As the sky grew darker, the surrounding fog indeed became thicker.
Niannian's smartwatch for kids had no signal here.
She couldn't contact the outside world and sat on the ground boredly, picking at her fingers.
The magnetic field here was chaotic.
Even a compass couldn't tell the direction.
Xiaotuanzi looked at the sky for a while, then at the ground, and finally focused her attention on the three elder brothers.
The others were okay, but A Jiu, who had lain on the ground and knew the eldest brother before, still looked as pale as paper.
He had already eaten, and the other two elder brothers had regained their strength, with their complexions gradually turning rosy.
But only he still looked sickly.
He must be ill.
Niannian curiously crawled to his side. Her soft and waxy voice was full of concern. "Elder brother, what's wrong with you?"
A Jiu half - opened his eyes. Even his smile was a bit weak.
"I'm fine. It's getting late. Kids need to grow. You should go to sleep obediently first."
"But you seem so weak, elder brother. Are you injured or ill?"
Niannian really cared about A Jiu. Her eyes were full of sincerity. She raised her warm little hand and placed it on A Jiu's forehead, which made a warm feeling flash through his heart.
He was really jealous that Yu Qiu, that cold - faced guy, could have such a cute and soft younger sister.
If he had such a sister, he would even give his life for her.
He still remembered that when Yu Qiu first came home, he had complained to him that this younger sister was extremely troublesome.
But later, after discovering his sister's good points, he had been blowing her praises non - stop.
Such a fickle man.
He really wanted to secretly take this cute little dumpling home!
"Brother is really okay. I got a little injured before, but I'm much better now."
"Something's wrong. You must be more than a little injured."
The little action of Xiaotuanzi just now when she placed her hand on his forehead wasn't like an ordinary person trying to take his temperature.
In just an instant, Xiaotuanzi had already figured out A Jiu's general physical condition.
There were indeed some external injuries, but these weren't fatal.
The key was that A Jiu's internal organs were rapidly deteriorating in a very abnormal way.
If left untreated, he might not last three days.
This elder brother was a friend of Yu Qiu's and was also the only person she was somewhat familiar with here. Niannian didn't want anything to happen to him at all.
"Elder brother, please tell me what's wrong with you. Your condition is very bad. If left untreated, you can live at most three days. I refined some pills before. Maybe they can help you!"
Xiaotuanzi had never let go of the gifts she got from Bai Ze. She would try them out from time to time when she was free.
She was really talented in Taoism. Even the complicated and delicate work of pill - refining could be done very well after doing it many times.
Her family wasn't short of money, and she had a third senior brother who doted on her so much. The medicinal materials that cost a fortune to buy were used by her for practice like free wild grass.
Now there were also quite a few pills for treating various strange diseases stored in her small satchel.
But they all had to be used symptomatically.
If she didn't know what caused the elder brother's injury, taking pills randomly could kill someone.
"You can refine pills?"
A Jiu laughed when he heard this. He didn't think what Niannian said was true.
He believed that Xiaotuanzi was a little Taoist priest, just as Yu Qiu had told him. He also believed that Niannian could do divination, after all, that was a basic skill for a Taoist priest.
But something as illusory as pill - refining, he really couldn't believe it.
It was a bit beyond his knowledge.
"Yeah!"
Xiaotuanzi nodded quickly. A Jiu didn't want to reject the kindness of a child.
Although he didn't think Niannian could help much, he still took off his clothes, showing his strong and muscular arm, and pointed at a clearly blackened and stinking scar on it. "It's here. Do you want to help brother take a look?"
A Jiu just regarded it as playing house with a child.
Niannian saw this scar and leaned forward very seriously to take a look. She placed her little hand on the scar, which made A Jiu grimace in pain.
This scar was corrosive and was the root cause of the illness.
It was the sick qi from here that was corroding his internal organs.
Besides the stench of the rotten flesh, Niannian also smelled a somewhat familiar smell from this wound.
She had smelled it in the sewer.
It seemed to be the smell of the blood of that huge rat.
"Elder brother, did you also encounter a monster that was extremely large and looked like a rat before?"
Niannian had a general idea in her mind and lowered her head to rummage in her small satchel.
"Yes. Did you encounter it too?"
"Yes, I did. I even killed it. At that time, its blood splashed on my clothes and burned a big hole in them. Elder brother, the smell of the wound on your body is a bit similar to the smell of that big rat's blood. Its blood is corrosive. Using this might be better. Taking it orally and applying it externally, even if it can't completely cure you, it can control your current condition."
Xiaotuanzi took out a medicine bottle and took out two pure white and round pills. She crushed one and applied it on his wound, and gave the other to his hand.
The moment the crushed pill was applied to the wound, A Jiu felt like he was being torn apart by pain.
He grimaced and broke out in cold sweat. The wound was both painful and itchy.
The already not - so - good wound made a hissing sound, as if it was being burned by fire.
The stench spread, scaring the other two people.
They quickly leaned forward and asked anxiously, "A Jiu, how are you?"
"His wound can't stand such torture..."
Chen Dahai's words were directed at Xiaotuanzi, with a bit of blame in them.
They were comrades - in - arms who had fought side by side. Seeing A Jiu almost faint from pain, they were naturally a bit anxious.
But before he could say the next words, A Jiu suddenly grabbed his arm and gritted his teeth. "This medicine works. It has nothing to do with her. Don't blame her!"
"This medicine..."
Chen Dahai really couldn't see where this medicine worked.
A Jiu's wound had expanded from a small one to a large one. Black blood flowed down his arm, and it was obvious that the wound was getting deeper.
It didn't look like it was getting better. Instead, it looked like it was getting worse.
"Quickly give me that pill to eat. I know my own body. I can feel that this medicine works. Don't worry. It just looks scary. I'm okay. I'm really okay!"
A Jiu's lips were trembling, but he still insisted on taking Niannian's medicine.
Although the other two people looked disapproving, after hesitating for a long time, they still stuffed the pill into his mouth.