How to Stop the Villain from Going Crazy
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 6 - With such formidable physical fitness, could he still be considered a human? (2)
Bo Li finally had time to look around his tent.
Erik's bed was a bit better than hers. At the very least, it was a real bed instead of a sleeping bag. However, he didn't have a pillow or a comforter. He only had two thin blankets.
There was a metal bucket filled with turbid blood at the head of the bed. It seemed that he had already roughly treated his injuries.
He seemed to really like making masks. The only decoration in the tent was a wooden rack that displayed a variety of masks that each looked unsettling without exception. Each mask was marked with its date of production in red ink.
He had painted facial features in detail on one of the white masks, which made it even more hair-raising than the other masks.
(Author's Note: see the mask in the 1925 Phantom of the Opera movie.)
Just as Bo Li was about to look at the other masks, she heard a dull sound behind her. Erik had knocked the handle of his dagger on the head of the bed to signal for her to turn around.
Bo Li really wanted to ask if he had lost his voice, but on second thought, she gave up on that idea. She had heard him talking to the manager, and Mike's group had said he could do ventriloquism and also sing.
It was obvious that he just didn't want to talk to her.
Seeing that she had turned around, Erik put his dagger back in his boot and took off his shirt, revealing his mutilated back.
He was dangerously thin, but what was even more alarming was the wounds on his back. His peeling skin looked as if it had been burned off, and his bright red, wet flesh was exposed and covered with clumps of dust, gravel, and grass.
He was injured too badly. There was no way he should have survived. But not only was he still alive, he had pushed her to the ground while limping.
How was this possible?
Never mind, it didn't matter. Why bother questioning this. Her transmigration couldn't be explained either.
Bo Li took a deep breath and took out the ibuprofen in the first aid kit. It was for both of them. Her back was still aching.
She took out an ibuprofen tablet and offered it to him. And then, she ate a tablet in front of him. "This can relieve pain."
Erik stared at her for a moment before taking the tablet from her and swallowing it.
Bo Li was going to tell him she had electrolyte water that he could drink to help him swallow the tablet, but she saw his Adam's apple roll, and he swallowed the tablet dry.
She could only swallow her words, take out an iodine cotton swab, and wipe the scratches on her arm with it before looking up and asking, "Can I?"
He slowly nodded.
Bo Li took out tweezers, scissors, and hemostatic powder from the first aid kit and started to clean his wounds.
She was fortunate to have watched many first aid videos to pass the time when she was packing her backpack. Otherwise, she wouldn't know how to treat his wounds.
There were old wounds where the flesh was rotting, and she had to remove that rotten flesh before she could apply the medicine and bandage his back.
To her extreme surprise, Erik never made a sound. He was as quiet as a corpse.
She couldn't help but ask, "... Does it not hurt?"
No response.
She could only stop talking and continue treating his wounds.
She didn't know if the ibuprofen worked for him, but it did for her. When he had pushed her to the ground, she had almost cried in pain, but now, her back finally stopped hurting.
Bo Li sped up in cleaning his wounds.
She regretted not buying chitosan-based hemostatic hydrogels. She heard that they could stop bleeding within three seconds. Some of Erik's wounds were alarmingly big. She didn't know if hemostatic powder was enough to stop the bleeding.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she poured the hemostatic powder on a wound, the bleeding on that spot stopped.
His ability to recover was astounding. Clearly, his leg bone had been broken, but other than slightly limping, his broken leg bone didn't seem to affect him.
With such formidable physical fitness, could he still be considered a human?
Erik didn't show any surprise. He took the wrapping for the hemostatic powder and seemed more interested in the ingredient list than his phenomenal recovery.
Bo Li regretted it even more. Why did she buy imported hemostatic powder? The text on the wrapping was in English, and he could read it.
What if he handed the wrapping to the manager and joined forces with the villagers to burn her to death?
"... Don't worry." She forced herself to be brave and explained, "This is for stopping bleeding. It doesn't have side effects… After your wounds scab, they'll fall off on their own."
He still remained silent, but he handed the wrapping back to her.
Bo Li sighed in relief.
She looked inside the first aid kit. There was a bottle of electrolyte water and energy bars. She wanted to keep the energy bars for herself. As the person with the lowest status in the circus, she wouldn't receive food every day, so she had to keep food reserves.
She could give him the electrolyte water though. He had lost so much blood. It would do him good to replenish his electrolytes.
Bo Li had her own considerations. Even if Erik and her couldn't become friends, he could at least serve as a target to hold Mike back from bullying her.
If Erik couldn't survive the night, Mike would definitely look for someone else to bully. If Mike found out that she stole his gold pocket watch, then death wouldn't be far from her.
"... If you're thirsty," she offered the electrolyte water, "you can drink this. It's good for your body."
Erik didn't take the bottle.
It was only then that Bo Li noticed the two cans on his bedside table. The labels on them were a bland brownish yellow color. In comparison, the bright color of the electrolyte water in her hand was similar to the color of poisonous mushrooms.
"..." Bo Li could only take a sip of the electrolyte water. "It's not poisonous, really."
She crouched down and tried her best to show a sincere and friendly expression. "I just want to say, starting from today, you can try trusting me… I'll think of a way to tell everyone that you weren't the one that stole the gold pocket watch…"
Her voice became increasingly quiet.
Erik turned his head and emotionlessly looked at her through the two holes in his mask.
For a few seconds, Bo Li regretted speaking so much and promising so much.
He had remained silent, so she should have kept quiet too.
The more she spoke, the more she would mess up. She knew nothing about him. She didn't even know what his face looked like. What if he suddenly lost control, threw her in front of Mike, and asked her to confess to Mike?
He was like an untamed, unpredictable wild animal. They had been in the tent for almost three hours, but he hadn't even uttered a single syllable.
How could she have thought she could so easily gain his trust and become his friend? She was too reckless.
Bo Li controlled her fear and took a step back. She wanted to leave.
In the next moment, Erik slightly leaned forward, swiftly pulled out his dagger, and stabbed it a few centimeters from her cheek.
Bo Li was suddenly glad that she was an actress. She was adept at keeping her emotions under control, controlling her expressions, and dealing with sudden, unexpected situations.
… Of course, her ability to control her bladder shouldn't be undervalued.
Just like the previous times, he didn't say anything, but she understood his meaning without any difficulty.
He didn't believe her. Moreover, he wanted her to shut up and immediately leave his tent.
T/N: Next part will be at 9:15 PM EST.