Although Renee couldn't see who it was, she had to do something. "Hold on, I'll save you!" She put the torch in her mouth, planning to tear away the vines to see what was going on. "Don't move!" Stefan's voice came from behind her suddenly. He held her shoulders, stopping her from moving forward. Shocked, Renee turned around. She sighed in relief when she saw Stefan. "Where did you come from?""I was tricked when I used this path just now." Even in the dark, Stefan looked pale and weak. "What... What's wrong with you?" Renee asked hesitantly. "I got curious and tore off those vines, then I got bitten." Stefan sounded weaker as he spoke, and his body swayed for a while until he leaned against a boulder beside him."You got bitten?" Renee looked at the vines in confusion. "Wasn't someone calling for help? How did you get bitten?""It wasn't a human but an animal." Stefan coughed as his breathing grew shallow. "That animal… is quite rare. It's a human-shaped snake that lives in
"I'm not important!" Stefan protested hoarsely. "Go look for Adie first. I can still hold on.""You look like you're about to pass out. How can you hold on?" Renee ignored Stefan and insisted on helping him downhill. "Let's go back to the campsite. I've got to get you off the island and into a hospital." If Stefan really had been bitten by a narserial, it was very serious. Renee had read about an animal like that in ancient books like Legends of the Mountains and Seas. Although its existence was still questioned, it was indeed poisonous. If one was bitten by it, they had to be treated immediately or it could be fatal. Adie's safety was important, but Stefan's condition was more urgent. After some deliberation, Renee decided to send Stefan to the hospital first."I… I'm fine!" Stefan pushed Renee away, urging her to look for Adie. "I've searched the entire mountain except this path, so he has to be here. If you don't look for him now, he might go missing again when you want to come ba
"What did you see through?" Renee asked eagerly. This was the first time Stefan was speaking about this since he disappeared, so she was desperate to find out the truth."I… I…" Stefan muttered faintly, his head slipping down to Renee's shoulder. "What is it? Tell me!" Renee demanded impatiently, but she got no response from Stefan. In fact, she could feel his full weight now. He had probably been trying not to lean on her completely earlier, but now, he was too weak to support himself. Renee struggled a little under his weight, panting as she carried him. "Hold on—we'll talk once I catch my breath." Renee couldn't carry him any longer. She found a boulder and tried to lean Stefan against it, but his body slid down and dropped to the ground the moment she let go of him. "Stefan! Stefan!" Renee panicked and squatted down to shake him, and only then did she realize that he had fainted. His face was deathly pale, and his lips had turned a horrible blue-black colour. It was clear that
Renee had been so focused on Stefan that she hadn't noticed her dear Adie a few feet ahead of her. If not for Stefan, Renee would surely have found Adie, and Adie couldn't accept that his most beloved mother chose Stefan over him at such a critical moment. He slowly stopped struggling and gave up trying to run away. Since his mother didn't care about him, he might as well let that crazy woman hurt him...The teachers and parents were shocked to see Renee carrying Stefan back to the campsite."What... happened? Why is Mr. Hunt unconscious?" The head teacher asked in alarm.Renee had no time to explain, and grabbed the teacher's hand. "Is there any boat we can use to leave the island? Get us one now. We have to leave the island!""Yes, there is!" The teacher hurriedly said, "We have three yachts at the dock for emergencies, so you can take one of those.""Let's go." Renee hoisted Stefan further up her back."Let me help you!" A refined-looking man with glasses and a strong build im
A long sigh escaped Damon as he stared at the unconscious Stefan. "We'd usually need strong herbs like the Thousand Herb, Young Anthler, or other rare herbs… but there's no way we'd be able to get those now.""What should we do then?" The teacher asked tremulously, looking like she was about to burst into tears. There were no ordinary herbs on the island, let alone rare ones like the Thousand Herb, but they couldn't just let Stefan Hunt die. He was the famous president of Hunt Enterprise, and if something happened to him on this trip, the kindergarten would never be able to make up for it. Renee was silent for a long time, then she asked Damon calmly, "You're saying that strong herbs will be useful?""Yes, but the problem is we don't have those kinds of herbs around…" Damon fished out a syringe he had with him and tried to insert it into the area Stefan was bitten to slow the spread of the poison. It wasn't a solution; Stefan wouldn't be able to hold on for long without a strong h
"Oh, he's responding!" Damon saw Stefan's complexion and the twitching of his fingers, and his eyes brightened with excitement. "Ms. Everheart, your medicinal blood is amazing! I've been a physician for many years, but I've never seen blood this strong before. You're more useful than the Thousand Herb!" At first, he didn't believe that Renee had consumed a lot of herbs. After all, people could not make their blood medicinal just by taking a few supplements. However, she had been telling the truth, and it was an eye-opener for Damon. There was so much he had yet to learn about the world. "That's amazing. If people test your blood, it could save a lot of people!" Damon was a medicine enthusiast, so this discovery excited him.Renee smiled bitterly. "Amazing? I got this body because of all the suffering I've endured." She had been on the verge of death so many times, and she had needed rare herbs to cure her at those times. As time passed, her body had become a container to make medicine
