Chapter 62: Stunned

Not long after waking up, it rained again outside. After the rain stopped, the treehouse became a bit stuffy. As the temperature rose, Hamoyin extinguished the fire used for lighting, and the room temporarily went dark.

“Are you going to sleep?” Nagu, sticky with sweat, missed the cool river water from this morning. She was so hot that she was considering tearing off the rough cloth covering her chest and lower body.

“No.” Hamoyin stood up and took the ashes outside to dump them. “If the fire is on, you’ll be hot.”

“Oh…” Indeed, she was already hot enough to miss air conditioning. Nagu tugged at the rough cloth on her chest. “By the way, shouldn’t we try that?”

“Yes.” Hamoyin returned to the room with the fire basin. “I already applied the medicine while you were sleeping.”

“Eh? You applied it?” Without any light, Nagu couldn’t see where Hamoyin was standing and could only sit on the bed, scratching her arm. “Did it have any effect? Did you feel anything?”

“Not much, we’ll see tomorrow.” Hamoyin was lying. In fact, after applying the ointment, the wound had been itching and hurting continuously, similar to when he was growing scales but a bit more painful. The area where the ointment was applied felt like it was burning, causing a dull pain in his broken bones.

“Do we need to apply it again tonight?” Nagu looked around in the dark, then raised her hand and waved it. “Where are you? I can’t see you.”

Hamoyin put down the fire basin and walked to the bed, taking Nagu’s waving hand. “Aren’t you going to sleep?”

“I just woke up after sleeping for so long.” Nagu pulled Hamoyin onto the bed to sit beside her. “You sleep, and I’ll help you apply the medicine later?”

“No need.”

“Do you mean no need to sleep or no need to apply the medicine?”

“…Apply the medicine.”

Hamoyin wasn’t as resistant to Nagu seeing his body anymore. He just felt that applying the medicine again would hurt more, and he needed to go hunting tomorrow.

“Do you want to sleep?” Nagu quickly moved aside to make room on the bed. “Sleep, I probably won’t be sleepy for a while.”

Without refusing, Hamoyin obediently lay down beside Nagu. He wasn’t very tired, but the wound was very uncomfortable after applying the medicine. Standing was particularly uncomfortable, but lying down and closing his eyes made the itching and pain worse. Hamoyin couldn’t help but reach back to scratch around the wound.

“What’s wrong?” Hearing the noise, Nagu looked at Hamoyin lying down. She had gotten used to the dark and could see a bit of his outline. She saw Hamoyin scratching his back. “Is it itchy?”

Hamoyin grunted because he accidentally touched the wound: “…Yes.”

“Did it start itching after applying the medicine?” Nagu keenly noticed.

Hamoyin was indeed lying about not feeling anything. Her tone instinctively carried some blame. “Is it very itchy? Does it hurt? You really… don’t always lie to me.”

“It hurts a bit.” Hearing Nagu’s slight blame, Hamoyin immediately told the truth. “But it’s okay.”

“Wait a moment.” She got up and left the bed, fumbling around in the dark. About ten minutes later, the room was dimly lit again.

Nagu brought the fire basin to the bed and placed it on a small wooden table beside the bed. “Lie down, let me see your wound.”

With the fire relit, Nagu noticed that Hamoyin, who usually didn’t sweat much, had fine beads of sweat on his forehead, likely due to the discomfort of the wound.

“…” Hamoyin struggled internally for a moment but obediently lay on the bed, letting Nagu pull down his pants, revealing his buttocks covered with fine, light blue scales. Because he was nervous, his buttocks trembled slightly after the covering was completely removed.

Nagu thought his reaction was due to pain and felt a pang of heartache. “Sorry, does it hurt a lot?”

“…It’s okay.”

“Don’t say it’s okay, if it hurts, say it hurts!”

“It hurts, and it’s very itchy.”

After examining the wound, Nagu roughly understood what had happened. The scar on Hamoyin’s tailbone, which was originally a brownish-black wrinkled patch, had started to slightly fester after applying the medicine, revealing the red flesh beneath the old scar. Moreover, due to Hamoyin’s recent scratching, small beads of blood had begun to seep from the edges of the wound.

“Is this normal?” Nagu hurriedly described what she saw. “Although there’s no pus… won’t this wound completely fester if it continues like this?”

“It’s normal. This medicine will first burn the surface of the severed limb.”

Upon hearing this information, Nagu momentarily thought it might be better not to heal the wound, but she calmed down, thinking that enduring short-term pain would be better than long-term suffering. Once this wound was healed, Hamoyin wouldn’t have to endure the daily severe pain anymore.

“For the next few days while applying the medicine, you shouldn’t wear pants. Otherwise, it will be bad for the wound if it gets stuffy.” As she spoke, Nagu completely removed Hamoyin’s pants, which were hanging around his knees. After all, his lower limbs were covered with soft scales, so it didn’t matter whether he wore pants or not.

“…I need to go hunting tomorrow.”

