She nodded forcefully, squeezing Chen Yuan’s hand tighter.

Chen Yuan offered a slight smile and turned to thrash a branch about with a CRACKLE. The aggressive, domineering frogs in front of them were startled and scattered, hopping away into the grass.

As the sole trailblazer, Chen Yuan had to pause for a few seconds with every step.

The two sisters were so terrified that their hesitant, stop-and-go pace slowed the three of them to a crawl. They stared fixedly at the creatures, whose skin was covered in a slimy film.

Whenever a frog occasionally hopped up from behind, Jiangg Yao would let out a sudden, trembling shriek.

Her constantly lifting feet made it look as if she were dancing.

She glanced left, then right, her voice filled with anxiety.

"These frogs are just going to hop right back! What do we do? One of them almost landed on my shoe just now."

And it was true.

Chen Yuan had just cleared a large patch ahead of them, but new frogs were already hopping onto the path. It was probably an animal’s instinct to seek out light, and the only faint illumination was on the path itself.

He heard Yaoyao’s voice and turned around.

Only then did he realize.

In front and behind, countless frogs had surrounded the three of them.

Jiangg Ning and Jiangg Yao’s gazes wavered in an instant. Their bodies went rigid, as if they were frozen to the spot, completely clueless as to what to do.

Their brilliant minds had so easily short-circuited.

"Young Master, I’m scared!" Jiangg Yao squeezed out the words.

Jiangg Ning didn’t say anything, but Chen Yuan could feel her unconsciously tightening her grip on his hand, a clear sign of her inner turmoil.

"Then we’ll just shoo them away. Don’t be afraid, frogs aren’t poisonous."

Chen Yuan swung the branch to protect Jiangg Yao. He was spinning in circles, having to deal with the front and then the back, fending off their pincer attack.

He hadn’t been at it for long before a thin layer of nervous sweat had already appeared on his forehead. He was getting dizzy from all the turning, and to make matters worse, the three of them hadn’t advanced an inch.

Chen Yuan panted, but his hands never stopped moving.

"This isn’t working. It’s not a long-term solution. Yaoyao, I’ll find you a branch. You handle the ones behind us. Just keep them from jumping on you."

The night air was chilling.

As Chen Yuan spoke, puffs of white mist escaped his lips. The surrounding temperature was dropping, but thankfully, he didn’t feel the cold since he was constantly moving.

"I-I can’t..." Jiangg Yao replied instinctively.

’This hopeless girlfriend,’ Chen Yuan felt his vision go dark.

"Then you stay in the middle and let Ningning do it."

"I... I don’t want to, either. They’re so gross."

Jiangg Ning’s words left Chen Yuan dumbfounded yet again. The ever-independent Ningning now had a fear in her eyes he had never seen before. Her face was a mask of repulsion; she couldn’t even bring herself to look down at the frogs on the path.

If Chen Yuan knew what she was thinking right now, he would probably laugh out of sheer exasperation.

Just a moment ago, Jiangg Ning had been keeping her pretty eyes squeezed shut, imagining there was nothing at her feet. She’d resorted to pure idealism.

It was the only way she could manage to tremble her way forward.

When it came down to it, one sister was a bigger coward than the other. All their usual imposing presence was gone.

If they could shrink at will, Ningning and Yaoyao would have loved to become thumb-sized, hide in Chen Yuan’s warm pocket, and have him carry them close.

It would be best to wait until they were past this stretch of road before peeking their heads out again.

"So we’re just trapping ourselves here, is that it...?" Chen Yuan said, a headache coming on.

"Or... why don’t we go back? At least then we wouldn’t be surrounded. We can wait for all these frogs to go home and then leave, okay... Young Master?" Jiangg Yao’s voice was pleading, on the verge of tears.

"They *are* home. Where else would they go? My dear ladies..."

"I meant back into the grass next to the path," Jiangg Yao said weakly.

"And if we have to wait until dawn, are we going to do that?"

"Okay... Young Master, just tell us what to do. I’ll listen."

Jiangg Yao could at least still communicate with Chen Yuan, even though she was in a complete panic. In any case, she seemed to be doing much better than Ningning.

