Si Mayue’s indifferent tone sent a chill down Yu Sen’s spine. He glanced at the pool of blood on the floor, imagining how Yan Hao must have been coaxed into taking the key and opening the lock, only to have his entire body, flesh and bones, melt into that pool of blood when the lock was opened, without even having time to cry for help.

The color of the blood stung his eyes, a stark reminder that just ten minutes ago, it had been a living, breathing person.

The sudden wave of nausea hit him harder in the midst of his dizziness, amplifying the disgust. Yu Sen’s breathing suddenly became labored, his waist bending sharply as he pounded his chest, coughing violently.

“Yu Sen!”

“Yu Ge——!”

Si Xuanyang, panicking, held him up, realizing only then that Yu Sen was dry heaving so hard that his entire body was trembling, unable to muster the strength to stand, collapsing weakly into his arms, curling up.

“What’s going on? How did he suddenly get like this?” he asked urgently, holding him tight with one hand covering Yu Sen’s stomach. “Is it your stomach acting up again?”

Si Mayue, standing to the side with a frown, looked at Yu Sen suspiciously and silently stepped back two paces.

“Ugh—!”

Yu Sen pressed his fingers against his brow, waves of dizziness crashing over him like a tide. Although his stomach was empty, it didn’t hurt much. He knew clearly that this was due to low blood sugar and the earlier stress reaction. He wanted to reassure Si Xuanyang, but as soon as he opened his mouth, a nauseating feeling surged up from his throat as if he were about to vomit out his insides.

It was unbearable.

But he hadn’t eaten anything all morning, so there was nothing to throw up. He dry-heaved so intensely that his eyes brimmed with tears, the physiological response causing large droplets to fall to the ground.

Yu Sen felt a chill all over his body, and his heartbeat suddenly quickened, pounding in his chest as if it would burst out.

In a daze, he gave a bitter smile, thinking to himself in self-deprecation, wondering whether his stomach or his heart would give out first.

Si Xuanyang was his only support at this moment, Si Xuanyang’s arm around his waist gripping so tightly that it hurt his injury, but it was the only thing grounding him in his disoriented state.

It was like floating in a sea of suffering, with this being the only straw he could grasp.

He buried himself into Si Xuanyang’s embrace, and the dry heaving gradually subsided, but the dizziness and rapid heartbeat continued to torment him.

Yu Sen wiped his tears on Si Xuanyang’s clothes and trembled as he said, “I don’t want to stay here…”

Seeing the red liquid made his insides twist into knots.

“Alright!”

Si Xuanyang swiftly scooped him up, and Yu Sen immediately went limp, collapsing onto Si Xuanyang’s shoulder, burying his head into the crook of his neck with a whimper.

The sensation of blockage in his throat kept triggering his tear ducts, causing hot tears to trickle down into Si Xuanyang’s collar, like tiny needles pricking his chest, spreading pain throughout his body.

Seeing them about to leave, Si Mayue hurried forward. “Where’s your key? Didn’t you say you’d bring it to unlock the door today?”

Si Xuanyang gave Si Mayue and the others a glance, then left quickly with Yu Sen without answering.

Luo Yu stopped Si Mayue, who was about to chase after them, and said sternly, “The key is already here. There’s no need to stop them; we’ll open it ourselves.”

Si Mayue halted, snorted coldly with her decayed, hollow right eye, and retreated to the door without saying more.

…

Si Xuanyang didn’t take Yu Sen back to his room but carried him to the dining hall on the ship. This dining hall served a lot of meat, but it was used by the pirate crew, so it wasn’t very refined. The environment was mediocre at best.

There was a strong fishy smell in the air, which aggravated the feeling of something stuck in Yu Sen’s throat, making his face pale even more.

He wanted to tell Si Xuanyang that he didn’t want to eat and couldn’t eat, but as he opened his mouth, he felt too weak to speak.

He was already feeling so miserable; if he refused to eat anything and chose to endure hunger, cold, pain, and dizziness, wouldn’t that break his boyfriend’s heart?

He couldn’t bear to do that.

Fortunately, Si Xuanyang didn’t take too long. He grabbed some porridge and vegetable juice and left with Yu Sen in his arms.

The tears had stopped, but tiny droplets still clung to the tips of his lower lashes, ready to fall at any moment, like snowmelt dripping from the branches of a pine tree.

Yu Sen’s pale face had only a hint of red at the tip of his nose and the corners of his eyes. Weakly, he wrapped his arms around Si Xuanyang’s neck, drooping his eyelids with tear stains still on his face, looking pitiful and tragically beautiful.

Seeing that Yu Sen was no longer on the verge of collapse, Si Xuanyang, his heart aching, leaned down to kiss away the tear at the corner of his eye and softly asked, “Are you okay?”

Yu Sen turned his head to avoid Si Xuanyang’s neck, murmuring in a small voice, “I’m just fine. You seem to be getting better at carrying me…”

Si Xuanyang chuckled, “That might be because you’re getting softer and easier to carry.”

