369: Chapter 369 Is there a direct link between fever and pregnancy?

Song Ya's eyelids trembled, and she struggled to open them a slit.

She felt everything in front of her was murky, as if covered by a layer of fog, and it took several rotations of her gaze before it finally landed on Lin Fan's face.

"Lin Fan..." Her voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible. "I... I'm sorry... I can't get up... I feel weak all over..."

Song Ya tried to prop herself up, but the moment her elbows lifted a few centimeters, her strength gave out, and her whole body crashed back down onto the bedding.

She let out a muffled groan, not even having the energy to cry out in pain. Looking at this little white rabbit, it would be a lie to say Lin Fan didn't feel bad for her.

He placed his palm over her forehead.

It was absurdly hot. The moment his palm touched her, the heat rushed directly into the center of his palm upon skin contact.

"When did the fever start?"

"I... I don't know..." Song Ya's teeth were chattering and clicking loudly. "The latter half of the night, I suppose... I got cold as soon as I fell asleep... It felt like wind was blowing through the gaps in my bones... Even covering up with a blanket couldn't stop it..."

She took three breaths for every sentence she spoke, sweat pouring out more and more from her forehead, with a few drops sliding into the corners of her eyes, stinging them and making her squint.

Lin Fan withdrew his hand and shouted toward the outside, "Zhixia."

Xu Zhixia had already walked in.

She had already put down what was in her hands when she heard Lin Fan call out to Song Ya earlier, and hearing that Song Ya had a fever, she quickened her pace.

Xu Zhixia crouched down, pressed the back of her hand against Song Ya's forehead, and then moved it to the side of her neck.

"How long has it been?"

"She said the latter half of the night," Lin Fan said, crouching nearby.

"Is there any diarrhea? Vomiting?"

Song Ya shook her head, and Xu Zhixia pulled Song Ya's wrist out from inside her blanket.

That wrist was shockingly thin, with prominent joints, and the blood vessels beneath the skin were clearly visible.

Xu Zhixia placed three fingers on it, resting them against the pulse point.

The Karst Cave suddenly grew quiet.

Su Qingxue had walked over at some unknown point, standing two steps away with her gaze fixed on Song Ya.

She bore no hostility toward Song Ya, or rather, she currently bore no hostility toward anyone here.

Xu Zhixia kept her mouth shut, gently adjusting the angle and force of her fingers, her brows knitted together.

Song Ya's pulse was too fast; her fingertips felt that abnormally rapid beating frequency.

A full minute later, she withdrew her hand, her brows furrowed into a tight knot between them.

She raised her head and looked at Lin Fan, who was crouching beside her.

"A pregnancy pulse, she's pregnant."

Lin Fan stayed crouching in place, freezing for a moment upon hearing those words.

Pregnant.

Su Qingxue had fainted without warning, and it turned out she was pregnant.

Now Song Ya had a fever so high she was unconscious and couldn't even speak a complete sentence, and she was pregnant too.

"Is a fever directly related to pregnancy?" Lin Fan stared at Xu Zhixia.

Xu Zhixia stood up. "In clinical medicine, there is no such absolute causal relationship. But on this island, normal medical common sense doesn't work to begin with."

"A pregnant woman's immunity drops, coupled with the low nighttime temperatures in the Karst Cave, catching a cold, or a stress response generated by the body to adapt to certain changes—all of these are possible."

She turned around and looked at the verdant forest outside the Karst Cave.

"The reason isn't important right now."

"What's important is that her body temperature right now is at least above thirty-nine point five degrees. Sustained high fever in adults will damage the cranial nerves."

Xu Zhixia turned back around. "If she keeps burning like this, even if the fever breaks, she'll be mentally impaired. There are several powerful fever-reducing herbs on this island; I have to go into the forest to find them."

"I'll go with you." Lin Fan straightened his body directly, turned around to look at Zhou Kai, and said, "Kaizi, you stay here."

"Brother Fan, a battle just ended outside. There might still be scout dogs left behind by the Yang Family in the forest. Why don't I go with Dr. Xu? After I transform, I can let Dr. Xu ride on my back, which will be much more efficient."

"With your size, you're just a living target the moment you enter the forest." Lin Fan grabbed the military dagger placed on the stone wall. "Although Yang Biao has retreated, there's no guarantee a couple of small fries haven't sneaked around to the back."

"You guard the cave entrance to the death. Whether it's Su Qingxue or Song Ya, if either of them loses a single hair today inside this cave, when I come back, I'll pluck every last strand of your black fur clean."

Zhou Kai pulled his hand back, patting his chest and producing two muffled thuds. "Rest assured, Brother Fan! Whoever dares poke their head out, I'll use their head as a soccer ball!"

Lin Fan glanced at the trembling Song Ya, then finally turned his head to look at Xu Zhixia.

"Zhixia, let's go."

The sea breeze hadn't stopped yet, carrying the mixed stench left over from last night's beach shootout, making it unbearable.

After walking for about half an hour, the surrounding light completely darkened.

Tall broad-leaved trees tightly blocked out the top overhead, leaving only a few patches of mottled sunlight shining onto the muddy ground.

Right at this moment, directly in the center of Lin Fan's vision, a line of glaring golden text lit up on his retina.

[Physique Monitoring: Offspring vitality confirmed]

[Transcendence conversion path activated]

[Basic functional enhancement upgraded once more — All dimensions soaring by 300%]

Following that, a wave of intense, stabbing pain came from deep within Lin Fan's bone joints, hurting so much that he couldn't steady his footing.

He stumbled underfoot and reached out to grab a tree as thick as a person beside him.

His blood seemed to be rampaging wildly inside his blood vessels.

His vision underwent a bizarre distortion. An ant crawling on the veins of a leaf dozens of meters away, and even the angle at which its antennae swung, shone directly into his eyes.

His hearing was magnifying madly.

The subtle friction sound of the wind blowing through the tree canopy.

The faint, rustling sounds of bugs burrowing through the rotten leaves below.

Even the heavy thump, thump sounds of Xu Zhixia's heart contracting and blood surging through her heart valves seven or eight steps ahead were all crystal clear down to the slightest detail.

It succeeded.

The second enhancement.

The child Song Ya was carrying had truly become the key to his leap in power, just like Su Qingxue's.

If his previous strength only allowed him to surpass trained mercenaries, this flesh-and-blood body of his had now completely broken away from the category of normal humans.

What about Song Ya?

Su Qingxue could see resource refresh points; Song Ya was burning up to the point of risking her life. After the fever subsided, would this body in which he had planted a seed develop some kind of unfathomable thing?

"What's wrong?" Xu Zhixia noticed the footsteps behind her stop and immediately turned her head.

"My body has enhanced again." Lin Fan withdrew his hand from the damaged tree trunk. "There is the sound of water ahead."

Xu Zhixia stopped in her tracks, turned around, and walked back.

"Let me see."

Xu Zhixia grabbed Lin Fan's wrist and placed three fingers on it.

The pulse beat heavily and steadily, every single beat feeling as if something was charging around beneath the skin.

The force was several times greater than when she took his pulse last time; the elasticity of the blood vessel walls and the speed of rebound had already exceeded the limits that a normal human cardiovascular system could bear.

Yet all the indicators were running in a good direction.

His heart rate was stable, his blood pressure was stable, and there were no signs of organ overload.

Xu Zhixia withdrew her hand, raised her head, and glared at Lin Fan.

Lin Fan caught that look, his enhanced vision distinctly dissecting the thin layer of annoyance deep within Xu Zhixia's eyes.

"What's wrong?"