FT DR Chapter 54: Clumsiness Turns Savage

Chapter 54: Clumsiness Turns Savage

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Five burly men were staring at him. Although their expressions seemed normal, the invisible pressure was immensely discomforting. Wu Chenghe steadied his mind and said, “I was a student at the medical school, here with the on-duty doctor for rescue.” He glanced at the person lying down and asked, “What happened to him?”

The man kneeling beside replied, “He got injured, pierced in the head and chest, bleeding heavily. I didn’t dare to remove the foreign objects hastily. Do you have an X-ray machine? I’m not sure if any vital organs have been punctured.”

“I’ll check.” Wu Chenghe knelt beside him and observed the head wound with a portable X-ray device. There was a metal nail inserted there, about a dozen centimeters long. He frowned and said, “The nail penetrated the brain cortex, fortunately avoiding all nerves and blood vessels, it’s too lucky… However, the tip is close to the frontal cortex and optic tract, be extremely careful not to go deeper.”

“And there’s the chest,” the man added.

Wu Chenghe used scissors to cut open the injured person’s chest clothing, revealing a long metal shard piercing through the chest bone, directly into the internal organs. Blood kept flowing from the wound, looking very severe. He monitored the heartbeat, which was basically normal. After some thought, he said, “This position is too dangerous; it must have injured a major blood vessel. Probably because the wound is tightly pressed against the metal shard, it hasn’t caused massive bleeding. From now on, we must make sure not to move him as much as possible. If the metal shard shifts even slightly, he might die within minutes.”

The several men exchanged anxious glances, all wearing worried expressions. It was the Native American named Old Dove who seemed relatively calm. He also seemed to trust Wu Chenghe’s medical skills to some extent, asking, “Then let’s perform the surgery here. Can you do it?”

In his previous life, Wu Chenghe specialized in cardiothoracic surgery, but he didn’t have full confidence in such a perilous injury. Moreover, he didn’t have many resources at hand. He was hesitating whether to call for help to carry him out or directly ask for a cardiothoracic surgeon to take over when his hand suddenly paused—just below the injured person’s sternum, about three to four centimeters away, there was a palm-sized winged lion tattoo, surrounded by some vine decorations, still recognizable as the Voyager Army emblem.

Active-duty soldier? Veteran? Wu Chenghe glanced at the people around him and couldn’t help but feel a jolt. Although they were all dressed as civilians, they exuded a military aura that couldn’t be erased, the sharpness honed from long-term military service, fierce and ruthless. And their hands, with prominent joints and calluses, bore the marks of prolonged combat and gun-holding.

They weren’t young, with sinister eyes that didn’t look like active-duty soldiers but rather like disgruntled veterans. Wu Chenghe’s gaze swept over their waists and thighs, noticing something odd about the clothing lines, as if something was hidden underneath.

Could it be weapons? Wu Chenghe’s grip tightened. It was unusual for so many veterans to gather unless there was trouble. Besides, Sean had previously said he was going on vacation to his relatives’ house, not a passenger on the Green Leaf or Evolution. So why were they now in the wreckage of Evolution? Shouldn’t they stay far away from here at a time like this?

The situation was too unusual. Wu Chenghe tried to keep his expression calm and said, “I can’t perform such a major surgery. I’m just a student. Shall I call the firefighters to carry him out first?”

“No!” Old Dove immediately interjected. “You said he can’t be moved. What if something goes wrong during transportation?”

“Then I’ll call my on-duty doctor. He’s an expert.” Wu Chenghe opened his personal terminal to make a call.

Old Dove suddenly grabbed his wrist and pulled him up, saying, “You can’t call anyone!”

Wu Chenghe stumbled, confirming his worst suspicions, but tearing their faces apart at this moment would do him no good. So he still appeared confused and said, “This won’t work. If we don’t get a doctor, he’ll die. I’m just a student…”

“Damn it, did you just find me such a rookie?” Old Dove pushed Wu Chenghe towards Sean and said, “Get rid of him and find someone else. We can’t let him blabber.”