Three days had passed since then."Wake up!" Renee felt like she was floating in the sky. She saw a ray of light, and slowly approached it. It looked like it led into another world—one with no sadness, regret, or separation. In that world, Renee's family of four lived a complete and happy life."Mommy, please wake up. It's Abby…" While walking, Renee felt something warm and soft in her palm, and heard Abby's pitiful sobbing. She abruptly opened her eyes and found herself lying on a hospital bed. Abby, Leia, Quinton, and Justin were gathered around her."What's going on? Am I still alive?" Renee whispered, looking dazed. She felt like she had been about to reach heaven earlier, and the feeling had been so real that this world felt like an illusion to her."Stop messing around! If you were sent here late, or if the hospital didn't have enough blood, you would be dead by now!" Quinton scowled, looking concerned and angry. He was upset that Renee had suffered so much, and furious t
"Adie... He..." The others exchanged glances, looking hesitant.Anxiety filled Renee as she watched them. She was about to push away her blanket to get up, ignoring her IV drip. "What's wrong with Adie? Tell me now. If not, I'll go and see him!""Ren, don't!" Leia gently stopped Renee, who was very agitated. "The most important thing for you right now is to get better. Don't worry about the other things for now.""What do you mean?" Renee looked up at Leia, her eyes watery. "You think my Adie is just some 'other thing'? Nothing is more important than him. If anything happens to him, I'll kill myself too!" "Sis, calm down. Lei didn't mean that." Quinton frowned and said solemnly, "Your body is your treasure. If you ruin your body, how can you protect the people you care about?" "But I have the right to know about my son's condition, right?" Renee was no fool. Given their reactions, something must have happened to Adie. It didn't matter what happened to her body for now, she just
"No, I'm not!" Liam raised his hand to swear. "Trust me. They're just best friends. They're not in that kind of messy relationship. Both of them have a guy they're madly in love with.""I see." Amber watched how Renee and Leia fooled around intimately with each other in the cell. They looked like they were about to kiss! She shook her head and said, "What a pity! They look so lovey-dovey, better than many novels I read about where the women love each other.""You're hopeless!" It was rare for Liam to see such a straightforward and cute side of Amber. Amused, he poked her forehead and sighed. "Stop reading those messy novels! It's harmful."Their actions were loud and finally attracted Renee's attention in the cell."Liam!" Renee, pressed to the chair by Leia, couldn't escape. Finally, she grabbed a chance to leap up and walk to the door.Well… It wasn't a door. Rather, they were iron bars preventing them from escaping.The decoration and facilities in the room weren't bad. Be
Liam tensed up when he heard that voice. He quickened his pace and rushed through the corridor, toward the cell where Renee and Leia were locked up. Suddenly, he became flabbergasted and his face stiffened. For a long time, he couldn't regain his wits."Hey… What are you guys doing?"On a table lay barbecue, jerky, beer, and fruit platters. Meanwhile, both Renee and Leia were playing cards. Leia ran after Renee, then pressed her on the chair and said seriously, "Hey, gorgeous. You can't run away! You got the card for kissing me, so you have to let me kiss you. If not, you're trying to disobey the rules of the game!""Help! Help me…!" Renee kept resisting, amused and befuddled. "Get away from me! I'm a desperate woman who likes men! I can't kiss you! If I kiss you, I'm going to have nightmares… Oh, just kill me! Is there anyone who can save me?" Liam wasn't the only one standing at the door. Amber was also with him since she was following him. Watching Renee and Leia's antics,
"Hurry up and explain to her, then!" Amber said hurriedly. "Matt, you're close to her. You know Ms. Everheart and Ms. Osborne would never do that on purpose. Try to persuade her to let this go, and then you can immediately set them free.""I don't have a say in this." Mateo shook his head, pretending to be helpless. "You know how much Luneth dotes on her son. Ms. Everheart pinned him to the ground and beat him up. His head got injured and started bleeding. I heard it's a large cut with a lot of stitches. We can't let it go just like that.""But you can't—" Amber wanted to say more, but Liam interrupted her. He looked at Mateo, his eyes cold and fierce. "I know you set them up. Just be frank. Why did you do that?" "See?" Mateo sighed. He pretended to be aggrieved as he looked at Amber. "The guy you like is sinister. I kindly helped him, but he didn't thank me. He even accused me of setting this up… He always sees the worst in people. He criticized me in front of you and sowed di
