Mu Yuan cleared his throat, a hint of fluster in his tone: "Uh, it must be from the heat of the fire. Since you've caught the fish, then I'll gut them."
Mu Yuan's movements were swift. The two fish were cleaned in no time. Ling Yan found some slender branches and, with a couple of quick snaps, skewered the fish.
He placed them on the simple rack that Mu Yuan had made earlier with slightly thicker branches while gutting the fish.
The fish from this water were unlike ordinary fish, their flesh extremely fatty. Soon, oil started to sizzle out, occasionally dripping onto the fire, causing the pine branches to crackle and the flames to grow brighter.
Mu Yuan stared into the firelight, lost in thought. Ling Yan turned the branches in his hands, roasting the fish, but his gaze couldn't help but drift towards Mu Yuan's face.
Suddenly, Mu Yuan raised his eyebrows and looked at Ling Yan. Their eyes met, but Ling Yan didn't seem awkward. Unable to read Mu Yuan's emotions, he simply and generously handed him the stick he was holding.
"It's done."
Although the fish meat was fresh, without any seasoning, it tasted quite fishy.
Ling Yan thought that although his police equipment space had an outdoor duty kit with survival necessities, including tools for preparing food and seasonings like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, he couldn't take them out in front of Mu Yuan.
Helpless, he gnawed on the fishy meat, wondering why such a large forest didn't even have a wild rabbit. There was nothing else to eat besides fish.
Just as he thought this, he heard a "snap" behind him.
Something had stepped on and broken a branch.
Then, a low growling sound from a wild animal's throat came from above them.
Mu Yuan kept his upper body still, cautiously picked up the sword beside him, and whispered to Ling Yan: "Ling, don't move..."
Ling Yan held his breath. He knew something was behind him.
In this tense moment, Mei's voice suddenly echoed in his consciousness:
[Time's up, Boss! You're so cruel, putting me in time-out for thirty minutes! I almost suffocated!]
[Stop talking nonsense and get to work.]
[Okay, Boss! Detecting a multi-tusked wild boar weighing about two hundred kilograms two meters behind you, charging straight at you. Oh, here it comes!]
Ling Yan communicated with Mei in his mind while simultaneously receiving Mu Yuan's gaze.
The sound of rapid hooves came from behind. With an inexplicable tacit understanding with Mu Yuan, Ling Yan suddenly fell to his left, and Mu Yuan's sword was already at his right side.
The wild boar's strength was astonishing. It charged straight ahead, and Mu Yuan's blade pierced its wide-open mouth, going through the roof of its mouth.
The wild boar's mournful roar echoed through the silent pine forest. But this boar was clearly no ordinary boar; its entire body was covered in purple fur, and four tusks protruded from its mouth.
Even with its mouth pierced, it still relentlessly charged towards Mu Yuan.
Mu Yuan's gaze was firm, his legs in a bow stance, one hand gripping the sword hilt tightly, the other hand pushing forward for leverage.
Ling Yan rolled twice on the ground, steadying himself. Seeing that Mu Yuan was about to be rammed into the water by the boar, he exerted force with his feet and lunged at the boar.
The bristles on the wild boar were truly sharp, piercing skin and flesh.
Ling Yan found it somewhat ridiculous that he, as the captain of the star police team, had ended up wrestling a wild boar with his bare hands after transmigrating into a book.
But in front of Mu Yuan, he couldn't take out more effective weapons from his police equipment space, so he had to resort to brute force.
Ling Yan used all his strength, crashing into the boar and flipping it onto its back. Mu Yuan swiftly pulled his broadsword from the boar's mouth and fiercely stabbed its exposed belly several times.
The wild boar quickly stopped moving. Warm blood soaked Ling Yan's body. With a combination of kicks and shoves, he pushed the boar aside, adjusting his breathing, and with a look of disgust, took off his upper garment again.
It seemed he needed to take a bath in the river.
After taking off his blood-stained shirt, Ling Yan bent down, pulled a strap from the soft armor on the ground, and quickly tied up the dead wild boar. He then said to Mu Yuan in a rather relaxed tone:
"General, we can carry this big guy back for the brothers to have a good meal. You eat the fish first, I'll go wash up."
