Shadow 2

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Facing Yu Hong's questions, the girl couldn't react at all. She didn't know which question to answer first.

She stood there dumbfounded, the medicine box in her hand trembling violently, as if the medicine would fall out at any moment.

Crack.

The door was pushed open again, from the outside.

A middle-aged woman wearing a dirty white coat walked in, yellow-skinned with black hair, along with those black-framed glasses. It was the alleged doctor from before.

"I'll answer your questions, don't trouble Yiyi with it. She used to be sick, got frightened, and her speech and thinking aren't swift."

The woman walked to the bedside, placing a light gray water bottle on the wooden nightstand.

"We don't know how you got here. Last night, when Yiyi went out to gather firewood, she accidentally found you in a pit and dragged you back."

"When we found you, you were unconscious, and it seemed like there were no external injuries, just unconscious with a fever. Yiyi fed you quite a bit of filtered water, and you woke up after a night."

At this point, the woman sighed.

"Now, let's talk about this place. This is Baiqiu Village, surrounded by deep mountains, and the only connection to the outside is an old road to the west."

She paused.

"I am the village doctor, last name Xu. She is Lin Yiyi, an orphan living here alone. There's nothing else important to say, that's all. Your turn. Who are you, how did you get here, and why did you come?"

"Doctor Xu... Can I call you that?" Yu Hong sorted out the situation, enduring the pain in his throat, and spoke in a low tone.

Seeing her nod, he continued.

"I... am Yu Hong. I was just sleeping at home, and then...." He detailed his previous experiences.

"I don't know how I came here. I...." He raised his hand with difficulty, covering his forehead.

"How old are you?" Doctor Xu suddenly asked.

"Twenty... twenty-seven...." Yu Hong responded reflexively.

"That's enough. You can't go back anyway. In times like this, no matter where you came from or how you got here, without a car, leaving here is a death sentence. You'll probably be here for a long time," Doctor Xu said blandly.

"??? No car? Can't you... find someone to lend a car and take me to the nearest station... I can pay!" Yu Hong was bewildered.

"Station?" This time it was Doctor Xu's turn to be bewildered. "What are you talking about? Where's the station? Who's going to drive you? Outside is full of strange creatures. Going out alone is courting death."

"Creatures?!" Yu Hong was stunned.

"What creatures??" He suspected she was acting or mentally unstable.

But as Doctor Xu looked at him with an expression akin to watching an idiot, Yu Hong vaguely felt something was off.

He felt a bit panicked.

*He was just an ordinary office worker. Who would spend a fortune to hire an actor of such caliber to deceive him???*

"Great... just another fool," Doctor Xu lifted her gaze, showing a helpless expression.

"Fool meets fool, you two are quite the pair."

She glanced out the window.

"It's still early now. You'll know by night. I'm leaving now. Yiyi, keep an eye on him, don't let him open the door at night."

"Okay..." Stammering Yiyi quickly nodded.

Seeing Doctor Xu opening the door to leave, Stammering Yiyi quickly called out.

"Medicine... medicine! Sister..." she called anxiously.

"...." Doctor Xu heard her and looked back at Yu Hong, understanding.

She pulled a mercury thermometer from her pocket and shoved it into Yu Hong's mouth.

"Take your temperature."

After a while, she removed the thermometer and glanced at it.

"38.5, you won't die."

"Medicine..... mine.... not good..." Stammering Yiyi hurriedly handed over the medicine box in her hands for her to see.

The mold spots on the medicine made Doctor Xu frown.

"Yiyi, my medicine is also running low, and the post office only goes to the city once a month."

Upon hearing this, Stammering Yiyi became anxious, looking all around quickly. She found something resembling a yam in the cabinet's corner and handed it over.

"Trade, this, trade... medicine!"

Doctor Xu shook her head, saying it wasn't enough.

Then, Stammering Yiyi started rummaging through other places.

Their bargaining voices continuously reached Yu Hong's ears.

It made him feel drowsy, his spirit growing increasingly sluggish. Soon enough, he drifted back into a sleep.

The pain in his throat, the dizziness in his head, the weakness throughout his body, prevented him from getting up.

The body's natural healing mechanism urged him to quickly regain strength through sleep.

Time flew by.

He didn't know how much time had passed. Perhaps an hour, perhaps three. Time held no measure for someone so groggy.

Yu Hong slowly woke from his slumber.

His whole body ached, his body felt weak and powerless, and his throat seemed blocked by something, choking it up and making it hard to speak.

He opened his eyes, arduously propping himself up from the bed to take in his surroundings.

The room was silent.

This small square bedroom was made entirely of wood, walls and ceiling, a pale yellow color.

The floor was black earth, flat and dry, with grass even growing in some corners.

Yu Hong slowly turned, placing his legs at the edge of the bed, then slowly lowered them to touch the ground.

The solid feeling of the ground inexplicably eased his mind.

He looked down at himself.

He wore a gray and white short-sleeve T-shirt with a cartoon tiger head on the chest, stained with some yellow spots. The pants were a creamy yellow, casual style, though now looking quite wrinkled.

His gray socks had holes at both big toes, and two large toes, crusted with black dirt, jutted out.

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