Lang Xiao had already chased them outside, and Ning Xin didn’t have time to explain. She shouted while holding onto the sofa, “Help me move it over!”
Nie Ran didn’t hesitate either, and together they worked to move it behind the door.
At the moment they let go, Lang Xiao slammed into the door.
The reinforced steel security door didn’t break, but it did warp under the impact, pushing both of them back involuntarily.
Then came the second, then the third…
Ning Xin saw the door was about to give way and was preparing to retreat upstairs.
Nie Ran stood behind the window, observing its size, and said, “Follow me.”
She almost didn’t think twice and followed him to the well in the kitchen.
The well was still dry, and for safety, it had been covered with a lid these days.
Nie Ran lifted the heavy lid with one hand and urged her to jump down.
She knew he was doing it for her own good, but looking at the bottomless pit, she hesitated to step down.
Bang, bang…
Lang Xiao was still relentlessly pounding on the door. He had already opened a large gap, and it wouldn’t be long before he broke through. With his mouth, he could probably swallow her in one gulp.
Ning Xin closed her eyes, gave herself a pep talk, and was about to jump when an arm wrapped around her waist, and their bodies plummeted downward.
It might have been seconds, or maybe minutes, but she instinctively held onto the person tightly, feeling the impact as they landed at the bottom of the well.
When she jumped, she thought she would break bones upon impact, but in reality, she didn’t even touch the ground.
With his tall stature, Nie Ran’s arms wrapped around her lower back, taking the brunt of the impact with a muffled grunt.
Ning Xin hurriedly jumped down to check on him, but the bottom of the well was pitch black, and the space was too narrow to even allow them to stand together, let alone crouch.
“Are you okay?” she asked with concern.
Nie Ran grunted in response, his tone indicating that he was fine. Only then did she slightly ease her worry and looked up towards the well.
“It’s so narrow. Luckily we jumped down together. Otherwise, if I went down first and you followed, you’d have to jump on top of me.”
“You thought I’d jump in behind you?”
“Then what else?” she asked, puzzled.
Of course, he would have lured Lang Xiao away.
Seeing her naive expression, Nie Ran didn’t bother to explain further. He listened carefully to the noises above.
Lang Xiao had broken through the door, following their scent. His large head protruded into the well, attempting to snatch them out.
Fortunately, the well was deep and narrow enough. He couldn’t enter nor reach them. For now, the two at the bottom of the well were safe.
“How did he suddenly become like this?” Nie Ran asked.
Ning Xin felt too embarrassed to speak, but in order to clarify the situation, she mustered up the courage and told him everything in detail.
“I started my period and wanted to throw away some sanitary pads outside. He said he wanted to go too and offered to help carry things. But accidentally, he tore the bag, and the pads fell out. Then he became like this.”
“What are sanitary pads?” Nie Ran vaguely remembered. “I asked you what it was, and you said it was packaged toilet paper.”
“Well…” She awkwardly lowered her head. “I didn’t mean to deceive you, but it’s such a private thing, and you didn’t really need to know.”
Nie Ran let out a light snort and said, “It seems he changed after smelling blood or coming into contact with it. As long as we avoid further contact, he should revert back.”
Ning Xin gasped. “How?”
“How what?”
“I haven’t finished my period yet. Will he be able to smell it continuously?”
Both of them were experiencing this situation for the first time, and Nie Ran couldn’t be certain either. After some thought, he took off his pants and handed them to her.
“Put these on.”
Ning Xin felt embarrassed to accept them. She was wearing two pairs of pants herself, and now there was a naked man standing beside her. The situation felt incredibly bizarre.
There were no sanitary pads down in the well to change into. If she ended up staining his pants too in case of heavy bleeding, it would be social suicide.
Nie Ran whispered, “What’s more important, saving lives or saving face?”
Ning Xin bit her lip and reluctantly took them to put on.
Lang Xiao was still trying to force his way in, emitting an indescribable smell from his gaping mouth, making them dizzy.
The noise was deafening, ringing in their eardrums.
The more Ning Xin looked at Lang Xiao, the more terrifying he seemed, so she couldn’t help but move closer to Nie Ran.
Before she could steady herself, he suddenly held her hand.
She nervously chuckled and didn’t refuse.
“We’ve been through so many dangers together, so I suppose we’re comrades in arms now.”
“One responsible for winning, the other for dragging behind?”
“Are you saying that I have no merits at all?”
Nie Ran remained silent for a while, and she got so angry that she stomped on his foot. But then, he spoke softly.
“You’re alive.”
“Well… That’s quite an obvious merit.”
She was alive, and quite chatty at that.
No matter what happened, having her beside him, chattering away, made him feel like there was a reason to keep going.
Nie Ran pursed his lips. “Will you regret staying?”
“Regret what?”
“Not being able to marry and have children normally.”
Ning Xin couldn’t help but chuckle. “Even if I didn’t stay, going back to my original world, I wouldn’t be able to marry and have children normally.”
Nie Ran was puzzled. “Why?”
She sighed, leaning against the well wall, fingers picking at the dirt nearby.
“I’m orphaned, not highly educated, didn’t even go to college. Although I opened a small shop and earned some money, it was all hard-earned. I don’t have any special talents, nor do I come from a good family. In that world, I couldn’t find a good match.”
She had long realized this, and she simply didn’t bother to entertain such thoughts. Running her business kept her too busy to think about anything else. She had never been in love, let alone thinking about marriage. It simply wasn’t part of her life plan.