Wu Chenghe was horrified. He was about to shout when Sean covered his mouth, pulling out a ray gun from somewhere with his right hand, aiming it at his temple. “I know you can do it. I’m not clueless. Kid, I know all about your capabilities. You heard it yourself, if you don’t save him, I’ll have to kill you. Now you have ten seconds to decide, nod or get shot. Your choice.”

Wu Chenghe’s heart pounded violently. He speculated that these people might be mercenaries, here for some shady business, or perhaps the hacker Jin Xuan mentioned, infiltrating the port control system, was their accomplice…

Mercenaries were extremely ruthless animals. If he dared to shake his head now, he would meet the reaper in minutes. But even if he agreed to help them save the person, it would only delay his death. Once the surgery was done, they would still kill him to silence him.

Wu Chenghe glanced around with his peripheral vision. Apart from the person lying down, there were five other people here, three of whom were sentinels, including Sean. He wasn’t sure if he could hypnotize three people simultaneously or control their minds. He could only try to deal with them one by one, using someone with relatively weaker willpower against the others… But it required time for observation and planning.

“Don’t… don’t kill me.” To buy time, Wu Chenghe decided to act weakly, initially agreeing to their demands. He pretended to look horrified, legs trembling, and stammered, “I… I’ll try, please don’t kill me.” At this moment, the weaker he appeared, the more it would lower their guard and provide an opportunity.

Sean was satisfied with Wu Chenghe’s attitude and released his hand. From his pocket, he took out a bracelet-like object and clasped it around Wu Chenghe’s wrist, shielding his personal terminal. He said, “Good, prepare yourself first. I’ll assist you… Hey, don’t be so nervous. As long as you behave, we won’t kill you.”

“Th… thank you!” Wu Chenghe didn’t dare to overdo the act of weakness. Too useless a person had no value to the criminals, whose patience was always limited. So he pretended to take deep breaths, calming himself down, and then opened the medical kit, preparing the instruments and medications he might need.

“Is he capable? The boss is severely injured.” Old Dove furrowed his brows and asked Sean. 

Sean replied, “There are casualties everywhere outside, doctors are scarce. Do you think it’s easy to find someone alone? Children are even safer. His skills are excellent; I’ve seen him perform surgery. The attending doctor is at the same level.”

“Alright, let’s trust you for once.” Old Dove said, then threw a gun to the man who had been kneeling beside the injured person, taking care of him. “You and Sean have both served as medics. Stay here and help. I and the others will continue to search for that thing inside. Send signals to each other every ten minutes to keep in touch.”

“Okay.” Sean nodded.

The six mercenaries murmured a few words to each other, fist-bumping, a farewell gesture typical of soldiers. Afterwards, Old Dove led the other three deeper into the wreckage and soon disappeared behind a group of burnt coils.

Wu Chenghe pretended to be busy preparing for the surgery, covering the area around the injured person with sterile cloths, cleaning the wound, and preparing for anesthesia. After about ten minutes or so, one of Sean’s comrades suddenly said, “Damn it, the communication signal seems to be having problems. We can’t send messages out.”

“Is it?” Sean tried his own personal terminal, but it didn’t work either. He said, “Probably a problem with the nearby relay satellite, or they’re checking the system. Maybe our hacker has been exposed by them. It doesn’t matter; the accident has already happened. Once Old Dove and the others bring the thing out, we’ll just blend in and leave.”

“Old Dove said to send signals to each other every ten minutes.”

“Our terminals are blocked, just like theirs. Old Dove will figure it out.” Sean said, poking the back of Wu Chenghe’s head with a gun. “How about it, are you ready?”

Wu Chenghe glanced in the direction Old Dove had left, estimating that they should have gone far away, then said, “Almost ready, let’s begin.”

“Um, which part do we start with?” Sean knelt beside him, frowning as he looked at the unconscious boss.

“Let’s start with the thoracic surgery first. The head injury requires a specialized endoscope, which I don’t have, and it won’t affect his life in the short term anyway. After the thoracic surgery, he can be moved, and we can find other doctors to handle it by then.”

