FCRCG Chapter 19

Nan Deng watched helplessly as Lian Yi collapsed, feeling anxious and unsure of what to do.

Within a few breaths, Lian Yi’s lips turned purple, and his body temperature spiked rapidly.

The rabbit head jumped onto the bed, carefully examining him before biting down hard on his finger.

Nan Deng quickly pushed it away. “Xiao Tu, don’t eat!”

Lian Yi’s finger was unharmed. The rabbit head didn’t manage to break the skin, so it shook its ears and retreated to the corner of the bed.

At first, Nan Deng thought Lian Yi’s injury hadn’t healed yet, but when he carefully rolled up his sleeve, he found that the bandages weren’t soaked with blood.

Now, he had no idea what to do. His first thought was that maybe Lian Yi had fainted because he¹ND had consumed too many soul fragments.

He didn’t have time to think further. He rushed to the bathroom, soaked a towel in cold water, and returned to wipe Lian Yi’s face to cool him down.

Even in his unconscious state, Lian Yi’s brows remained tightly furrowed, and his breathing was labored.

Nan Deng’s hands were trembling as he undid the buttons of Lian Yi’s collar, unsure if it would make any difference.

He sat by Lian Yi’s side, confused and helpless, hugging his knees.

Everything had happened so suddenly. Just a moment ago, Lian Yi had been fine, or rather, he had been fine all along. He had returned the night before and there hadn’t been any signs of injury or discomfort—he had gone to rest early.

The rabbit head seemed to sense Nan Deng’s distress and came over to him.

Nan Deng picked up the rabbit head, his voice shaky, as if he was about to cry. “What should I do…?”

Having spent so much time together, he didn’t want anything bad to happen to Lian Yi.

Nan Deng desperately tried to recall what he had seen on TV during this time. Lian Yi must be sick and needed medicine.

He immediately got up and started searching everywhere.

The bedroom, study, living room—even the kitchen and bathroom—Nan Deng searched all of them, but he didn’t find anything resembling medicine.

Some of the drawers were locked and Nan Deng couldn’t open them.

The only thing that might be useful was Lian Yi’s phone, but Nan Deng couldn’t unlock it. He tried calling an emergency number, but since he was a soul, and especially since it was daytime, the person on the other end couldn’t hear his voice. They thought it was a prank and hung up after a few attempts.

With no other options, Nan Deng returned to Lian Yi’s side, only to see no sign of improvement, making his heart ache even more.

If it was due to the loss of soul fragments… would he need to drink talisman water?

He walked over to the window and gently pulled back the curtain just a little.

It was morning and the sunlight wasn’t very strong yet. Nan Deng steeled himself and reached out his hand, letting his semi-transparent fingertips be exposed to the light.

It felt a bit warm, but it wasn’t painful—it was more bearable than he had imagined.

Nan Deng didn’t want to just wait idly. He needed to come up with another plan.

He made up his mind, picked up the rabbit head, and placed it by the bed. “Wait here for me. I’ll be back soon.”

The rabbit head guessed what Nan Deng was about to do and bit tightly on his sleeve, trying to go with him.

“It’s daytime,” Nan Deng didn’t want the rabbit head to get hurt. “The sunlight will make you feel pain.”

But the rabbit head was relentless. Its strength suddenly grew. No matter how Nan Deng tried, it couldn’t pry its mouth open.

Nan Deng had no choice but to relent. “Alright… but you have to stay hidden and not come out.”

He stuffed the rabbit head into his pocket, gave one last glance at the still unconscious Lian Yi, and passed through the wall to leave.

Once outside, Nan Deng couldn’t shake off the fear creeping in his heart.

He kept murmuring to himself, “It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine,” and tried to stay in the shaded areas, heading toward the city.

There were several pharmacies in the city center and they also kept a small stock of talisman water and other ghost-repelling medicines from the celestial masters’ talisman shop.

Nan Deng just needed to be careful, avoid the patrolling celestial masters during the day, and sneak into a pharmacy to steal some medicine.

As he left the outskirts, the number of people on the streets increased.

Nan Deng was anxious, enduring the scorching sunlight. Fortunately, he was lucky and quickly found a pharmacy.

Inside the pharmacy, two clerks were serving a customer. Nan Deng silently passed through the walls.

Ordinary people couldn’t see soul bodies and fewer celestial masters were patrolling during the day, so no one would think that a ghost would dare to come out during the daytime.

On the counter were several bottles of special talisman water. Nan Deng took advantage of the clerks’ distraction and quietly slipped one into his pocket.

When he reached the crowded shelves, he froze in place.

So many medicines… which one should he take?

