The woman slowly stood up, while Zhao Hequan was held by the neck and lifted off the ground.
She brought her face closer, as if scrutinizing carefully.
Gradually, dark spots started to appear on Zhao Hequan’s neck, exactly where the woman was gripping, and quickly spread across his entire body.
Then, these spots began to merge and expand, forming patches of black pus-filled sores, with each sore’s central region bulging and oozing pus, which slid down his body and gathered at the feet suspended above the ground, eventually dripping onto the floor.
Yet, Zhao Hequan did not show signs of pain nor struggle, appearing as if he was still deep in sleep.
On the contrary, Li Zhiyuan suddenly felt an ominous premonition inside; if touching this woman leads to infection and decay, then those two pieces of flesh that fell on his face earlier...
The itch started on his face.
After careful feeling, it was real itchiness, not psychological.
But now, even with the itchiness, Li Zhiyuan didn’t dare to scratch it.
Then, the woman, holding Zhao Hequan with just her left hand, kept him horizontally beside her body, creating a stark contrast with the woman’s stature, which was indeed unusually tall.
The sudden appearance and eye contact with the woman had shocked Li Zhiyuan so much that he had overlooked this aspect, but now, he realized that the woman’s frame resembled a deity statue in temples.
Seemingly having found the person she was looking for, the woman walked down the dam while carrying Zhao Hequan.
She walked steadily, eyes fixed forward.
Halfway through, while her body continued to move ahead, her head suddenly rotated ninety degrees and looked over.
Li Zhiyuan’s heart shuddered,
was still observing him!
The woman kept looking in his direction as she walked on, eventually leaving his field of vision as she descended the dam.
The itching on his face persisted.
Li Zhiyuan lay still, his eyelids barely open.
The sense of time seemed distorted at this moment; he didn’t know how much time had passed, but he remained still.
at the lower left corner of his field of vision, the woman’s flesh-twisting face abruptly peered out.
As if someone who had left the house suddenly remembered something, their body outside, but leaning back to poke their head in and look at you.
The two rows of white teeth were the only parts that could indicate her facial expression.
The teeth maintained a slight gap, which, when filled in with imagination, gave her the visage of fleshed-out facial features, as if she was smiling.
Just checking to see if you’re really asleep.
However, this time Li Zhiyuan was not startled, as he had anticipated this move.
Because the chill had not dissipated, it meant the woman was still close by, lingering in the vicinity.
In his mind, he could imagine her standing motionless below the dam.
Liu Jinxia had said that those filthy spirits take an unusual interest in those who can see them, so even if one "sees" the spirit, one must pretend to be unaware.
Eventually, the oppressive atmosphere disappeared, the chills dissipated, and the summer heat swept back in, with the evening breeze also bringing in fresh air.
It felt as if walking out of a freezer, both body and spirit thawing.
This made the itchiness on his face even more intense.
It seemed like nothing would be more satisfying in this world than scratching it just a few times right now.
But still, Li Zhiyuan didn’t move.
His willpower was slackening, his self-control almost ripped apart, but he persevered, maintaining his previous sleeping pose and eye gaze.
Abruptly, the cold came back, quickly and violently this time.
It wasn’t that he had been dragged back into the freezer, but rather the freezer had opened its door, grown legs, and swallowed him whole.
There were two sounds of landing beside his ear, accompanied by the clear friction of chains.
In his line of sight, just a little ahead of his body, a pair of legs appeared, at their ends, feet still dripping with pus.
These were Zhao Hequan’s feet; he was being held aloft by the woman.
So now, the woman was standing behind him, very close to his head.
She was still watching him.
At this moment, Li Zhiyuan found her relentless persistence incomprehensible.
Since you’re testing me over and over again, why not just pick me up like you did with Zhao Hequan?
Don’t you have one hand free?
Then, Li Zhiyuan suddenly remembered hearing during the day that it was two Haihe University students who had broken the iron chains on the female bodhisattva with a hammer.
It must have been Xue Liangliang and Zhao Hequan.
But the woman only lifted Zhao Hequan, not Xue Liangliang.
So, does this prove that the woman can only take one person with her this time?
Suddenly, Li Zhiyuan’s mind cleared.
This was a kind of inverse competition, with himself and Zhao Hequan as the competitors. If he showed any weakness, the woman might let go of Zhao Hequan and turn to take him instead.
Her continuous testing was actually a weighing of options.
Li Zhiyuan would never sacrifice himself to save Zhao Hequan; given a choice between the two, he would definitely prefer Zhao Hequan to accompany the woman.
After all, his ideal country was the United States, with a difficult visa process and the ocean vast and hard to cross; reincarnating and transferring there was a shortcut worth considering.
Enduring silently was unbearable, but once the problem was simplified into a race, it fell right into his wheelhouse.
The sharp chill came fast and left just as quickly; the woman must have moved on again.