Chapter 31 – Esophagus 3
The kitchen was on the first floor and the two found more candlesticks in the kitchen so they lit them up one by one. The candlelight dispelled the beastly darkness at once.
“It’s safe here.” Lian Qiao looked around the kitchen in the candlelight and rubbed his hands in excitement, “A new area is unlocked! Let’s start searching!”
Xu RenDong smiled and raised the candlestick to illuminate the area for him.
Soon, they found milk powder and boiled water. When Xu RenDong was about to make milk, Lian Qiao stopped him: “No, no, you can’t use boiling water. If the water temperature is too high, the protein will be denatured.”
Xu RenDong thought about it and it did seem that he had learned this in high school chemistry so he stopped: “What should I do then?”
Lian Qiao looked around but didn’t find any cooled boiled water. He said: “Then we have to wait here for a while, let the boiling water cool down and then pour it in.”
So the two stood on the edge of the sink and took turns to blow in the glass. The night in the monastery was very quiet. At this time, the kitchen was illuminated by a swaying candle and there was warm water and milk powder on the table. The scene before him was not gloomy but a little warm.
Xu RenDong repeatedly checked the water temperature with the back of his hand. He looked very serious as if he was not waiting to make milk powder, but was instead working as an academic researcher. Lian Qiao looked at him and couldn’t help but smile with his eyes curved.
Xu RenDong asked: “What are you smiling about?”
Lian Qiao said, “I think we are like a pair of new parents who were so troubled by the child not sleeping that we got up in the middle of the night to make him milk.”
Xu RenDong was silent for a moment: “…you saying this with a five-year-old face looks very strange.”
Lian Qiao was taken aback. He looked down at his fleshy short hands and short legs, and spoke in a pained manner: “It is quite strange… Ai, I miss my long legs and my crowbar.”
Xu RenDong: “…” He began to think that Lian Qiao was really very suitable to be a horror game host. He was still in the mood to joke around no matter what the environment was.
However, being beside him was very joyful.
The water temperature dropped slowly but it was far from enough to make milk powder. Gradually, Lian Qiao couldn’t sit still and continued to search around to see if he could find anything of value. While looking around, he chatted with Xu RenDong:
“Hey Brother RenDong, didn’t you say that you lived in an orphanage when you were young? Can you tell me what it was like?”
Xu RenDong stroked the hot water cup. If anything it was… “Probably the condensed version of human suffering. Many children have disabilities or they were intellectually disabled so…”
He paused and Lian Qiao continued: “So no one wanted to adopt them?”
Xu RenDong said: “No, on the contrary, those defective children are easily adopted.”
Lian Qiao: “…Huh?”
Xu RenDong stared at the steaming heat from the water glass with a faint smile on the corner of his mouth: “As for me, I didn’t look miserable enough. I was physically sound and not ugly. People who are loving think that children like me are easily adopted by others, so they all chose those miserable children. As a result of one thing and another, I grew up. Once I was older and people thought I was in a rebellious phase, no one wanted me. Anyway, I’m already so old so what’s the point of adopting me…. Actually no one ever told me why no one wanted to adopt me and this is all just my conjecture. Maybe those parents had other considerations but I just interpreted it this way. Perhaps I just looked like I didn’t need help and was fine on my own.”
Lian Qiao: “…” How come it wasn’t what he expected?
He originally thought it would be miserable to spend one’s childhood in an orphanage, and wanted to take this opportunity to comfort Xu RenDong. But listening to Xu RenDong’s description, it seems that apart from no one wanting to adopt him, there were no other painful experiences. Therefore, Xu RenDong was calm when he spoke and even had a little bit of a self-deprecating tone of voice.
However, it was precisely his “I’m fine, I’m okay” attitude that made Lian Qiao’s heart twist.
Lian Qiao didn’t understand why this was the case. When he came back to his senses, he had already walked up to Xu RenDong and stretched out his hand to rub his hair.
Xu RenDong was taken aback and said helplessly: “You calm down, don’t forget that I am older than you.”
Lian Qiao’s fingers froze and felt a bit embarrassed. He blushed and retracted his hand. He turned his head to one side and changed the subject: “The water is cold so you can make milk from the powder now.”
