Suo Tian must have been anxious.
When we ran to Li Jianguo's building, before we could even call out, he sprinted forward, using momentum to quickly climb over the wall and into the yard.
After opening the door for us, he immediately rushed upstairs.
I closed the door and quickly followed with Shen Feng.
Li Jianguo was surprised by our sudden appearance.
He froze for a few seconds before stepping aside to let us in.
I noticed Sister Sun coming out of Li Jianguo's bedroom, wearing pajamas.
Were they a married couple? Or... had they just recently become one?
"Does anyone here know how to treat illnesses?" Suo Tian asked directly as soon as he entered the room.
"Treat illnesses? Is someone sick?" Li Jianguo asked.
"Yeah, the little girl you met. She's been running a fever for several days," Shen Feng replied.
"Oh, yes, yes, yes. Come, I'll take you upstairs to find Shu Guang. He used to be a medical school student, so he should know how to treat illnesses. Ah, I almost forgot about him since no one here has been sick..." Li Jianguo said, quite straightforwardly.
We followed Suo Tian to the second floor, where we found the medical student he mentioned, named Shu Guang.
With gold-rimmed glasses and an air of scholarly refinement, Shu Guang seemed out of place among the five or six burly men living on the second floor.
After hearing the situation from Li Jianguo, the dull eyes behind his glasses suddenly flashed with a hint of color.
Without hesitation, he agreed to help.
This Dr. Shu Guang, though looking somewhat fragile, had no lack of courage.
As we walked outside, he showed no fear on his face.
He kept asking about Zheng Rongrong's condition over the past few days.
He paid no attention to the approaching walkers in the distance.
When we reached the upper floor, he didn't even catch his breath.
He asked about Rongrong's room from Shen Feng and walked straight in.
It was eye inspection and pulse checking.
Only then did I realize that he had studied traditional Chinese medicine.
After asking Shen Xue and the others about some of Rongrong's symptoms before she fell into a coma, his expression became very serious.
He gestured for us to go to the living room to talk.
When Mei Jing and the others saw his expression, they immediately panicked, rushing out to ask, "What's wrong? What's wrong? Is it very serious? It's just a slight fever, she should be fine after taking some medicine, right?"
Shu Guang pushed up his glasses. "If I'm correct, it's likely acute pneumonia caused by a prolonged low fever."
"Pneumonia?!" Yangyang exclaimed.
"What prolonged low fever? She never said she was feeling unwell, how could she have had a long-term fever?"
"I'm not sure about that. However, to treat pneumonia, you need antibiotics and other medications that only a hospital would have. That child needs an IV."
"You should know which specific medications are effective," I asked.
"Of course, all those years in medical school weren't for nothing. Although I studied traditional Chinese medicine, I still have a solid understanding of these basics," Shu Guang said confidently.
"Alright, we'll head to the hospital immediately, and once we're there, it's up to you to find those medicines."
"He hasn't been outside, and now we're going to the hospital. We still don't know what the situation will be like. How about we have him write down the names, and we can go find them?" Shen Feng suggested.
"It's too troublesome to compare the names one by one. Plus, when he goes, he might discover some other useful medicines. Let him follow us; it won't matter."
I turned to Shu Guang and asked, "Is that okay with you?"
"Of course," he shrugged.
"Then let's leave now."
"Let's go to the County Chinese Medicine Hospital. I interned there for a long time, so I'm very familiar with the place," Shu Guang reminded us.
"Alright, let's go."
Suo Tian glanced at Rongrong's room, then turned and quickly ran out the door.
When we first entered the door, a few walkers had already gathered in front of it.
Suo Tian signaled Shu Guang to step back as he opened the door.
Shen Feng and I each took a dagger, positioning ourselves to cover the sides, facing the main door.
As soon as the door opened, Suo Tian quickly stepped back, and when the walkers started to move in, he immediately lunged forward with his blade.
Shen Feng and I rushed in from the sides.
The power of teamwork was immense.
In an instant, those few walkers were cut down by the three of us.
Shu Guang watched from the side, his face full of excitement.
He looked completely unfazed.
Medical school students truly have exceptional mental fortitude...
After dragging the walker bodies to the side of the road, we closed the door and began heading down the alley.
The situation was urgent, and although Shu Guang was from Li Jianguo's side, we no longer felt the need to hide the truth about the alley.
Besides, I had a feeling Shu Guang wouldn't spill the details about this alley.
A small walker had wandered into the alley.
Its face was severely decayed, and as Suo Tian chopped off its head, I suddenly remembered—it was one of my former students, a little rich kid named Zheng Cong.
He had always been surrounded by his parents and grandparents, treated like a little emperor, and brought to school like that.
Now... looking at the small body lying on the ground with only half of its head left, I felt a certain degree of sadness, not overwhelming, but still present.
Perhaps it was the long stretch of this life that had made me numb to such tragedies, or maybe it was for some other reason.
But, at this point, it didn't really matter.
Because our two vehicles had almost run out of fuel, we had no choice but to drive the flashy sports car belonging to Jun Di and the others.
Here, Shen Feng carefully explained to Shu Guang what to pay attention to, like how to stay completely silent when Suo Tian signals for quiet, not to randomly open certain doors, or to enter any area without permission.
