Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 214 - 207: Unable to Escape_1

Chapter 214: Chapter 207: Unable to Escape_1

Luo Chuan laid Nina down on the soft mud, then built a fire using some dry firewood. During his time in the military, he often had to participate in wilderness survival training, so he was fairly skilled at making a fire from wood.

As the fire grew, so did the temperature, causing their clothes to emit steam, and slightly alleviating Luo Chuan’s chilliness.

He sat in front of the fire watching Nina as she peacefully slept on the ground. As the temperature increased, her lips slowly regained color.

With the issue of shelter addressed, the next problem to overcome was food. To prevent wildlife from disturbing Nina, Luo Chuan gathered firewood and placed it around her as a sort of barrier.

However, he felt that this was probably futile. After all, they were in a deep valley, who knew whether there were any wild animals lurking around. If there were, it would make for an excellent meal. Otherwise, they may have to resort to eating tree roots.

With the fire as a center point, Luo Chuan roamed around the vicinity, but his efforts were fruitless. He still had dozens of bullets in his rifle and a few more magazines on him. He could easily take down any small creatures, even a bear, if one were to appear. Of course, assuming that bears existed in the Otherworld.

After a fruitless search, he returned without wandering too far as he was worried Nina might wake up. Although he didn’t find any valuable prey, he did manage to find traces of fish in the nearby river.

The river in the valley wasn’t particularly rapid, allowing him to spot fish swimming at the bottom. Luo Chuan attempted to catch them by jumping into the river, but the large and agile fish proved elusive. Frustrated, he fired a dozen or so rounds from his rifle. The gunshots echoed through the entire valley. The river water turned red with blood, and a few large fish with exposed bellies floated on the surface, carried downstream by the current.

He quickly intercepted the dead fish and threw them onto the bank. Although he fired numerous bullets, only five fish were killed. The efficiency was disappointingly low. Luo Chuan thought that using a spear to fish might be more effective in the future.

He cleaned the fish on the riverbank, skewered them with a stick, and brought them back to their makeshift camp. By the time he arrived, the fire was almost out, and Nina was still asleep. Luo Chuan reignited the fire and began to use the smoke to rid the fish of their fishy smell.

By the time evening fell, Nina woke to the aroma of grilled fish. As she sat up, the wood around her slid off, startling her. She took a moment to register her surroundings.

Luo Chuan sniffed the cooked fish before turning to Nina and asked, "Do elves eat fish?"

Unable to understand his Chinese, Nina sat in confusion.

"Here you go!" Luo Chuan said as he handed her the grilled fish.

Nina hesitated for a moment before cautiously accepting the fish. She sniffed it like Luo Chuan had and the rich aroma made the starving elf begin to chow down.

The fish from the valley river were fatty, sizzling with oil as they cooked. The bones were few and far between, allowing Luo Chuan to finish two whole fish in one sitting. Even without salt as a seasoning, he enjoyed his meal greatly.

With hunger no longer an issue, the pair sat across from each other by the fire in silence. Not because they were strangers, but because they couldn’t understand each other.

After contemplating for a moment, Luo Chuan decided he still needed to communicate with Nina. He thickened his skin and moved closer to Nina, who watched him warily and hugged her clothes tighter instinctively.

"We are trapped in this valley now. Once your injury heals, we can escape together!" Luo Chuan drew pictures on the ground while vigorously gesturing to convey his meaning.

Seemingly understanding Luo Chuan’s words, Nina cautiously nodded in agreement.

"You, use your magic to heal your wounds!" Luo Chuan pointed at her shoulder, then made random gestures. Even he didn’t know what he was saying, but Nina seemed to understand.

Nina shook her head repeatedly, pointed to her shoulder’s wound, muttered several spells, then crossed her arms into an X. This seemed to imply that she couldn’t use magic currently.

Luo Chuan looked disappointed at her response. He remembered her waving a small stick when she was casting spells. Could it be that she couldn’t cast spells without it?

Noting his thoughtful expression, Nina seemed to think of something and pulled aside the cloth covering her shoulder. When she saw the bandages around her wound, her complexion changed drastically.

She stared wide-eyed at Luo Chuan, mumbling in Elvish while pointing towards her injured shoulder, her expression full of urgency. It seemed as if she was accusing him of removing her clothes without permission.

Luo Chuan quickly waved his hands in denial and used sketches and gestures to explain, "Your wound was going to get infected, so I bandaged it for you. Don’t worry, I didn’t see anything else. As for your armor, I left it by the river."

Not sure if she understood, Nina stared at him with an embarrassed and seemingly wronged expression. It appeared that the elves of the Otherworld remained conservative, unlike girls from Earth.

