Skin - Chapter 43

Chapter 43 – Car Accident

　　”Careful!”

　　Meng Zhao jumped up almost instantly and rushed behind the driver like a bullet. He stared at the truck, stretched out his arms and tried to hold the steering wheel to move to the other side to avoid the impact of the truck.

　　However, the situation was so urgent that it was almost unavoidable!

　　At the moment Meng Zhao’s hands grasped the steering wheel, the truck was less than five meters away from the ambulance. At the critical moment, the Panamera in the other lane that had just been following the ambulance suddenly squeezed in and squeezed between the truck and the ambulance!

　　”Fuck! Don’t come over here!” Meng Zhao shouted subconsciously.

　　The medical workers in the car heard the sound and looked over. Then someone noticed the approaching truck and screamed in fear.

　　The next second, “Bang!”

　　With a loud bang, the truck hit the Panamera heavily.

　　A huge impact force came over, the body of the ambulance shook heavily, and the wheels rubbed against the ground, making an extremely sharp and piercing noise. Lu Shichen’s car body hit the ambulance, and the two cars retreated to one side for more than ten meters under the impact of the truck!

　　The staff in the car who were not wearing seat belts were thrown out in an instant, and several stretchers collided heavily with each other. For a moment, screams and the sound of metal colliding suddenly rang out.

　　Meng Zhao’s back heavily hit the passenger seat next to him. Fortunately, he had grabbed the armrest in time to prevent himself from flying out.

　　The hospital bed blocked the front of the ambulance’s door, and he was unable to get out for a while. Meng Zhao gritted his teeth and endured the severe pain in his back, turned his head and looked out the window. Even with Lu Shichen’s car as a buffer in the middle, the windows of the ambulance had been shattered into glass shards at this moment.

　　The broken glass pieces were still lingering on the window frame, and had not yet fallen off. Meng Zhao supported himself on the back of the seat, stood up, rushed to the car window, clenched his fist, and smashed the window with one punch.

　　He saw that the black Panamera between the truck and the ambulance was severely deformed because it had been directly hit by the truck.

　　Meng Zhao bent his arms and smashed all the broken windows with his elbows. Then he supported the edge of the window with his palms, ignored the glass shards on the window frame, turned over and jumped out of the ambulance.

　　He quickly walked around to the driver’s side of Lu Shichen’s car and tried to open the door, but the door had been severely dented and deformed, as if it had been welded firmly in place and could not be opened by manpower at all.

　　The police cars behind rushed over, and several of them shouted at a distance: “Captain Meng, are you okay?”

　　”I’m not the one in trouble!” Meng Zhao’s voice was almost a roar, “Come and save them quickly!”

　　The car windows were shattered and all the airbags were deployed.

　　In the driver’s seat, Lu Shichen’s head was slightly tilted, leaning against the back of the chair, and he seemed to have lost consciousness.

　　‘Could Lu Shichen have already died on the spot…?’ Meng Zhao was instantly overwhelmed by a huge panic. His fingers on the window frame began to tremble uncontrollably, and he didn’t even dare to check Lu Shichen’s breathing.

　　Several colleagues rushed over: “Captain Meng…”

　　”Help me,” Meng Zhao swallowed hard, his voice suddenly becoming hoarse and he could barely speak, “try to see if he’s still alive.”

　　A colleague walked up to him and raised his hand to check Lu Shichen’s breathing: “He’s still breathing!”

　　As soon as he heard it, Meng Zhao almost felt like he was going to collapse. He held onto the door and managed to calm himself down: “Don’t let that truck driver get away! Two people help me open this door!”

　　Meng Zhao put his arm through the shattered car window and unlocked the door from the inside.

　　Because he had just smashed the window of the ambulance with a punch, his arms and palms were now covered in blood from the broken glass which had pierced his skin. He still inserted his hands into the gap between the door and the car’s metal body and tried to pry it open with force. The veins on his arms bulged. The other two policemen nearby also came to help. With the combined efforts of the three of them, the door first loosened a little and then was completely pried open.

　　Meng Zhao opened the car door and wanted to get Lu Shichen out of the car, but at this moment Lu Shichen looked motionless, like a fragile porcelain. He didn’t even dare to reach out to touch Lu Shichen, for fear that his touch, Lu Shichen would also shatter into pieces in an instant like the shattered car window.

　　”Captain Meng, let us do it.” The ambulance behind them had also been stabilized. A medical staff member got out of the car and said to Meng Zhao, “We are more experienced.”

