Chapter 75 - 74: Don’t do that to me.

Chapter 75: Chapter 74: Don’t do that to me.

Yichen did not remember deciding to run.

He remembered the floor giving way beneath them, the sudden weightlessness, Xiaoyu’s cry as they fell, and the terrible moment when the ground rushed up to meet them.

After that, everything had become a confusion of pain and dust.

He remembered reaching her first, though he could no longer remember how far he had been thrown from her.

He remembered her legs beneath his hands, the unnatural angle of one of them, and the way she had tried to draw in a breath without making a sound.

Then Minghao and Yuexin had shouted from somewhere above.

Run.

He had heard the urgency in their voices, and he had obeyed before he could think of anything else.

Now he was carrying Xiaoyu through an unfamiliar passage, with the creature’s growl still echoing somewhere behind them.

His steps were quick, but he forced himself to keep them measured the best that he could.

Every uneven patch of stone threatened to jostle her legs, and each time she flinched against him, his arms tightened instinctively before he could remind himself not to.

There was no comfortable way to carry her.

One arm supported her back and shoulders, while the other held her beneath the knees, keeping both injured legs as steady as possible.

Even so, he could feel the tremors that passed through her whenever his footing shifted.

"I’m going to be careful," he said, his voice low and strained. "Just tell me if I’m hurting you."

Xiaoyu did not answer immediately. Her face was turned toward his shoulder, and her breathing came in shallow, uneven intervals.

"Xiaoyu?"

"I’m here..."

The words were faint, but they reached him, "Good. Keep talking to me if you can."

He continued down the passage, watching the ground ahead while keeping the weak light gathered at his fingertips.

The walls were smooth and pale beneath it, without the markings they had left in the earlier corridors.

He glanced back once, half expecting the creature to emerge from the darkness, but saw only the empty stretch of stone behind them.

He looked down at Xiaoyu again. Something warm had spread across his forearm.

At first, he thought it was water from the damp stone.

Then he noticed the dark stain creeping through the fabric of his sleeve, and his gaze followed it to the blood running from Xiaoyu’s injured leg.

His steps faltered.

"Xiaoyu..."

She seemed to notice his attention. Her fingers moved weakly against his robe.

"It’s all right," she murmured.

"No, it isn’t."

The words came out too quickly. He immediately softened his voice, but the sight of the blood had already lodged itself in his mind.

It was more than he had realized.

He stopped beside the wall and lowered himself carefully, keeping her legs supported as he settled onto one knee. His hands were unsteady as he examined the wound, and what he saw made his expression change.

He had known that her legs were badly injured.

But until now, he had been so focused on carrying her away from the creature that he had not properly examined the extent of the damage.

The injury was not confined to the bones.

Her lower leg had been torn open in several places, the skin split by the impact and the flesh beneath bruised and swollen.

One wound ran deep along the side of her calf, where the force of the fall had apparently crushed and torn the tissue.

Blood continued to seep from it, darkening the fabric beneath her leg.

The other was scarcely better.

Even where the skin remained intact, the swelling and unnatural shape suggested that more than one bone had been damaged.

Yichen’s stomach tightened.

He had thought the broken bones were the worst of it.

Now, looking at the wounds more closely, he understood that the damage beneath the skin might be just as severe.

The blood vessels could have been torn or crushed, and the bleeding was not something he could afford to ignore. If it continued at this rate, she would not have much time.

His spiritual energy was limited, and there were simply too many wounds. Even if he gathered every bit of strength he had left, he could not direct it toward all of them at once.

Some wounds were deeper than others, with blood still welling from them, and he knew he would have to choose where to focus his energy.

The others would remain untreated, their bleeding continuing while he struggled to slow the worst of it.

The realization left him with a helpless feeling he had never experienced before. He could see what was happening to her, and he could do something about it, but not nearly enough.

"Xiaoyu..."

He looked at her face, then back at her legs, as though hoping he had mistaken what he was seeing.

The healing pill he had given her could ease pain and help with minor injuries, but it could not mend a broken bone, repair crushed tissue, or restore the blood she was losing.

A first-grade healing pill was not enough to treat injuries of this severity. Only a second-grade healing pill could properly heal her, and unfortunately, Yichen did not have one.

He could not properly treat her here, and even if he could, he had no materials with which to do so.

The suppression in this place had already made their spiritual energy difficult to use. Xiaoyu could barely circulate hers, much less control it well enough to slow the bleeding.

"C-can you try to circulate your energy?" he asked. "Just a little. See if you can slow it down."

She closed her eyes and tried.

For a brief moment, he sensed a faint stir beneath her skin. Then it weakened and disappeared. Xiaoyu’s brows tightened, and she shook her head.

