Chapter 116: A Miraculous Antidote

To be honest, I was a bit anxious. The flashlight that had fallen into the water was completely smashed. It was the one Lu Ayao had clipped to his waist before falling into the groove. Flashlights like this were usually quite sturdy, so I guessed he must have taken a heavy impact or suffered a severe collision when he fell.

This wasn’t good.

Without waiting for He Yu and Chen Canghai to catch up, stumbling through the water behind me, I shut my mouth and lunged forward into the water. Plunging ahead like this was much faster than trudging through it on foot.

As I moved, I used my flashlight to scan the pitch-black passage ahead. None of us had been paying close attention earlier, so I didn’t know where that black flashlight had fallen into the water and drifted from.

I pushed forward quickly for several dozen meters. Seeing that there was indeed no one in the passage, I stopped to wait for He Yu and Chen Canghai to catch up.

“Where is he?” He Yu panted, leaning against the wall for support. “Could he still be further ahead?”

I didn’t think so and shook my head. “The echo of the flashlight hitting the water wasn’t very loud, so it shouldn’t be that far from where we were. Besides, if it were too far, the draft in the passage is weak, and the flashlight wouldn’t have drifted to us so quickly.”

Just then, I heard a faint noise, seemingly coming from above our heads.

“Are you sure?” As soon as He Yu spoke, I cut him off immediately, gesturing for both of them to be quiet. Then I turned my flashlight to maximum brightness to illuminate the low passage.

We had checked the ceiling when we first fell into the water. The stones were all solid, with mountain rock and rammed earth above them, without a single crack. Logically, even that white mycelium shouldn’t have been able to burrow through from inside.

But as I looked up, I was startled to see a deep, dark, square robber’s hole carved out not far above my head. Judging by the size of the opening, it looked just big enough for a person to squeeze into sideways.

At the same time, I heard the sound of stones tapping from inside the hole: three short taps and one long. He Yu immediately locked eyes with me. He began rolling up his sleeves and tightening his waistband, while Chen Canghai stepped aside to give us enough room.

He Yu dropped into a solid horse stance in the water, patted his back, and called to me, “Quick, quick, quick! Get up here. I’ll carry you on my back so you can check it out! Kid Chen, give us a hand! Be careful, though, don’t let this kid push me under the water when he heaves himself up!”

The three of us set to work at once. Chen Canghai quickly moved in front of He Yu, using one hand to steady me as I stepped onto He Yu’s knee, and the other hand pressing down on He Yu’s shoulder to keep him from slipping into the foul water.

The soles of our shoes were covered in the black water from the bottom, making every step a slip waiting to happen. Fortunately, my height gave me an advantage, so I didn’t need to stand fully on He Yu. Instead, I braced my knee against his shoulder, leaning my upper body entirely into the robber tunnel.

As soon as I entered, I realized the vertical section of the tunnel was less than a meter long. I poked my head in and hit the roof immediately. Beyond that was a horizontal section of unknown length. I shone my flashlight inside and saw a person lying deep within the hole.

I quickly patted He Yu and shouted, “I see him! I see him! Just a little higher, I can crawl in!”

Carrying me was easy for He Yu. He stood up a bit straighter and asked with equal urgency, “Dead or alive? Is he still breathing?”

“How the hell should I know? I’m not clairvoyant! This tunnel must be at least ten meters long. How can I see from this far?” I tried to rub my dry clothes against the tunnel walls to create friction, then slowly wiggled my upper body inside.

He Yu and Chen Canghai helped shove me into the hole. Having spent hours crawling through tunnels before, I had plenty of experience. I didn’t drop the ball this time and managed to squeeze into the deepest part of the tunnel within ten minutes.

Lu Ayao lay motionless in the tunnel. I gave him a quick scan with the flashlight. He was covered in abrasions, and his right wrist was twisted at an unnatural angle.

