Chapter 63
Chapter 63
Chloe felt guilty and couldn’t meet Dylan’s eyes. She mumbled, “T–This time is different, and I got hurt when I fell. I’m in so much pain now. I can’t climb up.”
Dylan was a bit disappointed but understood. The pit was indeed different from the one where he had been in danger eight years ago.
The pit from eight years ago was straight up and down, whereas this one was wider at the bottom and narrower at the top. The walls were not easy to grip, making it difficult to climb.
Olivia let out a cold snort. She didn’t say anything further but picked up the animal trap and began chipping away at the wall.
The earthen wall was easily chipped, and she used the fallen dirt to create a makeshift step beneath her feet, gradually building it up higher.
Seeing Olivia’s actions, Chloe gritted her teeth in frustration. ‘Why didn’t I think of this method? Olivia must have held back on purpose to show off in front of Dylan. No way, I can’t let Olivia steal the spotlight,‘ she thought.
Chloe immediately stood up, walked over to Olivia, snatched the animal trap from her hand, and pushed Olivia aside.
“You go rest. I’ll handle this. I’ll get Dylan out of here. Since I saved him once, I can do it again. I just didn’t think of this method before. Now that I know, I can definitely do it,” she said with great confidence.
Dylan’s gaze softened a bit as he looked at her.
He could understand why Chloe had left him behind earlier, leaving him with Olivia and running off by herself
‘She got scared when she saw the landslide and lost her mind. It’s normal. Now that she’s calmed down, she’s caring about me again,‘ he wondered.
Olivia didn’t say anything and sat aside to watch her performance.
She just wanted to get out of the pit and had no intention of showing off in front of Dylan. If Chloe could get them out, Olivia was more than happy to let her take over the hard work.
t
When Chloe grabbed the animal trap, she was stunned and almost dropped it. She hadn’t expected it to be so heavy. Holding it was already a struggle.
But since she had spoken up, Chloe had no choice but to force herself to do as Olivia had done, lifting the trap and striking the wall with force.
However, after a few strikes, only a few small pieces of dirt fell off, which was nothing compared to what Olivia had managed to do.
Chloe’s face was filled with astonishment.
‘Olivia seemed to do it effortlessly. Why can’t I break the wall even with all my strength?‘ she wondered.
Unwilling to give up, she exerted all her strength, but the results were still poor. This task was only easy for Olivia.
Olivia had experience digging and making holes from a young age. She had also trained in martial arts and had practiced boxing for several years. Her strength was not something an average person could match.
What was easy for her was not necessarily achievable for others, even with all their might.
After forcing herself to chip away for a few minutes, the animal trap slipped from Chloe’s hand. Blisters had formed on her palms, and the amount of dirt she had managed to dislodge was less than the size of a fist.
“I–I can’t do it. Let you take over. I got hurt when I fell just now. Normally, I could definitely do it.” Chloe had to pass the task back to Olivia, but couldn’t resist making excuses for herself.
Olivia said nothing, picked up the animal trap, and continued working.
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Chapter 63
Dylan looked at Chloe in astonishment.
Eight years ago, when Chloe had saved him, she hadn’t had any tools at all. She had used her fingers to dig into the dirt on the wall, creating mall indentations to grip, and then carried him on her back as she climbed up.
At that time, he had been barely conscious, unable to see clearly or hear well, but he had vaguely seen that stubborn figure trying over and over again to climb upward. Her determination to fight for life had shone like a beacon of light in the desperate situation.
Dylan remembered that when he had almost given up, she had been digging into the wall and laughing at him, saying, “I’ve broken several of my nails trying to save you. It hurts so much. I haven’t given up, so you can’t either.
“Otherwise, you’ll owe me. And if you don’t repay me, you’ll be punished later.”
His eyes had been covered in a layer of blood from the wound on his head. His already blurred vision, due to the blow to his head, had become even more indistinct. All he could see was a yellow figure struggling.
It had been raining that day, too, but he had felt the light emanating from her was so bright, even more dazzling than the sun on a sunny day.
He thought to himself, ‘How could someone be so full of life? She fell so many times, got all messy, even broke her nails, but she still wouldn’t give up. Why, after failing so many times, could she still hold on to hope and keep going?‘
Dylan looked at her retreating figure and murmured, “Then I’ll marry you, if we both make it out alive.”
She said fearfully, “Why would you repay a favor like that? I’m only sixteen, and you want to marry me? Are you some kind of pervert?”
His lips twitched. “I can wait for you to grow up. I’m only two years older than you.”
She replied, “That’s still not okay. It’s not appropriate. Even though I saved you, I don’t like you. Why would I marry you? I’m going to marry someone l
love in the future.”
He felt disappointed, and perhaps his mood affected his health, so he began to cough up blood, his vitality quickly ebbing away.
She panicked and babbled a lot of things to him, but he could hardly hear them clearly.
He only remembered her last words. “Didn’t you say you’d marry me? If you die, how can you keep that promise? I’ll accept your way of repaying me. Hang on, okay? I don’t want anything to happen to my future husband.”
He suddenly felt more spirited, and with great difficulty, he raised his hand and extended his little finger, trembling. “Promise, no backing out.”
She half–heartedly hooked her little finger with his, then continued to talk to him while she kept trying.
Dylan snapped out of his memories and looked at Chloe with suspicion instead of astonishment. Chloe’s behavior now was completely different from the girl eight years ago.
The girl back then would never give up, no matter how hard it was.
Now, Chloe was pessimistic from the start and gave up after barely mustering the will to try for less than three minutes.
He knew the animal trap was heavy, but he didn’t expect Chloe to struggle even to hold it. ‘How did Chloe manage to carry me up such a high pit back
then?‘ he wondered.
His gaze shifted to Olivia’s back. Olivia seemed more like the girl from eight years ago.
Olivia was now very quiet, working in silence, while the girl back then had been chattering away.
But the tenacity Olivia showed, the way she was striving to find a way out, was very similar to the girl in his memory.
Dylan’s vision began to blur, and Olivia’s figure seemed to gradually overlap with the girl in his memory.
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