Sean, who had some medical knowledge, agreed with Wu Chenghe’s plan after thinking for a moment. He waited for a while then asked, “Why haven’t you started yet?” 

When he turned his head, he noticed Wu Chenghe rubbing his eyes.

“What’s wrong with your eyes?” The lighting here was already insufficient, and Sean was concerned.

“It’s nothing, probably just irritated by the smoke. The air here isn’t good.” Wu Chenghe rubbed his eyes a couple more times, then leaned closer to Sean’s face, saying, “Can you check if there’s anything in my eyes? They feel a bit sore.”

Sean, unsuspecting, came face to face with Wu Chenghe’s eyes. Wu Chenghe instantly exerted force, his pupils turning into vertical slits as he whispered, “What’s wrong with you? You seem very tired. Do you want to sleep for a while?”

Sean’s gaze was firmly captured by Wu Chenghe’s, his expression becoming bewildered. But he was still a seasoned veteran, with strong willpower. Despite being brought into a hypnotic state by Wu Chenghe, he struggled for a few seconds. His pupils dilated and contracted again before finally sinking completely into hypnosis, murmuring, “Yeah, I’m tired…”

Wu Chenghe gradually increased the strength of his suggestion, feeling Sean’s consciousness becoming increasingly chaotic. He quietly extended two mental tendrils, intending to pierce his consciousness and try to control his brain, then use him to eliminate his companions.

However, at that moment, his companion suddenly shouted loudly, “Who’s there?!” 

Sean’s burly body shuddered, and he abruptly woke up. He had undergone special training, so his mind had a certain degree of defense. Although he was brought into a state of trance by Wu Chenghe, he hadn’t sunk very deeply. When his companion shouted, he immediately returned to normal.

Wu Chenghe, realizing that the other party was too powerful, immediately stopped his attack, not daring to continue.

“Stop!” The companion agilely jumped up and swiftly moved behind a piece of broken metal wall. Almost simultaneously, there was a woman’s scream from the other side, “Ah!”

“Who’s there?” Sean also stood up. 

A few seconds later, his companion dragged a slender woman back, dropping her at Sean’s feet. “Someone was spying. I’ve felt like someone was hiding over there, been watching, and just now, she moved, and I spotted her.”

“Why is it you?!” Wu Chenghe was speechless. The one who had fallen to the ground was Miss Lancer. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you on duty in the dental department?”

Miss Lancer’s face was pale as she struggled to get up from the ground, glaring at him, “All the idle personnel have been reassigned, including our department.”

Sean recognized the uniform she was wearing, a nursing uniform, with the Aston University Medical School logo on her arm. He asked Wu Chenghe in surprise, “Your classmate? Girlfriend?”

Wu Chenghe was silent for a moment, then said, “Let’s call her a rival in love.” 

This girl had quite a deep affection for Jin Xuan. She actually followed them and Sean here, a perfect example of ‘no zuo no die’. Speaking of which, her ability to lurk was quite strong; she hadn’t been discovered for so long.

“A rival in love? Haha, you’re quite straightforward.” Sean chuckled briefly, then said curtly, “Excellent, we’re short of a nurse, and one has come knocking on our door.” With that, he roughly grabbed Miss Lancer’s upper arm, pushing her toward the injured man. “You, be his assistant.”

Miss Lancer staggered for a moment, looking at the man lying unconscious on the ground with fear. “Who are you people? What do you want to do?”

“I hate people who talk too much.” Sean patted her head and said, “Learn from your love rival here, speak less and do more. I promise not to send you to meet God.”

Although Miss Lancer was quite fierce, it was only when dealing with her dad’s subordinates and weaklings like Wu Chenghe. When she really encountered terrifying terrorists, she panicked. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she gazed around. 

Wu Chenghe was completely speechless about this stubborn girl who just wouldn’t give up. He handed her a piece of gauze, saying, “Wipe your face, do as they say, don’t resist.”

