Chapter 171: Rescuing People Is Not Easy

Chapter 171: Rescuing People Is Not Easy

As soon as they arrived at the bus, they saw a dark figure dart past them.

"Yikes!"

Zhang Xinyun was startled.

The dark figure ran extremely fast and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Ye Xiaoxiao, on the other hand, looked at the bus, where the doors and windows were securely closed.

She knocked on the door, and the driver inside opened it.

"Are you back to get something?" the driver asked.

"A dark figure just ran past us," Ye Xiaoxiao said.

Hearing this, the driver perked up. "Could it be a thief?"

Zhang Xinyun: "Probably not. Who would come to steal from our vehicle?"

They were all here to help, and if things went missing, it would be truly disheartening.

The driver turned on the lights to check the surroundings. "Young girl, don't assume everyone is good. Although most people we meet are kind-hearted, there might still be some with ill intentions. We can't let our guard down."

Ye Xiaoxiao went back to the bus to get her backpack.

The driver said, "You should stash your important stuff in the bus. I'll be sleeping here tonight, so nothing will go missing."

Ye Xiaoxiao figured it made sense and split her stuff into two piles: one to stash in the bus and the other to keep with her.

The leaders of Ning'an County did not arrange for the volunteers to stay in tents alongside the disaster victims. Instead, they were provided with rooms in relatively clean homes nearby.

Ye Xiaoxiao and two other girls, along with a few guys, were assigned to a yard.

The pot was still warm with grub. Ye Xiaoxiao and the others trickled into the resting area. After eating, no one felt like chatting, and everyone rushed to bed.

Sun Zhengyao came over to give a few instructions. "Make sure to close all the doors before sleeping. Chu Yunxiao and Qiaochuan, keep an eye on the other students, especially the female ones."

Chu Yunxiao: "We got it, teacher. You should head back and rest too."

Everyone was wiped out today, including the leading teachers.

There was a makeshift stove in the yard where they could heat water, but after the flood, dry firewood was scarce, making it inconvenient to heat water.

Ye Xiaoxiao and the others just wiped themselves down with cold water before hitting the sack.

Ye Xiaoxiao shared a room with two senior female students. The room was pretty spacious and had no strangers.

Even though it was a bit chilly at night, it was way better than crashing in a tent.

Ye Xiaoxiao slept like a log that night. She thought it might have rained again, but she was out cold and didn’t notice.

The next morning, they got up, grabbed some breakfast, and then headed to the disaster zone to help treat the new arrivals.

The area was pretty much surrounded by the military, and supplies were slowly rolling in.

A few more cooking pots were brought in to keep things running smoothly.

In addition to the rescued civilians, there were also piles of random stuff.

Some of these people had been rescued from the floodwaters, while others had been evacuated in a hurry.

Those who got out fast were in decent shape, but they were now homeless.

Ye Xiaoxiao and her two senior sisters continued to do what they could. Perhaps because they had adapted to the routine, they didn't feel as exhausted as they did on the first night.

At noon, they ate some packaged food with water.

Meng Jingwan's stomach was acting up.

Ye Xiaoxiao asked her if she was okay.

"It's just the new environment and something I ate didn't sit well. I'll be fine after resting for a bit."

Zhang Xinyun said, "If you're not feeling great, go crash in the room. You can't let yourself get too exhausted."

Meng Jingwan replied, "I'll manage."

Ye Xiaoxiao also felt that this wasn't right. In the afternoon, she asked Zhang Xinyun to go back to the room and lie down for a while, and come out to help again when she felt better.

This wasn't about being lazy; while taking care of others, they also needed to take care of themselves.

Meng Jingwan had no choice but to obediently go back.

Ye Xiaoxiao kept at it. Ever since she got here, she'd been wearing a mask, and she would sanitize with alcohol when she returned.

After the flood, the risk of disease outbreaks was high, so Ye Xiaoxiao was very cautious in this regard.

"Doc, could you check out my son?"

A woman came over carrying a child of about four or five years old.

Ye Xiaoxiao felt the child's forehead, who was running a high fever.

"This... I can only give you some fever meds to try. We don't have any shots here, so it might take a bit to kick in."

Ye Xiaoxiao grabbed some meds from the kit and passed them to the woman.

The school had provided quick-relief Western meds and some traditional Chinese medicine pills. For students who knew their meds, the effects of these medicines were already very familiar, so they wouldn't make any mistakes.

"Thank you, thank you."

The woman took the meds and went to get water for her kid.

Ye Xiaoxiao reminded her, "Don't use water straight from the tap."

"Got it, doc."

With that, the woman hurried away.

A bit later, another woman showed up with a kid. Ye Xiaoxiao was patching up a young soldier's wound.

The soldier was pretty banged up, likely cut by something in the water, and the wound got infected from being in the water.

After having him tough it out to clean the wound, Ye Xiaoxiao put on some meds and wrapped it up.

"Thank you."

Zhang Xinyun said to the woman, "Ma'am, let me see your child."

But the woman clutched the child tightly, refusing to let anyone see it.

"Doctor, just give me some medicine, please."

"If you don't let me see the child, how can I prescribe the right medicine?"

She reached out to uncover the child, but the woman stepped back several steps in agitation.

"Don't touch my child, don't you dare touch him."

Zhang Xinyun stared at her, baffled.

Ye Xiaoxiao frowned, "What's the matter with your child?"

The woman stepped back a few more steps, seemingly wanting to run away.

Zhang Xinyun: "Is she mentally ill?"

Just then, Chu Yunxiao passed by, and Ye Xiaoxiao called out, "Squad leader, block her."

When Chu Yunxiao blocked her, the woman grew even more frantic.

Her foot slipped, and she tumbled forward.

Bystanders rushed to help the woman, especially since she was clutching a child.

A young soldier threw himself on the ground to cushion her fall.

As the woman fell, she rolled, and the child slipped from her arms.

The fall revealed the child, wrapped in tattered clothes, lying lifeless, not even crying.

"What the..."

Chu Yunxiao wanted to step forward to check, but after taking two steps, he froze.

As the clothes fell open, the child inside was revealed—blue, swollen, and stiff, clearly long dead.

"Your child... he's already dead. Why are you here asking for medicine?"

"No, no, Xiao Bao's not dead, he's not dead."

The woman scrambled to her feet and clutched the child's corpse to her chest.

Just then, an old woman appeared out of nowhere and slapped the woman.

"You jinx! You killed my grandson! Give him back to me, give him back!"

The woman, barely back on her feet, was knocked down again.

The old woman rained blows on the woman, cursing nonstop.

The bystanders, unable to bear it, pulled the two apart.

"If you want to fight, take it elsewhere. This is a medical station; don't hold up others' treatment."

"This child clearly died of suffocation, likely from drowning. You can't put all the blame on your daughter-in-law."