Xu RenDong: “Okay.”
After the milk was made, the two raised the kerosene lamp and went back towards the second floor. The milk bottle in Xu RenDong’s hand exuded a strong scent of milk. Lian Qiao was holding a kerosene lamp for lighting while sniffing the milk scent in the air. He couldn’t help but mutter: “I’m so hungry…”
Xu RenDong said: “Take care of the lamp. There’s no way to block the wind and the flame may easily go out.”
As soon as he spoke, a gust of yin wind blew from behind the two of them and it directly extinguished the kerosene lamp.
Lian Qiao: “…Big boss, your words are too powerful.”
Xu RenDong was silent for a moment and suddenly heard a soft rustling sound from behind them. The sound was like a snake crawling in the sand, dull and raspy. It was especially clear in the silent monastery.
Xu RenDong looked towards the sound and a ‘thing’ appeared little by little in the moonlight cast by the window. Xu RenDong finally saw that it was a white figure with a snake’s tail and a human body. A thick and long tail swayed behind it and its dry and loose skin hung on its bones like a bag. Its slender limbs were amazingly long. But its belly bulged slightly, looking like a spider with a snake tail.
Xu RenDong’s gaze slowly moved upwards along the slender body. He was mentally prepared but after seeing that ‘thing’s’ face, he still felt numb in his hands and feet. His blood chilled.
—There was no mouth and no nose on that pale face!
No, it’s not exactly that there was no mouth and nose, but instead of organs it had only two big black holes. Above the infiltrating black hole, two bloody eyeballs were stuck abruptly on its face. The monster has no eyelids so the eyeballs were like a pair of unmatched decorations, loosely dangling in the eye sockets. It looked indescribably bizarre.
Lian Qiao clearly saw the creepy white monster,and his breathing suddenly rose. He fumbled in the darkness and finally caught Xu RenDong’s hand.
Xu RenDong lowered his voice: “Let’s run to the gate. After we go out, we will split up. One person will lead him away and the other will come back to inform everyone.”
Lian Qiao: “Hic.”
Xu RenDong: “…”
Lian Qiao said in a crying voice: “I’m sorry I can’t stop, hic..”
Xu RenDong sighed, “Be prepared, I count one, two and three.”
Lian Qiao shook his hand firmly: “RenDong, hic… be careful!”
Xu RenDong “You too. One, two…three!”
Right after he spoke, Xu RenDong threw the bottle into the distance. The monster was immediately attracted by the sound of the milk bottle rolling, turning its head and rushing towards the corner. The two of them were no longer frozen but ran towards the door as fast as their legs could carry them.
Xu RenDong opened the door and ran into the yard. The moon was dark at this time, but the scene in the yard was still very clear. The huge iron gate and the wall covered with vines stood quietly.
He glanced back at the pale snake-shaped monster. The monster has given up the bottle and started chasing them. It was unknown if they were running too slow or the monster was moving too fast. In a blink of an eye, the monster had almost caught up to them. Xu RenDong ran and said, “After I go out, I will go to the left and you will go to the right!”
Lian Qiao exclaimed, “Brother RenDong, the gate is locked!”
Xu RenDong was taken aback. At this moment they ran to the big iron gate and saw a big rusty iron lock hanging on the door. They obviously didn’t lock it when they entered the monastery. Could it be that the old nun came out and locked it while they were resting?
The two shook the iron gate vigorously but the iron gate did not move. The white basilisk behind him has already approached step by step, blocking their way of retreat. Those weird eyeballs stared at them and a scary smile broke out of the dark mouth.
Xu RenDong panicked and instinctively avoided the basilisk’s gaze. He looked around and shouted: “Find something to break the lock!”
“It’s too late!” Lian Qiao suddenly stood up and protected him, pushing Xu RenDong behind him.
Xu RenDong was startled and subconsciously grabbed the back of Lian Qiao’s clothes: “Lian Qiao!”
When he shouted, the pale snake-shaped monster had already pinched Lian Qiao’s neck!
