Just as Sheng Youqing had expected, the rat attack was caused by a collaboration between the criminals and two of the survivors.

Yan Hongyi and his team eventually captured 72 criminals, killed 22, and allowed 6 to escape.

Three of the young armed police soldiers were killed by the vicious Hei Lao San gang during the pursuit. Hei Lao San has now fled.

Among the less than eighty survivors, some were taken hostage by the criminals and brutally killed when they tried to threaten the armed police to escape but failed.

Some of the people were unknowingly placed by the traitor survivors with pieces of rotten corpses in their pockets or bags, which resulted in swarms of rats that loved to eat rotten corpses and biting them to death.

Others were scratched and bitten by rats to varying degrees and could be infected with the plague at any time.

The armed police camp was filled with gloom. Cheng Suming came over to check on Si Nan and the others, and seeing that they were not seriously injured, he put on a medical mask and gloves, and called Si Nan, who was also fully armed. He took out some disinfectants from the space and went with him to the armed police camp to treat the injuries of the officers and soldiers.

In the process of chasing criminals, armed police officers and soldiers are inevitably involved in close combat, and suffer more or less injuries that require stopping the bleeding and bandaging.

While chasing a murderous drug dealer, Yan Hongyi was blinded by the mud that the drug dealer had picked up and nearly died at the hands of the drug dealer. Cheng Suming happened to see him, ran over, took a scalpel and killed the drug dealer with one stroke, thus saving Yan Hongyi.

However, Yan Hongyi was still scratched on the right side of his neck by the drug dealer's sharp iron piece. The wound was about three centimeters long and penetrated deep into the bone, so Cheng Suming needed to stop the bleeding and suture him.

Cheng Suming opened the surgical instrument bag he carried with him, took the alcohol from Si Nan's hand and simply disinfected his hands. Then he took out a sterilized surgical suture needle from the bag and said to Yan Hongyi, "Captain Yan, there is no anesthetic, please bear with it." He started suturing directly.

The flesh on Yan Hongyi's neck was cut and turned over, and it was a bloody mess. Si Nanguang felt the pain just looking at it. It had to be sutured without any anesthetic. Si Nan couldn't bear to look at it and looked away.

Yan Hongyi groaned, his eyebrows twisted into a shape of "川" (a character for Sichuan), and let Cheng Suming suture him to stop the bleeding and apply gauze. Then he said, "Thank you, Doctor Cheng, for your help during this sudden rat infestation. I will always remember your life-saving grace. If Doctor Cheng encounters any problems when we get to Shishan, I will definitely help him within my ability."

This is what Cheng Suming wanted to hear. He pushed up his glasses to hide the gleam in his eyes and said, "It's just a small favor, not worth mentioning. However, since Commander Yan has already said this, I won't be polite. When I get to Shishan and encounter difficulties, I will definitely ask you for help."

Yan Hongyi was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter: "Doctor Cheng, I like your straightforward personality. You are not like other doctors who are as cunning as those politicians. I dare not say a word to them, for fear of falling into their trap."

Cheng Suming put away the surgical instrument bag, smiled faintly, and said nothing.

From the beginning to the end, he and Yang Wentao participated in the operation of arresting criminals with only one purpose, which was to show their skills in front of Yan Hongyi, catch the serious criminals who the armed police officers and soldiers must not let go, and establish an image of useful talents in front of him, so as to establish a good network of relationships after arriving at the Shishan base.

Who would have thought that he would save Yan Hongyi by chance? With Yan Hongyi's position, it should not be difficult to ask him to help exercise some convenient privileges when he arrived at the Shishan Base.

After Cheng Suming treated the wounds of the armed police officers and soldiers, the survivors who were scratched and bitten by rats gathered around him and said, "Doctor Cheng, I heard that rats now carry plague bacteria. If you are scratched or bitten by them, you will be infected with the plague. Is this true?"

"It's true, but the chance of infection is not 100 percent." Cheng Suming, wearing a mask, took a few steps back to protect the fully-armed Si Nan and said, "As long as the wound is treated and disinfected, the chance of infection will be much lower."

