Chapter 76 High Fever

Luo Zhaohan tilted his head slightly, as if listening to the whimpering of the wind passing through the narrow wellhead.

Suddenly, her voice, clear enough to be heard even in the silence, rang out. It was neither too high nor too low, and carried a subtle hint of doubt, as if she were asking herself in front of a dry well:

"Why does this sound of the wind... sound like... someone sighing?"

It wasn't a targeted scolding, nor was it a deliberate probing. It was as if he was simply talking to himself. But his gaze, like a sharp needle, swept silently towards the dark depths of the well.

In the bottomless darkness of the dry well, Pei Ji's body suddenly tightened.

His senses had long been blurred and chaotic in the fierce tug of war, he could no longer distinguish between day and night, cold and heat. What he fought against was a freezing cold that penetrated his bones.

Two forces were tearing and colliding wildly in his body.

Luo Zhaohan.

She is back.

no.

Don't move.

Not a single sound must be made.

An almost instinctive thought overwhelmed everything.

He suddenly held his breath, not wanting Miss Luo to discover him.

I can't let her see me in such a mess right now.

A wisp of almost invisible dust was picked up by the cold wind from the edge of the well, swirling and floating down, mixing into the boundless darkness at the bottom of the well.

Luo Zhaohan stood by the well, staring quietly at the dark entrance.

The cold wind whistled over the edge of the well, making an even more shrill and sharp whimper, as if responding to her mumbling just now.

There was no other sound coming from deep within the well.

The subtle wrinkle between her eyebrows slowly relaxed.

Could it be... that it was really the sound of the wind that caused the trouble just now?

Even so, the inexplicable strange feeling in my heart has not completely dissipated.

A complex glimmer flashed across the depths of Luo Zhaohan's eyes.

Deep in the dry well, the icy water soaked through the thin clothes, and the bone-chilling cold was like countless fine needles piercing into the pores.

Pei Ji curled up in a narrow depression next to the wall of the well. The water just reached his waist and abdomen. Every slight movement brought a sticky and piercing chill, causing tiny bumps to appear on his skin and his teeth to knock against each other uncontrollably.

The slippery moss on the well wall was stained with cold, damp vapor, and in the pitch-black darkness, it emitted a fishy smell like that of a corrupted swamp.

Just now, that clear, tentative voice, "Is anyone there?", sounded like a sudden thunderclap, fiercely splitting the silent, dark prison.

At that moment, my heartbeat suddenly hit my throat.

It's her.

Luo Zhaohan.

Pei Ji subconsciously wanted to shout. In that critical moment, the last vestiges of his rationality, like a cold, sharp hook, snagged tightly at his nearly uncontrollable throat. He forcibly swallowed the cry for help that was about to burst from his lips.

Can't shout.

The alarm bells in Pei Ji's head were screaming wildly.

This desolate dry well was clearly part of the deadly trap set by that person.

If Luo Zhaohan intervened, with her strength...

The overwhelming trouble and the invisible black hand will definitely drag her into an abyss from which there is no escape.

She still has a good life ahead of her and a stable life...

Can't drag her into this.

Even death is not an option.

But immediately afterwards, that gentle yet resilient figure became extremely clear in my mind, from the glance back under the cold moonlight in the academy, to the kindness and intelligence revealed inadvertently countless times.

The desire to live had never been so strong. Not just to linger on, but to be closer to her, to see her smile, to have the chance to stay with her for a little longer.

Love took root and sprouted, entwining itself with the vines of survival, strangling him so hard that his heart ached and he almost suffocated.

The two forces tore and collided wildly in his heart.

"...Don't make any sound...Hide...No matter what...Hide..." He roared desperately in his heart to warn himself again and again. His lower lip had already been bitten by himself, and the smell of blood filled his cold mouth.

The body is as taut as a fully drawn bowstring.

Above the wellhead, the lingering sound of Luo Zhaohan's clear question was blown away by the cold wind in the forest, and only the whimpering sound of the wind through the dead branches came in response.

Holding the tinder, she searched carefully around the edge of the well again, her eyes sweeping over the dead vines that were tangled and twisted like ghost claws. The last bit of her patience was exhausted with this fruitless search.

"I'm afraid it's just a rabbit that fell in from somewhere..." She shook her head and sighed, already convinced it was a false alarm. Her slightest curiosity and tentative thoughts completely faded.

The cold wind swept through the treetops, blowing her hair at the temples into the air.

