But Su'er was wrong.
He was really wrong.
Something seemed to be shouting in his ear...was it his name?
Why was it so faint?
Was there really a sound? Or was it just his illusion?
From his hard cheek, frozen by the cold, a phantom like a veil passing by was faintly heard, as if someone was knocking through the window, trying to wake up the people in the room.
Su'er returned to the cold world from his trance. He suddenly found that in his world, he and Think had supported each other and walked to the high platform in front, but the fact was that they were still staying below—even his legs had been propped up in the same place for who knows how long, and what he had trudged up was just an illusion.
An illusion that only existed in his imagination.
The veil passed over his face again, and Su'er realized belatedly what had awakened him.
Think's palm.
However, there was no pain when such a palm slapped his cheek. It was soft and this time it was not an illusion. Her situation was not much better than Su'er's. Think's body was also very stiff, like an old rusty machine.
Even if she slapped hard, she had no strength when she arrived.
No need to worry about whether the wound will bleed, because the blood that flowed out has frozen into ice, and it breaks apart with every step, but this is definitely not a good thing.
Unable to speak, he could only purse his lips tightly to prevent even a trace of heat from flowing out. Su'er looked at the platform above his head again—the distance was not far away, but now it looked like a natural chasm.
The command issued from his brain took a long way to reach his limbs. After a delay of a few seconds, Su'er looked down and saw his legs slowly raising again. They could still move.
With more effort, Think, who was one step behind him, gradually began to move, and also stepped forward. Compared with her relatively flexible arms, Think's injured thigh had become a state where she could only drag it forward, as if dragging a dead branch.
But the more serious damage was done to her body. Since Think first saw Su'er in the desert where the Elves and dwarves were fighting, her abdomen and internal organs had been injured. Even at that time, due to her personal mentality, she only had a hasty treatment and did not completely heal.
Then came the trip to the dwarf kingdom, which even Think herself had to admit was a fantasy experience—not all Elves can make a big fuss in the gophers' nest and then escape safely.
In contrast to the adventures in the picture books that circulated among the Elves, Think's injuries not only did not improve, but were even repeatedly aggravated. Each time, she used magic to heal her roughly, without time for fundamental healing... until her spirit was completely locked up.
Until she exhausted the spells she hastily drew on her body at the last moment in order to kill the enemies who were chasing her.
She had no cards to play.
The biting cold at the moment was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, or all the injuries she had suffered finally broke out, no matter what...
You could still hear the creaking sound of clothes colliding when the stiff body slid through the Black Ash. Even if Think tried her best to lift her legs, her body inevitably leaned on the figure in front of her to prevent herself from falling... the monkey.
Only with his support could she avoid falling on the ground full of Black Ash.
A monkey.
The body was like a puppet, being dragged stiffly and mechanically. Think only needed to raise her head slightly to see the back of the man who was supporting her with all his strength. The face was hidden by the hood. This fragile monkey seemed to never get tired, moving forward step by step, and even the distance they took was no different.
Fell down.
Think fell to the ground with him.
'Finally…' what flashed through her mind was not regret or unwillingness, but a feeling of relief. 'Is this the end…'
However, she could not feel the pain of being eroded by the Black Ash and the melting of her flesh and blood. Had she completely lost consciousness?
After waiting for a long time, Think realized that the two people had not fallen to the place covered with Black Ash, but to the bottom of the high platform.
With the rock wall above her head and several boulders beside her to block her, there was no Black Ash to fall here, and even the wind became smaller.
As if dead, the two of them just lay there quietly, motionless... until Su'er's hand slowly moved, moved... slowly pulled Think over and held her in his arms.
"Hugging each other can keep each other warm..." Su'er repeated such words in his fuzzy mind, and even he himself didn't know if he said it out loud, and it reached Think's ears.
Cold.
Is there any heat to be transmitted?
Trying to shrink her arms, the breath passing through her ears has become weak.
Opening her eyes, without blinking, Think stared blankly at the dark gray rock in front of her. Her hexagonal pupils gradually darkened, as if they had lost their luster, and no one could know what she was thinking about at the moment.
"...Just leave me here..."
"...Mr. Monkey..."
As if whispering, it seemed to whisper to Su'er's side.
Silence.
There was no more movement for a long time, and the wind blowing here was still the same.
Gradually lowering her eyelids, Think seemed to fall asleep, until she found something touching her cheek.
The soft, elastic skin was now difficult to even slightly dent, but the force did not give up, it was still firmly exerting force, pushing hard.
It was Su'er's right hand that slowly raised, slow, as difficult as a 100-year-old man, but with an unyielding persistence, as if he wanted to make a fist but couldn't do it after trying several times, and could only hold it in vain.
It pressed against Think's cheek.
Gently, without causing any damage, it just retreated slightly outward, and the next second it hit Think's face again.
"...Great..."
"...Nilvalen..."
"...Miss..."
The hoarse voices squeezed out from the dry throat one after another, and each word of Su'er was extremely difficult, weak and slow, as if they would take away his last breath.
Hitting Think's cheek.