Chapter 209 Rescue Success
Li Qihan hung up the phone, his face solemn. "The diagnosis from Yangcheng Third Hospital is ALS."
He looked at Du Weifeng and asked, "Do you know what happened half a month ago?"
Du Weifeng shook his head in shock: "No... Impossible! He was carrying cement up the scaffolding last week..."
Xia Lili gasped: "ALS..."
This cruel medical term condensed in the air, "The average survival rate after diagnosis is only 3 to 5 years..."
"He's in the early stages, so apart from the stiff facial muscles, there's nothing else noticeable." Li Qihan said calmly.
Du Weifeng shook his head slowly, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the brim of his helmet. "We all thought...his facial paralysis was caused by that work-related injury last year." His voice gradually faded. "That time he fell from the scaffolding and needed twelve stitches on the left side of his face..."
The monitoring room fell into a brief silence, with only a slight hum coming from the computer host.
"No wonder..." Du Weifeng suddenly laughed bitterly, "He has become very quiet in the past half month."
His eyes drifted off into the distance. "Every time he got his salary, he'd brag about what award his daughter had won, or that she'd bought him a new pair of work shoes with the money from her part-time job..."
Xia Lili tapped her fingertips lightly on the table. "Besides his daughter, does Old Zhou have any other relatives?"
Du Weifeng took a deep breath and said, "His scar puts many girls off."
He paused, "My daughter was adopted. Twenty-five years ago, a relative of his gave birth to a baby girl with a cleft lip..."
"Cleft lip and palate?" Xia Lili asked softly, feeling a pang of sadness in her heart.
Behind this medical term are so many abandoned lives.
Many families abandon their baby girls because they are born with cleft lip and palate, fearing that they will not be able to get married when they grow up.
Moreover, cleft lip and palate treatment requires several surgeries, and many families are worried that the cost of surgery will be a bottomless pit.
"Yes, it's cleft lip and palate."
Du Weifeng nodded. "The family thought the condition couldn't be cured, and since it was a girl, they..." His voice choked. "Old Zhou took the child home and named her Zhou Pan. He spent all his savings on reconstructive surgery for the child."
Xia Lili lowered her eyes. ALS, cleft lip and palate—why is fate always so cruel to some people?
"Two years ago," Du Weifeng said with pride in his voice, "that girl was admitted to Capital Medical University! She's doing an internship now and says she wants to be a plastic surgeon, specializing in surgery on children with cleft lip."
"It's just a medical student internship. Most of them pay for their internship themselves. The capital is very expensive..."
His smile dimmed again. "The debts that Old Zhou has owed over the years...I'm afraid he'll never be able to repay them until he dies."
The cold light from the surveillance screen reflected on the faces of the three people, revealing the silence at that moment.
Fang Jun suddenly remembered something and rapped his fingers on the table. "You bought personal accident insurance for the workers, right?"
Du Weifeng nodded quickly: "I bought them all, the ones with the highest coverage."
Fang Jun turned to Li Qihan, a sharp light flashing in his eyes: "Captain Li, could it be this Zhou Yingxing..." His voice gradually became lower.
"Knowing he had a terminal illness and discovering excessive methane levels underground, he deliberately caused an accident? He'd trade his own life for his daughter's lifelong security?"
By the end, his tone was filled with anger, "But this bastard actually dragged five co-workers and firefighters to their deaths!"
Xia Lili frowned: "No..."
She shook her head slightly. "A father who would adopt an abandoned disabled baby and painstakingly raise her to become a university student..." Her voice was soft, but every word was clear. "The probability of a father doing such a thing is very small."
Both of them looked at Li Qihan at the same time.
The light from the monitoring room cast shadows of varying shades on his well-defined face, making it difficult to see his expression.
"Du Weifeng." Li Qihan suddenly spoke, his voice as calm as if he were in an interrogation room. "What kind of person is Lao Zhou usually?"
Du Weifeng answered without hesitation: "He is the most honest person on our construction site and is also afraid of bothering others."
As he spoke, his eyes turned red. "He's always the first to rush in when it comes to doing the dirty and tiring work. Last year, there was a fire at the construction site next door. He carried the unconscious apprentice out through the thick smoke, but he himself..." He pointed to his lungs, "was hospitalized for half a month."
Li Qihan's eyes swept back and forth between the methane report and Lao Zhou's file, and suddenly reached out and placed the two documents side by side.
His bony fingers tapped lightly on the forged signature: "Investigate Lao Zhou, and especially this report."
Li Qihan's voice suddenly turned cold, "I'm afraid these two things are quite related."
Just when the tense atmosphere reached its peak, Xia Lili's cell phone suddenly rang.
She quickly picked up the phone, and the professional and clear voice on the other end came over: "Hello, Officer Xia, we are from the Huajing Hospital Emergency Center. The medical rescue robot and the operation team have arrived at the scene and are ready to assist at any time."
Xia Lili's eyes lit up, and she immediately turned to Fang Jun: "Captain Fang, the medical robot is here!"
Fang Jun quickly grabbed the intercom: "Team B reporting progress, medical support is in place!"
The urgency in his voice carried through the airwaves underground.
A response echoed over the intercom, accompanied by the clinking of metal. "Captain, we've cleared a gap of approximately 20 centimeters in the east passage!" Accompanied by the sound of falling gravel, "The robot should be able to pass through, but precise control is required!"
Fang Jun and Xia Lili exchanged glances, and both of them quickened their pace and walked towards the exit.
The automatic door of the monitoring room slowly closed behind them, isolating Li Qihan's pensive figure inside.
In the distance, the white emergency vehicle headlights of Huajing Hospital were flashing in the rain. Three people were wearing uniforms printed with “Medical Robot Rescue Team”.
Medical staff in uniforms with words on them have set up the operating platform.
Fang Jun quickly led the medical team of Huajin Hospital to the collapse site.
Rainwater dripped down the brim of the safety helmet, creating ripples in the puddles on the ground.
The technician knelt on one knee and carefully inserted the micro rescue robot into the narrow gap.
This sophisticated mechanical device nimbly moved through the gaps between the rubble, and the hemostatic bandages, medicines, and miniature oxygen cylinders it carried glowed coldly under the camera's illumination.
In the underground space, the robot's red indicator light is particularly eye-catching in the darkness.
It stopped precisely beside the injured Lao Meng, and its robotic arm unfolded a medical scanner, transmitting high-definition images of the wound back to the ground in real time.
The screen showed that the steel pipe had cut a deep wound on his right shoulder, where the bone was visible. The simple bandage made by the workers with torn work cloth strips was soaked with blood.
"First, inject hemostatic agent, then apply antibacterial dressing..." The doctor on the ground stared at the surveillance screen and instructed his colleagues through the microphone.
The painkillers handed out by the robot relaxed Lao Meng's frown a little, and his pale face under the oxygen mask gradually regained some color.
At the same time, firefighters made a breakthrough in their excavation work!
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