Chapter 18: A lonely shadow in a cold house, staggered sinking

That inconspicuous path is more difficult to walk on than imagined.

The moss-covered stone steps were incredibly slippery, and the bamboo forests on either side obscured the sky, shattering the already thin sunlight. Su Qinghan, carrying a completely unconscious man on her back, took every step with a tread as if on thin ice. Her physical and internal strength had long since been depleted, and she was only sustained by a single, unwavering determination to not give up.

She didn't know how long she had been walking until the bamboo shadows in front of her suddenly became clear, and an independent farmyard finally appeared in front of her.

With bamboo fences as walls and thatched roofs, it stands quite a distance away from the village across the valley, seemingly forgotten by the world.

This is his base.

Su Qinghan was filled with mixed feelings: wariness, doubt, and a hint of nervousness about stepping into someone else's secret territory. Without even a slackness, she carried Chen Ye on her back, kicked open the half-closed fence door, and stumbled into the yard.

The courtyard was deserted, so quiet that one could hear the rustling of bamboo leaves in the wind. A cleanly swept bluestone path led from the door to the eaves. In the corner lay neatly stacked bundles of dry firewood, but nothing else.

There was no trace of life, no trace of everyday life. This place didn't feel like a "home," but more like a cold, abandoned "nest" that could be abandoned at any time.

Su Qinghan's heart sank. This feeling made her more certain of the complexity and danger of Chen Ye's identity.

Without further hesitation, she pushed the wooden door open with her shoulder, and a faint scent of old wood and herbs filled her face. The furnishings in the room were even simpler than she had imagined: a hard wooden bed, a square table, two chairs, and a half-worn wooden box in the corner.

That's all.

"Bang!"

When she finally placed Shen Ye's heavy body on the wooden bed, her nerves, which had been stretched to the limit, completely snapped. Her legs gave way and she fell to the edge of the bed, panting violently and her vision blacking out.

Only at this moment did she dare to truly relax, but what followed was an overwhelming wave of fatigue and excruciating pain.

She forced herself to regain her composure, her eyes sweeping over the man lying on the bed, his life or death unknown. The wounds on his body looked even more hideous and horrific in the dim light.

Must be dealt with immediately.

Su Qinghan gritted his teeth, struggled to stand up, and began to survey the unfamiliar house, looking for anything that might be useful.

She found a flint and an oil lamp by the stove, and some relatively clean water in the water tank in the corner. When she opened the wooden box in the corner, a hint of surprise finally flashed in her eyes.

There was no gold, silver, or treasure in the box, nor any martial arts manuals, only medical supplies wrapped in layers of oilcloth.

White cloths of different sizes, several kinds of wound medicine with different effects, a bottle of pungent liquor, a surgical knife with a cold gleam, and even a few silver needles and silk threads for suturing wounds.

These things are professional and complete, and are obviously prepared for treating various sword and knife injuries all year round.

This discovery deepened Su Qinghan's understanding of Shen Ye. He was not just an assassin, but also a desperate criminal who was ruthless enough to fight on the line between life and death.

She didn't think any more about it, took out the things she needed one by one, and returned to the bed with a basin of water.

The oil lamp was lit, and the dim flame danced in the small room, casting the shadows of the two people on the mottled wall, entangled together.

She stretched out her hand and without hesitation, tore open the clothes on Shen Ye's chest that had long been soaked in blood and became stiff.

When his strong upper body covered with new and old scars was completely exposed to the air, Su Qinghan's breathing couldn't help but stagnate.

It was a body covered in scars. Old knife and sword scars, like hideous medallions, branded its skin, silently telling of its brutal past. And the fresh wounds were even more shocking.

The skin surrounding the arrow wound in her back had already taken on an ominous purple-black hue. The deep, bone-deep scratch on her left arm was still slowly oozing blood. And the knife wounds on her body, inflicted while saving her, were now swollen and severely inflamed.

Su Qinghan's eyes became extremely solemn.

She knew that the most troublesome thing was the arrow wound on her back.

She had no time to hesitate.

"I saved you just to repay a favor." She spoke softly and clearly to the unconscious man, as if she were making a vow, or as if she was looking for a firm justification for her next actions. "From now on, we are even."

After she finished speaking, all the distracting thoughts in her eyes faded away, leaving only the calmness and decisiveness of the Six Gates Divine Constable.

She first used a cloth dipped in clean water to carefully wipe away the blood and dirt around the arrow wound. Her movements were gentle and steady, but even such a slight touch caused the unconscious Shen Ye to groan in pain and his body to twitch uncontrollably.

Su Qinghan's heart also suddenly tightened.

