Chapter 603 - 398: Overlap

Chapter 603: Chapter 398: Overlap

"Boss, how did you fall into the river during the race!"

"Do you have frostbite? Hurry back to the cabin."

"Boss..."

The contestants who had rushed over from the shore were all talking at once.

Tyson and Ivan shook the ice-cold water from their bodies, their fur covered in sparkling ice crystals.

Anxious whimpers came from their throats, and they kept rubbing their heads against Feng Mountain’s soaking-wet pant legs.

In the water, he had been running on pure adrenaline. But now, on the shore, the frigid wind and falling snow hit him, and Feng Mountain finally felt the bone-chilling cold.

He looked down and saw that Natasha was in even worse shape.

Her lips were purple from the cold, her face was as white as snow, she was shaking like a leaf, and her teeth were chattering uncontrollably. She didn’t even have the strength to speak.

’I need to start a fire and get warm, fast.’

Feng Mountain couldn’t be bothered with the propriety between men and women at a time like this; besides, they had just faced life and death together in the water.

He bent down abruptly and scooped the frozen Natasha right into his arms.

Her wet, golden hair dripped icy water down his arm. Her thin thermal shirt clung to her body, a picture of utter misery.

Feng Mountain gritted his teeth and took off, sprinting toward the nearest tavern. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

Natasha was frighteningly cold in his arms. Her occasional shivers shot up his arms like an electric current, and he couldn’t help but speed up.

BANG!

The tavern’s wooden door was kicked open violently.

Feng Mountain rushed into the room carrying the trembling Natasha, his bare feet leaving a trail of ice shards on the floorboards.

He ran straight to the fireplace, not even noticing when his knees slammed against the stone bricks.

He set Natasha down and grabbed a nearby blanket, draping it over her.

Then, with trembling hands, he fumbled for the tinder on the mantelpiece. His fingers slipped several times before he finally lit the kindling. The dry firewood crackled, spitting sparks, and soon roared into a blazing fire.

Just as the warmth began to spread, he saw that Natasha was still curled up and trembling under the blanket, ice crystals falling from her eyelashes.

Feng Mountain knelt beside her, felt her forehead for her temperature, and said softly, "You need to get out of those clothes, or you’ll freeze to death!"

The moment he finished speaking, his eyes met Natasha’s glistening gaze.

She bit her purple lips, her eyes red-rimmed and filled with a mixture of hurt and defiance.

"My arms are frozen stiff... You help me!"

The air suddenly fell silent, with only the crackling of the fire in the hearth.

’This...!’

Feng Mountain’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He glanced at the water droplets clinging to Natasha’s eyelashes, unable to tell if they were river water or tears.

’Saving her is what matters most; he couldn’t worry about the rest.’

He turned and shouted to the people who had walked in through the door, "All of you, get out! Go back to the cabin and get Auntie Natalia!"

The group exchanged glances, then retreated sheepishly under Feng Mountain’s stare.

The moment the wooden door closed, the atmosphere in the room suddenly grew tense.

In the dim light, the dancing flames cast their two shadows onto the mottled wooden wall.

Feng Mountain clumsily tore off his own dripping thermal shirt. He was still shivering as he wrapped a blanket around himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Natasha curled into a ball, the ice on her eyelashes now melting and trickling down her pale cheeks.

At that moment, Natasha was like a drenched little kitten, with none of her usual queenly air.

"Um... hang on..." Feng Mountain walked over, clutching the blanket, his throat so tight he could barely speak. The firelight made the tips of his ears glow red. "Let’s get this straight. I have no intention of taking advantage of you. This is purely to help."

Natasha bit her lip without a word, strands of hair stuck to her face.

In the faint firelight, she gave a slight nod but squeezed her eyes shut, her long lashes casting a delicate shadow beneath them.

Feng Mountain steeled himself, lifted a corner of the blanket covering Natasha, and reached for the collar of her soaked shirt.

When his fingertips touched her ice-cold skin, they both flinched.

The firelight from the hearth made Natasha’s face flicker between light and shadow.

He didn’t know if it was the firelight or shyness, but two flushes of red bloomed on her frost-whitened cheeks.

"Stop dawdling! Are you trying to let me freeze to death?"

Feeling Feng Mountain’s slow hands, Natasha’s purple lips trembled. Curled in the blanket, she couldn’t stop her violent shivers.

Feng Mountain’s throat tightened, and his hand paused in mid-air.

He carefully began to lift the hem of the thermal shirt that was stuck to Natasha’s body again.

The fabric, soaked with icy water, had frozen stiff, forcing him to pull it up bit by bit. The pads of his fingers inadvertently brushed against her cold skin.

Natasha gasped from the cold, and Feng Mountain himself froze abruptly.

The delicate sensation was like a feather, gently tickling the most hidden corner of his heart and throwing his breathing out of rhythm.

After finally managing to peel off the frozen-stiff clothes, Feng Mountain clumsily wrapped her in the woolen blanket, only to find that Natasha’s fingers had lost all their color.

He immediately gritted his teeth, wrapped his own blanket around her as well, and gathered her closer to the fireplace.

The dancing flames licked at the logs, crackling loudly.

Gradually, a layer of warm light coated Natasha’s frost-whitened face. Her stiff features finally relaxed, and a bit of color returned to them.

Feng Mountain wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, not bothering to fix the wet hair stuck to his face.

’Changing a woman’s clothes is exhausting. It’s even more nerve-wracking than hunting a brown bear.’

Suddenly, Natasha, huddled in the woolen blanket, spoke in a voice like a kitten’s, with a hint of petulance. "Hold me tight."

As soon as the words were out, she hurriedly added, her lowered lashes casting a flickering shadow beneath her eyes, "Two people sharing body heat will be warmer. Don’t get the wrong idea."

The air was filled with the roasted scent of burning wood, mixed with the musty smell of damp cloth.

Feng Mountain opened his mouth, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and then he closed it again.

The words of refusal were stuck in his throat; he just couldn’t say them.

Natasha suddenly took the initiative, wrapping her arms around Feng Mountain’s neck. The icy tip of her nose brushed against his warm collarbone, sending a shiver through his entire body.

He could only kneel, slide one arm under the bend of her knees, and gently scoop the blanket-wrapped Natasha into his embrace.

They moved closer to the fireplace, and Feng Mountain could hear his own heart pounding like a drum, mingling with Natasha’s equally rapid breaths.