275: Chapter 275 What kind of fruit?

"Uh… The sourness was too strong, my saliva came out on its own."

"Swallowing saliva, huh?"

Xu Zhixia lowered her head to look at the green fruit in her hand, then raised her head to look at him.

"I thought you found something else to eat in the woods."

Lin Fan hooked the strap of his back basket onto his shoulder, his face showing no flaws.

"Something to eat? Don't tell me, just now I seemed to have really seen two fruits."

Xu Zhixia was squatting on the ground organizing herbs, and when she heard this, she raised her head.

"What fruit?"

"Um… I don't know what variety, anyway it's quite big."

Lin Fan gestured with his hand, "It's as big as a watermelon, but it's hanging on a tree, swaying quite a lot when the wind blows."

Xu Zhixia stood up and put the herbs into Lin Fan's back basket.

"If it's really like what you said, then I advise you not to think about it."

"In this kind of place, big fruits generally shouldn't be eaten randomly."

"Small fruits without kernels are at most sour and astringent, they won't kill people from eating them."

"But big fruits, the plumper they are, the more dangerous."

"In this environment, the larger the fruit, the stronger the toxicity, and the alkaloid content in the flesh is frighteningly high."

"Take a bite, at best your mouth goes numb, at worst your heart stops suddenly."

"Mhm, if it's really like what you said, then it indeed shouldn't be touched."

Lin Fan withdrew his gaze and tightened the back basket straps on his shoulders.

"Let's go, go to the stream to fetch water first."

He swept a circle toward the depths of the woods, "Staying in this woods for too long feels unsettling."

"Yang Ningcong said that thing came out of the woods, and the mist also drifted out from this side."

Xu Zhixia's footsteps paused for a beat.

"You mean, it might shrink back into the woods during the day?"

"Hard to say, but over at the Karst Cave, Zhou Kai is the only one who can still move."

Lin Fan quickened his pace, "That trash Yang Ningcong can't be counted on, let alone Song Ya and Liu Feifei."

"Although Su Qingxue has a Superpower, she is basically of zero use in dealing with emergencies."

"If that thing is really only interested in women, the Karst Cave is more like a dining table than the woods."

Xu Zhixia didn't say much more, speeding up her pace to follow.

The two walked in the direction of the stream along the route marked previously, and the sultry heat among the dense woods grew thicker layer by layer, with sweat streaming down their necks.

Walking about two hundred meters, Xu Zhixia's peripheral vision swept to the base of a fallen dead tree on the right.

Several sections of dark red roots were exposed there, and the edges of the leaves were serrated, with fine downy hair.

She recognized this thing.

Red-back Qi, its hemostatic effect is more than three times stronger than the batch harvested before, and after the roots are pounded and mixed into hot water, it also has miraculous effects for post-partum blood replenishment.

Su Qingxue's vital energy and blood are now severely deficient, and relying solely on ordinary herbs won't hold up for too long.

If this thing is missed, they might not run into it next time.

Xu Zhixia didn't call out to Lin Fan; she squatted down directly, pinched the bottom of the root with two fingers, and pulled outward.

The soil was loose, and the roots were not deeply buried; with a few pulls, they were yanked out roots and all along with mud.

Lin Fan walked in front, completely unaware that Xu Zhixia had stopped her steps.

The images in his brain just wouldn't shake off clean.

The difference in feel between Xu Zhixia and Su Qingxue was too obvious; each had their own style, each had their own benefits.

Xu Zhixia, being a doctor, pays more attention to maintenance somewhere; it should be bigger than Su Qingxue's.

But he suddenly thought of another person.

Song Ya.

That girl usually wrapped herself tightly, the layers of fabric she wore underneath were more than both Su Qingxue and Xu Zhixia; what specification was actually compressed underneath could never be seen in full view.

But once while moving supplies, Song Ya bent down and lowered her head, her collar loosening a gap, and Lin Fan's peripheral vision swept across a contour.