Forget it, it's better to go home early in this remote place. Luo Zhaohan gathered his outer robe, determined to leave, and with his hand tightly holding the tinder, he casually waved it towards the wellhead for the last time, preparing to extinguish the cotton wick that started the fire.

As her arm dropped, the bright orange light of the fire starter accidentally penetrated the dry and cracked vines at the edge of the wellhead.

The light was like a slanted sharp blade, suddenly breaking through the thick barrier of darkness and slicing straight down to the deep and narrow bottom of the well.

That beam of light, incredibly precise. Absolutely flawless. Directly, it struck Pei Ji's face, as he huddled in a corner, desperately trying to hold his breath.

The light came so suddenly and strongly.

It was like a divine light suddenly cast from the sky, piercing through the thick and indissoluble darkness in the narrow space.

Pei Ji, who had been hiding in his arms to avoid the light and was about to give up, was suddenly awakened by the sudden bright light. He raised his head suddenly.

The glaring light forced him to open his eyes subconsciously.

The moment the light fell, Pei Ji's face was wet and extremely pale from being soaked in the cold well water, his lips were tightly pursed but still oozing blood, and his deep eyes were suddenly raised, looking straight towards the light source through the dazzling rays - in them were surging astonishment, embarrassment, and despair that collapsed instantly after being suddenly exposed.

Luo Zhaohan's gaze just happened to fall.

Two faces, separated by a dry well several feet deep, at the abrupt boundary between light and darkness...

Their eyes met.

Dead silence.

Even the sound of the wind seemed to be taken away in this eerie silence.

The calmness on Luo Zhaohan's face and the indifference as he prepared to leave froze in an instant.

Her pupils shrank sharply when she saw the outline of the face at the bottom of the well, the features that were so familiar that she couldn't believe it. It was as if she had seen the most unlikely ghost.

Her mind went blank. A huge shock washed over her like a tsunami. A chill instantly rushed from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.

Pei Ji?

How could it be Pei Ji?

How had he ended up like this? How had he ended up curled up at the bottom of this cold, stinking, dry well?

She completely lost the ability to think. The low cry that almost came out of her mouth got stuck in her throat, making her eardrums buzz.

“Pei…”

Luo Zhaohan only uttered a broken syllable.

All the walls of rationality that Pei Ji had painstakingly built up all night and had almost successfully convinced himself collapsed.

Reduced to ashes.

The surging desire and dependence that even the cold well water could not extinguish was like a flood that broke through the isolated dam that he had been holding up all night.

The forced hardness and silence in his eyes were torn to pieces in an instant, leaving only the most instinctive plea of ​​a lonely boat wanting to grab the driftwood on the shore before it was about to capsize.

He didn't even see how he moved.

The remaining strength in the body was ignited by this sudden hope.

He struggled violently from the freezing water and raised his right arm, which had long been numb and stiff with cold, and covered with scrapes and bruises. With desperate, desperate hope, he stretched out his five fingers towards the light at the mouth of the well, the figure so close yet so far away.

Stretch out.

His throat was dry and hoarse like a broken bellows, and he could only squeeze out two broken syllables, filled with a drowning and suffocating feeling:

"……save……"

The darkness at the bottom of the well thickened again the moment he raised his arm, but his slightly trembling hand, which was hanging in the air towards the light source and Luo Zhaohan, was like a silently burning torch for help in the darkness, burning Luo Zhaohan's sight.

At the moment Pei Ji stretched out his hand, at the moment he squeezed out the desperate word "help" from his throat -

Luo Zhaohan felt as if his breath was being strangled. His heart felt as if it were being gripped by an invisible hand, as if it were being scorched by the gaze projected from the bottom of the well. All thoughts of leaving were instantly extinguished by an incomprehensible yet incredibly strong urge. No thought. No weighing of the pros and cons.

The next second after seeing that face clearly and his silent struggle——

Without the slightest hesitation.

Luo Zhaohan flung the dying tinderbox to the ground beside him. His body leaped forward as lightly and nimbly as a young swallow flying into the forest, his hands firmly supporting the edge of the well, which was covered with slippery moss and dead vines.

He used the force to fly into the air, his clothes fluttering, and without hesitation he jumped towards the deep wellhead.

Plop.

Water exploded dully at the bottom of the narrow well.

Luo Zhaohan landed steadily on a rocky step slightly higher than Pei Ji, a spot not completely submerged by the water. She was no more than half a step away. The icy water soaked her shoes, socks, and calves, and the biting chill made her shiver slightly. But she paid no attention to it. The moment she landed, she quickly pulled out another tinderbox wrapped in tarpaulin from her bosom. With a flick of her wrist, she lit the flame.

