Volume 1: Rise
Explosion
If even you give up, then Captain Gu is truly beyond saving.
“Captain Gu, the gas tank on the fifth floor is on fire and could explode at any moment. I request the evacuation of the people on site!”
The anxious voice of the troublemaker came through the walkie-talkie. Gu Yanzhi quickly stood up and walked to the window to look down. Below, medical staff were coming and going, firefighters were busy, and the entrance to the alley was crowded with people watching the commotion, unaware that a crisis was silently spreading.
“Alright, I’ll immediately report to the higher-ups and apply to the armed police for an anti-explosion gas tank! You must take the two doctors downstairs immediately and evacuate to a safe area.”
Downstairs, police cars quickly arrived with their lights flashing, and fully armed SWAT officers were evacuating the onlookers, while ambulances were also held outside the safety line. Medical staff hurriedly carried immobile patients beyond the yellow line, while those who could walk moved to the open space across the street with police assistance.
Lu Qingshi’s walkie-talkie crackled: “Sister Lu, we have already evacuated to a safe area. When are you coming down?”
Lu Qingshi’s drill continued to whir, as a jet of blood spurted from the opened skull onto her face. She quickly pressed gauze onto the wound.
“No, I can’t leave yet…”
Before she could finish her sentence, Gu Yanzhi pulled her up from the ground: “A 15-kilogram gas tank explosion is equivalent to 150 kilograms of TNT. It’s too dangerous here; you must leave!”
Despite her efforts, Lu Qingshi couldn’t break free and was pulled straight to the door. She held onto the door frame with one hand and forcefully freed herself with the other.
“If I leave, what about her, the child…” She glanced at the young woman lying in a pool of blood, her eyes slightly red: “She can’t be without a mother.”
Gu Yanzhi was stunned, staring at her blood-stained white coat, which was no cleaner than her own, her face smeared with blood. Her mask covered most of her delicate features, leaving only her eyes shining brightly in the darkness.
For a moment, everything fell silent, with only the sound of their breathing audible.
Lu Qingshi knew she was asking too much and swallowed hard before reluctantly speaking: “Just give me ten more minutes… no… five minutes will do…”
With that, she turned to walk back into the room, but her wrist was unexpectedly grabbed again.
She turned around involuntarily, feeling a coolness on her face as Gu Yanzhi placed her gas mask on her. Her cold fingers reached around behind her ear, fastening the buckle.
She stepped back, raised her hand in a salute, and said, “Doctor Lu, take care.”
No words were needed; she understood her meaning—it was both understanding and farewell.
She saw the shimmer in her eyes gradually grow, a trace of a pure smile appearing at the corner of her lips, before turning and running upstairs.
Lu Qingshi’s palm clenched into a fist, her nails digging deep into her flesh. The gas mask felt icy cold on her face, matching the chill she felt. With all her strength, she restrained herself from calling out that name, then turned and rushed into the room as well.
“I won’t go! If I leave, she’ll die!” Yu Gui clung to the stair railing with one hand, refusing to let go, her feet kicking frantically against the ground as she desperately tried to shake off the two people pulling her.
The troublemaker was infuriated and assessed her weight, knowing Captain Gu’s orders must be followed. He spat twice into his palm, readying himself.
“Don’t come near!” Yu Gui cried out, her eyes bloodshot: “She hasn’t taken her last breath, her heart hasn’t stopped. How is she any different from those people outside? Leaving her here makes you executioners! Murderers!”
Hao Renjie shouted back: “And our lives don’t matter?! Look carefully, there’s a time bomb in this place that could explode at any moment. Do you want us all to stay here with someone waiting to die?!”
Yu Gui used the handrail to stand, wiped away her tears, and with tightly pressed lips, said firmly: “From the moment I entered medical school, I was taught to treat and save lives, never to give up on any patient. If I leave now, I betray the clothes I wear!”
She turned to Hao Renjie: “You all go, I will stay to perform the amputation for her.”
“Do you really have to save her?” Hao Renjie’s voice was particularly calm in the darkness.
Yu Gui had already reached the door and didn’t look back: “Yes.”
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She re-entered the room filled with gas leakage fog, holding a flashlight in her teeth while searching the emergency kit for medicine.
