Not knowing the extent of the damage to the cage or how much it would affect the person inside, Yi Heye dared not slack off and quickly picked up the cage and rushed back.
At this point, the team's progress and the closing of the hatches became terrifyingly slow. By the time Yi Heye had completely settled in and called out to his companions to resolve the issue, he was drenched in a cold sweat.
"What's wrong?" Pei Xiangjin and Yu Yili also heard his flustered voice and, after receiving the signal, quickly crawled out of the cage.
"This cage..." Before Yi Heye could finish speaking, the cage in front of him, which appeared to be damaged, began to shake violently as if someone had hit it from the inside.
The two companions were startled by the scene—the people inside seemed eager to get out, but…
With a loud bang, the cage opening was violently flung open, and a boy tumbled out.
The boy was about seventeen or eighteen years old. He had all his limbs intact, but his whole body was as white as if it had been bleached—white hair, white skin, white eyelashes, and even his eyes were almost transparent.
At this moment, he must be experiencing immense pain, curled up on the ground, uttering whimpers of despair.
Seeing this, Pei Xiangjin asked anxiously, "What should we do? Can we put him in our cage?"
At this moment, Yu Yili had already moved to his side as quickly as possible, quickly examined his eyes, and then said, "Don't let go yet, give him first aid."
“The people here must have performed surgery on him. Short-term exposure to radiation shouldn’t be fatal,” Yu Yili said quickly. “So we need to treat him as quickly as possible; he might still survive.”
Pei Xiangjin understood what he meant and immediately found him a first aid kit—thanks to that previous reinforcement, it contained many medications for dealing with radiation infection.
At this moment, the white-clad boy on the ground was still struggling violently. Upon seeing this, Yi Heye and Pei Xiangjin quickly went over to control his limbs.
"Damn it..." Yi Heye cursed aloud, noticing Pei Xiangjin's shocked expression.
Perhaps due to his illness, this guy's strength was terrifying. Even with their combined physical strength, the two of them seemed to be struggling to subdue him.
Fortunately, Yu Yili prepared the medicine very quickly. He quickly knelt down next to the boy, observed his condition, and slowly injected the medicine into his arm.
"It hurts so much!! Help me!!" The moment the medicine was administered, the boy screamed, his neck bulging with veins, and his upper body even overpowered the two men, causing him to sit up.
Fearing an accident, Yu Yili quickly reached out and pressed him down, but the boy struggled even harder.
"Damn." Yi Heye had never seen anyone he couldn't control. This sight completely overturned his understanding. Yu Yili had also put down the syringe in his hand. It took the three of them a lot of effort to pin him down.
This time, the boy seemed to have completely exhausted his strength, and the anesthetic effect of the medicine seemed to have taken hold. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Several people checked his hand repeatedly before slowly letting go. Yu Yili briefly checked his heart rate and frowned again.
The symptoms have stabilized, but the problem is not completely resolved.
After thinking for a moment, Yu Yili spoke with some difficulty: "Captain Pei, I need to monitor his condition and give him additional medication as needed, so I can't put him in the cage. However, prolonged exposure to radiation is not conducive to his recovery..."
The implication is that it would be best if he could receive treatment while wearing protective gear.
But where would they get the protective suits? They could indeed hide in the cage, but taking off the protective suits, opening the cage, and sending the protective suits out was simply impossible under conditions of complete radiation isolation.
In other words, if you take off your protective suit and give it to him, you will inevitably be infected by radiation.
Yu Yili naturally couldn't let his companion take such a risk. He hesitated for a moment and looked at the boy.
At this moment, the unconscious boy curled up in pain once again. Yu Yili quickly gave him another injection, then looked up at Pei Xiangjin and said, "Captain Pei, if it really doesn't work, I'll tell you the injection time, I..."
"Impossible." Upon hearing this suggestion, Pei Xiangjin immediately and sternly rejected it, "Absolutely impossible."
After saying that, he was clearly angry that Yu Yili had such thoughts: "Yu Yili, I'm warning you, don't risk your life. To put it bluntly, you're a medical doctor, the chief forensic pathologist. Your life is worth more than all these cages combined. So from now on, don't even think about trading one life for another, do you hear me?!"
This was the first time Yu Yili had heard Pei Xiangjin get so angry, and he felt a little aggrieved.
