Chapter 96: Shot

At the same time, another figure charged in from the side. In that instant, I unleashed a speed beyond anything I had ever shown before, as if the strength within me had burst forth all at once. With a sweeping slash, I sent that figure crashing to the ground. I could clearly feel the blade bite into the other man’s flesh, and deeply at that. I had no time to see who it was, because the smoke around us was already thinning, and the Tang sword was right behind me.

I gripped the black-gold ancient blade in both hands, the edge scraping against that Tang sword as I moved with lightning speed. I took a lotus step, closing almost to zero distance with my opponent. A faint fragrance rushed into my nostrils, but at that moment I had no room for hesitation. The blade slid along the Tang sword, and at the same pace as our bodies, it cut into the other man at once. I did not even know exactly where I had cut him, but I knew for certain that I had struck him. In a flash, he broke away from me.

A perfect opening. I did not give chase. By now, I could already make out my surroundings in a blurred sort of way, and that was not a good thing. Instinctively, I darted toward the direction where the man in black sunglasses had been moments before, my toes barely touching the ground as I pushed my speed to the limit.

The next second, I felt someone beside me. Before I could react, I was shoved hard to the ground. My body, carried by its own momentum, stumbled downward and then slid away at once. It was a slope, steep and long, and I could not control my body at all. In the end, I was nearly rolling all the way down.

I did not know where I had struck my head, but the pain was intense. It had probably bled. Not far from me, I could hear someone else tumbling over and over as well. It was probably the man in black sunglasses. Before long, we reached the bottom. I felt as if every bone in my body had come apart, pain raging everywhere, and even moving a little was difficult beyond measure. After a while, I forced myself up on one knee with all the strength I had left and looked around. Everywhere were weeds and trees, and now that autumn had already arrived, the world was stained in withered yellow.

I searched for the man in black sunglasses. He should not have been far away. After a little longer, I felt that my legs could finally move, though my nose and head were both bleeding, and several places on my body had been battered raw. I wiped at my nose at random, pressed a hand to my head, and limped forward a few steps.

Fortunately, he was not far from me. I did not know whether this fellow would be able to keep being friendly with me, but for the moment we were companions, and he had saved me several times already. No matter how I looked at it, I could not just leave him there.

At the time, he had been stopped on the way down by a thick, sturdy tree trunk, but he had still been hit hard. After all, sliding down such a steep slope with that kind of momentum was no small matter. I struggled over to his side and found that he had already lost consciousness, his body smeared with blood. Looking closer, I saw that he had been shot. Blood kept pouring from his thigh. If this went on, he would probably be done for. I checked quickly and, thankfully, he was still breathing.

My pack was still slung over my shoulder. I hurriedly took out a bundle of simple bandages, wrapped his thigh, and then roughly bandaged my own head as well. But he was terribly heavy, and I could not even get him upright at first. Right then, however, he still retained a shred of consciousness, though his voice was very weak.

“Go... go now.”

I knew he was worried that the others would catch up. If they found us at a time like this, our situation would truly be dangerous. I had no fighting strength left at all. Still, I struggled to support him and slowly got moving. I do not know what kind of stubborn force kept me going, but I actually managed to help him along for dozens of meters.

I did not know where we were exactly, only that the farther we walked, the denser the trees became, like some deep mountain wilderness. Everywhere was the same withered yellow. I do not know how long passed before I truly could not go on. I leaned the man in black sunglasses against a large boulder and dropped onto the ground with a thud. At once, soreness and pain surged through my entire body. The injuries from before also began to flare up, and I clenched my teeth until my gums ached. My head was growing drowsy, but I forced myself to stay awake, took out every medicine in the pack, disinfected and rebandaged my own wounds, and treated his as well. But I was not skilled in medicine, and I did not dare try to dig the bullet out for him. Besides, I had no anesthetic. If I made one careless mistake and the wound became infected, then I would truly have killed the man in black sunglasses.

After all that was done, my head suddenly turned foggy. I lay down in the grass and fell asleep. I had no idea how long I slept. When I opened my eyes again, darkness had already swallowed everything around me. I jolted awake at once, then soon felt the cold wind moving through the forest and knew I was safe for the moment. I did not know what time it was. I was hungry, and my mouth was terribly dry. I switched on my flashlight and looked around. The man in black sunglasses was still asleep. I took out some food and water, ate a little myself, and fed him some as well. Thinking about it, I supposed that counted as repaying his life-saving kindness, and that made me feel quite a bit better.

The pain in my body had eased somewhat, and I fell asleep again. I slept for a very long time. When I woke, daylight had already returned. I heard sounds nearby and quickly opened my eyes, then relaxed. It was the man in black sunglasses. Somehow, he had already woken up. His body was truly astonishingly tough; after suffering so many serious injuries, he had recovered enough to wake in a single night.

“You’re awake too, huh? Heh.”

He was smiling at me while bandaging his wounds. I asked, “You had a bullet in your thigh.”

“I already took it out.”

So while I was asleep, he had removed the bullet himself. I had no idea how he had done it, and in a situation without anesthetic, how he had endured that terrible pain. I was genuinely stunned. At that moment, I suddenly felt that the story behind the man in black sunglasses might be even more complicated than I had imagined.

“Surprised?” he said. “I used to be a soldier. On the battlefield, there were too many moments like this—too many times when life and death were hanging by a thread. So many that I’ve gone numb to them. I’ve almost always been prepared for the possibility of dying the very next second.”

It seemed he wanted to talk to me about some of his past. I was quite curious and was just about to listen when he paused, shook his head, waved it off, and said with a smile, “Forget it. It’s all old business now.”

He seemed to have many reservations, and in the end he still did not speak of those earlier days. I did not press him further. It was clear he had reasons he could not say. We rested a little longer, and then I asked him, “Will Old Ghost and the others come after us?”