ITF Chapter78

But Bai Heting quickly realized that it was not Luo Wanyin’s hand.

He had never touched Luo Wanyin’s hand, yet he was absolutely certain that Luo Wanyin’s palm could not be this broad, nor could his fingers be so powerful, gripping him until his knuckles gave a faint throb of pain.

It was a hand that had developed layers of thick calluses from years of riding and archery.

It was a hand he was very familiar with, one that could give him a sense of security.

His lower back was pressed from behind, and immediately after, his body was pulled into an equally familiar embrace.

Bai Heting lifted his heavy eyelids as Luo Congye’s face drew close.

A string of transparent bubbles surged from between their lips, floating lightly toward the surface of the sea. Luo Congye’s lips were icy from the seawater, his short black hair drifting slowly in the currents, while the sea behind him stretched out like a crystal-clear aquamarine mirror.

Bai Heting blinked his eyes sluggishly and slowly a few times.

Was this an illusion?

Or reality?

He couldn’t tell.

After passing him this breath of air, Luo Congye gently patted his face.

Bai Heting’s expression was still very dazed, but his two arms lifted without a thought, returning the embrace around the broad back of the person in front of him.

*

Fresh air surged into his lungs for the first time in a long while. Bai Heting leaned against Luo Congye’s shoulder, panting heavily for a moment. Once his breathing steadied slightly, Luo Congye guided him to swim over to the side of a boat before pulling up one of his hands and placing it on a rope ladder.

“Do you have the strength to climb?” Luo Congye asked.

Bai Heting’s face remained devoid of color, but he gave a crisp nod. Luo Congye followed behind him to climb onto the boat. Before he could even stow the rope ladder, Bai Heting, who was kneeling on the deck, suddenly raised his knees and shifted a large step toward the edge of the boat.

This boat was even smaller than the one he had arrived on, with a shallower draft. His violent movement caused the hull to tilt toward his side instantly.

Luo Congye hurriedly dropped things in his hands and reached out far to catch his arm.

He said in alarm, “What are you doing?”

Bai Heting braced both hands on the low gunwale and leaned forward, peering down into the deep, dark sea below.

It was impossible to see the bottom at a single glance.

His gaze was vacant, and as if talking to himself, he murmured in a low voice, “The dagger.”

Luo Congye looked at him inexplicably, “What dagger?”

Bai Heting did not reply, but leaned half his body out over the gunwale, looking for all the world as if he were ready to plunge back into the water. Luo Congye yanked him back, scolding him in a deep voice, “You’ll capsize the boat doing that!”

Bai Heting paid no attention to his words, his ten fingers locked around the gunwale in a death grip, refusing to loosen. He remembered clearly that when he had fallen into the water, the dagger had been in his hand; but now it was nowhere to be found.

That flame-patterned dagger, which had changed hands between him and Luo Congye several times, had been lost just like that in the vast, boundless sea.

Now, he couldn’t even keep hold of a single inanimate object.

He forcefully shook off Luo Congye’s hand, stubbornly set on jumping into the sea, which instantly made Luo Congye anxious.

“What’s so rare about a broken dagger?” Wrapping his arms around Bai Heting’s waist from behind, he locked him dead-tight into his embrace, “I’ll make you a new one, alright?”

His chest was pressed tightly against Bai Heting’s back, his urgent heartbeat thudding like a drum against him.

“If you don’t like one made by me…” He paused briefly, pressing his chin onto Bai Heting’s shoulder, dropping his voice a little as his tone softened, “Then I’ll find the best craftsman on the island to make one for you. Whatever style you want, I’ll have him make it exactly like that, alright?”

Bai Heting turned his head to look at him for a few seconds as if snapping awake from a dream and abruptly withdrew his hands from the gunwale.

Luo Congye released him, moved a step to the side on one knee, seized Bai Heting by both shoulders, and forcibly turned his body around.

“Look at me.” Facing Bai Heting, he cupped his face with both hands and forced the lowered head back up, making him look directly at him. “I regret it,” he said. Meeting Bai Heting’s gaze, his expression grave, he enunciated slowly, “Bai Heting, I won’t allow you to leave anymore.”

Their water-soaked clothes clung clammily to their bodies, and as the sea breeze blew past, the chill cut to the bone. Bai Heting’s body shuddered uncontrollably, only to be pulled into Luo Congye’s embrace once more.

“I didn’t sleep at all last night, and I realized that letting you go is even more painful than being killed by you.” His chest felt tight and heavy. Luo Congye gritted his teeth, feeling his throat constrict until even articulating words became difficult, “If they insist on tearing you to pieces, then I’ll keep you locked in my room. It won’t matter whether you’re willing or not, and crying won’t change anything.” Pressing Bai Heting’s head onto his shoulder so he wouldn’t have to look at his expression, his tone was firm and unyielding, “You are not permitted to go anywhere. I endured humiliation and heavy burdens for you for so many years; now, it’s your turn to endure it for me.”

The sails billowed fully in the wind, and the wooden boat; now without a helmsman, drifted aimlessly across the sea. Luo Congye did not know what Bai Heting would say; perhaps he would coldly refute him, or perhaps he would fly directly into a rage at him. But Bai Heting said nothing at all, merely letting all his strength go and leaning quietly in his embrace for a while.

After a long time, he spoke up, “How did you find your way here?”

Luo Congye also quieted down. Out on the vast ocean, even the slightest deviation would have led him entirely astray. Before setting out, he had only been holding on to a faint sliver of hope, with no certainty at all that he could catch up to Chen Qiao’s vessel.

He buried his face in the crook of Bai Heting’s neck, his voice muffled and faintly listless as he said, “This is the navigation route back to your fishing village.”

Understanding dawned on Bai Heting, and he questioned him no further.

It seemed those four men had already prepared a story in advance; they would return him “safely” to the fishing village and might even manufacture some evidence to prove that his future disappearance had nothing to do with them.

Weary, he closed his eyes and curled into Luo Congye’s embrace. Their damp clothes, soaked by wind and seawater, felt icy cold against the skin, yet the embrace itself was as warm and steady as a furnace.

He raised a hand to touch the back of Luo Congye’s shoulder, then reached toward the back of his neck to peel away the water-soaked suppressor patch.

“Give me some pheromones.” He said softly.

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