Lancer Miss trembled, finally stopped glaring at him, took the gauze, looked at the wounded person lying on the ground, muttered, “Are you really going to help them? They are not good people…”

The emotional intelligence was simply astonishing! Wu Chenghe rolled his eyes, before he could persuade her to shut up, Sean had already slapped her face, “I said, less talk!”

Probably wanting to keep a nurse on hand, his slap didn’t have much force, the warning outweighed the punishment. After a crisp sound, Miss Lancer was petrified, wanting to cry but dared not, her expression frozen on her face, showing how conflicted she was.

Sean was very angry at Miss Lancer’s crying appearance and wanted to hit her again. Wu Chenghe hurriedly blocked his hand, saying, “Don’t scare her, I need her help, and you don’t want to attract attention, do you?”

Miss Lancer finally came to her senses, shrinking behind Wu Chenghe, covering her mouth and sobbing softly. Wu Chenghe sighed, waited for Sean to step back, and persuaded her, “Don’t cry, don’t be afraid, if we save them, they will let us go.”

Miss Lancer finally saw the reality clearly, sobbing, “Can you… can you do it? You’re only in first grade, don’t kill me!”

You could be more pessimistic! Wu Chenghe really wanted to sew her mouth shut, suppressing his anger, “Don’t worry, I’ll do my best.”

“Don’t delay, get to work!” Sean tapped his head with the muzzle of the gun again.

“Right away.” Wu Chenghe loaded the anesthetic into the syringe, ready to anesthetize the wounded. However, today was destined to be eventful; before the anesthesia could take effect, Sean and his companions found two more eavesdroppers.

“Ah!” Sean’s brown bear was the first to notice someone, emitting a fierce roar and pouncing towards a deep pit in the distance. An agile jackal immediately leaped out from its hiding place, screaming sharply and jumping onto the brown bear’s back, baring its teeth trying to bite its neck.

While the quantum beast was tearing, Sean’s sturdy figure rushed over like a phantom. In just a few minutes, he brought back two struggling teenagers. His companion aimed the ray gun at Wu Chenghe and Miss Lancer the whole time, not allowing them to resist.

Seeing the unlucky faces of the Balon siblings, Wu Chenghe could only look up at the sky helplessly. How good was his luck? He actually attracted these three. Originally, he could have escaped, but with these three big burdens, his chances of survival were slim.

“What’s going on, are they also your classmates? How the hell is your popularity so good that one after another comes to track you?!” Sean also felt a headache. He originally wanted to find the easiest doctor to deal with, but unexpectedly, he found himself in big trouble. He kicked Wu Chenghe’s back with his toe, “Or are they also your rivals in love?”

“…Sort of.” Wu Chenghe felt like crying without tears, unable to explain the twisted relationship between them, so he just admitted it. He figured Lancer had followed Jin Xuan originally, and the Balon siblings followed Lancer, leading to this wonderful outcome of pulling out a string of radishes.

Damn, life as the nation’s rival in love is so cool!

“Forget it, let’s do the surgery.” Sean handcuffed the Balon siblings with electromagnetic handcuffs and threw them aside, letting his companion watch them, then he tapped Lancer with his foot, “Behave, girl, I’m not a tender-hearted person, if you don’t want to end up like them, listen to me obediently.”

Miss Lancer was completely bewildered, her gaze falling on the Balon siblings who were twitching due to the electromagnetic handcuffs, her face growing paler by the minute. Wu Chenghe, stealing a glance at Sean from the corner of his eye, also tried to sense his mental cloud, finding him highly alert now, making it very difficult to hypnotize him.

Teammates like this were truly frustrating. Wu Chenghe sighed inwardly; the best opportunity had already been lost, and now they could only play it by ear.

Wu Chenghe hung plasma for the patient and instructed Miss Lancer on how to use tools to clean the bleeding during surgery, saying, “I’ll start by cutting open the wound, finding the severed blood vessels, establishing extracorporeal circulation through drainage, and then removing the foreign object. If everything goes smoothly, we’ll deal with the fractured bones and suture the vessels together… That’s the whole process, but after the incision, we may face many new situations, and then we’ll have to adapt accordingly. Understand?”

