105 The State of A Broken Hear (1/2)
”Take twenty steps forward. Then move to your left this time.The wall is on that side. Call me back when you've found it. Over.”
When they reached the twentieth step, An Ning stopped and waited for Ban Chao, who by this time, was wheezing and coughing badly.
”What's wrong?”
”I don't know. I felt dizzy all of a sudden and wanted to empty my stomach. Now I feel like I'm having flu or something.”
”Must be something you ate before we left,” An Ning said, feeling his damp forehead.
”Maybe.Come on, he said move to the left, right?”
”Here, hold on to me.I don't want you to fall.”
Clutching at each other clumsily, the two of them moved left with extended hands. It wasn't long before the barrier barred their way.
”Strange,” said Ban Chao. ”It doesn't feel like jello anymore.Feels like stone.”
”Rough pitted stone.Okay, let me call Nian Zhen.”
The headphones crackled before she could turn it on.
”Memories of our marriage?” Nian Zhen again asked, surprising An Ning.
”What? Yes,” An Ning agreed absent-mindedly. ”We're at the left wall now. What do we do next?
”Follow it with your hands for about thirty minutes. Be careful with the stones.They can be a bit rough.”
”Okay.Will do. Over.”
The stones started to get rougher after they've walked for about five minutes. And Ban Chao's coughing was getting worst. He was almost bent double as the coughs racked his body.
”We'd better stop and rest for a bit.I'm getting worried about that cough.Are you in pain or anything?”
Ban Chao's face in the faint blue light looked sallow. His sunken eyes looked dead, the eyebags heavy and dark.
”Ban Chao, I think we'd better go back,” An Ning said, making her decision after looking at his wan face with a worried frown. ”I don't want to take the chance of moving forward and endangering your health like this.”
Ban Chao tried to speak but the coughs again wracked his thin body.
”Come on, I'll take you back.”
An Ning had memorized the way back and had no trouble finding the entrance. It hadn't been long since they left anyway, so the way back was not as difficult as she had first thought.She was almost carrying Ban Chao by this time.He had nearly keeled over and would have fallen on his face if she hadn't caught him.
An Ning was almost flying in her haste as she rushed through the tunnel, breaking through the entrance in one long jump with Ban Chao on her back. Her reappearance almost scared Kang Jun out of his wits so that he screamed, turning people's heads his way in alarm.
An Ning strode to a lounge chair and laid Ban Chao on it.Ban Chao was so pale and shivering so badly at the same time he almost looked like an eskimo suffering from ague.
”What's wrong with him?” Nian Zhen asked, taking Ban Chao's pulse.
”Get a doctor,” An Ning ordered, looking at the people in the room. ”Now!”
Kari scrambled away, opening the door and sprinting outside.
”What happened in there, An Ning?” Hank asked.
”I don't know.We were on the left side walking towards the second turn when he started to get sick.I thought it was just something he ate before we left.But it got worse and he started wheezing and coughing and large chunks of phlegm started oozing out of his mouth. Ever had this experience before when you were in there, Nian Zhen?”
Nian Zhen looked at her searchingly, his eyes deep and penetrating.
”The last time somebody went through the entrance, Indian's body almost got fried. Mine, too. We can only get through as a spirit,” he said.
”But Ban Chao is not a spirit,” An Ning frowned. ”Neither were Gu Sheng and I when we entered the tunnel. What could have gotten wrong this time?”
”You said you started seeing hallucinations of our old life together?”
”Yes.”
”That never happened before,” Nian Zhen said, knitting his brows. ”Nothing unusual happened when I was there the last time. Must be something in Ban Chao's system that's incompatible with the air in the tunnel or something.”
”I didn't smell anything strange,” An Ning said. ”Must be the abrupt change in temperature.It was freezing when we entered and then the temperature plunged to about ninety in a matter of minutes.”
The door opened and Kari came in with somebody who at one glance looked like a doctor.The man was tall with an ascetic face. Without a word being said, he immediately strode towards the chair where the shivering Ban Chao was lying down and extended a white hand to feel his brow.
Ban Chao flinched and tried to open his eyes.The doctor turned him over and tried to open his collar to check his throat but Ban Chao by then had fully opened his eyes,his gaze falling on the doctor, fully aware and round with alarm. He pulled the doctor's hand from his neck with a cry, twisting away as if the doctor was about to hurt him.
The doctor frowned and again put his hand on Ban Chao's collar.Ban Chao tried to twist away, almost falling off the chair in his struggles.
”Ban Chao, stop struggling! He's here to help you,” Nian Zhen said, stepping forward and trying to hold Ban Chao's hands.
Ban Chao's scream and struggles were getting frantic. An Ning frowned and moved towards them.The doctor had by this time became impatient and pulled at Ban Chao's collar with a loud rip.The front of the robe became undone, the white cotton underneath which hid the white and plump chest exposed.
Ban Chao cried hysterically, tears streaming down his face as his struggles weakened and finally stopped. He fell back on the chair exhausted and breathing hard.
All of them looked at each other in total astonishment. Kang Jun opened his mouth and let out a horrified gasp. Then he hurriedly turned away, a creeping tide of red suffusing his face.Gu Sheng was surprised but not alarmed.Nian Zhen and the doctor seemed to have been turned into a couple of petrified stones. Kari was opening and closing her mouth. A twitch had started throbbing in Hank's left eye.After a slight pause of surprise, An Ning took over and covered the crying Ban Chao with her cloak.