Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 215: No More Breathing?
The sound of sand rubbing against itself continuously filled my mind. Tonight seemed longer than usual. After lying down for a while, I felt my body temperature gradually returning, and I could move again. I eagerly climbed up from the ground. Under the faint moonlight, I saw a gray head moving above the horizon. Beside me was a pit about a meter deep, with fine sand continuously flowing into it.
Remembering that Xianxian and Pei Zi had not yet come out, I immediately joined the search.
"Are they really down there?" I asked Luo Ruyun, who had already dug nearly a meter deep without seeing any sign of them.
Luo Ruyun did not look up; she continued digging and said calmly, "There is a scent of people down there."
A scent of people? Well, my nose wasn't sensitive enough to detect that! But now, I had no choice but to trust her. When I fell into the Quicksand, I only remembered the general direction. They had been buried for so long; they had to hold on! They must not give up!
My hands were red and swollen from the cold, and the sand was both icy and hard. Despite the pain in my hands, I dared not stop for even a second. Because one second could determine life or death!
Luo Ruyun had moved to another spot to search for someone else while I desperately dug in this pit. Time passed slowly, and my heart sank little by little.
Finally, after clearing away a layer of sand, my hand suddenly touched a hard object. My heart leaped with joy as I quickly cleared the surrounding sand. At that moment, black hair emerged from beneath the sand!
A surge of strength erupted within me as I frantically cleared the sand. Before long, I saw the face of Xianxian! Like me earlier, Xianxian was covering his nose and mouth. However, due to being buried for so long, his face was extremely pale, his eyes tightly shut, and his lips were purple.
"Xianxian, how are you? Wake up!" I reached out with trembling fingers to check under his nose but felt no air movement at all. My heart sank completely. I immediately began clearing more sand and tried to drag him out.
However, Xianxian's entire body seemed to be stuck in the sand as if it weighed a thousand pounds. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't pull him up; in the end, I could only dig out the sand in front of him. Unfortunately, this was sand and not dirt; once disturbed, it would slowly flow back down, making the entire process extremely arduous. After pouring some water into him, I dared not stop for even a moment and numbly continued clearing the sand.
I don't know how long it took—perhaps it was long or perhaps short—the Desert still loomed under the night sky when I finally pulled Xianxian out. After giving him more water and pressing down on his chest several times, I still felt no breath under his nose. I felt utterly defeated and sat on the ground for several seconds without knowing what to do.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two feet approaching me; the color of the shoes had faded. Without looking closely, I knew who it was. Silently watching Xianxian lying motionless before me made it clear that Pei Zi's condition must be even worse. There is nothing more painful in this world than having friends die while you remain alive.
I slumped on the ground and murmured, "Sister Lou, he..."
Lou Rulan walked over to Xianxian's side and knelt down beside him. She reached out to check under his nose and said to me after a few seconds: "Don't worry; he still has breath."
"Really?" I suddenly looked up at her and saw her nodding with a smile as she pulled my hand over. Her hand was also gray; I felt no warmth from it. Confused, I looked at her as she said: "Why aren't you wearing gloves? Your hands are frozen like this; naturally, you wouldn't feel his shallow breath." After saying that, she shook her head and stood up to go towards Pei Zi.
I raised my hands and moved my fingers, feeling a sharp pain; they were swollen like pig's trotters. I let out a bitter laugh, unsure whether it was joy or relief. My emotions were in turmoil, and I felt exceptionally uncomfortable, caught between laughter and tears.
In any case, at least I was alive!
Soon after, Pei Zi and Yu Yu were pulled up as well. During the process, I wore gloves and worked quickly. Although wearing gloves made me feel a bit less secure, the protection allowed me to dig faster. Before long, they were both brought up, and we laid the three of them together, giving them some water and performing basic first aid while waiting for them to wake up.
After finishing all this, I finally breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the ground. A cold wind blew by, causing my body to shiver uncontrollably; I realized that I had broken into a sweat without even noticing. Once I relaxed, I felt the fatigue wash over me, and my chest began to ache faintly. Fortunately, after resting for several days, my wounds had scabbed over; otherwise, if they reopened, I might have wished for death.