I felt he was still conscious and hadn’t fallen into a true coma. Sure enough, as soon as I leaned in, his eyes snapped open. Even though I was prepared, I still flinched back in fright. I don’t know if I scared him too, but he suddenly reached out and pinned me down firmly.

I was stunned. Then I heard He Yu shouting from outside, “How is it? What’s the situation in there? Is he still alive?”

At that moment, I noticed Lu Ayao’s expression suddenly change. “He Yu is here too? Did you guys come up from below?”

I nodded immediately.

Lu Ayao suddenly began to cough, looking seriously injured. Before I could move to support him, he spoke urgently in a raspy voice, “We can’t stay outside. It’s extremely dangerous out there. Hurry, pull them into the tunnel.”

As soon as he finished speaking, blood began to drip from the corner of his mouth.

Lu Ayao never liked explaining his reasons. Usually, in moments of extreme crisis, the reasons didn’t matter; you just did as he said. If you wanted to know why, you had to ask him afterward. But if you wanted to stay alive, it was best to leave those questions for later.

On this point, He Yu and I had reached a silent consensus that required no explanation. As for Chen Canghai, he basically never asked questions. Consequently, we reacted much faster than ordinary people.

I quickly hauled up my backpack and dug out some hemostatic medicine before reaching out to pull He Yu. The tunnel was narrow, so I couldn’t help much from behind. I backed up quite a bit to leave space for He Yu. Once He Yu was lying steady, he finally pulled Chen Canghai up.

Lu Ayao had many superficial wounds, so I rummaged through the backpack for medical supplies. Most of our gear had been confiscated by Qiao Sangui, and this single bag was the only one He Yu had managed to snatch back. I just hoped I could find something useful.

“How are you feeling? How do we treat the corpse poison? Is there an antidote for this stuff?” I asked hurriedly, unwrapping gauze as I crouched on the ground.

Just then, I felt Lu Ayao, who was leaning against the tunnel wall, stretch out his leg to nudge me. I turned to look at him, and a few raspy words managed to slip from his throat.

“What?” I didn’t hear him clearly.

Hearing me speak, He Yu leaned over to help me treat Lu Ayao’s superficial wounds. “Look, disinfectant is useless against corpse poison. You need a Black Donkey Hoof^[1], then you have to smoke the wound with it. Or use some miracle medicine from their Thieves’ Sect. I heard real Mojin Xiaowei^[2] all carry that stuff.”

I could tell Lu Ayao wanted to say something, so I ordered He Yu, “You, shut up. Stop blabbering.”

Then I pressed my ear close to Lu Ayao. This time I heard him clearly. He said, “I need some blood.”

This put me in a tough spot. I thought to myself that Lu Ayao might know a bit about first aid and figured severe blood loss obviously required a transfusion. But in a place like this, there were no doctors, no needles, and no blood bags. Even if we had blood bags, it would be useless if the blood types didn’t match. Asking for blood now, wasn’t he just messing around?

I scratched my head, thinking that maybe Lu Ayao had taken such a hard fall that his mind was addled and he was talking nonsense.

So I tried to soothe him first. “Let’s not rush. Let me handle these external wounds first, okay? We can’t do a transfusion ourselves. Don’t be difficult. We’ll get you one once we’re out and at a hospital.”

He Yu was stunned. He cautiously pointed at Lu Ayao and then at his own head, as if to ask, “What’s the deal? Did he fall and get dementia?”

With a solemn expression, I gave him a heavy nod, as if saying, “Most likely.”

He Yu looked up toward the roof of the tunnel and muttered, “This is just great. If the fall made him an idiot, the Lu Clan will skin us alive once we get out.”

At that moment, Lu Ayao leaned against the rock and took a deep breath, bracing his legs against the stone wall. I could tell he had heard us, so I glared at He Yu, thinking he should have kept that thought to himself instead of blurting it out and stoking trouble.

Lu Ayao struggled to sit up. As blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, he said to me, “I need some of your blood. Your blood can neutralize the corpse poison in my wounds.”