Sha Yi was jolted awake by a deafening clap of thunder.
The world before her eyes remained shrouded in endless darkness, and outside the cave, the rain continued to pour relentlessly. But the spot where Xi Yi usually lay beside her was empty. Normally, he would sleep holding her close, but now… Sha Yi abruptly sat up.
It was still the middle of the night. After adjusting to the darkness for a moment, she slowly climbed out of the bathtub, relying on the faint glow of the fire.
Most of the people from the various tribes were still asleep, except for Xi Yi’s group—their area was eerily quiet. When Sha Yi pushed aside the animal hides separating them, she realized they had all gotten up, including Xi Gu and Ma Rui. Only Ma Sa remained asleep.
Sha Yi was momentarily stunned. She stood there dumbfounded for a while before slowly making her way toward the cave entrance.
The once wide-open mouth of the cave was now blocked by massive boulders, leaving only a narrow gap wide enough for two people. She guessed this was their customary practice during the rainy season.
If the rain continued heavily and the water rose into the cave, completely sealing it with boulders would make it impossible to push them open later—the water pressure and resistance would be insurmountable. Leaving no gap now would be akin to cutting off their escape route. Clearly, they must have faced such a situation before.
At this moment, her worries about the rainy season deepened. In this unfamiliar, ancient era, the sheer number of unknowns and unpredictabilities left her feeling utterly lost.
Unconsciously, she reached the cave entrance. Sha Yi tried to peer outside, but the dense curtain of rain obscured her vision. Only the flashes of blue, white, and purple lightning occasionally pierced through, reminding her that it was the torrential downpour—not a solid wall—blocking her sight.
Right now, she had no idea where Xi Yi and the others had gone. In the dead of night, amid the storm and thunder, her anxiety grew unbearable.
Just as she was lost in thought, a faint cough suddenly came from one side of the cave entrance. Sha Yi quickly turned her head but couldn’t make out anything—the area was too dark. She strained her eyes several times but still saw nothing. Then, she heard a weak chuckle from the same direction.
Before long, the nearly extinguished fire flared up again. Leaning against the wall was a man, tilting his head to look at her. When their eyes met, he gave her a feeble grin.
It was Sai Na.
Sha Yi noticed that none of his companions were around. At this hour, he was the only one left there. In the firelight, she saw the white fur covering him, with faint bloodstains seeping through near his left abdomen—his wound must have reopened. The pain and prolonged blood loss had left his face unnaturally pale.
Sai Na noticed where her gaze had landed, and his expression darkened with reluctance, as if he didn’t want her to see him in such a state. Struggling, he grabbed a nearby gray hide and draped it over himself, trying to conceal the unstoppable bleeding. But this stubborn act of pride only worsened his suffering.
Before the gray hide could fully cover him, his movement caused the barely visible bloodstains to spread rapidly. If this continued, she had no doubt he would bleed to death.
Sha Yi couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity. But… what could she do?
She wasn’t a doctor. She had no idea how to treat such a deep wound. Moreover, she wasn’t close to Sai Na—he had even caused trouble for her and Xi Yi several times. Why should she go out of her way to help him?
After an intense internal struggle, she resolved to ignore him. Whether he lived or died was none of her concern… With that thought, she turned to leave. But after just two steps, a soft sigh came from behind her—relieved yet helpless, its meaning unclear, its emotions complex.
Sha Yi froze.
If… a few days ago, Xi Yi had thought the same way she was thinking now, would she even be alive today?
She had run from him, yelled at him, yet he had never once considered abandoning or leaving her. Even if he had his own motives, wasn’t human patience limited?
To help or not to help—it all came down to a single thought. Yet here she was, weighing pros and cons. If Xi Yi could act without hesitation, why couldn’t she?
If Xi Yi were here now, seeing Sai Na like this, would he choose not to help?
Based on what she knew of him, the answer was a resounding no.
So why was she still hesitating?
She might not be a doctor, nor did she have professional knowledge or tools, but her methods would still be far better than those of these ancient people. She couldn’t guarantee her efforts would save him, but she was certain they’d help more than doing nothing. As for the rest, it would be up to him—no longer her concern.
With her mind made up, Sha Yi wasted no time. She hurried back to her bathtub inside the cave, grabbed soap and toothpaste, hesitated briefly, then dug out a white cotton camisole and the last precious sanitary pad from her pile of dirty clothes before returning to the cave entrance.
Sai Na remained slumped against the wall, unmoving, as if utterly drained.
When he heard her footsteps, he half-opened his eyes. Seeing her, his expression shifted to surprise, as if he hadn’t expected her to approach him.
Sha Yi ignored him. She simply took the grass stems and dry branches by his side and added them to the fire, stoking it until the flames grew stronger.
Throughout this, he kept watching her in silence.
Sha Yi figured he might be pondering something, but since he showed no reaction, she didn’t bother trying to guess his thoughts. Seizing a lull in the thunder, she used a wooden container near him to collect some rainwater from the cave entrance.
Once the fire was brighter, she sat down on a dry spot close to him and reached out to pull aside the hide covering him.
The suddenness of her action seemed to catch him off guard—or perhaps he hadn’t realized she intended to treat his wound. Either way, he shuddered slightly. Fortunately, he didn’t recoil. A moment later, he lifted the second layer of bloodstained white fur himself.
When it came to the final layer, Sha Yi hesitated. It wasn’t because his loincloth was soaked in blood, but… she was certain such things didn’t exist in this ancient era.
Sai Na, unaware of her dilemma, assumed she wanted him to remove it himself and reached to untie his loincloth.
However, removing a loincloth was far more difficult than lifting hides, especially when severely injured and weak.
After struggling for a long time, Sai Na still couldn’t loosen the tightly wound vines. The effort left him panting heavily, and fresh blood seeped from beneath the loincloth.
The sight of so much blood made Sha Yi’s scalp tingle. In a panic, she dropped to her knees and stopped him, helping him lean back against the cave wall.
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