Chapter 1 Roaring Wind and Grey Snow
The cool wind howled, making it difficult to walk, and the grey snowflakes pricked at one's face like sharp thorns.
Wan Lei freed a hand, pulled up the scarf on his face, jumped twice to shake off the snow, and hitched Fang Xiaoyu up higher on his back.
Fang Xiaoyu was asleep; perhaps sleeping made the pain less noticeable.
There was another dilapidated village ahead. Wan Lei took the hammer in his hand, walked into the village, and patrolled it, one house at a time. After confirming there were no enemies, he stopped at a relatively well-preserved house.
The house had a roof, but the wind could blow in from the east window and out from the west.
The village was empty of people and corpses. Wan Lei figured they must have been looted by Kallen's army.
Fortunately, he found a stove.
Even more fortunately, there was firewood and lamp oil nearby.
Exhausted and seriously injured, Wan Lei placed Fang Xiaoyu next to the stove, filled it with firewood, poured in lamp oil, and lit it with a fire starter.
There was a large vat nearby, filled with water frozen into ice.
Wan Lei smashed the ice with his hammer, shattering the vat.
Ice chunks scattered on the ground. Wan Lei picked one up and put it in the pot.
The firewood crackled and popped as it burned. Wan Lei took out the sleeping dog and placed it next to the stove. The long-absent warmth made the dog sleep even more soundly.
Wan Lei took off Fang Xiaoyu's pants and warmed them by the stove. He took out a dagger and carefully cut away the rotten flesh around the wound on her leg, trying to remove the arrowhead.
"Ah!!!"
The sudden, sharp pain woke Fang Xiaoyu. Looking at her tear-streaked face, Wan Lei's heart clenched.
"Bear with it, I'll get the arrowhead out and bandage it for you."
"Okay."
Wan Lei cut away the rotten flesh, exposing the broken shaft of the arrowhead. He pinched the broken shaft, thought for a moment, and then took off his scarf and put it in Fang Xiaoyu's mouth for her to bite down on.
Then,
"Mmm!!!"
The excruciating pain caused Fang Xiaoyu to faint.
As the arrowhead was pulled out, blood gushed out like a spring. Wan Lei quickly grabbed a prepared strip of cloth and tied it tightly around the wound.
The water in the pot was lukewarm. He took a gourd ladle, scooped out some water, and cleaned the area around Fang Xiaoyu's wound.
Then, he took off his own pants and did the same, removing the arrowhead from his own leg.
Two arrowheads,
Two screams of pain.
Wan Lei tore off a piece of his clothing and bandaged his wound simply.
Then he found two relatively flat pieces of wood and secured them to Fang Xiaoyu's thigh, creating a makeshift splint.
But this was not very useful. Fang Xiaoyu couldn't move around much. If too much time passed, the bone would definitely grow back crooked. They would have to wait until they returned to the Lei Feng Realm to re-break and reset it.
Wan Lei poured the little bit of dry food crumbs he had left into the pot. Other than making the water a little thicker, it didn't do much.
After eating, if you could call it that, Wan Lei found some quilts, covered themselves, and fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, the pain in his leg, the hunger in his stomach, and the biting cold woke Wan Lei. He got up and called out to Fang Xiaoyu, but she didn't wake up.
Wan Lei was shocked. He put his finger under Fang Xiaoyu's nose, and sighed in relief. Thankfully, she still had a faint breath.
Both Fang Xiaoyu's and Wan Lei's leg wounds were inflamed, Fang Xiaoyu's more severely. The inflammation caused a fever, and Fang Xiaoyu's forehead was the only warm place on her body.
Wan Lei re-lit the fire and boiled some more water. He took a towel, soaked it in the water, and placed it on Fang Xiaoyu's forehead to bring down the fever.
Fang Xiaoyu woke up. Wan Lei got up and went to the village to find food. Unfortunately, the villagers had been thoroughly looted by bandits when they left, and Wan Lei found nothing. He only found some crumbs that were barely enough to stave off hunger.
For the next two days, Wan Lei desperately took care of Fang Xiaoyu. Fang Xiaoyu was sometimes awake and sometimes asleep, mostly asleep.
"Husband."
"Yes."
"I'm hungry."
"I'll go out and look again, I'll look further away."
"Don't go, don't leave me."
Fang Xiaoyu was very weak. She raised her hand and grabbed Wan Lei.
"I feel like I'm not going to make it. There's no food around here anymore. If you go out, you'll definitely die out there."
"If we stay here, we'll still die."
"Why don't... why don't you kill me? Eat me, and then go back to find Kallen. You can kill him, or you can join him. Just live, find the answer of the immortals, and return to the Lei Feng Realm."
Wan Lei's heart clenched, and tears welled up in his eyes.
"If we were in a civilized city, with clinics, food, and a place to sleep, we definitely wouldn't die. But there's nothing here. This damn world, this godforsaken era.
Maybe... maybe Kallen is right. Even the worst order is better than chaos."
"He's... wrong."
Wan Lei got up. The sharp pain in his leg almost made him fall to the ground. He staggered, pulled Fang Xiaoyu up, and was about to carry her on his back.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm taking you to find Kallen, to find medicine. I'll work for him, slave for him, to have him save you. I'll... beg him."
Fang Xiaoyu knew how difficult it was for Wan Lei, a man with such strong pride, to say those words.
They really were on the verge of death.
"Don't do that. As long as we can find the answer of the immortals, we can get out of here."
"To hell with the immortals, the most important thing for us now is to survive...
Damn it, surviving is also the last task he arranged. No wonder... no wonder..."
Suddenly, that familiar voice came from the air.
"For a world, which is more important, good or evil?
Are our actions in this world right or wrong?"
The white-robed youth should have kept quiet. As soon as he spoke, he ignited the resentment that Wan Lei had accumulated for years.
Wan Lei suddenly stood up and roared at the air,
"To hell with your answers! Of course you're wrong! This world is like this because of you! You're the ones who turned this world into this hell!"
"Incorrect answer."
"What?! Am I wrong? All of this was caused by you.
Get out here and give me back my cultivation! We want to go home! I don't want any damn tasks, any damn inheritance! All I want is my wife's life! Get out here!"
"I said, if you don't complete the final task, you will die."
"Get out here and fight me fairly! Even if you kill me, I won't regret it! I don't want to die so uselessly, I don't want to starve to death! Get out here and fight me! I'm the Thunder God! I'm the protagonist!
Come out!!!"
Wan Lei roared, raging impotently, venting his resentment.
Suddenly, a white-robed youth appeared in front of him.
"Wan Lei, hello, my name is Xia Dayu."