“Ha, what does being soft matter? As long as I’m hard somewhere…” Yu Sen’s half-closed eyes casually swept over the wooden floor behind Si Xuanyang, suddenly stopping on a spot. “Wait, what’s that? Yang Yang, let’s go check it out!”

The person in his arms was still pale, and Si Xuanyang wasn’t happy about him pushing himself like this.

But the hand Yu Sen had wrapped around his neck stubbornly tugged at his hair, his eyes filled with a mix of threat and vulnerability. Si Xuanyang couldn’t bring himself to be angry.

Carrying Yu Sen over to the spot he was looking at, Si Xuanyang saw a shadowed corner with a metal pull ring connected to the floor. The ring was about the size of an adult man’s hand, black and blending into the dim light, easily overlooked.

It looked like a door that could be opened.

Yu Sen squirmed in his arms, urging him, “Put me down, pull that ring, Yang Yang. There’s definitely something strange underneath.”

“Don’t move!” Si Xuanyang held him still, staring at the ring in silence for a moment before narrowing his eyes at Yu Sen. “You’re not dizzy anymore?”

“…Still dizzy!” Yu Sen met his dangerous gaze, not daring to lie. “But not to the point where I can’t stand. You know how quickly low blood sugar comes and goes!”

“Is that so? Why does it seem to me that any illness you have lingers far longer than it should?”

Yu Sen: “…”

He had a point, and Yu Sen had no comeback.

“How about this: I’ll put you down, and you eat this meat porridge and vegetable juice. Then we’ll check out what’s under that door,” Si Xuanyang compromised.

“Tch! You’re even setting conditions now?” Yu Sen chuckled, “Fine, put me down. I’ll eat now.”

Si Xuanyang raised an eyebrow meaningfully, carefully setting him down, keeping a hand on Yu Sen’s back. Seeing him only wobble a bit without collapsing, he let out a small sigh of relief.

And so, under Si Xuanyang’s watchful gaze, Yu Sen painfully finished the small portion of breakfast. Si Xuanyang, seeing that he couldn’t swallow the last few bites, took over and quickly ate them himself.

After filling his stomach and feeling a bit warmer, Yu Sen finally turned his gaze back to the metal ring on the ground and urged, “Hurry and pull it open!”

Si Xuanyang bent down slightly, grasped the metal ring in his palm, and gave it a gentle tug. The floor didn’t budge.

Only after gradually increasing his strength did a gap start to appear at the edges of a square piece of the floor.

“Stand back a bit.” Si Xuanyang nodded slightly at Yu Sen. After Yu Sen stepped into a safe area, Si Xuanyang used all his might to pull the ring, lifting the trapdoor along with it.

Accompanied by a creaking sound and falling dust, a wooden staircase that seemed to descend endlessly appeared beneath the floor.

Si Xuanyang peered down, roughly estimating that the staircase likely led to the very bottom of the ship, even lower than the storage area they had just been in.

Yu Sen came over and nudged him. “Come on, let’s go down and take a look. You promised me earlier.”

If the sea monster is the ultimate enemy, then there shouldn’t be too much danger on this pirate ship.

Si Xuanyang hesitated for a moment, then tightened his grip on Yu Sen’s hand. “We can go down, but you mustn’t cause any trouble, and you can’t leave my sight.”

“Is my reputation really that bad?” Yu Sen shot him a displeased look. “Fine! I promise!”

…

The two of them held candles as they descended the steps. The walls beside the staircase had unlit candle holders, which they lit as they went, gradually brightening the passageway. The smell of burning candles slightly masked the musty, rotting odor of the wood.

Yu Sen covered his nose with one hand while tightly holding Si Xuanyang’s hand with the other as they slowly walked down the stairs.

Actually, the ladder wasn’t difficult to descend, as it wasn’t steep. The reason the bottom wasn’t visible from above was that it bent in the middle and then continued downward.

The straight distance wasn’t long, and soon the two of them reached the bottom.

At the end of the staircase was a stone archway. Once they passed through it, the space suddenly opened up, but since there wasn’t much light, and only a few small ventilation holes, it still felt very eerie and oppressive.

The floor was much damp compared to the first level where they had stayed. As soon as they uncovered their noses, they could smell the musty stench in the stifling air.

Yu Sen was somewhat shocked. “Is this… a dungeon?”

“Yeah,” Si Xuanyang replied, his expression grim as he looked at the small rooms separated by iron bars on either side, and the skeletons that had long since turned to bone within them. “This was likely where the pirates held their captives.”

At that moment, a faint metallic clinking sound came from the far end of the corridor.

Yu Sen froze for a moment, goosebumps rising on his arms. “No way, is there still someone alive down here?”

Si Xuanyang glanced at him worriedly. “Should we go take a look? Can you manage?”

“I’m fine! Let’s go!”

Yu Sen chose to ignore the slight dizziness in his head and pulled Si Xuanyang toward the source of the sound.