Life is Like a Journey – Chapter 57
by Little PandaVolume 2: Inheritance
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In life, there are things one should do, things one should not do, and things one must do.
The withdrawal of most firefighters signaled the end of the rescue operation. Lu Qingshi sent a red-tagged patient in her care to the ambulance, then turned to search for that familiar figure in the crowd. She casually grabbed a firefighter and asked, “Where’s your captain?”
The other shook his head, indicating he didn’t know. Lu Qingshi’s heart, which had just settled, became anxious again.
“Make way! Make way! Where’s the doctor?! Save him quickly!” The ambulance screeched to a halt at the entrance of the emergency center. The doors were lifted, and medical staff, along with several dust-covered criminal police officers, pushed the wheeled bed inside, running.
Xiang Nanke, with reddened eyes, grabbed a passing doctor: “Save him! You must save him quickly!”
Today, Renji Medical University was overcrowded. The green channel had never closed. People injured in the chemical plant explosion were continuously sent here. To maintain normal operations in the emergency center, the hospital mobilized core staff from various departments, even suspending some outpatient services. The triage desk was so crowded that not even water could trickle through, and there was no place to set foot in the wards.
“Don’t push! Don’t push! Line up!”
The cold gun barrel pressed against his throat. The doctor’s whole body shuddered, stopping his actions. Looking at this group of fully armed criminal police officers, he swallowed and couldn’t speak.
“You weren’t given a gun to point it at the masses. Put it away now!”
Xiang Nanke strode over, snatched the gun from her teammate’s hand, and stuffed it into the holster. Qin Xuan came out of the adjacent resuscitation room, and at a glance saw her in a disheveled state. Then, looking at the police officer lying on the stretcher, wearing a respirator and covered in blood, his eyes flickered slightly.
“Bring him this way.”
Xiang Nanke felt as if she had been granted amnesty. A hint of a touched smile appeared on her face, which was not rugged enough for a criminal police officer.
“Thank you.”
Yu Gui’s hands were covered in blood, but it wasn’t hers. The young doctor stood still, watching the middle-aged man in front of her holding a five-year-old child and sobbing loudly.
During the explosion, the child’s chest was hit by a falling ceiling, resulting in multiple organ ruptures. This kind of surgery couldn’t be performed in the field. Even though Yu Gui had already administered first aid and stopped the bleeding, she still couldn’t save his life. She could only watch helplessly as he faded away like a gradually withering flower scattered in the wind while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
Dawn was about to break, but she still felt so cold, so cold. The bone-chilling coldness had seeped into her marrow, making her eyes turn red.
Hao Renjie pushed her: “Don’t just stand there like a f*cking idiot, can’t you see there are so many people who need medical support?!”
Yu Gui haphazardly wiped away the tears ravaging her face: “Coming.”
Another firefighter was carried out of the fire scene, lying on a stretcher with white foam oozing from the corners of his mouth, his limbs convulsing uncontrollably.
Lu Qingshi quickly performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation: “Open an intravenous line, push adrenaline intravenously! Bring a dose of dopamine too, hurry!”
“Prepare for tracheal intubation.”
Just as she inserted the tube, the incessantly beeping life monitor fell silent after a long, drawn-out tone.
Lu Qingshi released her hands and closed his eyes for him.
Farewell, hero.
In the interval between sending another patient to the ambulance, the doctor walked to the factory gate, fished out her communicator from her outer coat pocket, and pressed the number Gu Yanzhi had set for her.
After a wave of electronic signals, her slightly breathless voice came through: “What’s the matter, Qingshi?”
Lu Qingshi raised her eyes to look at the factory area where the fire had not yet dissipated. Her exceptional perception caused a hint of worry to shroud her expression.
“The rescue is nearing its end, why haven’t you come out yet?”
Gu Yanzhi coughed softly twice. The thick white mist in the warehouse blurred her vision. The fire instructor, who had used herculean efforts with Ci Ertou to push open the door, was leaning against a steel cylinder, panting heavily.
“My rescue isn’t over yet.”
As if confirming that slight bad premonition, Lu Qingshi frowned: “Where are you?”
“I’m in—”
“Captain, watch out!”
The sound waves transmitted the muffled thud of a heavy object falling to the ground, along with chaotic footsteps. Her labored breathing sounded like a bellows, causing Lu Qingshi’s heart to tighten.
“Gu Yanzhi!”
“Cough, cough, cough! I’m fine…” The dust stirred up by the fallen ceiling fan penetrated her throat relentlessly even through the respirator. Gu Yanzhi knelt on the ground, coughing violently. Ci Ertou was also beside her, clutching his throat and dry heaving.
“Doctor, please go back. The factory area has now been completely sealed off,” a fully armed armed police officer came over to advise.
Lu Qingshi clutched the communicator in her hand: “There are still people inside…”
“Please go back,” the armed police officer repeated with a stern face and a more emphatic tone.
Gu Yanzhi’s voice came through the earpiece. Due to the static, it sounded particularly magnetic, with even a hint of tenderness in the trailing tone.
“Go back, Qingshi.”