"Doctor Cheng, you must help us then."

The group of injured survivors gathered around again, lifted up their clothes one by one, revealing their injured parts, and asked Cheng Suming to treat their wounds.

Si Nan frowned and said, "Everyone, stand back! Pull down your lapels and line up. I'll pour some disinfectant and antibiotics for dysentery on each of you, and you can treat your wounds yourselves. If you show signs of fever, vomiting, or blood in your stool tomorrow morning, I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do for you."

"Ah? If we vomit and have other symptoms, will we die?" The crowd was in a panic. "Doctor Cheng, Mrs. Cheng, do you have enough medicine?"

"Don't worry, we still have some medicine in our hands. We won't stand by and watch you die." Si Nan and his friend were surrounded by them. If they were not given some medicine, if they forced their way away, it would only anger the injured people and make them do something extreme to them.

For example, they would grab them and force them to get treatment or medicine, or they would put their injured parts in front of them without any care, causing them to get infected...

Si Nan couldn't guarantee that she and Cheng Su Ming's bodies would be healthy enough to be immune to all viruses, so she could only take out some medicine and ask the survivors to take out their containers, pour 100 ml of disinfectant into each of them, give them an antibiotic and a dysentery medicine, and leave the rest to fate.

After dealing with nearly fifty injured survivors, Si Nan was exhausted. She and Cheng Suming walked back to where they had camped. They first put all the clothes, masks, gloves, and shoe covers they were wearing into a pocket and burned them to prevent the spread of plague bacteria.

Then the two of them disinfected from head to toe with disinfectant and alcohol, and then returned to their tent, packed up all their things, and followed the armed police soldiers on a two-hour journey overnight to set up camp and rest in the middle of a relatively intact highway.

Everyone was exhausted after tossing and turning all night. When they heard Yan Hongyi's call to rest on the spot, Sinan and the others were too lazy to set up a tent. Like everyone else, they just spread a mat on the ground of the highway, covered themselves with bedding, and slept soundly under the rising sun in the sky.

When he woke up again, Si Nan was awakened by a strange fragrance.

She opened her eyes drowsily, and as soon as she opened her eyes, she saw a huge white goose butt facing her face.

Simon:......

"Dabai, what do you want to do?!" Sinan reached out and slapped Dabai's butt without any hesitation.

Dabai screamed in fright, and turned around to grab the person who attacked him.

When he saw it was Si Nan, Dabai put away his murderous look, stretched his goose head in front of Si Nan, rubbed her cheek affectionately, and made soft gurgling sounds in his mouth, as if he was saying something.

Only then did Sinan realize that after Dabai moved away, the dazzling midday sunlight shone directly on her face, making it impossible for her to open her eyes.

It turned out that Dabai was blocking the sun for her so that she could sleep more peacefully on the highway without any shelter.

Si Nan was touched and was about to hold Dabai in her arms to touch its feathers, when suddenly an arm shot across from her, grabbed Dabai's neck, and roared, "You ungrateful goose, I'm going to kill you today!"

Si Nan was stunned, not understanding why Cheng Suming suddenly became furious. He turned around and burst into laughter.

Dabai left a large pile of goose shit at the place where Cheng Suming was sleeping, right at the position of his head. Although it didn't fall on Cheng Suming's head, it was quite close.

The stench was directed at Cheng Suming. She couldn't stand the smell and didn't know when Dabai had defecated.

All poultry have a quirk: they poop wherever there is clean. They don't poop in such a wide area around them, but just poop on Cheng Suming's head. It's hard not to say that they did it on purpose.

How much hatred and resentment must one have to do such a wicked thing!

Sinan laughed in a very unkind way.

Cheng Suming was furious and picked up the scalpel to cut Dabai's neck. Dabai was so scared that he flapped his webbed feet and wings desperately, and a discordant goose-like cry for help came from his throat.

“It’s time…” Help, help, the goose is going to die!

