"Scavenger?" Hook keenly caught the unfamiliar term and asked in a hoarse voice.
"It's... those bad guys who wear black clothes, drive flying cars, and go around arresting people... or killing people..." The boy's voice was filled with fear, clearly holding onto extremely horrific memories. The old woman behind him let out a stifled sob, and the scarred man tightened his grip on the metal pipe, his eyes growing even more ferocious.
The Corporate Alliance's security forces... or worse, private soldiers similar to the "Shadows." It seems that the survivors in the lower city are also prey in the shadows of the "Hive" and "Raven".
"Are you...anyone injured? Seriously?" The boy's gaze timidly passed us and fell on Leah by the fire, on the nurse's bloodied hands, and on the dripping basin. In his clear, large eyes, the fear seemed to be slightly suppressed by another, purer emotion—the instinctive sympathy of a child, untainted by worldly experience.
The nurse sighed tiredly and didn't answer, just shook her head in despair.
The boy seemed to understand something. He hesitated for a moment, as if he had made up his mind. Suddenly, he turned around and blew a few quick, peculiar whistles into the depths of the dark pipe behind him, using a short, strange, bird-like whistle.
The whistle echoed in the culvert.
A few seconds later, a response came from the deeper darkness - a few whistles, just as short, but with a slightly different pitch.
Then, a series of shrill footsteps echoed. A figure, equally thin but remarkably nimble, emerged from the dark tunnel like a raccoon cat. It was a slightly older girl, her face grimy, but her eyes, bright and alert, revealed a competence that belied her age. On her back was a similarly worn, yet seemingly bulging canvas bag.
The girl glanced at us warily, her gaze lingering for a moment on Wrench and me, then quickly walked over to the boy and exchanged a few words in a low voice. The boy pointed in Leah's direction.
The girl nodded, and without hesitation, she swiftly untied the canvas bag from her back, set it on the ground, and opened it. Inside was no food or weapons, but rather a chaotic jumble of items: improvised medical instruments made from discarded syringes, herbal powders of various colors in grimy little bottles, clumps of relatively clean-looking old cloth (obviously carefully washed), even a few polished animal bone needles and thin threads of unknown material...
She picked swiftly, picking up a small bottle filled with a dark green, sticky paste. She also grabbed a handful of some dried brown grass leaves, walked over to the nurse, and pointed at Leah's wound, saying quickly and unequivocally, "Use 'Rust Mushroom' powder and 'Hemostatic Vine' glue for external application! It will block small blood vessels! Then boil some water with this 'Tranquilizing Herb' and drink it down your throat little by little! Keep your heart meridians up! Quick!"
Her voice was crisp, with the rapid accent unique to the downtown area, but it had a strange and convincing certainty.
The nurse was stunned. She looked at the primitive, even somewhat filthy "medicines" in the girl's hands, then at Leah's increasingly weak vital signs. Her face was filled with struggle and doubt. Her modern medical background made her instinctively resist these "witch doctor"-like things.
"Do as she says." My voice sounded decisively, breaking the deadlock.
The nurse looked at me sharply.
"We have no choice." I glanced at Leah's pale face, then at the girl from downtown with a determined look in her eyes. "Let's take a gamble."
Time is life, and any glimmer of hope is worth grasping with all our might. Cold logic tells me this is the optimal solution under the current circumstances.
The nurse gritted her teeth, a flicker of determination in her eyes. Without hesitation, she quickly took the "medicine" the girl handed her. The dark green, strange-smelling paste was carefully applied to the edges of the hideous wound on Leah's shoulder. The girl expertly instructed the placement and pressure of the pressure. The nurse then used a relatively clean metal container she had found to collect some of the relatively clear condensation water that had dripped from the culvert wall. She crushed the dried "calming grass" into the container and placed it over the fire to heat.
A mixture of grassy and slightly bitter aromas filled the culvert, diluting the slight stink of blood. Everyone held their breath, staring at Leah nervously. Wrench didn't even dare blink, his rough fingers digging into the ground.
Time passes by minute by minute, and each second seems as long as a century.
Just as the nurse used a relatively clean cloth dipped in warm "tranquil grass" water to try to pry open Leah's tightly clenched teeth and moisten her chapped lips bit by bit -
A miracle happened!
Leah's droopy complexion seemed... ever so faintly, to soften. Though still as pale as paper, the bluish-gray hue of near-death seemed to fade a bit! More crucially, her breathing, once so weak it had practically vanished, seemed... to grow ever more prolonged. Though still barely catching its breath, it felt as if an invisible hand, with the utmost reluctance... held her lifeline in its downward spiral...?
"It... worked?!" The nurse's voice trembled with disbelief. She placed her fingers on Leah's carotid artery, feeling the pulsation, which was still weak but no longer falling rapidly. Tears welled up in her eyes. "The pulse... is stable! The breathing... is deeper! Oh my God! It really works!"
Wrench's tense body suddenly relaxed, as if his bones had been pulled out. He collapsed to the ground, tears of ecstasy and fear welling up in his bloodshot eyes. He covered his mouth tightly, suppressing the sobs that threatened to burst out. Hook let out a long sigh, his grip on the dagger finally loosening. Peregrine opened his eyes, a glint of light in them. In the shadows, Mole and Matrix's tense shoulders slumped slightly.
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