Here is a faithful and respectful literal English translation of the provided Chinese text:
“What about you?”
“I’ll come out soon after completing the mission,” Gu Yanzhi said as she got up from the ground, turned on a high-beam flashlight, and groped her way forward while comparing with the blueprint in her hand.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
She had no intention of saying any words of farewell. She never thought she would die, nor did she plan to sacrifice herself to complete an impossible mission. Living is so good, isn’t it? There’s blue sky, white clouds, fine wine, delicious food, and also Hamburger and French Fries, as well as her who was worrying about her safety.
“I believe you.”
She understood Gu Yanzhi and had no intention of stopping her actions. They both possessed a rare and precious spirit of sacrifice in this mundane world. The difference was that she sacrificed her time for patients, while Gu Yanzhi might sacrifice her life so that more people could survive.
In life, there are things to do, things not to do, and things that must be done.
Rationally, she could accept and understand this, but the doctor still paused for a moment before continuing: “Come with me tomorrow to pick up French Fries from the hospital. The vet just called me.”
Through the earpiece came her voice, tinged with a hint of laughter: “Okay.”
“Captain, we’ve found it,” Ci Ertou focused the high-beam flashlight on the control tower in the center of the warehouse. “Is this it?”
Gu Yanzhi lowered her head to glance at the blueprint, then folded it and tucked it into her pocket.
“It should be correct.”
The two of them stood in the vast white mist, looking up. The high-beam flashlight pierced through the leaking gas like breaking through cloud layers, casting a misty light. There was an unreal sense of the chilling heights, with cold permeating every pore.
The light in the emergency room went out, and the doctor came out shaking his head: “The injuries are too severe. Quickly notify his family to come and see him for the last time.”
Li Xiaole from the Technical Investigation Division of Jinzhou City Criminal Police Detachment, married for less than a year, his wife, five months pregnant, was crying her eyes out in the hallway.
Xiang Nanke punched the snow-white wall: “I’m going out for a smoke.”
Qin Xuan also came out of the emergency room: “Xiang—”
She opened her mouth, only to see the person who had said she was going for a smoke hiding in the fire escape, crouching down with her head in her hands.
“Xiang Nanke,” Qin Xuan walked over quietly, clearing her throat.
The person called by name hastily wiped her tears with the sleeve of her police uniform, smearing blood all over her face. She looked up at her: “What is it?”
To be fair, the officer’s appearance wasn’t stunning. Compared to the unforgettable beauty of Lu Qingshi and Gu Yanzhi, she could only be considered ordinary. Qin Xuan had seen many men and women, young and old, stunning beauties, but few were born with such an aura of unyielding integrity as her. Even now, with reddened eyes and covered in blood and dirt, she still couldn’t hide the mature steadiness of a criminal investigation team leader, like a heavy ancient sword long sealed in dust.
For a moment, Qin Xuan could only think of this description, but her body honestly pulled out a tissue from her pocket and handed it over.
“I’m sorry, we really did our best.”
“Find the main control valve.” The closer they got to the central control tower, the thicker the mist became. The storage environment for chemical materials is generally ultra-low temperature. Even though the warehouse had lost power, when fingers touched the gas cylinders, the whole body shuddered, and frost formed on the fingertips.
“Is this it?” Ci Ertou exclaimed excitedly, the high-beam flashlight illuminating a control box on the separation tower. With a “pop,” he lifted the cover.
Gu Yanzhi leaned in to take a look, carefully comparing it with the blueprint: “It should be, but there are two identical switches here. Which one should we press?”
She pressed the communicator on her chest: “Headquarters, headquarters, please respond if you receive this.”
After repeating it three times, there was only the buzzing sound of static. Gu Yanzhi slapped the device in her hand hard: “Damn, what a piece of junk.”
“Ci Ertou, does yours still work?”
Ci Ertou took out his communicator as well, shaking his head: “We lost signal as soon as we entered the warehouse.”
“Damn it.”
Something must be blocking the radio signals.
Gu Yanzhi got up from the ground: “Let’s not press the switches for now. Fix the fume hood and exhaust fans first.”
“Okay.”
Ci Ertou rummaged through the backpack for tools such as wrenches, tossed one to her, and took the lead in climbing up the rafters along the water pipe.
The skylight opened above, Gu Yanzhi followed suit, but after all, she was professionally trained, her climbing movements were much more fluid than Ci Ertou’s. Upon climbing to the skylight, she directly threw a rope to him.
“Hold tight”
Ci Ertou looped it around his arm once: “Ready”
Gu Yanzhi hugged the pillar with one arm, using her right hand to exert force, swinging him over like a swing.
The exhaust fan and ventilation hood were not on the same side. Gu Yanzhi moved on the narrow rafters as if walking on flat ground, actively choosing the farther exhaust fan: “I’ll go to that side, be careful.”
“Okay, be careful, Captain.”
Ci Ertou, aware of his limited abilities, didn’t refuse further. He rummaged through the toolbox and started working. Before becoming a firefighter, he was an idle electrician who had graduated from a technical secondary school; this level of malfunction was not beyond his capabilities.
