Chapter 47 – Tongwan Hospital (1)
◎ Zombie Cleaner ◎
“Excuse me, don’t block the aisle!”
Another medical stretcher bed sped past, and Song Ke, wearing a khaki vest, shrank back, trying to reduce her presence in the corridor. Her back was almost glued to the wall.
A crack opened in the door opposite, and inside, a patient with a bright red face, in a coma due to a high fever, was being surrounded by doctors, trying to save them.
“Patient’s heart rate?”
“150 beats per minute.”
“Have the condition of the eyes and skin been checked?”
“Yes, for now, the radiation levels are basically within the manageable range, and no mutations have been detected so far.”
“Transfer to intensive care first, keep the patient for observation tonight. If the quantum field inside the body remains stable, there’s a high possibility the patient will awaken with abilities.”
“Where are the new volunteers? Patient in bed 94 has completely turned into a zombie, hurry up and take them away!”
A deafening shout suddenly came from the next room.
“Here, coming!”
Song Ke quickly ran over, holding a short shovel in her hand, “Bang Bang,” two hits on the zombie’s head, skillfully knocked out the zombie that was biting everywhere, then picked it up by the waist, ran out, and threw it into the incinerator through a dedicated stairwell.
After finishing, she ran back “thump thump thump,” stood against the wall, amidst the coming and going stretchers, continuing to be a quiet guardian.
This was Song Ke’s second day volunteering, or more precisely, her second day as a “Zombie Cleaner.”
The place they were in right now was a top-tier hospital in the C60 District, Tongwan. Song Ke worked as a cleaner in the “Radiation Mutation Diagnosis and Treatment Research Center” on the thirteenth floor, Xu Xing worked as a runner in the pharmacy on the eighth floor, and Zhuang Qingyan was a clerk in the archive room of the adjacent comprehensive building.
As for the mysterious part-time job of Team V587, it all traces back to an internal meeting three days ago.
…
Three days ago, Zhuang Qingyan suggested that they temporarily leave the trouble-ridden Ferrara and go somewhere to lay low. So Song Ke flipped through the terminal’s commission list and found a large-scale multiplayer B-class commission that piqued her interest.
B-Class Mission (Multiplayer Mission): Support Tongwan Medical
Mission Description: Tongwan (C60 District) has established a key discipline for radiation mutation research, providing comprehensive treatment for various types of zombie-like patients and offering complete guidance services for pre-awakened individuals with abilities. Due to a severe shortage of medical staff, volunteers with abilities are now being recruited from the entire alliance to overcome this challenge.
Mission Deadline: Indefinite
Mission Reward: 0-1000 Alliance Coins
Note: Volunteers who successfully apply will gain access to C60 District within the validity period of their identity.
After Zhuang Qingyan finished reading, he immediately made a decision: “Let’s go to Tongwan.”
If Ferrara was the capital of music and freedom, then Tongwan was undoubtedly the city of medicine and life. After the apocalypse, as one of the very few cities where order had not collapsed, the local governing officials and security forces had put in great effort.
Of course, this was also related to Tongwan’s excellent medical resources. There were thousands of top-tier hospitals here, with over ten thousand practicing doctors in various fields. Almost every native resident had some medical knowledge. Tongwan’s medical standards had been renowned throughout the entire Alliance even before, representing the highest levels of technological expertise and comprehensive capabilities.
There used to be a joke about Tongwan: no matter what critical condition, emergency, or rare disease you had, as long as a doctor from Tongwan nodded and said they could save you, even if you had just half a breath left, they could pull you back from the clutches of the King of Hell. On the other hand, if even Tongwan shook its head and said there was no hope, then there was no use struggling, and you better prepare for the inevitable.
In the early days of the apocalypse, the D-grade cities around Tongwan quickly fell, and a large number of zombies poured in madly. Despite this, Tongwan only remained in chaos for less than a week. After clearing out the zombies, the doctors picked up their scalpels again, doing their best to slow down the mutation process for patients who had either suffered from excessive radiation or had been bitten by zombies.
Tongwan, along with the three large shelters nearby, carried the heavy burden forward. Instead of being overwhelmed by the tide of corpses, it shone like a polished pearl. It was not only a graveyard of death but also a place of rebirth for those with abilities. Every day, some people died due to radiation outbreaks, but others survived high fevers and awakened their abilities, coming back to life.
In the emergency room on the thirteenth floor, paramedics wheeled in a young patient.
“Doctor, am I going to turn into a zombie?” The girl clutched a doll tightly in her arms, her voice choked with tears.
There was a noticeable claw mark on her calf, and blackish blood had started oozing from the edges.
“Little sister, you need to stay strong,” a nurse beside her comforted in a low voice. “Trust us for everything else and leave it to the doctors, okay?”
“Okay, thank you, Doctor.”
“How long ago was she bitten?” Dr. Lu Ning, with short hair, hurried over from the next room, bent down to examine the girl’s condition, and asked the parents beside her.
“She was just bitten. We rushed her to the hospital immediately, less than twenty minutes ago,” the girl’s mother said, her voice trembling.
Lu Ning’s expression remained unchanged. She gestured for the couple to step outside before saying coldly, “The wound has already started to deform. We need to amputate immediately to stop the zombie transformation process. Perhaps we can save her life, but time is of the essence. You need to make a decision quickly.”
The girl’s mother, upon hearing this dreadful news, almost fainted, but fortunately, the girl’s father remained composed. After a moment of grieving, he gritted his teeth and agreed.
