Who Wants to Be the Affectionate Cannon Fodder?! [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 34

Outside, the rain had lessened to a fine drizzle, tapping softly against the wild grass. The briny scent of wet earth permeated the air, and the stifling, humid currents seeped into every crevice, making one’s heart feel restless.

After Yu Lin finished speaking, he leaned his upper body back slightly, tilting his head to meet Ning Jinghe’s downward gaze. His rain-dampened hair clung messily to his forehead and cheeks; his eyebrows and lashes were heavy with tiny droplets that, at a glance, shimmered like crushed gold.

If these words had come from anyone else, they would have sounded like flirtation or seduction. Yet Yu Lin’s eyes remained incredibly clean, devoid of any ulterior motives. It was as if he were asking a simple question, yet it stirred Ning Jinghe into a state of overthinking and unrequited sentimentality.

Since yesterday, he had been overthinking constantly.

Ning Jinghe averted his eyes and said dryly, “It is likely your imagination. I am not so vain as to wear cologne while filming a wilderness survival show.”

“But it is definitely your scent.” Yu Lin blinked. As if to prove it to Ning Jinghe, he deliberately brought his wrist to the man’s nose. “You don’t believe me?”

A greenish vein crossed his cool white wrist, branching into a thin thread at the palm line, looking very much like a sprouting twig, vivid and beautiful.

Live Comments:

Let me smell, let me smell! Tonight I’m going to stay up and write a 10,000-word Jing-Xing ABO fanfic. The prompt is: Cedar-scented Alpha!

The way the baby just sniffed his neck was like a puppy. A soggy little puppy drenched by the heavy rain, curiously sniffing the scent of a newcomer. So pure, yet so tempting!

Damn, the height and size difference is amazing. In Breaking Snow, there was a close-up of Ning Jinghe drawing a sword; his palms are so wide and his fingers so long. By comparison, it feels like he could wrap one hand around both of Shen Xingzhuo’s wrists. Gentlemen, I have a dirty thought.

I’m watching a survival show, not a dating show, right? How come the other groups are soaking wet like drowned rats in the pouring rain, and just as I’m feeling sorry for them for thirty seconds, the camera cuts to this pure love scene?

Ning Jinghe was somewhat at a loss for how to respond. Ultimately, the subsiding rain saved him. Feeling awkward, he gently nudged Yu Lin aside and acted as if nothing had happened, pulling the map out of his bag to analyze their route with feigned focus.

Yu Lin showed no emotional fluctuations. He stood wherever he was pushed, his gaze wandering aimlessly. Sometimes it rested on the water dripping from the wood; other times, he tilted his head to watch Ning Jinghe’s meticulously sculpted profile.

Ning Jinghe had a very high bridge to his nose; his brow bone and nose bridge formed an almost perfect right angle. Yu Lin vaguely recalled a compliment Shen Xingzhuo had once given Jiang Shiyan in the original plot. It was something about how men with big noses were also.

He could not remember clearly, and Yu Lin did not particularly care about such things.

Once Ning Jinghe confirmed the route, the two set off again to find a place to stay for the night.

The sky after the rain was gloomy, a gray the color of pigeon down. The soil, saturated with rainwater, was wet and sticky; one half-step of carelessness would sink the toe of a shoe.

Ning Jinghe had intended to slow his pace out of consideration for the wound on Yu Lin’s leg, but the other moved like a man with no injuries at all. He walked briskly, occasionally leaping down from fallen logs, though the splashing mud stained most of his pant legs.

Water was still drifting down from above; it was unclear if it was the last of the rain or droplets falling from the branches.

Live Comments:

I feel like Shen Xingzhuo isn’t actually that pampered. Whether it was catching fish in the water at noon or when he was getting his wound treated, I haven’t heard him complain once. Now he’s just obediently following Ning Jinghe. Why did people say he was arrogant and played the big shot before?

Laughing my head off. Variety shows and shipping pairings are truly the best ways to whitewash a reputation. [Smoking.jpg]

Upstairs, how is this whitewashing? Isn’t it just a fact that he is honestly completing tasks with Ning Jinghe and hasn’t said a single thing he shouldn’t?

Half an hour later, the two finally reached the resting point marked on the map. It was hidden deep in the forest under a rock face, a masterpiece of nature’s craftsmanship. The cave entrance was nearly the height of two adult men, narrowing the further in one went. Several thick wooden logs supported the jagged rocks, though it was unclear which explorer had sought comfort there before.

The ground under the rock was dry and had not been reached by the rain.

Ning Jinghe set down his backpack and found a few dry branches at the back of the cave to light a fire. Sparks flew, and the flames suddenly leaped high.

Wearing rain-soaked clothes was uncomfortable. Ning Jinghe was about to remind Yu Lin to change into dry ones when he turned around and saw him stripping off his shirt, once again ignoring his surroundings.

His bare waist and abdomen were exposed to the flickering firelight, looking like they were coated in beeswax or white porcelain. Shen Xingzhuo did not exercise often, so his body lacked exaggerated muscles. On his lower abdomen were two “vest lines” from being thin, and his slender waist carried not a speck of fat. The two dimples on his lower back appeared exceptionally clear in the contrast between light and shadow.

Ning Jinghe’s eyelid twitched. Then he saw Yu Lin, who had just pulled on a fresh top, about to pull at the waistband of his trousers.

Live Comments:

Is this something I can watch for free? Prprpr (licking sounds).

What are you all waiting for? Take screenshots!

