The Wealthy Heiress Wants to Date Me - Chapter 10

The elongated bird calls continued, a rhythmic cackle-cackle-cackle…

In the dense woods, it sounded eerie, creating the illusion of someone hiding in the darkness, laughing at them.

Cui Fu was busy hacking away at the vines and chest-high wild grass blocking their path, while Xie Changran used her stick to beat the underbrush, coordinating with her. A line tethered them together, yet each was occupied with their own task. Looking at Cui Fu’s back, Xie Changran didn’t feel as afraid anymore.

Coming across more plantain trees, Cui Fu casually chopped down two. She used her knife to quickly split the trunks, keeping the top section and treating the rest like sugarcane.

“Take a bite like this; it’s full of water. The core of the plantain tree is a source of clean water,” Cui Fu instructed, teaching Xie Changran how to eat the plantain hearts while explaining which parts could fill the stomach and which provided hydration. Aside from the tender center, the inner-outer layers were perfect for extracting moisture.

Xie Changran imitated her, taking a bite and chewing a dozen times until the moisture was gone before spitting out the pulp. She was incredibly obedient, and Cui Fu was very satisfied with an employer who listened.

Spiders on the branches scurried toward them, illuminated by Xie Changran’s light; whenever one got too close, Cui Fu crushed it with her boot. Xie Changran watched her movements, a grateful smile appearing on her face.

“Eat while we walk. Time waits for no one,” Cui Fu said, taking a crisp bite of a plantain heart.

From above the rainforest, the two looked like insignificant fireflies, emitting a faint, negligible glow. Behind them, a group of men armed with guns and dogs was already closing in.

“Woof!”

Cui Fu stopped in her tracks, her eyes scanning like a hawk toward the source of the sound, her face turning cold and hard. That earth-shattering bark caused Xie Changran’s legs to go weak—how were they so fast?

Cui Fu squinted and scanned the area. The pursuers were catching up. Fortunately, she hadn’t cleared a path at the outermost edge of their current location, which might briefly confuse them.

“Let’s go, we need to pick up the pace.” Cui Fu grabbed Xie Changran’s hand and began to run through the jungle.

Luckily, this stretch of ground was flat, without too many tripping hazards like fallen logs or tangled vines. Their footsteps sounded crisp and loud as they stepped on dry leaves, occasionally crushing insects that were chasing them. Cui Fu swung her blade, her black knife swiftly severing grass and vines, and the two quickly put distance between themselves and the sound.

They reached the bank of a river. Cui Fu charged to the water’s edge and stared at the opposite bank, wondering what was hidden beneath the murky water. A snake swam rapidly across the current.

Cui Fu opened her backpack and pulled out a compressed black bag. Once opened, it revealed a 1.2-meter emergency life raft. It was tightly compressed; Cui Fu gave it a hard shake, and the raft instantly filled halfway with air. She blew into it forcefully a few times, and the raft puffed up. Xie Changran watched in a daze—in just a minute or two, she had produced a “boat”?

Ignoring her surprise, Cui Fu pushed the raft into the water and helped Xie Changran climb in carefully.

“Give me your stick,” Cui Fu requested. Xie Changran immediately handed it over.

With a thrust of the stick against the riverbed, the life raft moved forward as Cui Fu paddled upstream. Xie Changran’s headlamp was switched off; the two of them seemed to vanish, hidden by the river.

Splash. The sound of the wooden stick slicing through the water echoed in the night, stroke after stroke. By the time they rounded a bend, the barking of dogs and the sound of running had reached the edge of the woods they just left.

Xie Changran’s heart rose into her throat. She gripped Cui Fu’s clothes with both hands, looking back in fear, terrified that those men might start firing indiscriminately.

They moved quickly, drifting one or two kilometers away before the men even reached the bank. This was the speed of an emergency raft, and the river breeze gave them an extra push. In this water-rich region, one could easily be trapped without a flexible small boat, especially when fleeing for one’s life.

A crocodile poked its head above the surface. Cui Fu immediately gripped her gun, watching as the crocodile silently submerged back into the depths. Her goggles allowed her to see everything clearly: animals drinking by the shore, crocodiles and snakes surfacing in the water.

Xie Changran could see nothing, so she pressed herself tightly against Cui Fu. Cui Fu didn’t stop her; as long as the girl stayed quiet and didn’t panic, it was the greatest help she could provide.

The river channel was a rare open space. The center of the river wasn’t completely covered by trees, and the smell of raw water was heavy, growing stronger with the wind. The wind eventually dried the clothes on their backs. After several more bends in the river, Xie Changran relaxed significantly. The sound of flowing water became rhythmic, and for a moment, it actually felt peaceful.

Xie Changran’s head began to nod. Soon, she leaned against the backpack on Cui Fu’s back and fell into a deep sleep.

Cui Fu watched the surroundings alertly. Under the night sky, a leopard stood on a branch, its eyes meeting hers. The jungle leopard stood elegantly on the wood, watching Cui Fu with haunting eyes as she drifted past, seemingly pondering what this strange object was.

“Roque, they’re gone.” Lucerne stood beside the captain, his headlamp shining on the footprints on the ground. They gazed at the opposite jungle, seeing nothing.

Roque frowned. This opponent was too troublesome. She carefully examined the direction of the footprints, trying to judge whether the targets had entered the jungle across the river or fled along the water.

Throughout this pursuit, the opponent had constantly misled them—sometimes clearing a path, sometimes not, frequently changing directions. They were being led in circles. Roque narrowed her eyes and contacted the other two squads, who were hunting in flanking directions; perhaps they could intercept them.

“Roque, what do we do next?” Lucerne asked.

“Cross the river,” Roque ordered directly.

The team gathered materials on the spot and built a raft with extreme speed, pushing it into the water. Four men sat on the raft with the supplies, while the others moved alongside it in the water with the hunting dogs to ensure everyone’s safety. Those on the raft kept watch as the dogs and men pulled it to the other side.

Ten minutes later, the group stood on the opposite bank. Five search dogs shook their bodies dry and stood panting, waiting for the humans to get ready. The greatest advantage of search dogs was their extreme sensitivity to human scent.

The scent on Xie Changran’s old clothes had vanished, but her own scent hadn’t completely disappeared. Even though Cui Fu had masked it, the dogs could still find faint traces; it would just be slower.

Roque gripped her gun, waiting for them to change their wet clothes before setting off again. The dogs sniffed everywhere in the woods but found nothing. Roque saw no human tracks either, and her brow knit into a tight knot.

“Spread out. Check the riverbank for any signs of them landing,” Roque pointed to two members who hadn’t entered the water and sent them to scout.

A few minutes later, they ran back. “Roque, there’s nothing. It looks like they never came ashore.”

Roque’s face darkened, her eyes narrowing. “Contact the boss. They’ve fled along the river.”