Chapter 34
There was silence in the ranger's house.
The night wind rustled through the woods, and suddenly there was a "bang" and a heavy object was thrown out of the door.
The chain on the wooden door fell with a clang, and Lu Chenyuan stepped through the threshold, carrying a pile of firewood. The cold air rushed into the room with his movement, but was quickly isolated by the closing door.
He piled the firewood casually in the corner, his eyes fixed on the figure huddled in the corner.
Jiang Zihan curled up into a ball, his entire body hidden by his coat, only revealing half of his face which was abnormally flushed, making him look extremely small.
Lu Chenyuan approached with light steps and placed his fingertips on her forehead. Jiang Zihan subconsciously pressed her cold palm against his in her sleep. The hot touch made him frown tightly.
How could it burn like this?
Is it that the deformation has not been cleared, or is it that the antidote has caused an immune reaction?
It was the first time he saw her so vulnerable and helpless. Although she looked disheveled when he first met her, her eyes were always full of life.
Lu Chenyuan pursed his lips. Suddenly, the girl rolled over, and with a clear gurgling sound, a transparent tube rolled down. He scooped it up and put it aside to avoid piercing anyone. When he saw what it was, he paused.
This syringe's design... doesn't look like the kind commonly used in gathering places...
His eyes fell on Jiang Zihan's pale little face, revealing a bit of curiosity. Where did she find this? Or... who gave it to her?
Cold wind continued to seep in from the crack in the door. The sleeping girl seemed to sense the chill and shrank unconsciously, letting out a few uneasy sobs from her throat.
Lu Chenyuan lowered his eyes and placed the syringe against the wall. He raised his hand to tuck his coat into her neck and turned around to make a fire.
The moment he stood up, he felt a slight resistance from the hem of his clothes. He lowered his head and saw her pale fingers tightly grasping the hem of his clothes.
Lu Chenyuan was silent for a moment, and carefully pried open her fingers, but the fingertips he touched were cold, completely different from the hot forehead. He paused, finally sighed, and gently stuffed a piece of cloth between her fingers.
Jiang Zihan's eyelids moved slightly, and his fingers tightened subconsciously.
The sound of cutting meat came from the room. Lu Chenyuan put the ingredients into the pot neatly. As the firewood crackled, the aroma soon wafted out.
He wiped his hands and returned to the corner, only to find that the cloth had fallen to the side and her hands were tightly clutching the corner of her coat.
Lu Chenyuan stuffed the bottle of warm water into her arms, his eyes slightly blank. "Get well soon..."
About two hours later, Jiang Zihan was awakened by an alluring fragrance.
She sniffed and struggled to open her heavy eyelids. A log-built roof appeared before her eyes, and a small solar-powered lamp beside her cast a warm glow over the area.
"Awake?" A low voice came from the fire.
Jiang Zihan looked around. This shelter was quite hidden, but it looked quite new. "Is this your secret base?"
"Last time when I was patrolling the mountains, I realized I couldn't get back in time, so I wanted to build a backup base." Lu Chenyuan stirred the soup spoon, the firelight dancing in his eyes. "I haven't prepared everything yet, but I didn't expect to use it early today."
Jiang Zihan snorted softly and said weakly, "Then you really are preparing for a rainy day."
Having said that, Lu Chenyuan always went out early and came back late before. He could make it back no matter how far the distance was. The number of times he had to use this patrol house was very few.
Lu Chenyuan finally raised his eyes to look at her. His face was still pale, but it finally had a bit more life in it. The corners of his lips rose slightly, "You need to relax sometimes."
Lu Chenyuan scooped a bowl of soup and handed it over. Jiang Zihan was tempted by the aroma, so he blew on it a few times and drank it in big gulps.
The soup was just the right temperature, and the warmth eased the emptiness in her stomach. The detoxification and purifying agents had drained a lot of her energy, and if she didn't replenish it, she probably wouldn't be able to leave this room.
Oh, purifier!
She pretended to concentrate on drinking the soup, but her eyes began to dart around.
After seeing the injection in the corner, he glanced at Lu Chenyuan calmly, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the other party did not react. He probably didn't see it, right?
"By the way, can snake gall bladder detoxify?" Lu Chenyuan suddenly asked.
Suddenly, a dark green snake gallbladder appeared before his eyes. Jiang Zihan shuddered and nearly knocked over the soup bowl. His scalp tingled as he quickly moved away: "Take it away!"
"Isn't the snake soup delicious?" A hint of mischief flashed in Lu Chenyuan's eyes.
Jiang Zihan nearly choked, the soup stuck in her throat. "Is this snake soup?!"
"What else?" He admired her wonderful expression and suddenly glanced outside the door. "We can't stew that black panther."