“Little Phoenix, don’t go any further; come back. You shouldn’t have gotten involved,” came Luo Ruyun's gentle voice, now tinged with deep helplessness and urgency.
I didn’t respond; I just smiled as I looked at the three people lying on the ground, bitterly laughing. We hadn’t even reached that place yet, and our main force had already ended up like this. I could only imagine how Lime was doing alone…
“Little Phoenix?” Seeing that I didn’t answer, Luo Ruyun called me again.
I turned my head to look at her and asked, “Sister Luo, how did you end up in this place?”
After I asked this question, Luo Ruyun fell silent. She sat on the sand, hugging her knees for a long time before saying, “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Although I wasn’t sure if she was being sincere or not, since she was here now, I couldn’t let her leave without saying anything. Here, besides the three who were unconscious and yet to wake up, it was just me and Luo Ruyun. With a faint smile, I looked at her seriously and said, “Sister Luo, you know that we won’t leave here until we see Lime!”
“Luo Yu… right?” Luo Ruyun sighed. “His choices are not easily changed!”
So he wouldn’t leave here easily? I had known this all along; my true purpose in coming here wasn’t to take him away but to help him accomplish what he wanted to do. Then we brothers would leave together.
“If you truly don’t want us to suffer total annihilation, then please tell us the correct path. The more we know, the lower our mortality rate will be. Please tell me!” I looked at her hopefully and pleaded. If it weren’t for my exhaustion, I would have knelt down to plead with her; pride meant nothing in front of this matter.
Luo Ruyun looked very troubled. She gazed at me and extended her finger. Confused, I watched as she pointed to herself and looked into my eyes, speaking slowly: “Look at me; seeing me like this, are you sure you still want to go there?”
“What did you encounter?” This was what I wanted to know most—what had they encountered that left them in such a state? Xianxian had told me before that people could turn into Shara due to being contaminated by some “strange foreign substance.” So what exactly had they encountered that caused their bodies to become like this?
Luo Ruyun stared into the night ahead with a bitter expression. I knew she wasn’t looking at anything but was lost in thoughts about past experiences they had gone through. I didn’t interrupt her; after a moment, she spoke softly: “Actually, we don’t know either. We should have all died; when we woke up, we became like this…”
“You?” I frowned and asked again: “When did you wake up? How long has it been since you woke up?”
“How long? Hmm… about three years now…” Luo Ruyun replied lightly.
Although there are many things I want to ask, right now, I am more concerned about the people from the Spirit Department. "Have you seen a group of strange people before? Um, about ninety of them?"
"Are you talking about those ghosts?" Luo Ruyun looked at me without any surprise and asked in return.
I nodded vigorously and awkwardly said, "At first, I sent them to find you, but they haven't returned yet, so..."
Luo Ruyun paused for a moment, looking at me with a sigh. "I didn't expect you to have such abilities! However, I haven't seen them. If nothing unexpected happened, they..."
"What happened to them?" I asked impatiently. Just as my words fell, I heard a soft murmur. I turned my consciousness toward the source of the sound; there was no mistake—someone had woken up!
I saw Xianxian's eyelashes flutter slightly. Excitedly, I shook his shoulder and said, "Xianxian, wake up! Don't just lie there; otherwise, you'll definitely regret it!" While saying this, I kept an eye on Luo Ruyun to prevent her from suddenly disappearing again; it would be difficult to find her afterward!
"Don't make noise; let me sleep a little longer," Xianxian waved his hand dismissively, looking like he didn't want to be disturbed.
"Alright, you keep sleeping. I'll continue discussing with Sister Luo Ruyun." As soon as I finished speaking, Xianxian suddenly opened his eyes wide. "What? Luo Ruyun? Where?"
Luo Ruyun showed no signs of wanting to sneak away, which made me very happy. Now that Xianxian was awake, I felt even less hopeless about the future. So I smiled and said, "Look, she's right next to you."
Xianxian looked extremely tired. After helping him sit up, I noticed he was staring blankly at Luo Ruyun as if he wanted to devour her.
I twitched my mouth and tossed him a compressed biscuit and some water, saying, "Stop staring! If you're hungry, eat something first! Don't scare her!"
Comment 0 Comment Count