Monsters in the swamp slowly crawled out, step by step towards the bushes. Not seeing any sign of prey, they quietly crawled back. They continued to lie in wait for other prey. Bubbling and gurgling sounds came from the swamp, and the rising bubbles carried white mist.
Lu Yuzhi fell into the deep pool below the waterfall, and Su Muqing quickly followed. She managed to grab the tightening strap of his hiking pants just as he entered the water.
"Plop~" The sound of water broke as Lu Yuzhi submerged into the pool first. Su Muqing, with one hand quickly grasping the handle of the inflatable raft obtained from the previous lottery, held tightly onto his pant leg with the other hand without letting go.
The immense impact of falling into the water, coupled with being pulled by Lu Yuzhi's weight, caused Su Muqing to plunge into the water. Fortunately, the raft's buoyancy somewhat lessened the impact. The two bounced off the bottom of the pool and were ejected from the water by the raft.
As she fell into the water, Su Muqing was terrified. She struggled fiercely, kicking her legs desperately. The feeling of suffocation, even after several months in this world, the inability to breathe, and the overwhelming pressure – she could never forget it.
Lu Yuzhi thrashed a few times underwater, then his upper body quickly emerged from the surface. Seeing Su Muqing floating on the water, he immediately swam towards her. Only then did he realize that one of his legs was being held tightly by her.
Su Muqing lay on the water's surface, gasping for fresh air. Her eyes began to roll back, and her body was completely devoid of strength. The tightening strap of Lu Yuzhi's pants had been stretched to its limit, leaving deep indentations on her ankle. However, the quality of the hiking pants was truly excellent; they hadn't torn even when pulled to such an extent.
Before the two could recover and swim back to shore, Lu Yuzhi discovered a powerful current sweeping them away in a rapid spin. He reached out to grab the raft, but at that moment, Su Muqing's leg cramped. Worse still, her hands had gone numb and refused to stretch open.
As they were about to fall off a cliff again, Lu Yuzhi lifted one leg and, with all his might, lunged onto Su Muqing, embracing her and flipping them onto the orange raft.
In that instant, the raft, along with the waterfall, plunged down once more.
"Ah~!" As they rushed downwards, the immense sensation of weightlessness made Lu Yuzhi cry out involuntarily.
This time, with the raft, they didn't sink into the water. Below them was no longer a deep pool but a winding current, with rocks occasionally blocking their path.
Lu Yuzhi held Su Muqing tightly with one arm and the handhold above him with the other.
Su Muqing instinctively held onto the strap of his pants with one hand and the other handhold with her other hand.
The two embraced in a strange posture, being thrown around by the current. They hit rocks from time to time, and occasionally were flung into the air. If they hadn't held onto the raft, they would have surely been thrown out.
Just when they thought they were safe upon reaching the shore. Su Muqing's eyes suddenly widened, her eyes instantly bloodshot, and veins bulging on her forehead. With a "噗~" sound, she spat blood all over Lu Yuzhi.
The sudden change caught Lu Yuzhi off guard. Su Muqing endured the excruciating pain in her head, communicating briefly with Leng Ren and the others in the space with her consciousness.
Then, several figures appeared consecutively in front of them. First, there were two "噗噗~" sounds of falling into water, accompanied by the piercing cries of children. Immediately after, there was a loud "duang~" sound, splashing a huge wave of water.
Stimulated by the intense pain, Su Muqing's previously numb hands finally began to regain sensation. She released her grip on Lu Yuzhi's pant strap, a deep gash already formed in her palm, dripping blood.
Quickly throwing two inflatable rafts onto the water's surface, Su Muqing, with blood all over her face, shouted at Lu Yuzhi, who was also covered in blood, "Brother Lu, quickly ask if Brother Leng is anywhere! Brother Xuan is still in their hands..."
It turned out that the little milk bun in the space had suddenly woken up. Not seeing his sister, he began to cry softly. Leng Ren and the others couldn't comfort him, so he ended up crying at the top of his lungs.