It was definitely not a human hand, each nail was as sharp as a blade and there were many dark brown blood stains in the fingers. Xu RenDong watched as Lian Qiao was pinched up by the neck and his small body struggled desperately. Xu RenDong immediately hugged Lian Qiao’s legs, trying to pull him back down but Lian Qiao pushed him hard.
“Go…” He squeezed a few words from his throat, his voice was faint and hoarse, “Abandon me… you go…”
Xu RenDong was shaking all over: “Damn you!”
Deprived of fear and reason, he rushed forward and kicked the monster with all his strength. However, right now he is only a three-year-old child. The basilisk remained motionless under his kick but instead pinched Lian Qiao’s neck tighter and tighter. His little body was lifted farther and farther from the ground.
The white basilisk opened its mouth wide and bit Lian Qiao’s soft and drooping calf. Then, it turned its head sharply and started to tear at him hard!
It was going to tear Lian Qiao’s leg straight off his torso!
Lian Qiao gradually lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen but was forcibly awakened by the tearing pain. He struggled weakly again but the struggle of the five-year-old child was like an ant shaking a tree in front of the white monster and of course was of no use.
“Uh, uh…” His poor throat couldn’t even make a scream and could only make a faint gasp.
Xu RenDong’s eyes reddened anxiously and he opened his mouth toward the monster’s snake body and bit down. His teeth seemed to sink into a pile of rotten meat. It was limp and he couldn’t bite it off. Only a strong fishy smell came over him.
The monster grabbed his hair and tried to pull him away. His head felt incredible pain as if his whole scalp was about to be lifted off. Xu RenDong didn’t care about nausea or pain, no matter how the monster pulled, he wouldn’t let go.
“Ren-RenDong…” Lian Qiao, who was held up in the air, stretched out his hand towards Xu RenDong in pain but couldn’t reach him. Lian Qiao’s cheeks turned purple due to suffocation and his short legs fluttered in the air less and less. He has almost no strength left to struggle.
At the same time, Xu RenDong’s head was let loose but then the back of his neck was suddenly cold. Immediately afterwards, something wrapped around his neck, pulling him back abruptly. He still refused to let go but the cool thing was so frightening that it directly looped around his thin neck and squeezed it tightly, almost crushing his Adam’s apple!
Only then did he clearly see that it was the monster’s snake tail that was tightening around his neck!
Xu RenDong couldn’t help coughing and was forced to let go with his mouth. His body was lifted off the ground immediately. He felt dizzy, the world was spinning, and even the small figure of Lian Qiao flashed in front of him.
Almost at the same time, his back slammed into the wall!
“Hmm!” He fell to the ground, feeling his bones being crushed. His back was so painful that he could hardly stand up.
The monster still tore at Lian Qiao’s left leg. Xu RenDong propped himself up forcibly and gropped for something that could be used as a weapon. But- there was nothing! The yard was overgrown with weeds and there was only rubble on the ground. There wasn’t even any larger rocks!
He could only watch the basilisk pinch Lian Qiao’s neck tightly, bite his calf and tug hard. Lian Qiao’s complexion was blue and purple and he was unable to struggle anymore. Xu RenDong could almost hear the slight clicking sound from his bones.
—He was afraid that in a few seconds, even if Lian Qiao’s leg was not torn off, then his throat would still be crushed by those ghostly claws!
Xu RenDong was in a state of confusion and trembled all over. A sense of despair more terrifying than near death enveloped him. At some point, his face was streaming with tears and his vision began to blur.
Just at this moment, a faint sound suddenly came from a distance.
“Wu-oh–“
The sound was like a cat meowing. Xu RenDong didn’t realize what it was for a while. Unexpectedly, after hearing this sound, the white basilisk let go of Lian Qiao and ran towards the monastery with a terrifying speed!
Xu RenDong was stunned for half a second. Lian Qiao fell into the grass, clutching his neck and coughing. Xu RenDong was overjoyed and stumbled to Lian Qiao’s side. He knelt down with a groan and stretched out his arms to pull Lian Qiao into his arms.
