered on the surface, I knew my own strength and stamina had inevitably regressed. If I hadn’t stumbled upon those Internal Cultivation Methods later on, the man I became afterward might never have existed."

This time, Luo Hongyi’s gaze fell on a certain spot in Nan’an Country. "After all, I received a huge benefit from them. This time, the other four were able to hold on this long because they had practiced those Internal Cultivation Methods in advance. Of course, your contribution was even greater. If it weren’t for that life-saving medicine you gave me last time, this mission..." ’It would have been another disaster, another regret.’

As he spoke, he felt a secret, immense sense of relief.

Hearing this, Gu Nuan Nuan couldn’t help but feel the same secret sense of relief.