“Listen to Dr. Lu. We… we agree to the amputation.”
“Sign the consent form, prepare for surgery,” Lu Ning turned and was about to head to the operating room.
“Dr. Lu!” A colleague blocked her path, looking concerned. “Don’t forget the regulations. No surgeries involving suspected mutants can be performed without an awakener on guard. It’s too dangerous.”
“Then find an awakener!” Lu Ning frowned.
“All the volunteers outside are helping with ‘clean-up’ now. It may take some time to find someone available…”
“It’s a matter of life and death. I’ll find someone myself.”
Lu Ning pushed him aside and quickly walked out of the emergency room. When she looked outside, she saw people running back and forth in the corridor, and it was chaotic. Only a girl in a khaki vest was standing idly in the corner.
“Hey, you!” Lu Ning shouted.
Song Ke noticed a doctor in a white gown in front of her who seemed to be talking to her. She pointed to herself, saying, “Me?”
“Yes, come here!”
“Ah? Oh.”
She hurried over to the doctor in the white gown. Lu Ning quickly scanned her and noticed the words “Medical Support” on her vest, which had a unique ugliness to it.
“Are you a person with abilities?”
“Yeah.”
“Perfect, I need surgery right now, and I need a guardian. It’s you.”
A guardian was another layer of protection for surgeries on suspected mutants. If a patient’s zombification accelerated during the surgery, causing them to lose consciousness and attack the medical staff, the guardian had to deal with the threat immediately.
“Oh,” Song Ke replied. She had only worked as a cleaner for two days, dealing with dirty and tiring tasks and confronting zombies. This was her first time entering an operating room.
She put on a sterile radiation-proof suit and, after entering the operating room, was directed to stand in a corner, serving as a guardian in a different location.
Lu Ning was also fully equipped. She took the surgical knife with a solemn expression. There was a touch of sternness on her face that belonged to a doctor. The scalpel in her hand could save a life, but it could also swiftly end one when it was confirmed that the patient had turned into a zombie.
An hour later, the indicator lights went out, and Lu Ning came out, walking over to the couple.
“The surgery went smoothly,” she said, her demeanor unusually calm.
“Thank you, thank you, Dr. Lu!” The girl’s parents were deeply grateful.
After the couple walked away, Lu Ning stood in place, looking down at her own hands as if lost in thought.
Several colleagues passed by and curiously asked, “Dr. Lu, you saved a life, why don’t you seem happy?”
Lu Ning remained silent. “My original plan was to amputate just the lower leg, but the radiation spread too quickly, and I couldn’t keep up. I had to remove her entire leg…”
A colleague tried to console her. “Lu Ning, don’t blame yourself. You did an amazing job.”
Lu Ning shook her head. “If it were Director Fang performing this surgery today, he would have definitely done better, a thousand times better than me.”
Others sighed, “Director Fang…”
The other doctors quickly dispersed, busy with treating other patients, and Lu Ning also needed to leave. However, she noticed Song Ke still standing in the corner.
“We’re done here. You can go back now.”
“Okay.”
Song Ke removed the mask from her face, having worn it for over an hour, her black hair was soaked with sweat. It was just too hot. She used the back of her hand to fan herself.
Lu Ning gave her another glance and thanked her, saying, “Thank you for today.”
“You’re, you’re welcome.”
In the current world, nobody had it easy. A young girl like Song Ke coming to such a dangerous place to volunteer probably meant her family was facing some difficulties. Moreover, she was doing the dirty and tiring work of cleaning up zombies, earning less than 200 Alliance coins a day. Only lower-level awakeners were willing to do such work.
Even though Lu Ning had witnessed life and death countless times, she still felt a twinge of sympathy and sighed, saying, “You’ve worked hard.”
Song Ke blinked. She had only stood there for a while because of the heat. How could Doctor Lu, who had been performing surgeries, think she had worked hard?
…
After a busy day, Song Ke finally received her compensation and left work. Tongwan had become somewhat desolate compared to the past, but it was still a functioning city. The majority of zombies had been concentrated in the incinerators of major hospitals, making the streets relatively peaceful.
As Song Ke left the hospital, she passed by a central park. Flocks of white pigeons were pecking at rice on the ground. Children in new clothes were running around, and a scruffy-looking homeless man with a newspaper-covered head was sleeping on a bench. Passersby sprinkled breadcrumbs into the air, attracting the pigeons to feed. The homeless man, smelling the aroma of baking, half-rolled off the bench and reached out to grab some food, competing with the pigeons.
The person who had thrown the breadcrumbs had a disdainful look and quickly moved away.
The homeless man, oblivious to this, leaned on the ground with stubble on his face and desperately stuffed his mouth with food. His voraciousness might have choked his throat accidentally, and he started coughing violently, causing crumbs to scatter all over. The pigeons were startled and flew away in a flutter.
Song Ke had initially walked past, but when she heard the man’s severe coughing, her steps gradually slowed down. She paused for a couple of seconds and then retraced her steps, taking out an unopened loaf of bread from her pocket and placing it in front of the man.
It was the hospital’s lunch, which she hadn’t eaten. It even had the Medical Support logo printed on it.
Before her grandfather had settled them in District F, there was a time when they had been wandering like this, struggling to find food. This homeless man reminded her of herself when she was a child.
The homeless man hesitated for a moment when he saw the extra bread in front of him, then quickly grabbed it and ate it ravenously.
Song Ke walked away, thinking as she went. She wondered how much money Zhuang Qingyan and Xiaoxing had earned today.
