RNP Chapter 3 Chapter Recollection
Chapter 3 Chapter Recollection
The watch hands clearly pointed to noon, although the sky outside the window was still shrouded in leaden-gray clouds, making it difficult to discern the exact time.
As noon approached, Xu Mo clearly felt that familiar, heart-pounding burning sensation was seeping back from the depths of his body, like a slowly rising tide.
The ibuprofen I took last night has already worn off.
Xu Mo touched his forehead; it was noticeably warm to the touch. The high fever hadn't gone away; it had only been suppressed for a few hours by medication, and now it had returned. This recurring pattern weighed heavily on his mind; the inflammation was more stubborn than he had anticipated.
Without hesitation, Xu Mo immediately took another ibuprofen tablet. Then, he opened the can of dace with fermented black beans and started eating. The salty and savory flavor spread in his mouth, accompanied by the firm texture of the fish. Xu Mo forced himself to slowly finish the entire can along with some compressed biscuits. He needed energy and protein to fight the disease and restore his strength; he couldn't just be satisfied with not being hungry like before.
After finishing his meal, Xu Mo felt a wave of intense fatigue. But this time, he didn't choose to sit on the floor leaning against the cold wall. He had done so before, hoping to use the coolness of the wall to physically lower his temperature—a desperate measure. Now that the medication was suppressing the fatigue, he needed a more comfortable environment to conserve his energy.
He moved to the corner of the room to the broken sofa, which had long since lost its cushions and was now just springs and a wooden frame, and carefully lay down on it. The hard texture was uncomfortable, but compared to the cold floor, it was at least a "bed."
His body temperature slowly dropped under the influence of the medication, and exhaustion overwhelmed him like a tidal wave. Half-asleep, half-awake, Xu Mo's thoughts didn't completely cease. He repeatedly went over the "plunder list" in his mind, considering the various situations he might encounter the next time he opened the door, and how to obtain the most crucial supplies as quickly as possible.
When I woke up again, it was already evening.
The dim, yellowish light streamed through the grime-covered windows, casting long and short patches of light on the dusty floor. The afterglow of the setting sun strangely adorned this desolate and dilapidated town with a warm hue, yet it only served to accentuate a deep-seated desolation and loneliness.
Xu Mo slowly sat up, assessing his body. The irritating heaviness and intense fever seemed to have subsided somewhat, and his mind was much clearer. Xu Mo knew this was likely still due to the medication, rather than a genuine recovery. But regardless, this brief moment of comfort was precious.
Hunger struck, and Xu Mo's gaze unconsciously drifted to the corner of the room, where the supplies he had brought back from that world were piled up.
One pack of compressed biscuits, two cans of black bean dace, two apples, four chocolate bars, a little over one bottle of water, and only two ibuprofen tablets left to save my life.
The medication was being consumed faster than Xu Mo had anticipated. Looking at the supplies, he realized that eating a whole can of food at noon was necessary to fight the illness and replenish his strength—a necessary expenditure. But now, he had to restrain himself.
After hesitating for a moment, Xu Mo finally got up, walked over, and picked up the rosy apple. He took a bite; the sweet juice slightly moistened his parched throat and brought a sense of fullness. One apple wasn't enough to fill his stomach, but it was enough to relieve his most pressing hunger and replenish some vitamins.
Xu Mo ate the apple slowly and carefully, his gaze returning to the window. The sun was sinking rapidly, and shadows began to spread like a tide from the corners of the buildings. The deathly stillness of the day was gradually being replaced by a deeper, more unsettling atmosphere. He knew that nighttime was often the more dangerous time.
After finishing the apple and carefully placing the core aside, Xu Mo lay back down on the tattered sofa. The pressure of his physical recovery and the amount of medication he needed put on him. Now, all his hopes rested on the countdown that was silently ticking away in his mind.
As night deepened, the last glimmer of light outside the window completely disappeared, plunging the room into near-pure darkness. Perhaps it was because he had slept for several hours at noon, or perhaps it was because he was still feeling unwell, but Xu Mo lay on the hard sofa frame, exhausted yet unable to fall asleep. His thoughts drifted aimlessly in the darkness, and a long-forgotten childhood memory quietly surfaced.
It was probably the summer before he entered junior high school. Xu Mo was staying in his hometown in the countryside to escape the heat. There was a distant second uncle in his family. It was said that his ancestors were very wealthy and had even produced a military general. But by his generation, all that was left were a few tattered boxing manuals and a skill that no one could say for sure was real.
Seeing that Xu Mo was idle, his second uncle always liked to brag to him, saying that their family's "Thirteen Protectors' Horizontal Training" was an extraordinary real skill. When mastered to a high level, it could make one "invulnerable to swords and spears"! At that time, Xu Mo was young and was stunned by his second uncle's spittle-flecked stories. His mind was full of images of martial arts masters from movies, so he followed along with the gestures for quite a long time in a daze.
There was nothing mysterious about the tradition in my memory. It was just that every day I would practice horse stance in the yard and vigorously slap my arms and thighs with some pungent-smelling medicinal wine that my second uncle had somehow gotten his hands on, making him wince in pain. My second uncle would watch from the side with his eyes half-closed, muttering incantations like "relax your muscles and bones, and attack your skin and fur" that I couldn't understand at the time.
As it turned out... after a whole summer vacation, the so-called "invulnerability" was nowhere to be seen. The only result was that the total control's appetite increased, which his mother joked was that he had "gone to the countryside to practice his gluttony kung fu." Later, when he got busy with his studies, Xu Mo put this childhood episode out of his mind and never thought about it again.
But now...
Xu Mo grinned silently in the darkness. In this post-apocalyptic world where zombies roamed and a scratch meant certain death, the words "invulnerable to blades and bullets" possessed unimaginable magic.
"I thought it was a hoax back then, but now even time travel has happened..." A thought uncontrollably popped into Xu Mo's mind, "What if... there's even a tiny bit of truth in what Second Uncle was bragging about?"
Even if it only makes the skin a little tougher and the strength a little greater, it might increase the chances of survival when facing zombies!
"Once I recover, I must try to pick it up again!" Xu Mo made up his mind. This might be another way for him, besides that door, to improve his survival skills.
Thinking of this, Xu Mo stopped forcing himself to fall asleep and began to try to recall the seemingly ridiculous postures and incantations that his second uncle had taught him back then, attempting to dig out a glimmer of light from those distant memories that might change his fate.
The night was still long, but Xu Mo's thoughts had already drifted towards a tomorrow full of possibilities.