Gu Yanzhi also took out red and blue wires from her pocket, matching the neutral and live wires one by one, cutting off the damaged wire ends, and tightly wrapping them together with insulating tape.
“Done. How about your side?”
“I’ll need a bit more time,” Ci Ertou stretched out his arm, lying at the edge of the duct opening above the ventilation hood, straining to reach inside.
“Something’s stuck in the filter, otherwise connecting it won’t help.”
Gu Yanzhi was about to go over to help, but Ci Ertou took off his heavy equipment: “Captain, don’t come over yet. Go outside and use the radio to ask how the switches should be pressed. I’ll be done here soon.”
Having said that, he had already slid into the duct with a whoosh, leaving only a pair of feet outside.
“Be careful then.”
Gu Yanzhi didn’t dawdle any longer, gripping the rope and sliding directly from mid-air, her combat boots landing firmly on the ground.
“Tell me, which switch to press?!” The interrogating criminal investigator slammed the table with a thunderous noise. If it weren’t for the fact that almost all of the factory’s safety officers were dead, and those alive were barely hanging on in the ICU, it wouldn’t have come to questioning him.
The factory manager shrank in the interrogation chair, shaking like chaff: “Press… press the one on the left… no, no, no… the one on the right…”
The criminal investigator listening outside the door pressed his earpiece: “Confirm with the on-site engineer.”
The feedback result was quickly sent to Gu Yanzhi’s radio. She didn’t hesitate much before walking back into the smoke-filled warehouse.
“Ci Ertou, are you done yet?!”
“Done!” Ci Ertou poked out half of his shiny, oily head from the ventilation hood, having removed his positive pressure respirator for easier operation.
Gu Yanzhi frowned and scolded loudly: “Put it back on right now, damn it!”
“Okay.”
“Come down quickly!”
“No, something feels off. You press the switch and I’ll test if the ventilation hood is powered on?”
“No way, you come down first, then I’ll press it.”
Ci Ertou rubbed his buzzcut grayish-green head, which was shaved extremely short, and smiled: “What’s the point? If I come down, I won’t be able to get back up.”
Gu Yanzhi rolled her eyes: “Then move to the side a bit.”
“Okay.”
Ci Ertou put his respirator back on and shifted to the side.
“Click—” The switch made a soft sound, and a humming noise spread throughout the moderately-sized factory. Wisps of white vapor began to float, the exhaust fan working normally, carrying away strands of white smoke.
“Alright, you can come down now.”
A rumbling sound came from the ventilation hood. Ci Ertou looked back: “Something’s not quite right—”
He tilted his head to look inside, and the rumbling sound made his eardrums ache. A suction force pulled him downward. Ci Ertou clung to the duct opening to stabilize himself. Just as he was about to speak, a gust of wind rushed at his face with lightning speed, instantly making his eyes burn fiercely and his vision go dark.
“Ahhh!!!!”
The agonizing scream echoed far across the factory, chilling to the bone. The hair on Gu Yanzhi’s body stood on end.
“Ci Ertou, what’s wrong?!”
Ci Ertou swayed unsteadily, teetering on the narrow rafter. He seemed to want to say something but could only produce incoherent monosyllables. When he turned around, Gu Yanzhi’s whole body shuddered.
A layer of white frost had formed on the positive pressure respirator, visibly crumbling at a speed noticeable to the naked eye. Blood flowed from his eyes, nose, and ears.
Worst of all, due to the pain, he stepped forward, his body flying diagonally through the air. As the sensation of weightlessness hit, Ci Ertou’s entire body fell headfirst before her eyes.
“Ci Ertou!” Gu Yanzhi’s eyes widened in horror, her blue figure cutting through the mist like a gust of wind.
But reality doesn’t offer so many coincidences. Gu Yanzhi stretched out her arms and fell to her knees, only to watch helplessly as he crashed heavily before her eyes. His chest cavity caved in, bloody foam spilled from his mouth, his limbs convulsed on the ground, and the blood pooling beneath him soaked the soles of her boots.
“Requesting backup! Requesting backup! Someone’s injured! Someone’s injured!” Gu Yanzhi’s blood-stained hand gripped the communicator tightly, shouting repeatedly. After a brief burst of static, a response slowly came through.
“Backup approved. Comrade Gu Yanzhi, please wait a moment!”
Lu Qingshi felt slightly uncomfortable with the heavy positive pressure respirator on her back, and adjusted the chafing shoulder straps a little higher.
Yu Gui stood up: “Teacher Lu, where are you going?”
Lu Qingshi looked back at her: “To save people.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Yu Gui shook her head repeatedly. Other members of the medical team also stood up, looking at her.
Lu Qingshi’s gaze swept over their grimy faces one by one, finally resting on the anesthesiologist’s face.
“Chen Yi will temporarily take over my duties. The rescue operation is nearing its end. Those who are physically exhausted can return with the ambulance.”
After saying this, she turned to leave under the guidance of another firefighter. Yu Gui chased after her for a few steps: “Teacher Lu!”
Lu Qingshi waved her hand and plunged into the mist without looking back.
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