Chapter 295: A Cruel Act of Self-Preservation
The sudden, earth-shattering upheaval sent Fang Xiaocao and Hummingbird rolling together, Hummingbird shielding Fang Xiaocao as they tumbled haphazardly towards a corner.
Fang Xiaocao could even hear the dull thuds of stones striking Hummingbird’s body, and Hummingbird’s suppressed groans of pain.
Fang Xiaocao was anxious, but there was nothing she could do.
During the chaotic rolling, Fang Xiaocao’s head struck a fallen beam on the ground, and she blacked out.
Time passed, and Fang Xiaocao slowly regained consciousness, her eyelids fluttering. Even before she fully opened her eyes, she sensed the harsh glare of light overhead.
Though her mind was still a hazy blur, her past brushes with life-threatening situations triggered an instinctive sense of foreboding.
“Something’s wrong!”
“This isn’t the tomb chamber anymore!”
Fang Xiaocao thought to herself.
She suppressed the urge to open her eyes and investigate immediately.
Fang Xiaocao tried to regulate her breathing, making it seem as if she were still asleep, never having awakened.
She strained her ears, listening for any sound.
“Where am I? Could Taotie and the others have taken me out of the tomb and brought me to a hospital?”
“That doesn’t seem likely. No hospital would use such bright lights. And it’s definitely not an operating room. First, I wouldn’t have woken up so quickly after anesthesia. Second, if my injuries required surgery, there would be sounds in the operating room…”
Fang Xiaocao’s mind raced, trying to analyze her surroundings.
“No sound, an eerie silence…”
“I’m probably alone here, right?”
“If that’s the case, I’m temporarily safe…”
After confirming there were no sounds around her, Fang Xiaocao cautiously opened her eyes a sliver.
In her blurry vision, she saw an LED light hanging overhead. The ceiling and walls were white, making her think this was a laboratory or a hospital room.
She shifted her gaze away from the overhead light and saw an iron bed not far away. On the bed lay a disheveled woman wearing only her underwear. Her limbs were strapped to the bed frame with leather belts. Her hair obscured her face, but judging from her figure, Fang Xiaocao believed the woman was Hummingbird.
Seeing Hummingbird’s bound limbs, Fang Xiaocao’s heart skipped a beat. She tried to move her own limbs.
With this movement, Fang Xiaocao’s heart sank.
As expected…
Her own limbs were also bound.
“Damn it…”
“Where exactly is this place…”
Fang Xiaocao cursed inwardly.
She strained her neck, looking around.
Apart from herself and Hummingbird, Taotie and Tom were nowhere to be seen.
Fang Xiaocao tried to call out to Hummingbird softly, but Hummingbird lay motionless on the bed, unresponsive, as if dead.
Seeing this, Fang Xiaocao’s heart sank.
“It seems I have to find a way to save myself…”
Fang Xiaocao muttered, and began her attempt at self-rescue. The leather belts binding Hummingbird’s wrists were stiff, like those used for waist belts. Such belts couldn’t be tied tightly, and there would always be gaps.
So, Fang Xiaocao tried to move her wrists.
As expected, the belts weren’t too tight. Her wrists could move, and she could feel some small gaps.
Fang Xiaocao was overjoyed. She began to shake her wrists back and forth, rubbing her skin against the belts. Occasionally, she would exert force with her arms, trying to pull them out, causing the rough edges of the belts to rub against the skin of her hands.
Soon, Fang Xiaocao’s fair skin turned red, and the skin on her wrists and palms was worn away, the blood staining the belts and sheets, and her palms.
Fang Xiaocao gritted her teeth, enduring the pain.
She wouldn’t let out a sound.
But tears still streamed down her face, soaking the pillow beneath her head.
In Fang Xiaocao’s near-masochistic struggle, the edges of her wrists and palms, bound by the belts, became a bloody mess. The excruciating pain made her bite her lip, and her whole body trembled. Tears flowed like a broken dam.
“It should be almost there…”
Fang Xiaocao said in a trembling voice.
She gritted her teeth, enduring the pain of moving her hands, and tried to shrink her palms and fingers to the smallest possible size.
The next second!
Fang Xiaocao suddenly exerted force, pulling her hands out. With a suppressed cry of pain, her bloodied hands miraculously slipped out of the belts.
“Ah…”
Fang Xiaocao pulled her hands back to her chest, unable to suppress a silent wail of agony.
The piercing pain contorted her features. She buried her face in the pillow, already soaked with sweat and tears, and bit down on the disinfectant-smelling pillowcase.
The pain made her sob uncontrollably.
After tens of seconds, Fang Xiaocao finally stopped sobbing.
Not because the pain had subsided…
But because she was numb from the pain.
Fang Xiaocao trembled, reaching into her underwear with her bloodied hand, and pulled out a tightly wrapped blade.
The whole action seemed simple.
But for Fang Xiaocao, it was a form of torture. Every time the wound rubbed against her clothes, she would gasp in pain.
She brought the blade to her mouth.
She used her teeth to tear off the tape wrapped around the blade, revealing the sharp blade inside.
Fang Xiaocao held the blade, trying to twist her body, using the blade to cut the belts binding her other hand.
One cut…
Two cuts…
The belts were tough and stiff.
Even with the blade, it was difficult to cut through them.
Under the stimulation of pain, Fang Xiaocao felt every moment stretch into an eternity. After an unknown amount of time, a soft “snap” was heard. The belts, unable to withstand the relentless assault of the blade, finally snapped.
With both hands free, Fang Xiaocao breathed a sigh of relief.
By now, she was drenched in sweat.
She couldn’t tell if the sweat was from pain or exhaustion.
After resting for tens of seconds, she switched the blade to her good hand, took a deep breath, and sat up with a sudden burst of abdominal strength.
She used the blade to cut the belts binding her feet. Free at last, she wept tears of joy.
Staggering to the ground, her bare feet touching the cold floor, Fang Xiaocao stumbled towards the table by the door, where her and Hummingbird’s clothes and weapons were placed.
Perhaps they were too confident, but whoever had bound her and Hummingbird hadn’t taken their guns and daggers. Regaining her weapons gave the uneasy Fang Xiaocao a sense of security.
Grabbing her gun and dagger, Fang Xiaocao swayed towards Hummingbird…
