Chapter 223: A Transition of Old and New Coexistence

Raccoon City.

New York.

Los Angeles.

Based on population, productivity, culture, technology, and living standards, the three cities rank as the top three in North America.

As the headquarters of Umbrella, Raccoon City is not only first in North America, but also first worldwide and within the entire UEG sphere of influence.

Although New York and Los Angeles pale in comparison to Raccoon City, both cities are also of paramount importance to UEG.

What makes Los Angeles more distinctive than Raccoon City and New York is its "chaos".

As the literal meaning suggests, Los Angeles suffers severe wealth disparity: affluent districts have more police presence, while slums are riddled with gangs, frequent arson, robberies, and violent incidents.

Before UEG was established, even during daylight residents dared not wander freely in the law‑less districts.

After UEG was established.

With the promulgation of a new constitution and laws, and strong backing from the UEG authorities, police began actively patrolling the more disorderly neighborhoods, while public opinion was covertly controlled by Umbrella to prevent malicious criticism of lawful police actions.

At the same time, UEG poured massive funds into infrastructure, public education, and rapid technological development, resulting in a great improvement in Los Angeles' public safety.

Most regions worldwide are similar.

Today's Los Angeles boasts a clear blue sky, but the scorching summer sun hangs high, with the peak temperature expected to surpass the 40‑degree mark.

From a high‑altitude view, the first impression is that Los Angeles' overall size differs little from a few years ago, as if no earth‑shaking changes have occurred.

At lower altitudes and up close, one can see a comprehensive aerial transit system threading between skyscrapers, with many airships cruising above each district.

Most of these airships, which follow fixed routes, belong to police, municipal and other government agencies; a few are privately owned civilian airships.

After all, Umbrella only opened civilian airship sales in March 2012; as of today, August 3, less than half a year later, the numbers are low and the price is prohibitive.

Throughout the city streets, holographic technology has become extremely cheap, with advertisements, news, and signage all displayed holographically.

Modern technology combined with old‑style architecture, while not as orderly as Mars or other colonial cities, gives a comfortable sense of old and new coexisting.

Los Angeles and most cities on Earth are in this transitional period.

Because it is past rush hour and the heat is high, fewer pedestrians are on the streets and traffic is not congested; near the southwestern beach, many students on summer vacation have gathered.

Everything appears tranquil and peaceful.

Yet in a city like Los Angeles, with a population exceeding six million, accidents are inevitable.

East of downtown.

On Highway 105 running through the Linwood district, a severe traffic accident occurred, completely paralyzing the east‑to‑west side.

The cause was six cars rear‑ending each other; subsequent vehicles swerved in panic, causing many to lose control and crash into the central guardrail and median.

"Move the cars! Move them!"

"Guys, don't sleep, wake up, the rescue boat is coming right away!"

"Quick! Come help!"

Unaffected drivers and passengers voluntarily went to the most severe area to help before official rescue arrived.

But soon, two nearby patrol airships painted black and white landed in a spacious area nearby.

The airships opened side doors, and over ten police officers in black uniforms rushed out, about half of them carrying fire‑fighting tools and medical supplies.

Several officers immediately began directing traffic, clearing unaffected vehicles to free up space for subsequent airships to land.

The officers with tools and medicine kindly dispersed enthusiastic bystanders who wanted to keep helping, and carried out more professional rescue to prevent trapped drivers and passengers from sustaining secondary injuries.

Within two minutes after the first batch of police began rescue, a large fire‑department airship also arrived at the scene.

With the assistance of nearly thirty firefighters, the pressure on the first police team dropped sharply.

Soon after, two white airships resembling enlarged versions of the Yuyou also appeared over Highway 105.

Their hulls bore Umbrella's red‑white umbrella logo and the words "Los Angeles General Hospital Emergency Boat".

They landed, and the rear doors opened.

Emergency doctors and nurses in white coats and green vests pushed several stretchers out of the cabin, transferring the most severely injured into the rescue boat, preparing to perform surgery on site.

—————

…

A few minutes later.

Inside one of the emergency boats.

The interior is divided horizontally into several compartments; the compartment nearest the rear doors and largest in space contains three sequential "surgical zones".

A stretcher can be fixed at the center of the area to serve as a temporary operating platform; above the cabin are several small robotic arms, and the walls are equipped with full medical gear.

At this moment.

The pilot sealed the side doors of this compartment; the interior air filtration and purification system provides the doctors and nurses operating in the three surgical zones with a sterile environment comparable to a Class I operating room.

Surgical Zone 1.

Lying on the stretcher is a woman, aged between twenty‑five and thirty, who fell into a drug‑induced sleep; her abdominal clothing has been cut away, and her skin is covered with large patches of solidified biological foam.

Before the woman was transferred to the emergency boat, she had a large abdominal wound, but the first arriving officers used the biological foam to stop the bleeding, allowing her to survive until now.

An emergency doctor in a white one‑piece surgical suit and three nurses are performing surgery on the woman; the doctor and nurses, via their holographic glasses, can directly access the woman's physiological data.

After observing for a few seconds, the doctor briefly says, "Remove the foam, disinfect, forceps."

The three nurses silently carry out the steps, and after completing them, they coordinate seamlessly with the doctor to quickly and precisely extract the foreign material from the woman's body, after which the doctor personally operates a robotic arm to suture the wound.

After the Surgical Zone 1 team finished the operation on the female patient, the doctors and nurses in Zones 2 and 3 also completed their surgeries in succession.

Next, the nurses continue to tend to the three unconscious patients.

The doctors then entered the general compartment, completed the sterilization procedure, removed their disposable outer surgical gowns, and hurried to the rear doors.

"Huh…!" As they waited for the doors to open, a middle‑aged male doctor gasped heavily and said:

"I don't know if today's luck is good or bad; before my shift I never expected such an accident, but fortunately the most severely injured patients didn't sustain organ damage."

"God bless?" a young male doctor interjected, and asked the doctor responsible for operating on the female injured: "What do you think? Zigler."

(End of chapter)