Chapter Ninety-Four: Midnight Horror 11
The intense sunlight was unbearable for Lu Cen, but he couldn't take off his coat. He took a deep breath and found some relief by hiding in Jiang Zhao's shade.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, thought for a moment, and said, "I can't tell."
He wasn't Xiao Wei, so how would he know if what she said was true? He could tell from her expression that she did seem guilty, but only they knew the truth of the matter.
They hadn't even had breakfast when another sandstorm swept across the sky. The four of them were terrified and held hands, leaning against the slope. But this time, the sandstorm was so fierce that Xiao Wei was swept into the air, her feet off the ground. If Jiang Zhao hadn't held her tightly, she would have been swept away.
But Jiang Zhao's strength wasn't enough, and he swayed as well.
Chen Yiqing grabbed Xiao Wei's other hand and pulled her back little by little.
At that moment, Lu Cen was swept away by a strong gust of wind. He had been holding onto the strap of Jiang Zhao's backpack, but the strap suddenly came loose. Caught off guard, he was carried into the air by the wind, screaming in fright. Jiang Zhao didn't have time to grab him. "Li Yan!"
Lu Cen was thrown around a few times, the force of which knocked him unconscious.
When he regained consciousness, his whole body was in pain and his facial features were all scrunched up. He managed to turn over, which scared him so much that he almost had a cardiac arrest.
He landed on the top of a sharp and steep mountain peak, which could not really be called a mountain peak, but rather a yardang landform, yellow all over, with a surface of soil and rocks, about two stories high above the ground. At this moment, half of Lu Cen's body was already hanging in the air, and he was covered in cold sweat, almost falling.
Lu Cen stood up and looked around. It was a small yardang landform with many low plants underneath. The mountain peaks were numerous and dense. He saw a black spot and upon closer inspection, it should be his backpack. This was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune. Lu Cen relaxed and then looked down at himself. How was he going to get down?
One side of the rock was slightly curved, and there were several protruding rocks. If he was careful, he should be able to slide down successfully. He mentally prepared himself and climbed down little by little. He didn't dare to look down and only focused on his feet. Half an hour later, he successfully reached the ground. His palms were scraped raw by the rough rocks, but Lu Cen didn't even look at them and went to get his backpack.
His phone still had 80% battery left in his backpack. He turned on the compass, determined the direction, and checked the time. It was 6:10 PM on May 5th. Looking around, Lu Cen knew he needed to find a place to spend the night. At 7:00 PM, Lu Cen found a recessed hillside. Hiding inside would reduce the wind's impact, and with the shelter in front of him, the wind was even less intense.
He dared not light a fire, fearing it might attract some ferocious beast.
He was timid to begin with, and in this kind of environment, Lu Cen had been swept away by the wind earlier and had wounds of varying degrees on his body. It was also cold at night, and in the middle of the night, Lu Cen suddenly developed a high fever, which made his eyes bloodshot and his consciousness hazy. Just before dawn, a sound of footsteps passed by and woke Lu Cen up. He cautiously hugged his bag and poked half of his head out.
Under the gray sky, Hu Si, looking exhausted, passed by him.
His voice was extremely hoarse, "Hu Si?"
Hearing voices, Hu Si turned his head, his eyes lit up when he saw a figure, and he took a few steps over and squatted down in front of him. "It's you!"
Lu Cen coughed a few times, took a breath, and said, "I was swept away by a sandstorm and got separated from Xiao Wei and the others."
Seeing that his face was abnormally red, Hu Si touched his forehead and found it burning hot. He said seriously, "You have a fever."
Lu Cen himself also felt it.
He brought food, but not medicine.
“Weren’t you with Xiao Wei and the others? She said you two separated later.” Lu Cen thought of what Xiao Wei said about Hu Si being swallowed by quicksand, and all sorts of thoughts came to mind, making his already bad condition even worse.
"Xiao Wei?" Hu Sicai noticed what Lu Cen was saying and repeated, "You said you ran into Xiao Wei? When?"
"Yesterday evening."
"That's impossible. A couple of days ago, I got together with them to find a way out, but yesterday at noon, we came across a place surrounded by hills with a depression in the middle. We didn't want to take a detour, so we went straight. After walking about halfway, we got stuck in quicksand. They were walking too fast and were swallowed up by the quicksand. I only survived because I was on the edge. Xiao Wei and Chen Yiqing are dead. How could you possibly see them? Are you seeing things?"
Lu Cen was suddenly startled. One story, one version, but the people who died were different.
If one of them dies, what does he see?
ghost?
Or something else?
Lu Cen had a splitting headache and asked, "Do you know the way out?"
“If you go slightly west of due south, as long as you don’t stray off course, you should be able to get out in two days.” Hu Si sighed. “Back then, the sandstorm carried us too far away. Now that you’re sick, you can’t go even if you want to. Rest here for a day and set off again tomorrow.”
“I can do it,” Lu Cen said through gritted teeth.