Nie Ran still couldn’t claim to understand that world well. He spoke slowly, “You can find a man who is also talentless and comes from a modest background, someone who earns their own hard-earned money.”
She laughed self-deprecatingly. “Why bother? Life is already tiring enough. Two people with these conditions coming together will only make things more exhausting. And who knows, they might end up arguing about relationship matters every day. I’d rather not waste my time on that.”
“You’ve never thought about marriage?”
“No.”
“Even now?”
She couldn’t help but feel curious. “Why are you suddenly interested in my affairs? Could it be…”
Nie Ran immediately spoke sternly, “I’m just worried you’ll desert halfway.”
“Really?”
She was sceptical, but he seemed to have sealed his lips shut as if glued.
Lang Xiao struggled at the well’s mouth for a while, unable to enter, then withdrew his head, disappearing somewhere.
Above, the incessant noise made her temples throb.
Ning Xin had no more attention to spare for Nie Ran. Her mind was filled with thoughts of the asylum she had renovated with a hefty sum of money and countless efforts, wondering what it had become now.
After about three or four hours, when both of them were starving, the commotion above finally ceased.
She, being timid, waited a while longer before deciding to go out and see. However, she regretfully slapped her forehead.
“How do we get up there!”
The well was deep, easily over ten meters, requiring a long rope to haul up a bucket of water.
Jumping down was easy, but climbing up…
Looking up at the smooth well wall was like staring at an insurmountable mountain.
Nie Ran rolled his eyes silently, pushing her aside and tugging at the rope in his hand.
She then realized that he had brought down the long rope used for drawing water as well, with the other end tied above the well. She was overjoyed.
“You’re really smart! That’s great, thank goodness you’re here!”
Nie Ran, who had always remained calm and composed, felt a warm sensation in his heart, involuntarily relaxing his eyebrows and slightly lifting the corners of his mouth.
He climbed up the rope first, then pulled Ning Xin up.
Standing at the edge of the well, they looked around incredulously, unable to believe this was the asylum.
The walls had collapsed, the roof was gone, and everywhere was a ruin.
The sofa was buried under the ceiling, the door had turned into a broken steel plate, and as for all the pots, pans, bedding, and curtains she had painstakingly brought back from the 21st century, along with the curtains and doors she and Nie Ran had installed together, they were all reduced to a pile of garbage.
The floor was still there, but it was barely recognizable, the whole building looking as if it had been bombed dozens of times by a bomber.
As for the culprit…
The two of them searched through the ruins, and Nie Ran lifted an overturned pot, revealing Lang Xiao transformed into the appearance of a young wolf, exhausted and sleeping with his belly upturned inside.
Ning Xin: “…You scoundrel!”
Her home was gone like this???
She rushed over, furious and wanting to give him a beating.
Nie Ran, who usually advocated violence, unexpectedly held her back.
“Don’t mind me! I want to beat him up!”
Ning Xin was as angry as a raging bull.
Nie Ran said, “Beating him up is fine, but what are you going to do tonight?”
She froze on the spot.
Yes, the house was gone, and they couldn’t find another one in this world, not even a cave.
When night fell and Lang Xiao’s energy emanated, where would they hide from those monsters?
Stay by his side? But her period hadn’t ended yet. Who knows, he might go berserk again when he wakes up. Where would they run to then?
Yesterday, she was still fantasizing about a beautiful future, but now everything seemed shattered.
Ning Xin couldn’t help but squat on the ground, feeling like she was back in the days just after the car accident, unable to find her direction.
Nie Ran rummaged through the ruins and found a few things. He put on a set of clothes that were still intact and used a bucket to contain Lang Xiao, covering it with a lid, before returning to her side.
“Let’s go,” he said.
She lifted her head. “Where to?”
“This world is not safe. Let’s hide in a safer world for a while and come back when we’re better prepared.”
Ning Xin frowned. “Go now? I was planning to make some arrangements and bring some resources over for trading.”
After all, there was only one opportunity each month.
“And how do you plan to get through tonight?” he asked.
She gritted her teeth. “Fine, where to?”
Nie Ran replied, “You decide.”
She thought for a moment.
Nie Ran’s world was full of zombies, so it wasn’t safe either. The asylum was destroyed and needed to be rebuilt, so it might be better to make another trip to the 21st century and bring back some items.
She had thought her savings would last a long time, but now it seemed they might be spent in just six months.
Ning Xin suppressed her heartache, focused her attention, and headed to another world.
As the light shifted and spun, she felt dizzy.
When she heard the blaring of car horns around her, she knew she was back.
“Why is it that we always appear in the middle of the road…”
She pulled Nie Ran towards the sidewalk, both of them looking dishevelled and dirty, carrying a bucket and attracting curious glances from passers-by.
Having narrowly escaped death, Ning Xin didn’t care about the attention. She looked around and spotted a budget hotel, whispering, “Let’s go in, take a shower, rest for a bit, and then discuss our next steps.”
Nie Ran nodded and handed over her phone and wallet.
Ning Xin lowered her head to check her ID and suddenly noticed something. She exclaimed, “Your sword…”
The Dawnbreaker was five feet long and two feet wide, taller than some of the pedestrians, and Nie Ran had it slung over his back.
In the Purgatory, they could carry whatever they wanted. But in the real world… Ning Xin quickly pulled him into an alley, afraid that the police might come and take them away.
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