Liam immediately noticed something wrong. He asked Mateo fiercely, "What do you mean?""Calm down." Mateo put away his gun and placed it back around his waist. "They broke the rules and barged into the orchard. Plus, they hurt Luneth's child. So, I locked them up for the time being."He appeared calm, as if he was discussing what he had eaten for dinner. He didn't feel that he had been over the line. "Go to hell!" Liam finally failed to hold himself back. He rushed over and grabbed Mateo's neck fiercely. "You can harm me, but how dare you harm them!"At the same time, Mateo's subordinates raised their guns and aimed them at Liam. The recently eased atmosphere immediately became tense again."Hey, don't!" Amber, all tensed up, braced herself to try and stop them. Even so, she was mentally exhausted."What? You want to strangle me?" Mateo was fearless. He grinned deviously and teased, "Cool it. I just locked them up, but they didn't suffer. They're fine. If you harm me, though, I
Livid, Mateo pulled the trigger without hesitation. However, he moved the gun less than an inch. The bullet passed by Liam's ear and hit an orange behind him.The fruit immediately blew up, its juices splashing on Liam's face."Aaaah!" Amber, terrified, trembled. Her eyes turned red, and she hurriedly tried to plead with Mateo. "Matt, cool it! Aren't you and Liam friends? You guys drank and chatted together in the past. You were so close to each other. How could you do this to him? Hurry up and put the gun away! If it goes off accidentally, it'll be over!"However, Mateo ignored her. His eyes were red as he glared at Liam. "Did you see the orange behind you? Let go of her now! If not, I'll blow up your head just like I did to that orange!""Is that all you got?" Liam taunted. He refused to let Amber go. He whispered to Amber, "Watch well. If he shoots me today, promise me not to marry such a man. I can use my life to knock some sense into you.""No!" Amber shook her head. Liam
"What bad timing!" Mateo's indifferent voice came from behind Amber.Amber turned around and saw Mateo with a team of armed soldiers. Terrified, she quickly put some distance between her and Liam. She stammered an explanation. "Matt… It's not what you think. Liam and I came here to look for people. Ms. Everheart and Ms. Osborne are gone. Liam couldn't find them and guessed they might be in the orchard. He wasn't familiar with the orchard and asked me to guide him."Mateo looked livid, but still cracked a gentle smile. "Silly, you don't have to be scared. I know you're prudent. He must have forced you to come here. I don't blame you."He extended his hand and beckoned Amber toward him. "Come here. You're my fiancee. You should stand with me.""I…" Amber bit her lip—Mateo was right. She kept her head low, about to walk to him.But in the next second, Liam firmly grabbed her wrist. "You can't go!" Liam held Amber's wrist tightly and shot Mateo a challenging look."When did Amb
Liam could only see through Amber's true thoughts if she showed her true self to him. "No, I do like you. I love you the most, and I want to marry you. But you neither like me nor want to marry me. You love freedom and Ms. Everheart. You love and yearn for the kind of life ordinary people like. So, I could only choose to give you up and let you get what you want. What else do you want me to do?" Amber was generally shy and reserved, but when Liam drove her anxious, she rambled a lot."Whatever I want is my business. You don't need to sacrifice yourself to grant my wish!" Liam held Amber's shoulders, acting like a kind senior. He tried to persuade her in earnest. "Marriage isn't a joke. Think it through. Do you like and know Mateo well? You won't be happy after marrying him, given the savage culture around here. And can you divorce him easily?""Matt will be nice to me. Even if he changes his mind, he'll still be nice to me because…my father is Benjamin," Amber replied.She chose
Being a sensitive woman, Amber immediately noticed Liam's displeasure. She kept her head lower and explained carefully, "I want a chance to choose again… I want to choose another person to fall in love with. You know that Matt and I grew up together. We're childhood friends. He likes me and always protects me without asking for anything back. I feel that it's happier to marry a person who loves me instead of marrying someone far beyond my reach."For the first time, she expressed the exhaustion she felt from her relationship with Liam. She no longer wanted to be the one who kept fawning over him. She wanted to give up and relax by being the one who was loved and adored in a relationship."Tsk!" Liam snorted arrogantly. "You don't know Mateo. He's not a nice guy. He's just good at pretending. Maybe it's just his means to get what he wants, but you assume that he loves and wants to protect you."Liam hadn't made that statement to purposely put Mateo down. After standing against Mate
Liam focused on holding Amber's hand and leading her through the orange grove. At the same time, he carefully scanned the ground and trees to find any related clues left by Renee and Leia."I don't care what others say, because I didn't do anything wrong," he said indifferently. "I hope you'll feel the same. I don't think you need to stop being my friend after choosing to marry Mateo. Am I not the friend you like the most?""That's different," Amber said.She followed Liam passively. At first, she couldn't adapt to it. After walking briefly, she felt better and found it easier to do. "Although I'm not good at my studies, I know men and women should keep a polite distance. You can't take my hand and sound righteous at the same time," she mumbled."Why not?" Liam retorted firmly. "When I was young, I always held my sister's hand wherever we went. I'm holding your hand because this fog is thick and the ground is slippery. I'm afraid of being separated from you. Just walk with me. St