Chapter 111: Chaos

All night long, she prayed, to whichever deity—God, Buddha, Bodhisattva, the Jade Emperor, or the Primordial Heavenly Venerable—begging them to save him, to keep him from dying.

Guilt and self-blame tormented her heart; if someone who held such goodwill toward her were to die because of her in this desolate, uninhabited forest, she… she truly did not know how she could ever repay it.

With a heart full of worry and urgency, she kept her eyes open, watching him constantly, monitoring his body temperature and heartbeat at every moment.

Fortunately, by the latter half of the night, Thomas's heartbeat had gradually grown stronger; though his temperature remained very low, it was slowly rising. This nearly brought tears to her eyes.

She still held him tightly, refusing to let go, continuing to provide him with warmth.

In the darkness, only the light rain continued to patter, striking the leaves and grass; all sounds were silenced, as if this were no longer the human world.

The branches and leaves of the plants swayed gently in the night, casting fragmented black shadows; everything was utterly tranquil.

By dawn, Thomas's heartbeat gradually returned to normal, and his temperature slowly recovered; only then did Yang Yi's heart relax slightly. As the rain's roar lulled her, just as her worry subsided, exhaustion and sleepiness attacked her.

She awoke to the crisp chirping of birds.

The rain had stopped at some unknown time; a pale blue morning mist filled the forest, and the sky visible through gaps in the canopy was a translucent blue-black.

It was precisely the boundary between night and morning; faint light had begun to appear within the forest.

This warm corner remained very dark. Yang Yi looked down at Thomas's face; his eyes were tightly shut, his lips had turned from deep red to dry and pale, yet his complexion bore a layer of sickly flushed redness.

Sensing his heartbeat was much stronger, Yang Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She tested his forehead with her hand, only then remembering that her own body was hot from providing him warmth. So she pressed her forehead against his, and only then discovered he had a high fever.

"What are you doing?" Thomas suddenly opened his eyes, staring fixedly at the black eyes so close to his. He moved, immediately realizing the ambiguous posture they now shared.

Time seemed to freeze at that very moment.

Yang Yi straightened up instantly, immediately pulling away from him, but the space was far too narrow; her head struck the top hard, producing a loud "Bang—!" that startled the birds resting on nearby trees.

"Mr. Thomas… please let me explain… yesterday your body was very cold… your heartbeat was very slow…" Yang Yi spoke incoherently; she realized she did not know the word "hypothermia," and several times she opened her mouth, not knowing how to describe his condition from yesterday or how to explain her own actions.

She had never encountered such an embarrassing situation in her entire life.

Listening to her jumbled description, Thomas said calmly, "Hypothermia, lowered body temperature, slow heartbeat, shivering all over; I fell into a coma yesterday, is that right?"

Yang Yi nodded repeatedly.

"Hmm, your first-aid method was scientific. In the absence of appropriate first-aid supplies, this is the only feasible approach." His tone was faint.

"Yes, yes. This was the only first-aid method I could think of." Yang Yi was almost moved by his words; freed from this embarrassing predicament, she let out a long sigh of relief.

Thomas propped himself up with his left hand and slowly sat up; Yang Yi hurried over to support him.

He glanced at the surroundings, his gaze lingering on her for a moment; only then did Yang Yi realize she was still naked.

Her face flushed crimson; she crossed her arms over her chest and abruptly turned away.

Thomas picked up a bundle of clothes from the ground and threw it to her, his tone still very calm: "So—yesterday you killed those wolves?"

"Yes." Yang Yi selected her own dirty clothes, quickly put them on, and hid in a corner.

Thomas's right wrist had been bitten by a wolf; he could only struggle to put on clothes with his left hand. Pressing his aching head, he closed his eyes and meditated.

Yang Yi said nothing either; she truly did not know what to say.

Although their skin had been in contact all night, in reality, they were almost strangers to each other.

"Why did you run into the forest alone?" Thomas asked in a low voice.

Yang Yi certainly could not say she had come to kill a black panther. She hesitated for a moment, then said, "Nowhere to go; I was preparing to live in the forest." After all, her original decision was to live in the forest, find a stream, build a house, fill it with flowers, and occasionally hunt down any beasts daring to offend her. It was not exactly a lie; she had merely stated part of the truth.

"Hmph—true. Yesterday you killed three wolves; you certainly have the right to live in the forest! Moreover, you are an Awakened." He sneered, "It seems I was presumptuous…"

"No, I used your pistol." Yang Yi corrected the error in his words.

Thomas said nothing. Pressing his throbbing head with both hands, he leaned weakly against the tree trunk and closed his eyes once more.

His cold-white skin was now flushed red; his black shirt hung carelessly over his shoulders, the stark contrast between black and white creating a striking, even gorgeous appearance. He had no energy left to button his shirt; the damp clothes clung to his body, making him appear even thinner.

Suffering from a high fever while wearing cold, wet clothes would only worsen his condition.

Yang Yi frequently looked up at the sky, hoping dawn would come faster; at least when the sun rose, it would be warmer.

"Do you know the way out?" Yang Yi asked. "You have a fever, and your wrist was bitten by a wolf; you need timely treatment."

Thomas did not open his eyes; his tone was weak and breathless: "Wait until the sun rises to determine direction."

Yang Yi, as usual, asked the question that would cause the most trouble: "Oh, you're lost too?"

Thomas ignored her. His right wrist throbbed with intense pain; his whole body felt cold, though his forehead and face were hot. He shivered uncontrollably. He tried to button his shirt with his left hand but lacked even the strength to lift his arm.

Worried his condition might worsen, Yang Yi had been watching him. Upon noticing this, she silently stepped forward and buttoned his shirt for him. Thomas slightly opened his eyes, glanced at her, and did not refuse.

Because of his illness, his brown-green eyes were watery, and his usually sharp lips were tightly shut.

After finishing, Yang Yi retreated back to her corner.

They could only wait for the sun to rise to determine direction; both waited in silence.

In the narrow space, the atmosphere grew increasingly stifling.

Yang Yi picked at the dirt and dried blood in her fingernail crevices; after finishing her left hand, she picked at her right, then picked at her clothes.

Thomas leaned against the tree trunk with his eyes tightly shut; the high fever made his breathing increasingly rapid.

"Where are you from?" Thomas suddenly asked. "Why did you appear in the forest?"

"I do not want to lie to you." Yang Yi said, then casually grabbed a handful of dew-covered green grass from outside, rolled it into a ball, and wiped the semi-dried blood from her arm.

Thomas smiled sarcastically. "Oh, well. Then what is your name?"

While wiping her hands, Yang Yi fell silent for a moment. "Frieza. I like that name."

She revealed nothing.

Thomas looked straight at her; in the darkness, his brown-green eyes seemed to glow. "You are an Awakened, being hunted? Escaped from some laboratory? Was someone using you for human experimentation? Or are you a member of some organization? Speak plainly; I can help you…"

Yang Yi shook her head. "No."

Thomas grew somewhat impatient; receiving no answer to any question made him restless. Except for his work, he had never had much patience for others, and now, shivering all over with a foggy mind, he had nearly exhausted his last shred of patience.

Under normal circumstances, he would have already erupted in fury, mocking her to the extreme, but today, for some reason—perhaps because his body was too exhausted, or perhaps because he was suffering from a high fever—he actually tolerated her repeated evasions.

He wanted to help her; he wanted to resolve this big trouble as quickly as possible and restore his peaceful life, rather than being in this state…

He felt everything had gone awry, and the trend was toward increasing chaos.

"Your pronunciation bears the typical characteristics of the Xia Kingdom; you are from the Xia Kingdom." He stated it as a certainty.