Two sets of eyes stared at each other, one black and beady, the other hazel and bloodshot. Zhao Wei was seriously contemplating what to do with this creature. For one thing he had already decided to set it free before and he still didn"t feel like killing it. He couldn"t release it again as he wasn"t sure he wouldn"t survive another altercation with it if it decided it wanted a round 3.Finally, Zhao Wei decided to bring it up with him. It couldn"t fight back anymore anyway and if worse comes to worst he could always kill it later on.
After he moved the rabbit next to his stuff he began foraging for everything else. He didn"t find any animal besides the rabbit near his area but didn"t dare to go further because he didn"t have much time left. Looking at the fruits and vegetation, he didn"t see a single one he recalled from the old world and decided against using himself as a human test subject.
The only real benefit he earned today was some water he collected from some puddles as well as some fallen branches from the trees. Considering how tough their trunks were, he might be able to turn the branches into some tools.
Once he was done, there was only 7 hours left in the day hours, the gashes on his palms as well as on his feet were dried up by now showing only brownish etches where his flesh used to part. He tied all the stuff he collected with the rope he hung on his arm and connected it to his waist. This way if he was hindered upward he could just cut it all down.
Starting his climb, he could already feel his arms aching in his first step. It was only about 3 floors up to reach the bottom of the rope he had left hanging from the cliff, on the other hand it was also the hardest stretch he had to go through. He didn"t think a little bit of weight was going to change the situation that much, but by the time he had reached the bottom of the rope 45 minutes had gone by.
Taking the end of the rope he tied the items he was bringing to the rope instead and cut it from his waist. Because of the weights, the line actually became taut which made it easier to climb since there wasn"t so much swinging he had to adapt to.
This did not mean the climb up was easy by far. Combined with the climb down, by the time Zhao Wei reached the top, the whole rope which was made of sheets was dyed red. Even when he reached the top he couldn"t rest as it was a race against time. He had an hour of the day left, three hours if he combined it with the hours of the night where he could withstand the temperature. Now he had to pull the stuff he collected up, compared to the climb though, this was cake walk for Zhao Wei, merely a little time consuming.
Once he was done he was already way beyond his limits. At this time, he took his first baths in one of the adjacent rooms. Even though the situation was like this, at the end of the day Zhao Wei came from the old world, and this came with certain habits. One benefit of this was that he could check the condition of the different wounds on his body.
The worst was actually on his hands as it had never been used to do such a thing in the old world. The webbing between his thumb and pointer on both hands were completely torn. Compared to this, the wound on his body wasn"t that bad much less his feet which only lost some skin and a bit of flesh.
Zhao Wei started a small fire with some of his left over resources. Taking a sewing kit left by the owners, he sat by it. A small sheet was folded and stuffed into his parched mouth, taking two sides of skin on the wound under his ribs, he crunched his body down to keep them together. His hands shook a little at the thought of what he was about to do, but his eyes didn"t waver.
What hurt him the most wasn"t when the needle pierced the flesh, instead it was when he had to pull it together to tie each section. With every tightening a m.u.f.fled scream would leave his throat and he would slam his fist against a table to distract himself from the pain for a few seconds.
Once he was done with that, he started on his hands. Doctors say the palms are some of the more sensitive parts of the body because of the number of nerve endings going through it. For every cut he would rush through the st.i.tching, through the pain. Once it was done, his body would buckle from the pain as his other hand gripped the table. His veins bulged and his fingers had made craters on the table"s edge.
Three hours had gone by and it was the 5th hour into the night. The cold was seeping into his bones, yet he was still sweating profusely from the pain.
After everything was st.i.tched, the fire was almost out. Zhao Wei picked himself up and staggered over, only a small flame the size of a candle was left. Picking his feet, he kicked the ash under the sliver of flame and planted his feet in. The embers began to smell of burning flesh. He didn"t even have the strength to scream and the cloth in his mouth had already been bitten through.
With blood shot eyes, he bent down and ran his hand through the ash, picking some up with him. As it dried his hands, he brought it down towards his side, bringing out another final scream as he walked out of the fire pit.
He took his weary body to his room but couldn"t even reach his bed. Throughout the process he had repeatedly entered in and out of consciousness but as soon as he arrived in a safe place his willpower which was the only thing keeping him standing had left him and he crumpled like a puppet without a string.