The Lian Qiao in his arms could not even cough. Xu RenDong stroked his back with trembling fingers. Trying to speak as clearly as possible he said: “It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s gone …… you’ll be all right,”
“RenDong, Keke …Brother RenDong…” Lian Qiao breathed faintly and grabbed his clothes with his fingers almost convulsively. “My leg hurts… it’s dislocated… {See Author’s Note 1.}
Xu RenDong hurriedly opened Lian Qiao’s clothes. Sure enough, there was a bone in his hip protruding out at an abnormal angle and it hurt just to look at it. Xu RenDong suddenly panicked. What should he do? How does one deal with a dislocation?
He has never regretted so much that he hadn’t studied medicine in the first place! (Note 2)
Lian Qiao grabbed his hand. He gasped and said: “Help me, help me reposition my joint…”
From his tone, Xu RenDong heard that he seemed to know the repositioning technique so he quickly said: “Tell me how and I’ll do it!”
Lian Qiao nodded. He motioned for Xu RenDong to lift his knee and, while supporting the knee socket, jerk it up forcefully. Xu RenDon followed his instructions. As soon as he jerked hard, Lian Qiao gasped with pain.
Xu RenDong panicked immediately: “Did I do it wrong? Did I use too much force?”
Lian Qiao was in too much pain to say a complete sentence: “No, you did it right…just…not enough energy…” He gasped. “You have to push up forcefully… the bones… to get back into the joint cavity… You must use force…”
Xu RenDong gritted his teeth; “You bear it then.”
Lian Qiao took a deep breath and nodded his head. He subconsciously grasped the corner of his clothes with fingers.
This time Xu RenDong was ruthless, exhausting all his strength and lifted it up desperately. Lian Qiao screamed in pain, just like the scream of a small animal when it was dying. But after hearing a soft click, the joint finally returned to its original position.
Xu RenDong said hurriedly: “How is it? Is it still painful?”
Lian Qiao’s face was pale but he smiled at him: “It’s better. Thank you.”
Xu RenDong helped him to stand up: “Can you walk? Is there any fracture? ?”
Lian Qiao said: “It’s okay, I can walk. The dislocation is a minor injury. As long as it is reset, it will not affect movement.”
“What about the skin trauma?” Xu RenDong then realized afterwards. The monster just took his entire calf and bit it into its mouth. He should have checked the wound on Lian Qiao’s leg before repositioning it.
Unexpectedly, Lian Qiao still shook his head: “It didn’t have teeth so it didn’t bite me.”
Xu RenDong still felt uneasy and bent down, trying to lift his trouser legs. Lian Qiao dodged from side to side to prevent his actions.
Xu RenDong frowned, grabbed Lian Qiao’s ankle and was about to tell him to stop making trouble but suddenly felt some type of foreign body in his mouth. He bowed his head and spit out. Unexpectedly, he spat out two teeth.
Lian Qiao was stunned by his sudden spitting of teeth and looked at him in a dumbfounded manner. Xu RenDong only felt that his gums were itchy and when he reached out his hand, a few more teeth fell out.
Lian Qiao: “…Big brother, what are you doing?”
Xu RenDong stared at the pile of small teeth for a long time: “I lost my baby teeth. Maybe just now I bit down too hard.”
Lian Qiao was silent for a moment: “Big brother, do you know that wind goes through your mouth when you talk just now?”
Xu RenDong: “…”
Lian Qiao’s mouth twitched slightly. He actually wanted to laugh but he didn’t dare. He could only turn his head and smiled where Xu RenDong could not see it.
However, his trembling shoulders still exposed the fact that he was laughing wildly.
Xu RenDong gave him a depressed look. He threw all the baby teeth into the weeds. Seeing that he was angry, Lian Qiao quickly arrested his smile and forcibly changed the subject: “By the way, where did the monster go? How come it suddenly let us go?”
Xu RenDong remembered the serious issue at hand. Suddenly from the second stroy they heard a loud exclamation. The two looked up and saw a slender and terrifying ghost flashing across the only lit up window on the second floor.
—Ye QingLiu was in trouble!
Xu RenDong and Lian Qiao looked at each other and ran towards the monastery without hesitation.
