Leaning back against the tree trunk, Su Cheng dozed off into a hazy slumber. Lying half-motionless was the best way to ease her abdominal pain.
The azure sky gradually stained with red hues, ushering in dusk.
“Growl…”
Su Cheng looked over at Yun Nian, who awkwardly rubbed her stomach. “Sister, I’m a bit hungry.”
Su Cheng pulled out two pieces of chocolate and handed one to her. “Eat.”
Yun Nian entirely viewed Su Cheng’s ability to conjure items out of thin air as a magic trick she had once seen in a grand theater. Her eyes sparkled. “Thank you, sister.”
“Mmh.”
Su Cheng wasn’t actually hungry; in fact, she lacked any appetite at all. Whether it was the abdominal injury acting up or not, she felt completely drained of strength all over, accompanied by a stifling tightness in her chest.
She tore open the chocolate wrapper and bit down. Before she even had time to chew, she gagged with a loud “Blech”.
“Ugh…”
That heave felt like opening a floodgate. Her stomach felt full of foreign contents that surged upward all at once, completely beyond control.
The vomit consisted of water mixed with mud and unrecognizable debris.
“Gack, gack, gack…”
Su Cheng felt something blocking her throat—unable to throw it up, it caught in her windpipe, causing agonizing discomfort. Hurriedly reaching into her mouth, she pulled out a long, seaweed-like strand of algae…
Her stomach kept convulsing; that wasn’t all.
“Ugh…”
Reaching back down her throat, she gagged up seawater mixed with grass clippings, and even a screw.
These were all foreign objects she had accidentally swallowed while tumbling and rolling in the seawater.
Su Cheng’s fingernails dug into the tree bark. The veins on her neck bulged, the cuts on her face split open and oozed blood, and she vomited uncontrollably.
“Sister! Are you okay…”
Terrified, Yun Nian scrambled over to Su Cheng’s side, yet feeling utterly helpless, she could only stroke Su Cheng’s back in a vain attempt to make her more comfortable.
Su Cheng emptied everything out of her stomach, only to end up coughing out a mouthful of blood at the very end… leaving a heavy, metallic taste of blood filling her mouth.
“Cough, cough, cough, cough!”
“Hah, hah…”
Su Cheng breathed heavily. Her chest felt like an old, rattling bellows, each inhalation producing a dull, heavy wheeze.
“Sister… blood…”
Yun Nian lost her voice, panicking in absolute panic as she hurriedly pulled out her water bottle. “Sister, drink some water… wait, can you drink water?”
Close to tears from anxiety, Yun Nian had no idea what the right thing to do was. Her parents had only taught her to stay calm when encountering trouble, but had never taught her how to help someone else in a situation like this.
It took a good while for Su Cheng to recover, panting as she gradually steadied her breathing.
“I’m fine…”
Corroded stomach acid had likely damaged the mucous membranes of her throat, leaving her voice raspy and weak.
Suppressing her fright and tearful worry, Yun Nian pleaded, “Sister, you need to get better fast. You’re a magician, you can fix yourself, right?”
Sensing Yun Nian’s unease, Su Cheng raised a hand and gently patted the hair of this girl—whom she had only known for a single day, yet who genuinely worried over her. “Yeah.”
Su Cheng stopped forcing herself to eat, settling instead for taking sips of water to rinse away the strange taste in her mouth. Her stomach felt completely emptied, and she actually felt much more comfortable after the vomiting stopped.
Daring no longer to return to the branch she had originally occupied, Yun Nian wore a solemn expression, her hands gripping her hem tightly. “Is there anything I can do?”
Su Cheng was slightly startled, not expecting Yun Nian to say that.
She had originally treated Yun Nian as an ordinary little girl tagging along the way, asking only that she didn’t slow things down, and never expecting her to actually do anything.
This girl was far more intelligent and precocious than any peers Su Cheng had seen before.
Pondering for a moment, Su Cheng asked, “Do you see those bottles on the ground?”
“You can collect them and hang them up on the tree. When the wind blows at night, they’ll make a sound… which can help the rescue team find us faster in the dark.”
Yun Nian nodded vigorously. “Okay! I’ll go right now!”
Su Cheng grabbed her wrist, pulled out another stick of chocolate to place in her hand, and instructed carefully: “Eat this first, watch out for broken glass, safety first!”
Patting her chest, Yun Nian wore a proud little expression. “Don’t worry, sister. I used to play bottle-hunting games at summer camp, I know how to do it and won’t hurt myself.”
“Alright.”
With Su Cheng unable to move, Yun Nian was left to scavenge and act alone beneath the tree.
Su Cheng rolled up her shirt. The purplish-red bruise hadn’t changed much, but the bloody vomiting earlier made her certain that her internal organs had been damaged—she just didn’t know how severe it was…
Her body was truly taking a beating in this dungeon.
Su Cheng closed her eyes, forcing herself to relax in an attempt to ease the tension and anxiety triggered by her physical crisis.
“Sister, I found food!”