"I can’t..."

"Don’t force it."

"I tried."

"I know."

Yichen stared at the blood on his sleeve. He could feel his own spiritual energy moving sluggishly through his meridians, hindered by the strange suppression.

The energy he could draw from the surroundings was pitifully small, and what remained within him was not much better. Every technique consumed more than he could recover.

But he could still use what he had.

He placed one hand carefully near the wound, keeping his touch as gentle as he could, and began guiding his spiritual energy toward it.

The first attempt barely reached her. The energy dispersed almost immediately, too weak and unstable to do anything meaningful.

Yichen clenched his teeth.

He tried again, this time forcing the energy through his meridians instead of allowing it to flow naturally.

Pain tightened through his chest as he pushed against the suppression, drawing on the little strength he had left and driving it toward his palm.

The energy entered the wound in a thin, wavering thread.

It was feeble... barely enough...

Yet it was still more than Xiaoyu could manage herself.

Yichen felt it meet the flow of blood, and for an instant, nothing happened.

Then the bleeding seemed to lessen in one area... not stop, not even come close to stopping, but slow enough that the steady warmth against his sleeve began to diminish.

The spiritual energy could do little more than press against the damaged vessels and help her body hold itself together.

A little more time was all he had been trying to find. His shoulders sagged with the effort.

"Yichen..." Xiaoyu whispered.

"I’m here."

"You don’t have to..."

"I know." He kept his hand where it was, maintaining the fragile flow. "Just let me do this. I want to do this... "

He did not look at her. He was afraid that if he saw her face, he would lose the concentration needed to keep the energy steady.

After a while, he felt the flow falter. He withdrew his hand reluctantly, then checked the wound again. The blood had not stopped, but it was no longer flowing as quickly as before.

He let out a breath he had not realized he was holding.

"It’s slower," he said, mostly to reassure himself. "That’s good. It’s slower."

Xiaoyu’s eyes were half-open. She looked at his hand, then at the blood on his sleeve.

"You used your energy forcibly..."

"Only a little."

"You’re being suppressed too."

"It’s fine... "

A faint crease appeared between her brows, as though she wanted to say more. Yichen shook his head before she could.

"Don’t worry about me. I still have enough to keep the light going."

It was not entirely true. But he had no intention of letting her worry about that as well.

He adjusted the fabric beneath her injured legs, making sure they were supported before lifting her again. The movement drew a small cry from her, and he froze at once.

"I’m sorry," he whispered. "I’m sorry. I’ll be careful."

He waited until her breathing settled, then continued.

For a while, neither of them spoke.

Yichen concentrated on the passage ahead, placing each step with care.

He could not keep using his spiritual energy to slow the bleeding indefinitely, and he did not know how long the small amount he had managed to give her would help.

He needed to find somewhere they could stop, somewhere he could examine her injuries properly and think of what to do next.

But the passage continued without offering any such place.

It curved around a bend, then descended gradually. The walls remained smooth and featureless, and the weak light revealed no markings or signs of recent passage.

Yichen tried to remember the direction from which they had come, but the collapse had disoriented him. Even if he could retrace his steps, he did not know whether the path above remained open.

"Can you hear me, Xiaoyu?"

She gave a small nod against his shoulder.

"Does it hurt badly?"

She hesitated before she nodded again.

Yichen swallowed.

He wanted to tell her that everything would be fine, that they would find Minghao and Yuexin, that they would return to the surface and leave this place behind.

The words were ready, but he could not bring himself to say them as though they were certain.

So he said, "I’m going to find somewhere we can rest."

Xiaoyu’s fingers curled faintly against his robe.

"Are they...?"

"Minghao and Yuexin?"

She nodded.

"I don’t know," he admitted. "But they’re strong. They’ll find a way."

"Let’s get you somewhere safe first," he said. "Then we’ll find them."

The corridor widened into a chamber with several openings along its walls. Yichen stopped at the entrance and studied each one.

The chamber was so large that his weak light could not reach its far end. He could make out only the nearest stretch of floor and the dark mouths of the passages beyond it.

He had hoped to find a room where they could rest, perhaps one with a narrow entrance that would make it harder for the creature to approach.

Instead, the place offered nothing but more choices, each leading deeper into the underground structure.

He looked down at Xiaoyu.

Her eyes were open, but her gaze seemed unfocused. The hand holding his robe had loosened.

"Xiaoyu?"

"I’m awake."

"Then look at me for a moment."

She tried. Her eyes moved toward his face, though it seemed to take her effort.

"Good," he said, forcing a small smile. "I was starting to think you were ignoring me."