Si Nan was afraid that Cheng Su Ming would really wipe Da Bai, so he quickly pulled Cheng Su Ming and said, "Okay Su Ming, it's just an animal. It will defecate wherever is clean. You don't need to get angry with it. Calm down. It still has some use."

Cheng Suming was about to say something when a white shadow flew over from a distance, flapping its wings and pecking at his hand that was holding Dabai.

Si Nan took a look and realized that it was Xiaobai. He had just seen it eating grass beside the highway. Upon hearing Dabai's screams, Xiaobai, who was usually clumsy and gentle, immediately came over and fought with Cheng Suming desperately. What a loving couple!

Si Nan sighed and said, "Even a pair of geese are so inseparable, how can you bear to kill Xiao Bai's husband and let it live alone in the world? If your life is threatened, I will do my best to save you. If you die, I will die with you."

Cheng Su Ming was startled and turned to look at Si Nan. He saw that she looked serious and didn't seem to be joking.

He reluctantly let go of Dabai, held her in his arms, kissed her forehead lightly, and whispered against her nose: "You always have reasons to convince me. I was very moved by what you said just now. You know, I don't want you to do anything risky for me."

Si Nan kissed him back: "I understand, I'm just making a metaphor."

Cheng Suming's eyes were deep and his throat was rolling. He was about to cover her soft lips and express his feelings when a man's voice came from the side: "Um... Doctor Cheng, Mrs. Cheng, I'm sorry to bother you. We have prepared the meal and would like to invite you to come over for dinner."

Si Nan pushed Cheng Suming's face away and looked awkwardly at a skinny man, "You guys eat, we have food."

The skinny man said hurriedly, "Mrs. Cheng, we followed the armed police officers to the mountains to hunt before. We caught several pheasants and rabbits, and picked a lot of fresh mushrooms in the woods. They are delicious when stewed with the chickens and rabbits. Please don't be disgusted and have a meal with us. We don't have any other intentions, we just want to thank you, Mrs. Cheng, for giving us medicine and treating our illness yesterday."

No wonder Sinan smelled a strange fragrance, it turned out to be the fragrance of stewed meat with mushrooms.

Si Nan said: "Don't be so polite, we are just helping everyone within our ability. It's not easy for you to get some food, you can eat it yourself."

A trace of disappointment flashed across the skinny man's eyes, but he quickly cheered up and bowed 90 degrees to Si Nan and Cheng Su Ming. "Thank you, Dr. Cheng and Mrs. Cheng, for saving me and my son. I know how expensive medicine is now. If it weren't for the medicine Mrs. Cheng gave me yesterday, my son and I might have been infected with the plague like Daniu's family, vomiting and having diarrhea. We were ordered by Commander Yan to withdraw from the team and could not go to Shishan with everyone. If you need me in the future, I will do my best to help you."

The man didn't look injured, but Si Nan had no intention of helping him because he was not sure whether he had the plague bacteria.

She just stood up and showed respect: "You are too polite. The medicine we had yesterday was just the last of our stock. We really can't give you too much."

The skinny man nodded: "I understand, thank you Mrs. Cheng." Then he turned and left.

Cheng Suming slowly got up from the ground, put on an orange windproof suit and said, "I didn't expect Yan Hongyi, who looks so righteous, to make such a decisive decision when facing those who have the plague."

Si Nan folded the bed sheets and said, "He has no other choice. There is no specific medicine for those infected with the plague. If he keeps them here, they will infect the entire team. If he doesn't act ruthlessly, he will be sorry for others."

About fifty people were bitten and scratched by the rats, and more than twenty people were not injured.

Nearly twenty of the injured survivors also took antibiotics and dysentery medicines, underwent disinfection, and changed their clothes, but they were still infected.

Some people had high fever and were listless, some foamed at the mouth, had cramps in their limbs, and some had constant diarrhea and blood in their stools...

In this situation, Yan Hongyi must not let the plague germs on them spread, so he could only play the bad guy. He selected two soldiers with better physical fitness, put on the masks that Si Nan had given them before, took some food and water from the troops, and escorted them to an abandoned village under the highway.