“No, I’ll get the food. You stay home and rest.” Nagu firmly refused Hamoyin. “I know the locations of two traps near the treehouse, and I can recognize the edible plant roots nearby. Then I’ll pick some fruits. I can handle these.”

“You can’t go out alone.” Recalling the time when Nagu wasn’t around made Hamoyin panic. What if she went out alone and got lost or injured?

“The traps are far from here, not close. I’ll go with you.”

“Then I’ll stay near the treehouse. You usually dig around here, right? This should be fine.” Nagu pressed down on Hamoyin, who was trying to get up and retrieve his pants. “You can sit on the wooden porch outside the treehouse and watch. How about that? I’ll look for food in the nearby area where you can see me.”

“…”

In the end, Hamoyin compromised because he couldn’t argue with Nagu.

The next morning, he found a small basket and a bone shovel for Nagu. “Don’t go far. Just dig up something to eat nearby.”

At this moment, Nagu was tying a grass rope around her waist. They were standing on the small platform outside the treehouse, preparing for her to safely climb down the tree alone. Actually, Hamoyin had nailed many stone spikes into the trunk of this tree, so it would be easy to climb down by following them. However, he didn’t trust Nagu to climb the tree barehanded, so he insisted on tying a rope around her.

“Alright.” Nagu tugged at the rope tied around her waist three times. The other end of the rope was tied to a thick branch above them. “It’s sturdy enough!”

“…I should still go down with you.” After looking around for a while, Hamoyin was still worried. “I’ll carry you down.”

“I can climb down by myself!” She waved her hand, signaling Hamoyin to lie down on the grass mat on the terrace and rest. This morning, his wound had been treated with medicine again, and Nagu didn’t dare let Hamoyin move too much.

“You rest well. I’ll be back soon after digging.”

“…” Hamoyin could only lie back down, then squeezed his head out of the wooden railing to watch Nagu slowly descend along the stone spikes. “Be careful.”

“I know, I know.” Since she hadn’t descended much yet, Nagu could still hear Hamoyin speaking. However, by the time she reached the middle of the trunk, she couldn’t hear anything anymore, and her arms and thighs were getting tired.

Climbing back up later would probably require a long rest. Nagu, panting heavily, gripped the stone spikes tightly, wondering how Hamoyin could climb trees so quickly, like a gecko.

After about twenty more minutes, Nagu’s feet finally touched the grassy ground. She lay down to rest for a while before slowly getting up and walking towards the dense vegetation. She first picked the fruits she recognized and put them in her basket, then ran around looking for other edible things.

Meanwhile, Hamoyin, still on the treehouse roof, was very nervous. He kept his eyes on Nagu as she ran around. Her figure was occasionally blocked by the dense vines and large green leaves, making Hamoyin particularly anxious. What if she accidentally encountered a snake? She could get bitten. But soon, her grayish-white head would reappear in his sight.

Has she picked enough fruit? Hamoyin watched as Nagu took off her basket and slowly bent down, but she just crouched there without moving.

Not long after, Hamoyin saw Nagu suddenly pounce forward.

“?! What happened?!” He propped himself up in alarm.

Of course, Nagu, who was on the ground, couldn’t hear him. She was overjoyed, using her entire upper body weight to press down on a struggling fat raccoon. She had seen it sneaking around while she was preparing to dig up some roots, picking up fallen fruits to eat.

“Stop struggling, you’re Hamoyin’s nutrition!” She said, slightly lifting herself and then grabbing the raccoon’s neck, feeling the thick ring of flesh. Nagu felt like a farmer seeing a bountiful harvest of golden rice.

Gradually increasing her grip, the fat little animal finally stopped moving its sharp claws, its tongue lolling out as it suffocated to death. After confirming it was truly dead, Nagu released her grip and breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t expected such a small creature, not much bigger than a Chihuahua, to struggle so powerfully, leaving scratch marks on her wrist.

But she was lucky! She had managed to get some meat. Nagu happily tossed the raccoon into her basket, then went to the nearby bushes to dig up some edible roots and leaves. Once her basket was completely full, she turned back towards the big tree.

On her way back, she looked up at the small wooden house under the tree canopy. Hamoyin’s head was still peeking out from the platform, waving a hand at her.

Surprised to see Hamoyin making such lively gestures, Nagu happily waved back. “I even caught an animal! We can have meat for dinner tonight.”

She stepped out of the dense bushes and walked towards the small patch of flat grass under the tree, still talking to Hamoyin above. However, because of the height difference, she didn’t notice Hamoyin’s unusual expression and frantic arm-waving, signaling her to hide back in the bushes. She just took off her basket, intending to tie it to the rope for Hamoyin to pull up.

It wasn’t until she heard a familiar voice behind her that Nagu realized Hamoyin’s waving wasn’t a greeting…

“You, you are…”

Duogaluo stared blankly at the witch standing under Hamoyin’s tree. He had come to check on Hamoyin, not expecting to see such an absurd scene. The deceased former witch was not a corpse but…

Nagu was equally stunned, staring back at Duogaluo.