Chapter 44: Lend Me Your Water

Li Banfeng had his hands and feet bound with iron chains and locked in the hostage room.

The so-called hostage room was where captives were held; this mother and her two sons made a living by drugging people.

Just today, before Li Banfeng was captured, another mother and daughter had fallen into their hands.

The mother, Xiao Ye Ci, was about twenty-two or twenty-three, dressed in a long high-collared robe, her face caked with mud and streaked with bruises, yet her features still shone with striking beauty, especially the intellectual grace and dignified poise in her brows.

Her daughter, Lu Chunying, looked about twelve or thirteen, dressed similarly to her mother but lacking that scholarly air.

Seeing Li Banfeng thrown into the hostage room, the daughter grew curious and stepped forward to touch him.

Mother Xiao Ye Ci quickly pulled her daughter back, whispering repeatedly into her ear: “Nannan, don’t move around, listen to Mama, don’t touch anything.”

The hostage room was small, only seven or eight square meters, with a pile of firewood in the center; Li Banfeng had been tossed to the left of the pile, while Xiao Ye Ci hugged her daughter and hid behind the right side, keeping as much distance as possible from Li Banfeng.

Nearly an hour passed, the night deepened, and the daughter fell asleep in Xiao Ye Ci’s arms; Xiao Ye Ci’s eyelids grew heavier, nodding off intermittently.

Li Banfeng had gathered a bit of strength and, while the mother and daughter slept, he bit the key between his teeth and slowly rotated it.

Creak~ creak~

A gritty resistance came from the key, proving it had begun to resonate with the Personal Chamber.

But the range of motion in Li Banfeng’s neck was limited; completing three full rotations was not easy.

His arms were locked in iron chains and couldn’t move, so he could only control the key with his teeth and tongue, turning it slowly.

His teeth clacked against the key’s handle, producing a faint sound.

Little Lu Chunying opened her eyes and stole a glance at Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng swallowed the key back into his mouth and glared fiercely at Lu Chunying.

Lu Chunying startled and quickly looked away.

This girl is such a nuisance—what the hell are you staring at?

Her glance ruined all his prior effort.

The poison in his body was still active; his strength was nearly gone. He was about to spit out the key when the girl turned her head again to peek.

Still staring?!

Li Banfeng’s gaze turned even more ferocious, as if ready to devour her.

Lu Chunying quickly turned her head away, but after a moment, she couldn’t resist and glanced once more.

That man is gone!

He was right here just now—how did he suddenly disappear?

“Mama, that man—he…”

“Don’t move, don’t talk nonsense,” Xiao Ye Ci mumbled half-asleep, “Nannan, listen to Mama, we’ll be fine.”

Li Banfeng returned to the Personal Chamber and spat the key into the firewood pile before entering.

After lying still in the Personal Chamber for a moment, Li Banfeng began vomiting violently, expelling both his evening meal and bitter bile.

After vomiting, his body convulsed and broke out in heavy sweat.

The sweat carried a foul, bitter stench; smelling it made Li Banfeng feel like vomiting again.

This sweat, like the vomit, was toxin expelled from his body.

He was rapidly detoxifying—a trait of Zhai Xiu—but this time it differed from his poisoning at Kuwu Mountain: not only through vomiting, but also through sweating.

Why was the detox method different?

Was it because the poison was different, or had his detoxification ability improved?

Li Banfeng wanted to wipe the sweat from his face, but his hands and feet were bound—he couldn’t move.

Sweat droplets were dripping into his eyes, causing sharp, burning pain at the corners.

No—must break free from these chains, must wipe off the sweat, or risk being poisoned again.

But how could he break the iron chains?

Li Banfeng had regained some strength, but trying to snap chains thicker than rope by brute force was impossible.

Were there tools in the Personal Chamber?

Yes—pliers and wrenches, for repairing phonographs.

The tools were in the phonograph’s bottom cabinet; Li Banfeng crawled over, his arms and wrists immobilized, but his palms could move—he struggled to pull out the tool box and spent ages clipping at the chains, but they showed no change.

The phonograph repair tools were too delicate for such rough work.

Sweat poured out more and more; Li Banfeng could no longer open his eyes, and the burning pain began swelling his eyelids.

Could he go blind?

During alchemy, Chu Yunlong’s clothes had turned to rags on the floor, and Li Banfeng hadn’t cleaned them up; now he wanted to rub his eyes with the scraps, but after searching the floor for ages, he found not a single piece.

