To call him human, the man truly could not bring himself to believe it... The boy looked no different from an emaciated hungry ghost lingering aimlessly inside a cave.
Human or ghost... to Yan Si, there was not much of a difference anyway. Regardless of what the man thought, he merely said, "You can think whatever you want! I stumbled upon you in the middle of the forest so I brought you back here for treatment. When... when you are recovered, you can leave."
"Stumbled upon me?" So this person was actually his benefactor?
Throughout the grand disaster he had just survived, he thought he had almost lost his life. He truly had not expected anyone to be living in the depths of this profound forest... And looking at the boy's appearance, he was likely no ordinary person either.
Unsure of what manner of creature the one who had just saved him belonged to, the man currently could not afford to care about it any longer. Seeing that the boy was as gaunt as firewood and definitely lacked the strength to pose any threat, he restfully leaned his back down, trying to keep his breathing steady as if compressing his intense pain.
The man realized that he was in an utterly wretched predicament. Bearing severe wounds, he had to lie on a coarse, hard stone ridge, where every single movement dragged forth an unending bout of agony... Furthermore, the cave was damp and bone-chilling cold, to the point that even his expensive robes had been cut into shreds by that little imp...
"Fortunately, the outer coat is still relatively intact; at least there is something to ward off the cold." He truly did not know whether he could successfully pull through these days and months.
As for Yan Si, he walked around gathering firewood to find a dry spot near the man before kindling a fire. Normally, he inherently ignored everything, but it was only because there was a sick person present that he took the trouble to do so.
Before long, the cave grew slightly warmer. Yan Si edged closer to offer him the medicine and water, and lastly, a cluster of wild fruits, saying, "Here... eat this for now, then take your medicine."
With just this much, he himself could maintain his body for up to two days, but thinking that this person likely needed it more than he did, he yielded it to him.
Looking at the cluster of half-pink, half-green wild fruits in his hand, the man was momentarily lost for words. "Can this thing even be eaten?"
Yan Si nodded. "Of course it can, otherwise you will starve."
At a time when his stomach was rumbling incessantly, and abstaining from food would only hasten his death... At that thought, the man sighed, intending to select the ripest fruits, only to find that the inside was entirely filled with worms.
Seeing this, the man could only resign himself to passing them over and eating only the green fruits; however, he could not swallow them either and instantly spat them out.
"What kind of fruit is this!?" While still green, it was sour and astringent, and by the time it ripened, it was entirely filled with worms. He raised the cluster of wild fruits before Yan Si's face and asked, "Do you eat this to survive?"
Yan Si immediately nodded and urged, "Correct! It took a great deal of effort for me to pluck these fruits, hurry up and eat."
The man silently observed Yan Si for a long time, then asked again, "Do you... find it delicious?"
"Delicious... what is that?" Yan Si truly could not define it, because since ancient times, he had never experienced that sensation... After pondering for a moment, he faintly shook his head. "I don't know!"
"You don't know?" The other person knitted his brows slightly and immediately tossed the cluster of wild fruits away.
"Ah... don't!" Yan Si saw it but was too late to stop him; before long, the entirety of it lay rolling around on the ground... Displaying a look of regret, he immediately picked them up and brushed them off, grumbling in a low voice, "If you won't eat them, return them to me, why did you throw them away?"
Afterward, he casually ate all the fruits, both green and ripe... Deep down, he truly did not understand why the other person disdained them; having worms only made them more nourishing, saving him the trouble of hunting beasts and processing meat, which wasted effort.
"He..." Looking at the person before his eyes, the man was momentarily speechless.
"Could it be that he truly isn't a living human?" How could anyone eat such things? If one were to say his sense of taste was ruined, that wasn't correct either, because he still grimaced and knitted his brows at the sour fruits... proving he still knew how to perceive them.
"Clearly it's unpalatable, so why does he still force it down? How bizarre..." This person was truly outside the scope of his understanding.
Having finished eating, Yan Si returned to his nest of leaves and lay down, rolling over and falling into a deep sleep before long.
Meanwhile, the man on the other side was in extreme distress. He forced himself to drink the medicine, but afterward, his stomach churned continuously. When he wanted to get up to forage for food, he lacked the strength, and in the end, he could only lie still and endure...
