Bai Mu approached the bed to check on the "Witch." He took out the first-aid kit he had obtained from the "Desperate Survival" script, which contained two rolls of hemostatic bandages, a bottle of anti-inflammatories, and a bottle of Painkillers.
He held up a roll of the bandages for the Drop Bear Guard to see. "I am going to change her dressings now," he explained. "It might make her feel a little better." Before administering any first aid, he made sure to communicate his intentions to the Magical Familiar by his side, ensuring he wouldn't accidentally trigger an attack.
Once the Drop Bear Guard nodded in approval, Bai Mu reached out and gently stroked the "Witch's" forehead. "Don't be afraid," he whispered in the softest tone he could muster. "I'm just here to clean your wounds."
The "Witch" trembled. It was impossible to tell if she could clearly hear his voice, but the gentle physical contact seed to convey what he was trying to do.
His teammates watched the scene with their hearts in their throats. The towering giant bear lood right beside Bai Mu, entirely engulfing him in its massive shadow.
In its transford state, the creature exuded pure aggression. Its razor-sharp claws caught the firelight, glinting with a cold, tallic sheen stained with blood. A terrifying maw split its massive brown face from ear to ear, with long fangs protruding from the corners of its mouth. It looked capable of biting a person in half right at the waist.
Sharing a room with such a monster was nerve-wracking, even when it wasn't actively attacking.
Fine beads of sweat gathered on Great Northern Wilderness's forehead and neck. While Nancheng Port's expression remained perfectly stoic, his knuckles had turned completely white from gripping his longbow so tightly.
The timid Scattered Fireflies had pressed herself as far back against the wall as possible, putting maximum distance between herself and the giant bear. She didn't even dare to breathe too loudly.
Misty Rain Traveler was the most composed of the four, but even she was on edge. The giant bear simply looked far too dangerous to provoke.
It felt exactly like walking down a narrow alley and encountering soone walking a snarling wolfhound. The mont the vicious dog spotted you, it would bark frantically, looking entirely ready to tear the flesh straight from your bones.
Even if the owner pulled back hard on the heavy leash, promising the dog wouldn't bite, the vast majority of people would quietly back out of the alley and find another route.
At this mont, the players were those unlucky pedestrians, and the giant bear was the rabid wolfhound. The only difference was that they had no avenue of retreat, and there certainly wasn't a thick tal chain holding this beast back.
If she could discern even a single weakness on the creature, Misty Rain Traveler's heart wouldn't be hamring so fiercely. She had killed her fair share of monsters, but this towering beast practically had the word "Invincible" written across its face.
She shared Bai Mu's assessnt: defeating this creature inside the manor was almost certainly impossible. Much like the animated suit of armor, it was a supernatural anomaly. It was a mystery how long it had even existed; it might not have even been created by the current generation's Witch. Judging from the diary entries, the history of this Ancient Manor stretched back into the distant past.
The demons had constructed this place as a slaughterhouse designed to harvest human souls. Heaven only knew how many Witches they had ford contracts with over the centuries—and it might not have been limited to Witches, but Warlocks as well.
Although this Script was officially classified as D-grade, the sheer depth and lethality of the Ancient Manor's lore easily pushed its true danger level closer to B-grade or even A-grade. Far too many traps here resulted in instantaneous death if triggered.
She didn't buy for a second that the Drop Bear Guard was inherently gentle. The system notes made it perfectly clear: even if the creature didn't actively want to attack, it would rcilessly tear them apart the mont the "Witch" gave the order.
If Bai Mu accidentally startled the mangled, deford "Witch" on the bed, the Guard would be forced to slaughter anyone standing in its way. The lives of everyone in the room rested entirely on Bai Mu's shoulders.
Achieving a Hidden Ending was never an easy feat; it was akin to dancing on the blade of a knife. The only silver lining was that Bai Mu was the one confronting the Witch and the giant bear. He was the kind of man who made the impossible look perfectly reasonable.
His teammates watched him slowly and steadily unravel the old bandages from the "Witch." His hands didn't tremble once. The terrifying presence of the massive bear beside him didn't seem to affect him in the slightest; he was as calm and collected as ever.
As the blood-soaked bandages were peeled away, the sight of the wound made everyone's stomach churn. The stump of her severed leg was heavily infected and oozing pus, with jagged, ghastly white bone protruding from the rotting flesh. A sickening, putrid stench instantly filled the air.
It was far more horrifying than any Zombie from the "Journey of Death" script. Here, raw, living muscle still twitched and quivered. Just looking at the grisly wound induced a wave of phantom pain—like watching soone line up a rusty nail under their own toenail before kicking a brick wall with all their might.
Her ruined face, hollowed of its eyes and leaking fresh blood, was equally difficult to stomach.
The raspy, wet sounds escaping her throat were incredibly unpleasant. To be entirely honest, all four teammates felt a distinct sense of repulsion. The mangled "Witch," reduced to nothing more than a ruined upper half, was simply too grotesque and revolting to look at.
Knowing the tragic history behind her suffering certainly filled them with pity, but being forced to physically touch her was another matter entirely.
It was the classic dilemma of a piece of chocolate shaped exactly like dog feces. Even if you knew for an absolute fact that it was just chocolate, how many people would actually have the courage to reach into a toilet bowl, scoop up that warm lump, and take a bite?
They couldn't help but feel a deep sense of awe toward Bai Mu. He genuinely didn't display a single trace of disgust; he operated with the cold, sterile efficiency of a robot, devoid of any personal revulsion.
Before executing each step, Bai Mu ticulously explained his actions to the giant bear. He took out a bottle of mineral water, gently supported the Witch's neck, and fed her the Painkillers and anti-inflammatories. Next, he picked up a tal basin from the floor. Scavenging fragnts of shattered furniture, he quickly rigged up a makeshift miniature stove. Pouring the mineral water into the basin, he used a candlestick to ignite the wooden splinters and brought the water to a boil. Finally, he found a clean cloth, carried the basin over to the bed, and patiently began to wash the "Witch's" wounds.
The scene possessed an oddly bizarre sense of warmth. It looked like an old, weary father gently tending to his injured daughter—except, of course, the daughter's injuries were horrifically severe.
In truth, Bai Mu had done sothing similar in the past. When preparing his grandmother for burial, he had patiently washed the bloodstains from her body and dressed her corpse. He had carefully concealed the decaying patches of skin using her favorite floral dress, scarf, and gloves.
Naturally, he wasn't projecting his grandmother onto the "Witch." Rather, he intimately understood how incredibly difficult it was to hold onto one's kindness while suffering through unimaginable agony. From the bottom of his heart, he thought this girl was amazing. Even while enduring relentless tornt, she still managed to sew the Drop Bear Guard's arms back on and prepare a spacious living room where her Zombie friend could roam freely.
Bai Mu simply felt that soone with such a gentle soul didn't deserve to endure this kind of suffering. Because of that, he treated her wounds with the utmost care.
Gradually, she stopped curling up and trembling like a frightened animal. Her rigid body relaxed slightly, as if the gentle touch of the warm water had finally conveyed his pure intentions to her.
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