There was no other choice now. He had made the mistake himself—he'd have to see it through, even if it meant crawling to the end.
Although Su Chen was the boss around here, that didn't mean he had forgotten his manners.
It seemed he had overthought things. There couldn't possibly be that many cannibals in the world.
Sure, there were bad people, but in everyday life, the good still far outnumbered the bad.
He had just woken up, and his head was a complete mess.
Su Chen was so frustrated he wanted to slap himself.
"I'm sorry. It looks like I misunderstood."
As he spoke, Su Chen moved to carry the man with glasses into the RV to bandage his wound.
The man in the suit still seemed uneasy. He clung to his injured friend and wouldn't let go.
The man with glasses was already pale—he probably wouldn't last much longer. If this dragged on, the worst-case scenario would be both of them dying here.
"Come inside. We need to dress the wound, or he'll really bleed out and die."
"My earlier actions were out of line."
Su Chen apologized seriously to both of them.
The man in the suit studied Su Chen's face. He didn't look like a bad person, and he spoke sincerely.
They really had no better option. If they kept wasting time out here, blood loss might take him for real.
It was a gamble—either things would turn out okay, or they'd both be dead.
If they didn't treat him now, the man with glasses could be gone in minutes.
There was no other choice.
Finally understanding that, the man in the suit carried his friend into the RV.
The man with glasses mumbled weakly, "Don't go in... Run… you have to run…"
But how could he abandon him now?
He gently laid him down on the bed, blood soaking into the latex mattress. Su Chen winced at the sight—he felt a bit of heartache.
Ugh…
There went his good mattress!
After a second of regret, Su Chen snapped back to reality.
"Bro, I'm entrusting my brother to you now. Please, you must keep him stable!"
The man in the suit reminded Su Chen at just the right moment, trying to keep him on track.
Of course, Su Chen wasn't taking this lightly. He wasn't someone who hurt the innocent.
The few people he had killed before were all guilty of something.
No wonder these two had struck him as honest types from the beginning.
He had thought cannibals were just that good at pretending. Turns out, they were just two ordinary survivors.
No—two very ordinary survivors.
Su Chen was now giving it his full attention. He had to clean up the mess he made.
He needed to stop the bleeding first. Luckily, he had an entire outdoor medical kit with him. He never imagined it would come in handy so soon.
He took out the kit. Though he had no formal medical training, he'd seen plenty of action movies—countless scenes of dealing with bullet wounds.
"You want me to help with this?" the man in the suit asked nervously, even more anxious than the one actually injured.
"No need. You've been through a lot already—go get some rest."
Su Chen politely turned him down.
This guy looked like the type who sold insurance or worked in some shady sales ring. If he tried to help, he'd probably just make things worse. Su Chen would rather do it himself.
First, he needed to calm the patient.
That was the first step. When someone got shot, the fear alone could be overwhelming. So calming them down was key.
"Hey, don't be nervous. I'm just going to do a simple bandaging job."
But his words only made the man with glasses more tense.
After all, Su Chen was the one who shot him. It was hard not to be nervous.
The man in the suit held his friend's hands tightly, whispering comfort.
Gradually, the man with glasses relaxed a bit.
Now Su Chen could finally begin the bandaging. He took this very seriously.
Failure was not an option.
Next step: stop the bleeding. Otherwise, the guy really might die.
Su Chen wrapped gauze tightly around his thigh.
Encouraged by his friend, the man with glasses held back his tears.
He just wanted this nightmare to end as soon as possible.
And then came the hardest part—removing the bullet.
Bullets are toxic. The heavy metal content can cause serious issues.
It had to come out immediately.
It was Su Chen's first time extracting a bullet, and it wasn't easy.
Sweat poured down his forehead, and his hands trembled.
After more than ten minutes of digging, he finally got the bullet out.
The damage was worse than he expected. The bullet had burrowed deep into the thigh, and the surrounding tissue was necrotic.
Thankfully, it hadn't hit the head. If it had, he'd have died instantly.
Su Chen would've never forgiven himself.
The man with glasses looked terrible—his expression was twisted in pain. He was clearly doing everything he could to endure it.
He took deep breaths now and then to try and relax.
Watching all this made Su Chen's skin crawl.
The bullet had hit the outer side of the thigh, and the entire area was already necrotic.
The dead flesh had to be removed. If not, the toxins from the bullet would spread even more.
It was horrifying.
Su Chen took out a scalpel and forceps.
He wasn't a professional doctor, so his technique was clumsy.
"Hang in there. This might hurt a bit."
He warned him softly.
He cut away the rotten flesh and used the forceps to pull it out.
The final step was to stitch the wound. Su Chen wasn't particularly skilled at this either.
Fortunately, the wound wasn't too large. He just used a zip tie to secure it.
A few days of rest, and the man should be able to walk again.
This was probably the first time in Su Chen's life that he had ever performed surgery.
And it wasn't surgery on him—it was him doing surgery on someone else.
And it worked!
Even he could hardly believe it.
After finishing, Su Chen finally let out a long breath. He had been tense the entire time.
The man in the suit watched him complete the entire mini-operation.
It had been a bit bloody and stomach-churning, but he didn't complain. In fact, he kept encouraging Su Chen throughout.
His presence was a huge source of comfort for the injured man.
Now lying on Su Chen's bed, the man with glasses had turned the whole mattress red.
But looking at his exhausted and pained expression—yeah, it had all been worth it.
Shame about the mattress, though.
Still, Su Chen figured he could always get a better one. If nothing else, he still had his old one in storage.
He already felt guilty for hurting them. If he complained about the mattress now, it'd feel downright immoral.
"Uh… it was my fault today. If there's anything you need help with, I'll do what I can."
"It's alright, Boss. We're the ones who disturbed you. By the way, your RV interior is really beautiful."
The man with glasses was hanging onto life by a thread, and he still noticed the décor.
The man in the suit stayed by his side the whole time, afraid that something might go wrong.
_____
T/N:
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