He crawled to the bed and rubbed his eyes with the sheet—but it did nothing; instead, sweat smeared onto his eyelids, intensifying the burning.

Water—I need water!

Quickly wash my eyes clean!

Li Banfeng owned a bucket, usually kept beside his bed; whenever he had the chance, he filled it to the brim.

The water was clean, used for drinking daily; whatever wasn’t drunk by night was saved for washing the next day.

Where was the bucket?

Li Banfeng found the bucket beside the bed, plunged his head into it—and felt no water, even when his forehead touched the bottom.

Was the bucket empty?

Impossible—I left it full!

Evaporated?

How could it dry so fast?!

Li Banfeng grew anxious, and the more anxious he became, the more he sweated.

Was there any other way?

Was there?

Yes!

If I break these chains, I’ll find a way.

Li Banfeng remembered one thing.

Like a worm, he crawled along the floor by memory, inching slowly to the room’s corner.

He twisted his body and brushed against the eyeglass case in the corner.

Good—it was still there.

Li Banfeng strained to open the case and pulled out a rust pill.

A sharp sting pierced his palm, but he ignored it, placing the rust pill directly on the iron chain.

The chain corroded rapidly.

After waiting fifteen seconds, Li Banfeng surged with force—the chain snapped.

Li Banfeng rubbed the rust pill back and forth; soon, all the chains on his body were broken.

Freed from the chains, his palms split open, oozing rust-stained blood—he was still detoxifying.

His eyes still burned fiercely; he tucked away the rust pill, ignored his bleeding hands, and quickly left the Personal Chamber.

The moment he stepped out, the phonograph hissed! hissed! hissed!—steam billowed forth.

The record spun, and music began to play.

The phonograph sang “The Girl of the Horizon,” but the lyrics had been changed.

“Across the horizon, the sea’s far edge,

Sweating all over, my love, don’t fear,

It stings your eyes, just for a moment,

My love, your eyes won’t go blind, ah~”

Li Banfeng returned to the hostage room.

He moved silently, no sound made, enduring the pain, forcing his eyes open, and retrieved the key from the firewood pile.

He surveyed the room, studying its layout.

One door, locked.

One window, small, barred with iron, looking out to the backyard.

A sound of water came from outside the window—Li Banfeng heard it!

Water!

Li Banfeng rejoiced, opened the Personal Chamber again, and tossed the key out the window before entering.

When Li Banfeng emerged from the Personal Chamber again, he stood outside the hostage room.

This was the backyard, where a well stood; the old woman’s second son was drawing water and sharpening a knife beside it.

The knife was nearly sharpened; he planned to draw one more bucket of water to rinse it.

As he lifted the bucket to the well’s edge, Li Banfeng snatched it away.

“Lend me your water, thank you,” Li Banfeng said politely, bowed, then grabbed the man’s knees and shoved him into the well.

Li Banfeng plunged his head into the bucket—cool relief instantly eased the searing pain in his eyes.

In truth, Li Banfeng had overestimated the damage—the sweat’s effect on his eyes wasn’t as severe as he feared.

After washing, the pain receded greatly; he drenched his entire body with the bucket, rinsing every trace of sweat from his skin.

As Li Banfeng washed his face, the second son climbed out of the well, gripping the rim, silently watching Li Banfeng’s back.

The second son was a Wu Xiu, a proud man who had spent over a decade working with his mother and brother—and had never once been outwitted by a hostage.

Why wasn’t I on guard just now?

Didn’t even hear a single footstep?

He hadn’t planned to call for his mother or his brother; taking advantage of Li Banfeng’s unpreparedness, he meant to kill this brat with his own hands.

Li Banfeng set down the bucket, and the second son tensed his arms, ready to leap out of the well.

Li Banfeng saw the knife on the ground—the knife the second son had nearly sharpened to perfection.

He picked up the knife from the whetstone and turned to the second son: “Lend me your knife too.”

Saying this, Li Banfeng slit the second son’s throat and shoved him back into the well.

The second son, falling into the well water, stared up at the sky above the well opening, not understanding what had happened.

He never expected a Wu Xiu’s strike to be so swift!

He never expected Li Banfeng to strike without the slightest warning.

He never expected that while Li Banfeng appeared focused on washing his face, he had been watching the well opening all along.

He wanted to call for his mother, wanted to call for his brother.

But his mouth was full of blood, his nose full of water—he couldn’t shout a word.

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(End of Chapter)