As the 217 alarm sounded, Su Muqing had already suffered severe backlash. In desperation, she endured the pain and told Leng Ren that she would release them immediately. She also stressed that the outside was a current and they must protect the little milk bun.
Lu Yuzhi came to his senses, releasing his embrace. He retracted his legs, which he had held in a half-split position for a while, and then flipped over to look at the dark water.
"Leng Ren! Leng Feng! Where are you?" Lu Yuzhi shouted their names loudly, then turned on the headlamp on his back, shining it towards the turbulent water.
Lu Yuzhi listened carefully for any sounds, but besides the "swish swish" of the water, there was nothing.
So he shouted again, "Leng Ren... Leng Feng, where are you?"
"Young Master! We are here!" Finally! Leng Ren's voice came through.
As Lu Yuzhi and the others floated towards the sound, they saw the black bear stuck between two rocks, and its two front paws were each holding a person glowing with light. It was Leng Ren and the others, wearing fluorescent yellow hiking outfits!
"They are over there!" Lu Yuzhi helped Su Muqing to sit behind him, then held the handles of the raft on both sides, sandwiching her in between to prevent her from being thrown out.
The black bear placed Leng Ren and the other two on a large rock nearby. Then, it blocked the gap, also blocking Lu Yuzhi and Su Muqing, who were being carried by the current.
It lifted the entire raft and placed it on the large rock. As it prepared to climb up itself, it found it couldn't move. It turned out its leg was stuck in a crevice at the bottom of the water. The black bear struggled for a long time but couldn't pull it out, only able to watch the people on the rock expectantly.
At this moment, a large group of people had collapsed on the rock. Leng Ren and Leng Feng got up and dragged the raft to a spot closer to the shore. Confirming that the two were only exhausted, they placed the little milk bun inside and turned to find a way to rescue the black bear.
Only now did Lu Yuzhi feel the pain all over his body! Especially in his inner thigh, which could only be positioned in a very awkward way at the moment, or it would ache severely.
Su Muqing was even worse. She had no strength in her body. Not only were her hands covered in blood, but the blood on her face was also increasing. Her head was buzzing, and she could fall asleep at any moment. But she couldn't fall asleep!
Su Muqing, supporting her weak body, gave herself a blood-replenishing pill and a qi-replenishing pill. She thought that the healing pill could only treat internal injuries, and she wasn't sure if water in her brain counted as an internal injury! Regardless, she took a healing pill as well.
With the boost from the divine medicine, she finally recovered some strength. She haphazardly wiped the blood from her face, and Su Muqing fed Lu Yuzhi three more pills. Looking at the gash on her hand, she didn't have the energy to use healing術 at the moment. So, she wrapped it with sterile gauze and would deal with it later when her spirit had fully recovered.
Reaching out to pick up the little milk bun, who was whimpering "ah ah...", she gently patted his butt. "Sister was almost sent away because of you! Don't cry like that next time!"
It was November, and the child was soaking wet. Su Muqing carried him into the space to change into a set of clothes. Seeing her ghost-like reflection in the mirror, she changed into a new set as well. Then, carrying the little milk bun on her back, she grabbed a few more sets of dry clothes and quickly exited the space.
Lu Yuzhi had also recovered a lot of stamina. He took the clothes Su Muqing handed him. Seeing her turn to help Leng Ren and the others, he secretly touched the inner side of his thigh. If he wasn't mistaken, his bone was likely dislocated!
Su Muqing placed the other clothes on the rock and then went to the large rock. The black bear was holding two empty rafts, and Leng Ren was still trying to communicate with it. Leng Feng jumped into the water to see where its leg was stuck and if he could help pull it out.
"Brother Leng, Brother Leng Er, you two go change quickly! I'll try to see if I can bring it into the space directly." Su Muqing walked forward and called out to Leng Er, who was in the water.