The space returned to silence. Having just fallen into a light doze, Yan Si was awakened by the rumbling sound from the other person's stomach. He sat up and pondered for a moment, feeling genuinely hesitant in his heart: "I... presumably... I have to go into the forest again."
He himself had grown accustomed to living precariously and carelessly, almost forgetting that normal people could not abstain from food, let alone that the man was currently bearing severe wounds.
"I cannot let him starve to death!" Catching sight that the sky was still early, Yan Si tried to push away his lethargy and dragged himself up to go out into the forest to check the animal traps. Before leaving, he also instructed, "Rest here with peace of mind, I am going into the forest for a bit."
Hearing this, the man merely remained silent. Where else could his body currently go anyway?
Even though he knew the boy had the merit of saving his life, he still did not feel much trust; in his heart, he felt as though the events taking place were exactly like a nightmare.
Waiting until Yan Si had departed completely, the man finally felt reassured enough to close his eyes, falling into a coma once more before long due to sheer exhaustion.
Half a day passed, and the curtain of night gradually descended... The man suddenly jolted awake and rolled his eyes to look around...
Inside the cave was a stretch of bleak darkness and stillness; the bonfire had died out long ago, and aside from the trickling sound of the waterfall, he did not hear any other sound whatsoever.
"A little boy doesn't seem to have returned yet?" Or had he returned and was sleeping out there...? Thinking of this, he genuinely wanted to force himself up to check, but it was truly impossible...
Sensing that his body was fainting from hunger, and his entire frame ached to the point that even drawing a breath was blocked, the man felt as though he were standing before the line of life and death: "Must I lose my life here...? No... I cannot..."
"If I should unfortunately die, what will become of A Yuan?" At that thought, his fist clenched even tighter around the jade pendant...
Right then, he suddenly heard a rustling sound, and he directed his gaze toward the direction of the cave entrance, asking, "Who?"
Not long after, a feeble, panting voice wafted out: "It's me."
Accompanying that was the faint groaning of someone who seemed to be trying to suppress intense pain. Feeling uneasy in his heart, the man raised his voice to ask, "Are you injured?"
After waiting for a long time without hearing any reply, the man began to feel angry, and gritting his teeth, he asked, "No answer... do you dare to look down on me?"
"No..." If anything, it was the other way around; there was no way it could be the reverse. Yan Si clenched his teeth tightly, trying his best to endure the pain, and replied in a low voice, "I am fine."
Seeing that the boy did not wish to speak, the man also fell silent. The heavy weight of exhaustion pressed down once more, dragging him into delirium before long.
Meanwhile, Yan Si was indeed injured, and at this moment, he was even in extreme, wretched distress.
Earlier, while setting the animal traps, he had suddenly fainted for some unknown reason. By the time he woke up, it was already late at night, so he had no choice but to head back to the cave.
Fortunately, the moon was bright tonight, making it easy to find the way, yet his luck turned wretched when, having almost reached his destination, he crossed paths with a wolf...
It was just a single wolf that had strayed from its pack. The moment it saw the emaciated youth, it lunged forward to attack... The wolf's fangs sank deep into his calf, almost tearing away an entire large patch of flesh...
Since childhood, Yan Si had grown accustomed to wrestling with wild beasts; whenever he went into the forest, his hand always tightly gripped a dagger, reacting instantly the moment a mishap occurred... Thanks to that, he had managed to bring down the ferocious wolf before long.
Suddenly reminiscing about what he had just gone through, Yan Si could only shake his head and sigh, wondering when his bad luck would finally come to an end.
Occasionally, he would faint out in the forest, but he had never encountered a wild beast; yet it had to happen precisely on this day...
Normally, regardless of whatever injuries he bore, Yan Si would simply lie there for a few days and they would heal. The trouble was that he was currently carrying an additional human life on his shoulders, and with this much pain... what was he to do?
Pondering in hesitation for a moment, Yan Si faintly clenched his teeth tightly and forced himself up. Managing to drag himself forward step by step, he once again gathered firewood to kindle the fire.
This trip held a silver lining within the misfortune: the wolf that went hunting had suddenly become the hunted, saving him the trouble of laboring out into the forest to forage for meat over the next few days.