At first, those who were infected with the plague were making a fuss, saying that they did not intend to be infected with the plague, and why should the armed police officers and soldiers abandon them and let them fend for themselves.

If we have to die, let’s die together!

Later, an elderly survivor could not bear it any longer and said that the armed police officers and soldiers were helpless as they had no medicine and their first priority was to escort the criminals to the stone mountain. If people infected with the plague accompanied them, everyone would inevitably be infected with the plague. Instead of making a fuss here, they might as well think of a way themselves to see if they could find herbs to treat the plague from the ruins or the mountains to save themselves. It was useless to just make a fuss here.

The survivors infected with the plague refused to listen at first and wanted to ask Cheng Su Ming and Si Nan for medicine. The skinny man went back and told them that Cheng Su Ming and Si Nan had already taken out all the medicine, but they still didn't believe it and insisted on going to find someone.

Yan Hongyi turned cold and shot at the two people running in front, and ordered those people that if they dared to run around and spread the plague again, he would kill them.

The group of people finally compromised when they thought of how he shot the fleeing criminals without hesitation.

After everyone had lunch, the two soldiers who had escorted the plague-infected soldiers came back. After changing their clothes and disinfecting themselves, and eating the food left for them, everyone packed up their bags and continued on their way.

Yan Hongyi no longer had the energy to send his soldiers to pursue the escaped criminal. In order to prevent any more traitors from appearing and colluding with each other to murder the entire team, Yan Hongyi did not accept any survivors on the subsequent sections of the road.

Although many things happened along the way, five days later, they finally arrived safely at the foot of the stone mountain, to a small town called Boulder Town.

The reason why Boulder Town is called this name is that the town is surrounded by a series of endless rocky mountains.

Before the soil here was developed, it was covered with hard and huge rocks. Later, it was developed by people and developed from a small village into a large village, and then into a small town with relatively beautiful scenery. It has experienced at least a hundred years of history during this period.

Because the terrain of Giant Stone Town is relatively high, the whole town is a sloping town with hard soil. There is a stream in the town that converges from the mountains, and the resources are relatively abundant. During the earthquake, although Giant Stone Town was also affected, the damage was far less serious than outside. At least the ground was not cracked as much as outside.

When they arrived at the only exit of Boulder Town, the road, which had been destroyed by the earthquake and blocked by rocks that had fallen from the mountain, had already been cleared by the survivors in the town and an army sent in advance by the military.

The army set up a checkpoint at the intersection and placed a red flag fluttering in the wind on the side of the road, indicating that the military had taken over the management of this place.

There were four armed soldiers at the checkpoint. When they saw Yan Hongyi coming with a group of people, two sentries ran over, saluted Yan Hongyi solemnly, and interrogated him. Except for the armed police officers, everyone else had their identity registered in detail before they were allowed in.

As soon as they entered, everyone saw a wasteland that stretched as far as the eye could see. In the middle, there were several slightly cracked roads that stretched in all directions and wound their way out of sight.

There were many soldiers in military uniforms on the roads, driving military vehicles that had not been seen for a long time, dragging all kinds of supplies, and heading towards the center of the town.

Many people from the town, or a few survivors, were digging something in the wasteland.

When they saw Yan Hongyi and the others, they just looked at them coldly and went back to their own work.

Yan Hongyi turned around and said to everyone, "This is the outskirts of Jushi Town. Before the water level rose, crops were planted here. It's far from the center of town, about an hour's journey away. Everyone cheer up and move forward."

Everyone nodded and had no objection.

When they saw the checkpoint on the Stone Mountain Highway, they knew they had arrived at the safe base that was about to be established, and they were all very excited.

After entering the checkpoint, they saw that the disaster situation here was indeed much better than outside. In the distance, they could even see several intact buildings. This showed that the country's military had a good vision and had made a complete plan. They finally didn't have to live in fear outside.

Everyone was carrying luggage and pushing carts loaded with luggage, following Yan Hongyi's team. After walking for more than an hour, they finally arrived at the central area of the highest slope in Jushi Town - the foot of the stone mountain.

