Chapter 85: Non-combat Attrition
Wu Xie and Lin Yan actually couldn’t clearly see each other’s expressions at all. With the degree of their concussions, it was already pretty good that they could recognize who the person was. Through his distorted vision, Wu Xie saw Lin Yan scratch his head and make an embarrassed expression: “Oh, it’s you.”
He only felt like he was about to spit out a mouthful of old blood: “You—you knew you hit someone too! Couldn’t you—couldn’t you hit someone else? Why did you have to target me!”
Wu Xie was about to cry. Three times! A whole three times! Couldn’t Lin Yan hit someone else? If this kept going, he suspected his ribs would be done for sooner or later! No…
Wu Xie tried to get up but was deterred by the pain from his ribs: “Damn it, my ribs seem to be broken!”
“Ah? No way?” Lin Yan thought about the power of the previous explosion. He had been thrown several times in the air before crashing into Wu Xie. That kinetic potential energy seemed pretty significant. It shouldn’t cause any major issues, right? He quickly held Wu Xie down to keep him from moving around. What if his ribs were really broken? What if he injured his internal organs by thrashing like this?
But this wasn’t something he wanted to hit either! Lin Yan wanted to cry but had no tears. He couldn’t control himself either! Who knew why he kept landing on Wu Xie every time? Maybe this was the Protagonist’s Law?
With apology in his heart, he let Wu Xie lie still and not move, using his own backpack to pad under his head as a pillow. Lin Yan struggled to get up and go look for Zhang Qiling and Fatty. Fatty probably had no solution for this, but Zhang Qiling might have a way to temporarily make Wu Xie feel better.
He looked up. The entire Grand Hall had been destroyed beyond recognition. Now, it could barely be seen as a tomb chamber. The luminous pearls from the treasure ceiling were scattered all over the ground, barely providing some light source. The four mirrors at the four corners were completely gone. Some of the scattered fragments reflected white light, while more had shattered into bits all over the floor, crunching underfoot.
The platform in the center of the Grand Hall was completely gone. The entire jade stone carving base had been reduced to ashes, not even leaving half of that exquisite Heavenly Palace model. The four walls were pockmarked. The secret passage had been blasted open on one side, and from here, that white coral could be faintly seen.
Looking around, it was all ruins and yellow smoke. Seawater was already dripping down from above. Lin Yan panicked: “Fatty, Zhang Qiling, where are you? Respond if you hear me!”
He walked a few steps toward the center and saw that the golden silk nanmu pillar was tilting, about to collapse at any moment. He couldn’t help feeling anxious, but the ringing in his ears hadn’t stopped yet, so he couldn’t hear any faint movements. He looked around, but there was no movement anywhere. Where were those two? Where had the explosion thrown them?
“Fatty? Zhang Qiling? How are you? Respond!”
But still, no one responded. Lin Yan was at a complete loss inside. He hadn’t felt it when they were there before, but now looking around, he was the only one left. With injured Wu Xie behind him, what was he supposed to do if this Grand Hall completely collapsed?
Just then, a hand patted his shoulder from behind: “You okay? Where’s Wu Xie? Fatty’s over there.”
“Xiaoge!” He turned around in surprise and saw the dusty Zhang Qiling looking at him, with several more deep wounds visible to the bone on his body—this turned the joy Lin Yan had just felt upon seeing him sour instantly: “Not needing my blood again, are you?”
Zhang Qiling looked up at the little white zombie still hanging on Lin Yan’s head like a hat, looked at him apologetically, and nodded: “This place is about to collapse.” He needed to recover to his best state as soon as possible. Fatty was injured and couldn’t move easily, and Wu Xie was still unknown. The two of them had to carry three people out, which was quite challenging.
Lin Yan sighed, resignedly extended his hand, and watched as Zhang Qiling made a cut on it. When could he escape this fate of being a walking blood bank!
Bringing Zhang Qiling to Wu Xie, Wu Xie had passed out again, either from pain or the concussion. Zhang Qiling squatted down and felt his chest and abdomen. Having heard what Lin Yan said, he had prepared for the worst—internal organ damage. Fortunately, he breathed a sigh of relief. It was just broken ribs that were slightly misaligned.
He carefully removed the backpack from behind Wu Xie’s head, pulled out the medical kit from inside, stuffed a piece of gauze into his mouth, and called to Lin Yan: “Come over and hold his hands down. Don’t let him move.”
Lin Yan nodded, went to Wu Xie’s side, and firmly held down his arms. Zhang Qiling took a deep breath, placed his hands on Wu Xie’s injury, and twisted—
“Mmph—” A muffled cry blocked by the gauze burst from Wu Xie’s mouth. His eyes widened; he had been awakened by the pain. His instinctive struggle was held down by Lin Yan, and only his torso involuntarily bounced upward.
When he calmed down, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, veins throbbing. Finally mustering some strength, he shakily removed the gauze from his mouth: “Damn it, are you trying to pain me to death?”
Sigh, it was over. A perfectly good college student had now become a damn pillar of strength.
Zhang Qiling stood up and said to Lin Yan: “Help him up and follow me.” He took the medical kit and walked toward the other side wall. That’s when they noticed that in the ruins beside the secret passage where the white coral was, there was surprisingly still a person sitting there.
Fatty, covered in dust, grinned at them: “Young comrades, you all okay?”
No wonder he hadn’t spotted him earlier! Lin Yan looked at Fatty’s skin color that blended perfectly with the wall and felt deep shock. If he entered a hide-and-seek contest, no one would ever find him in their lifetime. But looking closely, there was a deep gash visible to the bone on Fatty’s left shoulder, still slowly bleeding. Zhang Qiling went to his side and quickly tended to his wound.
Lin Yan slowly helped Wu Xie up. During the process, Wu Xie grimaced in pain, feeling waves of dull pain at his ribs. Fortunately, the bones were reset and it wasn’t the sharp pain from when he first woke up—that could really make someone pass out from pain! Lin Yan held the equipment and finally helped Wu Xie over to Fatty. Zhang Qiling also helped Fatty stand up. The four of them looked dusty and disheveled, with the two injured ones especially wretched. Fatty couldn’t help laughing: “Don’t tell me, this is actually pretty funny. Coming down with you twice, and Fatty Ye got blasted twice. This tomb got destroyed twice. Are all you southern faction folks this rough?”
Wu Xie also laughed: “These are all accidents! How about we discuss how to get out first?” He looked around. The previous oxygen tanks had been swept who-knows-where by the blast wave. Even if found, they were probably unusable. There was still at least an hour from sea level to the lowest point, but this cave ceiling… The seawater that had been dripping before had turned into a steady stream. He knew the tomb’s airtight system would soon be overwhelmed by seawater, and if they couldn’t get out by then, they’d be trapped here forever.
Wu Xie glanced at the tomb-robbing hole still sealed by the stone slab and called to everyone: “Let’s stay away from there. If I’m not mistaken, once the water pours down from above, the entire ancient tomb’s airtight system will completely collapse. Seawater will rapidly fill the whole tomb, and then it will rush out from this tomb-robbing hole. If you’re hit by that, broken bones and torn tendons would be the least of it.”
Lin Yan looked worriedly at the cave ceiling above. That golden silk nanmu pillar was almost split in half. He was especially worried now that this pillar would also come crashing down.