The movement was smooth and swift, and an orange-red flame immediately jumped up in her hand, dispelling a small area of ​​gloomy darkness.

The firelight instantly illuminated the small world.

In the flickering light, Luo Zhaohan eagerly leaned over to Pei Ji, who was drowning up to his chest in the well water. One hand held a tinder, the other instinctively reaching for his forehead—his face was abnormally flushed, his hair, soaked by the cold well water and sweat, clinging to his smooth forehead in strands. His condition resembled the scorching redness of a feverish patient.

"Why is it so hot?" Luo Zhaohan's voice was filled with rapid breathing and confusion. Before her fingertips even touched his forehead, she was already burning from the abnormally hot air emanating from his body.

However, he himself was suffering from a "high fever" that was enough to make others sweat, but his whole body was immersed in ice water that chilled him to the bone, and his body was trembling violently.

A mixture of chill and fever? Was it a typhoid emergency triggered by the chilly well water? Or was it a febrile convulsion?

In her terror, Luo Zhaohan had no time to think. Her movements were incredibly swift, her free hand already grasping the tie at the collar of her dress, attempting to untie the thick brocade cloak covering her. Her voice was hurried and commanding, unquestionable:

"Hurry. Get out of this freezing place. Take off your wet clothes first. Wrap yourself in my cloak. I'll pull you up." She was extremely anxious and just wanted to get him away from this freezing cold danger as soon as possible.

In the light of the fire, her brows were tightly furrowed in anxiety and worry, and her eyes were only focused on Pei Ji's abnormal condition at the moment, and nothing else.

"Don't."

Just as her fingers were about to touch his damp, cold clothes, a nearly tearing growl suddenly erupted from the depths of Pei Ji's throat. The voice was hoarse and rough, as if on the verge of collapse, and contained a thick, inextricable pain and oppression.

He felt as if he had been burned by a red-hot iron and suddenly recoiled. His body slammed heavily against the slippery and sticky wall of the well, making a dull thud.

His chest heaved violently with heavy breathing, and he suddenly looked up at Luo Zhaohan. Deep within those dark eyes, illuminated by the firelight, was no longer filled with the despair and hope of earlier, but with intense, almost unconcealable pain. And a hint of indescribable panic and shame?

Luo Zhaohan was so shocked by his sudden roar of resistance and violent reaction that his outstretched hand froze in mid-air.

In the flickering firelight, she clearly saw the unusual look of pain in his eyes, and also saw... the position where he was clasping himself tightly against the wall of the well, as if he was desperately trying to hide something?

"I... don't have a fever." Pei Ji gritted his teeth, finally squeezing out these few words. His voice was hoarse and almost broken, and it was filled with an extremely heavy feeling of self-loathing. He turned his head, unwilling to meet Luo Zhaohan's gaze, which must be filled with astonishment and confusion. As if exhausting his last bit of strength, he quickly raised his hand and pointed at the sunken area in the stone wall behind him, which was covered with a large amount of tangled dead vines and thick, slippery moss. The inner structure was impossible to see.

"...someone...set up a trap...medicine..." These three words were spoken with great difficulty, vague yet surprisingly pointed. Under Luo Zhaohan's suddenly widening gaze, he gritted his teeth and used all his strength to complete the key, "There's a secret passage...in the back...there's an antidote..."

Secret passage?

Antidote?

Luo Zhaohan's mind seemed to be struck by the sudden strong light again. In an instant, it became bright.

All the irrationalities and strangeness instantly connected. The entrance to the secret passage deep within the well, his unusually high temperature and chills, the pain and resistance that penetrated his bones, and the heavy shame he felt at this moment...

Luo Zhaohan felt a stream of scorching heat suddenly rushing from the soles of his feet straight to his forehead, instantly burning through his ears.

She froze in place, her outstretched hand yanking back as if struck by electricity. She clenched it into a fist. The light from the lighter danced and swirled violently in her hand, illuminating her rapidly flushing face and her equally trembling pupils, which seemed unfocused due to extreme embarrassment.

At the bottom of the narrow, dry well, the air seemed frozen. Only the subtle crackling of the burning tinder could be heard. The icy water still soaked her ankles, its chill creeping upwards, yet it couldn't suppress the burning sensation on her face or the turmoil within her heart.

Pei Ji's right arm suddenly burst out with strength.

His left hand gripped the slippery, cold wall of the well tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging like twisted vines! With that little support, he suddenly struggled upwards!