Chapter 2628: Gao Ming
On the way, Xu Huo learned that the man’s name was Gao Ming. He used to be a surgeon; after his hometown was destroyed, he roamed around with some fellow villagers. He fell from a First-class resident to a Second-class resident, then from a Second-class resident to a Third-class resident. Not long after he started scavenging sewers, his home was gone again, and he was leading quite a few people, many of them sick. No city was willing to take them in anymore, so they could only live out in the wild.
Fortunately, because of the pollution, nobody wanted this stretch of canyon, not even the mutant animals. Relying on the knowledge he’d picked up during his wandering, he and the others settled down nearby.
They reached the place Gao Ming had mentioned in no time, and the situation was better than Xu Huo had expected. Simple wooden cabins had been put up in the grove, fenced in all around. Some of the nearby land had already been reclaimed, and the vegetables planted there were growing well.
"Doctor Gao is back!" An old man working by the gate shouted when he saw Gao Ming, and people soon trickled out of the cabins, gathering near the entrance to welcome him.
Gao Ming handed his basket to a boy in his early teens. "All of this is poisonous—be careful when you handle it."
"Leave it to me, Doctor Gao!" The boy lifted the basket with full confidence.
Gao Ming chuckled and patted his shoulder. "You’ll be an adult soon, and you’ll be one of our main supports in the future. You must always remember to be cautious. Only by being careful can you live longer."
The boy restrained his smile and nodded seriously.
Then Gao Ming introduced Xu Huo and the Girl in the painting. "These two are passing guests—we’ll put them up for one night. They’ll be leaving tomorrow."
"Aunt Pan, if you can’t finish the vegetables you picked, share some with me first. When the crops in my field are harvested you can come get some." He said to the elderly woman beside him who was wearing glasses.
The old lady touched the scar on her neck and said with a squinting smile, "A few vegetables are nothing, just take them and eat. I can’t finish them anyway—the second batch is about to be ready for picking."
"Then I won’t stand on ceremony." Gao Ming said. "I’ll help you harvest the vegetables when I have some spare time."
The old lady nodded repeatedly.
Since Gao Ming was entertaining guests, many people showed their sincerity by bringing over some fresh vegetables, a bit of dried game, and sour wine brewed from wild fruits.
It had been a long time since Xu Huo had seen truly ordinary people.
After Evolution, even ordinary people within the zones gained some benefits. Even in the more chaotic zones, in order to ensure Players kept emerging, they would find ways to improve the physical constitution of ordinary people, hoping they could produce stronger offspring.
In this village, almost everyone was old, weak, ill, or disabled, with no signs of ever having taken an Evolution Potion. Likewise, they hadn’t been eroded by genetic disease. They were about as ordinary a group of people as one could find.
But many of them had scars, and quite a few were in vital spots. Take Granny Pan for example: the scar on her neck covered half her throat. Judging from the marks, the injury must have been severe at the time. To have managed to pull her back from the brink in an environment like Zone 039 was remarkable.
Xu Huo looked Gao Ming over again. He wasn’t carrying any Props, and his Protective Suit was just normal clothing smeared with medicine. If there was any difference between him and the others, it was only that his physical fitness was slightly better—he wasn’t a Player.
Yet this man’s condition not only stood in stark contrast to that of the villagers, it even left most ordinary Players far behind. At a glance, it was obvious he was someone brimming with energy, with strong blood and qi, and an optimistic, cheerful disposition.
"Sit." Gao Ming came over holding two wooden cups of water. The liquid inside shimmered faintly as it moved, as if it hadn’t been fully processed.
"Conditions are rough, but you can drink this water directly. It’s non-toxic and very clean." He explained. "It won’t have any adverse effects on the human body."
The villagers were drinking the same water, and even the sour wine they brewed had a sheen floating on its surface.
After sitting with them for a while, Gao Ming went to make dinner. Xu Huo went to help and took out some ready-made vegetables to add to the meal.
Seeing that, Gao Ming was delighted. He didn’t bother with false modesty and frankly asked if he could call a few children over to eat. "Among the children here, aside from Xiao Hao, all the others were born while we were on the road. They’ve grown to seven or eight years old without ever tasting food from outside. Let them try something different."
Xu Huo of course had no objections. Gao Ming called over the child squatting near a cabin playing and told him to fetch the others. The boy had been craving the food for a long time; he agreed happily and ran off, returning shortly with five companions of various ages.
The teenage Xiao Hao was called over too. Three adults and seven children sat around the table and started a dinner that wasn’t exactly lavish.
Gao Ming didn’t eat much. His gaze was gentle as he left the dishes to the children.
After the meal, the younger ones helped clear the table, wash the bowls and chopsticks, and clean the room before leaving. Xiao Hao brought over the processed Mutant Plants and stayed with Gao Ming to grind them for medicine.
"...Its buds are only mildly toxic. Once taken, they can stimulate the heart to a certain degree. In emergencies you can chew them to save a life. The roots, though, are highly toxic—you have to sift them three times before you can use a small amount in medicine..." Gao Ming explained to Xiao Hao while preparing the drugs. Soon, the medicinal plants were sorted according to the strength of their toxicity. Some had their sap collected, others their crushed leaves, and then everything was put on large shelves in the room, which were crammed with various bottles and jars.
Some of the bottles and jars on the shelves were new, some old. Certain finished medicines were already labeled with the illnesses or emergencies they could treat, while most of the others were simply marked "poisonous." Behind the shelves stood two large crates filled with all kinds of medical books.
"Those were all gifts from friends passing through." Seeing that Xu Huo seemed interested, Gao Ming explained, "I’ve noted the source of every book. In the future, these will be inherited by Xiao Hao, and when Zone 039 is peaceful, they’ll be sent to the government for safekeeping, as a testament to our friendship with our friends from the Outer Zone."
He sounded as if he was just speaking offhand, and then he went to put away his tools.
"Is he trying to ask you for medical books?" The Girl in the painting’s Communicator was suddenly held up in front of Xu Huo’s face.
Brushing her hand aside, Xu Huo was about to pick out some suitable books to give them when people suddenly appeared outside the village entrance. Three Players, carrying a child in their arms, ran straight to Gao Ming’s place. "Doctor Gao, please take a look at the child!"
Gao Ming threw down what he was holding and rushed out. The instant he saw the child, his expression changed slightly. He hurriedly took the child into his arms and carried him back inside.
The Players who’d come hesitated briefly when they saw Outer Zone Players in the room, but quickly shifted their focus back to the unconscious child and Doctor Gao. One of them rapidly explained the situation: "The kid was hit in the heart by a blade. We gave him a Self-Healing Potion, but his body adapted too fast, and the regrowing muscle trapped the blade inside. We can’t pull it out or move it..."
Gao Ming quickly performed a basic examination, then pressed his palm over the scar on the child’s chest. "The blade cut a blood vessel. The Self-Healing Potion is no use. We need surgery immediately."
This was clearly not the first time he’d encountered something like this. The Player who had spoken hurriedly put up a makeshift tent for surgery. Through the tent cover, Xu Huo saw Gao Ming without any tools in hand, only hovering his palm over the child’s heart. As his fingers moved lightly, Spatial Power cut a fresh incision across the child’s chest!