Zhao Sanqi and the other six joined forces, only then could they suppress the crazed old w.a.n.g Fei.

“AhHHh——”

With a swift motion of her hand, Wan Yu hit the back of the man's neck, rendering him back unconscious.

“Fifth brother is… what's happening to him?” Liumei Muqing cried bitterly, pulling him into her arms.

“His wounds are infected.”

With all the commotion, Minghui drunkenly roused from her sleep. Having seen the crowd gathered at one side, all surrounding the same person, she came over to them and became sober in a blink of an eye once she saw the wound.

There was a large hole in w.a.n.g Fei's thigh. His flesh was already decomposing, emitting a foul odor, exposing bone to everyone's eyes. It was as if a sharp object had gouged his tissues out.

Once he was held down from his hands to feet, they were quick to discover something bulging from his thighs, squirming just under the surface of his skin.

Though w.a.n.g Fei was currently in a comatose state, he grimaced and breathed heavily.

“We only had time to harvest the meat from those beetles, I didn't think something like this would happen.” Guilt devoured Zhao Sanqi.

“What do we do? If this goes on, fifth brother will die.” The old Liu Muqing had tears streaming down her eyes. In mere minutes, her eyes were already red.

“Eldest brother, can we leave the Purple Devil Mountains right now? We might still be able to save fifth brother otherwise.”

Dongfang Wan Yu came forward, gently pressing her fingers near his open wounds. She watched as two or three maggots escaped from the top of his legs, “The larvae has already been deposited, even if you leave, I'm afraid that won't save his life.”

To them, this sentence was amounted to being given a death penalty.

Dongfang Minghui nodded and confirmed her words, “Once the larvae reaches his veins and internal organs, he won't return from heaven.”

Minghui was so caught up in trying to escape her death, figuring out ways to brush good will to the protagonist, that she forgot she used to be a doctor.

“Then what can we do? Just watch him suffer like this?” As she said this, Muqing's tears flowed down her face.

“You must catch a female iron beetle.” Dongfang Wan Yu wasn't sure where she took out the porcelain bottle, “This is a life-protecting Dan, it can delay his death. If you can't find a female iron beetle, I can't save him.

Muqing stretched her arm to take the medicine, pouring its contents directly on her fifth brother's mouth.

Zhao Sanqi clenched his fists and was overwhelmingly grateful, “Girl, if you ever want something, don't be hesitant to ask. If we can do it, we will, regardless of the cost.”

Dongfang Wan Yu couldn't help but chuckle, “If you have the time to say this, it'd be better used on catching the beetle, if you make a mistake, you guys better prepare a coffin for him.”

Zhao Sanqi nodded and praised, “Right right, you're completely right. Can you tell me why we have to catch a lone female iron beetle though?”

“For newborn larvae, if it smells the unique urine smell of the female iron beetle, it will come out and look for it. It's one of the easiest ways to get the larvae out of your brother's body,” Wan Yu slowly came over, pointing the girl who looked after the man. “You better remove that smell. The scent is an enemy of the iron beetles. They're naturally afraid of the smell.”

Hearing this, Minghui felt she dropped a brick right onto her foot.

After listening to the words of Wan Yu, everyone gathered together to once again discuss a plan, this time to capture a female in the iron beetle cave.

A dumbfounded Minghui sat idly to the side, thinking about how the protagonist never expected anything in return.

A burst of trembles suddenly entered her ears, emerging from a tree behind her.

Turning around, Dongfang Minghui spotted the eyes of a certain thief, squinting at her. No, it was eyeing at the food in her arms.

Due to the stinky smell on her body, Minghui made no effort to cover up the smell of roasted meat.

The Lightning mouse was as fast as lightning. The point was that one accidental scratch from the tip of its claws would mean the end of her life.

Minghui was vigilant, she made an unhappy expression, saying in a tiny voice, “You're the one that took my bags away, aren't you?”

The mouse tilted its head, looking innocent.

If it'd been before, Minghui might've been duped, but after eating a loss, she knew better. One hand hugged her stuff to her chest, another used a finger to  trace an image of her bag in the air.

The message was simple, want food but no baggage? No way.

The creature stretched out its pink tongue to lick itself. Minghui turned her head away so she couldn't look, but spared an occasional glance to see what it was up to.

Because Minghui held a firm stance this time around, the lightning mouse swished its tail and left.

Minghui briefly turned her attention back on the group. As their discussions were still on-going, it seemed that n.o.body had noticed the anomaly. She couldn't help but breath out a relieved sigh.

A short while later, another burst of sound was heard, this time the movements were heavier.

The night was still long, just when Minghui was about to sleep, she jolted awake from the movements of the lightning mouse, watching it drag over her backpack.

Its long, fluffy tail swung side to side, dropping the bag in front of Dongfang Minghui.

It showed its teeth expressively.

“You're giving them back to me?” She could hardly believe her good fortune, she thought her things would be forever lost, she didn't expect they'd actually reunite.

The mouse rested its paws on her bags. It licked its mouth and paws for Minghui to see, eyes screaming with the words “Eat, eat, eat!”

“Alright,” Minghui took and unwrapped the food packed in her arms. One by one, she fed it to the mouse, “Look at you being so smart in spite of your age, have some more.”

