CH 13

The traffic and civil police had blocked off the scene, many people gathered around the cordon to watch and discuss amongst themselves.

A policeman pointed out to Xu Qin: “Her injuries are the most serious, she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and was thrown out of the perpetrator’s sports car.”

Xu Qin quickly ran to the side of the injured person who had been flung out.

It was a young girl. On that cold autumn day, she was wearing a thin skirt, her body twisted into a strange shape, covered in blood. A large pool of blood stained the pavement, a crimson flower bloomed with her at the center.

There was no way to survive that amount of bleeding.

Even still, Xu Qin checked her pulse and pupils, then inspected her bones –– cervical vertebrae, spine, thighs, all broken.

Xu Qin got up and said to the policeman beside her: “She’s dead.”

The other party sighed: “So young––”

Just as he was talking, a startled shout came from a distance: “Captain Song!”

The two looked towards the sound, the Ferrari that caused the accident had been smashed to pieces, its outer shell twisted into a grotesque shape and tipped over in the river. The driver who caused the accident was stuck in the front side and sank upside-down into the water.

The firefighters hadn’t had the time to set up the tools yet, but the smashed up sports car was sinking into the river little by little.

Song Yan couldn’t wait any longer, he leaped over the railing, ran down the river bank with a couple of strides, jumped into the river, and squeezed into the deformed driver’s side.

The sinking scrap metal made a violent clanking sound and got caught on his shoulders –– he used his own body to push against the cabin.

The surrounding people were scared witless.

The policeman next to her shuddered and clicked his tongue repeatedly: “I’ll go and help!”

Xu Qin pursed her lips, firmly retracted her gaze, turned to leave, and walked towards another injured victim –– a migrant worker who had been sent flying off the motorcycle after being hit. He was wearing a construction safety helmet, lying on the ground with his eyes closed as if he had lost consciousness, but his limbs twitched from time to time as if having a nightmare.

Xu Qin went over to his side and looked around, except for scrapes on his joints, there were no other obvious injuries on his body.

The migrant worker suddenly groaned vaguely and seemed to awaken a bit, but his eyes could not be fully opened.

Xu Qin asked: “Do you feel any discomfort?”

The migrant worker squinted and mumbled: “Doctor, I crashed to the ground and hit my head––” Before he could finish speaking, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted.

Xu Qin took off his helmet and found that it was cracked. There were no wounds on his head either, it wasn’t immediately clear what his condition was.

Xiao Nan put away the blood pressure monitor: “The blood pressure is on the high side.”

Xu Qin: “You and Dr. Lu take him to the hospital.”

“Understood.”

When the unconscious migrant worker was put on the stretcher, Xu Qin glanced towards the river.

Song Yan was stuck inside the car, carrying that rotten vehicle. She couldn’t see his face, only his orange rescue uniform and silhouette –– he supported the car frame with one shoulder and the head of the unconscious driver with one hand, preventing his head from sinking into the water.

There was also another firefighter inside the driver’s side that supported the car with him, helping him share the burden; the instructor and the rest of the team were studying the scene, making a rescue plan and arranging tools.

Xu Qin quickly retracted her gaze again.

The car that was hit was parked on the side of the road. The hood was cracked, the body was compressed, and the driver was screaming inside the car, his legs were stuck and he couldn’t get out.

Two or three firemen were sawing the doors. Xu Qin went to check and found that the driver’s hand was broken, but there was no obvious trauma elsewhere. There were no fractures of the rib cage in the thoracic cavity, and there was no pain when the abdomen was pressed, there were no serious problems.

Xu Qin reminded the firefighters to pay attention to the position of the femoral artery, and not to injure the artery when cutting the body of the car. She left another colleague at the scene and left.

Only now did she see that the dead girl was still lying on the road. The autumn wind was bleak, blowing on her pale limbs.

The police were busy investigating the identities and maintaining the surrounding security, there was no one to care about her. The passers-by on the side took pictures with their cellphones, perhaps wanting to share them with social circles and post on Weibo.

Xu Qin glanced coldly at these passers-by, the group of people seemed to have realized they reacted inappropriately, and weakly put away their phones.

Xu Qin frowned, pulled a piece of white cloth from the ambulance, and covered the girl.

The police hadn’t verified her identity yet. At this moment, the family members of this anonymous person who were far away may not know that she had already passed, and were busy with their own things.

Xu Qin walked to the riverside, several firefighters tried to lift the scrapped car from the river to the dam, but the car was folded in two at the front seat. The broken frame inside created a lever such that if the car body was pushed, it would cause the driver stuck inside to be crushed into meat sauce.

There would be danger whenever it was moved, so at the end of the discussion, the only solution was to saw the car open in the river.

After everything was set up, Yang Chi put earplugs on Song Yan in the water, and also put earplugs on himself to help support the car together with Song Yan.

The chainsaw started, it was extremely ear-piercing. Xu Qin put on her earplugs, but she couldn’t stand the sound that drilled into her head like a screwdriver, making her nerves tingle.

She frowned slightly in pain and ran to the side of the inverted car. She groped under the upside-down car and examined the unconscious victim through the shattered windshield. She glanced at Song Yan, who was standing in the water with a twisted steel frame on his shoulders, his face was covered in sweat as he clenched his jaw.

Xu Qin: “Give me his hand.”

Song Yan held the frame with his right hand and the head of the injured person with his left, there was no free hand. Yang Chi was also close behind him, there was no room to move around.

Seeing this, Xu Qin stretched out her hand to reach the injured person’s hand. As she stretched her hand inward, and her face unconsciously touched the broken glass of the car window.

