The tense negotiation with Lei Bao weighed on Chen Shouzhou's mind like a heavy stone.
Hearing the word "Shouzhou" from the enemy's communications made him realize that he might have been on a giant chessboard from the very beginning, without even knowing who the players were. It was a terrible feeling.
To lift his spirits and to supplement the safe house's fresh food supply, Chen Shouzhou decided to take Xiao Hei out for a patrol the next afternoon, hoping to find some edible wild vegetables or mushrooms.
"Dr. Su, Old Lin, watch the house," he instructed before leaving. "If Lei Bao sends his men to deliver another gift, remember to tell them for me: no more chicken next time. I want a whole roasted lamb."
Lin Mo's face darkened at his words, while Su Wan'er just shook her head helplessly.
The afternoon sun in the wasteland was scorching, the air itself carrying a burnt smell. Chen Shouzhou and Xiao Hei wandered around their familiar territory with little success. Just as he was about to head back, Xiao Hei suddenly stopped and let out a low, warning growl at a dense thicket of bushes nearby.
Chen Shouzhou was immediately on alert. He signaled for Xiao Hei to be quiet, tightened his grip on the wrench at his waist, and carefully pushed aside the bushes.
Behind the thicket was a small, dense grove. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, creating a mottled pattern of light and shadow. A faint whimpering sound, like that of a kitten, came from deep within the woods.
"Help... help me..."
A human voice! And it sounded like a child's!
A chill ran down Chen Shouzhou's spine, and he immediately followed the sound. He passed several large trees and finally found a figure curled up in a ball under a thick pile of dead leaves, covered in blood.
It was a boy who looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. One of his legs was twisted at an unnatural angle, clearly broken. His body was covered in scratches and bite marks from wild animals. The most severe wound was on his abdomen, where blood had soaked through his tattered clothes. He was barely conscious, hanging on by a thread.
"Holy crap, these are some serious injuries," Chen Shouzhou muttered as he crouched down to quickly assess the boy's condition. "Kids are already a rare species these days. Why don't they take better care of themselves?"
He tried to talk to the boy, but the teenager only managed to flutter his eyes open weakly, mumbling something unintelligible before passing out again.
"Well, picked up another one," Chen Shouzhou sighed. Forgetting all about wild vegetables, he carefully lifted the boy onto his back and rushed back to the safe house as fast as he could.
"Dr. Su! Quick! We've got a patient!" he yelled as soon as he entered.
Su Wan'er, who was organizing medical supplies, saw the boy on his back, and her expression immediately became grave. She quickly directed Chen Shouzhou and Lin Mo to lay the boy on a makeshift "operating table" made of wooden planks, then swiftly opened her medical kit.
The rescue began.
Su Wan'er demonstrated astonishing professionalism. She first cut away the boy's tattered clothes, revealing the gruesome wounds. Then, with alcohol swabs and saline solution, she meticulously cleaned every single injury. Her movements were gentle yet swift, her eyes so focused it was as if the entire world had narrowed down to the patient before her.
While treating the boy's wounds, Su Wan'er noticed a worn-out whistle hanging around his neck on a string. The whistle was slightly deformed, but two words were crudely carved on it with a small knife—"A'Jie."
She picked up her notepad and wrote: "He's not dead yet, but he's lost too much blood. He'll be in danger without a transfusion. Unfortunately, we don't have blood bags or testing equipment."
Chen Shouzhou looked at the boy's paper-white face and gritted his teeth. From the treasure trove in the basement, he pulled out the last and only bottle of glucose solution. He had found it in the secret room Lin Mo had discovered and had been saving it like a precious jewel.
"Use this to keep him going for now!" he said, handing the glucose to her. "Give him some 'red soup.' It'll buy us as much time as possible."
Su Wan'er nodded and skillfully found the boy's vein, inserting the needle. The clear liquid dripped, drop by drop, into the boy's body through the IV tube, bringing a faint flicker of life.
In his unconscious state, the boy seemed to feel pain. He frowned, constantly murmuring weakly, "Mom... don't go... I'm scared..."
His voice, filled with helplessness and fear, silenced the three of them, a pang of sorrow in their hearts.
After a sleepless night of meticulous care from Su Wan'er, the boy, A'Jie, finally saw his temperature drop the next morning, and his breathing became much more stable. He slowly opened his eyes.
He first looked around the unfamiliar surroundings warily. When he saw Su Wan'er sitting beside him, changing his IV drip, he was stunned for a moment. He looked at her gentle, focused eyes, then at his own neatly treated wounds, and asked tentatively, in an extremely weak voice:
"Are you... a doctor?"
This was the first time since the apocalypse that Su Wan'er had heard this title, one that had once filled her with immense pride, from a patient's mouth.
Her body trembled slightly, as if something had struck the softest part of her heart. She looked at the boy, a complex emotion in her eyes. Finally, she slowly, solemnly, nodded.
A'Jie smiled weakly, a smile as pure as a clear spring. "Thank you... thank you for saving me."
Seeing him awake, Chen Shouzhou immediately came over, his trademark smile on his face. "You're welcome, you're welcome. It was nothing. But hey, kid, about the medical fees, hospitalization fees, and nutrition fees... don't you think it's time to settle the bill? We run a small business here, and we accept cash, canned food, bullets, and various other payment methods."
A'Jie was taken aback by his words, then couldn't help but laugh.
Chen Shouzhou took the opportunity to ask about his background. A'Jie haltingly recounted his story. He and his parents had been members of a small survivor camp, but a few days ago, the camp was attacked by a massive horde of mutated beasts. His parents had died protecting him. He was the only one who escaped.
"Those monsters... they came from a nearby abandoned power substation," A'Jie's eyes filled with fear and hatred. "I saw... their nest is there. It's like... like they're waiting for something to mature..."
After saying this, he fell asleep again from exhaustion.
But in Chen Shouzhou's mind, the system's prompt suddenly rang out.
[Ding! Special story character detected. Hidden quest chain triggered: A Broken Heart]
[First Quest: Heal a traumatized survivor.]
[Mission Objective: Help A'Jie overcome the trauma of his parents' death and rediscover hope in life.]
[Mission Reward: Unlock building 'Training Ground (Basic)', Minor physical enhancement.]
"A training ground?" Chen Shouzhou thought, looking at the mission reward. It seemed the system also wanted him to train this kid into a true warrior.
Late at night, all was quiet.
Su Wan'er sat alone by the bonfire. She watched the dancing flames, then looked at the sleeping A'Jie, her eyes exceptionally gentle.
She took out her notepad and, on a fresh page, with a solemnity she had never shown before, she slowly wrote a sentence.
She wasn't writing it for others to see, but for herself.
"Thank you, Dr. Su."
This was the first time since the apocalypse that she had re-accepted and acknowledged her former identity. The dream of saving lives, which she had buried deep in her heart, seemed to be rekindled at this moment.
Chen Shouzhou came down from the watchtower and happened to see this scene. He didn't make a sound to disturb her, just watched quietly. When Su Wan'er finished writing and looked up to see him, a touch of shy embarrassment appeared on her face.
Chen Shouzhou smiled and shook his head, saying softly, "It seems our safe house is really starting to get lively."
At that moment, none of them noticed that on the roof of a tall, ruined building several hundred meters away, a dark figure in a black trench coat was quietly watching everything happening in the warehouse through a pair of high-powered binoculars.
The figure's gaze swept over Chen Shouzhou, Su Wan'er, and the newcomer A'Jie. Finally, he slowly lowered the binoculars, a mysterious smile playing on his lips, and silently vanished into the night, as if he had never been there.