The ultimate blue sea

Chapter 14- Life Force

He took five steps out and nearly keeled over again. This time Su Qing felt he couldn't even draw breath. When he inhaled, the air only lingered in his throat, unable to get in, before being pushed back out.

As soon as his brain began to lack oxygen, his limbs turned cold and lost control. His legs went weak, and he fell to the ground again and curled into the shape of a comma, formally ascending to the rank of "commander."1

The sun passed through the eaves and fell on the side of his face, warm and a little itchy. Su Qing strained to lift his head, desperately straightening himself out, fingers clawing at the ground. He crawled forward another step as though climbing up a rock face.

His chin scraped the ground. Maybe the skin broke. At any rate, there was a burning sensation, but it didn't hurt—right now, compared to the stimulus of the magnetic neckband, Su Qing could no longer feel the slight pains of bumps and scratches.

His fingers dug into the ground. His hands, which at a stretch could be called delicate, were quickly rubbed raw. Blood dyed his nails, and the veins on the backs of his hands stood out. Su Qing squirmed on the ground like a big caterpillar. His breathing was short and rapid. He crawled two steps, then flopped on the ground to rest again. When he was used to the new wave of pain, he continued forward.

Su Qing thought himself a typical example of the type who would go where he pleased and dig in his heels when he didn't want to budge. When he had lived in comfort, he had been so spoiled by money that he had been more demon than human. He hadn't even been able to bear the "hardship" of waking up in the morning to go to class. But forced to such a pass, he endured a pain like being subjected to the death of a thousand cuts, crawling out step by step.

At first his brain could still function a little. Slowly, all his mental force went to warding off the pain. Only Cheng Weizhi's words echoed repeatedly: "Draw a line for yourself and look at it often, tell yourself you can't retreat over that line. This way, you'll know what kind of person you are. You'll never go astray."

Su Qing felt that line following behind him moment by moment. When he crawled forward a step, the line shuffled forward a step, so he couldn't turn back.

He had made up his mind the moment he had charged out the door—never mind that he was, at any rate, a man; even if he had been a dog, he still couldn't let himself be confined by an invisible, untouchable ring.

The feeling of suffocation enveloped his whole body. Su Qing's throat began to issue unnatural gurgles. His face was ashen. It was as if there was a metal chain in the air, tightly choking him.

He thought he was going to die.

But for some reason, he wasn't afraid. Perhaps it was because he had spent too much time lately thinking he was going to die; after all that time dying, he was used to it. Perhaps it was his anger at being at the mercy of others and his fragile self-respect; having drawn that line for him, they were constantly urging him forward—

Even if I die taking the next step, he thought, I still have to get away.

Slowly, Su Qing left a trail of dirt and blood where he had crawled. His vision became more and more blurred. Finally he couldn't even see his own hands clearly. Su Qing felt that he had already gone very, very far. He had never made such a trek in his life. So he used the very last of his strength to look back to see how far he had gone. He found it was so "far" that he couldn't see clearly and was satisfied. He thought he really was amazing.

Then his vision went dark and his body spasmed. His consciousness abruptly sank.

In a haze, he heard a car braking. Someone seemed to be getting out of the car. Warm hands lifted his shoulders and picked him up off the ground. Su Qing couldn't see who it was, but he instinctively panicked and began to struggle. His limbs were held down tightly. Then a fiercer pain surged up. The taste of blood rose in his throat, and he knew absolutely nothing more.