Dong Sheng waddled over, his belly protruding, and tried to strike up a casual conversation with Gu Xiang Kai, though his eyes were wandering elsewhere.
Gu Xiang Kai continued washing himself with cold indifference. Once he was finished, he shook the water from his hair and abruptly landed a punch squarely on Dong Sheng's face.
Dong Sheng collapsed with a wretched cry, his nosebleed staining the river water red.
"Gu Xiang Kai, you've gone too far!"
He Jiang, who had been watching from the sidelines, jumped out at the opportune moment to help Dong Sheng up, sounding quite righteous.
"Don't think you can disrespect others and your elders just because you're a good fighter!"
Gu Xiang Kai lowered his head to wash the blood off his knuckles, his expression flat.
His abdominal muscles were half-submerged in the river, and every muscle on his body was taut with a sense of power that deterred anyone from approaching.
"We're all men here. Who are you trying to hide his filthy thoughts from?"
He Jiang's expression faltered. Everyone was indeed aware of Dong Sheng's little intentions; some might have even shared them, but they simply didn't dare to be so obvious about it.
However, as Gu Xiang Kai said, they were all men, and it didn't seem like such a massive ordeal.
Gu Xiang Kai's wet hair hung over his forehead. He looked up slightly, staring at He Jiang like a wolf eyeing its prey.
"If any of you aren't satisfied, you can all come at me at once."
He Jiang's expression shifted. He knew Gu Xiang Kai's temperament well—tough fists and a simple mind. He was exactly the kind of person He Jiang wanted to avoid provoking.
"Sigh... Old Dong was in the wrong, but you were far too heavy-handed."
Gu Xiang Kai chuckled. "Too heavy-handed?"
His gaze shifted to Dong Sheng, who was clutching his nose with a face full of terror. "If he doesn't learn his lesson, his eyes will be gouged out next."
The atmosphere became stifling and awkward. The others kept their distance, unwilling to get involved.
Huo Fuyu bathed leisurely, seemingly unbothered that his so-called teammate had been beaten. His skin was so pale that faint blue veins were visible.
Gu Xiang Kai was also fair-skinned, but his tight, fluid muscles made him look healthy and brimming with vitality.
In contrast, Huo Fuyu had almost no muscle, giving him a sickly pallor.
Chen Bin was almost entirely submerged in the water, a good distance away from the others. He wasn't even washing; he just looked dazed and drowsy.
With his back to the group, Huo Fuyu's gaze rested calmly on Chen Bin, who was huddled by the riverbank.
...
After He Jiang and the others left for the river, Jiang Mingfu returned to the stone house.
He slept for a while. When he woke up, the others still hadn't returned, so he propped himself up with a pillow against his back and leaned against the wall, staring at the door.
He felt even dizzier now, as if there were water in his head. It felt like a cold, yet not quite.
He sniffled, crawled up, and finished the rest of the water.
"Food."
A villager appeared at the door, carrying several wooden bowls.
The villager couldn't speak the official tongue; he had only learned this one word from Luo Liu.
Jiang Mingfu didn't want to move. He forced a smile. "Thanks. You can just leave it inside."
The villager glanced at him, and whether he understood or not, he walked in and placed the wooden bowls on the floor.
It was already time to eat.
After the villager left, Jiang Mingfu braced himself and looked over. It was the same mushy root vegetables. He had enjoyed them the past few days, finding them crisp and refreshing.
But today, perhaps because he felt unwell after being in the rain, he had no appetite for the food.
After a moment of thought, Jiang Mingfu sat up and crouched on the floor, intending to force some food down.
He poked his chopsticks into the bowl, absentmindedly thinking that the fever medicine Nan Yue gave him didn't seem to be working.
He took a bite, and a foul, bitter stench nearly made him vomit.
What was this?
Jiang Mingfu looked down, and his heart nearly stopped from the shock.
The crisp, sweet plant roots had somehow transformed into long, black-shelled insects.
Countless insects were coiled and tangled together, their innumerable legs wriggling. They made a clicking sound as their carapaces and limbs collided.
The thing Jiang Mingfu had just picked up was one of these insects. He had bitten off half of its head, and the remaining limbs were still twisting and struggling between his chopsticks.
"Urgh!"
Jiang Mingfu retched violently. His already heavy head felt like it was about to explode.
By the time he was slumped against the corner of the wall from exhaustion, he looked again. The bowl contained nothing but bright green vegetables.
Those disgusting insects were just a hallucination.
"What the hell..."
Jiang Mingfu was covered in a cold sweat. He slowly approached the bowl he had knocked over; there were indeed no insects inside.
"Is it a side effect of the medicine? Or is it..."
Jiang Mingfu thought about how he had been caught in the rain and didn't dare think further.
He rubbed his eyes, intending to go back to bed for another nap.
He lay on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He constantly felt like there was water in his head.
It sounded ridiculous, but Jiang Mingfu couldn't bring himself to laugh.
He didn't know how to describe the sensation. It was as if his brain had turned into mush, sloshing around inside his skull whenever he moved.
Jiang Mingfu's breathing grew heavier. With every breath and every turn, he heard the sound of liquid in his head.
It wasn't the sound of clear water, but something thick and sticky.
Squelch. Squelch.
Squelch. Squelch.
Jiang Mingfu was going insane. His mind was filled with that sticky, squelching sound. He even wanted to crack his own head open to see what was inside.
Suddenly... he thought of what he had almost eaten.
Didn't those insects have a layer of transparent, sticky fluid on them?
Thinking back, besides the sound of carapaces clashing, that bowl of insects had indeed made a sticky squelching sound as they rubbed and wriggled against each other.
Could those insects... be inside his head?
Jiang Mingfu's thoughts were a muddled mess. He was in agonizing distress.
No insects, no insects, no insects, no insects, no insects, no insects!!
Jiang Mingfu could not accept that his head was filled with countless tangled insects. He could not accept that those sounds were produced by the writhing of insect limbs.
He scrambled out of bed, picked up a chopstick from the floor, aimed it at his own eye socket, and slammed it in with all his might.
Splut.
His eyeball burst. A mixture of white and red fluid flowed down his face. Jiang Mingfu stood frozen in place, mechanically pulling the chopstick out and stabbing it back in.
Pulling out, stabbing in.
Pulling out,
stabbing in...
...
After Nan Yue and the others finished bathing and changed into fresh clothes, they met up with the men. Everyone noticed Dong Sheng's bruised and swollen face.
Song Sisi and Zhao Ke'er found it strange and went up to ask a few questions, but Dong Sheng just stammered and didn't dare speak.
The two girls likely realized something, as they moved away with looks of disdain.
Nan Yue glanced at Chen Bin to confirm he was there and hadn't met with any trouble.
Chen Bin walked at the very back, moving sluggishly as he followed behind He Jiang.
Nan Yue withdrew her gaze, looked at the sky, and returned to the village with the group.
They didn't see anyone in the village along the way, but from a distance, they noticed the villagers were all gathered outside the stone house.
Everyone felt a sinking sensation in their chests. They ran over, only to find the villagers were all deathly pale, their eyes filled with a mixture of panic and fear.
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