After speaking, Ling Yan turned to walk towards the water but was suddenly pulled back by Mu Yuan.
Mu Yuan pinned Ling Yan against the trunk of a thick pine tree. Ling Yan looked down at the broadsword, reeking of raw iron and boar blood, its blade now pressed against his throat.
Mu Yuan narrowed his fox-like eyes, leaned closer, and said in a dangerous tone:
"Did you tie up the Imperial Advisor last night?"
Ling Yan straightened his body, his back pressed firmly against the rough tree trunk. He wore a bewildered expression and unconsciously raised his hands:
"Imperial Advisor? What Imperial Advisor? General, what do you mean?"
Mu Yuan glanced again at the wild boar on the ground, a flicker in his eyes.
Goodness, Ling Yan, you're truly meticulous!
Just now, when Mu Yuan saw the way Ling Yan tied up the wild boar, at first glance it looked exactly the same as how he had tied up the Imperial Advisor yesterday. But now, upon closer inspection, there were indeed subtle differences, not the same as how Wang Quan had been bound.
Unexpectedly, Ling Yan left no loopholes in his actions, so flawless!
He had originally thought he could use his current identity to gain an advantage over him, to embarrass him, but now it was he himself who felt awkward.
Sigh, I was too hasty.
A hint of annoyance flickered in Mu Yuan's heart. He lowered the sword in his hand and said vaguely:
"Nothing, I must have misseen."
As he finished speaking, he touched his burning earlobe.
Illuminated by the nearby firelight, his current embarrassed state was completely visible to Ling Yan.
Misseen?
Ling Yan's tongue flicked across his back teeth.
Mu Yuan, seeing Ling Yan's increasingly profound gaze, quickly changed the subject:
"Um, thank you for just now. Are you alright?"
He was referring to the injuries on Ling Yan's body.
The wild boar's bristles were incredibly hard and sharp. During Ling Yan's close encounter with the boar, his body had been covered in blood from thorns and scratching wounds.
But this level of pain and injury was simply commonplace for Ling Yan. He didn't answer Mu Yuan's question.
Now that he was closer, Ling Yan saw Mu Yuan's bloodless face, thinking about his earlier state...
Ling Yan's hands swiftly reached out to support Mu Yuan's shoulders, and with a forceful movement of his waist and abdomen, he pinned him against the tree trunk.
Then, with one hand, he began to unfasten Mu Yuan's soft armor and inner garment.
"What are you doing?"
Mu Yuan's delicate eyebrows furrowed several times. He struggled fiercely, but Ling Yan's strength was extraordinarily great. A chill ran over him as his clothes were peeled open, the cold wind causing him to shiver.
Sigh
Mu Yuan sighed softly.
Indeed, nothing escapes his notice.
Mu Yuan's body went limp, no longer resisting.
In fact, when Ling Yan removed Mu Yuan's soft armor, the bloodstains soaking the inside had already confirmed his suspicion.
When the large bird dropped them just now, Mu Yuan had acted as a cushion for him, the soft armor even breaking. His flesh was likely even more damaged.
Ling Yan unfastened Mu Yuan's inner garment. Seeing his body relax naturally, Ling Yan no longer used brute force and softened his voice:
"General, let me take a look."
A thin layer of sweat had already seeped onto Mu Yuan's forehead, but he seemed not to care, generously turning his body.
As he turned, a gaping, everted wound was exposed on his waist.
Ling Yan's brow twitched, and he narrowed his eyes.
This wound was long and not shallow.
Mu Yuan had traveled such a long distance and had just fought desperately with the wild boar. How much blood had he lost? This was simply reckless!
Ling Yan frowned, reaching out and gently touching the swollen edges of the wound with his fingertips.
Due to his long-term use of various weapons and firearms, there was a thin callus on Ling Yan's fingertips. As it brushed against Mu Yuan's skin, it caused him both pain and an itch.
Mu Yuan's body trembled, and he turned away, avoiding Ling Yan's fingers.
He saw the slightly worried and concerned look in Ling Yan's eyes, forced a weak smile, his body trembling—whether from the wound or the cold—his upper and lower teeth chattering.