Chapter 8: Caring for the Wounded
As they ran, Su Ruizhe suddenly felt the grip in his hand grow much heavier. He turned his head and saw Zhan Yun’s face turn deathly pale as he started to collapse backward. Fortunately, Zhan Yun’s brothers were right behind him. The blond-haired guy called A-Wang quickly caught him, preventing his injuries from getting any worse.
“Boss! Boss!”
Though all of them were injured to varying degrees, they were far more worried about Zhan Yun.
Only then did Su Ruizhe notice that Zhan Yun’s left hand, which was clutching his abdomen, was covered in blood.
“Brother Zhan is injured?!” Su Ruizhe asked in shock. “What on earth happened?”
“You wouldn’t under—” One dark-skinned, burly young man started to speak impatiently, but he was cut off by the blond-haired A-Wang.
“He saved us, after all!” A-Wang said to him, then turned to Su Ruizhe. “We don’t know where those people got the information, but they claimed our boss was a cop. They set up a trap, a real banquet from hell, and caught us off guard. That’s how the boss got ambushed!”
Su Ruizhe wasn’t particularly surprised. When he’d met Zhan Yun in his previous life, it had already been after the apocalypse, and Zhan Yun had told him outright that he was a police officer. Back then, Su Ruizhe had trusted his aunt too much and had remained doubtful of Zhan Yun’s words until they later reached the base, where his identity was confirmed. What he hadn’t expected was that Zhan Yun’s cover had once been blown—and that he’d been injured because of it.
Fortunately, Su Ruizhe had been nearby tonight. Otherwise, Zhan Yun’s injuries might have been far worse. With the apocalypse drawing ever closer, carrying severe injuries would put someone at an extreme disadvantage right from the start.
Just then, hurried footsteps sounded from behind them. Everyone immediately fell silent and ducked into a nearby alley. The alley was lined with trash bins piled high with garbage; the stench hit them from far away.
“Quick, chase them! They can’t have gone far!”
The pursuers glanced into the alley, hesitated when they saw the reeking piles of trash, and didn’t bother searching through them.
“Split up! You go wait at the place they’re staying! The boss said this needs to be finished thoroughly!”
After those people left, they emerged from behind the trash bins, though all of them looked a bit green from the smell.
Zhan Yun and the others clearly couldn’t go back to where they were staying, and at this hour, with everyone injured, checking into a hotel was out of the question.
With no other choice, Su Ruizhe led them to his old house.
It was a bit run-down, but at least it was somewhere they could shelter.
Su Ruizhe’s old home was a very old-style single-story house with just one room. Outside was a small courtyard, and both the kitchen and the bathroom were located in that courtyard.
Su Ruizhe gave up the only wooden plank bed in the room to the injured Zhan Yun. Once he removed Zhan Yun’s clothes, he discovered a wound about ten centimeters long on his abdomen—clearly caused by a sharp weapon. Faced with the bloody gash, everyone present felt at a loss.
“What should we do? Should we take him to the hospital?” Su Ruizhe asked anxiously.
An injury like this couldn’t be ignored. Who knew how deep it was? Whether any organs were damaged? Whether it would get infected?
“No! We can’t go to the hospital!” the dark-skinned young man said decisively.
A-Wang nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we can’t. There’s no way to explain this kind of wound as an accident. If the cops get involved, we’ll be in real trouble!”
Although Su Ruizhe knew Zhan Yun was an undercover police officer—and that even if they went to the hospital and the police showed up, there would be ways to handle it—Zhan Yun’s subordinates didn’t know that. They still trusted him. If they found out his true identity, who knew whether they would turn against him?
“But we can’t just leave it untreated…” Su Ruizhe thought for a moment. At the very least, they had to stop the bleeding. He remembered that after injuring himself once, his family had bought some iodine and gauze. Using those to disinfect and dress the wound should be fine.
Su Ruizhe first boiled some water, then used a clean towel to gently wipe Zhan Yun’s abdomen. Gritting his teeth, he dipped a cotton swab in iodine and applied it to the wound.
Perhaps because of the sting of the antiseptic, Zhan Yun woke up.
Seeing the cluster of heads gathered around him, Zhan Yun relaxed his guard slightly. He then glanced around, guessing that they were probably in the young man’s home.
“Thank you.”
“N-no, no… you’re welcome!” Meeting Zhan Yun’s deep gaze, Su Ruizhe felt his heart start racing uncontrollably.
He hurriedly looked away, silently scolding himself for being so useless.
“A-Wang, my phone.”
“Yes, boss!” A-Wang immediately took a black phone out of the pocket of the clothes Zhan Yun had just removed.
