Chapter 37

After shouting, the sunglasses-wearing guy returned to the back door of the ambulance.

He peeked into the ambulance and said, “The bridge is jam-packed and there’s no room for even flipping a car, hurry up, lift the patient down. Let’s all carry him together. Get past this section and find another vehicle for transport. Saving lives is the most important thing now!”

Yes! This is the only choice, to lift the patient up and walk out of the congestion. This is a solution, the only solution.

Yang Ping, Little Five, Dr. Lv, the nurse, and two paramedics immediately started to work. The patient was already on a stretcher, and they worked together to lift him up.

Two paramedics, the sunglasses guy, Little Five carried the stretcher. Dr. Lv was holding the first aid kit, the nurse held a few bags of fluid, and Yang Ping kept holding the patient’s hand tightly. Even in a coma, the patient held on tight.

As he walked, the sunglasses guy shouted, “Help, help please, emergency, extremely urgent!”

More and more people got out of their cars. At first, they were observing, not sure what was going on, but as they understood, some rushed over to help. A few people, dozens of people, even more—they must have somehow figured out what was happening near the ambulance.

The space between the lanes was cleared and became a designated path for the stretcher. People stayed away to both sides, and those who came over to help were also moving through the gaps on both sides.

“Switch, switch, the next group get ready!” The sunglasses guy picked out a few strong-looking individuals from the crowd who were running alongside.

Those carrying the stretcher were completely switched out for fresh hands as they continued to rush forward.

“Hold it steady, no shaking!” The sunglasses guy rolled up his sleeves to wipe off the sweat, instructing the new people with their hands on the stretcher.

Some were helping to clear the way, some were ready to take over carrying the stretcher. The gaps between the lanes were barely passable, but for any disregarding vehicles or ones not parked properly, it was hard for the stretcher to go through.

“Hurry up, you go ahead to clear the way, you go ahead to arrange a vehicle, we need a truck—other cars won’t do, we can’t put the stretcher in them.” The sunglasses guy was commanding everyone with great experience.

“I’ll carry! I’m in sports, long distance running.” A young man in his twenties ran along with the team.

The sunglasses guy pulled him over immediately: “You, hurry up and run ahead to find a truck. We need a truck.”

“Yep!” The young man accepted the mission and immediately put his specialty to use, running as fast as he could forward to find a vehicle ahead of the congestion.

An orange Bentley Bentayga might have tried to change lanes before the traffic was completely stopped, and was now diagonally across two lanes, pinned by other cars in the middle, causing the stretcher to be unable to pass. The only way to get across was to go over the front of the car.

The car owner, wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and slippers, with a beer belly, was the first to climb onto the bonnet to receive the stretcher, not caring about his car anymore. He was desperately waving his hands and shouting, “Over here! It’s alright, hurry up, saving lives is what matters!”

Speaking Mandarin with a Cantonese accent, the owner forcefully directed everyone. The stretcher was lifted onto the bonnet, slowly dragged across from there, caught by the people on the other side. Several long scratches were left on the bonnet.

Carrying the stretcher, holding it steady, and running is an extremely strenuous task. So, they didn’t run far before switching to another group of people. Each time, after the switch, the next group was ready to step in as a replacement.

“Hold it steady, hurry up!”

Northeastern accents, Cantonese, Sichuanese, various dialects filled the air. Everyone was panting, taking turns carrying the stretcher, racing forwards as fast as they could. Yang Ping was always following the stretcher, trying to keep it steady and free of any vibrations. The people carrying it understood the doctor’s instruction and held it extremely evenly.

Some people tripped and fell, but others immediately took their places. When some ran out of stamina, replacements were immediately available. The stretcher was always steady, rushing forward at the fastest possible speed. No one cared about the traffic anymore; they were only focused on making this stretcher break free.

The straying individual, waving a red shirt, continued to shout ahead: “Move aside, move aside, we’re saving a life.”

With everyone’s relay efforts, the stretcher broke free from the jammed bridge and began sprinting downhill. Astonishingly, they kept up a running pace, left the line of traffic behind and saw a clear road ahead.

The long-distance running boy, seemingly out of nowhere, caught hold of the sunglasses guy, his face glowing red: “The truck is over there, it’s a cargo truck, we can put the stretcher in.”

A small open truck was parked on the side of the road into which everyone carried the stretcher and put it onto the truck bed.

