Chapter 3 : too close , just too close

Zhang Qiling

"Hey! That's so unfair, Xiaoge. I fell first, why didn't you catch me? | I know you had a thing for Tianzhen, but we are still brothers and I could have been seriously injured, not to mention die." Pangzi asked as he rubbed his sore back, while looking at Zhang Qiling with accusing eyes.

"You are heavy." Qiling said simply, while Wu Xie's ears went red.

"Seriously Pangzi..." Pan Zi sighed as he walked toward Fatty.

"And it's not like that. I screamed harder than you did, that's why he hears me fall..." Wu Xie explained.

"Yeah, right. Such a selective hearing and care. I'm so moved to be left behind by you, Pingxie..." Pangzi said sarcastically.

"Pingxie? What the hell is that?" Wu Xie protested, looking at Fatty as he wanted to kill him.

"Isn't that what couples do when in love these days? Join names and all, they think it's cute." He kept up, and Wu Xie slapped the back of Pangzi's head in annoyance, while Qiling smirked slightly. For some reason, he was internally pleased with the nickname. It had a certain ring to it that sounded too good on his ears.

"Don't go naming us nonsense. I promise you that next time you fall, I will catch you myself no matter what." Wu Xie said, just to keep him from sprouting more embarrassing stuff.

"Ah, you are a true brother, Tianzhen, now give me a hand, my back is killing me." Pangzi said, extending his hand to him, and Wu Xie naturally grabbed it, trying to pull him up, when Ah Ning yelled at them to stop and stay still

"Wait! Don't touch him..." she said, although too late, as she kneeled by Pangzi to look at a bunch of eggs that were smashed by Pangzi's fall and the mess of liquid on both Pangzi and Wu Xie's hand.

"What is it?" Wu Xie asked, as he cleaned his hand on his own jacket and looked down at her that was moving around what was left of those strange things in the shape of eggs.

"Some creature eggs. They don't look to be the normal type... just look at their color and viscosity." She said, looking closer.

"Do you know of what?" Pan Zi asked curiously, also kneeling beside her.

"It should be snakes of some sort." At that, Pangzi forgot about his hurting back and pain and hastily stood up and away from the things. Snakes were no jokes, especially the deadly ones that could kill you in less than a minute.

"Xiaoge, this time be a good brother and protect me from snakes, huh?"

Pangzi said to Qiling as he turned to look at the other three, still examining the eggs. However, asking to be protected from them made Xiaoge focus on Pangzi's back, noticing a swelling that shouldn't be at the base of his neck. Thus, he moved fast and knocked out Fatty, right in front of Wu Xie.

"Pangzi!" Wu Xie yelled as he tried to catch him, but Qiling stopped him before he could touch him again.

"Don't... his neck." Xiaoge explained when he looked at him in surprise. Immediately, Pan Zi was beside him, taking a look at Fatty's neck where there was a kind of blister on his skin.

"For the gods, how did his back get into this state? I had never seen such a fast reaction," Pan Zi said.

"Clean it before it can grow more."

Xiaoge said, and Pan Zi did as he was told, taking out a medic kit from his backpack. Wu Xie came close to Ah Ning, trying to find some answers from her, but he only got her eying him from waist to top.

"Take off your shirt." she demanded.

"Huh?" Wu Xie was dumbfounded, as Xiaoge frowned at her words, obviously displeased with them. She simply pointed at Wu Xie's stain, annoyed with the recently named Pingxie couple that was getting on her nerves.

"You got some too. Check if there is any strange blister on you. It could save your life." Ah Ning said, then looked at Zhang Qiling.

"It's also in your best interest." She told him and passed them both. Wu Xie was a bit embarrassed, but he took off his jacked and checked his arms, legs, and neck, seeing nothing out of ordinary.

"Are you okay?" Qiling asked him, and he nodded.

"Yeah, luckily." Wu Xie said with a smile.

"Wake Pangzi up. We need to keep going." Qiling added, walking ahead.

"Yeah, yeah... let's just hope we can find our way in here." Wu Xie said as he walked pass Ning.

"The Palace of the Heavenly Queen Mother is at a swampland in the middle of a rainforest. As long as we keep walking toward the center, we will eventually find it." She explained.

"Then let's keep up with Xiaoge. Come on Pangzi... we better not lose sight of him here. You know he has a tendency to disappear when you least expected." And of that, they were all well aware of it.

After that, they keep on walking for A few hours later, Pan Zi shared his experience on the rainforests with them.

As they walked, Wu Xie began to feel uncomfortable, tired, and even dizzy. At some point, they reached a stream in which they could take a break. Giving Wu Xie a better look, Qiling asked him if Wu Xie was alright.

