Chapter 73 First Day (Part 1)

  In the dimly lit cave, the air was even thinner and more pathetic. Ziyu Ye had long since extinguished the lighter to avoid burning away what little oxygen there was. In the pitch-black cave, it was almost impossible to see one's fingers in front of their face. Ziyu Ye held her breath until she reached the critical point before taking a light breath, and then closed her mouth again. She had to minimize her oxygen consumption as much as possible.

  Liu Qingyou was still unconscious at this moment, and Zi Ruoye couldn't see his expression as he leaned against her, eerily quiet. She took off her outer garment and spread it on the ground, then let Liu Qingyou lie down on it. Only then did Zi Ruoye get up, feeling her way along the wall to explore.

  There is only one way, which has been blocked. It's incredible that Taoguard can secretly transport coal, there must be more than one road. Feeling along the wall bit by bit, tapping here and there. After almost searching everywhere, no mechanism was found, furrowing her brow, could she have guessed wrong?

  I don't know how many hours have passed, my mouth is slightly dry, and I was just about to carefully check again to see if there were any omissions. Just then, I heard the faint voice of Liu Qingyou coming from afar, and my heart leapt with joy. I hastily walked over to Liu Qingyou's side.

  "Water... water..." As I walked closer, it was just Liu Qingyu's unconscious muttering, probably because she hadn't had a drink for a long time and was unconsciously looking for water to drink.

  Zi Ruoye hastily untied the water bag, picked him up and slowly poured water into Liu Qingyou's lips. As soon as his mouth touched the water, Liu Qingyou subconsciously reached out to take over the water bag and started drinking.

  "Willow Qingyu, wake up quickly, you've been unconscious for a long time." Zi Ruoye called out softly to Willow Qingyu. Since he could subconsciously find water to drink, then his consciousness should be present, and waking him up earlier would be beneficial to both of them.

  Liu Qingyou finished drinking the water, perhaps after replenishing her body's moisture, her slightly furrowed eyebrows trembled lightly as she slowly opened her eyes. Just waking up and still unaccustomed to the light, when she first opened her eyes all she saw was darkness, vaguely seeming to be lying in someone's arms.

  "Dead... bastard?" Was it her? He seemed to have heard the voice of Purple Leaf, and Liu Qingyou's hand gently grasped Purple Leaf's clothes.

  "Liu Qingyou, are you awake? How do you feel? Is your chest still hurting?" As she spoke, she took Liu Qingyou's pulse, and the pulse had improved a lot. Only then did Zi Ruoye put her mind at ease.

  "How long was I unconscious? Where is this place?" He had just regained consciousness, and his mind was still in a state of confusion. His memories told him that he had been slapped by the county magistrate, after which he had fainted.

  "I don't know how long it's been, probably you've been unconscious for a day." She was also sleeping fitfully along the way, and her over-exhausted physical strength made it impossible for her to recover quickly. Moreover, she had to feed the medicinal pills in her arms to Liu Qingyu almost every now and then. When people sleep, their physical strength is consumed the most. In the dark cave, she couldn't confirm the time, so she could only feed Liu Qingyu a pill every now and then to supplement his physical strength.

  "Damn it, what's wrong with you?" Liu Qingyou finally detected that Zi Ruoye's voice was slightly off, although her tone was still playful, but it sounded like she didn't have the energy. Thinking of how she had stabbed him three times, his hand trembled slightly, "Damn...it is your wound? Why didn't you listen to me and insisted on stabbing yourself three times." As he spoke, his eyes became sour. Damn it, why are you so good to me?

  "That three knives didn't matter, I've stopped the bleeding, I'm fine, really! But if we don't leave, you'll have to be my partner in crime, a pair of mandarin ducks in exile." Zi Ruoye's voice seemed to return to its usual playful and mischievous tone, everything looked normal again.

  "Who wants to be a fugitive with you!" At this moment, Liu Qingyou was not blushing, he knew that the dead man was trying to eliminate his unease in his heart. He immediately raised his eyes and looked around at their current situation, and his heart suddenly turned cold.

  Perhaps sensing Liu Qingyou's unease, Zi Ruoye slightly wrapped her arms around Liu Qingyou, "Zhao Yu and the others must be digging a way out outside, we'll be able to leave soon."

  Liu Qingyu felt the faint scent of wood incense beside her, and only then did she realize that she was being held by Zi Ruoye, almost entirely leaning on her. Zi Ruoye had practically become a pillow for her. "Damn it, how...?" Her face slightly reddened, unsure what to do, but just now the unease in her heart had disappeared because of this damn guy saying they could leave soon.

  "Huddle together to keep warm! It's very cold here." Indeed, the temperature had dropped a few degrees below normal. After finishing speaking, he stuffed the remaining two-thirds of the water bag into Liu Qingyou's hand and said seriously, "Liu Qingyou, I only have two water bags now, this one is for you, you must hold on until you're extremely thirsty before drinking it, the less water you consume, the greater your chances of survival."

  Liu Qingyu nodded solemnly, having also prepared a water bag. He had originally intended to share it with the other person, but when he heard Zi Ruoye say she had two water bags, his heart slightly eased up. "Damn you, did you already guess that the county governor would turn against us, which is why you prepared the water bags?"

  "How could I be so formidable?" Zi Ruoye said with a smile, she had prepared water bags, completely out of consideration for the safety situation in the coal field, thinking that if something happened, it would be good to have water with her, but she still made a mistake, miscalculating one step.

  "Liu Qingyou, do you have any food on you? If you do, eat some yourself, you need to replenish your energy after just waking up. I'll go look for a hidden passage." Zi Ruoye got up and continued to knock on the wall along the original route.

