When I woke up, my mouth was still letting out pained screams, and immediately several mouthfuls of water poured in.
In the water, I turned to look at Run Sheng and the others first; they were still standing there, not yet awake.
It’s said that when the sky falls, the tall will hold it up, but when the water rises, it’s the short who drown first.
Looking back again, the woman’s door-opening stone sculpture remained as it was before, with only the flattened second half facing me, no sinister smile to be found.
Li Zhiyuan knew that he was fully awake now, returning to reality.
Without the leisure to examine anything else, Li Zhiyuan dove underwater and shone his flashlight on his legs, where the clear sensation of pain was emanating.
Rolling up his trouser leg and shining the flashlight over, a thin white line-like thing was attached to his skin, with its other end fluttering in the water waves, as if it was pleased, joyfully wagging its tail.
The human body is a very precise instrument; when you’re normally active, things like bone friction and muscle stretching can cause pain, but these are numbed by substances secreted by the brain’s commands, which is why for those who like to exercise, running can bring pleasure.
Drug addicts, on the other hand, face problems with their brains’ secretion due to an excessive influx of pleasure, leading them to think that they no longer need the body’s natural painkillers. When withdrawal strikes, severe withdrawal symptoms emerge, like ants crawling over the body.
The effect of this "little snake" is the same; the bite it inflicts is quite painful but numbs your perception while the pain remains throughout. Only when you truly become aware of its presence can you awaken the numb perception.
Truly, even high-end ingredients require only simple cooking methods; the superior Yin Miasma... it’s a direct use of Gu.
Li Zhiyuan reached out to grab it, pulling it out. It struggled and writhed, and Li Zhiyuan simply used both hands to twist and break it.
Actually, if possible, he really wanted to collect it for later use in researching and developing the Underworld path.
But firstly, he lacked the appropriate research conditions, and secondly, the current situation didn’t allow for it.
Li Zhiyuan continued towards Run Sheng, rolled up his trouser leg, and saw the white thread, which he then pulled out.
Run Sheng woke up, collapsing from the pain.
Tan Wenbin awoke as well, also falling into the water.
But when Li Zhiyuan just rolled up Xue Liangliang’s trouser leg and was about to do the same, he discovered that the white line biting Xue Liangliang’s leg was actually black!
And it looked lifeless, not needing a hand to be pulled on; it wouldn’t last much longer on its own.
This meant that Xue Liangliang would be capable of waking up by his own "resistance" and very soon.
But by the time Xue Liangliang awoke, he might be in time to save Run Sheng and Tan Wenbin, but Li Zhiyuan would have certainly drowned.
He reached out and pulled.
Xue Liangliang hissed in pain, which wasn’t as intense as Tan Wenbin’s and Run Sheng’s; he didn’t collapse and immediately reached out to help the boy underwater upon waking.
All four climbed up the stairs and left the water surface.
Li Zhiyuan explained the recent events to the three of them, who were all visibly shocked and fearful.
Then, from the three’s recount, Li Zhiyuan unexpectedly discovered something—that the dreams the four of them had were interconnected.
Clearly bitten by four small white snakes, without further connection, yet they shared the same dream.
This made Li Zhiyuan look at the first step with even more fiery eyes.
Such an excellent thing, capable of moving in water, if it could be domesticated and controlled, wouldn’t that make it smoother to command a Corpse using Wei Zhengdao’s Black Book in the future?
After all, Corpses mostly operate near water bodies, and even if they leave the shore, they’d still come out of the water on their own.
"Xiao Yuan, shall I help you smash open the first step?"
Run Sheng understood the boy.
Tan Wenbin asked nervously, "Couldn’t this release more of them that might bite us again?"
Xue Liangliang speculated, "If that were the case, they wouldn’t have just sent one to bite us, it would’ve been many together. I think that maybe after a person has been bitten once, they’d develop resistance, and a second bite would just backfire and wake us up right away."
Tan Wenbin exhaled relievedly, "So, these things are no longer effective against us?"
Xue Liangliang: "If we get bitten again, we can just treat it like a mosquito bite; once we notice, we can just smack it dead."
Tan Wenbin curiously asked, "Brother Liang, why did Xiao Yuan say that the one on you turned black?"
"I don’t know." Xue Liangliang was also quite puzzled.
Tan Wenbin clicked his tongue and sighed, "Sure enough, who would become a son-in-law without benefits."
Li Zhiyuan glanced at Tan Wenbin, "You want to go too?"
"Eh?" Tan Wenbin scratched his face somewhat sheepishly, "There has to be someone willing to take me in, and they have to fancy me first."
"You can ask the Zhou family if they’re taking anyone."
"The Zhou family?" Tan Wenbin immediately perked up, "A submerged ancient town like the Bai family’s?"
"The home of class leader Zhou Yunyun."
Li Zhiyuan didn’t go into detail about Uncle Qin’s situation with them because Liu Yumei still had to continue living in the Grandmaster’s House.
That night, if it weren’t for Uncle Qin going alone to fight the Bai family town, Xue Liangliang would not have gotten the condition of becoming a son-in-law.
Essentially, the Bai family wasn’t looking for a son-in-law or even a kidnapped bride; what they wanted was just a body to bear children.