Chapter 23 Rescue

Watching the scoundrel run away in a pathetic state, Song Zhao gently squeezed Gu Yanzhi's hand before quietly leaving the group.

Uncle Zhang noticed his action and lifted his head knowingly, moving his mouth as if to speak but ultimately remained silent.

The others, with the blankets collected by Zhong Junfeng and Yin Meng, covered the carts and carefully secured the blankets to ensure no gaps were exposed and that they wouldn't fall off. This method also helped shield from prying eyes.

Including the hand-drawn cart made by Uncle Zhuang, there were a total of nine carts, one for each family. Uncle Zhang and Uncle Zhuang each claimed an extra one, and the group started on their way back.

On the return trip, the youngsters, full of playfulness, invited Zhuang Nanyang to teach everyone how to skate with the ice carts.

The ice carts were easy to control. Zhuang Nanyang gave a brief explanation and demonstration. Squatting on the board, you'd insert two sharpened sticks into the ice, push back forcefully, and the cart would slide forward.

It was quite simple, without any particular technique needed, and everyone learned it after watching once.

A few young people started taking turns sitting on the ice carts, speeding along the ice, laughing and joking around. They were restrained, though, not straying far, always playing around the main group, ready to assist in case of an emergency.

Gu Yanzhi had not planned to join in, as she found it difficult to let her guard down and play so joyously in front of strangers. However, after much coaxing from Gu Yanlin and Zhang Qian, she joined in their fun.

Feeling the wind whizzing past her ears, Gu Yanzhi gradually let go of her defenses and began to enjoy the sense of freedom, feeling the thrill and joy that speed brought.

The tension that had been with her since returning from the apocalypse started to ease.

The adults watched their happy, flying shadows from behind with relieved smiles. Stuck at home for so long, not only the children, but they as adults were getting restless too.

During this merry time, the shouts from Liu Sisi and Zhang Qian abruptly dissipated the joyful atmosphere.

"Dad, dad!"

"Old Gao!"

The two were playfully racing to see who could skate faster and, in a moment of carelessness, drifted a bit too far.

Hearing their cries, everyone quickened their steps, those without carts sprinted ahead.

"What's going on?" Gu Yanlin, a vigorous young man, ran quickly and reached them, stunned by the scene before him.

A man lay on the ground, covered in blood, pale-faced with purple lips, his blood staining his clothes and the surrounding ice red.

"Help... help me," the man barely managed to open his lips, his voice so faint it was almost inaudible.

Seeing this, everyone immediately panicked and crowded around. Zhong Junfeng had medical training, and although he was only a sophomore without a license to practice, there was no better person for the situation. He immediately knelt down to check the man's condition.

"He's severely injured and needs immediate first aid," Zhong Junfeng's voice trembled. The man was badly hurt, and the weather was extremely cold. Without fully removing the man's clothes, Zhong Junfeng loosened them to inspect the wounds before closing them back up.

He had at least five stab wounds; the cuts were short, seemingly inflicted by a dagger.

The most lethal wound was beside his left chest. It was hard to say whether the man was lucky or not; his heart was on the right side, narrowly missing the blade, but the knife had struck a major artery. The man was experiencing severe bleeding, and with the freezing weather, he was now more breathless than breathing.

If they didn't treat him now, he would be beyond help.

"What do we do, we don't have any disinfectant alcohol, nor do we have any hemostatic bandages," Yin Meng was so anxious she was pacing in circles. She, a junior from the same school as Zhong Junfeng and studying nursing, had a bit of experience with such situations.

There was no choice but to make the best out of a bad situation, Zhong Junfeng steeled his heart and said.

The man had already passed out, and at this point, if they didn't save him, he was sure to die, saving him might still leave a glimmer of hope for survival.

The two offered up the brocade banner they had found. Gu Yanlin carved a small slit into the brocade banner with an axe, then tore it into small strips of cloth by hand.

At this time, they couldn't worry about infections, Zhong Junfeng immediately tied the brocade strips tightly around the man's wound to stop the bleeding.

After they had bandaged the wound, they put the man's clothes back on him. In just this short span of time, Zhong Junfeng felt that the man's body temperature had dropped several degrees. If this continued, he wouldn't die from excessive blood loss but from the cold. Yin Meng quickly wrapped him in blankets to keep him warm.

"It would be best to send him to the hospital as soon as possible," Zhong Junfeng said as he stood up from the ground. But he quickly realized this was not realistic. Their community was a new one, located in an up-and-coming economic development area. Many of the supporting facilities were not yet complete and were still under construction.

The nearest hospital was over 40 minutes away by car, and now, it was unknown how long it would take to walk there.

Moreover, the hospital was situated in the low-lying areas of City C. The relentless rain would have flooded it more severely than their area; it was unclear whether the hospital was even open.

Song Zhao popped up from somewhere and squeezed into the line, just like before leaving, he gave Gu Yanzhi's hand a squeeze.

Song Zhao's small movement was noticed by Gu Yanlin, who stared at Gu Yanzhi with a teasing look, which was met with a threatening glare from Gu Yanzhi.

"I have some medicine that I just found, Junfeng, see if you can use it."

In a corner out of sight, Gu Yanzhi secretly placed the medicine into Song Zhao's backpack, patted Song Zhao on the shoulder as a signal.

Song Zhao got the message and rummaged through his backpack to find some medicine to take out.

"This is great, it's exactly what we need. Hopefully, this man will survive," Zhong Junfeng took the medicine from Gu Yanzhi's hand, checked it excitedly, and said. The medicine Gu Yanzhi had put in included not only disinfectant alcohol and bandages but also anti-inflammatory drugs. Now the man's chances of survival had increased.

In fact, Gu Yanzhi could have directly offered the medicine, but she couldn't explain where it came from, which could easily arouse suspicion.

In the interest of preserving herself and helping others, Gu Yanzhi chose to protect herself and her family.

It just so happened that Song Zhao had come back from outside; anyway, no one knew what he'd been doing, and bringing out the medicine now wouldn't raise anyone else's suspicions.

With everyone's help, Zhong Junfeng dressed the man again, carefully disinfected the wound with alcohol, and patiently helped him into his clothes, wrapping him up in blankets.

"What do we do now?" After all was done and looking down at the man lying on the ground as if already dead, Zhong Junfeng asked.

Rashly taking back a stranger, unfamiliar to anyone, posed a huge risk.

"Let's take him with us for now. If he wakes up, we'll let him walk on his own. After all, it is a human life," Uncle Zhang finally decided.

"Let's hurry back, if we dally any longer it'll be dark," At this moment, the sky was already beginning to darken. They placed the man on a skateboard and let Zhong Junfeng and Yin Meng push it from behind, so they could keep an eye on the man's condition.

The return journey lacked the laughter and cheer from before, as everyone silently headed home.