***
Chapter 31 – Esophagus 3
The kitchen was on the first floor and the two found more candlesticks in the kitchen so they lit them up one by one. The candlelight dispelled the beastly darkness at once.
“It’s safe here.” Lian Qiao looked around the kitchen in the candlelight and rubbed his hands in excitement, “A new area is unlocked! Let’s start searching!”
Xu RenDong smiled and raised the candlestick to illuminate the area for him.
Soon, they found milk powder and boiled water. When Xu RenDong was about to make milk, Lian Qiao stopped him: “No, no, you can’t use boiling water. If the water temperature is too high, the protein will be denatured.”
Xu RenDong thought about it and it did seem that he had learned this in high school chemistry so he stopped: “What should I do then?”
Lian Qiao looked around but didn’t find any cooled boiled water. He said: “Then we have to wait here for a while, let the boiling water cool down and then pour it in.”
So the two stood on the edge of the sink and took turns to blow in the glass. The night in the monastery was very quiet. At this time, the kitchen was illuminated by a swaying candle and there was warm water and milk powder on the table. The scene before him was not gloomy but a little warm.
Xu RenDong repeatedly checked the water temperature with the back of his hand. He looked very serious as if he was not waiting to make milk powder, but was instead working as an academic researcher. Lian Qiao looked at him and couldn’t help but smile with his eyes curved.
Xu RenDong asked: “What are you smiling about?”
Lian Qiao said, “I think we are like a pair of new parents who were so troubled by the child not sleeping that we got up in the middle of the night to make him milk.”
Xu RenDong was silent for a moment: “…you saying this with a five-year-old face looks very strange.”
Lian Qiao was taken aback. He looked down at his fleshy short hands and short legs, and spoke in a pained manner: “It is quite strange… Ai, I miss my long legs and my crowbar.”
Xu RenDong: “…” He began to think that Lian Qiao was really very suitable to be a horror game host. He was still in the mood to joke around no matter what the environment was.
However, being beside him was very joyful.
The water temperature dropped slowly but it was far from enough to make milk powder. Gradually, Lian Qiao couldn’t sit still and continued to search around to see if he could find anything of value. While looking around, he chatted with Xu RenDong:
“Hey Brother RenDong, didn’t you say that you lived in an orphanage when you were young? Can you tell me what it was like?”
Xu RenDong stroked the hot water cup. If anything it was… “Probably the condensed version of human suffering. Many children have disabilities or they were intellectually disabled so…”
He paused and Lian Qiao continued: “So no one wanted to adopt them?”
Xu RenDong said: “No, on the contrary, those defective children are easily adopted.”
Lian Qiao: “…Huh?”
Xu RenDong stared at the steaming heat from the water glass with a faint smile on the corner of his mouth: “As for me, I didn’t look miserable enough. I was physically sound and not ugly. People who are loving think that children like me are easily adopted by others, so they all chose those miserable children. As a result of one thing and another, I grew up. Once I was older and people thought I was in a rebellious phase, no one wanted me. Anyway, I’m already so old so what’s the point of adopting me…. Actually no one ever told me why no one wanted to adopt me and this is all just my conjecture. Maybe those parents had other considerations but I just interpreted it this way. Perhaps I just looked like I didn’t need help and was fine on my own.”
Lian Qiao: “…” How come it wasn’t what he expected?
He originally thought it would be miserable to spend one’s childhood in an orphanage, and wanted to take this opportunity to comfort Xu RenDong. But listening to Xu RenDong’s description, it seems that apart from no one wanting to adopt him, there were no other painful experiences. Therefore, Xu RenDong was calm when he spoke and even had a little bit of a self-deprecating tone of voice.
However, it was precisely his “I’m fine, I’m okay” attitude that made Lian Qiao’s heart twist.
Lian Qiao didn’t understand why this was the case. When he came back to his senses, he had already walked up to Xu RenDong and stretched out his hand to rub his hair.
Xu RenDong was taken aback and said helplessly: “You calm down, don’t forget that I am older than you.”
Lian Qiao’s fingers froze and felt a bit embarrassed. He blushed and retracted his hand. He turned his head to one side and changed the subject: “The water is cold so you can make milk from the powder now.”