Yun Nian held up a bottle of Pulpy Orange juice happily.
“Yeah, you’re amazing.”
…
As twilight gradually deepened, Su Cheng glanced at Yun Nian, who was still running back and forth, and hurriedly called her back.
Obediently, Yun Nian used a piece of thin twine she had found to tie up the empty plastic and aluminum cans. “Sister, where should we hang them?”
“Keep two to hold in your hand and tap, and the rest…”
Looking around, Su Cheng pointed toward the treetops. “Hang them right up there, a bit higher so the wind can catch them easier.”
“Okay.”
Clutching the twine, Yun Nian climbed up and moved carefully. With her petite frame, she successfully hung the bottles and cans from the treetops.
Having completed the task, wary of overloading the branches, Yun Nian didn’t sit right next to Su Cheng, choosing instead to perch on the branch directly above her at the closest safe distance.
Tapping the two aluminum cans she held in her hands together lightly, Yun Nian said, “Sister, rest well. The rescue team will hear the sound soon and save us!”
Su Cheng nodded. “Are you hungry?”
Yun Nian shook her head. “I ate the chocolate just now and drank a bottle of orange juice, I’m not hungry at all.”
“Good. Tell me if you get hungry.”
“Okay.”
“Sister, I’m a bit cold…”
With night approaching, unlike the scorching daytime sun, nighttime temperatures dropped sharply. When the wind blew, both of them—already soaked through—felt the chill even more acutely.
Feeling cold herself, Su Cheng pulled out two cold tablets, taking one each for herself and Yun Nian as a preventive measure.
Night fell swiftly. The stars and moon hid behind cloud cover. On a night without lighting tools, the surroundings were pitch black, dyed as if in thick ink. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, opening your eyes felt no different from keeping them closed.
Clack, clack.
Yun Nian tapped the two aluminum cans together, producing a crisp sound in the silent night.
“Sister… I’m scared of the dark…”
“I’ll tap them. Close your eyes and doze for a bit, think of happy things with your eyes closed and you won’t be scared.”
Ever since her parents passed away, Su Cheng had spent her early childhood using that exact method to get through every tearful night.
“Okay.”
Su Cheng reached out to take the cans handed over by Yun Nian, the two of them groping around blindly to transfer them in the dark.
Touching Su Cheng’s hand, Yun Nian exclaimed in surprise, “Sister’s hands are so cold!”
“Sister, I’ll hold your hand.”
Clutching one of Su Cheng’s hands, Yun Nian rubbed it to generate warmth. “Sister, don’t anything happen to you, I don’t want to be alone…”
“Don’t be afraid, I’ll be fine.”
Hugging the two aluminum cans against her chest, Su Cheng held her cans in one hand while the other remained clasped.
Clack, clack.
Clack, clack.
Clink, clink, clink…
The wind blew past the cans hanging from the treetops.
In the silent night, only those faint sounds remained.
Su Cheng tapped the cans in a slow, rhythmic beat until she ran out of strength in the latter half of the night and finally stopped.
The second half of the night grew bitterly cold, forming a sharp contrast with the daytime heat.
Dressed in thin clothing and worried about hypothermia, Su Cheng had no choice but to continuously rub her palms against her skin to generate a tiny bit of warmth.
Her consciousness drifted in a haze. She might have fallen asleep at points or stayed awake; she passed through the night in a daze.
…
A pale white fish-belly dawn broke across the horizon.
Unfortunately, a whole night had passed, and rescue still hadn’t arrived.
“Sister!”
Yun Nian’s sudden scream instantly snapped Su Cheng out of her groggy stupor.
Following the direction Yun Nian pointed, Su Cheng’s breath caught, and her expression turned drastically ugly: a roaring, surging torrent of water was violently rushing straight toward them!
The earth shook and rumbled. This tsunami wave was even more ferocious than the previous one!
The tsunami was starting again!
The terror of being submerged by water gripped her heart once more. Su Cheng shouted, “Hold onto the tree!”
“Boom—!”
The ocean slammed brutally against the tree. Debris floating on the surface constantly battered the trunk under the current’s momentum. The ancient tree rocked precariously, yet stubbornly resisted.
Su Cheng deeply feared the tree would be knocked over; she genuinely didn’t want to experience the sensation of tumbling and suffocating underwater ever again!
Crack.
The massive tree tilted, bringing both of them on the tree a few inches closer to the water’s surface…
“Aah! Waaaah…”
Unable to endure the terror of imminent falling, Yun Nian clung desperately to the trunk and burst into tears.
Su Cheng’s breathing grew rapid. She was terrified too, but after all, she wasn’t a child—she couldn’t wail out loud to vent her fear like Yun Nian.
Swish, swish…
The sound of the current sounded like a display of intimidation, utterly terrifying!
Debris silted in the mud turned into dangerous projectiles, blindly slamming forward with the current…
By some stroke of absolute luck, amidst the battering of floating debris, the tree didn’t collapse. It held its ground stubbornly, buying Su Cheng and Yun Nian a momentary respite.
