Chapter 82

That night, Cloudy suffered greatly. After so much running around outside, both her body and mind were exhausted. She should have been able to fall asleep instantly, but being in Titus's embrace was just too uncomfortable. Her thoughts were all over the place in this terrible sleeping environment.

Drowsy, woken by a foul smell, drowsy again, woken by heat, drowsy, woken by smell or heat... Plus, Titus kept talking in a very strange tone, rambling on and on in his sleep. When he got excited, he would even hug her tightly, the pressure almost making her want to throw up.

This nightmarish sleep was finally coming to an end. In a daze, Cloudy saw a bright light. It started with some dimly shining leaves, then she could clearly see a faint halo on the tree trunk. Morning had arrived, but there was no movement from Titus behind her. Cloudy tried to shift her body away.

After successfully escaping from Titus's embrace, the first thing she did was observe her surroundings. The place where they spent the night looked like a huge flat tumor growing on a tree, smooth on the surface but with bumps and hollows around it. Looking up, there were many such "platforms," but the one Titus chose was the largest and flattest. The trees growing on these platforms were huge, possibly as thick as three giant sequoias... Some oval yellow-green plants grew on the platform, clumped together like mushrooms.

Cloudy crawled to the edge of the platform and looked down, almost feeling her legs go weak. Titus had brought her up to a height of maybe 50 meters last night... It was like a small bird's eye view platform, with thick branches extending outward below the platform, seemingly sturdy enough to stand on, with vines hanging down around.

Truly a safe environment, Titus was reliable. Even in a poisoned state, he could find a decent shelter. After observing the surroundings, Cloudy immediately returned to Titus's side. The wild man was curled up, fast asleep, filthy all over, with dirt smeared on his face.

He had many wounds, but they had all been treated with mud or other simple things. The biggest wound was near his left shoulder close to the collarbone, where the flesh was exposed at the end, unable to be covered by mud. Cloudy frowned, gently touching Titus's wound with her fingers. Seeing no reaction from him, she continued to lightly press around the wound to check for signs of infection.

Fortunately, the wounds were not a concern as Titus had treated them professionally. Although there was swelling around the wounds, they hadn't become severely infected yet, which relieved Cloudy. She sighed in relief and lightly touched Titus's cheek with the back of her hand. It was burning hot, much higher than his usual body temperature.

Was he... running a fever? Did their race have the concept of fever? This made Cloudy a bit anxious. In an era of scarce resources and limited medical supplies, a fever often meant death. What was really going on with Titus in this situation, and what about that blue...
After smelling the flowers, there would be such serious aftereffects, Matriarch definitely wouldn't give them to her so grandly.

Moreover, isn't that flower used as an anesthetic? How could it plunge someone into a crazy hallucination? Cloudy squatted beside, frowning at Titus, "Titus. Titus? Can you hear me talking?"

Titus's sleep is very light. As a hunter, he wouldn't easily enter deep sleep. As long as there's any movement around him, he would immediately open his eyes. But just now, she broke free from his arms, and he didn't even wake up. Now, calling out to him elicits no response.

If it weren't for Titus breathing steadily and looking relatively calm... there shouldn't be any major issues, right? Cloudy sat cross-legged beside him, observing for about ten minutes. Titus was still sound asleep, his ears occasionally flicking.

Seeing that Titus showed no signs of waking up, Cloudy thought of helping him with a simple cleanup. She was very skilled in this kind of work from the previous rainy season, so she could rightfully call herself Titus's senior caregiver.

Since she didn't wear her own vest when she came out, there were no convenient cloths available for use. Cloudy wandered around the platform and found some tree leaves with a lot of morning dew accumulated on them. She picked them, gathered them in the largest leaf, brought them to Titus's side, and gently wiped his cheeks with water-soaked hands.

His face was really dirty, with mud, blood clots, and some unknown yellowish mucus smeared all over. Titus's eyebrows were almost completely covered in blood clots. It took her about three handfuls of water to successfully clean his face.

There weren't any major wounds on his face, just some shallow scratches. Cloudy touched Titus's furry eyebrows with her hand. She didn't expect that even after cleaning his face, Titus would still be sleeping like a log. Since there was nothing else to do, she could only continue collecting water to help clean the other parts.