Xu RenDong: “Okay.”
After the milk was made, the two raised the kerosene lamp and went back towards the second floor. The milk bottle in Xu RenDong’s hand exuded a strong scent of milk. Lian Qiao was holding a kerosene lamp for lighting while sniffing the milk scent in the air. He couldn’t help but mutter: “I’m so hungry…”
Xu RenDong said: “Take care of the lamp. There’s no way to block the wind and the flame may easily go out.”
As soon as he spoke, a gust of yin wind blew from behind the two of them and it directly extinguished the kerosene lamp.
Lian Qiao: “…Big boss, your words are too powerful.”
Xu RenDong was silent for a moment and suddenly heard a soft rustling sound from behind them. The sound was like a snake crawling in the sand, dull and raspy. It was especially clear in the silent monastery.
Xu RenDong looked towards the sound and a ‘thing’ appeared little by little in the moonlight cast by the window. Xu RenDong finally saw that it was a white figure with a snake’s tail and a human body. A thick and long tail swayed behind it and its dry and loose skin hung on its bones like a bag. Its slender limbs were amazingly long. But its belly bulged slightly, looking like a spider with a snake tail.
Xu RenDong’s gaze slowly moved upwards along the slender body. He was mentally prepared but after seeing that ‘thing’s’ face, he still felt numb in his hands and feet. His blood chilled.
—There was no mouth and no nose on that pale face!
No, it’s not exactly that there was no mouth and nose, but instead of organs it had only two big black holes. Above the infiltrating black hole, two bloody eyeballs were stuck abruptly on its face. The monster has no eyelids so the eyeballs were like a pair of unmatched decorations, loosely dangling in the eye sockets. It looked indescribably bizarre.
Lian Qiao clearly saw the creepy white monster,and his breathing suddenly rose. He fumbled in the darkness and finally caught Xu RenDong’s hand.
Xu RenDong lowered his voice: “Let’s run to the gate. After we go out, we will split up. One person will lead him away and the other will come back to inform everyone.”
Lian Qiao: “Hic.”
Xu RenDong: “…”
Lian Qiao said in a crying voice: “I’m sorry I can’t stop, hic..”
Xu RenDong sighed, “Be prepared, I count one, two and three.”
Lian Qiao shook his hand firmly: “RenDong, hic… be careful!”
Xu RenDong “You too. One, two…three!”
Right after he spoke, Xu RenDong threw the bottle into the distance. The monster was immediately attracted by the sound of the milk bottle rolling, turning its head and rushing towards the corner. The two of them were no longer frozen but ran towards the door as fast as their legs could carry them.
Xu RenDong opened the door and ran into the yard. The moon was dark at this time, but the scene in the yard was still very clear. The huge iron gate and the wall covered with vines stood quietly.
He glanced back at the pale snake-shaped monster. The monster has given up the bottle and started chasing them. It was unknown if they were running too slow or the monster was moving too fast. In a blink of an eye, the monster had almost caught up to them. Xu RenDong ran and said, “After I go out, I will go to the left and you will go to the right!”
Lian Qiao exclaimed, “Brother RenDong, the gate is locked!”
Xu RenDong was taken aback. At this moment they ran to the big iron gate and saw a big rusty iron lock hanging on the door. They obviously didn’t lock it when they entered the monastery. Could it be that the old nun came out and locked it while they were resting?
The two shook the iron gate vigorously but the iron gate did not move. The white basilisk behind him has already approached step by step, blocking their way of retreat. Those weird eyeballs stared at them and a scary smile broke out of the dark mouth.
Xu RenDong panicked and instinctively avoided the basilisk’s gaze. He looked around and shouted: “Find something to break the lock!”
“It’s too late!” Lian Qiao suddenly stood up and protected him, pushing Xu RenDong behind him.
Xu RenDong was startled and subconsciously grabbed the back of Lian Qiao’s clothes: “Lian Qiao!”
When he shouted, the pale snake-shaped monster had already pinched Lian Qiao’s neck!