The rabbit head suddenly popped out of Nan Deng’s pocket and, ignoring his attempt to stop it, jumped to the ground.

It opened its mouth and spat out a bottle of talisman water, looked at Nan Deng, and then swallowed it back down.

“Huh?” Nan Deng widened his eyes slightly.

Looking at Rabbit Head’s seemingly bottomless throat, a bold idea crossed his mind.

The two clerks had sent the customer away and were attended by several others.

None of the people in the pharmacy noticed when a box of medicine on a shelf moved slightly and then vanished into thin air.

Nan Deng grabbed one of each type of medicine and the rabbit head kept opening its mouth and swallowing, packing them all away.

Finally, one of the clerks noticed that a bottle of talisman water had mysteriously gone missing. She asked her colleague in confusion, “Did you take it?”

Her colleague was equally puzzled. “No, I thought you took it.”

They both quickly noticed several obvious gaps on the shelf, but by then, Nan Deng had already left quickly with the rabbit head in tow.

The sunlight grew stronger. Nan Deng dared not relax for even a moment. When he finally returned to Lian Yi’s residence, it felt almost dreamlike, as if in a haze.

He entered the bedroom. Lian Yi was still lying in bed, showing no signs of improvement.

The rabbit head jumped out of his pocket, and Nan Deng picked it up. “First… let’s use the talisman water, the one in the small bottle.”

The rabbit head opened its mouth and spat out a bottle of talisman water.

Other medicines couldn’t be taken recklessly, but talisman water was safe to drink even without encountering a ghost. Nan Deng went to the kitchen, grabbed a cup, and poured the talisman water into it.

Lian Yi remained unconscious. Nan Deng struggled to prop him up, leaning him against the soft cushion at the head of the bed. Using a spoon, he slowly fed him the water.

The rabbit head jumped onto the bed and accidentally burped, spitting out a bunch of medicine boxes.

After feeding Lian Yi the talisman water, Nan Deng found a box of fever medicine. He opened a capsule and mixed it with water, then gave it to Lian Yi as well.

Once he had done all that, Nan Deng sat down for a while, staring blankly.

He hoped Lian Yi would wake up soon; otherwise, with all the medicines left, he wouldn’t know which one to use.

If…

Nan Deng looked down at his semi-transparent hands.

If this still didn’t work, what should he do next? Go ask the celestial masters for help?

After all, only the celestial masters could see him and hear his voice.

This was the first time Nan Deng had encountered such a situation. He had no experience at all and couldn’t be sure whether what he was doing was correct.

Fortunately, after giving Lian Yi the fever medicine, his body temperature began to drop noticeably.

Nan Deng moved closer to him, lying right next to him.

He closed his eyes and silently prayed.

The rabbit head burped again, spitting out a few forgotten medicine boxes.

It seemed eager to show Nan Deng, but when it turned its head, it saw that Nan Deng’s eyes were tightly shut, his body glowing with flickers of light.

Nan Deng was completely unaware of this. He held Lian Yi’s hand, feeling his warmth.

It wasn’t clear how much time had passed, but eventually, Lian Yi awoke from his unconscious state. He immediately sensed that someone was lying beside him—not a half-transparent soul, but a real, solid human being.

Soon, Lian Yi saw Nan Deng.

Nan Deng had his eyes closed, breathing gently. His black hair cascaded down the side of his neck, one hand gripping the blanket, while the other hand was holding Lian Yi’s.

Lian Yi almost thought he was dreaming and reached out to touch the side of Nan Deng’s face.

“Nan Deng?”

Nan Deng suddenly opened his eyes, feeling a wave of dizziness.

He quickly realized something was off, feeling discomfort in his chest.

Soon, he heard his own heartbeat.

Nan Deng couldn’t adjust to it. His breathing became erratic as he pressed his hand to his chest, panicking, “What’s happening to me?”

Had the sun caused him to almost die?

Lian Yi wanted to comfort him, but Nan Deng abruptly pushed his hand away and hurried to the wardrobe, as if trying to hide inside.

Bang—

Nan Deng accidentally slammed into the wardrobe door and realized that he couldn’t pass through the wooden board now.

He pulled open the wardrobe, quickly crawled inside, and slammed the door shut with a “bang”.

The room was quiet for a moment before footsteps approached the wardrobe.

Lian Yi opened the wardrobe and saw Nan Deng curled up in the dark corner.

“Nan Deng,” he crouched down, reaching his hand toward the corner. “Don’t be afraid. Let me see.”

After a long while, there was finally a faint movement inside the wardrobe. Half of Nan Deng’s pale fingers cautiously extended out, gently touching Lian Yi’s palm.

• 1
  ND