Chapter 676: with translation of chapter title

666, who cares, as long as we can stay alive.

In Huaxi's courtyard, seasoned emergency-department doctors stood and triaged the rescued victims arriving truck by truck.

Xie Ning stood beside the doctors, working busily in silence.

At first he helped lift patients and escorted them to wards and operating rooms.

As volunteers kept arriving, Xie Ning, being middle-aged or elderly, was pushed to the side by the younger folks.

Everyone was frantic, with no regard for respecting the elderly or caring for the young.

Xie Ning stood before a wall, holding paper and pen taken from the emergency department, and distributed them to the living survivors and those searching for relatives.

Behind him was an ordinary wall. Not long before, an elderly person rescued from the disaster area, tears in their eyes, had been searching everywhere for paper and pen.

After writing down the last known location and appearance of their missing loved one, the old person wept silently.

Perhaps this parting will be forever.

Seeing that the elderly person's note was messy and unclear, Xie Ning asked the family for specific details about the missing person's appearance and characteristics, then rewrote the notice and silently posted it on the wall.

Once one notice was up, another followed.

Soon a long wall was covered with missing-person notices.

When the wind blew, the white paper rustled loudly, as if it were weeping.

What seemed like a simple task quickly drained Xie Ning's energy; during this period he started smoking again, the sharp sting of tobacco making him feel more... alive.

In the remaining time he even skipped sleep, working nonstop day and night.

The sound of ambulances was no longer harsh; it even sounded somewhat pleasant, for each arriving ambulance meant many more wounded had been rescued and brought in.

Backed by Huaxi Hospital, most of the wounded could receive timely and proper treatment.

The doctors of Huaxi, like those at 912 Hospital, had their surgical emergency and rescue personnel, who were staying home at the time of the earthquake, taken away in a truck.

Afterward, leave was canceled, all doctors were recalled, and they began working around the clock.

Another truckload of victims arrived; Xie Ning watched from afar, feeling numb from exhaustion, yet he still instinctively gauged from small signs how serious each patient was and whether they were worth saving.

But this time, Xie Ning noticed that the gray-tinged director of Huaxi's emergency department looked somewhat off.

The emergency department director looked at the patient, feeling a mix of surprise and astonishment, and did not perform triage immediately as he usually would.

How strange - Xie Ning found a spot for his missing-person notice, trying not to disturb the others nearby, then moved closer.

"Where was this surgery done?" the veteran emergency-department director asked, bewildered, upon seeing the auxiliary material on the patient's abdominal incision.

A doctor stepped down from the vehicle and reported the patient's specific condition.

"It's a patient brought back by helicopter, reportedly injured on an inaccessible island. The doctors who reached the front line there performed emergency surgery, wrote down the diagnosis, the treatment given, and further recommendations, and tied the note to the patient."

The old director frowned, wondering whether a remote, island-like area could handle a third- or fourth-level surgical procedure.

He probably doesn't have the capacity for that; these are the first postoperative patients he's received from such high-level surgeries.

Otherwise, at most they only received simple orthopedic splinting or basic wound cleaning and suturing.

Although time was pressing, the patient's blood type had been determined and a transfusion started, but seeing that the condition was unstable, they needed to be sent immediately to the appropriate department for definitive diagnosis and further treatment.

The old director noticed layers of tape securing a plastic bag on the patient's body; he tore off a piece of tape, took out the paper inside, and examined it closely.

It was a damp paper towel; the writing was somewhat blurred but still legible.

It noted hemorrhagic shock and a ruptured liver, which had already been sutured under local anesthesia. The surgeon's recommendation, written on the back, was: transfuse blood, perform a second laparotomy in general surgery, debride the wound, then send the patient to the ICU for anti-shock treatment.

This was the recommendation of the front-line personnel, and the emergency department director would not refuse it.

Thus handling this group became much simpler - just send them straight to general surgery.

Although more than a dozen critically wounded were barely clinging to life, they had at least made it alive to Huaxi.

Once they reached Huaxi, even if they wanted to die, it wouldn't be easy - a fact the emergency department director felt confident about.

But his expression was strange, full of disbelief.

After all patients had been triaged and his subordinates escorted them to the appropriate departments, the old director's brow furrowed into a knot.

"Director, what's wrong?" Xie Ning asked, handing over a cigarette.

"Ningzi, why don't you take a break?" the old director asked.

He didn't know Xie Ning's name, and Xie Ning never told him - just to call him Ningzi. As for the junior doctors, calling him Ningge or Ning Shu was enough.

There was no need to get acquainted; in a few days the earthquake relief would end, and everyone would go their separate ways, forgotten like strangers in rivers and lakes.

"Not tired," Xie Ning said, lighting a cigarette during a brief lull, "those patients just now looked different from the others."

"Yes," replied the old director, drawing deeply on his cigarette, puzzled: "But the note says the surgery was done under local anesthesia. I believe the anesthesia part, but performing surgery... cutting the spleen and stitching the liver under local anesthesia? I've never seen that."

"Never mind that; as long as the person arrives alive, that's enough," Xie Ning said carelessly, chuckling.

That made sense; now wasn't the time to delve into academic questions.

The old director smiled, took a few puffs, then stubbed out the cigarette.

Few patients were arriving now, but it was said the main force had already gone in. One could foresee that in the coming days and nights a huge peak would await them.

It wasn't just Huaxi; provincial and city hospitals were the same.

The massive stream of patients, many needing surgery, meant the inpatient department's doctors could hardly keep up.

It's possible they'd have to perform the surgeries themselves.

For now, find a spot to take a quick nap.

Who knows when they'll be able to sleep again.

"Ningzi, you go on ahead; I'll find a place to nap," said the old director.

Xie Ning watched as the old director summoned a capable assistant to handle triage, then left; he also stubbed out his cigarette and returned to work.

Some were fortunate, leaving their names and physical traits on the missing-person wall for each other. Xie Ning's mind worked like a computer, matching details in an instant.

When those who had been separated reunited and embraced in celebration, Xie Ning felt genuine joy for them.

People who had been separated reunite, embrace and celebrate, and Xie Ning sincerely feels happy for them.

But the vast majority of people never got to see the result; their loved ones and they had already bid each other farewell forever.

Only the paper strips on the missing-person wall fluttered in the wind, leaving behind the longing and memorial in this world.

Soon after, a group of young people in suits and leather shoes arrived in Huaxi; Xie Ning led them away from here, rushing to the front line that had long been envisioned.