“Sanbo, go to Sanbo Hospital!” Dr. Lv shouted.

Exhausted, the sunglasses guy leaned against a tree at the roadside, fell onto the ground and waved his hand: “Hurry, you guys go to the hospital, I can’t go on.”

The crowd was waving back, some were doubled over and panting, some were vomiting by the roadside, some were sprawled out on the ground.

The truck started, rushing to Sanbo Hospital. The weak pulse was faint, and a few times couldn’t be felt at all.

Finally, the patient was successfully transported to Sanbo Hospital. Having gone into shock, he was immediately sent to the operating room after a quick crossmatching for blood. The general surgeons were already waiting.

When Yang Ping released the patient’s hand, he had to use a lot of force to pry open the patient’s hand and withdraw his own.

Dozens of bags of blood were hung on the infusion stand, being pumped into the patient’s body at the fastest possible speed.

An endotracheal intubation was performed under general anaesthesia, the General Surgeon washed his hands and spread sheets for an emergency exploratory laparotomy.

Yang Ping sat in the corner, Little Five handed him an opened glucose drink, Yang Ping gulped it down, unsure if they could still save the patient.

The scalpel sliced through the skin, layer by layer, as soon as they entered the abdominal cavity, blood gushed out and the suction device couldn’t keep up with it.

“There’s a stomach full of blood, at least two thousand milliliters. The liver has ruptured, and there’s a subcapsular rupture of the spleen.” The Associate Chief Surgeon holding the scalpel said.

The procedure: Splenectomy, hepatic lobectomy.

Having just ligated the splenic artery and vein, the spleen finally couldn’t bear it and ruptured in the abdomen with a “pop” sound, a bag of blood gushed out again. The frail spleen had actually already been squashed to pulp.

“Xiao Yang, that was close! A minute later, and this patient would have been done for. It’s quite rare to see a severe splenic rupture like this, with the capsule remaining intact. This was caused by compressive injury. The ruptured liver has already caused severe bleeding, if the spleen’s capsule breaks, it can lead directly to fatal shock.” the Chief Surgeon said.

He tossed the removed spleen into a metal basin, pointing at it with vascular forceps, saying: “Look, the spleen is completely ruptured, the capsule is like a balloon, continually expanding until it couldn’t hold and burst spontaneously.”

Next, they performed the hepatic lobectomy, and the bleeding finally stopped completely.

They then checked the pancreas, the intestines, etc., without finding any further issues.

“How are the vital signs?” the Chief Surgeon asked.

“Blood pressure 90/50mmHg, oxygen saturation 98%, heart rate 100 beats/min–”

“The blood pressure is coming up, it should be fine now, transfer the patient to trauma ICU after the surgery.”

The surgeon performed multiple washouts, placed a drainage tube, and performed layered suturing.

“Does Orthopedics have any other issues? If not, we’ll be transferring the patient to the Trauma ICU soon,” the Chief Surgeon asked Yang Ping.

Only then did Yang Ping regain his senses: “How is he? Can he survive?”

The Chief Surgeon said: “There’s a great chance.”

Yang Ping finally could breathe a sigh of relief.

He survived!

“Ding-dong, mission accomplished, awarded 6000 points.”

As promised, the system rewarded him instantly without any deduction.

The severed amputation stump was left clean and expertly managed, no second procedure was necessary. Dragging his exhausted body, he headed to the changing room.

Su Yixuan sent a WeChat message: “When you get back, remember– Uncle Er’s Grilled Fish Restaurant, I’ll be waiting for you.”

Oh no, he had arranged to dine with Su Yixuan today, scheduled for six o’clock, but now it was already nine o’clock.

Yang Ping made a call: “I’m sorry! I–I–I–”

From the other side, Su Yixuan spoke: “It’s okay, I knew you were out with the emergency department so I didn’t call you. Hurry up and come over, I’ve been waiting for you for three hours.”

She was still there!

After getting changed, Yang Ping and Little Five went to see the patient in the Trauma ICU, the intubation tube had not been removed yet, but his blood pressure had increased a little.

After saying hi to Little Five, Yang Ping rushed over to Uncle Er’s Grilled Fish Restaurant.

It was the same seat by the window, Su Yixuan was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, her shoulder-length hair tied up, she was looking out of the window.

Yang Ping felt an inexplicable sense of being touched!