"I'm just not used to this heat and humidity." Wu Xie told him.

"And they said I'm the one who is not in shape?" Pang Zi teased, earning a hard glare from Xiaoge.

"This is a good place to take a break; we can replenish our water bottles and have something to eat before going. This kind of environment is hard to take for anyone. It will be fine after some rest." Pan Zi assured them, and so they listened to his advice.

"Pan Zi, we can drink this water, right?" Wu Xie asked, quite exhausted

"It should be fine to drink, just be careful. There might be snakes in the water too. Have a good look before you drink it." Pan Zi replied, and Wu Xie staggered his way toward the nearby stream and splashed some fresh water on his face. He was getting hotter by the second, and his head felt like it was spinning.

"So much for the slim guys, they can't take the pressure when during critical times." Pangzi joked, and Wu Xie showed him his middle finger from where he was, making Fatty laugh.

Unfortunately for Wu Xie, as he rebuked Pangzi's words with his hand up, it made him stager more, and pain rushed from inside his belly.

"Hey, what's taking you so long? Are you taking a shower? Do you need someone to scrub your back too?" Pangzi teased further, but stopped when he saw Xiaoge frown. Fortunately, this time it was not directed at him, because Xiaoge was focusing all his senses on Wu Xie's figure, and when he saw Wu Xie stagger even more, close to falling on his side, he dashed faster than they thought possible to actually catch Wu Xie before he could hit the rocks.

"Wu Xie!" Qiling shouted, taking his weight on his arms, as others were at their side immediately.

"Wu Xie!" Pangzi also yelled, and Qiling slightly slapped the young man's cheeks, in an attempt to wake him up, but in vain, as Wu Xie didn't respond with any of his caring attempts.

"What happen to him?" Pangzi aked as Qiling's heart beat hard on his chest. It was so hard that he could hear his own radical beating on his ears.

"Could it be the same thing that happened to Pangzi before?" Pan Zi asked in worry.

"It can't be. He checked himself before, right? He was fine." Pangzi said as he remembered what happened at that time.

"He didn't take off his shirt as I told him." After hearing Ah Ning say that, Qiling hurried up and opened Wu Xie's jacket and pulled up his shirt.

What he saw made his blood freeze on the spot with deep fear. There, in the left side of his stomach, there was a kind of skin film with something growing inside of it.

"What the hell is that? And how big is it?" Pangzi asked in shock.

"It must be the same fungus that was on you." Pan Zi answered.

"But mine was definitely smaller, way smaller than that," Pangzi argued.

"The one on you was taken care of at the time, while the one on Wu Xie was overlooked and allowed to

"It grew while we walked. The fool had let it grow this big without saying anything to us." Ah Ning said, and Qiling cursed himself for not noticing it before. Yes, he was aware that Wu Xie looked unwell, pale, and exhausted as they walked, but he had thought it was because of the exercise in the heat and humidity of the place, not because there was something growing on him like that.

Then, Wu Xie suddenly begin moaning in pain and struggle where he was laying. They hold him to keep him from reaching his stomach and try to remove whatever it was the source of his pain.

"Water... water... it's hot..." Wu Xie whimpered as he moved even harder under them.

"Wu Xie, calm down..." Qiling said, painfully watching him struggle.

"Let go... It hurts..." Wu Xie said, as they keep him as steady as they could

"It's no use. He's not even aware of what's happening to him." Pan Zi said, and Qilin held him with a hint of force, but careful enough not to really hurt him.

"Use a tranquilizer! Now!" Qiling

shouted, and the three of them held him down for Ah Ning to inject him. A bit after, Wu Xie calmed down and was back unconscious by the effect of the medication. Qiling gently held Wu Xie's head, also keeping it over the backpack in which it was resting. At that point, all of them sighed in relief that at least he would not struggle against them anymore.

"I don't know what that is, but it's certainly causing him to be this sick. Let's see if we can slice it open." Pan Zi suggested, and Qiling moved his hand down and touched the skin film with his fingers. He gently bordered it and pushed, to feel just how tightly it was to Wu Xie's flesh, and once again, deep worry was assaulting his core

"No. It's too tightly formed over his skin, we can't separate the two at this stage. Too risky." Qiling said, looking at the damaged skin, wanting to also remove it, but too insecure if that will cause Wu Xie even more harm than good.

"Just what's that? Fungus? Snakes?

What should we do then? If we don't remove it, it will make him sicker and he was in a lot of pain already. His face is as pale as paper." Pangzi insisted with anxiety.

