The Troublemaker Trio (Xicheng)

Chapter 23: Alone in the Woods

Jiang Cheng let out a flurry of colorful words. Why had he agreed to this? Playing hide-and-seek had been a stupid idea, but right now he wanted nothing more than to be found. His leg ached, his head spun, and it was fucking freezing. Compared to this, returning to the cloud recesses didn't seem as bad anymore.

"Wei Ying" He shouted, his voice echoing against the cave walls. "Huaisang!" But there was no response, all he could hear was rain pelting the rocky landscape outside. It couldn't have been more than an hour ago when he had stood in a small clearing outside the cloud recesses.

"One, two, three...." Wei Wuxian had counted. His head facing a tree. Huaisang was quick on his feet and headed in the direction they originally had come from, back towards the cloud recesses. But Jiang Cheng had other plans. With no hurry he started to walk. In the opposite direction from Huaisang. Away from the cloud recesses, away from all the people who mocked him, and away from the person who didn't want to see him anyway.

At first his steps had felt heavy. But the further he traveled the lighter he felt. The repetitive motion of putting one foot ahead of the other was comforting. Didn't require him to think, allowed his mind to be flooded by the sound and feel of the surrounding nature. Walking, he passed by rows and rows of tall trees. As time passed it got darker and the air around him started to feel cold and heavy, had this been any other day Jiang Cheng would've regretted not waiting to play until tomorrow.

But this wasn't any other day so he did not care, and instead he just kept walking. Even in terms of the game, continuing to walk would've been the best strategy. It wasn't like he would be able to find a suitable place to hide from Wei Wuxian out here. The jade white robes he was wearing didn't exactly blend into the earthy tones of his environment. But given that playing was practically against Gusu rules the Lan's probably hadn't bumped into encountering this problem before.

Games being forbidden weren't outright stated in the rules. But what kind of fun could you have if you're not allowed to run, shout, or even laugh? If you wanted to expend energy you had to do so during sword practice class. All work and no play, that was the Lans for you.

At this point his brother must've finished counting. Was Wei Ying coming for him or Huaisang first? Hopefully Huaisang. Jiang Cheng didn't want to be found. Didn't want to be brought back to the cloud recesses. He'd rather stay out here forever. Out here was nice.

Just as he had that thought, a few large drops of water hit the top of Jiang Cheng's head. And then a few more, and then even more. The drops kept multiplying until the rain was pouring down. Within minutes he would be fully soaked.

Looking around he tried to find a better place to take cover. The pine trees surrounding him weren't doing a very good job keeping him dry. Up ahead the forest came to an abrupt end. But in the distance he thought he could make out a small cave. Perfect. He was already wet enough that the unprotected travel over there wouldn't make much of a difference, as long as he could eventually get to cover it would've been worth it.

Climbing the rocks to get there Jiang Cheng learnt the hard way what happens to rocks when it rains. Slipping he fell down, pain seared through his leg as it bent in a direction it really shouldn't.

Fuck.

His ankle was completely unusable, even as he tried he couldn't stand up, winching as he made an attempt to do so. His first thought was to bring his hand to his hip, which only reminded him that he hadn't brought Sandu along. One of Wei Wuxian's 'safety' rules for the game. Now that he thought about it, when had his brother ever cared about safety? But Jiang Cheng had much more important things to think about than not having his sword.

He needed to get to cover where he could wait for his brother and friend to come get him. Trying to push through the pain he used all the arm strength he had to drag his body over the damp rocks. His final destination being the cave ahead.

After a long and arduous journey he finally arrived. It had taken far longer than he had expected. Some of the rocks were a lot steeper than he had predicted. Something which wouldn't have been a problem if he was climbing normally. But with an injured leg it had been far more difficult, as he needed to heave himself up the side of the mountain using arm strength alone. There was no energy left in his body. Why hadn't they arrived yet?

How much time had passed since he started crawling? An hour, two? Why hadn't his brother found him yet? At this point the sky was pitch black, not even the moon was out. Would he need to stay out all night? Wei Wuxian was as truly unreliable as ever. Where was his brother when he needed him?