A pair of white and clean hands were still grasping in the air. He lowered his head and said with restraint: “Retract them.”

She retracted her hands back.

Song Yan rested the injured person’s head on his leg, pressed his hip against it, then bent over with difficulty, groped for the injured person’s arm, fished his hand out from behind, and handed it to Xu Qin.

Xu Qin took the injured person’s hand, cleaned up a patch of skin, disinfected, inserted a needle, and put in an IV.

In the gaps between sticking the medical tapes, Xu Qin quickly raised her eyes and glanced at Song Yan, who was looking at her, frowning slightly, his eyes unpredictable.

When their eyes met, he moved away.

The two no longer met eyes.

Song Yan was in the car, holding the body of the injured person; Xu Qin squatted under the frame with her waist hunched over, holding the IV bottle high with one hand and holding the injured person’s wrist with the other.

The sound of sawing steel bars outside was deafening, accompanied by the occasional shaking of the body frame. In the narrow space, the two were almost within reach, but they didn’t say a word, only moving along with the swaying body from time to time.

They didn’t know how long it had been, but it seemed that there was no progress. Saws, pliers, all kinds of tools took turns to go into battle, it was a slow and anxious advance, it was a long and unbearable torture.

The moment the car body was sawed off came without warning, and with a bang, the car body exploded from the middle! The team members sawing the car quickly dodged, and the front and rear of the car sank rapidly. The front compartment suddenly tilted upwards, snapping and breaking the upside-down window frame. Tired Xu Qin was leaning against the upside-down car window, caught off guard, and saw that the frame was about to catch her clothes and lift her whole body up!

Song Yan squeezed sideways and pushed Xu Qin away. Xu Qin was suddenly pushed out of the car and fell into the water. The needle tube was torn off, and the injured person had been ejected.

Song Yan happened to be blocking that segment of the frame, the car body tilted up, and the broken car frame brushed past his back, accompanied by a tearing sound that would make one’s blood run cold –– the steel bar pierced through his protective suit.

Song Yan’s face twitched almost twisted, his lips instantly turned white, and his forehead dripped with sweat.

Xu Qin heard that the sound was far from good and wanted to see what happened. Song Yan didn’t show her his back, and said coldly: “Won’t you change the needle?”

Xu Qin didn’t insist on moving towards him, she was still holding an IV bottle in her hand, and the needle tube on the bottle was broken.

It was important to rescue the wounded at this moment.

The perpetrator was lifted out immediately. Xu Qin also quickly climbed to the shore, changed the needle and re-infused. After she finished treating, she followed her colleague to put the person on a stretcher. As she was about to lift them into the ambulance, she inadvertently saw blood dripping from a segment of the frame.

Xu Qin’s heart froze and she turned around to search. The firefighters were finishing up, Song Yan was walking towards the fire truck, and she rushed towards him.

Song Yan felt Xu Qin’s approach out of the corner of his eye, but before he could react, she had already run over and tugged on his arm. The clothes on his back were cut open, and there was a deep and long bloody gash on his back.

Xu Qin’s gaze was horrified and she couldn’t help but say: “Go to the hospital.”

Song Yan removed her hand: “I was just about to.”

There were many hospitals, it was not necessary to go to hers.

Xu Qin stared at him slightly annoyed for a second, his expression was leisurely and disdainful, he didn’t seem to take her seriously.

Xu Qin nodded: “Okay.”

As he was about to leave, he heard Suo Jun exclaim: “Song Yan, what happened to your back? Hurry up and leave with the ambulance!” As he spoke, he rushed up to the ambulance and waved, “There are injured people here.”

Song Yan looked impatient and grabbed the handrail to get on the fire truck: “We’ll pass through the army hospital along the way.”

“The ambulance is here!” Suo Jun pushed and shoved, “Get in the car, are you going to delay that patient? Huh?”

The injured patient who caused the accident had just been loaded into the ambulance, when the driver heard the call from here and waited with his head extended.

Song Yan gritted his teeth, but there was nothing he could do, so he strode over and jumped into the car.

Xu Qin was helping Dr. Li give first aid to the injured patient, she didn’t look at him. When the car started, Xu Qin instructed Xiao Dong: “Go over and treat the fireman.”

Xiao Dong heard the words and went to stop the bleeding for Song Yan.

No words were exchanged the whole way.

When they arrived at the hospital, the portable hospital bed had just been pushed out of the ambulance, and the parents and relatives of the wounded who were waiting in the hospital rushed up, crying and concerned.

Xu Qin pushed aside the crowd: “Make room.”

The mother of the patient saw her son’s tragic condition and cried uncontrollably; the uncles and aunts grabbed at the doctor and cried: “You must save him. He is only twenty-three years old.”

Xu Qin and a few doctors pushed the hospital bed: “Let go first!”

When the hospital bed was pushed through the front entrance, it hit a stone and the bed jolted. The patient’s mother rushed over anxiously: “Be careful with my son!”

This collision bumped into Xiao Dong and Xu Qin next to the hospital bed.

Xu Qin lost her focus and fell towards the hospital bed, her hands unconsciously grabbing the edge of the bed for balance. But in this moment, she saw danger. During the pushing and shoving just now, the steel needle and catheter in the patient’s hand had become disconnected, the needle that fed blood was exposed to the air, just where her hand was about to grab.

Oh no.

That moment seemed to be stretched infinitely long, but it was also extremely short, so short that she wanted to avoid the needle, but it was already too late for her body to react.