Chapter 386: Unfinished Wounds

Kraft silently thanked himself from half a month ago for habitually equipping the clinic with a full set of basic equipment that would rarely be used. If ether could be stored long-term, simple minor surgeries could even be performed here.

But even with the complete tools, gradually unwrapping the bandages still took considerable time.

After sending the bewildered cultivator back up the mountain to fetch ether and specifically instructing him to avoid jolting, Kraft began the procedure.

It was clear that the emergency field treatment had been extremely hasty, even overly so; the entire bandaging work revealed a sense of frantic disarray.

Like a hemp rope carelessly thrown onto a mast in a storm, it was wrapped in circles diagonally around the limbs and torso, with uneven density and tightness; some parts dug into the skin, leaving deep and shallow purplish-red pressure marks, while others lay loosely over the wound surface, sliding and shifting severely.

The overlaps at the joints were the thickest, yet also the worst. It was evident the handler had been aware of the need for bending and movement, but simply could not recall how to perform figure-eight bandaging, so they had to compensate by wrapping several extra turns.

Under the erroneous operation, slight flexing caused the bandage loops to slide downward in a ring-like manner, piling up layers of cloth pads; tight areas became tighter, loose areas looser, with the distal end turning pale and cold due to insufficient blood supply, while the proximal end swelled and turned red.

The convex and concave areas of the front and back joints inevitably exposed patches of skin; the wounds showed signs of repeated tearing and reopening, with old and new bloodstains interlaced to form mottled reddish-brown patches.

When the scissors slid beneath the edge of the first layer of bandage, a faint, crisp cracking sound could be heard as the fabric and adhered scab material split, like crumpling brittle paper. The sensation of peeling it back was akin to semi-dry decaying leaves, with a texture between soft and hard, emitting a metallic rust odor below, dulled by time, not particularly sharp or intense.

With the crack of the scissors, the bandages peeled away like onion skin in concentric circles; some stubbornly clung to the wound, and a slight force would trigger sharp pain and spasms in the extremities, requiring slow moistening with dilute saline before careful removal.

The skin freed from its restraints resembled damp lime, bearing a slightly warm grayish-white hue from maceration. Pressed with a fingertip, the rebound was slow and stiff; the barely visible blood color required two or three breaths to refill.

Linear scars spiraled around the torso and the outer sides of the limbs, especially severe on the arms; some had reached the deep dermis, revealing small, oval, milky-yellow granules that reflected light with an oily sheen.

What was difficult to comprehend was that while the wound periphery had already coagulated and scabbed, the deeper areas were increasingly moist; this was not liquefactive necrosis from putrefactive infection, but an incongruous "freshness," with tiny bright red dots still oozing and merging into lines.

Even more incomprehensible was that the patient had actually endured several days of jolting mountain roads and arrived alive before him.

Given the depth and extent of this wound, although limited to superficial small veins and capillaries, the numerous incisions and large surface area dictated that total field blood loss would be substantial, and conventional pressure points for hemostasis would be ineffective.

Probably only uniform compression using large gauze pads, applying pressure over a broad area, could achieve relatively significant control.

Given the skill levels of Kup and Yvon, this was clearly impossible.

Of course, this was not any criticism of Kup; he had achieved the best possible result within his capabilities, and had even not forgotten debridement and disinfection, which already demonstrated the effectiveness of his medical education.

After all, such a situation was not considered during training. Battlefields mostly involved single or several large, deep wounds; encountering such an bizarre case of injuries all over the body without hitting vital points was not easy.

"By the Father's grace." Since survival could not be fully explained by first aid alone, only two possibilities remained.

Either the injury was peculiar, or the Father's blessed clotting factors and platelets had exerted their power.

Though somewhat awed by the latter, Kraft leaned more toward the former. "So it was just like this?"

"No, the injury seems to be deepening."

"Are you sure it wasn't tearing caused by the jolting?"

"It shouldn't be. I confirmed it each time I changed the bandages; the initial deepening was more obvious, and now it has stabilized. It has nothing to do with the jolting." Kup's response confirmed the guess and also seemed to explain why the deep parts of the wound remained fresh.

He suddenly thought of something, pulled two lead boxes from his pack, unbuckled the straps, and displayed the results of this journey: a bone arrowhead and a smooth human sphenoid bone.

"You really should have seen that thing: a long snake with wings, or perhaps a dragon?"

Through description accompanied by gestures, Kraft roughly learned the entire process of their attack by something both tangible and intangible, as well as the source of the current bizarre condition.

The lacerations caused by the scales of that flying creature also shared a similar nature to the creature itself, existing in an ambiguous state, with more pronounced real-world effects appearing over time.

It was not merely distorting cognition, but truly blurring the boundary between cognition and matter, causing injuries that were initially light and later severe, inverted on a time scale.

However, the good news was that the injury itself still belonged to the material realm.

Benny watched this side with full expectation, perhaps hoping Kraft would perform some miracle to instantly close all the wounds covering the body.

But reality fell far short of imagination.

Kraft did not rush to act on the wounds; he only touched a few spots of skin with his fingertips and uttered an unfamiliar term:

"Shock."

Before anyone could ask, he began acting quickly while explaining, taking out a cotton cloth pack that jingled inside, and spreading it on a table roughly wiped with strong liquor.

"Too much blood loss; all the organs are nearly suffocating. We must replenish them."

Sharp hollow needles, cylindrical barrels with plungers, glass vials and jars of various sizes, plus a large pile of silver short thin tubes and leather rings of unclear purpose.

"Kup, assemble it." Kraft picked out the needle, leaving the rest for the assistant who had already started washing his hands voluntarily.

After feeling around the patient's mottled, pale arms and legs, he experienced a brief hesitation, then shifted his target to below the clavicle, and then to the neck.

The needle tip traced several angles before finally lifting as his forehead wrinkles deepened.

"What's wrong?" Kup, injured in one arm, still had nimble fingers; sections of silver tubes were assembled under the leather rings into a flexible long tube, connected to the glass bottle opening.

"The blood vessels are too collapsed." Finding them was secondary; the trouble was that inserting a needle anywhere carried the risk of direct puncture.

There was still a way, just a bit crude.

Kraft discarded the fine needle, and under Kup's incomprehensible gaze, opened a thoracic puncture kit, pressing the sturdiest needle he could find against the front of the tibia below the knee joint, forcing it down with the strength of a carpenter driving a wedge.

Accompanied by a teeth-grating "click" and a low cry of pain, the needle sank vertically a short distance.

"Quick, connect the IV tubing; bring two bottles of dilute saline first."

Blood vessels may collapse, but the bone marrow cavity will not; the life-saving fluid, following the body's hardest part, replenishes the most active and soft system.