She made a faint sound. It might have been an attempt to laugh, but it faded before it became one.

Yichen’s smile disappeared.

He crouched carefully beside the wall, keeping her legs steady as he lowered himself. "Are you feeling dizzy?"

"A little."

"Do you feel cold?"

She was quiet for a moment. "A little."

He touched her cheek with the back of his fingers. Her skin felt cooler than before.

Fear rose in him so quickly that he almost forgot to breathe. He glanced at the wound again before silently looking back at the passages.

There had to be somewhere. A chamber, a hidden exit, a way back to the others.

Anything.

"Yichen," Xiaoyu said.

He immediately looked down. "What is it?"

"Are you hurt?"

The question caught him off guard.

He glanced at his arms, his shoulders, then at the dust and scratches across his clothes. "No... I’m fine."

"You fell too..."

"I’m fine," he repeated, more gently. "I promise."

She seemed to accept that, though her eyes remained on him for another moment before drifting away.

Yichen wanted to ask her to keep looking at him, to keep talking, to do anything that would assure him she was still fully conscious.

But he knew that speaking required effort, and he could not ask her to spend what little strength she had merely to soothe his fear.

Instead, he adjusted the fabric beneath her legs and checked that they were still supported.

"I’m going to carry you again," he said. "There’s a passage over there. We’ll see where it leads."

Xiaoyu’s lips parted, but no words came.

He waited.

After a moment, she whispered, "Don’t leave me."

The words were so quiet that he almost missed them.

Yichen looked at her, and for the first time since the collapse, he had no answer ready. Here, with her blood on his clothes and the darkness stretching in every direction, he could not promise that nothing would happen.

He could only promise what was still within his reach.

"I’m here," he said, holding her a little closer without disturbing her legs. "I’m not leaving you."

Her eyes rested on him. For a brief moment, the fear in them seemed to ease.

Then her eyelids lowered.

"Xiaoyu?"

"I’m listening..."

"Stay awake for me, all right?"

She made a small effort to open her eyes again. "I’m trying."

He swallowed, then rose carefully, lifting her with the same painstaking attention as before.

Her head settled against his shoulder, and her breathing brushed faintly against his neck. He held on to that small, steady movement as he stepped into the nearest passage.

The corridor sloped upward for a short distance before turning sharply.

Beyond the bend, the walls opened onto a stone platform overlooking an immense underground space.

Yichen stopped at its edge.

Far beneath them, narrow walkways crossed between enormous stone pillars. Openings dotted the walls at different heights, some connected by stairs, others by bridges that disappeared into shadow.

Beyond those, more passages stretched into the depths, their entrances scattered across the cavern like wounds in the earth.

Yichen stood still, listening for movement. The only sound was the faint echo of his own breathing and the soft, uneven breath of the girl in his arms.

He had found another part of the maze.

An unfamiliar part, far removed from the corridors they had explored before.

For a moment, the scale of it threatened to overwhelm him. He had thought that if he could only escape the place where they had fallen, he might find a way back to the others.

But the structure was far larger than he had imagined, and the paths ahead offered no promise of returning to the surface.

Then Xiaoyu’s head shifted against his shoulder.

Yichen looked down.

Her eyes were closed.

"Xiaoyu?"

He waited for her to answer, but she did not. He shifted his hold slightly, careful to keep her legs from moving, and felt for the rise and fall of her breathing. It was there, faint against his chest.

"Xiaoyu, open your eyes."

Nothing.

His thoughts scattered. He touched her cheek, then leaned closer, listening for the breath he could no longer feel clearly through the noise of his own heartbeat.

"Xiaoyu."

A small movement.

Her eyelids fluttered, and she drew a shallow breath.

Yichen’s knees nearly gave way with relief. He lowered his head, pressing his forehead briefly against her hair before he could stop himself.

"Don’t do that," he whispered. "Please don’t do that to me."

Her eyes opened only a little. "I’m sorry..."

"No." His voice broke, and he had to take a breath before continuing. "No, you don’t have to be sorry."

He looked at her face, trying to find some sign that she was still with him. Her gaze moved slowly, struggling to focus, but it found him in the end.

"I’m here," he told her. "I’m right here."

He did not know whether she understood.

The thought of stopping frightened him, but the thought of continuing without finding help frightened him even more.

Still, he could not stand at the edge of that platform and do nothing.

Yichen turned away from the vast chamber and searched for the nearest passage in a hurry.

Its entrance was narrow, but the floor appeared level, and the walls offered enough space for him to pass without striking Xiaoyu against the stone.

He drew a slow breath, gathered what remained of his strength, and stepped toward it.

The weak light around his fingertips trembled.

He kept it burning.

"Please... "