Chapter 5: Artificial Respiration
The young man radiated a repressed fury and a chilling coldness. When he heard Shi Qingqing's sarcastic remark, it was as if she had reminded him of something. He shot her a frosty glare and strode away with long, determined steps.
But suddenly, his expression twisted, contorted by immense pain. He lifted his head to the sky, though it was unclear what he was looking at. His face grew more and more anguished with every passing second.
Shi Qingqing followed his gaze, but there was nothing in the sky except for a crescent moon. The morbidly handsome, icy young man swayed unsteadily, like a mountain about to topple, and then collapsed heavily to the ground.
"Serves you right! That's what you get for laying a hand on a girl. It was just a bump—don't you have any sense of chivalry? Looks like you've been struck down by heaven! Hey, hey, are you really dead from divine retribution?" Shi Qingqing climbed out from the bushes.
She called out to him tentatively, but there was no response. In the deserted park at the heart of the city, only the dim glow of streetlights pierced the darkness; the moon above was mottled by shadows of tree branches, casting an eerie and unsettling scene.
Shi Qingqing reached out to feel his breath—there was still a faint sign of life; he had only fainted. Could she have killed him by accident?
Did she really possess such power, to knock out a finicky, germaphobic jerk with just a bump?
Would she have to pay for this?
Just the thought of having to pay compensation pained her as if her heart were being gouged out.
Should she call an ambulance?
No, who knew how much a hospital visit would cost! The little red envelopes she’d managed to snatch up certainly wouldn’t be enough. Hospitals these days—could anyone really afford them? Even a cold could cost several hundred…
Let alone someone who’d fainted!
Maybe it was best to just run away?
No, no, what if there were surveillance cameras? They’d surely find her afterward.
Besides, if she ran and he didn’t get treated in time and actually died, that would be a human life on her hands!
And honestly, it would be a shame for such a handsome germaphobe to die like this. It would be a loss to the collective beauty of humanity.
After weighing her options and finding herself out of ideas, Shi Qingqing suddenly remembered an old trick from a book: for someone who has fainted, perhaps she could… that thing…
Shi Qingqing blushed, her dignity flying out the window, as she bent down, pressing her lips to the germaphobe’s mouth to give him artificial respiration.
A tingling jolt surged through her as their lips touched, electrifying her entire body.
She had barely managed three breaths when she suddenly felt herself thrown aside.
A furious, near-murderous voice bellowed, “What do you think you’re doing? Are you looking to die?”
The germaphobic jerk sat up from the ground, his gaze sharp as a knife, as if he wished nothing more than to stab a dozen holes in Shi Qingqing.
“I was just… you fainted, so I was giving you mouth-to-mouth…”
“Get lost!”
His face was thunderous, veins bulging on his forehead, looking dangerously handsome, the sort of person both mortals and spirits would avoid.
Shi Qingqing was startled.
“Don’t be angry, I’ll get lost right away, I’m going, I’m going, I’m gone, gone, gone…”
As long as he didn’t come after her for compensation, leaving was fine by her.
Besides, this guy seemed a little unhinged at the moment, clearly in the midst of some episode—she had better not provoke him any further.
If she made him angry enough to drop dead, wouldn’t that be a much bigger problem?
Weighing the consequences, Shi Qingqing decided to make her escape as quickly as possible.
After all, being pushed into the bushes again actually made it easier to roll away—so she pretended to be a ball, tumbling again and again, until she was finally out of his line of sight.