One human and one beast stayed together quietly. One was responsible for feeding, the other was responsible for being cute and performing tricks to beg for food. Nothing needed to be said, they were in an unusually harmonious relations.h.i.+p.

Once the last piece of was fed to the mouse, Minghui waved out her palms for the mouse to see, “All gone now.”

The Lightning mouse groomed its paws, giving a glance to Dongfang Minghui. Probably because of the meal, the mouse appeared satisfied, the fur on its body was settled. The creature flicked its tail and silently melted into the darkness.

“Did my words from before pa.s.s through your head?”  Wan Yu actually discovered the situation earlier, but the Lightning mouse was clever, disappearing before she could confront it.

For Dongfang Minghui to once again approach the rat so carelessly with little fear from death, Wan Yu was displeased.

On the contrary, Minghui was delighted to get her belongings back, “I didn't search for it, it came over to me by itself, look, it's our stuff!”

She opened her bag scrutinized the insides. Finding out that nothing was taken, her mood lifted even higher.

Glimpsing at her innocent face, Wan Yu fell into a deep, inexplicable thought. How did the arrogant, domineering lady in the household from before metamorphosize  into to lady nine right now?

“Seventh sister, your wounds still needs to be treated.” Minghui brought out a bottle filled with medicinal powder from her bag. She sniffed at the contents, verifying it as medicine meant to stop bleeding.

Letting Wan Yu expose her injury, Minghui found that the cut was still deep. Using the clean water she prepared before dinner, she cleaned her wound and dabbled the affected area with the powdered medicine. A strip of uncontaminated cloth was sliced from a dagger, it wrapped itself around the wound and was tied into a bow.

“It's done.” Minghui smiled.

Wan Yu glanced at her work, pulling her sleeves down, “Thanks.”

“Seventh sister, I'll guard the latter half of the night, you take a break.” Since Minghui didn't  feel like she could sleep anyways, she thought to do something productive.

As for tomorrow… there may still be a hard battle to fight.

Wan Yu didn't argue, she went to the tree before, closing her eyes.

For now, only four was active, the heroine was sleeping, and the Muqing girl who refused to rest in favor of taking care of the seriously injured man.

“What should we do for tomorrow?” Minghui muttered, having found a spot to chat with the gra.s.s and trees.

Though the mercenaries rushed into the caves with the intention of capturing a female iron beetle, one was greedy enough to aim for King iron beetle eggs as well. They had managed to succeed, but now that the eggs were stolen, the whole h.o.a.rd was stirred, the entire clan of iron beetles retreated to their nests. Not even the smell of the corpse could repress them.

Through her lucky plot armor, the protagonist would definitely be able to survive, but what about the rest? And the book provided no insight on the fate of lady nine running into this scary place…

“What do you think  I should do?” Minghui sat on the front, tugging and yanking at the gra.s.s.

“Eiieeie! Don't pull, don't pull! You'll strip me bare! ”

“Are there any other enemies other than the corpse gra.s.s for those beetles? You can tell me, quickly, and I'll spare you from being pulled out. ” Minghui stomped, stamping the gra.s.s into the dirt.

“Eeee! Can't say, if you step on me more I really can't say!”

In an instant, Minghui lifted up her foot. “I was wrong, now, tell me about it soon. Otherwise, if the beetles end up storming to the nest tomorrow, you guys will really suffer.

Stepped into bits.

Dizzily, the gra.s.s swayed side to side, “Dunno, but I can ask my friend.”

Minghui was dejected,  “Fine.”

Minghui didn't realize that a pair of eyes had opened, watching her from afar.

“You're ninth sister sure is cute, being able to talk to plants and all. You sure she's not planning something by getting close to you?” The cold voice rang again.

Wan Yu closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

The next morning, Minghui woke up from a hairy tail. She made several grabs to catch it, but failed with every attempt. Instead, a heavy object suddenly sat on her chest, the weight causing her to hardly breathe

“Zi zi zi…”

Dongfang Minghui opened her eyes, finding a pair of bulging eyes staring back at her. The little guy sat steadily on her chest, tail sweeping. Sweeping on her face.

Her head s.h.i.+fted left to right. Except for Muqing, who was still taking care of her unconscious fifth brother, everyone including protagonist disappeared.

“Get off little guy.” Dongfang Minghui put aside the creature and used her hands to tidy her clothes.

The Lightning mouse also studied Minghui's actions, using his tail to tidy himself. The mouse used its tail to wrap itself around Minghui's wrist, pulling her.

“Mm, what do you want?”

The mouse took a step forward, dragging her along, then took another step. It turned back to look at her dazedly.

“You want me to come with you?”

The lightning rat shook its tail, took two steps forward, then glanced back at her.

Dongfang Minghui had no choice but to follow, but even if she wanted to, there was no certainty on where she'd land.

“Little guy, if I don't know the way back, what are you gonna do?”

The mouse squeaked for a long time, but it was chickens talking to ducks, Minghui's lips dried up and she could only give up.

“Go on then, I'll come along.”

TL Notes:

What's a good onomatopoeia for "吱吱吱"? It's definitely meant to be a squeak noise, but… Hm.

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