After Li He's five senses returned.
He found himself inside a prison cell.
The stone floor beneath his feet was icy cold, the chill seeping through his soles and straight into his bones. The walls were built from massive dark-gray stones, covered in slick moss.
The only source of light was a palm-sized ventilation shaft overhead, through which a few faint rays filtered down, barely illuminating the cramped space.
There was an iron door inside the cell.
"So this is the third round. There's a door this time?" Li He walked up to it, his qi and blood surging as he shoved hard.
The iron door didn't budge.
"Guess that won't work," Li He thought. He studied his surroundings, his gaze quickly settling on a corner of the cell.
A black blanket lay there.
In this otherwise empty stone cell, a whole black blanket seemed deliberately placed there to draw attention.
"An anomaly?"
Remaining highly vigilant, Li He stepped closer.
He sensed an extremely faint trace of life beneath the blanket.
Something alive?
Li He slowly crouched, grabbed a corner of the blanket, and yanked it away.
"Wah..." A terrified sob rang out. Beneath the blanket, the sight that emerged left Li He's mind completely blank.
Under the blanket,
a little girl lay curled up.
She looked about twelve or thirteen and wore a dirty gray dress. The dress was old-fashioned and hung loosely on her small, thin frame.
Her feet were bare and caked with mud.
She hugged her knees tightly, her body trembling violently.
A tangled mess of long brown hair spilled over her face, obscuring most of it. The skin that showed was utterly colorless, with the waxy pallor of malnutrition.
Li He immediately recalled every detail his father, Li Jianguo, had told him a month ago