Temple of Truth

Chapter 72

He would need the brighter light of his own flash light, to take a closer look at his hand. It was necessary to know if there was anything inside the wound. As he could tell from the stinging feeling that he had definitely broken skin but he was unsure if it was just a scrape or bleeding, with his hand still pressed on the wall so the rest of his body could keep some distance.

He was thankful for the little light he got from above, with Zhang probably leaning over the edge endangering himself to see what was going on with Wu Xi.

Normally, he probably would have ranted at him for his reckless behaviour, but at the moment the light and knowledge that Zhang was there, kept him calm enough to slow down his breathing again. He knew how much he could panic feeling alone in the dark especially when something happened.

Zhang was here, and light even if only the little bit that could reach him. Even while pulling himself together again, Wu Xi didn't have it in himself to call him out for it. The possibility of losing the smoothing presence to the darkness too great.

"Wu Xi" he could hear Zhangs almost silent call, the undertone lost to his blood still rushing in his ears.

But he reacted to the call, as if it was the most natural thing to do.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." He consoled himself, or Zhang he didn't know for sure. But he knew that it wasn't beneath the man above him, to get the equipment and lay a second line down so he could come to him without endangering them both.

Which was totally unnecessary, Wu Xi told himself. There wasn't even enough space for two people to comfortably be next to each other here. And the work to get the rope fixed and ....

The stinging of his hand interrupted his thoughts.

Taking another deep breath, he asked Zhang to give him a moment, hoped he would still give him light and wouldn't do something unnecessary. At least not before he had his own light.

He needed to check the wound now, if there was any kind of contamination, he needed to deal with it as soon as possible or risk huge problems, life risking ones later on.

As someone with some experience in this business, he knew that some places are laced with toxins or spores of bacteria or mushrooms that had all kinds of effects. And right now he couldn't say for sure that this wall was clean of those things. And even then he was at risk of plain old blood poisoning and stone fragments, even if he had more resistance to it than others due to his blood he couldn't solely depend on that with his luck.

So, Wu Xi slowly stood up against the wall, now standing stable against it with his two feet and took his hand away from the wall. He let it rest against his torso while he picked his flashlight out of his pocket with the other hand.