Chapter 260

Mo Jiuye got up and tapped the spot on the tabletop that corresponded to the position of the iron lump below.

He Zhiran could see clearly from under the table that after just a few taps, faint cracks began to appear where the iron lump met the tabletop.

"Tap it a few more times," she said.

Mo Jiuye responded and struck the tabletop again.

"How about now?"

"It hasn't moved yet. Try tapping different spots," He Zhiran reminded him.

Mo Jiuye continued tapping the tabletop, not too quickly, asking after every three taps.

He Zhiran kept her eyes glued on the iron lump.

"Don't move, it should be right here. Keep tapping this spot," she said.

She saw with her own eyes that the gap between the iron lump and the table grew a little wider.

Mo Jiuye tapped that spot again, three times, then three times more...

The iron lump slowly detached from the tabletop, extending into an iron rod as thick as a wrist.

There was a button on the rod. He Zhiran tentatively pressed it.

A muffled sound rang out in the silent room, and the motionless bookshelf slowly slid open on both sides.

As the bookshelf moved, a pungent, foul odor instantly filled the air...

Mo Jiuye took the flashlight from He Zhiran and walked into the opening first.

It was a very small room with little furnishing. In the corner was a bed.

Lying flat on the bed was a person who could easily be mistaken for dead if not for the visible rise and fall of his chest.

Mo Jiuye asked in a low voice, "Who are you?"

Mo Xiuyan thought it was those people coming again to humiliate him. Hearing the sounds, he closed his eyes.

He was now a crippled man, with even begging for death a luxury. In this lightless room, he had already lost track of how long he had been locked up. Whenever those people came in, other than shoving him some food and water, all they did was insult him.

Mo Xiuyan was used to this by now. He only hoped that when those people tormented him, they would be a bit heavier handed so he could be freed from this misery sooner.

Hearing this voice, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

But he could never have imagined it would be his ninth younger brother. He thought it must be that he missed his family so much that he was hallucinating.

His rationality quickly defeated the longing in his heart. This must be someone new, only finding the voice unfamiliar on first hearing.

Therefore, Mo Xiuyan did not respond. He continued lying there with closed eyes, waiting for the next round of possible torture.

However, the expected did not come even after waiting for a long time.

Mo Jiuye had already walked over to his bedside, pulling He Zhiran along.

The bright flashlight beam forced Mo Xiuyan to open his eyes.

Having not seen light for years, Mo Xiuyan could only squint under the glaring flashlight.

The years of torment had stripped Mo Xiuyan of his former appearance. In Mo Jiuye's eyes, the man before him had disheveled hair covered in unknown grime.

His eye sockets were sunken, cheekbones protruding. If not for the breath still in him, he was the spitting image of a desiccated corpse.

Despite this, Mo Jiuye still made out the general features of his face.

He tentatively asked, "Fourth brother, is that you?"

As he spoke, he realized fourth brother could not open his eyes fully due to the bright light and redirected the flashlight beam elsewhere.

If Mo Xiuyan had thought the voice was a hallucination earlier, now that Mo Jiuye had called out "fourth brother", there was no way he could still think it unreal.

"Ninth younger brother, is it really you?"

Mo Jiuye had called out like that to test as well, since Mo Xiuyan looked so different from his impression.

He was clearly only around thirty, yet looked as old as a dying elder.

He Zhiran could feel Mo Jiuye's body trembling.

She saw him squat by the bed, hands shaking as he reached out to touch Mo Xiuyan.

Mo Xiuyan instinctively wanted to shy away but lacked the strength.

"Don't...don't touch me, I'm filthy," he said.

Indeed, Mo Xiuyan's clothes were tattered beyond recognition, glowing with accumulated grime and stains from unknown filth.

Mo Jiuye would not be deterred at all. He continued what he was doing.

The moment he made contact with Mo Xiuyan's body, it was like his heart was bleeding.

"Fourth brother, how did you become so emaciated?" Just the sight of Mo Xiuyan's skeletal form was hard to accept. The real feeling of touching him was simply too much for Mo Jiuye.

Mo Xiuyan squeezed out a pained smile. "That I still draw breath today is already heaven's mercy."

Now was not the time to ask Mo Xiuyan for details of his ordeal. He Zhiran reminded, "Husband, let me examine fourth brother's condition first."

Hearing that "husband", Mo Xiuyan knew without thinking that the woman speaking was his sister-in-law.

In his current filthy state, how could he possibly let his ninth brother's wife help examine him?

Mo Xiuyan quickly said, "Sister-in-law, let me tell you..."

He paused, then continued weakly, "My legs are broken, my arm tendons severed, but otherwise I'm fine."

Fine?

How could such an emaciated body be described as "fine"?

Having been here for over six months, He Zhiran fully understood the thinking of ancient people.

Especially between elder brother and sister-in-law, an almost evasive relationship existed.

Mo Xiuyan's current condition was clearly not as simple as he claimed. To help examine him further required the advanced medical equipment from the System.

Therefore, He Zhiran did not insist on examining Mo Xiuyan right away.

She planned to let the two brothers chat for a bit first, then inject Mo Xiuyan with a tranquilizer to knock him unconscious before bringing him into the System.

Whether it was examining his condition or getting him out of here, Mo Xiuyan needed to enter the System.

Seeing his sister-in-law make no further moves, Mo Xiuyan finally relaxed his taut nerves a little.

He gave a self-deprecating laugh, then said, "As a crippled man now, being able to see family again while still alive brings me much comfort.

As for my body, even the great healer Bian Que alive today could surely not cure it."

In the flashlight beam, He Zhiran could see the deep disappointment in Mo Xiuyan's eyes.

Anyone would feel heartache over his situation, locked away in this lightless room, probably thinking of nothing besides waiting for death each day.

"Fourth brother, trust me. I will find a way to cure you," Mo Jiuye said resolutely.

Hearing his wife say this, he couldn't help asking, "Ranran, can you really heal fourth brother's condition?"

He knew his wife's medical skills were superb, but fourth brother's situation was no ordinary illness.

While broken legs did have a chance of being reattached, this was still only a probability.

Fourth brother had been missing for years, so his leg injury was surely quite old. Putting aside how serious it was, he had never heard of anyone in this day and age able to cure it.

As for fourth brother's severed arm tendons, this was also incurable by Mo Jiuye's knowledge.