Chapter 675: Chapter 675: Need Cleaning
“Stop looking, there’s no water!”
Asarina barked in frustration, “You’ve had enough! There’s no water left!”
Aqing paid no heed, he was still unceasingly looking for water, even going so far as to disregard his image, crawling on the ground.
At last, Asarina could not take it any longer. She lifted him with one hand and roared, “Aqing! Wake up! All the water’s gone, drank by you! There’s no water left! No water left!!!”
Aqing’s eyes glazed over.
He looked at Asarina, then at Along who rushed over at the sound, and finally, his gaze rested on the dark waters beyond the fishing boat.
“Water… there’s water there…” he mumbled and walked distractedly towards the edge, “There’s… lots of water there…”
Asarina grabbed him and pulled him back, shouting to Along, “The rope!”
Along stood numbly looking at Aqing, feeling that his once familiar comrade had now become alien to him.
“Along!”, Asarina roared again, “Get the rope, quick!”
“Ah… oh-oh, okay!” Along snapped back to reality, hurriedly bent over to get a rope from the bag. Together with Asarina, they tied Aqing up securely!
Aqing, still barely holding on to his sanity, begged in a feeble voice, “Let me go, I’m too thirsty… big sister, I can’t stand it, I really can’t… I need water…”
Asarina’s eyes were red-rimmed, biting her lip to stay silent. She tightened the knot forcefully, tied the other end to the doorknob, and without saying a word, she removed the life vest that was getting in the way on Aqing to check the wounds on his body.
Bai Youwei was observing the scene from her wheelchair just outside the cabins.
The young man’s body was exposed to the air, his dark skin and sturdy build seemed healthy and natural, showing no obvious external injuries.
Unwilling to accept it, Asarina pulled Aqing over, examining him repeatedly and murmuring, “How could this be… There’s no reason for it… It doesn’t make any sense…”
Bai Youwei asked Along, “Has Aqing come into contact with any special part of the mermaid when he was attacking it? Like the fins, scales, teeth, or claws?”
“I don’t know…” Along responded, with a confused look.
When dealing with the Fish Monster, everyone was all hands on deck – too preoccupied with their own situation to notice what happened to others.
Seemingly unable to accept that a companion was in trouble, Along hesitated to ask Asarina, “Boss… will Aqing be okay? He’ll get better, won’t he?”
Asarina said nothing, biting her lip, her eyes full of pain.
Bai Youwei asked, “Does Aqing have any wounds on him?”
“No.” Asarina shut her eyes, using deep breaths to control her emotions, “Only some small cuts on his hand from scrapes with bamboo shards, not even much blood… I don’t understand how could…”
To prove her words, she flipped up Aqing’s hand to let Bai Youwei and Along take a good look.
There were a few thin bloodstains in the palm of his hand, hardly anything serious.
“What’s wrong?”, Bai Youwei asked with a furrowed brow, “Is there a problem?”
Asarina hesitated, then gently pressed her finger on Aqing’s palm. A thin layer of sticky gunk came up on her finger…
She brought the finger to her nose and sniffed – a familiar fishy putrid smell.
Asarina turned, her face rigid, and asked Along, “Did any of you touch the Fish Monster with bare hands?”
“No…” Along shook his head hurriedly, “Perhaps it brushed against the railings, and Aqing’s hand accidentally got smeared… Boss, it’s not safe to touch the mucus on the Fish Monster’s body? But I’ve touched it quite a few times too!”
As he spoke, Along held out his own hand. The back of his hand and forearm were shiny with the mucus.
“Maybe the toxicity of the mucus only works when it comes into contact with wounds.” Bai Youwei suggested, “Regardless, we should find a way to wash off the mucus from our bodies as soon as possible. Any injuries need to be wrapped up quickly to avoid infection.”
Clean it? How to clean while in this situation? All the water they had brought along had been drunk by Aqing alone!
Although the sea water beneath the boat was endless, was it clean?