Chapter 054 It's Up to You to Strip or Not

Waite had finally finished bandaging Katherine's wound, but he had been waiting a long time and neither Adelina nor Langston had returned.

He began to worry, "Sis, take a rest here, and oh my god, I'll go look ahead."

But before he could take a step, Katherine grabbed him, "No! Don't leave me here alone! What if there are snakes?"

Waite rummaged through her luggage, tossed a set of clothes to her, and then took out a bottle of sulfur powder from the medical kit, sprinkling it evenly around her, "Change into these clothes and sit still; oh my god, I'll be right back!"

Having finished speaking, Waite didn't wait for her to object and quickly walked toward the shrubbery.

"Wait! Don't go too far, Waite! Wait!"

Waite ignored his sister's shouts, probing the path ahead with his hiking stick as he walked.

Around them, there were occasional calls of insects and birds, and the rustling of leaves in the wind was the only sound.

"Senior! Mr. Moore! Adelina! Mr. Moore!"

He kept calling out as he walked, checking his phone for a signal.

But there was no response, and the signal consistently indicated no service.

He then activated the Bluetooth on his phone, trying to detect any nearby Bluetooth devices.

After roughly twenty minutes of searching, he was still disappointed.

His heart sank to the depths of despair, but he really couldn't keep going forward.

He had come to the edge of a cliff.

Returning to where Katherine was, he saw she had changed into a yellow shirt and jeans.

"Did you find them?" she asked eagerly.

Waite shook his head, "No sign of them. I don't know where they've gone. Sis, I have a bad feeling. They must be in danger. We have to get to an area with a signal to contact Uncle Moore! We should also try to reach out to Assistant He. There are more people with them; they can help us search!"

As soon as Katherine heard that Langston might be in danger, she nodded hurriedly, "Okay! Which way do we go to find a signal?"

Waite checked their orientation, "We head back the way we came, back to where the helicopter landed. There was a signal there!"

Katherine got up immediately, but upon looking up, her brow furrowed.

"Is it going to rain heavily? The sky looks so dark over there."

Waite, who was packing up on the ground, also looked up at the distant sky upon hearing this, "We'll go even if it rains. At least there's a signal, which is better than being here without one!"

...

Finally, Adelina and Langston saw the sun again.

Both were exhausted, and after climbing onto the shore, they lay down to rest for a long time.

A dark cloud swiftly passed over, obscuring the bright sunlight and instead unleashing a downpour.

The pain of the raindrops hitting her body was intense, but Adelina didn't feel like getting up. She let the rain wash over her as if it were cleansing her after braving the elements.

She and he had once again been through a life-and-death experience.

What kind of fate was this?

"There's a cave over there, let's take shelter," Langston said as he got up, pointing towards a recess in the cliff face below.

Adelina thought she was already soaked; getting a little more wet didn't matter.

Seeing that she didn't react, he picked her up and carried her over his shoulder.

"Mr. Moore!" she exclaimed, startled by his sudden move as she quickly scrambled off him.

"So, you're still conscious? I thought you fainted again!" Langston said, patting her head gently. "Getting soaked by rain and completely drenched are two different things; you can catch a cold."

With that, he knelt in front of her. "Hop on, I'll carry you. Your shoes are gone, and it's easy to get hurt walking barefoot on these mountain trails."

Adelina glanced down and realized that she had indeed lost her shoes to the rushing water.

However, she hesitated for a few seconds before cautiously climbing onto his back.

The cave was not very large but spacious enough for both of them, with room to spare.

Both Adelina and Langston's backpacks were made of waterproof material, but the seams around the zippers were not completely sealed.

Consequently, they had to take everything out to dry.

Langston then took out a portable camping stove and placed an alcohol wax block inside.

"Will this bother your allergies if I light it?" Langston checked with her first.

Adelina shook her head. "It's a solid alcohol block; I'll be fine as long as I don't touch it. Plus, the fumes evaporate as soon as it burns, I won't even smell it."

Langston then lit the block, and the cave warmed up as the light flickered to life.

Next, he stripped off his clothes, down to the layer that covered his essentials.

Adelina's face turned red instantly and she quickly averted her gaze.

"You should take off your wet clothes too, it's not good to have them sticking to you," he reminded her kindly.

Adelina shook her head. "No need, I'm okay."

Langston chuckled at her modesty, and took the broken half of a climbing rope, tying each end to plants growing from the crevices in the cave walls.

"Hang your clothes here, a little heat from the fire will dry them out. As for you, do you think there's a part of you I haven't seen yet?"

His question left Adelina speechless, with a complex expression on her face.

Langston laughed again and turned his back to her. "Don't worry, I won't look. I plan to sleep and regain my strength until the rain stops. But this rain might not let up until nightfall. Even if it does, it's not safe to walk through these mountains at night, so we might as well wait here until daylight. Whether you change or not is up to you!"

Adelina remained silent.

Two more minutes passed as the wind and rain intensified.

Ultimately, Adelina let down her guard and removed her clothes piece by piece.

Feeling sleepy, she curled up next to the stove and closed her eyes for a quick rest.

When she woke up, the rain had stopped.

The cave had plunged into darkness, devoid of light, with only the continuous sound of frogs croaking and insects chirping.

She instinctively reached for her phone but it was nowhere to be found after fumbling around.

Langston's sudden speech made Adelina jump in surprise.

"Mr. Moore, do you know what time it is?" she asked, peering out of the cave entrance into the darkness of the sky.

"I'm guessing it's around eight or nine in the evening. I just woke up not long ago myself."

"And the fire..." Adelina remembered the stove burning before they slept, now wondering whether the alcohol wax had burned out.

Langston simply said, "I extinguished it."

"What?" Adelina was confused.

"Do you want to relight it?" Langston asked her.

Adelina nodded. It was too dark for comfort, and she feared the possibility of poisonous snakes or fierce animals. Fire would keep them at bay. It was also much warmer with it.

Langston asked again, "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely! I'm hungry and would like to heat something to eat. I brought some sweet potatoes."

Seeing her determination to start a fire, Langston relit the alcohol wax. The bright flame briefly illuminated both their faces clearly in each other's eyes.

At the same time, there was the clean and bare beauty of their bodies.