While cleaning, Cloudy also thought about whether to find something to eat. However, this place was too high, and she knew too few plants in this rainforest area. It would be more trouble than it's worth to find something to eat.

When she was cleaning his thighs, the sleeping beauty finally slowly opened his eyes. Upon waking up, Titus immediately made some meaningless howling sounds. Cloudy, seeing him awake, hurriedly asked about his condition, but Titus just stared blankly at a certain spot, muttering strange words.

"Cloudy, I feel like my head is empty."

His head seems to have been quite empty all along, but that's not important. Cloudy reached out and touched his forehead, "Is it painful, inside your head?"

"Not painful, I don't know. Many glowing dots, long glowing strings, flying everywhere."

Having hallucinations after waking up from a nap!? Cloudy started to get anxious, "Titus, can you tell me how the enemy captured you?"
Titus remained curled up in a deep sleep position on the ground, his face wrinkled in concentration as he tried to recall what had happened before. Looking quite comical, he asked, "Cloudy, do you remember what happened?"

Cloudy, in great detail, recounted everything she had seen and heard to Titus. She mentioned how in the morning, there were reports of wildlife outside the settlement, prompting many hunters, including Titus, to go out hunting. However, in the afternoon, there were cries outside, signaling the arrival of enemies. Titus and others warned the people in the settlement to take cover while they fought outside.

Titus, with his eyes wide, exclaimed, "Yes, Cloudy came looking for me and then died!"

Cloudy, frustrated, pinched Titus's ear and retorted, "I'm right here in front of you, alive! The Cloudy you saw die was not real!"

Titus, bewildered, asked, "Why...?"

Cloudy urged Titus to remember how the enemies managed to capture him, considering he was one of the strongest hunters in the settlement. This praise seemed to motivate Titus, and he started to recollect, albeit with a hint of confusion in his eyes.

As Titus tried to remember, he recalled a sudden appearance of enemies during a hunt when both sides engaged in a swift battle. The scarcity of food made everyone reluctant to let go of any prey. Titus vividly remembered tearing into the enemies but couldn't recall the specifics of how he did it.

When he realized the enemies were attempting to raid the settlement, his memories became even hazier, with Cloudy's face being the only clear thought in his mind. He felt a strong urge to protect her from harm.

After that moment, Titus remembered how the enemies had thrown something on his face, causing a strong smell that made him feel itchy and fuzzy. Many events afterward became a blur to him.

He seemed to have killed many people because they were harming Cloudy. However, upon reflection, he questioned how there could have been so many versions of Cloudy.

"I don't know, Cloudy. It all feels strange," Titus lay still on the ground, reluctant to move, fearing discomfort. "This state is just right for me now."
"Did you sprinkle something? Weren't the other hunters talking about blue tranquilizer flowers? Cloudy pondered for a moment, 'Was it powder that was sprinkled on your face?'

Titus nodded slightly, 'Just a little inhale, and it all goes into the nose. My nose hurt a lot, and then my head started hurting. Then I forgot everything.'

Cloudy understood that a single flower couldn't bring down Titus, but the enemies had prepared a large amount of pollen, probably meant for hunting large animals, but unfortunately, it was used directly against Titus. Other settlements used these flowers as a means to capture prey, but Titus and his group only used them for anesthesia.

After inhaling a large amount of paralyzing powder, Titus experienced severe hallucinations, to the extent that it affected his cognition and memory.

'Titus, you need to drink a lot of water.' Cloudy could only resort to this traditional method to help flush out the toxins. 'You need to drink a lot of water and then urinate.'

Regardless of whether Titus understood or not, she started collecting water droplets from the leaves around. Thanks to the huge trees, their leaves were as large as basins with natural indentations, holding about half a handful of dew in each leaf.

After collecting a sufficient amount, Cloudy rushed over to force Titus to drink it. After going back and forth three or four times, pouring water until Titus felt uncomfortable, he couldn't swallow the last sip, spitting it all out, 'Cloudy, I can't drink anymore, I don't want to drink.'

'Do you need to urinate now?' Cloudy was very anxious, holding the leaves earnestly, 'Do you need to go?'

'Just drank... it won't be so quick...'

'Then hurry up! Drink a bit more!'

Titus lay on the ground, unable to move, helplessly being fed water by Cloudy."