She placed her hand on the black bear's body. Fortunately, its leg being stuck didn't affect anything. Su Muqing took it into the space, and the black bear also brought the rafts it had previously thrown out into the space.
Fei La, sensing her aura, rushed over like the wind, sniffing the scent. The black bear was shaking its fur, splashing Fei La.
However, the dog was well-behaved this time. It quietly lay aside and watched them. After the black bear had shaken most of the water off itself, Su Muqing found an extra-large absorbent towel and had the black bear lie on it. She manually dried it about seven or eight parts dry.
The black bear lay down obediently. Su Muqing then scanned its leg with a detector. Fortunately, its bones were not injured, only the skin and flesh were quite badly torn where it was trapped.
She removed the fur from the injured area of its paw, then cleaned the wound, disinfected it, stopped the bleeding, and finally wrapped it with gauze. After she finished, she saw that the gauze on her palm was already soaked with blood again. Su Muqing simply pulled off the gauze and treated herself simply as well.
After she tidied up, she instructed Fei La to guard the black bear well and cautioned both the dog and the bear not to make any loud noises in the space. Then, she exited the space to find Lu Yuzhi and the others.
It was already past two in the morning outside the space. The sky had a waning moon, and the wind felt a bit chilly on the skin. Su Muqing brought the three of them and their wet clothes into the space.
Su Muqing cooked a pot of cola ginger tea and everyone ate a self-heating hot pot meal to warm their stomachs. Then, she prepared to go to bed, knowing that the day had been extremely tiring.
Lu Yuzhi waited for her to return to her room before slowly standing up. He took a step forward with a slight limp, but the pain in his inner thigh was too severe. Seeing that he was about to fall, Leng Ren and Leng Feng quickly ran to support him.
"Shh... keep it down. Let's go back to the room first..." Lu Yuzhi stopped the two from asking questions. Mu Qing had already been injured by the little milk bun's crying, so they couldn't disturb her further.
Leng Ren and the others supported him to their designated room. Lu Yuzhi then told the two that his leg seemed to be injured and asked them to check if his bone was dislocated. He remembered that both Leng Ren and Leng San knew bone setting.
Su Muqing had only told them not to shower in the space, so Lu Yuzhi didn't know that she could see everything he did in the space. Thus, he took off his clothes and lay down on the bed.
Because the injured area was his inner thigh, he also took off his pants, leaving only his underwear, which were essentially large shorts extending above his knees. Leng Ren stepped forward to treat his injury.
Meanwhile, Su Muqing, who had just put the little milk bun to sleep, was about to get into bed when a scene flashed in her mind. She suddenly sat up with a jolt. What had she just seen?
Why was Brother Leng hunched over, stretching his neck to reach his head, blocking Brother Lu's waist and abdomen? The most important thing was that Brother Lu was completely naked? And Brother Leng Er was standing nearby, staring at them both with a serious expression.
This, this, this... heavens! What kind of R-rated scene was this? What were Brother Leng and Brother Lu doing? And why were they doing it in the space? Should she remind them that she could see everything happening in the space?
Su Muqing wrestled with herself for a minute... She also worried that if she blundered in, it would be awkward for everyone when they met in the future.
No! They didn't seem like that kind of people usually! Moreover, Lu Yuzhi's expression didn't look right; he seemed to be enduring some kind of pain. Could his leg be injured?
Su Muqing suddenly remembered that Lu Yuzhi usually came to help her when she cooked. But after entering the space today, he hadn't gotten up and had been sitting on the ground the entire time.
Brother Lu had been enduring it without saying anything, clearly not wanting her to know. Either he was worried that she was too tired and thought it was a minor injury and didn't want to bother her, or the location of the injury was too sensitive and inconvenient for her to treat. Considering what she had just seen, Su Muqing felt the second possibility was more likely.
Indeed! Su Muqing saw Leng Ren feeling his leg for a long time, and then she heard him say with some concern, "Young Master, your injury here is indeed quite serious."
