Daomu Biji Volume 8 Chapter 19

Fatty finally woke up four hours later.  We were all anxiously waiting for him while Xiao Hua made all the preparations.  But after he woke up, he only lasted ten minutes before he fell asleep again.  After that, he woke up two or three more times, but was sluggish and unable to communicate at all.

Mute Sister said he was extremely weakened and gave him some protein.  In the meantime, we had been studying the picture on his stomach, judging the general direction according to the condition of the old and new wounds. Each turn of these scratches should be a fork, and judging from the complexity of the pattern, the path through the cracks below was far more complicated than we expected.

I was very impatient, not knowing whether we were wasting time waiting like this. Fatty asked us to follow the map to save everyone so we should be able to by relying on it. Xiao Hua was the calmest among us, and thought that we hadn't got any more useful information than this road map. The danger of going down now was very great, and it was possible that not only might we fail to save them, but would get trapped down there ourselves.

Pan Zi reminded me before that I must be responsible for everyone's lives, so Xiao Hua was right.  I had been telling myself this the entire time, but no matter how many times I repeated it, all I could think about was my own anxiety.

After another four hours of waiting, Fatty still showed no sign of waking up completely so Xiao Hua decided to move.

He and Pan Zi took some people down first and copied the map to see if it was accurate while I waited for Fatty to wake up.  This was also Pan Zi's previous plan.

I told Xiao Hua to be careful since he and Pan Zi were too important to me and I couldn't play this game alone. He told me that once he realized the dangers we were facing, he wouldn't take any risks; otherwise he would have split the group with Pan Zi and gone down separately.  The two then went down together, and just in case, someone could bring news and wait for our second team to arrive if something happened.

After they left, I went to Fatty's tent to take care of him and dragged Xiuxiu with me in case Mute Sister challenged me when we were alone.

A whole day passed since Xiao Hua and the others went down into the crevice, and Fatty fully woke up the evening of the next day.

Everything seemed to be going well, and there was no bad news— which barely lessened my anxiety— so when Fatty woke up, I waited patiently for him to recover.

It was the first time I saw someone wake up like that. He first opened his eyes and looked at the top of the tent, and it took him ten minutes to finally move them. Then his eyes slowly swept towards us, and after that, he closed them again.

I thought he was going to sleep again, and I couldn't help it. I wanted to pour cold water on him. I didn't expect him to open his eyes again and say: “There's an old master in this dream. It's definitely not a dream.”

“Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?” Mute Sister asked.

“Yes, but I figured you'd scold me as a smelly rogue if I said so… I would like that place massaged.”  Fatty said slowly.

Mute Sister looked at me and obviously had never seen such an unreliable person, so she turned and left the tent.

Fatty's eyes turned again: “Master Three, aren't you dead?  What, am I dead too and you came to pick me up?  Damn, that smelly bitch didn't even come to see me when I died?”

“Cut the crap.”  Xiuxiu said, “Can you do it or not? Tell me the situation quickly. We have to go down and save those people.”

When she mentioned this, Fatty's eyes glazed over for a moment before he responded, “Fuck, I almost forgot.  How many days have I been out?” Then he seemed to return to his normal self and wanted to sit up, but he had sleep too long and his muscles were stiff, so he fell back down.  Xiuxiu immediately went to pull him up and put some backpacks behind him to lean on.

His eyes were a little glazed again. Xiuxiu covered his head with a towel and opened the flap of the tent to let the sunshine in and stimulate his nerves.

She gave him a rough idea of how we found him while he looked up to the heavens and seemed to be thinking. After a long time, he said, “I was away from that place for 12 days.” He turned his head and said, “Mr. Naive?  I seemed to have heard his voice before.”

“He already went down. You said he should follow the map to save those people. He and Pan Zi have been there for nearly 48 hours.” I said.

Fatty listened and murmured, “How many people went down?”

“Four.”  Xiuxiu answered.

Fatty thought for a moment and then said, “In that case, I still have some time. That boy managed to do it once, and I thought this was worse. What's the matter with you, Master Three? Why did you show up again? “

I gave a quick laugh: “It's a long story. Tell us first what happened to you.”

Fatty made a gesture of wanting something to drink and Xiuxiu immediately went to make him a cup of coffee. Fatty took a sip and said, “I'll tell you later, how many more people do you have?”

When I gave him the number, he said, “We have to leave in 12 hours. I'll lead the way and we may still be able to catch up with them.”

“You want to go back in?”

“The situation there is very special. I'll tell you later and you'll know that there's basically no danger following my map. Mr. Naive should be able to cope with it.  However, they definitely won't be able to pass the final hurdle.”

I knew Fatty very well and could tell from his expression that he wasn't joking.  I immediately called to Leather Bag outside the tent and asked him to prepare everything immediately.

Fatty moved his hands and feet, but was still a little slow. His face became clearer to see in the sun and it looked very swollen and tired.  I asked him if he would like to sleep again, but he shook his head, drank up the coffee, and continued, “I don't have much time. I have to tell you immediately what happened to us.”

I nodded and he sighed, “Fuck, Master Three, this time was really an eye-opener. I didn't think there was such a strange place in the world.”

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Chapter end