She took a deep breath and repeatedly burned the surgical knife over the flame of the oil lamp until the blade was red hot.

She held Shen Ye's shoulder tightly with her left hand to prevent him from struggling in pain. She held the hot knife in her right hand, aimed it at the flesh at the base of the arrow, and slashed it accurately and neatly!

“Hmm…”

The excruciating pain caused Shen Ye's body to arch violently, and a suppressed, beast-like roar erupted from the depths of his throat. Beads of cold sweat instantly rolled down his forehead, soaking his temples.

Su Qinghan's heart felt like it was being scraped by a knife, but her hands were as steady as a rock.

She held her breath, using the tip of the knife to pick away at the rotting flesh, searching for the three-edged arrowhead deeply embedded between the muscles of her chest and back. Every inch of penetration was torture for the man on the bed, and a torment for her as well.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Finally, there was a slight "ding" sound from the tip of the knife as it touched the hard metal.

Found it!

She didn't dare to delay, adjusted the angle, pressed the tip of the knife against the tail of the arrow, waited for the right moment, and pried it out suddenly!

“Puff!”

With a slight sound that made one's teeth ache, a black arrow with a barb, mixed with a stream of black blood, was picked out intact by her!

Su Qinghan let out a long breath, feeling that all the strength in his body was almost drained.

But she knew it wasn't over yet.

She grabbed the bottle of liquor, unscrewed the cork, and poured it down without mercy on the bloody wound where the bone was visible!

“Sizzle——”

The moment the liquor poured into the wound, Shen Ye's body twitched violently like a fish caught in a branding iron. His tightly closed eyes suddenly opened, his pupils dilated, without a trace of focus, revealing only the most primitive, instinctive pain of the flesh.

"Hold on!"

Su Qinghan let out a low cry, unsure whether it was addressed to him or herself. She used all her strength to hold him down, then quickly grabbed some healing medicine, applied it thickly to the wound, and bandaged it tightly with layers of clean white cloth.

After doing all this, she realized that her back was already completely soaked with cold sweat.

She collapsed to the ground, looking at the man on the bed who had fallen into silence again, but whose breathing seemed a little smoother. The string of "reason" in her heart quietly broke.

Why did she do this?

Is it just to “neither owe the other anything”?

She doesn't know.

She only knew that when she saw him in pain, when she saw him on the verge of death, her heart would ache as well. This unfamiliar emotion made her feel terrified, yet she couldn't resist it.

After taking a short breath, Su Qinghan dragged his exhausted body to treat the wounds on his body and arms. When everything was settled, the sky outside the window was completely dark.

It’s late at night.

The mountain wind blew in through the gaps in the doors and windows, bringing with it a biting chill.

Su Qinghan sat at the table, looking at Shen Ye's pale face under the oil lamp. For the first time, he felt unprecedented confusion and fatigue.

This fatigue is not just physical.

However, she overestimated herself in the end.

Days of running around and fighting, the exhaustion of her internal strength, and the extreme mental tension had already pushed her body to the brink of collapse.

The calf that had been scratched by a branch during her escape was originally just a small wound, and she hadn't paid much attention to it. But now, under the dual attack of fatigue and cold, a burning pain suddenly shot through the wound and quickly spread throughout her body.

She looked down and found that the area around the wound was red and swollen, and even a little black.

not good!

Su Qinghan said in his heart, and wanted to get up to save himself, but he felt dizzy, cold all over, and his teeth began to chatter uncontrollably.

The high fever came on quickly and violently.

She struggled, trying to move to the bedside and get the medicine in the box, but her consciousness, like a candle in the wind, began to blur and dissipate rapidly.

The chill in her body grew stronger and stronger, as if it was going to freeze her blood completely.

In the chaos of being half asleep and half awake, the thatched cottage in front of me gradually twisted and deformed, and finally turned into an endless white snow scene.

She saw her father wearing a thick official robe, standing under the red plum tree in the yard, waving at her with a smile.

"Qinghan, come here and see what Daddy brought you..."

The scene suddenly shifted, and the crimson plum petals turned a glaring blood red. My father collapsed, his warm blood staining the white snow red.

“Dad…Dad!”

The overwhelming sadness and fear, like an icy tide, completely overwhelmed her. She curled up on the cold ground, her body trembling uncontrollably, and she unconsciously muttered over and over again the deepest attachment and pain hidden deep in her heart.

"Dad...don't go..."

"father……"

Her voice became weaker and weaker, and finally, her body went limp, she completely lost consciousness, and fell to the cold ground.

The room once again fell into a deathly silence. Only two figures remained, one on the bed and the other on the floor, each struggling on the brink of life and death.