"Let me out, I don't want to die here."
I pounded on the iron gate with all my might, the booming sound echoing, but it had no effect other than making my ears ache. Beyond the hollow reverberations, there wasn't even a shout or reprimand from outside.
"Kid, it's no use."
After the person who had been there when I first entered stood up and glanced at me, he then wrapped himself entirely in weeds again. His劝说 voice carried a hint of mockery. "Kid, it's no use."
I refused to believe it and kept shouting for about half an hour until my throat felt like it was on fire. Then, I saw the light outside the window and noticed that the joints of my hands were scraped and bleeding from the pounding. Blood had stained both my hands. Just moments ago, I was only focused on them letting me out, but now that I stopped, a piercing pain shot up from my fingertips.
I gasped in pain.
Hiss—
I sat slumped on the steps beneath the iron gate, hoping the door would open the next moment.
However, apart from feeling a chill, no one came to open the door for me.
It was then that I realized I was completely naked. The cold wind that blew through Han River had shredded my clothes into rags. I hugged my shoulders, shivering uncontrollably. I wanted to stand up and walk a few steps to warm myself, but the last bit of strength I had was consumed in pounding on the door.
The strange person in the pile of weeds spoke again, "Cold, aren't you?"
Shivering, I nodded. "A little."
As soon as I finished speaking, a dark shadow lunged towards me.
Immediately, a musty smell filled my nostrils.
I took off the thing covering my head and saw it was an ancient-style long robe. Without bothering with the moldy smell, I put it on.
"Thank you. What will you wear now that you've given me your clothes?"
The strange person chuckled, "It's fine, you first."
With a piece of clothing on, although I still felt a bit cold, it was much better than before.
"Uh… Big Brother, what should I call you?"
When I first came in, I only noticed that the strange person was tall and thin, but I hadn't paid much attention to anything else. Now, I noticed his hair had grown down to his chest, and his face was covered by a thick beard, obscuring his entire face except for his eyes.
The strange person scratched his head and tilted it as he looked at me. "A name is just a label. I've been locked up for so long, I don't even know what my name is anymore. Call me whatever you like."
After thinking for a moment, I said, "You're so tall, how about I call you 'Gao Ren' (Tall Person)?"
He nodded and gave me an "Mm" in return, indicating his approval of his new name.
"Big Brother Gao Ren, how did you get locked up here?"
Gao Ren looked up at me, then patted the weeds beside him, signaling me to come and sit down for a chat.
I thanked him and sat down, and then heard him reply with three words that made me want to spit blood.
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
I looked at him in surprise. Was he an idiot? How could he not know how he got locked up?
But judging by his demeanor, he didn't seem crazy at all, so he shouldn't be an idiot.
"Have you seen anyone else here?"
Gao Ren pointed at me. "The clothes you're wearing were worn by the person before you."
I looked at Gao Ren in alarm and reached out to take off the clothes. I absolutely couldn't wear the clothes of a dead person!
"Take them off if you're not afraid of freezing to death."
Hearing this, my hand stopped. I didn't want to die. I still wanted to wait for my father to open his eyes and see me get married and have children. How could I give up my life so easily?
At this moment, a question suddenly occurred to me: what would I eat or drink here?
Earlier, he said, "Take them off if you're not afraid of freezing to death." This implied that Gao Ren was not a living person. Ghosts didn't need to eat or drink. Was I going to starve to death like this?
Thinking of this, I lost all motivation to speak.
"Why aren't you talking anymore? You were quite energetic just now?"
I sighed powerlessly. "That was earlier. Now that I think about it, I'll starve to death like the owner of my clothes in a few days. How can I have the energy to talk!"
"Oh, I forgot about that. Living people need to eat." Gao Ren looked like he had a sudden realization. Then he stood up, reached his hand out the window, and then pulled it back.
At this moment, a broken bowl appeared in his hand, and he handed it to me.
"There's no food here, only a little water. Drink it."
Looking at the chipped bowl, with its black, murky bottom, in normal times I would have thrown it far away. Such a bowl was not fit for people, let alone dogs; I bet even dogs would find it too dirty.
But after shouting so much earlier, my throat was extremely dry, and the bowl only had half a bowl of water. If I threw it away, it would be gone. Gritting my teeth, I closed my eyes and drank the water in one gulp.
A coolness immediately went straight down to my abdomen. I didn't know if it was psychological or the water's effect, but the burning sensation in my throat subsided, and even the slight hunger in my stomach improved.
Feeling the change in my body, I looked at Gao Ren in surprise. "Huh? What kind of water is this?"
Gao Ren chuckled and didn't speak, only replying, "It's better if you don't know."
Then he took the bowl back from my hand and placed it outside the window again.
I am only one meter seventy-five tall. Compared to Gao Ren's height of over one meter ninety, I was more than a head shorter. Moreover, with his long arms, I couldn't see what was outside the window at all.
After doing all this, Gao Ren lay down directly on the pile of weeds, covered himself with more weeds, and then started snoring loudly.
I wanted to ask for more water, but the words got stuck in my throat. With Gao Ren's rhythmic snores, my eyelids began to feel heavy.
I estimated the time. It should be dawn now. I hadn't slept all night, and after running for most of the night, I was indeed exhausted.
Looking at the huge pile of weeds, I imitated Gao Ren, covered myself with some weeds, and lay down. In a short while, I also fell asleep.
I slept very soundly, without even having a single dream.
I was woken up by a startled exclamation.
Opening my eyes, I saw Gao Ren holding something in his hand, waving it back and forth.
I rubbed my eyes and then clearly saw that what Gao Ren was holding was the small white snake I had seen by the riverbank.
Its tail was held in Gao Ren's hand, wriggling continuously in mid-air, as if trying to bite the hand holding it.
"Eh! How did it get here?"
Seeing that I was awake, he swung the small white snake in his hand and looked at me curiously.
"Is this your pet?"
I quickly shook my head. "No."
"That's good. I saw it crawling towards you just now and thought it was a pet you brought in from outside. Since it's not your pet, then it'll be my snack."
"If I skewer it with a bamboo stick, roast it over an Yin fire, and add some cumin, tsk tsk… it would definitely be a great nourishing loach!" Gao Ren muttered excitedly as he swung the small white snake. "But it's too harsh here, there's nothing. It seems I can only dry roast it with Yin fire."
As soon as he finished speaking, a wisp of flame appeared in Gao Ren's left hand. Unlike ordinary flames, its color was silver-white and it didn't emit high temperatures; instead, it lowered the temperature in the cell by a few degrees.
The small white snake, which had been struggling fiercely in Gao Ren's hand, struggled even harder when it saw the flame in his hand.
Gao Ren hummed an unknown little tune excitedly. "Come on, little loach, you'll be in my belly soon…" Su Dan Novel Network
I always thought only I experienced joy turning to sorrow, but I didn't expect the Gao Ren in front of me to be the same. Perhaps he was too happy, and forgot to swing his right hand. The small white snake, with a surge of its body, bit Gao Ren's wrist with a snap.
Ouch—
As Gao Ren's right hand loosened, I saw a white light "swoosh" straight towards me.
"Sun!"