Chapter 110: Hypothermia

In the black night, Thomas hid in the angle between two trees, the tiny space unable to shield his whole body, rain still falling partly upon him.

His body shivered uncontrollably; cold invaded from outside into his organs, his hand gripping the gun trembling incessantly.

His vision gradually blurred, until suddenly, a pair of glowing green eyes appeared in the darkness—he thought it was a hallucination caused by the cold.

He forced his eyes open; in the darkness, those green eyes were slowly approaching, and he finally realized what they were: a wolf! No, not one—five. The other four lurked in the underbrush, their reflective eyes betraying their positions.

He pressed his back hard against the tree trunk, gripped the gun with both hands, and aimed the barrel forward. His hands, trembling from the cold, could not hold steady—he doubted he could hit them.

He knew wolves were pack animals, usually hunting in coordination; if he fired too slowly, the others would close in on him.

The gun held eight bullets, but his aim was mediocre, the environment pitch-black, and his hands too cold to stabilize—multiple disadvantages stacked together made his situation dire.

The best option was to fire, scare off the five wolves with the gunshot, and secure his safety.

The worst… he did not continue to think about it.

“Bang—” the loud gunshot echoed far through the rain-drenched forest, accompanied by a wolf’s howl of agony.

The wolves seemed terrified of the sound, abandoning their companion and scattering in panic.

Thomas exhaled in relief but did not lower his guard; both hands gripping the gun had gone stiff.

One wolf was wounded, whimpering continuously, its cries vibrating through his nerves. After a long time, the wounded wolf, having lost too much blood, finally stopped breathing.

After the tension passed, exhaustion washed over his body; he felt himself shivering, his mind growing foggy. To stay awake, he pinched his arms repeatedly, but soon even his arms seemed numb.

After an indeterminate time, Thomas awoke with a prickling instinct—he snapped his eyes open to find four pairs of green eyes staring at him, like eight dimly glowing bulbs in the dark.

He raised his gun and pulled the trigger; one wolf screamed as it was shot through the body, while the other three seized the chance and lunged.

His body was frozen stiff; his movements were sluggish. He shifted the gun’s aim, but the beast leapt aside.

Two wolves did not miss this opportunity—they lunged together. One bit his wrist, wrenching the gun from his grip as it fell into the grass; the other’s foul, stinking breath blasted onto his face.

In that instant, his mind held no thought—only blankness.

“Get off!” A slender figure suddenly lunged forward, punching the wolf’s head away from his cheek and delivering a vicious kick to its spine—he heard a sharp “crack—” of breaking bone.

The third wolf took advantage of the figure’s distraction, lunging for her exposed abdomen.

The figure grunted, then seized the attacking wolf’s head with both hands and swung it hard—using it as a weapon, she slammed it into the other two wolves.

“Gun—” Thomas bent down to feel for the gun in the darkness, but his hands touched only mud. The surroundings were too dark—he saw nothing.

“Mr. Thomas, it’s me—” Yang Yi’s vision was nearly unaffected by the night; she quickly bent down, picked up the gun from the ground, and turned to fire.

But her aim was terrible; she fired all five remaining bullets before finally killing the two wolves, wounded yet still agile.

The other two—one had its spine broken by her kick, the other wounded by Thomas—lay moaning helplessly in the mud. Yang Yi stepped forward and snapped their necks.

“Frisa?” Thomas whispered weakly, “Thank God… you’re alive…” His voice was nearly a murmur, growing fainter until he slipped into unconsciousness.

Yang Yi paused at the sound, then slung him over her shoulder, gripping his arm with her left hand and wrapping her right arm around his waist.

“The blood smell here is too strong—it might attract other wild animals. We must leave!” she whispered.

Only when she pressed close to his body did she realize how icy he was. Her heart jolted; she immediately pressed her hand to his chest—there was still a faint warmth.

Hypothermia. A symptom flashed instantly into her mind. She had been trained in emergency first aid by the Jueguan Bureau, never imagining she’d ever need it—but now she was profoundly grateful for that training.

A wave of worry rose in her heart—if she didn’t treat him in time, he might die.

The fact that Thomas had entered the forest to find her sent a shiver through her.

Thomas had nearly lost consciousness; he could not control his body, sinking helplessly downward.

Yang Yi bent down, hooked her arms under his knees, and lifted him into a princess carry, sprinting swiftly in one direction.

She remembered seeing a fallen giant tree on the way in—its trunk formed a perfect shelter from the rain.

Think fast! What did the doctor say during training? Yang Yi screamed silently in her mind as she ran.

The doctor had said the most critical thing was to remove the patient from the cold environment.

She sprinted at her fastest speed to the spot. The fallen giant tree had formed a cleft beneath it, covered in moss—still relatively dry. Yang Yi crouched and placed him on the driest patch, then turned her back to block the rain pouring in at the entrance.

Emergency first aid knowledge flooded her mind: replace wet, cold clothing; wrap the patient in blankets or quilts; if body temperature falls below 33°C, apply active peripheral rewarming—use hot water bags to warm the whole body or immerse in water at 44°C.

No dry, warm blankets! No hot water bags! No warm water!

She reached out and tested Thomas’s chest—his heartbeat still pulsed, but slow and faint. Only then did she realize her own hands were trembling.

In the darkness, Thomas’s eyes were tightly shut, his face bluish, lips frozen a deep purplish hue. His body temperature was far below 33°C.

In emergencies, a healthy teammate’s body can help rewarm the injured—hold the patient in the same sleeping bag, using body heat to restore warmth… more first aid knowledge surfaced in her mind.

She gritted her teeth, swiftly stripped off Thomas’s soaked shirt and pants, then removed her own clothes, caked in mud and blood. After a moment’s hesitation, she tossed aside her soaked undergarment in an instant.

She embraced Thomas, maximizing skin-to-skin contact, then tried to raise her own body temperature.

After several attempts, she finally mastered the technique, raising her temperature slightly higher than a fever.

His skin was ice-cold; Yang Yi felt as though she were holding a corpse.

Somehow, the memory of their first meeting surfaced—he wore a long black nightgown, his brown curls messy on his forehead, glancing at her coldly: “Miss, you’re clearly homeless. If I threw you out, you’d suffer terrible things—and then I’d become a cruel, heartless villain… So I’d have to take you in, just to maintain a good image before others, to avoid being haunted by guilt at night—I must endure the torment of a stranger invading my life!”

“Mr. Thomas, please… don’t die… not because of me…” she whispered, arms wrapped tightly around his icy back.