“I heard you…” Yu Yili said, trembling, “but I will definitely cure him.”
For the next two hours, Pei Xiangjin and Yi Heye watched Yu Yili bustling about, occasionally helping him out, but mostly observing him as he quickly and nervously observed, measured, and prepared the medicine.
The boy in front of me had vomited once, collapsed once, and suffered severe abdominal pain once. Finally, after Yu Yili finished the last injection, he slowly and wearily opened his eyes.
Yu Yili gave the boy's eyes one last check. The boy, his forehead covered in sweat, gave him a strained smile: "Thank you... I think I'm not in pain anymore..."
These words were the best reassurance. Exhausted and dizzy, Yu Yili waved his hand, letting the two of them put the boy into his cage. Then, he swayed and lost his balance, sitting down on the ground.
He thought he was just too tired and stressed, which caused the dizziness and tinnitus, but when he looked up, he found that his mask was covered in red.
Yu Yili raised his head somewhat blankly, and happened to meet Pei Xiangjin's gaze. In that instant, Pei Xiangjin, who was originally going to help him up to rest, froze on the spot.
"What happened to you? Why are you bleeding so much from your nose?!"
The moment Pei Xiangjin and Yi Heye came over, Yu Yili was stunned. He subconsciously reached out to wipe his face, but it was all in vain through the mask.
Only then did he realize that his nose was bleeding profusely, like a tap had been turned on. He frantically lowered his head, and the blood could only drip onto his mask.
Was he tired? In that instant, a sharp headache accompanied by nausea made him sense something was wrong.
He had been working overtime for three consecutive nights, and even when he was exhausted, he only experienced slight hypoglycemia. This situation came all too suddenly.
While trying to keep his mind clear, he began to have a bad feeling and cooperated with Pei Xiangjin in examining his whole body.
The moment his captain's inspection froze, Yu Yili's brain went blank with a loud buzzing.
“…Damn it.” Amid Yi Heye’s curses, Yu Yili turned his head and looked in the direction of their gaze.
A tear appeared in his protective suit.
Chapter 176 (Number 176)
The protective suit is torn. It must have been accidentally cut during the rescue when the movements were too large and too hasty.
The tear wasn't very long and was hidden in the crease of the elbow; it wouldn't have been visible unless Pei Xiangjin searched very carefully.
They all wanted to comfort Yu Yili by saying that the crack was small and shouldn't be a big problem, but they couldn't bring themselves to say it—the crack had been there for who knows when, and most importantly, Yu Yili was now experiencing strong symptoms, so everyone had a pretty good idea of what was going on.
Yu Yili's mind was in complete disarray. He clearly felt extremely uncomfortable, and this intense discomfort consumed almost all of his energy, making it impossible for him to think about what was happening or what it meant to him.
Seeing this, Pei Xiangjin pretended to be calm and said, "There's adhesive in the luggage. Go into the cage and mend your clothes!"
Yu Yili nodded and walked into the cage with a very unpleasant expression.
Yi Heye hadn't expected things to develop this way; his mind was buzzing.
Will Yu Yili be in trouble? If I hadn't brought that cage back, would he be safe? Does that mean I've harmed him?
Thinking about all this, he couldn't help but feel sad. He kept pacing around Yu Yili's cage, but he didn't know how he could help.
Once Yu Yili crawled into the cage, Pei Xiangjin's feigned composure vanished completely. He turned around, his face turning deathly pale almost instantly, and his hands trembled uncontrollably.
When Yi Heye saw him like this, he thought of what he had just said to Yu Yili—that he was a medical doctor and the chief forensic doctor, and that his life was more important than anyone else's.
But now...
Yi Heye had always been accustomed to avoiding problems and would never admit his mistakes, but at this moment, seeing Pei Xiangjin standing outside looking just as helpless and on the verge of collapse as he had, he couldn't help but tremble as he said, "I'm sorry... I... I..."
What did he do wrong? Was it that he shouldn't have brought the cage back, or that he shouldn't have let Yu Yili treat the boy?
But they are public officials, and protecting and treating citizens is their duty and mission. If they just stand by and do nothing about this boy until he dies in agony, will they feel any better?
Pei Xiangjin, who usually has a fiery temper, didn't blame him at all this time, but just shook her head with red eyes.