Because of her gaze, Luo Chuan also felt somewhat awkward. Glancing at the fish still roasting by the fire, an idea came to mind, so he grabbed a fish and asked, "What do you call these?"

Nina seemed startled by his action, her large, green eyes watched him warily, confused by his words.

"This, we call this a fish, what about you?" Luo Chuan persisted without being discouraged.

"Yi..." Nina hesitated before finally voicing an unfamiliar word.

"Fish!" Luo Chuan corrected her again.

"Rain..." Although she pronounced it correctly this time, her accent was wrong.

"What are your names?" Upon seeing Nina read out these words, Luo Chuan appeared very delighted, enthusiastically looking at her as he asked.

Nina looked at him, then at the fish in his hand, and uttered two syllables from her mouth.

"What?" Luo Chuan inquired further.

Nina repeated it once more, and after Luo Chuan repeated it a few times, he started laughing with delight.

He placed the fish back where it was and then pointed at himself, asking, "Do you remember my name?"

"Nu... Nu... Nu acid..." After a moment of hesitation, Nina cautiously pronounced his name.

"Luo Chuan!" Luo Chuan excitedly corrected her.

"Nu... Nu Chuan..." Nina attempted again.

"Almost there!" Seeing that she could pronounce his name, Luo Chuan was even happier.

"And you?" Luo Chuan pointed at her and asked.

"Nina..." Nina seemed to be getting the hang of it, as she pointed at herself and said her name.

"Mia?" Luo Chuan did it on purpose and mispronounced her name.

"Nina..." Nina corrected him again.

"Meh-ah?" Luo Chuan asked, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Nina!!"

Just as Nina shouted out her own name, she noticed Luo Chuan was laughing with his hand over his mouth. Only then did she realize that he was teasing her. Ashamed, she picked up a fish bone that was on the ground and threw it in Luo Chuan’s direction, who cheekily dodged it.

Both of them paused for a moment and then burst into laughter, brightening up the atmosphere. For the first time, Luo Chuan noticed how beautiful Nina was when she laughed–her enchanting eyes were like crescent moons and her face that of a refined beauty, he was somewhat captivated.

Before the warfare, Luo Chuan could not believe that he would fall off a cliff with an elven girl. Ironically, they should have been enemies on the battlefield, but now they have become reliant companions.

After the two of them laughed, the atmosphere once again became inevitably awkward. But Luo Chuan didn’t care, as he started to trust her after this encounter. The fact that Nina was slowly warming up to him was sort of good news amongst all the unfortunate events.

Aside from attending to their basic needs, they spoke little throughout the night. The next day, they got up early, and with injuries all over them, they embarked on a journey to find a way out.

The widest part of the canyon was two to three kilometers wide, and the narrowest part was two to three hundred meters wide, but they were all vertical cliffs - not just for them, even a monkey couldn’t climb up.

After walking around 10 kilometers along the canyon, they arrived at the end of the river at the face of a towering cliff. The underwater river flowed out through a cave at the foot of the cliff and out of the canyon. After a desperate search, they discovered that there was no possible way around the cliff.

That is to say, they were trapped in this canyon.

Having confirmed their circumstances, both parties listlessly sat down on the ground back to back, in disbelief that they were trapped in a canyon that was only a few tens of kilometers away from the Otherworld Gate.

Luo Chuan wanted to settle the score with Luo Qishan once he returned to Earth; Nina just wanted to rejoin her companions. However, in the face of such a despairing reality, all fantasies of both parties were thoroughly shattered.

Luo Chuan heard the light sobbing coming from behind him. When he turned his head, he found that Nina was head down, wiping her tears. He didn’t say a word but gallantly offered her his handkerchief.

Nina, with tear-filled eyes, looked at Luo Chuan, while her infantile face was full of despair and tears. She accepted Luo Chuan’s kindness and wiped away her tears with his handkerchief, with head low.

Luo Chuan looked up at the high stone wall, sighed, and turned to Nina, saying, "It looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a while. It’s just the two of us now. We’re partners!"

With that, he held out his hand with a hopeful smile on his face.

Nina didn’t understand Earth’s customs, so she didn’t understand the meaning of Luo Chuan’s gesture. But looking at Luo Chuan’s hopeful smile, it seemed like she understood his intention.

She reached out and placed the tear-soaked handkerchief onto his hand. This action left Luo Chuan both amused and moved. He took the handkerchief and, looking at her tear-stained face, couldn’t help but tenderly wipe away the tear marks from her face.

Nina stood there dazed and allowed him to carry on the slightly presumptuous act. When Luo Chuan put away the handkerchief, she looked into his eyes, blushed, lowered her gaze, and turned away, unable to face him directly.