Xin Mu Was Injured

"Clang." A crisp metallic impact rang out. Zhang Ruofeng's heart sank. Sure enough, he saw that an Earth Bee had stung the back of Xin Mu's right hand. With no training at all, she lost control in the pain and panic and dropped her weapon to the ground.

"This is bad." Zhang Ruofeng realized something was wrong. While he was dealing with the other Earth Bees, two of them had managed to get close to Xin Mu and swarm her. There was no way he could stop every one of these flying monsters by himself. Besides, Xin Mu had no real understanding of combat. Until now, all she'd done was switch from throwing knives at stationary targets to moving ones. Zhang Ruofeng knew that, but he'd wanted to wait until her abilities improved before teaching her some fighting knowledge and techniques. Now, it seemed, that had become urgent.

"Ugh!" The Earth Bee that had stung Xin Mu's hand let out a pitiful cry. Zhang Ruofeng drove his right hand straight into its back and twisted hard, crushing it into a clump of black sand. Then he raised his right arm and shielded Xin Mu's back with it. Another sting struck him, but Zhang Ruofeng was starting to get used to it. His right arm was already somewhat numb. After enough mosquito bites, you stopped feeling them.

"Hah!" Zhang Ruofeng swung hard, flinging the Earth Bee and its stinger to the ground. Then he hooked his right foot upward, kicking the Earth Bee to waist height, and brought his left fist down on it, smashing the last one into powder.

"Don't move." Zhang Ruofeng turned and stopped Xin Mu from trying to move. He quickly held her arm still, then picked up her dagger and made a small cut, about a centimeter long, in the wound. He squeezed firmly a few times, and some pale yellow liquid flowed out with her blood. The two of them didn't have the spare energy or ability to carry bandages or medicine, so Zhang Ruofeng used his mouth to suck the blood around the wound and spat it onto the ground. After all, saliva had antibacterial properties, and he figured Xin Mu wouldn't mind his spit too much. "I never thought that detox method you always see on TV would actually work." Zhang Ruofeng joked with Xin Mu. Her expression was still cool, but her slightly furrowed brows and tear-bright eyes showed how frightened she was by her first attack. "Well, I probably didn't need to treat your wound so aggressively, but I... I'm not strong enough anymore."

Zhang Ruofeng sat down against the wall. Now he understood what it meant for his blood to circulate faster. The poison from the two Earth Bee stings in his right arm had quickly spread throughout his body. Even his tongue felt a little numb.

But the drawback wasn't entirely as bad as the skill description made it sound. Zhang Ruofeng soon noticed an upside: he could lift his right arm. Though it was sluggish, like the rest of his senses, his whole body was now in the same state, so he could still use it instead of having his right arm completely disabled.

"If my whole body fights against the abnormal condition, could that speed up my recovery, too?" Zhang Ruofeng wondered to himself. With his tongue so numb, he didn't want to speak. He couldn't express himself clearly, and he'd sound childish, so he simply sat in silence, hoping to recover soon.

"It hurts." Xin Mu put away her knife, crouched in front of Zhang Ruofeng, and looked at the wound on the back of her hand as she spoke softly. Quiet and reserved since childhood, she had never liked outdoor activities beyond throwing knives. She'd never had to cook or clean for herself, either, so the fair, beautiful Xin Mu had hardly ever been injured. Zhang Ruofeng's treatment had been crude and forceful; he'd squeezed out most of the venom, and the numbness had mostly faded. But the pain from his hard squeezing had left the skin around the wound red.

"Ah, sorry, sorry..." Zhang Ruofeng awkwardly tried to touch his nose, but the numbness made him lower his hand. Lifting his arm was exhausting, as if someone had set a sack of rice on his shoulder and made it too heavy to raise.

"Heh, heh." Looking at how miserable Zhang Ruofeng seemed, Xin Mu tried to laugh but held it in, managing only a few quiet chuckles. Then she patted him on the head and stood up to keep watch over their surroundings.

"You're pretty reliable for someone who's clearly never been hurt before." Zhang Ruofeng could more or less guess that Xin Mu had never been injured before, but he'd expected to end up in a state like this. His whole body felt as if it were weighed down by hundreds of kilograms of iron, and even moving was difficult. He could only force Xin Mu to regain her fighting ability; otherwise, they might run into danger in the Dungeon. Xin Mu in particular needed to coordinate her body to throw knives. With her left hand numb, her knives were practically useless.

"Haah... haah..." Zhang Ruofeng felt his temperature rising and his breathing quickening, but the numbness was rapidly fading. Only a few minutes had passed since he sat down, and he'd already regained most of his strength. He took a few more breaths and sat up.

"Are you all right?" Hearing Zhang Ruofeng get up, Xin Mu turned and asked.

"Yeah." As soon as Zhang Ruofeng answered, he suddenly thought Xin Mu's face looked a little prettier than usual. Almost without realizing it, he took a step toward her. Her faint fragrance drifted into his nose, and Xin Mu was startled by his movement. She seemed unable to understand why Zhang Ruofeng was suddenly looking at her like a carnivore eyeing its prey.

Zhang Ruofeng realized something was wrong, too. That familiar pain in his heart surged again, and his face twisted. He stumbled back a few steps, and the pain eased a little. At last, he came to his senses. "Damn side effect," he muttered. Xin Mu understood, too. That expression and those movements, so unlike Zhang Ruofeng, had come from Boiling Dragon Blood's effect, which greatly weakened his resistance to women. The more badly he was hurt, the weaker that resistance might become. Zhang Ruofeng was furious about it. Whenever he got close to a woman or even took a slight interest in one, his heart ached as if it were being cut by a knife. That was no longer a secret.

"Are you all right?" Xin Mu tilted her head slightly. She would never normally make such a playful gesture, but she wanted to test how well Zhang Ruofeng could resist her, so she put on a little cute act to see how he'd react.

"Yeah..." Zhang Ruofeng, as expected, froze again. It took him about a second to recover, and then he turned his head and said he was fine.

"His resistance has definitely weakened quite a bit," Xin Mu thought anxiously. Before, Zhang Ruofeng could look away from any woman in less than a second.