Chapter 1562: Severely Wounded

On the 3rd day of the 1st month of Year 12 of the Calamity, the streets of the safe zone's inner city were clean and tidy, with red lanterns celebrating the New Year still hanging from the streetlamps on either side. A handful of cars and over a hundred bicycles wove through the streets. Hearing the roar of three helicopters drawing closer, only a few people paused to glance up before hurrying on their way.

Beyond the wall, the safe zone's outer city was visibly dense and chaotic.

Although Xia Qing had already seen this scene from the air several times, every time she looked, she still felt a powerful sense of disconnect.

Two military helicopters circled at low altitude. A third, lashed to the talons of two giant eagles, set down steadily on the helipad of the inner city hospital. Once the cabin door opened, the four members of Hui-3 First Special Ops Squad leapt out and took up positions at the four corners.

Then Xia Qing, wearing a single-sided light-filtering protective mask and special protective suit, and Huo Zhun, in a Level-4 field protective suit, jumped down as well.

Xia Qing quickly scanned the surroundings, confirmed there were no snipers lying in ambush, then turned and raised her hand.

Zhang San, the Number Seven Territory Leader, also in a special protective suit, looked at Xia Qing's hand for a second, but still gave her the courtesy. Taking her hand, he stepped down from the helicopter cabin, then walked toward Hui-3 Deputy Base Commander Li Xuegang, who stood not far away.

Fully armed, Xia Qing and Huo Zhun flanked Zhang San on the left and right. Behind them were Zhang Hongda and Wang Man, and behind those two were Zheng Chen and three other members of Red-11 Special Ops Squad.

The mission to protect Zhang San's outing was rated SS, with a twelve-person task group—eight special ops and four from the Territory Alliance—protection level maxed out.

It had been only ten days since the Hui-3 1223 explosion, and the lingering poison had yet to be cleared. No amount of caution was excessive when the nation's top-tier, fragile medicine magnate went out.

Originally, the base commander had wanted to invite Zhang San over yesterday, but Xia Qing had taken it upon herself to push it back a day, because the helicopter she had sent in for maintenance had finally been returned. When Third Brother went out, of course he had to ride his own helicopter to look impressive enough and be safe enough.

Li Xuegang hurried forward a few steps and introduced himself. "Third Brother, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come. I'm Li Xuegang. The base commander received an urgent notice and is attending an emergency online meeting; he'll be here in twenty minutes. Please accept my apologies. Please, this way."

With that, Li Xuegang and his assistant led the way ahead.

Under the protection of the twelve-person escort, Skull Head Zhang San, face taut, strode toward the stairs below. Xia Qing cradled her sniper rifle against long-range attacks, while Huo Zhun kept a constant eye on the magnate, afraid a gust of wind might blow him away.

With the magnate here to see patients, the hospital and its surroundings were under lockdown. The two wards flanking the one where Pan Yuanwen and Wang Lizhi lived had already been cleared out.

Xia Qing followed Zhang San into the ward and saw Wang Lizhi, Deputy Director of the Agricultural Department, lying on the outer bed, wrapped like a mummy and hooked up to a ventilator.

On the inner bed sat Pan Yuanwen, who had no obvious external injuries.

When the explosion happened, Wang Lizhi, a former soldier, rushed forward and, together with two bodyguards, shielded Pan Yuanwen from the bomb. Had Wang Lizhi not been wearing a bulletproof vest under his suit, he absolutely would not have lasted until now.

Although Wang Lizhi and the two bodyguards blocked most of the shrapnel from the blast for Pan Yuanwen, some fragments still cut his skin, allowing the synthetic toxin Qiang-13 to enter his body.

The synthetic toxin Qiang-13, with its autocatalytic properties, once it enters the skin uses human cells as "raw material" to continuously self-replicate or catalyze the production of more of its kind. It cannot yet be completely eliminated; once infected, a patient must take medication for life. Even with drugs to suppress it, it brings lifelong, pronounced pain. This is why Pan Yuanwen, despite having no obvious external injuries, could only sit in the hospital bed.

Even with painkillers, the pain was so severe he couldn't stand.

Human endurance and adaptability are remarkably strong. Pan Yuanwen, poisoned for only ten days, had already adjusted his mindset. Seeing Zhang San arrive, he forced himself to lean forward and said weakly, "Fu…"

Before he could finish, Zhang San spoke. "The medical records?"

In fact, the inner city hospital had long since transmitted Pan Yuanwen and Wang Lizhi's medical records to Zhang San. When Zhang San asked for the records at this moment, it was simply because he didn't want to listen to Pan Yuanwen's rambling.

Seeing the attending physician beside him in a state of system crash from meeting the magnate in person, the magnate's die-hard, fossil-grade fan bodyguard reached out and directly handed the bedhead card plugged into Wang Lizhi's bed to his idol.

Why not Pan Yuanwen's? Of course, because the idol was standing in front of Wang Lizhi's bed.

Base Commander Qi Zhongye had invited Zhang San over nominally to treat Pan Yuanwen. But the poison Pan Yuanwen had been infected with was Qiang-13, for which there was no targeted cure. Even if Zhang San came, he couldn't make him recover, which was why he stood at the bedside of Wang Lizhi, whose condition was more severe.

The two patients' attending physicians came back to themselves and immediately began briefing the magnate on the patients' conditions.

Pan Yuanwen was not offended by Zhang San's rudeness; instead, he felt reassured. "Third Brother is still as principled as ever. That puts my mind at ease."

Xia Qing…!!!

"…The blast injury is complicated by a severe infection. His lungs show serious 'blast lung' phenomenon, with extremely poor ventilation. The most troublesome thing is, we've isolated a multi-drug-resistant evolved Acinetobacter baumannii from his body. We're currently using a 'Heavy Artillery'-grade combination antibiotic regimen, but his bloodwork and inflammation markers are still worsening…"

Zhang San listened while examining Wang Lizhi's condition. Only after they finished did he speak. "Your resuscitation and medication plan is very standard, but 'standard' can't save him. The drugs you're using need to enter the bacteria through 'porin' channels, but the evolved Acinetobacter baumannii has already closed those channels. The ventilator's airflow already sounds rough; the inflammatory exudation in his lungs is worse than what you described."

The attending physician said heavily, "The porin-channel-opening drugs our hospital has in stock are too potent. Deputy Director Wang's body can't take it."

Using medicine with too strong an effect is tantamount to killing the patient outright.

Zhang San nodded. "Contact the patient's family. Try the new drug."

"Understood!" Hearing the magnate had a new drug, the attending physician's heaviness vanished at once. He quickly ordered the doctors beside him to contact the family; the new drug could only be tried after the family's consent was obtained.

Only then did Zhang San walk toward Pan Yuanwen's bed. Without him having to speak, the attending physician immediately introduced Pan Yuanwen's condition. "The protease-targeted chimera the patient is currently taking can slow the rate at which Qiang-13 invades the liver, but the patient's pain index has remained above threshold."

At this rate, the patient would either suffer organ failure or have his mind collapse before his body did. Most Qiang-13 poisoning victims died by suicide. However, the attending physician did not say this in front of the patient.

Zhang San's voice was cold as ice. "Don't worry. The whole of humanity hasn't yet eaten its fill, drunk its fill, been free from want of clothing and food. Director Pan can't bear to kill himself."