Shu Guang listened attentively, occasionally asking questions.
I handed him the long dagger that Yangyang had used before.
When he took it, his expression looked genuinely happy, even swinging it in the air a couple of times.
I couldn't shake the feeling that something about him seemed off... but I couldn't quite pinpoint what it was.
Suo Tian remained silent, and under my guidance, he drove the car quickly.
We crashed through several walkers on the way, with his unchanging expression and lips tightly pressed together, unable to hide his inner anxiety.
I again found myself unreasonably feeling jealous of Rongrong.
If it were me lying there, would he be this anxious?
The car quickly arrived at the hospital, and the main gate had always been open.
It was a large square courtyard, and at that moment, it was eerily empty and silent, with no walkers wandering around.
What we needed to find was the pharmacy, where the supplies we were looking for were located.
Shu Guang said it was in the first-floor lobby on the right side of the outpatient building.
After getting out of the car, we quickly scanned the surroundings.
As of now, the courtyard seemed to be relatively safe.
We swiftly made our way toward the outpatient building, the only sound in the silent courtyard being our footsteps.
From a distance, I noticed something troubling—the glass doors of the outpatient building were locked from the inside!
"Damn it!" I couldn't help but curse out loud, then quickly turned to ask Shu Guang, "Does this building have a back door?"
"There's no such thing as a back door… This building's been here for many years. Back then, it was rare for places to have rear exits."
"Then is there anywhere else that might have medicine?" Shen Feng asked.
Shu Guang shook his head. "Only in the storeroom. But that place is completely sealed off—you can't get in without a key."
Suo Tian stood silently to the side, scanning the surroundings.
Suddenly, he sprinted off toward one direction.
"Hey, what are you doing?" I called after him, but he didn't answer and just kept running.
With no other choice, the three of us quickly followed.
Eventually, he stopped at the far side of the building.
After looking up and scanning around once more, he walked over to one of the windows.
That's when I noticed something—the windows on the second floor and above didn't have any security bars.
Wait… Was Suo Tian planning…?
Before I could even confirm my suspicion, Suo Tian had already leapt onto the first-floor window frame.
Using a nearby drainpipe for leverage, he swiftly and skillfully climbed up and slipped through a second-floor window.
"You guys head to the main lobby—I'll open the door for you."
After saying that, Suo Tian disappeared completely from the window.
The three of us didn't dare waste any time and quickly ran toward the lobby.
On the way, an old walker in a hospital gown suddenly sprang out from who-knows-where.
Before Shen Feng and I could react, Shu Guang lunged forward and drove a knife straight through its skull.
Shen Feng glanced at me, then turned his head to look at Shu Guang. "You're picking it up pretty fast."
Shu Guang scratched his head and gave a shy smile.
"Let's hurry," I urged.
Because of that brief delay, by the time the three of us reached the lobby, Suo Tian had already unlocked the main doors and was leaning casually against the frame, waiting for us.
Seeing us approach, he straightened up and stepped back inside the building.
Maybe it was because the doors had been locked for a long time, or because the building faced away from the sun, but the moment we stepped into the lobby, a musty, damp odor hit us.
It had only rained lightly a few times recently.
Hard to imagine how damp this building must get during the rainy season.
After living in this county for so many years, I had never once stepped into the county hospital.
Looking at it now, that seems like a pretty wise decision.
The only sound in the entire lobby was the echo of our footsteps.
The pharmacy door was locked as well.
Through the glass, we could see that everything inside was neatly arranged—rows of medicine organized in perfect order.
It looked like no one had entered here since the chaos began.
Next to the glass was a security door.
I handed Suo Tian the wire we had prepared in advance, and he effortlessly unlocked the door.
Shen Feng stood guard outside while the three of us entered the pharmacy.
Even though we had assumed the place was safe, we still did a quick sweep to be sure.
Only after confirming there was no danger did we signal Shu Guang to start looking for the medicine.
While Shu Guang was grabbing medicine from the shelves inside, I spotted a large box of digestive tablets near the outer area.
If the gas ever gets cut off one day, we might be stuck eating packaged food for a long while.
Those would probably come in handy.
Besides, Yangyang hasn't been eating much lately—kids his age are still growing.
Just as I was about to pack the digestive tablets into my backpack—
A faint thump echoed from the hallway outside.
The sound wasn't loud.
But in the silence of this empty building, it was piercing.
The sudden noise sent a jolt through my nerves.
Shu Guang, clutching a few bottles of medicine, came running out from behind the shelves, looking toward Suo Tian for direction.
Suo Tian waved a hand, signaling him to keep collecting the medicine, and gave a shh gesture, urging us to stay quiet.
Shen Feng, who had already been standing at the door, was now silently stepping toward the hallway.
Suo Tian and I quickly followed after him.
Shu Guang was tactful enough to make good use of the time, hurrying back behind the shelves—he seemed to be mixing or sorting the medicine.
Shen Feng had already reached the main hall and was carefully scanning the surroundings.
Suo Tian and I quickened our pace to catch up with him.
When we reached Shen Feng's side, I mouthed silently: "What's wrong?"
Shen Feng shook his head, his face just as puzzled.