After finishing kindling the fire, Yan Si brought the wolf over to butcher it. He cut a portion to place on a skewer for roasting, intending to dry the remaining surplus tomorrow to save for use over many days.
In the middle of the night, the fragrant aroma of roasted meat wafted throughout the entire cave, causing even the person in the midst of delirium to be awakened by it.
From the spot where the man was lying to Yan Si's position was not very far... Faintly catching sight of the boy sitting and diligently roasting the meat, the man felt a bit at a loss for words.
The night was already late; why was he not sleeping but instead sitting there roasting meat? Could it be that...
On Yan Si's side, though he had tried hard to concentrate on roasting the meat, tears kept wanting to burst forth. It had been a very long time since he was last severely injured like this; this pain was truly difficult to endure.
"Just endure a little longer..." Once he finished preparing the meal for the other person, he could rest; as for his own wound, he would just have to wait until tomorrow to deal with it.
A long while later, Yan Si placed the fully roasted meat onto a large leaf, then brought it over to the other person.
Faintly seeing Yan Si shifting step by step at a very slow pace, the man was momentarily struck dumb.
Under the dim light flickering from the bonfire, he could see the wound on Yan Si's calf... It caused one to feel a sense of dread, appearing just like a patch of flesh about to fall off. He guessed that the boy had been mauled and violently torn by that beast: "With such a severe injury, how could he possibly...?"
A youth whose body was inherently debilitated and emaciated, now with his leg so severely crippled, yet he could still mindfully care for someone he had only met for the first time?
Seeing the man staring fixedly at him and still refusing to accept the food, Yan Si found it strange and asked, "What is it? This isn't poisoned, hurry up and take it!"
He never expected that despite disregarding danger and hardship to venture into the forest for meat, that man still thought he wanted to harm him. At that thought, Yan Si felt somewhat angry. He placed the portion of food right beside him and said in a cold voice, "I will leave it here; whether you eat it or not is up to you."
With his task completed, Yan Si dragged himself back to his nest of leaves and lay down. Even though his body was excessively exhausted, he was utterly unable to sleep; every time he was about to sink into a dream, the sharp pain would drag him awake again...
In the distance, the crimson fire was gradually dying out, leaving a shroud of black night to engulf the entire cave. Occasionally, a faint groan, the grinding of teeth, and an exceptionally heavy breath would suddenly sound, though it was unclear from which direction they emanated.
Yan Si sat up and then lay down repeatedly, occasionally clenching his teeth tightly to exert control and suppress it... His entire body was burning hot, yet he felt a supreme chill, as if piercing through from within the marrow of his bones. The wound had caused him to run a fever; although he had briefly treated it and taken medicine earlier, it had not improved in the slightest.
Who would have thought that the one who went to save a person would end up in an even more wretched struggle than the one who was saved...
"It is merely a minor injury after all, I can endure it." Years ago, what he had carried was far heavier than this... It was just that physical pain was never easy to bear... Suddenly thinking that the other person was more severely injured yet remained completely silent, he abruptly felt that he was far too weak. Yan Si let out another sigh...
From then on, no one heard any more groaning or teeth-grinding; a long, quiet night passed away.
Waking up the next day, Yan Si suddenly discovered something abnormal about his wound, and he could only shake his head, lamenting silently to himself, "This is bad!"
Because he had treated the wound rather carelessly last night, it had begun to fester and simultaneously showed signs of spreading very rapidly... Seeing this, Yan Si sighed, forced himself up, and hunched over to gather firewood to kindle the fire.
At the same time, hearing the rustling sound, the man abruptly snapped awake, sat up to observe, and then felt a sudden twinge of ache in his chest... The bizarre little monster he had once labeled the person was, in reality, an emaciated youth. It was completely unknown why he was wandering alone in this desolate place, living so simply and carelessly to the point of causing his body to become gaunt and withered.
In the midst of his leg being in pain, the youth still tried to drag himself step by step to gather firewood; although he did not utter a single complaint, his complexion had long since turned pale, and sweat completely drenched both sides of his ears.
Having finished kindling the fire, Yan Si sat down to scrutinize the wound on his calf, then began to pull out his dagger to wipe it clean...
"That dagger... what does he intend to do? Could it be..." Thinking of what the boy was about to do, the man shuddered faintly.
Yan Si gazed silently at the object in his hand for a long time, knowing that he had no other alternative, and let out a sigh... Afterward, he held the blade of the knife over the fire to warm it, and once it was hot enough, he decisively sliced out each patch of infected flesh... carving deeply all the way to the bone... At a glance, it truly resembled the punishment of Lingchi.
The agony caused Yan Si's soul to want to detach from his physical body. His mind was already a blur, yet his hands still persevered in the action...
Watching the youth carve his own flesh, the man suddenly realized that the boy was frighteningly detached from his own self... In the midst of supreme pain, he could separate his consciousness and strike with absolute precision. A creature carrying within himself an iron will built from the shattered fragments of a soul: "That youth... just what on earth has he gone through?"
"For a stranger, he had to endure to this extent; that piece of meat... how do I dare to accept it?" His own life was currently being bartered with the blood and tears of an ill-fated soul. The man suddenly understood that an ordinary person who only ate wild fruits was precisely existing at the absolute minimum; he would not venture out to trap beasts and risk being attacked, and therefore would never fall into this wretched predicament either.
No matter how one looked at it, everything the youth was trying to endure was clearly displayed on his face, causing anyone who witnessed it to feel both apprehensive and deeply sorrowful.
Indeed, even though Yan Si tried to restrain himself, tears instantly drenched his entire face, and his sweat poured down profusely as if he had just bathed in the rain; he was on the verge of being unable to think of anything else.
By the time he finished treating the wound, nearly all of Yan Si's perception was completely gone... He immediately flung the knife to the side, buried his head on his knees, and silently wept a bout... It truly was painful, and if he could just die, it would have been better.
"It is the second time now..." Previously, he had also suffered like this; it was Yichang Hua who struck, but at that time, it was clearly not to this extent... Why did doing it with his own hands have to hurt this much?
"In the end, which step did I perform incorrectly?" Perhaps because he was too young back then, Yan Si did not remember or intentionally overlooked it: before scraping away the corrupted flesh, Yichang Hua would always give him a small dose of Opium Flower, obliterating a portion of the painful sensation during the procedure.
It took a long while before Yan Si regained his composure. He continued to endure as he poured the liquid essence of the crushed medicinal herbs over the wound, then returned to his nest of leaves and rapidly fainted away.