It was definitely not a human hand, each nail was as sharp as a blade and there were many dark brown blood stains in the fingers. Xu RenDong watched as Lian Qiao was pinched up by the neck and his small body struggled desperately. Xu RenDong immediately hugged Lian Qiao’s legs, trying to pull him back down but Lian Qiao pushed him hard.
“Go…” He squeezed a few words from his throat, his voice was faint and hoarse, “Abandon me… you go…”
Xu RenDong was shaking all over: “Damn you!”
Deprived of fear and reason, he rushed forward and kicked the monster with all his strength. However, right now he is only a three-year-old child. The basilisk remained motionless under his kick but instead pinched Lian Qiao’s neck tighter and tighter. His little body was lifted farther and farther from the ground.
The white basilisk opened its mouth wide and bit Lian Qiao’s soft and drooping calf. Then, it turned its head sharply and started to tear at him hard!
It was going to tear Lian Qiao’s leg straight off his torso!
Lian Qiao gradually lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen but was forcibly awakened by the tearing pain. He struggled weakly again but the struggle of the five-year-old child was like an ant shaking a tree in front of the white monster and of course was of no use.
“Uh, uh…” His poor throat couldn’t even make a scream and could only make a faint gasp.
Xu RenDong’s eyes reddened anxiously and he opened his mouth toward the monster’s snake body and bit down. His teeth seemed to sink into a pile of rotten meat. It was limp and he couldn’t bite it off. Only a strong fishy smell came over him.
The monster grabbed his hair and tried to pull him away. His head felt incredible pain as if his whole scalp was about to be lifted off. Xu RenDong didn’t care about nausea or pain, no matter how the monster pulled, he wouldn’t let go.
“Ren-RenDong…” Lian Qiao, who was held up in the air, stretched out his hand towards Xu RenDong in pain but couldn’t reach him. Lian Qiao’s cheeks turned purple due to suffocation and his short legs fluttered in the air less and less. He has almost no strength left to struggle.
At the same time, Xu RenDong’s head was let loose but then the back of his neck was suddenly cold. Immediately afterwards, something wrapped around his neck, pulling him back abruptly. He still refused to let go but the cool thing was so frightening that it directly looped around his thin neck and squeezed it tightly, almost crushing his Adam’s apple!
Only then did he clearly see that it was the monster’s snake tail that was tightening around his neck!
Xu RenDong couldn’t help coughing and was forced to let go with his mouth. His body was lifted off the ground immediately. He felt dizzy, the world was spinning, and even the small figure of Lian Qiao flashed in front of him.
Almost at the same time, his back slammed into the wall!
“Hmm!” He fell to the ground, feeling his bones being crushed. His back was so painful that he could hardly stand up.
The monster still tore at Lian Qiao’s left leg. Xu RenDong propped himself up forcibly and gropped for something that could be used as a weapon. But- there was nothing! The yard was overgrown with weeds and there was only rubble on the ground. There wasn’t even any larger rocks!
He could only watch the basilisk pinch Lian Qiao’s neck tightly, bite his calf and tug hard. Lian Qiao’s complexion was blue and purple and he was unable to struggle anymore. Xu RenDong could almost hear the slight clicking sound from his bones.
—He was afraid that in a few seconds, even if Lian Qiao’s leg was not torn off, then his throat would still be crushed by those ghostly claws!
Xu RenDong was in a state of confusion and trembled all over. A sense of despair more terrifying than near death enveloped him. At some point, his face was streaming with tears and his vision began to blur.
Just at this moment, a faint sound suddenly came from a distance.
“Wu-oh–“
The sound was like a cat meowing. Xu RenDong didn’t realize what it was for a while. Unexpectedly, after hearing this sound, the white basilisk let go of Lian Qiao and ran towards the monastery with a terrifying speed!
Xu RenDong was stunned for half a second. Lian Qiao fell into the grass, clutching his neck and coughing. Xu RenDong was overjoyed and stumbled to Lian Qiao’s side. He knelt down with a groan and stretched out his arms to pull Lian Qiao into his arms.
