Chapter 200 Did I Ever Say I Love You?

Chapter 200: Have I Ever Said I Love You

"Communications are back!"

The female voice calling his name mixed with the chaotic cries and wails, quickly drowned in the swell of noise.

For a split second, it felt like a hallucination.

Then came the cheers of the mercenaries.

"Master Jue, Miss Qin is in the safe zone!"

Thank God, it was a false alarm.

But Ling Jue stopped dead in his tracks.

"She's here."

His sharp brows were etched with exhaustion from the journey, but his cold, deep gaze was unwavering.

Everyone was stunned.

Someone cautiously ventured, "Could it be you haven't slept in so long you're hallucinating?"

"According to reports from outside, Miss Qin has been working in the safe zone since her plane landed. The hijacked flight arrived after hers."

Someone else urged, "Since Miss Qin is safe, what idiot would run into a conflict zone at a time like this? She's definitely waiting for you outside, Master Jue. Let's pull out now."

What they said made sense, sure. Qin Shuyi was careful with her life, she loved herself too much, and wouldn't put herself in danger for anyone.

But Ling Jue couldn't make himself move.

He remembered that voice—close yet far, panicked and urgent, calling "Ling Jue"—and his heart clenched with every beat.

His gut told him Qin Shuyi was close.

The phones had no signal; only their special comms gear was back up.

"Have the people outside verify Qin Shuyi's location and get her on the line," Ling Jue ordered.

He stared at the bloodstained, desolate streets, his long legs carrying him uncontrollably toward where the sound came from.

She was in the safe zone.

That shout just now might have been a mistake.

He wasn't sure, and he couldn't believe Qin Shuyi would walk into danger for him.

But he was terrified of that sliver of a chance.

"Qin Shuyi!" he yelled back.

In this death-ravaged land, his heart drifted aimlessly.

In a bombed-out building on the street, someone set off leftover weapons. With a boom, flames shot into the sky.

In a world of smoke and dust, Ling Jue heard that familiar voice once more.

"Ling Jue!"

...

When a roadside wall collapsed, Qin Shuyi quickly scooped up a terrified little girl separated from her family, shielding her with her own body from the dust and sharp debris.

The child's cries mixed with her mother's shouts.

A woman, filthy and tear-streaked, rushed over.

"Baby, Mommy's here, Mommy's right here."

"You're okay. Thank God, thank God."

A familiar language. They were from the same homeland.

She thanked Qin Shuyi over and over for saving her child, tears streaming down her face, her eyes full of the relief of being alive.

Qin Shuyi watched the mother and daughter reunite safely, her own eyes welling up.

"Have you seen Ling Jue?" she asked, repeating the question she'd been asking all along.

The woman looked at her with pity, assuming she was another poor soul separated from her man.

That man might already be dead in the war.

"I don't know who Ling Jue is, but I did meet a man from back home. He was looking for his loved one."

He also helped her and her daughter escape from the kidnappers chasing them.

If they were the ones looking for each other, God bless them.

Qin Shuyi's eyes suddenly lit up with hope.

She clutched the woman's arm. "Where did you see him?"

...

"Qin Shuyi!"

Amid the flying ashes, Qin Shuyi, still running, heard a shout that lifted her spirits.

As the fire blazed, she rounded a corner and finally saw the figure with his back to her.

"Ling Jue!"

The man turned stiffly, locking eyes with the disheveled woman at the end of the street. His pupils dilated, and his heart pounded wildly.

She was actually here.

On a foreign street scarred by devastation, amidst blood-soaked ruins, the separated lovers sprinted toward each other from opposite ends of the road and held each other tight.

"Ling Jue!" she called out again.

Ling Jue held her tight, his eyes bloodshot.

"Qin Shuyi. Qin Shuyi."

He couldn’t say a word; he could only call her name over and over.

A cold, wet trickle slid down his neck, and he realized Qin Shuyi was crying.

She never cried.

But she shed precious tears for him, bravely charging into the dangerous flames of war for his sake.

It made his heart ache unbearably as well.

“Baby, we’ll never be apart again.”

His lips pressed against her slender, fair neck, his sturdy arms tightly encircling her delicate waist, as if trying to merge her into his very bones.

Qin Shuyi, I love you so much, truly love you so much.

The empty, silent world was filled anew.

Her eyes were still red. She loosened her hold on him slightly, rose on her tiptoes, and cupped his chiseled, handsome face.

In her eyes, only each other’s messiest reflections were mirrored.

Yet her bright eyes sparkled, and her smile lit up like a flower.

“Ling Jue, have I ever told you that I love you?”

If we never know whether tomorrow or disaster will come first, then let’s leave no regrets in this moment.

Love clearly, love boldly, love recklessly, without counting the cost.

Her voice was gentle yet firm, like the thousand-year-old bell on that cold mountain finally rung by a devout believer.

Ling Jue’s ears rang, his heart felt like it was soaked in hot water, making his eyes burn and turn red.

“Qin Shuyi, I love you too, deeply love you.”

On the war-torn street, he pressed his lips to her bright red lips, like a parched traveler greedily drinking in sweetness.

A man who never believed in gods prayed to the heavens for the first time.

Thank you, heavens, for having mercy on me.

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