Miss Lancer had never been on an operating table, let alone observed one, shaking her head anxiously, but seeing Sean’s fierce expression, she changed it to a nod.

Wu Chenghe had no hope for her at all, but fortunately, Sean was there. Hopefully, he could handle the situation. He said, “I’m starting.”

The injury was more severe than imagined. Metal shards had severed several major blood vessels, grazed the lungs, and stabbed dangerously close to the heart. Wu Chenghe didn’t have a surgical scope, not even basic shadowless illumination. He relied solely on his eyes and hands to observe the wound. And there was no sterilization on site; the wound was exposed to air for a long time, making it prone to infection. His time was extremely limited.

This was where the advantage of a battlefield doctor came into play. Wu Chenghe abandoned normal surgical procedures, swiftly found the severed blood vessels, drained, established extracorporeal circulation, his movements were bold yet precise, leaving Lancer wide-eyed in amazement.

“Alright, let’s give it a try.” After a few hours, Wu Chenghe finally managed to drain all the blood vessels. He wiped the sweat off his forehead, changed his gloves, and said, “Alright, let’s move on to the next step… Sean, I need a suture needle. Check their first aid kits, the one on the Balon siblings, mine doesn’t match.”

“Okay.” Sean didn’t suspect anything, standing up and walking over to the Balon siblings. But as soon as he removed the backpack from Big Balon, he heard Wu Chenghe’s stern voice, “Don’t move! Sean, you too, both of you kneel down, on all fours, let me see your hands!”

Sean was stunned, as was his companion. They both turned back, looking at Wu Chenghe kneeling beside the patient.

“Anyone moves, and I’ll cut off the extracorporeal circulation immediately. Sean, you know, it won’t take him more than a few seconds to die.” Wu Chenghe remained calm, his right hand on the switch of the extracorporeal machine. “There’s no defibrillator here; once he goes, he won’t come back!”

Everyone was shocked, staring at Wu Chenghe as if he had been struck by lightning. Wu Chenghe’s face was pale, sweat dotted his forehead, his body covered in blood stains. His young face showed a ruthlessness that didn’t match his age, terrifying everyone like a ghost crawling out of hell.

“On all fours, put your hands where I can see them, quickly!” Wu Chenghe urged sternly. He wasn’t acting on impulse but had thought about it for a long time. He was well aware of what fate awaited them after the surgery was done, unless someone came to rescue them. But with communications cut off and chaos on site, it was impossible for anyone to notice their disappearance. By the time the Federal Information Security Bureau discovered the true cause of the accident and knew about the existence of the mercenary group, Sean and the Old Dove would probably have fled long ago.

By then, their bodies would have gone cold!

At such times, they could only save themselves. Confrontation was not an option, and mental attacks were ineffective, so he could only resort to the most primitive method—threats.

Hopefully, they could sort things out before the Old Doves’ team returned.

“Calm down, kid.” Sean was the first to come to his senses, his gray eyes flashing with fierceness. He slowly raised the ray gun in his right hand, aiming at Big Balon’s head, “I call the shots here, it’s not your turn to threaten me. Leave our leader now, or I’ll blow his head off!”

Threats like this had no turning back once they were made; one had to be prepared for the worst. Wu Chenghe didn’t compromise, saying coldly, “Go ahead and shoot. I don’t have much of a relationship with them anyway. One less of them means less burden for me, and it’ll be easier to get away later. Besides, they’ve been teasing me repeatedly; I’ve been fed up with them for a long time. Thanks for helping me out.”

Big Balon was completely stunned, looking at the fierce but foolish classmate as if he had seen an alien. Little Balon also had a look as if he had seen a ghost, while Miss Lancer, stirred by the evil aura emanating from Wu Chenghe, almost trembled with the urge to shiver. Subconsciously, she took a step back, distancing herself from him, but realizing that Wu Chenghe was protecting them, she moved back closer.

Oh man, what a mess…

 

 

 

 

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