Without medication, it's fine to bring down the fever, but if it doesn't, the more he rests, the more his energy is depleted.
Hu Si held him down, "No, you can't go far like this. Stay put."
Lu Cen was not as certain as he claimed. He was already exhausted, had many injuries, and had a fever. He couldn't even stand up, let alone think about traveling. It was simply wishful thinking.
Hu Si said, "You should take a nap first."
They had no medicine or anything to cool them down. Hu Si rummaged through his backpack, finding nothing of value, but at the very bottom, he found a glass of wine. He had brought the bottle with him so that they could have a drink together after taking the photos.
Enjoy life to the fullest.
Unexpectedly, it came in handy here; such a coincidence is truly remarkable.
Heaven is helping them.
He found some cloth, poured some wine on it, and first wiped Lu Cen's hands and feet, meticulously and carefully. Then he wiped his palms and then his back. After wiping, he felt Lu Cen's body temperature, but perhaps because he hadn't had enough time, he couldn't feel any difference.
An hour later, he wiped Lu Cen again.
After repeating this process several times, the bottle of wine was finally wiped clean.
Perhaps it was just luck, but by noon, Lu Cen was covered in sweat, his cheeks were flushed, and when Hu Si touched his back, his hand was covered in water. Hu Si was immediately alert and touched his forehead; his temperature had already dropped.
His clothes were soaked through, and Hu Si dared not let him continue wearing them, fearing that they would be absorbed by his skin. He stripped off his clothes and casually placed them on a few rocks, then wrapped Lu Cen in his overcoat.
It just covers his upper body and the area below his hips.
The two weak, diseased legs had no choice but to be exposed.
Two hours later, Hu Si changed his clothes again after they dried. After all that, it was getting dark. Seeing that Lu Cen showed no signs of waking up, he took up half of Lu Cen's space without any hesitation, put his hands behind his head, and soon became sleepy.
Just as I was about to fall asleep, a head snuggled into my arms. Perhaps sensing the cold and noticing a warm source nearby, it instinctively moved closer.
Lu Cen shivered with cold in his dream, his body curled up, his hands and feet tucked into the space where Hu Si and he were touching. Hu Si was pushed against the stone wall by him, and he let him move around as he pleased, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
He's been very tired these past two days.
The next day, Lu Cen recovered at least 50%, if not all of it. After eating, the two set off. Lu Cen felt like they had been walking for a very, very long time, as if the world had ended. Later, his phone ran out of battery and shut down automatically. He didn't know how far he and Hu Si had traveled or how many days they had been walking. He couldn't even tell how many days it had been.
All he knew was that he had long since run out of food and only had half a bottle of water left. He suspected that they were going in the wrong direction. Otherwise, why hadn't they reached the edge of the desert or seen any houses built by the locals after walking for so long?
The world was vast and boundless, and it seemed as if there were only the two of them.
Only the yellow sand keeps me company.
Lu Cen's steps were heavy, as if he were carrying dozens of kilograms of sandbags. His lips were dry and cracked, with several cuts in the middle. His breathing was heavy, and every step he took seemed to take all his strength.
"Is it alright?"
Lu Cen was too exhausted to walk any further, so she plopped down on the sand. "I...I need to rest for a while."
Hu Si wasn't much better off. He sat next to him, shielding him from the sun. In the past few days, the two of them had run out of all their supplies. If they couldn't find a way out, they would really have to sleep forever in this desert. In order to reduce their burden, they had long since thrown away anything useless. Lu Cen even threw away his backpack.
Stopping to rest after extreme exertion is a very dangerous thing to do, because the body has reached its limit, and once it rests, it is simply a pipe dream to get back up.
When Hu Si told him to keep going, Lu Cen was actually overcome by a feeling of fear. This feeling resided in his heart, making him resist moving forward. He even thought that he might as well just wait to die here.
Anyway, he won't really die; it's just fifteen days of survival time. He has plenty of time, and he can afford it. He's no longer the Lu Cen who just entered the instance; now he has the capital to try and fail.
As he thought this, his gaze fell upon Hu Si.
And what about him?
He had been puzzled from the beginning. Everyone in these instances was a living, breathing person with thoughts and the ability to speak. They were definitely not NPCs or data. However, his assistant had clearly told him that these were all NPCs, but he remained skeptical.
So in the dungeon, he practically treated them like real people.
"I'll carry you on my back."
Lu Cen pushed his hand away. A couple of days ago, Hu Si could barely carry him for a while, but later he felt that Hu Si's physical strength was depleting, and he insisted on walking on his own, let alone now.
The two of them hadn't eaten for almost a day and a night, and they could only walk by sheer willpower. Let alone carrying another person on their backs, that would have been exhausting.
"No need, I can manage." Lu Cen struggled to stand up, looked around, and felt despair. Could they even get out of there?
The two continued forward, and after walking for about ten minutes, Lu Cen felt dizzy and collapsed in Hu Si's panicked gaze, making a dent in the sand.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