Opposite her, Hao Renjie handed over what she needed, squatting down in front of her: “Here you go.”
A wave of surprise filled Yu Gui’s eyes: “Good… good sister… no… no, you must leave quickly!”
She spoke while pushing him towards the door, but Hao Renjie brushed her hand aside, cursing: “F*ck! You’re not the only one with a conscience or a doctor! I’m a nurse too! Professionally!”
“Bang—” The electric saw was thrown to the ground, and the dust it kicked up stung their eyes. The troublemaker dusted himself off: “How can you perform an amputation without an electric saw?”
Yu Gui weakly picked up the amputation knife: “I have this.”
……
“But…” she gritted her teeth: “When we get to the femur, we’ll still need the oscillating saw. Good sister, did you bring it?”
Hao Renjie searched through the emergency kit and shook his head: “No.”
The emergency kit only contained commonly used instruments and medicines; no one expected a situation requiring field amputation.
After being in the high concentration of carbon monoxide for a while, Hao Renjie started to feel short of breath: “Hurry up, or we’ll be poisoned before it even explodes.”
“Okay,” Yu Gui took a deep breath, picked up the scalpel, and made an incision at the girl’s thigh root, then used the amputation knife to cut through the muscle.
Blood immediately gushed out, and Yu Gui gritted her teeth: “Gauze.”
“Periosteal elevator.”1
Hao Renjie placed it in her palm.
The knowledge once learned from textbooks, those black-and-white words, transformed into reality, unfolding one by one before her eyes.
“Retractor, come on, good sister, help me hold here, yes—” She pulled the soft tissue towards the proximal end and handed the retractor to Hao Renjie.
“Without an oscillating saw, we’ll have to make do with the electric saw. Although it increases the risk of infection, we’ll take a gamble.”
Yu Gui gritted her teeth; the firefighter saw was too heavy for her, requiring both hands to maintain balance. Just as she was about to press the switch, Gu Yanzhi rushed in and held her hand.
“Don’t press it, if you do, the gas tank will explode immediately.” She panted slightly, watching the cold sweat drip from Yu Gui’s forehead, swallowed, and slowly released her grip.
“Stay like this, don’t move.”
“Captain Gu—” Seeing her captain suddenly appear, the troublemaker seemed to understand what she intended to do.
Gu Yanzhi stopped his words and patted his shoulder: “Make sure to protect them well.”
After speaking, she turned and pushed open the kitchen door.
She pressed the intercom on her chest: “Is the explosion-proof tank ready?”
The on-site commander picked up the communicator: “Everything is ready, please be safe, Comrade Gu.”
The crowd watching at both ends of the alley had been evacuated, and nearby residents were also cleared from the scene. Ambulances carrying the injured rushed to the hospital. In the large open space, an explosion-proof tank was set up, and armed police, holding explosion-proof shields, stood ready and waiting.
Gu Yanzhi smiled silently, turned off the communicator, and approached the flaming gas tank step by step. Carbon monoxide slipped through the gaps in her helmet, infiltrating her nostrils. Waves of heat surged over, and she could hear the sound of scorching fabric. Gu Yanzhi reached out, lifted the gas tank, and held it securely in her arms.
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She walked past Yu Gui, past Hao Renjie, down the stairs, reaching the corner, and continued downward, cradling the ticking time bomb, passing by Lu Qingshi, through the thick smoke. She had to descend one hundred and twenty steps to place the gas tank into the explosion-proof container.
The intense heat waves melted her fireproof suit, and she could smell the burnt odor emanating from herself. The dense carbon monoxide blurred her vision, and with each step, sweat dripped down, drying before it reached her chin due to the heat.
Lu Qingshi had advised her not to make vigorous movements with her wound, warning that if it split open, it would be very troublesome.
Her left shoulder gradually lost strength, the pain turned her face pale, and the gas tank slowly slid downward, emitting a sizzling sound.
Gu Yanzhi let out a roar from deep within her throat and began to sprint faster.
Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the stairway entrance, waiting for her to emerge, or for the earth-shaking explosion.
Footsteps drew closer, and the armed police tightened their grip on the explosion-proof shields. A ball of fire blazed brightly in the darkness as Gu Yanzhi finally burst out into the open.
“Back away!!!”
