"Uncle! Could a corpse beetle have crawled into your wound?!" Realizing this horrifying possibility, Chu Qingmeng widened her eyes and cursed under her breath. "Hurry up! Take off his shirt!"
It was now a matter of life and death, leaving no room for modesty between men and women. Scrambling in a panic, the group managed to strip off Mo Chenfeng's shirt, only to discover a sphere-like object scurrying around beneath his skin. Turning to Mo Wushuang, Chu Qingmeng said, "Wushuang, lend me your bracelet!"
Taking the bracelet from Mo Wushuang's hands, Chu Qingmeng swiftly pinned down the corpse beetle. With its escape routes blocked on all sides and nowhere to run, Chu Qingmeng drew her dagger and said, "Bear with it!" She drove the tip of the knife in to kill the beetle, then sliced open Mo Chenfeng's skin and extracted the bug. Next, she pulled the medical kit from her backpack and said, "Uncle, you'll have to endure a bit more." Snatching a wooden stick, she thrust it between Mo Chenfeng's teeth, then picked up the alcohol and poured it straight onto the wound. With a sharp *crack*, Mo Chenfeng bit the stick right in half as a heavy layer of sweat instantly broke out across his face and body. Without a second to spare, Chu Qingmeng grabbed a cotton swab to clean the wound, applied Yunnan Baiyao, and bandaged it up. By now, Mo Chenfeng was soaked through, looking as though he had just been fished out of the water. Finishing the bandages, Chu Qingmeng looked up at the others and asked, "Who else is hurt? Speak up now!"
Mo Liufang and the others had minor injuries of varying degrees on their arms and legs, but nothing serious. Mo Wushuang had only a few scrapes and was fine. Only Mo Liujin remained completely silent.
After bandaging everyone up, night had fallen. Chu Qingmeng took out a lighter to ignite the dry firewood the others had gathered, and everyone lay down to rest. Mo Liufang and the others took turns keeping watch, but Chu Qingmeng couldn't sleep; her mind was still too unsettled. Tossing and turning for a long time, she finally sat up and saw Mo Liufang anxiously and repeatedly touching Mo Chenfeng's forehead.
"What's wrong? Is he running a fever?" Chu Qingmeng got up and walked over. "Don't worry, a fever is normal—it's likely an infection." She turned, took fever reducers and anti-inflammatory pills from the medical kit, and handed them over. "Give these to Uncle; once the fever breaks, he'll be fine. Go look for water nearby, but don't go too far."
Mo Liufang nodded, helped Mo Chenfeng swallow the medicine, and stood up to search for a water source. Chu Qingmeng intended to sit down and watch over Mo Chenfeng, but she accidentally brushed against Mo Liujin's hand. *Huh? Why is his hand so scorching hot?!* She reached out and felt Mo Liujin's forehead. *Holy shit! He's even hotter than Mo Chenfeng?! What the hell?! Wasn't he uninjured?!*
Suddenly, it dawned on Chu Qingmeng that some people think their injuries are minor when internal damage has already been done—especially since she had landed right on top of him when she fell through the platform! With that thought, she hurriedly started patting down Mo Liujin's body to find out where he was hurt.
Half-conscious and drifting in and out of sleep, Mo Liujin felt a cool, soft hand suddenly cover his forehead for a fleeting moment, followed by the sensation of someone fumbling all over his body. Forcing himself to open his eyes, he collapsed back down, utterly weak, and managed to muster enough spirit to ask, "Qingmeng, what are you looking for?"
Seeing that he was awake, Chu Qingmeng hastily demanded, "Where are you hurt? Tell me! Why have you started running a fever?"
A rush of heat flooded Mo Liujin's face, turning it completely red as he stammered awkwardly, "I—I'm not hurt. Don't worry about me."
Speechless, Chu Qingmeng stared at him. "Spit it out! Grown men shouldn't be so wishy-washy! If you don't tell me and end up dying of an infection, Uncle will have to endure the grief of burying a younger family member. You don't want to meet an untimely end, do you?"
Mo Liujin was silent for a moment before saying, "The place where I'm hurt isn't convenient for you to look at."
Chu Qingmeng: "..." *What is this cursed instant understanding?*
She turned around and kicked Mo Liuteng beside her. "Hey, Mo Liuteng, get up."
Mo Liuteng sat up, blinked at Chu Qingmeng in utter bewilderment, and asked, "Qingmeng, what is it?"
Chu Qingmeng pointed at Mo Liujin. "That guy is injured and says it's inconvenient for me to look. Go check on him and see how bad it is."
After inspecting Mo Liujin's injury, Mo Liuteng's face filled with anxiety as he cried out to Chu Qingmeng, "Qingmeng, Third Brother has a round lump under his wound too! I don't know if it's that bug!"
"What?!" Hearing this, Chu Qingmeng immediately panicked and strode over to Mo Liujin in two steps. Poor Mo Liujin, running a high fever and thoroughly startled by Chu Qingmeng, broke out in an immediate sweat and hastily clamped his hands over the wound on his lower abdomen.
Speechless at Mo Liujin's actions, Chu Qingmeng walked up to him and pried his hands away. "Get a grip. You're a guy, not a girl. The wound is on your lower abdomen and thigh, not somewhere sensitive. I don't mind, so why are you afraid of being looked at?" When her first couple of attempts failed to budge his hands, Chu Qingmeng glared at him, leaving Mo Liujin no choice but to let go. Rolling her eyes, Chu Qingmeng continued, "Once we get out of this forest, we'll each go our separate ways. As long as you keep your mouths shut, no one will ever know I saw your thigh. Besides, what is there even to look at on a man's thigh?"