Chapter 47: Drowning Man and Driftwood

The scream made Lyr, who was drowsy outside, shiver and snap awake.

He came to his senses, stood up, and quickly pushed open the door.

“What’s wrong?”

On the floor, shards of a broken cup were everywhere, puddles of water spreading recklessly. Yilu, who had been on the bed, had already fallen to the ground. Blood continuously flowed from the bottoms of her feet because of the shards. But she seemed to feel nothing, holding her head with both hands, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.

“Get away… all of you get away… don’t come near me… Ah!”

She screamed and backed away. Her ankles scraped against the ground and the fragments, blood and water mixing together, a gruesome sight. When she backed up to the wall and turned her head, it was as if she saw something terrifying again, and she screamed and fled once more.

At this moment, she was completely like a cat that usually bares its claws, now trapped in an invisible cage. No matter how hard she struggled, it was useless, and she couldn’t escape.

Lyr saw this, hurried forward, and grabbed hold of Yilu. As soon as he touched her, he felt that Yilu was soaked through. This was not only from the spilled water cup but more from Yilu’s own cold sweat.

“Get away… get away… go away!”

Yilu screamed hysterically, her voice becoming hoarse in an instant.

“What’s going on?” Lyr didn’t understand, only felt Yilu’s extreme terror. “Yilu, it’s me. Look clearly, it’s me.”

Hearing the familiar voice, the pale-faced Yilu raised her head stiffly. In this blood-colored and bizarre space, Lyr was the only thing that remained normal and intact, not twisted by any rules. He was the only floating log she had wanted to reach for but had given up on earlier. Looking at Lyr, Yilu’s chest heaved continuously, gasping for air. She struggled to keep her gaze from leaving Lyr’s body, as if that was her only support to escape this strange space.

“Are you seeing something?” Lyr asked. Anyone, not just him, would feel heartache seeing this.

“It’s all blood… all severed limbs… organs… chunks of flesh…”

Yilu’s pauses grew longer as she spoke, as if she couldn’t catch her next breath.

Lyr paused, looked down, somewhat self-blame. “Maybe that guy was right. You shouldn’t have been there that day. I think… it’s probably my fault for dragging you into this.”

He absolutely didn’t believe Yilu had been like this before. Tracing back the source, everything started from that day they met the self-proclaimed Witch. If Yilu hadn’t been there to help him, she might not be like this now.

The Devouring Witch’s voice echoed in Yilu’s mind. That seed once planted in Yilu’s heart sprouted with Lyr’s words. The next second, Yilu’s face, as she looked at Lyr, twisted and contorted.

“It’s all because of you, you bastard. It’s all because of you!”

Repeating the words in her mind, she raised her hand and grabbed Lyr’s throat.

“It’s all because of you!”

With her last words, she used all her strength, and her arms also tightened, trying to strangle the culprit in her mind.

This sudden move made Lyr instinctually raise his hand to hold Yilu’s arm, wanting to push her away. But seeing the expression on Yilu’s face and the blood-colored world reflected in her eyes, in the end, he didn’t use force and let Yilu choke his neck.

“Cough, cough, cough.”

Because of the discomfort, Lyr coughed uncontrollably a few times, and his neck had no color from Yilu’s grip.

“If doing this makes you feel better, then go ahead.”

He could feel that the curse affecting Yilu was even more terrifying than the one he had experienced. Just that brief moment, he could hardly bear it. He didn’t know what kind of torment Yilu was currently suffering, and couldn’t pretend to empathize—that would be too hypocritical. If Yilu doing this could make her feel a bit better, Lyr had nothing to say. At least it could compensate for his guilt.

Under Lyr’s abandonment of resistance, Yilu choked his neck and pinned him to the ground. Her arms kept tightening, with no hint of joking. Discomfort, suffocation—as Yilu’s strength increased, it continuously transmitted to Lyr. Just when Lyr was about to faint, a brief moment of clarity flashed through Yilu’s mind, causing her to slowly release her grip.

“No… I can’t do this… can’t do this…”

If she did this, everything she had endured and all her efforts would be in vain. She would be denying herself. These were things Lyr had told her. She murmured and stepped back, then curled up into a ball, repeating her previous words like a drowning person struggling to save herself, not even knowing if it was helping.

Lyr touched his neck and got up, coughing painfully a few more times. After recovering a bit, he moved closer and supported Yilu again.

“Yilu, calm down. It’s me, I’m Lyr, the boring guy you mentioned.”

Lyr didn’t know what else to do, hoping words of reassurance could calm Yilu. But the inadequacy of words still couldn’t ease her emotions. However, the approaching figure—the only normal thing in this twisted blood-colored space, Lyr—still made her want to seek redemption in him. Almost instinctively, Yilu threw herself into Lyr’s arms, her wet arms wrapping tightly around his waist, with force no less than when she was strangling him. She buried her head in Lyr’s chest, using his body to block those bizarre and twisted things.

“Save me… save me…”

In the end, she still used all her strength to grab this floating log, breaking free from the drowning state. Lyr was stunned for a moment, hesitated, then placed his hand on Yilu’s back, gently stroking to comfort her.

“Don’t be afraid of anything. I’m here.”

If he really had any way to suppress the curse, Lyr would not hesitate to use it to help Yilu now. Unfortunately, he didn’t know what that way was. But if he could free Yilu from those terrifying visions, then let himself be the embodiment of suppressing the curse.

“I’m here.”

Every time Yilu murmured, Lyr responded. With this response, Yilu’s trembling began to subside, but she still tried to burrow deeper into Lyr’s arms.

“It’s okay. I’ve been here the whole time. If you’re tired, get some sleep.” Lyr’s tone was as gentle as he could make it. “You’re just exhausted. There’s nothing wrong here.”