Lu Yuzhi looked at the expression on his face, as if the situation was still troublesome. "Can you treat it?"
Leng Ren said with some difficulty, "I don't have absolute confidence, I can only say I will try my best. However, you probably won't be able to walk normally for a long time to come."
Leng Feng, like a simpleton, blurted out, "Young Master, Miss Su's medical skills are so superb, why don't you let her take a look at you? Then you two..."
"What nonsense are you talking about! She is a young lady, and my injury is in such a place, how can I let her treat it? This would damage her reputation. Such talk must not be repeated in the future, or you will be punished by military law!" Lu Yuzhi stopped Leng Feng's words before he could finish, sternly and softly reprimanding him.
"It was my subordinate's slip of the tongue, please forgive me, Young Master!" Leng Feng saw the warning in Lu Yuzhi's eyes and knew he was truly angry. He immediately knelt on the ground and begged for forgiveness with a "plop~".
Lu Yuzhi no longer paid attention to Leng Feng, nor did he let him get up. He turned to Leng Ren and said, "Let's try treating it according to your method! I will try my best to walk tomorrow. If I really can't, you two can help me walk."
Su Muqing had told Lu Yuzhi earlier that he had to walk this path himself. When they encountered danger, she could take Leng Ren and the others into the space to escape, but Lu Yuzhi couldn't. Although she didn't know the reason, he trusted Su Muqing's words very much, so he didn't ask any further questions.
On the other side, Su Muqing listened to the conversation between the master and his two servants, her thoughts unreadable. But she knew that if Lu Yuzhi's leg was affected, it would be a problem. At such a critical juncture, why worry about the distinction between men and women?
Besides, weren't they separated by a pair of large shorts? She had accidentally seen him naked when he was bathing in the space before! He just didn't know it.
Just as Leng Ren was about to start setting the bone, Su Muqing walked to where Lu Yuzhi and the three were sleeping. "Brother Lu, I need to talk to you about something."
Upon hearing Su Muqing's voice, Lu Yuzhi quickly pulled the quilt over himself, covering himself from his neck down. After confirming that there was no impropriety, he signaled Leng Ren to open the door.
When Su Muqing entered, she saw Lu Yuzhi wrapped up like a silkworm cocoon. Pretending to know nothing, she placed the medicine box she was carrying on the table.
"Brother Lu, why are you wrapped up like this? I think I saw your leg injured tonight. So, as soon as the little milk bun fell asleep, I came to check on you." As she spoke, she took out disinfectant and bandages from the medicine box. After some thought, she also took out a bottle of old brand red flower oil!
Since Leng Ren hadn't said anything about the nature of Lu Yuzhi's injury, Su Muqing had always thought it was a cut or a contusion. Therefore, she had prepared medicine for bruises and wounds.
"This..." Lu Yuzhi's expression was somewhat strange, not knowing how to refuse her.
Su Muqing knew very well what he was about to say; these ancient people were just too pedantic. So, without waiting for him to finish, she cut him off. "Stop umming and aahing! What kind of situation are we in now? If your injury isn't healed, how will we manage the long road ahead? Will Brother Leng and Brother Leng Er have to carry you, or will we have to wait here for ten days or half a month for your injury to heal before we can set off?"
"But, my injury... the location is a bit sensitive!" Lu Yuzhi's face, neck, and ears all turned red as he spoke, making it even more obvious against his white hair.
So pure! Su Muqing ignored his shy expression. "I said a long time ago that in the eyes of a doctor, there is no gender. When I treated your injuries before, I had already seen your entire body, so there's nothing new for me. You don't need to worry about anything else..."
Who knew that Lu Yuzhi's face turned pale as a sheet upon hearing this, his expression as if struck by lightning. What did she mean by "nothing new"? He hadn't even done anything yet, and there was already "nothing new," which meant his body would lose its attraction for her in the future?