"You seem to be quite resentful towards it." Jiang Zihan looked at him suspiciously. He was not like this before.
Lu Chenyuan was silent for a moment: "...Is the snake soup delicious?"
Jiang Zihan glared, his gaze suddenly sweeping across the other's slightly red ears, and suddenly a sinister thought occurred to him: "Captain Lu, could it be... jealous?"
The soup spoon banged against the pot. Lu Chenyuan stood up, a shadow completely covering him. "It looks like the fever has really subsided."
He leaned closer and said, "I have too much free time to think about random things."
Jiang Zihan held her breath instantly, and her playful thoughts faded. She watched him take away the empty bowl and asked, "Do you want to drink more?"
Jiang Zihan puffed out his lips and hummed, "...Another bowl."
…
As the sky was getting light, Jiang Zihan, who had recovered some strength, pushed the door open and walked out, then he was stunned.
I saw Black Panther tied up to the pillar at the door, and there was an empty inhibitor on the ground. It seemed that Lu Chenyuan had given him the medicine in advance.
She asked why she didn't hear any noise outside, but she had to admit that the black panther looked a little miserable.
She squatted down and lifted up the black panther's right forelimb. She saw that there were many purple-black tumors growing on the part connected to the shoulder. The surface was covered with twisted blood vessels, which were slowly wriggling with the breathing.
Jiang Zihan put on gloves and pressed the tumor. With a "pop," a crack appeared on the surface, and a stream of foul-smelling pus and blood suddenly spurted out. The thick liquid splashed onto the wooden floor, immediately corroding a black mark.
She paused, her voice tense, "Secondary distortion."
The scalpel cuts open the deformed sarcoma, and there is a layer of necrotic flesh deeper. How painful it must be.
Deep inside the rotten flesh, several translucent tentacles were twitching wildly. Jiang Zihan used the tip of the knife to poke out the entire piece of deformed tissue, and the black panther's muscles suddenly spasmed.
A hand reached over and firmly grasped the black panther's shoulder blade. Lu Chenyuan's hand was steady: "I'll hold it down, you continue."
Jiang Zihan continued to deal with the remaining parts. Lu Chenyuan's eyes fell on her white fingertips. After a night's rest, she became the professional Dr. Jiang again.
Black Panther let out a painful whimper. Jiang Zihan raised his hand to soothe him, saying, "Bear with it."
A faint white light emanated from his hands, soothing Black Panther's tense muscles.
When the last piece of rotten flesh was cleaned away, Black Panther's bloodshot pupils finally regained some focus. She quickly applied hemostatic gel to the sutured wound and fell back in exhaustion.
Lu Chenyuan helped inject the inhibitor again. When he turned around, he found her leaning against the wall, breathing rapidly, with sweat on her forehead.
He quickly took out some water from the house, tested the temperature, and handed it over, his voice lowering a few degrees: "Drink some water, be careful not to choke."
Jiang Zihan's hand was shaking when she took the water bottle. Lu Chenyuan's eyes darkened and he put his coat back on her. "Rest here for a while. I'll go out and find something to eat."
Jiang Zihan quickly grabbed him and said, "Stop working and just eat some compressed biscuits. We still have to go up the mountain. A whole night has passed and we don't know what's going on up there."
Lu Chenyuan stared at her strong hands, which were so weak that he could break free with a slight struggle, but he just couldn't take a step.
"Then rest for two hours." He squatted down to eye level with the other person. "If you can't hold on any longer, be sure to let me know in advance."
After Jiang Zihan looked better, the two continued on their journey.
Lu Chenyuan always walked in front of her, keeping a distance that could protect her in time without making her feel a sense of urgency.
She had just walked a short distance when she suddenly stopped and looked up at the top of the mountain in front of her. Her pupils suddenly constricted.
"What's wrong?" Lu Chenyuan immediately looked in the direction of her horrified gaze.
A huge, unfamiliar fir tree stood there, its crown reaching into the sky. Its branches were so thick that four people could not hug it. The bark was covered with strange dark red lines, as if magma was slowly flowing.
Lu Chenyuan's voice was lower than usual. He stood between her and the giant sequoia calmly, "It's going to rain."
Dark clouds rolled in, spring thunder rumbled in the distance, and a hot and dry atmosphere began to fill the air.
Jiang Zihan's expression suddenly changed: "Lightning-struck wood..."
She knew why those alien plants ran away so quickly!
"Hurry up! We must get down the mountain before the wildfire breaks out." Jiang Zihan's figure was tense. Lu Chenyuan knew that time was running out, so he pulled her up and ran down.
