After a long sleep, Yan Si jolted awake and looked around, his ears faintly catching the sound of trickling water...
When he had first stepped inside, he was too exhausted to notice, but on the far wall of the cave, there was a small waterfall. The water gently cascaded into a depression in the ground below, creating a crystal-clear pool...
"There is indeed a bit of luck." Thus, in the days ahead, he would no longer have to worry about a water source. Nature always granted him exceptionally good treatment, allowing him to maintain his body without needing to exert too much effort.
Here, every ounce of Yan Si's motivation for survival was completely obliterated; he existed at the absolute minimum, doing nothing that would drain his mind or physical strength.
During the initial period, Yan Si still possessed enough energy to move about... Occasionally discovering stone blocks with strange shapes resembling this or that object, he would pick them up and patiently grind them smooth bit by bit. Eventually, he managed to fashion a set of mortars that looked like shallow funnels, a pestle resembling a chicken egg, and afterward, a few bowls to hold drinking water.
When venturing into the forest, he also gathered leaves to weave into a back-basket for himself, making it convenient to harvest medicinal herbs and wild fruits to store for long-term use...
Later on, as each day passed, he spent almost all his time sleeping, to the point of forgetting heaven and earth, forgetting the Shi family, forgetting Yichang Hua, and even forgetting that he had to live. Only when he became too hungry would he crawl up to go outside and forage for food; anything from wild fruits to forest leaves would do, as long as it filled his stomach.
Hunger, cold, and hardship had clung to Yan Si since the moment he was born, and by now, he was thoroughly accustomed to them. Even if he lay exposed in the midst of freezing weather, he could still sleep as usual; it mattered not if his body occasionally shivered a little on its own...
As those insipid days sequentially slipped away, nearly two years had passed in the blink of an eye... Yan Si could now hardly be recognized as human. His withered frame clearly exposed his skeletal joints, his limbs as gaunt as dry firewood. The muscle definition on his face had vanished, leaving only a vacant daze and deeply sunken eye sockets; at a glance, he looked no different from a walking corpse.
Having lived with a ruined body for so long, Yan Si did not feel there was any issue with it; no one told him whether it was good or bad. On the day he was driven away by his master and subsequently learned that he had been declared dead, he felt as though the entire world had turned its back and abandoned him. Therefore, he thought that merely managing to exist like this was enough.
Yan Si lived in an endless loop of sleeping, waking up to forage for food, and when dreaming, he would still find himself doing the exact same actions... Every boundary was blurred, causing him to occasionally lose even his self-awareness... Perhaps in just a little more time, he would no longer have the capacity to wake up.
That day, the sky was overcast. Yan Si dragged himself into the forest to look for food, his exhausted eyes devoid of focus as he ambled along like a zombie... Guided by his survival reflex, whenever he detected a wound-healing herb, he would pluck it and toss it into the back-basket on his spine.
And then, due to a lack of observation, he accidentally tripped over something and plunged headlong onto the ground...
The pain following that earth-shattering fall instantly dragged Yan Si back to reality...
At first, he thought he had tripped over a fallen tree or a vine, but the sensation felt wrong; that object was clearly very soft... With that thought, he turned his head around, and taking a closer, careful look, he was struck with panic...
"A human being!?" Furthermore, it was a man who was grievously wounded, his hand still tightly clutching a sword. Scattered slash wounds covered his body, an arrow had pierced his leg, and he was thoroughly drenched in blood, his condition exceptionally critical.
Yan Si felt a fleeting timidity... but then, gathering all his courage, he extended his hand to check the man's breathing.
"Still breathing..." Though it was very feeble, the fact that the person remained alive in such a state was truly miraculous.
Encountering Yan Si in the depths of the forest, and precisely during this rare moment of foraging... this could be considered a rarity among rarities; surely his destiny had not yet reached its end.
Although he did not yet know whether that man was good or bad, and Yan Si himself was currently terrified of people, something urged him that he absolutely must save him.
"What... what should I do..." The person was too heavy... Yan Si found it difficult enough to walk normally, so where would he find the strength to bring him back?
His mind instantly sparked with calculations. Yan Si decided to select a handful of leaves from his basket, putting them into his mouth to chew, while decisively pulling out the arrow and instantly applying the chewed medicinal pulp directly to the wound... He helped the man quickly staunch the bleeding at the critical areas to preserve his life first... and continuously tore the man's clothing apart to bandage the wounds...
Having temporarily completed the vital tasks, Yan Si went to find smooth leaves and banyan roots to weave together into a large litter... To reduce the ground friction, he also carefully attached small bamboo sticks underneath.
Once finished, Yan Si exerted himself to push the man onto it... Only at that exact moment did he realize just how heavy a grown man could be... His eyes rolled back and his teeth gnashed as he tried to shift him bit by bit... This action alone drained every ounce of his strength...
At that moment, Yan Si exerted all his natural capacity with an extraordinary effort to haul the man and carry that sword away... By the time he returned to the cave, he was so exhausted he was on the verge of fainting. He only had time to lay the man facedown on his own spot before collapsing right beside him, repeatedly drawing ragged gasps of air.
"So heavy..." It was truly beyond his capacity; managing to drag him back here was indeed a miracle.
Knowing that he currently had no time to rest, the moment he regained a bit of strength, Yan Si forced himself up to begin the treatment...
The man bore severe injuries; aside from the arrow wound in his leg, there were quite a few slashes on his chest and back, and on his upper abdomen near the heart, there was a piercing sword wound. Fortunately, it was not fatal, yet he had still lost a massive amount of blood.