The degree of undulation of that arc was at least two tiers higher than he had expected.

Don't look at Song Ya's pure face that could pinch out water, her configuration below didn't lose to the other two people at all.

If they were really put together to compare fruits, these three people would probably be on par with each other.

Lin Fan shook his head, he couldn't think about it anymore.

Xu Zhixia shook the mud off the roots, and when she straightened her waist, Lin Fan's back was already more than twenty meters away.

That stride was big and fast, and the back basket bumped up and down on his shoulders.

"Lin Fan!"

Xu Zhixia shouted and lifted her foot to chase.

The ground in the woods was uneven, with stones and dead branches hidden under the rotting leaves, and she staggered after running a few steps, stabilizing herself and accelerating again.

Lin Fan's back was just seven or eight steps ahead.

Running two more steps would allow her to catch up.

Xu Zhixia's toe hooked onto something.

A vine as thick as a wrist lay across the ground, covered for more than half its length by thick fallen leaves, revealing only a small section of its arc.

Her body lost balance, and her whole person pounced forward.

Lin Fan heard the commotion behind him and turned his head to take a look.

Xu Zhixia's body was tumbling toward his direction, her hands instinctively stretching forward, the expression on her face shifting from panic to helplessness, and then to resignation.

Relying on Lin Fan's speed, he could definitely dodge away.

But if he dodged, Xu Zhixia would have to fall face down into a pile of rotting leaves and gravel.

Eating mud with her mouth was a small matter, but if a sharp corner of a stone scratched her face, then it wouldn't be a question of whether it was mud or not.

Lin Fan turned around, stretched out both hands with palms facing forward, and steadily caught Xu Zhixia.

But the position where she was caught was not quite right.

His palms did not land on Xu Zhixia's shoulders, nor did they support her arms.

His fingers sank into an excessively soft area.

The tactile sensation traveled straight from the palms to the roots of the fingers, delicate and full, carrying a slight tremor transmitted by body temperature and heartbeat.

Lin Fan lowered his head to take a look.

Two buttons of Xu Zhixia's collar had already been loosened just now, and with this pounce, the lapel dropped down by a section.

His hands were squarely placed in a place they shouldn't be placed.

And…

The feel was indeed different from Su Qingxue's.

More elastic, rounder in shape, and the rebound force was excessively uniform.

This maintenance level, placed in civilized society, would at least be a VIP level of a high-end private club.

"Ahem."

Lin Fan cleared his throat, not daring to move his fingers.

It wasn't that he didn't want to retract them, but he was afraid that moving too fast would make him look guilty.

Xu Zhixia stood firm and lowered her head to take a look at Lin Fan's hands.

She raised her head again to look at Lin Fan's face.

Her expression didn't bristle, didn't scream, and didn't even blush.

Only the corner of her mouth skewed to one side, "Haven't touched enough yet?"

Lin Fan's fingers twitched slightly.

"I'm catching you here."

"Catching me, putting your hands on my shoulders would have been fine."

Xu Zhixia lowered her gaze, looking at the position of Lin Fan's two hands, "You chose this point of application quite precisely. Do you have clinical experience in this area, or did your hands grow brains of their own?"

"Dr. Xu, if you hadn't pounced over, I wouldn't have caught you so hastily."

"So it's my fault?"

"I didn't say it was your fault, I'm talking about the hand's stress response."

"You had a stress response right onto the chest?"

"Or could it be, you're just like last time."

"Checking whether I'm hiding weapons on my body?"

Lin Fan dared to swear to heaven that he definitely wasn't doing it on purpose.

"Dr. Xu, as a professional medical practitioner, you should understand that during emergency rescue, the landing point of the hands depends on the angle and speed of the rescued person falling."

"Just now your center of gravity leaned forward by about forty-five degrees, my hands had to support the most concentrated part of the center of gravity to effectively prevent you from falling."

"And the part where the human body's center of gravity is most concentrated…"