He took a deep breath, quickly wiped his face, then walked to the cage and tried to regain his composure as he spoke: "Yu Yili, how are you? Do you need any help?"
A coughing sound came from inside, and a moment later, Yu Yili emerged from the cage, his face pale.
After only a short time inside, this person's mental state had already plummeted to rock bottom. His face was so pale that it was completely bloodless, and he looked terrifying.
Pei Xiangjin and Yi Heye rushed over to help him up. The moment Yu Yili got the support, his knees buckled and he almost collapsed to the ground.
Pei Xiangjin quickly reached out to help him sit down, and whispered, "Why don't you lie down for a while..."
Yu Yili said in a hoarse voice, "Could you get me the first-aid kit?"
Yi Heye quickly turned around and helped him take it.
At this moment, Yu Yili painstakingly mixed the medicine in several ampoules according to the ratio and drew it into the special syringe. He was so exhausted that he was almost powerless. The small syringe in his hand felt like it weighed a ton, and he could hardly hold it steady.
Pei Xiangjin quickly took it and said, "Lie down, I'll help you with the injection."
As Yi Heye slowly laid Yu Yili down, the man finally couldn't help but groan in pain. Pei Xiangjin tried to relax his muscles while injecting a micro-needle into his muscles through the protective suit.
Just like the boy's reaction after the injection, Yu Yili also struggled uncontrollably. He still had a sliver of reason left, and he desperately tried to suppress his instinctive reaction while sobbing softly in pain.
Seeing him like this, Pei Xiangjin trembled uncontrollably. Holding the needle, he knelt helplessly beside Yu Yili, muttering repeatedly, "What should I do... what should I do?"
Yu Yili gritted his teeth and squeezed out, "Help me...help me count my heart rate..."
Fearing that one of them might have miscounted, Pei Xiangjin and Yi Heye quickly grabbed one of his wrists each.
The moment Yi Heye grabbed his wrist, he was startled—his wrist felt like it had been soaked in boiling water, and it was frighteningly hot even through the protective suit.
A minute passed, and the medicine seemed to have some effect. Yu Yili's breathing calmed down, and he looked up at the two of them with some fatigue.
"How much... I feel it's a bit too fast..." Yu Yili asked in a low voice.
“187…” Pei Xiangjin uttered the number with some difficulty, then looked at Yi Heye, hoping to hear the answer from him that she had miscounted.
But Yi Heye hesitated for only a few seconds before he had to say, "...That's right."
After listening, Yu Yili remained silent, only lowering his eyes slightly.
Seeing this, Pei Xiangjin panicked and couldn't help but ask, "There's nothing seriously wrong, is there?"
Yu Yili was silent for a moment before whispering, "Let's... delay it for a few more days."
"Wait a few more days...?" Pei Xiangjin looked at Yi Heye in disbelief, as if wanting to confirm whether she had misunderstood.
But at this moment, Yi Heye's expression was even more unpleasant than his—
The silence at that moment was more terrifying than any they had ever experienced. It was as if a violent explosion had erupted between them, so powerful that they had no time to react, and everything turned to dust in an instant.
Yu Yili originally wanted to control her emotions, but after a moment, tears still welled up in her eyes.
He slowly curled up into a ball, finally unable to hold back his tears: "Captain Pei... why did this happen...?"
Yes, why is that?
At this moment, the atmosphere was so heavy it felt like death was imminent, and everyone was asking themselves the same question.
This mission was inherently extremely dangerous; before they left, they had already mentally signed a death waiver, each of them going with the mindset that they might not return. However, when the moment actually arrived, they still underestimated the weight of death on them.
Yu Yili whimpered in resentment and pain. Because he had no strength, his voice was as soft as a mosquito buzzing in someone's ear, but it echoed in the deathly silent cabin, sharp as a knife, carving out distinct cracks.
Pei Xiangjin had no choice but to comfort him repeatedly, helping him to straighten his protective suit as symmetrically as possible so that he would at least feel comfortable looking at it.
"Hmm..." Sure enough, after tidying up his clothes, Yu Yili's emotions calmed down a lot. "I'm so sleepy, I want to go back to my cage to rest for a bit... Captain Pei, wake me up in half an hour so I can get an injection..."
Pei Xiangjin quickly moved the person into the cage and laid out several layers of clothes for him to sleep more comfortably.