Yan Si looked over, merely sighing as he shook his head, "Well, I will just do my utmost..."
Whether the man lived or died depended heavily on his own willpower.
During the treatment of the wounds, Yan Si accidentally discovered an object that had slipped out from the man's person. Feeling a touch of curiosity, he picked it up to look...
It was a jade pendant soaked in blood, which seemed to have always been carefully kept by the person, surely very important... Thinking this, he took it to wash it clean, then placed it right beside the man's resting head.
On that day, the weather was gloomy, seemingly portending the massive rainstorms and gales to come; and would this chance encounter turn out to be misfortune or luck?
This man possessed a handsome, deeply captivating countenance; Yan Si had never seen anyone with such flawless features. In his mind at present, that beauty seemed to eclipse even Yichang Hua.
Was it perhaps because he had lived for too long in a half-dead state that upon seeing an image so utterly contrasting with himself—even an ideal archetype—a sense of admiration blossomed within him? Although he was still terrified of people, he could not restrain himself from trying to steal a few more glances.
Taking advantage of the moments when the man was unconscious, Yan Si had secretly gazed at him for a long time... In this person, he saw a human form that he had always craved to become... and unconsciously mistook it for infatuation.
Yan Si had exhausted his entire strength to save a stranger; for an ordinary person who usually moved only at a minimum level, this was an absolute sacrifice. Therefore, the man's life also became particularly vital to him at this moment. Thinking that he had already exerted himself too much, he could not allow the person to die and cause all his efforts to go down the drain...
By the time he finished treating the man's wounds, dusk was already approaching, and his medicinal herbs were virtually depleted. Seeing that nothing more could be done, Yan Si could only stand up to find a place to rest.
In truth, within this cave, only that stone ridge was fit for lying down; the rest of the area was incredibly damp and cold... Yan Si stood in silence, pondering for a while before deciding to choose the cleanest spot near the cave entrance. Afterward, he gathered a massive amount of firewood and leaves to fashion a nest for himself, then laid his back down, falling into a deep sleep before long.
In the middle of the night, Yan Si suddenly jolted awake because he caught the sound of a voice. He initially thought someone was calling him, but it appeared otherwise.
The deep, warm tone of voice emanated from the man's direction, calling out someone's name...
"A Yuan?" He did not know what kind of relationship that person shared with him that he kept calling out incessantly; every passing moment, he would call out again, making Yan Si feel slightly annoyed.
The person was suffering from a high fever due to his injuries, so he frequently muttered in his delirium, unintentionally causing the boy to wake up repeatedly... Thinking of this, Yan Si sighed, walked over to sit beside him, and admonished, "Your A Yuan is not here, so stop calling! Leave me in peace to sleep; only then will I have the strength tomorrow morning to go look for wound-healing medicine for you."
Having said that, he returned to his nest of leaves to resume his interrupted sleep... As for the other person in his delirium, it was unknown whether he heard anything, but from then onward, he fell completely silent.
In that moment between life and death, when he was on the verge of leaving this world, it was his lingering attachment to that A Yuan that allowed him to miraculously pull through...
In his dream, he had truly called out that name thousands of times...
The next morning, the moment Yan Si woke up, he hurriedly went to check on the man. Seeing that he had pulled through the critical danger, he finally felt reassured enough to go out into the forest to look for more food and medicine.
Returning half a day later, Yan Si took out his set of pestle and mortar to wash them clean along with the medicinal leaves. Afterward, he carefully ground them into a pulp; a portion was squeezed for its liquid essence, while another portion was rolled into pills and set out to dry...
For three consecutive days, dedicating all his strength to caring for the man, Yan Si constantly felt that this countenance was truly a masterpiece of the world, still unable to stop himself from lingering a little longer.
While Yan Si was gazing intently in fascination, the man suddenly snapped awake and bolted upright... Despite his body experiencing agonizing pain, his first reflex was to scan for danger. Catching sight of a hideous stranger beside him, he instantly extended his hand, tightly throttling his throat, and gritted through his teeth, "Who are you?"
Despite being heavily wounded, his gripping strength remained incredibly violent; with just a single action, he had completely subjugated him...
Being abruptly attacked caught Yan Si entirely off guard. He could only try to shake his head, his eyes displaying a clear look of terror and helplessness, as if desperately trying to explain: I am not a bad person!
"Terrifying... you are truly terrifying..." A shred of regret began to surface in his heart; he really shouldn't have stayed too close to him, all because of a moment of infatuation with that beautiful countenance...
His neck was squeezed to the point of choking, his eyes rolled back, and before long, his face was entirely drained of blood...
Belatedly realizing that the person in his grip offered absolutely no reaction of resistance, the man gradually loosened his hand. Yan Si instantly slid down, clutching his own throat as he coughed violently, struggling to draw ragged gasps of air... His mind spun to the point of seeing stars and moons, and the cave suddenly appeared to tilt...
For no reason at all, he had to exhaust himself to save this person, and afterward, he was even choked by him; it truly was his destiny that no matter what he did, he would only encounter absolute misfortune. Thinking of this, Yan Si forced himself up and backed away to a distance, stammering, "You... you must not move..."
"I... I just saved your life!" Though he indeed looked hideous and emaciated, that man probably wouldn't do anything to harm his benefactor... Reassuring himself in this manner, Yan Si finally felt temporarily at ease.
At this moment, the man seemed to have begun regaining consciousness. The first thing he did was reach out and pick up the jade pendant lying beside him, clutching it tightly in his palm. Only then did he fix his gaze on Yan Si and ask in a cold voice: "Are you human… or a ghost?"