There are many buildings standing intact, but many old buildings have collapsed into ruins. The residents of the town and military soldiers are clearing the ruins, and many people are repairing the cracked roads by pouring cement.

Their appearance naturally attracted the attention of the people in the town. A military official came to meet Yan Hongyi and learned that he was a member of the Xingcheng military team that escorted criminals here and had taken in some survivors. The official immediately called a team of soldiers, who first used a thermometer to measure the temperature of everyone's forehead to make sure they did not have a high fever. He then called a military doctor in a white coat to give them a simple examination to make sure they were not infected with the plague. Then he took them into the town government building, which had not collapsed yet, to carry out the work handover.

Si Nan and his group were waiting in front of the square in front of the town hall. Cheng Wei asked Cheng Suming quietly, "Brother, do you think they will arrange a place for us to stay?"

Cheng Suming said, "Yes, Yan Hongyi said that half of the residents of this town died in the earthquake. It was originally a tourist town. Before the natural disaster, there were many vacant homestays and guest houses. If those houses had not collapsed, they would have been requisitioned to provide us with accommodation. There are not many survivors in Jushi Town at present, so there should be many vacant houses."

Si Nan held the two geese that wanted to poop whenever they saw an open and clean place in his arms, and ordered them not to poop anywhere. He looked up at Cheng Suming and said, "If I have to arrange a place to live, I would like to live in a low-rise building or a house with a private courtyard. I would also like to live in an old brick and tile house. I don't want to climb high buildings every day and squeeze in with a bunch of people. It would be inconvenient to do anything."

"Don't worry, I'll go talk to Yan Hongyi about our housing problem in a while." Cheng Suming comforted Si Nan: "If there is no housing you want, I can ask him for a piece of land and build a house myself."

"Will this work?" Sheng Youqing, who had been pushing the tricycle up beside Si Nan, wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "This place will be built into a base in the future. I don't know how many survivors will be taken in. By then, every inch of land will be worth a lot of money. Will the military give us land?"

Cheng Suming said: "First come, first served. Even if we don't give you the land, you can rent it or buy it."

Si Nan pressed Da Bai, who was about to make a move, and said, "How do we buy it? Money is useless now. Do we have to buy it with food?"

Cheng Suming pushed his glasses and said, "Remember the points that Officer Zhou mentioned when we were saving people in that hospital? I guess that point will be very useful in the future, and maybe it can be used as purchasing power."

"What should we do if we don't have any points?" After climbing the slope for half a day, Sheng's mother, panting and feeling like her heart was about to jump out, asked with a pale face, covering her chest.

Yang Wentao, who had been silent the whole time, pointed at the people busying around in the distance and said, "I guess they need to participate in the construction of the base and earn points through labor."

Sheng Youbin looked in the direction he pointed, with a hint of confusion in his eyes. It was hard labor, but he wondered if he could do it with his crippled body.

While they were talking, Yan Hongyi completed the handover, and a town government staff member named Lin assigned accommodation to the registered survivors.

Cheng Suming strode to Yan Hongyi and whispered something in his ear.

Yan Hongyi nodded, walked to the deputy mayor named Lin Zhongping, pointed at Cheng Suming and said, "Deputy Mayor Lin, the man with gold-rimmed glasses is a surgeon with rich experience as the main surgeon. He rescued many people during the earthquake and performed surgery on many seriously injured victims. The commander of the XX Regiment, Zhou, who was in charge of the rescue there, had accumulated a lot of points for him. He also rescued my soldiers and helped me catch the escaped felons. He made great contributions. There are seven people in their group, three families. I wonder if they can be allocated three low-rise single-family houses?"

Giant Stone Town is now taken over by the military. In the future, it will be the soldiers who have the final say, and the original town government staff will have to obey their orders.

Lin Zhongping knew that Yan Hongyi held a high position and it would be bad to offend him. In addition, Cheng Suming was a doctor, a profession that the town needed to recruit urgently, so he nodded without hesitation and said, "I'll arrange it for them right away."