Leng Ren and Leng Feng also felt ashamed upon hearing Su Muqing's words. Miss Su's words were indeed too bold and unrestrained.
Su Muqing was unaware of the great shock her words had caused the three of them. "Uncover the quilt! Let me see how serious your injury is. Regardless of the reason, it cannot affect our normal travel tomorrow."
Seeing her determined expression, Lu Yuzhi slowly pulled back the quilt below his waist. Su Muqing saw his legs spread apart, and his right leg was bent outwards in a very strange position. The bright red ligature marks on his ankle were still very obvious.
Su Muqing first helped him clean the wound on his ankle, finding no other injuries, then asked him, "Is it still your right leg that is injured? Roughly where does it hurt?"
Lu Yuzhi hesitated for a moment, then slowly extended his hand. He pointed to the inner side of his right thigh.
Uh! So it was here that he was injured, no wonder he didn't want her to treat him! Regardless of what Su Muqing thought, at least her face showed no expression. She realized her facial expressions were becoming better managed!
Seeing her reach out to lift his pants, Lu Yuzhi subconsciously grabbed the quilt. Su Muqing pulled the quilt down a little, then rolled up his right leg's underwear to the inner side. Then she used the detector to scan the muscle tissue in his thigh.
Fortunately, the examination results showed that his hip bone was not dislocated. However, his ligaments were severely strained, a ligament tear! To endure until now without a sound was truly the act of a man. Thinking of the suffering he had endured in the past to suppress his cold poison, she really didn't understand what kind of person he was, so tolerant.
At this moment, Su Muqing discovered something else. Not only were his right ligament severely torn, but it also affected a very important part, which must have been very painful. However, given Lu Yuzhi's personality, he would definitely not mention any injury to his lower body!
Since he wouldn't mention it, Su Muqing wouldn't bring it up either. She would quietly treat it herself! So, she used healing術 to first repair his injured lower body.
Lu Yuzhi clearly felt a warmth in the painful area of his lower body. He guessed that Su Muqing must have known, and out of consideration for his dignity, she hadn't said anything. He didn't know how to feel, only clenching the bedsheet beneath him with his hands.
Su Muqing was unaware of his complex and fluctuating emotions. After healing his lower body, she carefully adjusted the position of his right leg, allowing the torn ligaments to come closer together. This way, after healing, his leg wouldn't be turned outwards, which would look very unsightly when walking.
As his right leg was suddenly moved, Lu Yuzhi gasped. A feeling of both pain and discomfort spread through his body. After Su Muqing adjusted the position, she began to use healing術 to treat his right leg.
After about fifteen minutes, Lu Yuzhi's right leg ligaments were finally mended. However, he would need to take good care of it for some time, and it would be best to avoid any strenuous movements.
Su Muqing wiped the sweat from her forehead, then stood up. She gave Leng Ren a set of the anti-bruising spray and instructed him to spray Lu Yuzhi twice a day.
She had originally wanted him to apply the red flower oil, but this stuff was too irritating. Lu Yuzhi's injury was in a sensitive area, and if it splashed, the sensation would likely be unpleasant!
Confirming that they had no other injuries, Su Muqing安心して returned to her room to rest. Watching her leave, the three people in the room simultaneously let out a sigh of relief. Lu Yuzhi, in particular, had forgotten to thank her due to the embarrassment.
They were all so exhausted from the day that they all slept soundly. Fei La and the black bear slept leaning against each other, and even the little milk bun slept soundly in his sister's arms.
After Fei La had a good sleep, it ran to their room. The little milk bun climbed out of Su Muqing's arms, and Fei La bit his clothes and carried him off the bed. Then, with a shake of its head, it placed him on its back and carried the little milk bun to find Lu Yuzhi and the others, who were already awake.
Su Muqing tossed and turned, sleeping for more than ten hours. Finally, her body ached from sleeping so much, and she yawned as she got up. She truly wasn't destined for a life of ease! The longer she slept, the more tired her body felt.