Jiangg Ning held on tightly to both of them, her eyes scanning everywhere like radar, not missing a single spot in front, behind, or to the sides.

She was terrified a frog would suddenly leap at her. If one touched her clothes... she would absolutely never wear that outfit again. If one touched her ankle, she would have to scrub off a layer of skin when she got home and would be shuddering in disgust for a long time afterward.

It was the kind of thing that would give her nightmares.

For someone with a touch of mysophobia, touching these filthy, slimy frogs was completely unacceptable.

"Sigh." Chen Yuan let out a breath.

He really wanted to get the two sisters out of there right away. The three of them had been hiking all day and were already sore all over. On top of that, it had just stopped raining not long ago, and their clothes were damp.

He wasn’t sure if they’d catch a cold if they didn’t get home for a hot shower soon—at the very least, they should take some cold medicine as a precaution.

’If only I had wings to fly them out of here,’ he couldn’t help but think.

After a moment, a sudden flash of inspiration struck Chen Yuan.

"I’ve got it!" He pulled the two sisters’ hands and laid out his plan. "We can do this. We’ll back up, one of you will wait here, and I’ll give the other a piggyback ride across."

"No way. Chen, you’ve been tired all day. You don’t have the strength to carry us across." Jiangg Ning immediately shook her head, rejecting the idea.

Both sisters were the type of girls who doted on their boyfriend from the bottom of their hearts.

Of that, there was no doubt.

"Yeah, that would make us seem so selfish..." Jiangg Yao chimed in.

"It’s fine, I have the strength. Carrying you both across is no problem at all. The priority right now is to get to the parking lot. Even a light drizzle will make you sick if you’re out in it for too long. Let’s not waste any more time."

Chen Yuan was insistent. He had already bent down, motioning for one of the sisters to climb onto his back.

Jiangg Ning and Jiangg Yao exchanged a glance. They looked with complicated expressions at the stone path, shimmering under the streetlight. Around a corner not far away, the outline of the path grew hazy, as if submerged in deep water.

Unknown, with no end in sight.

Carrying them across, making two round trips, would be anything but easy.

But right now, all Chen Yuan could think about was getting away from this place quickly. Besides, wasn’t this exactly the kind of situation where a dependable boyfriend was supposed to step up?

"Should I go first?" Jiangg Ning asked her sister tentatively after a moment’s hesitation.

"And leave me here all alone? Sister, are you trying to kill me?!"

Glancing around, Jiangg Yao shook her head frantically and instinctively grabbed onto Jiangg Ning, terrified she would abandon her.

"Chen will be back for you soon. It’ll only be a little while. Yaoyao, don’t be scared. I’ll scout the path for you."

Normally, Jiangg Ning might have given in to her.

But in this situation, Jiangg Ning really couldn’t muster her usual big-sisterly grace.

"Oh, spare me. You make it sound so nice, but you’re still just leaving me here alone. Don’t even think about it." Yaoyao wasn’t falling for it.

"Then you go first?"

"I think that’s fine."

"No, no, no," Jiangg Ning backpedaled instantly. "I don’t want to be left here alone either."

Chen Yuan’s legs were starting to get tired from squatting, but the two sisters were still in a heated debate, neither willing to be the one to back down.

He listened for a while before he finally couldn’t take it anymore.

"Rock, paper, scissors. Loser stays. I’ll be back in ten or fifteen minutes, tops."

Jiangg Ning and Jiangg Yao thought for a moment.

"Deal!" they said in unison.

And so, the two sisters each took a deep breath, their expressions surprisingly serious as they bit their lips in the exact same way.

"Rock~ Paper~ Scissors!"

Their two clear, beautiful voices merged into one, echoing through the night sky.

The streetlight illuminated their two fair hands, and Chen Yuan looked up to see the result.

Jiangg Ning had thrown scissors, while Yaoyao had thrown paper.

"No... I..."

Jiangg Yao’s beautiful eyes flew wide open. She stammered, unable to accept that she had lost, but the facts were right in front of her.