Chapter 20: Poke, Poke Poke, Still Alive...

Su Miao stared outside for nearly five minutes, then, holding her umbrella, decided to go down and take a look.

If anything went wrong, she would immediately draw her umbrella sword and thrust it out.

The torrential rain had stopped.

Because the villa sat on higher ground, the water outside drained quickly, leaving only a thin layer on the ground after a short while.

Su Miao walked over to the man who appeared to be unconscious...

Well, to be precise, he was an old man.

His hair was a tangled mass, streaked with white, and his beard was equally unkempt, mostly gray now. His clothes were worn, clearly something he’d been wearing for many years. His pants were black, with a gash near the calf—a wound made by a knife. His back bore several cuts as well, all inflicted by blades. The main bleeding was from his calf and back.

Su Miao poked the old man with her umbrella.

He didn't react at all.

She approached cautiously, checked his breathing with her finger—it was very weak. She felt for his pulse, which was barely there, like the dying flame of a candle, ready to extinguish at any moment.

If she didn’t help, he would certainly die.

If she didn’t help...

Su Miao stood up, glanced at the landslide zone in the distance. If she pushed him over there, death would come swiftly, she thought.

But the old man had just crawled out from there—it wouldn’t be right to shove him back in.

After thinking for a while longer, Su Miao decided to help.

She tried to drag him.

Despite not being dead, the old man was heavier than a corpse, and her strength alone couldn’t move him.

What to do?

Su Miao glanced at the gray sky.

At the moment, the torrential rain was only paused; it would surely start again soon. If she left this severely wounded old man here, the next wave of rain would either sweep him into the landslide zone or kill him from hypothermia.

“Maybe I could try magic...”

Su Miao thought it over and decided to attempt it.

She only knew a handful of spells: the enigmatic Starlight Bloom, the small fireball, the small waterball, and the magic space.

Since he wasn't an actual corpse, storing him in the magic space was impossible. If he went in alive and died inside, bringing him out would be problematic.

Su Miao decided to use the small waterball spell.

Small Waterball!

In the next moment, fist-sized waterballs formed in the air, absorbing the water on the ground and growing larger. Distributed evenly, they supported the old man's body and gently lifted him.

It worked.

Su Miao wasted no time, carrying the old man quickly to a nearby empty villa, finding a room on the first floor.

“Disperse!”

The waterballs supporting the old man vanished.

His body landed on the bed.

Perhaps as a result of the waterball spell dissipating, his clothes dried out, and even the bleeding stopped.

Su Miao blinked.

Magic was truly astonishing.

This was good—she wouldn't have to apply medicine or anything else.

After all, getting the old man here was already a great effort.

“The rest is up to you, whether you survive or not.”

Su Miao rummaged through her magic space and found some anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics, and some Yunnan Baiyao, placing them on the table.

“I’ll leave you something to eat.”

She pulled out some biscuits, instant noodles, and a couple of bottles of mineral water, setting them down.

With this done, Su Miao briskly exited the villa and closed the door.

She wasn’t a doctor—this was all she could do.

According to most apocalypse novels, the protagonist usually wouldn’t help in this situation.

If she wasn’t careful, the rescue might even bring danger upon herself.

But seeing the old man drag his wounded body out of the landslide, Su Miao decided to help.

If he had been awake and able to speak, she probably would have abandoned the rescue.

But what Su Miao didn’t know was that as she turned to leave, the old man lying on the bed managed to open his eyes and saw her blurry figure.

“I’m... still alive…”

Old Song mouthed the words silently, then slipped back into unconsciousness.

...

Chang Jieming scrambled back to the cave entrance, gasping for breath, his expression filled with terror.

“Hurry! Hurry! Grab your things and run!”

“Everyone, run!”

He kicked awake those who had just fallen asleep after eating, grabbed a huge bag of biscuits, and was the first to flee outside.

The other security guards weren’t sure what was happening, but seeing familiar faces like Old He and Xiao Chen disappear, and two more missing after searching deeper in the cave, combined with their captain Chang Jieming looking utterly shaken, everyone knew something terrible had happened.

Whether genuinely drunk or not, everyone quickly gathered their supplies and fled the cave.

“Captain, where are we going?”

On the way, someone asked.

Chang Jieming paused, looked toward the villas near the parking lot, and said, “Let’s head to the villas over there.”

He glanced again toward the cave, still shaken. “Hurry up! Hurry up!”

Luckily the torrential rain had stopped; otherwise, moving supplies in the rain would have cost them even more.

But because the rain had stopped, Chang Jieming was deeply worried that the monster in the cave might come after them.

He’d brought people to this cave several times before, and nothing had ever happened.

How could there be such a giant spider?!

...

“Fox, why hasn’t Old Wolf arrived yet?”

In the villa area, Brother Long, clutching a socialite beside him and eating fresh grapes, turned and asked, “If he doesn’t come soon, he’ll miss out on all this luxury.”

Fox’s expression grew serious. “That’s true. The rain has stopped, but Old Wolf still hasn’t come—it’s odd.”

“I checked earlier; the places washed out by the landslide have mostly been cleared by the rain. As long as he takes the high ground, he can get here without much trouble.”

Another person chimed in, “Could something have happened to Old Wolf?”

Brother Long immediately stood up. “No, I have to check.”

Old Wolf was his half-brother, and their bond was strong. They’d always shared good fortune and faced danger together; not once had they left each other behind.

Fox said, “Brother Long, don’t be hasty. Maybe Old Wolf made it over, but with everyone’s phones out of signal, he just can’t find us. Let’s leave some clues for him first, and if we still can’t find him, we’ll go look.”

Brother Long breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re right. The tourist area is huge, and the landslide made it even harder to search.”

“Fox, make arrangements—turn up the music, and let the brothers keep the party going!”

...

Fox headed out.

He first went to the villa they’d originally stayed in and left a note, just in case Old Wolf showed up and could find them.

After that, he searched along the landslide area.

If Old Wolf came through, he might have left traces in the mud.

Soon, Fox spotted footprints across the muddy zone, but these led to the opposite direction—clearly not Old Wolf.

He walked further and saw an arm protruding from the mud.

The arm bore a familiar tattoo.

From a distance, it was hard to see, so Fox risked moving closer.

On the arm was a wolf’s head.

It was their brother, Old Wolf!

Old Wolf was dead!