"We can't cut it now." Qiling insisted.

"What? Are you letting that thing grow more? That will make it worse!"

"There is no other choice."

"At this rate, soon that thing will suck his blood dry!"

"It can't be cut that close to his skin."

"Xiaoge! This is Wu Wu Xie we are talking about! Your precious Wu Xie!!"

"I know!! I will do anything for him and even offer my life if it can save him, but I can't risk him anymore! It will do him no good now!" Qiling yelled back with deep hurt on his dark eyes and saw Xiaoge losing it in such a way, pretty much openly confessing his feelings for the sick young man, Pang Zi shut up his protests in shame.

Of course, out of all of them, Xiaoge cared for Wu Xie the most, when he loved him to that extent. There was no way that Xiaoge was going to let Wu Xie die right in front of him, so he calmed down.

"He is right, Pang Zi, there is no other way. Let's find out a better place to camp for the night and then see what can be done to help Wu Xie survive this." Pan Zi intervened, and as Xiaoge agrees, they take their things and keep on walking to find a place they could safely lay him down.

Qiling carried Wu Xie on his back, keeping an ear to his irregular breathing and body temperature. His worry increased tenfold when he felt Wu Xie's body getting colder, even when his own warmth should have kept him at least at a normal temperature. Then as they walked for longer, he could hear Wu Xie's breathing increase and become more lavored. Then he stopped for good.

"Xiaoge?" Pangzi asked alarmed.

"This place will do. I will check on him." Xiaoge said as he gently lowered Wu Xie and the other two men helped him lay on the rocky ground.

As soon as Qiling pulled Wu Xie's shirt up, he was once again deeply shocked and several times more worried for his life than when he could not find him on the Devil City. The thing had grown into something that was unimaginable, making the skin of the film look bloody and alien.

"Damn it! This huge already? Just what the hell is inside?" Pangzi panic again, but this time so did Qiling. Any more growing and it will cost Wu Xie his life and almost like in cue, Wu Xie begin to struggle again, while moaning in pain. Seen him like that was even harder than face a life alone and without memories. Wu Xie was simply too important to him to lose him. Just thinking of it make him taste despair.

"It's hot... Xiaoge... water..." Wu Xie mumble on his sickness and Pangzi ran to the nearby stream to take some on a container and came back in record time. Qiling touched his forehead, expecting it to be as hot as Wu Xie claimed, but find it cold instead.

"He is colder than normal." Qiling whisper.

"Then we can't wait any longer, Xiaoge!"

"Give me a lighter." Qiling asked, and in a hurry, Pan Zi took one from his pocket. Maybe sensing the coming pain, Wu Xie struggled even harder, screaming it.

"Keep him steady!" Zhang Qiling yelled over Wu Xie's own shouting, as he took a knife and put it over the flames of the lighting, to extract whatever damn thing that was hurting Wu Xie to that extent and then, cauterize the wound if necessary.

"Hey! Don't let him bite his tongue in this state." Ah Ning said as she threw a handkerchief to Pangzi, which gagged the struggling young man to muffle his despairing screams.

"Hold on, Wu Xie. It will be over soon." Qiling whispered and steeling himself for what he was about to do, he cut open the film, trying to Be both fast and gentle at the same time while removing the atrocities on his belly. He took out a few tiny snakes and extracted as much of the fungus liquid mixed with blood as he could, until it was clean enough to be closed and cauterized.

At that, Wu Xie passed out to oblivion once more, and they waited. A while later, Wu Xie's complexion looked better, and his temperature was normalizing. Qiling then went out in search of medicinal herbs he could use to prevent infection and heal him faster, and he was glad to find a few he could use not too far away from their camp.

Taking some water from the stream, he made a concoction of the herbs and put them over the wound. Night was coming, so they made a fire, and Qiling placed Wu Xie on a sleeping bag and laid it down by him, while holding his hand to make sure he was still alive

Yes, he was giving in to his feelings for Wu Xie and didn't care whatever the others like it or not. This experience was simply too close, just too close to becoming a living hell for him.

"Xiaoge..." Wu Xie whispered, and Qiling looked at him with such a deep gaze that made Wu Xie shudder at the intensity alone.

"Rest... I will look out for you while you sleep." Qiling whispered back as he squeezed his hand. Wu Xie faintly smiled, before he closed his eyes once more and let his head rest on Xiaoge's direction. He was sure that something had changed inside Xiaoge's core in the way he looked at him, and he just hoped he could handle whatever was coming from his poker face. He didn't mind becoming Pingxie, as Pangzi had named them. He smiled under Xiaoge's watch before he was fast asleep into the starry night .

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