  Liu Qingyou thought for a moment, he didn't bring any food, only the sugar lotus seeds that the dead bastard bought for him last time. He obediently took one out from inside and put it in his mouth, "Dead bastard, what secret passage?" Could it be that this place also has a secret passage?

  He fumbled his way to her side, and since he had night vision, he didn't stumble as he walked over. He picked up a sugar lotus seed and handed it to Ziyue Ye's lips. "You dead scoundrel, you should eat one too, I'm sure you haven't eaten anything either." His fingertips stubbornly placed the sugar lotus seed on Ziyue Ye's lips, but his face was turned away.

  Zi Ruoye was taken aback, shouting out the thing, the sweet intention between her lips and teeth spread out, "Sugar Lotus Seed?" Could it be that time they went out to play she bought for him? But it's already been more than two months ago, how could he not have finished eating it yet.

  "Uh, I'll go take a look over there." Perhaps he was afraid that if he stayed any longer, Ziyue Ye would say something that would make him even more embarrassed. The sugar lotus seeds she had bought that time, he almost couldn't bear to eat them, and only ate one every month or so, so there were still quite a few left. But originally it was a secret thing, now being discovered by this dead scoundrel, he felt somewhat awkward.

  Walked to the other side, and started checking every brick, "Dead bastard, why did you think there was a secret passage here?" Placed his ear against the stone wall, concentrating on listening for any unusual sounds.

  "Because of the coal, it was transported halfway and then brought back, but the laborers were completely unaware of this, which proves that the coal did not come from the same route. If we find it, we won't have to wait for Zhao Yu and the others to rescue us." Zi Ruoye said this for a reason. If Liu Qingyou knew she had given him her only bag of water, he would definitely return the water to her, but even so, with that little water, two people drinking, in an uncertain situation where they didn't know how many days until rescue, it was simply unclear what the future held, so it was better to keep it hidden for the time being.

  If the secret passage is found, then there's no need to worry about water anymore. Then she said again, "Liu Qingyou, if you still have sugar lotus seeds on your body, be careful not to eat them too quickly." She had nothing on her except for half a bottle of wine in her small wine jug.

  "En, I know. Dead bastard, let's eat together." Liu Qingyao said in a low voice, the space was small, and they all checked it out in no time.

  Sat back in the original place, saw Liu Qingyou and himself separated by a distance, couldn't help but say, "Come over here, I won't do anything to you, or you'll get sick." The cave was too cold, and it might even drop in temperature later, so Zi Ruoye still moved slightly closer to Liu Qingyou.

  "Damn it! What are you doing? I'll go tell Yun Ning!" However, his body still shifted closer to Zi Ruoye's side. Actually, he hadn't thought that much just now, and had been wondering why he couldn't find the mechanism. But unexpectedly, this damn guy could still infuriate him even in such a situation.

  "Have you found it?" Zi Ruoye changed the subject, just now she had searched again, but still couldn't find any mechanism, so she asked Liu Qingyu.

  "There isn't." Liu Qingyou's voice was somewhat disheartened. He had searched very carefully, but he also hadn't found the mechanism that the dead bastard had spoken of.

  "Hmm... let's just leave it at that for now. Are you tired? If you're tired, take a rest and conserve your energy." Zi Ruoye turned her head and said softly to Liu Qingyu.

  A gentle warmth caressed Qingyu's face, making her feel a little itchy and hot. Her hands clenched the hem of her clothes, feeling somewhat nervous, yet she couldn't help but feel embarrassed, wondering when this would pass, yet still feeling shy.

  It's not that Yu Qingyao can't be blamed, after all, when the person you like is by your side, who can remain calm? Especially for someone like Yu Qingyao who has always been quietly harboring little thoughts.

  Seeing Liu Qingyou hadn't spoken for a long time, Zi Ruoye became worried and her voice carried a hint of urgency, "Liu Qingyou, is your chest still hurting?" Just then, Liu Qingyou didn't respond to her words, and Zi Ruoye was worried that the injury from Taoguard's palm had not healed.

  Liu Qingyou was taken aback for a moment, but her voice softened considerably. "No, my chest doesn't hurt anymore." It turned out... the feeling of being able to make that dead scumbag worry was really sweet. In a daze, she seemed to have eaten something and asked in confusion, "Dead scumbag, what did you feed me when I was unconscious?" When she woke up, there was still a faint fragrance on her lips.

  "It's Qingluo Dan." The soft tone, however, shocked Liu Qingyou. That damned guy had actually fed him Qingluo Dan! That was a sacred medicine for healing injuries! Taking one pill would increase his internal energy by two years, no wonder he didn't feel uncomfortable after waking up.

  Zi Ruoye smiled slightly and said, "Scared silly? If you don't bring that thing to eat, are you going to leave it as a decoration?" Liu Qingyou's martial arts skills were impressive when described nicely, but in reality, they were just fancy moves. It was likely that she had secretly found a martial arts master to learn from, and had learned some real combat skills.

  Zi Ruoye had spent a few hours helping Liu Qingyou digest the Qingluo pill, but because she needed to help Liu Qingyou digest it herself, she didn't hold back her own internal energy. Fortunately, just as Liu Qingyou was about to notice that Zi Ruoye was exhausted, she quickly used coal ash to darken her pale face, so she didn't let Liu Qingyou discover that she was actually already exhausted.

  If Liu Qing didn't wake up again, she was afraid that she really couldn't hold on anymore!

  Digression

  There will be two updates today...

  At 10 o'clock at night, I'm going to post again... =w= Fish. Strive to code and go.