Just after rushing out a hundred meters, a dazzling white light tore through the sky. Jiang Zihan heard a silence, and then there was a "boom". Flames suddenly burst out around the giant sequoia, and in a few seconds it turned into a raging fire.
She tried to turn around and look at the giant fir tree, but Lu Chenyuan suddenly pushed her forward with force: "Don't look back!"
Tongues of flame spread wildly along the grass, and heat waves gushed out quickly from behind.
Lu Chenyuan gritted his teeth and grabbed her onto his shoulders without waiting for anyone to react. His long legs almost left an afterimage, but the fire spread too quickly, and the thick smoke, carried by the wind, covered the entire dense forest.
At this moment, a black shadow passed by like a gust of wind. Lu Chenyuan instinctively blocked it. Jiang Zihan's eyes suddenly widened. It was the black panther!
It quickly stopped, growled, lowered its body, and motioned the two to come up.
Jiang Zihan quickly patted Lu Chenyuan: "Hurry up! Come on!"
Lu Chenyuan put the man on the black panther's back and followed closely behind. The black panther's muscles were tense and it rushed down the mountain like an arrow.
The sea of fire roared behind them, and the hot wind burned their buttocks. Jiang Zihan felt like he was about to fly.
At the foot of the mountain, Zhuifeng sensed something unusual on the mountain and had been guarding the exit early. He was now pacing back and forth anxiously, ready to rush up at any time.
After smelling the familiar scent, it immediately growled and came forward. The black panther suddenly braked, put the two people down steadily, and then took a few steps back. It looked at Jiang Zihan deeply with its gray eyes, turned around and quickly walked into the dense forest and disappeared.
Lu Chenyuan reached out and pulled her: "The fire is coming, we have to hurry."
She withdrew her gaze, turned over and jumped onto Zhuifeng's back, quickly returned to the gathering place, and notified everyone to come and dig trenches together to prevent the fire from spreading to the valley, otherwise the gathering place would be turned into a scorched earth.
Soon, everyone ran out carrying shovels and hoes, and the war beasts followed suit to dig the ground. Sweat mixed with the falling ashes, covering their faces with black ash.
They didn't think about putting out the fire. Now water resources are even scarcer and not enough to put out the flames at the foot of the mountain.
The fire burned for three days and three nights.
The gathering place was guarded day and night, watching the dense forest turn into ashes.
The giant sequoia on the mountaintop rose higher and higher amid the wildfire, its charred trunk seemingly piercing the sky, its crown unfurling amid the thick smoke, enjoying the blaze. When the remaining warmth in the forest dissipated, the sequoia, as if having completed its mission, fell back into sleep.
Jiang Zihan walked into the ruins on the scorched earth. There was thick ash under his feet, and every step was soft.
She squatted down and scooped up the ashes with her fingertips. The distortion in the dense forest disappeared in the wildfire...
Those roots entrenched in the ground, after being erased of their deformations, began to accumulate nutrients, just waiting for the day to sprout again.
…
A few days later, before the morning mist had dissipated, the familiar black shadow appeared again.
The black panther took graceful steps, and with its nostrils flaring, it accurately locked onto the direction of the clinic and ran straight towards it. Zhuifeng, who was lying on the open ground, raised his eyelids lazily and let it in without even trying to stop it.
As soon as Jiang Zihan pushed the door open, he saw it sitting at the door with a fat hare in its mouth, the tip of its tail dangling slowly, like a child waiting to be praised.
For several days in a row, it came to visit with "gifts", and the gifts were different every day. Sometimes it was a hare, sometimes a pheasant. They were all fast-eating animals, and the wounds were very sharp, killing them with one blow.
Jiang Zihan refused at first, but Black Panther was so stubborn that she had to accept it. The smell of meat filled the air in the gathering place, and everyone was given a bowl of meat soup.
It came so often that everyone got used to it.
Sometimes when it was late at night, Jiang Zihan would make room in the greenhouse and lay a dry straw mat for the black panther. The black panther would lie down on it and let her change its bandages. Occasionally, when it was in severe pain, it would bury its head in the straw and make a snoring sound of grievance in its throat.
"You're quite good at acting cute." Jiang Zihan poked its forehead and picked up the nameplate on its neck to take a look. "Shunying? Your name is Shunying? That name is quite appropriate."
Black Panther looked up when he heard that, and actually nudged her with the tip of his nose as if he understood. Outside the shed, Zhuifeng snorted in dissatisfaction, squeezed in and stuffed his big head under her hand.
"Okay, okay, you're fast too. You run faster than the wind."
In the greenhouse, two big cats were squeezed on the haystack, secretly trying to push each other down.
At this moment, footsteps were heard outside the door, and Qiu Min's voice came in first: "Doctor Jiang! The chicks have hatched!"
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