The gas tank trembled slightly in her palm, the valve popped out with a hiss, and Gu Yanzhi’s eyes were red as flames coated her entire body with a golden hue. Five steps away from the explosion-proof tank, she leapt into the air, the flames tracing a beautiful arc. Had it not been for the deafening explosion and the shockwave strong enough to topple an adult, it would have looked like a magnificent fireworks display.
“Bang—” The firelight illuminated half of the night sky, and a child doing homework by a window looked up: “Mom, look, fireworks!”
“Okay, I’m almost finished here. Have you found the child’s family? Make sure to communicate properly—”
Lu Qingshi, holding the intercom, hadn’t finished speaking when the ground shook, and the ceiling fan wobbled, about to fall. She suddenly lunged over the patient, and the falling fan struck her back with intense pain, causing her vision to blur. Dust fell all over her, and she shielded the patient’s head with her hands.
When the dust finally settled, she staggered to her feet and ran to the window, just in time to see a bloodied firefighter being carried onto an ambulance, her fingertips turning white as she gripped the window frame.
“Buzz—” Under the sharp roar of the electric saw, the legs trapped under the cabinet were separated from the body, and Yu Gui quickly stopped the bleeding by pressing a large amount of gauze onto it.
She shouted with red eyes: “Are you done?”
The troublemaker used hydraulic cutters to cut the iron chain on the girl’s hand: “Done!”
Hao Renjie picked her up and ran downstairs, with Yu Gui holding the IV bag closely following. Then she saw the distraught Lu Qingshi resuscitating the blood-covered Gu Yanzhi.
She froze in place: “Teacher Lu…”
She had never seen Lu Qingshi like that. From her first day at Renji Medical University, Lu Qingshi had always been unflappable, as if she could face the collapse of Mount Tai without changing expression. Her excellent professional skills had endowed her with extraordinary calmness, and her steady character had given her rationality in handling medical conditions. She once believed that such a Lu Qingshi was invincible, unshaken by anything or anyone.
Until today, Yu Gui discovered her hidden side; it turns out… Teacher Lu can cry too.
“Director Lu, blood pressure is 40—60, blood oxygen 50, it’s not rising!”
The monitor’s sharp alarm seemed to strike her heart.
With red eyes, Lu Qingshi used scissors to cut open her clothes. The fireproof suit had melted and adhered tightly to the body, causing varying degrees of burns. She carefully used tweezers to peel it away bit by bit.
“Lidocaine… no…” She quickly shook her head, hesitating for the first time with medication: “Adrenaline 5mg IV push.”
“No, blood oxygen has dropped to 40!” A minute after administering the medication, the nurse shouted again.
The tears in Lu Qingshi’s eyes finally overflowed, falling drop by drop onto her overly pale face.
Eight hours ago, she was lively, standing in front of her, saying: “With Doctor Lu here, what is there to fear?”
Eight hours later, she lay here with no spontaneous breathing, no heartbeat, her whole body cold like a stone.
Pain tore a crack in her memory.
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Five years ago.
The small child sat on the hospital bed and high-fived her, his features so similar to hers.
“Mom is the best doctor at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, I’m not afraid!”
Only six hours later, he lay on the operating table with all breathing and heartbeat stopped. Every possible resuscitation method was attempted. The anesthesiologist stood up, bowed, and announced the surgery had failed, and the patient had died.
The hemostat in her hand clattered into the tray.
From that day on, Lu Qingshi never smiled again.
“Clang—” A sharp instrument fell to the ground with a crisp sound, and Lu Qingshi’s trembling hands dropped to her sides.
“Dea… death time…”
“No!” A figure rushed over, pushing away the nurse by the bed, performing CPR on her. Those eyes were as red as hers, yet filled with relentless determination.
“Teacher Lu, don’t give up! You are an expert in emergency medicine, the most outstanding doctor in the Renji Medical University’s emergency department. If even you give up—” She glanced at the unconscious Gu Yanzhi, tears falling pattering down.
“Then Captain Gu is truly beyond saving.”
Footnotes
- Periosteal elevator: A surgical instrument used to separate the periosteum, a layer covering bones, from the bone itself during surgical procedures. It’s often used in orthopedic, dental, and other surgeries to expose bone surfaces.