The Lian Qiao in his arms could not even cough. Xu RenDong stroked his back with trembling fingers. Trying to speak as clearly as possible he said: “It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s gone …… you’ll be all right,”
“RenDong, Keke …Brother RenDong…” Lian Qiao breathed faintly and grabbed his clothes with his fingers almost convulsively. “My leg hurts… it’s dislocated… {See Author’s Note 1.}
Xu RenDong hurriedly opened Lian Qiao’s clothes. Sure enough, there was a bone in his hip protruding out at an abnormal angle and it hurt just to look at it. Xu RenDong suddenly panicked. What should he do? How does one deal with a dislocation?
He has never regretted so much that he hadn’t studied medicine in the first place! (Note 2)
Lian Qiao grabbed his hand. He gasped and said: “Help me, help me reposition my joint…”
From his tone, Xu RenDong heard that he seemed to know the repositioning technique so he quickly said: “Tell me how and I’ll do it!”
Lian Qiao nodded. He motioned for Xu RenDong to lift his knee and, while supporting the knee socket, jerk it up forcefully. Xu RenDon followed his instructions. As soon as he jerked hard, Lian Qiao gasped with pain.
Xu RenDong panicked immediately: “Did I do it wrong? Did I use too much force?”
Lian Qiao was in too much pain to say a complete sentence: “No, you did it right…just…not enough energy…” He gasped. “You have to push up forcefully… the bones… to get back into the joint cavity… You must use force…”
Xu RenDong gritted his teeth; “You bear it then.”
Lian Qiao took a deep breath and nodded his head. He subconsciously grasped the corner of his clothes with fingers.
This time Xu RenDong was ruthless, exhausting all his strength and lifted it up desperately. Lian Qiao screamed in pain, just like the scream of a small animal when it was dying. But after hearing a soft click, the joint finally returned to its original position.
Xu RenDong said hurriedly: “How is it? Is it still painful?”
Lian Qiao’s face was pale but he smiled at him: “It’s better. Thank you.”
Xu RenDong helped him to stand up: “Can you walk? Is there any fracture? ?”
Lian Qiao said: “It’s okay, I can walk. The dislocation is a minor injury. As long as it is reset, it will not affect movement.”
“What about the skin trauma?” Xu RenDong then realized afterwards. The monster just took his entire calf and bit it into its mouth. He should have checked the wound on Lian Qiao’s leg before repositioning it.
Unexpectedly, Lian Qiao still shook his head: “It didn’t have teeth so it didn’t bite me.”
Xu RenDong still felt uneasy and bent down, trying to lift his trouser legs. Lian Qiao dodged from side to side to prevent his actions.
Xu RenDong frowned, grabbed Lian Qiao’s ankle and was about to tell him to stop making trouble but suddenly felt some type of foreign body in his mouth. He bowed his head and spit out. Unexpectedly, he spat out two teeth.
Lian Qiao was stunned by his sudden spitting of teeth and looked at him in a dumbfounded manner. Xu RenDong only felt that his gums were itchy and when he reached out his hand, a few more teeth fell out.
Lian Qiao: “…Big brother, what are you doing?”
Xu RenDong stared at the pile of small teeth for a long time: “I lost my baby teeth. Maybe just now I bit down too hard.”
Lian Qiao was silent for a moment: “Big brother, do you know that wind goes through your mouth when you talk just now?”
Xu RenDong: “…”
Lian Qiao’s mouth twitched slightly. He actually wanted to laugh but he didn’t dare. He could only turn his head and smiled where Xu RenDong could not see it.
However, his trembling shoulders still exposed the fact that he was laughing wildly.
Xu RenDong gave him a depressed look. He threw all the baby teeth into the weeds. Seeing that he was angry, Lian Qiao quickly arrested his smile and forcibly changed the subject: “By the way, where did the monster go? How come it suddenly let us go?”
Xu RenDong remembered the serious issue at hand. Suddenly from the second stroy they heard a loud exclamation. The two looked up and saw a slender and terrifying ghost flashing across the only lit up window on the second floor.
—Ye QingLiu was in trouble!
Xu RenDong and Lian Qiao looked at each other and ran towards the monastery without hesitation.
***