“Climb higher up the branches!”
“Waa… okay.”
The two of them moved sluggishly, climbing with far more caution than before. If they fell off now, the result wouldn’t be landing on the ground, but being swept away by the current…
With great difficulty, Su Cheng scrambled up to a higher branch.
Perhaps from moving too violently, the exertion aggravated the already-injured internal organs in her abdominal cavity. The moment she pressed flat against the branch, pain rippled through her entire body from her abdomen.
Su Cheng’s face twisted in agony, trembling all over from pain while a coppery taste welled up in her throat.
“Cough…”
Warm blood trickled out from her mouth and nose, splashing drop by drop to ripple across the water’s surface…
So cold, so cold!
Su Cheng clung tightly to the branch beneath her, unable to draw any warmth from it.
Her vision blurred. In a daze, she found herself back in her mother’s warm embrace.
She couldn’t make out her mother’s face, but intuition told her this was her mother.
Gently stroking Su Cheng’s hair, her mother whispered soft murmurs. Closing her eyes, Su Cheng wanted to fall into a peaceful, secure sleep—she was truly so tired…
“You can’t sleep yet, you know.”
Just as Su Cheng was slipping away into sleep, her mother’s murmuring voice materialized, striking her heartstrings with a sudden jolt.
Everything around her scattered. Opening her eyes, her hand—which had almost loosened its grip—clutched frantically back onto the trunk beneath her. Below lay the raging, torrential current…
It turned out she had been hallucinating from pain.
Another second, and she would have let go and plunged into the water!
Overcome with lingering terror, Su Cheng shook her head hard, forcing herself to wake up as much as possible.
From above, Yun Nian’s anxious cry rang down. “Sister, are you okay?”
Spitting out the blood in her mouth, Su Cheng managed to squeeze out a breathy voice: “…Keep calling my name, don’t let me fall asleep.”
Su Cheng was terrified that if she fell asleep, she would never wake up again.
Hearing Su Cheng’s voice and realizing her condition was precarious, Yun Nian wept as she hugged the trunk. “Waaaaah…”
Su Cheng wanted to offer words of comfort, but lacked the strength to even open her mouth.
Even as Su Cheng fought to hold on, she couldn’t stop her breathing from growing increasingly shallow. Blood kept surging up her throat; when she swallowed it down, it spilled out through her nose instead…
The sensation of blood flowing out through her nose was even worse!
Helpless, Su Cheng turned her head sideways, letting the blood pour out freely from her mouth and drip down into the water to be washed away…
Su Cheng understood that her previously bruised internal organs had worsened significantly, likely compounded by a ruptured organ leading to unceasing internal bleeding.
“Sister, please stop bleeding… Waaaaah…”
Yun Nian’s terrified, weeping voice echoed beside her, but Su Cheng had no strength left to reply.
At that moment, only a single thought filled her mind: as long as she could survive this dungeon, she would never again let herself sink into such a weak, helpless state.
Su Cheng had always wanted to live, and she was trying hard to live.
Her parents had shielded her firmly in their embrace during the car crash. Her mother’s final words were: Live well, and carry our share of life forward.
A fierce wave of unwillingness swept through Su Cheng’s chest!
A powerful survival instinct burst forth from deep within her heart. This stubborn tenacity overrode the loss of consciousness brought by the pain. Her gaze gradually cleared—a moment of clarity before the end.
Su Cheng’s fingertips dug so hard into the rough tree bark that they rubbed raw, yet she felt no pain at all, gripping even tighter as if fusing herself and the thick branch into a single entity, vowing never to fall off!
Her willpower was waging war against her physical body.
As long as she held out until rescue arrived, she stood a fighting chance.
She refused to die!
She wanted to live and return!
Only that single sentence echoed and repeated endlessly inside her mind.
Until a jarring mechanical voice rang out:
【Ding~ Congratulations to resident for unlocking Tier-1 gene lock! Acquired skill: Self-Healing】
【Self-Healing: Enhances the activity of human tissue repair factors, rapidly repairing bodily wounds. Repair speed scales with gene lock tier and physical constitution.】
【Resident bracelet personal info has been updated. Please check it upon returning to the apartment~】
Su Cheng was stunned, and the pent-up breath inside her deflated.
The feeling was identical to someone hanging desperately onto the edge of a cliff with absolute determination to hold on, only for someone to suddenly drop a rope and haul them right back up!
Su Cheng’s expression froze on her face for a good moment before she finally broke into a delayed, belated smile.
Though the pain in her abdomen hadn’t subsided yet, the surging tide of blood rising in her throat stopped entirely.
The cuts on her face suddenly began to itch, as if forming scabs…
Her previous guess had been spot-on: the apartment really did provide assistance.
This assistance wasn’t the supermarket props Su Cheng had initially imagined, but rather a special ability triggered only upon reaching a certain condition.
“Does the apartment only consider granting auxiliary skills when you’re on the verge of death?”
If so, that requirement was far too harsh.