Her head felt heavy.
Paige leaned against him uncomfortably, and Enrico glanced at the snow piled up at the cave entrance, silently holding her tighter.
She fell into a deep sleep again in his arms.
Enrico held her with one arm while rummaging through the first aid kit with the other, but he couldn’t find anything suitable for her.
Time ticked by.
Outside the cave, the sky was growing brighter, but Paige showed no signs of waking up. Enrico reached into her collar to feel her forehead but found no sweat; she was still as hot as a fireball.
She hadn’t broken her fever.
The fever-reducing medicine was useless.
Enrico’s expression darkened as he looked at her flushed face, her eyes tightly shut.
They couldn’t wait any longer.
He began to pack the backpack, stuffing one item after another inside. He took out snow goggles and put them on her, covering the lower half of her face with a mask, then put on a hat and wrapped a scarf tightly around her neck, zipping her jacket all the way up.
Paige, disturbed by the fuss, groggily woke up again, her vision altered by the goggles pressed against her face.
She glanced at the neatly packed backpack beside her, then looked at Enrico, who was getting dressed in front of her, realizing he was getting ready to leave.
She lifted her hand, but it dropped helplessly back down.
She had no strength at all.
As Enrico dressed, he glanced at her and asked, “How are you feeling now?”
Very cold, very tired.
Paige shut her eyes again, swallowed dryly, and said, “Enrico, I want to sleep a little longer. Why don’t you go back along the original path and find more people to come look for me?”
She knew she couldn’t walk out of the mountain on her own.
Enrico seemed not to have heard her, coldly zipping up his jacket.
Seeing him like this, Paige recalled his previous words and felt she couldn’t suggest he leave any longer.
“I can’t move, Enrico…” she said truthfully, her voice extremely weak.
At her words, Enrico finally seemed to hear her, saying, “Then I’ll carry you.”
“…”
Paige looked at him, wanting to say something but getting lost in her drowsiness; she hazily closed her eyes again.
When she woke up, Enrico had already cleared the snow from the cave entrance and was carrying her out. The biting cold rushed in, waking her from the cold she already felt.
Paige slowly opened her eyes and looked outside.
After a night, the snow in the mountains was thicker.
Enrico stepped down, nearly sinking into it.
Paige weakly wrapped her arms around his neck, watching as he struggled to move forward step by step. Her throat felt even more parched; she was really becoming his burden.
“Paige, it’s too cold outside. Don’t sleep, talk to me,” Enrico said, feeling her clutch him tighter; he realized she was awake.
“Didn’t the Folsom family send someone to find me? Why can’t we see them?” she whispered in his ear.
At that moment, she hoped the Folsom family would appear so that he wouldn’t have to tire himself out so much.
“Not seeing them is quiet,” Enrico replied. He remembered the way back and could lead her out.
Paige lay weakly on his back, with no flat paths in the mountains; the bumps made her drowsy again.
She was so tired.
“Paige, the car I promised you has entered the production phase,” Enrico suddenly said.
Paige’s head was wrapped tightly, and his voice felt a bit hazy to her. She sleepily responded, “Really?”
“When we get the car, where do you want to test it?” Enrico asked as he walked, discussing topics completely unrelated to their situation.
So tired.
She didn’t want to talk…
Paige thought this, her lips moved but no sound came out. Enrico adjusted her legs on his back and continued, “Come on, where do you want to test it?”
Was he saying all this to keep her awake so she wouldn’t fall asleep and never wake up again?
Paige bit her lip, forcing herself to wake up a little. She answered, “Anywhere is fine.”
“Okay, then we’ll test it at the manor, how does that sound?” he said, his voice slightly breathless.
“Sounds good,” Paige replied.
“What about your dog?” Enrico asked, bringing up a trivial topic.
“It’s in the south, being taken care of by Olivia,” Paige replied softly with her eyes closed.
“When are we bringing it back?” Enrico asked.
He had so many questions…
Paige felt somewhat helpless but still made an effort to stay a bit awake and answered, “It’s not the right time yet.”
“When is it the right time? It’s just a dog, why keep it in the south?” Enrico said disdainfully.
“Didn’t you say you didn’t like little dolphins?” Paige asked weakly.
“Not liking it doesn’t mean it can’t be brought back; it would be perfect for cooking,” Enrico said, stepping forward through the snow.
“Ah?” Paige suddenly woke up a little more, opening her eyes wide and slowly lifting her head from his shoulder.
Cooking meat? Dog meat?
“…for the dog to eat,” Enrico added.
“…”
Paige didn’t know what to say, silently leaning back on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around him, “Enrico, are you tired? You’ve been walking for so long; let’s take a break?”
“I’m not tired.” Enrico said as he stepped on a pile of dry branches.
With a crack, the snow beside them trembled violently, becoming loose.
What was that noise?
Paige blinked her eyes open and looked ahead, seeing a tall, leafless dead tree on the slope, snow piled on its trunk, and deep snow accumulated in front of its hollow.
At that moment, the pile of snow was nudged, and a huge head popped out of the hole, one paw digging into the snow as a giant creature crawled out, its dark eyes staring directly at them.
It was a bear.
They startled a bear.
What terrible luck.
Enrico cursed and turned to take a side path while carrying Paige.
The snow behind them continued to tremble.
The bear wanted to chase them.
Paige clung to Enrico’s back, her heart racing with anxiety.
The side path led down a slope, covered thickly in snow.
Enrico set Paige down, unloaded the backpack, and let her sit against it. He then pulled out a handgun and said, “Wait here; I’ll deal with it and come back.”
Paige knew that as long as she didn’t increase his burden, that would be good enough. She nodded, “Okay, be careful.”
Just as she finished speaking, the snow where she sat suddenly collapsed with a rumble, and Paige couldn’t brace herself, tumbling down the slope.
“Paige!” Enrico’s expression changed, and he quickly reached out to grab her. The sloped snow was too steep; he lost his balance and fell down after her.
The two rolled down together.
The massive bear stood on the slope, glanced down, and after a few seconds, turned and walked away indifferently.
Not far away, Blanca and Beinice heard the noise and came searching.
They saw a line of footprints in the snow.
Blanca excitedly rushed over, noting that the footprints were coming toward them but suddenly stopped at this point.
“This doesn’t seem like Marian’s footprints,” Beinice said. Marian’s feet weren’t that big.
Blanca ignored her and continued to search for traces, wondering why it had suddenly stopped. Was there a fork in the path?
She touched the mountainside and dead tree as she moved forward, and as she stepped onto the side path, she spotted a lone backpack. Suddenly, a loud noise came from a distance.
Blanca turned her head.