“I need to make a call. You all go outside for a bit,” Zhan Yun said, giving Su Ruizhe an apologetic look. As a guest, he had taken over the host’s bed and now was even asking him to leave—it really wasn’t very courteous, but he had no choice.
“Got it.” A-Wang led the dark-skinned young man and another with messy hair and glasses out into the courtyard to smoke. Su Ruizhe smiled faintly at Zhan Yun and followed them out.
Zhan Yun was probably reporting to his superiors that his identity had been exposed, and they would likely arrange for someone to come pick him up. In any case, Su Ruizhe only hoped that Zhan Yun would be safe.
He glanced again at the three men in the courtyard. In his previous life, when he met Zhan Yun, there had been many people around him, but these three hadn’t been among them. He wondered what had become of them. Perhaps after Zhan Yun’s identity was exposed, they had gone their separate ways…
“What’s your name?” A-Wang struck up a conversation with Su Ruizhe.
“Su Ruizhe.”
“Heh, those cherries you gave us last time were really good. Didn’t you say you grew them yourself? Where’d you grow them?”
“I—I… my place is too small to grow anything. A friend of mine lives in the suburbs and grows them… I promise they’re really fresh!”
“Heh, I know, I know. You can tell good stuff as soon as you taste it.” A-Wang didn’t really care whether Su Ruizhe had grown the cherries himself or not. As long as they were good, that was enough. He’d only brought it up to make small talk.
“Where’d you get that toy gun? And why were you carrying a toy gun so late at night?”
“A few days ago I ran into a robbery, so I bought a toy gun at a secondhand market… just to scare people for self-defense.”
“Oh…”
As they chatted casually, A-Wang’s phone rang. It was Zhan Yun, telling them to come back inside.
Zhan Yun looked at Su Ruizhe and said, “Sorry for the trouble. Could you tell me the address here? I have a friend who’s a doctor—he can come help treat the wound. In my current condition, I can’t move for now.”
“Of course!” Su Ruizhe immediately gave him the address, and Zhan Yun sent it out via text message.
“Old Hei, Glasses, you two go to the Hongxing Inn. I’ve already spoken to Sister Hong—she’s saved rooms for you. This place is small; it’s not suitable for everyone to stay here.”
“Okay, boss.” The dark-skinned young man and the one with glasses and messy hair left without hesitation, clearly obeying Zhan Yun’s orders without question.
Seeing that Zhan Yun didn’t ask A-Wang to leave, Su Ruizhe guessed they might have something private to discuss. He used the excuse of checking whether the water in the kitchen had boiled and stepped away. When he returned to the room, A-Wang was already gone.
Only Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe remained in the room. Su Ruizhe grew even more nervous, his heart practically jumping out of his chest.
“Su Ruizhe…”
“Huh?!” Hearing Zhan Yun call his name, Su Ruizhe jolted, his voice coming out louder than intended. When he saw the surprise on Zhan Yun’s face, his own face flushed red at once.
Seeing Su Ruizhe hunch his shoulders like a child who’d done something wrong, his delicate, good-looking face flushed with embarrassment, Zhan Yun couldn’t help but want to laugh. This kid really was cute. A-Wang had told him earlier that the gun Su Ruizhe used was just a toy—bought after a recent robbery to scare people, with no real lethal power.
Even though Zhan Yun had told him to leave as soon as he saw him, the boy had still stepped in without hesitation. It seemed he owed him a huge favor.
Facing opponents armed with blades that day, this little guy hadn’t shown the slightest fear. Today, he’d even dared to confront so many people with nothing but a toy gun. He really was foolishly brave.
In fact, from the very first day he met this boy, Zhan Yun had felt an inexplicable fondness toward him. Later, upon realizing that the boy didn’t quite match the soft, harmless image he’d imagined, he’d become more guarded. During his call with his superiors just now, he’d also reported Su Ruizhe’s situation as a matter of routine—some investigation was inevitable. With a real name, it was easy to check. This child’s life had been full of hardship; if he hadn’t been strong, he probably wouldn’t have made it this far. And now, it seemed he really was just a simple, resilient, good kid.
Thinking back to the inexplicable wariness he felt towards the child that day, Zhan Yun couldn’t help but feel ashamed. It seemed he had been too paranoid…
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Su Ruizhe quickly went to open it and saw a young man dressed in simple casual clothes standing outside, carrying a first-aid kit.
Su Ruizhe was surprised to find that he actually knew this person.
This man’s name was Song Chengshu. He was one of the people who followed Zhan Yun in the early days of the apocalypse. However, he was accidentally killed by zombies while escaping the city. Unexpectedly, he and Zhan Yun knew each other long ago, and he was even a doctor…
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