Unexpectedly, Yu Lin’s hand paused. He thought for a moment, then picked up his discarded clothes and tossed them, steadily covering the drone’s camera lens. He even hit it with enough force to make it tilt, nearly causing it to crash.

Yu Lin glanced at Ning Jinghe, who was frowning and hesitating, and said, “Don’t be shy. Go ahead and change.”

“I am not.” Ning Jinghe glanced at the struggling drone and sighed, swallowing his words. He thought to himself: I was originally going to go over and block the view for you.

Nevertheless, he followed suit and changed his clothes.

Yu Lin stole a glance unobtrusively. Ning Jinghe’s frame was much larger than Shen Xingzhuo’s. His shoulders, chest, and abdomen showed clear signs of training, especially the smooth muscles on his broad back, which seemed particularly suited for mounted archery. Yu Lin pinched the thin skin on his own upper abdomen; by comparison, he really looked like a “white-cut chicken.”

“I see the production team prepared two packs of compressed biscuits. We will have to make do with these to fill our stomachs.” Having changed, Ning Jinghe dug out the biscuits hidden behind some rocks at the edge of the cave and sat down on his haunches not far from Yu Lin.

“So stingy.” Yu Lin watched Ning Jinghe tear open the packaging and took a piece with a sullen expression. He took a bite and was nearly choked by the fine powder.

Perhaps because the physical exertion during the day was too great, he became sleepy shortly after sitting down. He didn’t even have the strength left to cough. He sat there feeling lightheaded as if sitting on cotton; even the hard earth looked like a soft bed in his eyes.

The chilly night mountain wind howled. Yu Lin, still holding unfinished biscuit crumbs in his mouth, sluggishly pulled out his sleeping bag and set it down. With a casual fall, he tumbled right in.

Ning Jinghe, sensing his odd state, asked, “What’s wrong?”

Yu Lin buried his head in the sleeping bag: “Probably just sleepy.”

Ning Jinghe stared suspiciously at the back of his head, his gaze sweeping over his flushed neck and ears: “Just sleepy?”

“Mm, and a little cold.”

This cold felt like it was piercing his marrow. Even when there was no wind, he wanted to shiver. Yu Lin curled himself a bit tighter, guessing it was just the temperature drop in the forest at night and that he would be fine once he fell asleep.

However, Ning Jinghe stepped forward, took hold of his head, and pulled him out of the sleeping bag. His other hand pressed against Yu Lin’s forehead.

“You have a fever,” Ning Jinghe said. “What about the wound from noon? Let me see.”

Yu Lin limply moved his leg out of the sleeping bag.

Ning Jinghe rolled up his pant leg and peeled back the dressing soaked with tissue fluid. The state of the wound was slightly better than he had imagined.

“It is likely the wound is inflamed and you were caught in the rain. Do you feel unwell?” Ning Jinghe brushed back his hair and felt Yu Lin’s forehead.

Yu Lin shook his head: “Sleepy. Want to sleep. And cold.”

“Take medicine first, then I will treat your wound again.”

Yu Lin obediently lifted his head and opened his mouth.

Ning Jinghe: “…” I meant for you to take it yourself.

But he still fished out the fever medicine and held the capsule to Yu Lin’s lips. The latter nuzzled against his hand like a puppy to take the capsule into his mouth. His dry, soft lips brushed against Ning Jinghe’s palm. The warm, moist sensation came and went in an instant, yet it left behind an indelible mark.

Ning Jinghe stiffly withdrew his hand. Pursing his lips, he expressionlessly snapped an iodine cotton swab. After disinfecting Yu Lin’s wound again, he applied ointment and gently covered it with a new dressing.

Yu Lin lay on his side in the sleeping bag, his eyes half-closed in a daze. The mountain wind slipped under the rock again, and he began to tremble with cold.

Yu Lin muttered “So cold,” then uncontrollably broke free from Ning Jinghe’s hand to pull his exposed leg back, curling into a tight ball.

He even seemed to accidentally kick Ning Jinghe’s thigh.

But he no longer had the energy to care about such things.

The firelight danced. Ning Jinghe added another piece of wood. The charred wood burst, making a crackling sound.

After a while, Yu Lin felt a shadow fall over his face. It felt as if something had been placed in front of him, followed by an arm draped over him and his cheek pressing against soft fabric.

His bleary eyes snapped open. Instinct drove him to push away whatever was approaching, but under the blurred, soft light, he saw half of a handsome face.

“It is me. Sleep. You shouldn’t be cold now.”

Ning Jinghe held Yu Lin’s shoulder through the sleeping bag, pulling his entire body into his arms.

Yu Lin gave a muffled “Mm” and drifted back into a muddled sleep. But this sleep was not comfortable. One moment, he felt buried in ice and snow; the next, he felt as if he were being roasted over a fire. The clean, crisp scent of cedar drifted from nowhere, wrapping around him firmly, as if he had returned to the “gentle land” of his previous world.

In a trance, someone was pressing his head and holding him in their arms. It was not Ning Jinghe’s body, nor Lin He’s, or rather, it did not feel like a male physique. He just lay there, obedient and docile, held like a ragdoll with no will of its own.

Suddenly, the sound of machinery operating came from behind him. The hands holding him loosened and pulled him back.

“This seems to be the first time you have fallen ill. According to the experimental plan, you should not be getting sick.”

It was a woman’s voice.

Yu Lin discovered his body was very small, like a child’s. He had to strain to look up to see the speaker’s face.

It was a woman with long hair and sharp, striking features.