Chapter 117 Isolating the Wounded
"Whether you live or awaken depends on your own fate and your will to survive." Ruan Ning's tone remained calm, yet carried an undeniable power. "Carry the wounded inside, clean and bandage their wounds as much as possible, and observe them. The rest of you, clean up the battlefield immediately. If you don't want to die, don't stop."
After she finished speaking, she ignored everyone's reactions and walked over to Lin Yan and Zhou Min to check their injuries.
Sun Hong was the first to react. She wiped her face vigorously and shouted hoarsely to the others, "Didn't you hear me? Lift them! Find clean cloths! Boil water! Anyone who can still move, come with me and block the door! Hurry!"
The women seemed to have been injected with new energy, and despite their exhaustion and pain, they took action again.
The atmosphere of despair was replaced by a complex emotion mixed with tragedy and a glimmer of hope. They carefully moved the wounded and cleaned their wounds, their eyes filled not only with sorrow but also with a resolute determination to fight to the death.
The two women who had just awakened their superpowers looked at their hands, then at their seriously injured companions on the ground, and their eyes became even more determined.
There were sixteen injured women, almost half of them.
Not all injuries were caused by zombies: some twisted their ankles in the chaos, some were accidentally scratched by weapons wielded by their companions, and others were injured by the superpowers of the zombies with special abilities. A total of ten people were actually injured at close range by zombies, five of whom were scratched and five were bitten—the bite wounds were deep enough to expose bone, with the flesh torn and blackened, indicating the most serious condition.
All the injured were carried into several relatively intact rooms on the east side of the first floor of the hotel. To prevent possible mutations from harming others, and also due to the injured's own strong request, they were placed in pairs per room.
Sun Hong found some reasonably sturdy bed sheets and duvet covers, and tore them into strips.
“Tie us up,” a woman whose calf had been bitten and whose face was turning ashen said weakly but firmly. “Tie our hands and feet. In case… in case things change, don’t let us go out and harm people. Give us a quick death.”
The other injured people nodded silently. Their faces were a mixture of fear, pain, and a kind of numb resolve.
With tears in their eyes and trembling hands, their companions, standing by, used strips of cloth to firmly secure their wrists and ankles to the bed frame. The movements were gentle, yet the bindings were tight. The most severely bitten victims had developed high fevers, their consciousness was beginning to blur, and they were uttering unconscious groans.
After examining all the injured, Ruan Ning said to Sun Hong, "Those who were bitten or seriously injured will have a fever period of about three days. Whether they die, transform, or awaken depends on these three days. We'll keep them here for two more days for observation. For those with minor injuries, observe them for 24 hours. If they don't develop a fever or their condition doesn't worsen, they've pulled through."
Sun Hong nodded vigorously: "Understood."
The room was unusually stuffy.
The woman who had just awakened her ice-type superpower was named Liu Jing. Her face was still somewhat pale, and her energy was unstable. She walked to the door of an isolation room, held her hands to an empty plastic bucket, and concentrated.
Wisps of white steam rose from her palm, and a thin layer of ice gradually condensed at the bottom of the bucket, then slowly thickened. After a few minutes, she was almost exhausted, and the bucket was only half full of a mixture of crushed ice and ice water.
"Wipe their faces... wipe them down to cool them down," Liu Jing said breathlessly.
Sun Hong made arrangements for one person to stay in each isolation room on a rotating basis, using a cloth soaked in precious ice water to wipe the foreheads, necks, and armpits of the feverish wounded. The remaining ice was placed in the center of the room to alleviate some of the stuffiness.
Sun Hong quickly allocated the remaining manpower: "Those who can still move, divide into three groups! One group, dig out the crystal cores from the heads of those zombies outside, be quick! The second group, drag the corpses to the backyard and burn them! The third group, check the walls and gates, reinforce them with whatever you can find! Sister Lin, Sister Zhou, what do you think..."
Lin Yan's arm was wrapped in bandages, and Zhou Min's arm was also wrapped in cloth. Both of them looked unwell, but they both stood up.
Lin Yan: "I'll lead the men to reinforce the walls. Zhou Min, your mental energy is greatly depleted, you take the men to dig for crystal cores."
Zhou Min nodded: "Okay."
There was no time for grief or rest. Everyone sprang into action again.
In the courtyard, Zhou Min, leading a group of women, gripped daggers or short knives, and, suppressing their nausea, squatted beside the zombie corpses, using tools to pry open their skulls and search for crystal cores. Their hands and sleeves were stained with blood and brain matter; some women gagged as they dug, but no one stopped. The unearthed crystal cores were collected in a relatively clean cloth.
Two groups of women, two or three at a time, dragged heavy corpses toward the hotel's backyard. After the bodies were piled up into a small mountain, Da Huo was ordered to go and spew flames, which roared up and filled the air with the stench of burning flesh.
Under Lin Yan's command, the three groups scavenged everything usable in the hotel and surrounding ruins: broken tables and chairs, rusty iron frames, broken cement blocks, and even parts from abandoned vehicles.
Using these odds and ends, along with Zhang Jingjing, who had awakened earth-elemental abilities, they filled the gaps in the wall and reinforced the rickety gate with wire and rope.
Ruan Ning stood at the hotel entrance, watching the silent, busy crowd inside and outside the courtyard. Sweat mixed with blood and dust left dark marks on everyone's faces and bodies, emitting a strong odor in the increasingly sweltering air.
She turned and went upstairs to the rooftop. A huge water tank stood exposed in the corner. She placed her hand on it, and with a slight thought, clean water quietly flowed into her palm until the tank overflowed again.
As the cleaning downstairs was nearing completion, Ruan Ning reappeared and said to Sun Hong, "Go up and wash in batches. I've refilled the water tank."
The news that they could take a bath finally brought a glimmer of hope to the exhausted women. They took turns going up to wash away the filth with the precious clean water.
Ruan Ning went to the isolation room again. It was even more stuffy inside, and the wounded were in unstable condition, especially those with fevers and shortness of breath.
She didn't say much, but simply took out a water bottle and gave each wounded soldier a small sip of the spiritual spring water, regardless of the severity of their injuries. The cool, refreshing liquid slid down their throats, and the wounded soldiers' furrowed brows seemed to relax slightly.
"Lin Yan, I'll keep watch for the rest of the night." Zhou Min's face was still pale after being bandaged, and the side effects of overexertion were obvious.
Lin Yan shook her head and pressed her shoulder: "What are you doing keeping watch like this? Go and rest. I'll take over; there are only a few hours left until dawn."
Ruan Ning glanced at the two of them: "Lin Yan will guard for three hours. Zhou Min, go and rest. I will take over from Lin Yan before dawn." Her tone left no room for argument, and Zhou Min had no choice but to nod.
After making the arrangements, Ruan Ning returned to her assigned room. She closed the door but did not lie down to rest.
With a change of heart, she entered the space.
The space was constant in temperature and tranquil, filled with spiritual energy, a stark contrast to the scorching heat and danger of the post-apocalyptic world outside. Without lingering, she went straight to the area where the crystal cores were stored and retrieved the one she had just dug out of the head of a fourth-tier mental-type zombie.
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