Feeling a little embarrassed, she deliberately changed the subject. Actually, she had been wondering why the stairs were a bit slippery.

It made them have to be careful with every step they took, for fear of accidentally falling.

And it wasn't just the floorboards that were wet; even the stair railings were wet. It was as if someone had splashed water on them, and it was ice water, no less.

The damp and cold feeling was incredibly uncomfortable. After walking for a while, Yan Qing heard Yue Qi's footsteps stop ahead.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't move, there's something ahead." Yue Qi gestured for her to turn off the flashlight. With the light source gone, the entire staircase was plunged into absolute darkness.

"Shh—look over there." Yue Qi gestured for her to look down.

About two floors away from them, at the corner of the stairs, there was a faintly glowing figure. Yan Qing couldn't make out what it was, or even if it was a person.

The only thing she was certain of was that the thing was huddled in the corner, making constant, painful "whimpering" sounds. But the sounds were so faint that she couldn't hear them at all unless she got very close.

In the darkness, she saw a flash of blue light near Yue Qi's right eye, and he seemed slightly relieved. He turned back to reassure her, "Don't worry, it's nothing evil. Come on, let's go take a look."

The two turned their flashlights back on, and Yan Qing pulled Xiao Tao along as they slowly approached the object.

The beam of the random flashlight drew closer, and the shadow huddled in the corner slowly came into view. When the other person looked up, Yan Qing realized that it really was just one person.

—The key point is this person; she knows him.

Xiao Tao spoke up first, "Big sister, isn't this the sister who kept staring at the sleeping big brother on the bus?"

Yan Qing also remembered that the girl was sixteen or seventeen years old, with a ponytail, and looked innocent and cute. Moreover, she seemed to have an unusual fondness for Yue Qi's face.

When the girl was lining up, she didn't choose Jin Zijie, whom she was closer to, but instead went to the middle line of other girls.

Two days after arriving at the sanatorium, she finally met the first person in the middle of the line. However, this person did seem to be in rather poor condition.

The girl's eyes suddenly lit up when she saw Yue Qi. She struggled to raise her arm and grabbed Yue Qi's arm tightly.

"Help, help me!"

Those three short words seemed to have exhausted all her strength. The girl's face began to contort; Yan Qing could tell that she must have been enduring immense pain.

She wanted to help him, after all, she had quite a few healing medicines on her. However, she couldn't see where he was injured, so she didn't dare to act rashly.

Yue Qi frowned deeply, looking hesitant and somewhat incredulous. After a brief moment of hesitation, Yan Qing saw him pull out another yellow talisman.

"Yan Qing, pour me a glass of water," Yue Qi instructed her, while simultaneously pulling out an ancient tinderbox from his robes and lighting the talisman.

Yan Qing acted quickly; her spatial ring was fully stocked. First, she took out a large ceramic bowl and poured some water into it. After doing this, the yellow talisman in Yue Qi's hand was just half burned.

Yue Qi sprinkled the ashes from the burnt talisman paper directly into the bowl, then stirred it before signaling Yan Qing to feed the water to the girl.

Yan Qing carefully poured a few sips of talisman water into the girl's mouth, but after only a few sips, the girl began to vomit violently. Luckily, she dodged quickly, preventing her clothes from getting soaked.

After the girl vomited, something amazing happened. She gradually gained more and more strength, and her spirits improved significantly.

Yan Qing was holding the remaining talisman water, about to ask Yue Qi's opinion. Suddenly, the girl pounced on her with lightning speed, snatched the bowl from her arms, and gulped it all down.

After drinking a bowl of water, she seemed much more lucid. The girl smiled gratefully at Yue Qi.

"Thank you for saving me, handsome! My name is Chen Qi. You can contact me if you ever need anything!"

Well, she's quite rude. Yan Qing silently took back her bowl without saying anything.

Yue Qi had no time for pleasantries. "Isn't this a fire escape? What are you doing here?"

Chen Qi sighed, "It's a long story. After we entered the small path on the left yesterday, the woman who led us earlier took us to a red house."

“There, we were all forced to get an injection of some kind of stuff. After the injection, we were all given a white guard uniform. Our main job was to go to the basement entrance to get a black box and distribute the medicine inside to you doctors and nurses.”

Chen Qi glanced at the white coats they were wearing, her eyes filled with deep envy.

"You guys are really lucky, at least you don't have to do hard labor. Unlike us, we have to run up and down all day long."

"Then how did you end up like this? And why are your clothes black?" Yan Qing pointed to her wrinkled work clothes and the long iron chain dragging on her feet. "And what happened to that?"

Chen Qi's expression became indescribable. She didn't directly answer Yan Qing's question, but instead looked at Yue Qi expectantly.

"Can you help me escape?"

Yue Qi refused without hesitation, "I have no reason to take you away."

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