NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2: Bandits’ Attack
"Father! Mother!" The young woman reached out to her parents and struggled to break away from the bandit's arms but was slapped by the robber sitting behind her.
He grabbed the woman's chest wantonly and licked her neck as his hot and foul breath enveloped her when he said, "Little slut, be obedient. Otherwise, I will do you in front of your parents' corpses!"
The young woman was so frightened by the bandits' actions and words that she could only tremble all over and cried in silence. Besides her, most of the young women in the village suffered the same fate. They were either caught by bandits or died protecting their innocence while the men were being killed.
Amidst the panicked screams and the sound of horse hooves, Duan Yixin felt a headache that made her ears ring. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes, only to see raging fire destroying the houses made of straw and wood.
She felt dizzy and confused when she saw people running for their lives as if devils chased them. Before she could sort out her chaotic thoughts, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her up from the ground forcefully.
"Xin Xin, get up! Hurry up!"
She looked at the young woman who grabbed her arm while dragging her as the two of them ran towards the mountain. Duan Yixin became even more confused when she saw the frail young woman in front of her desperately run and turn around in panic from time to time.
More than an hour later, the two of them were hiding under a bush in the mountain foothills, breathing heavily. The young woman looked at Duan Yixin, saw the blood on the back of her head, and exclaimed in horror, "Xin Xin, you are bleeding!"
Duan Yixin reached out and touched the back of her head. When her fingers touched the sticky spot on her hair, she hissed in pain. Seeing her painful expression, the young woman panicked and asked anxiously, "Xin Xin, are you alright? Can you hold on for a while? We must hide here and wait until the bandits leave our village before we can go home."
Before Duan Yixin could answer her, she felt her headache getting worse. The next second, her vision went dark, and she fell to the ground and then fainted, shocking the young woman.
"Xin Xin! Open your eyes, Xin Xin!" The young woman exclaimed as her face instantly turned pale.
A few hours later, when Duan Yixin regained consciousness, it was already morning. Before she could clearly see the situation around her, she heard the voice of a young woman next to her sighing in relief.
"Thank God, you are finally awake, Xin Xin. You really scared me to death. I thought you would die of high fever like my younger brother."
Duan Yixin turned to look at her and asked in a hoarse voice, "Who are you?"
The young woman's eyes filled with tears after hearing her words. She grabbed Duan Yixin's hand and said worriedly, "Xin Xin, don't you remember me? I'm Chi Xinru. We grew up together, and our grandfathers are also good friends."
Duan Yixin stared at Chi Xinru for a while, shook her head, and said, "I'm sorry, I really don't know who you are."
Hearing her answer, Chi Xinru cried anxiously, "What should we do? The fever really burns your brain."
While Chi Xinru was crying and talking to herself, Duan Yixin closed her eyes, trying to recall what had happened before she lost consciousness. When she remembered that she was dead after the injection of the liquid chip, she opened her eyes suddenly, frightening Chi Xinru.
"Are you– are you okay, Xin Xin? What's wrong?" Chi Xinru asked as she patted her rapidly beating heart.
Duan Yixin pushed herself up, sat on the cold ground, and then looked at her body, which was covered with only a few scratches, and thought to herself, 'I had injected the liquid chip into my body, and it is impossible for me to survive without going through the synchronization process. What happens after I die? How am I still alive?'
Full of doubts, she looked around and found herself sitting in a small cave. She glanced at Chi Xinru and her clothes again, then she frowned, lowered her eyes, and thought, 'I have never seen this kind of clothes. Could it be that I was transported to another place without knowing it? So what about Captain Yu and the others? Are they still alive? If that is the case, then I have to find them as soon as possible.'
Seeing that her best friend was deep in thought, Chi Xinru said carefully, "Xin Xin, the bandits have left our village. We should go back now."
After coming back from her thoughts, Duan Yixin glanced at Chi Xinru, nodded, and said, "All right."
Duan Yixin stood up from the ground with Chi Xinru's help, and then the two of them left the small cave. They walked for nearly two hours before they saw the village in the distance. Seeing the thick smoke still rising in the village, Chi Xinru's eyes turned red, but she still smiled and said, "Can you hold on for a little longer? We're almost there."
"Don't worry, I'm fine."
Not long after, the two arrived at the village. When the villagers saw them, a middle-aged woman quickly shouted, "Madam Chi, your daughter is still alive! She is back!"
Soon, Chi Xinru's mother rushed over. Her face, which was covered with black ashes and dirt, was full of joy. Seeing that her mother was still alive, Chi Xinru let go of Duan Yixin's arm and rushed towards her mother.
"Mother!"
"My daughter, you are still alive! Thank God! If something happens to you, mother won't be able to live anymore!"
Watching the mother and daughter hugging each other and crying, Duan Yixin looked away. She looked calmly at the villagers who had survived the bandits' attack and saw that most of them looked sad, and their eyes filled with despair.