　　Meng Zhao stepped aside and watched the staff reach into the car, carefully take Lu Shichen down from the car and put him on a stretcher.

　　Because Lu Shichen’s car was acting as a buffer in the middle, the damage to the ambulance was not too serious. There were only dents on one side of it, and it could still drive normally.

　　The medical staff carried a stretcher and transferred Lu Shichen to the ambulance, and Meng Zhao followed behind.

　　The stretcher bed that had just been smashed into pieces had now returned to its original state. Almost no one in the car was seriously injured. Only a few people sitting by the window received minor head injuries. The seven people lying on the bed were still in a coma. At first glance, the accident just now seemed like an illusion.

　　But Meng Zhao knew that if Lu Shichen’s car had not blocked the impact of the truck, everyone in the ambulance would have suffered serious injuries and it was even possible that no one would survive.

　　The accompanying doctor walked to the stretcher, measured Lu Shichen’s heartbeat with a stethoscope, and then pulled open his eyelids to check the condition of his pupils.

　　Meng Zhao squatted aside. The incident happened suddenly and he couldn’t calm down. Before the doctor even opened his mouth, he asked anxiously, “What’s the situation?”

　　”There are symptoms of intracranial hemorrhage. It seems that an emergency craniotomy will be necessary,” the doctor said solemnly after the examination. “I hope he can make it to the operating room.”

　　After saying that, the doctor called back, “Someone come hold the patient’s head.”

　　A staff member stood up and was about to step forward. Meng Zhao said, “Let me do it. What should I do?”

　　”That’s good. You’re friends, so it’s a good opportunity for you to talk to him.” The doctor carefully moved Lu Shichen’s upper body so that his head lay flat on Meng Zhao’s thigh. “The patient’s head just suffered a severe impact. You must be careful to hold it stable to prevent it from shaking violently while the vehicle is moving.”

　　”Okay.” Meng Zhao raised his hand and carefully placed it on the side of Lu Shichen’s head to support him.

　　”In this case, the patient’s will to survive is very important. If the will to survive is strong, he should be able to make it to the operating room. But Captain Meng, your friend is in a coma now. This state is very dangerous. You’d better talk to him and keep him awake.

　　”Okay.” Meng Zhao responded again. But in fact, his mind was in a mess and he didn’t know what to say to Lu Shichen.

　　The doctor walked to the stretcher again and checked the condition of the girls rescued from the sanatorium one by one.

　　”Lu Shichen.” Meng Zhao felt his temples throbbing heavily, as if a drumstick was continuously hitting him hard. He tried his best to keep his voice steady and whispered, “Don’t sleep, let’s chat for a while.”

　　Lu Shichen didn’t react at all.

　　Meng Zhao’s hand was still bleeding, and the blood had stained the side of Lu Shichen’s face. His palm was still bleeding, so he turned over the back of his hand and carefully wiped the blood off Lu Shichen’s face with a clean place.

　　Lu Shichen’s eyelashes moved at this time, and he slowly half opened his eyes and looked at Meng Zhao.

　　His lips were pale, his eyes were dull, and he looked like he was dying.

　　He just looked at Meng Zhao quietly, saying nothing, and seemed to have no desire to speak.

　　For some reason, when Meng Zhao looked at that look, he suddenly felt that Lu Shichen had no will to live. He seemed to be… calmly waiting for the moment of death to come.

　　”Lu Shichen, you are not allowed to die,” Meng Zhao blurted out almost instinctively, “Did you hear me?”

　　Lu Shichen still looked at him with half-open eyes, as if he would withdraw his gaze at any time.

　　”You are not allowed to die.” Meng Zhao repeated it again, and this time, he pronounced his words more strongly.

　　Lu Shichen finally spoke, his breath was weak, Meng Zhao had to get closer to hear what he said: “D––don’t you want to… chat for a while?”

　　‘Yes, let’s chat for a while. What should we talk about?’ Meng Zhao frantically searched for topics in his mind. He couldn’t keep himself calm. “We have been talking about cases since we met. I haven’t really caught up with you. Let’s talk about… high school, okay?”

　　Lu Shichen opened his lips slightly, his voice was too weak to be heard clearly, but from his mouth shape, Meng Zhao knew that he said “OK”.

　　The streets of Mingtan City were quiet in the early morning. An ambulance sped past, and the wind blew fiercely in through the shattered windows, making a noisy rustling sound.

　　The medical workers behind him were busy accommodating the patients; their conversation seemed to be muffled by the wind, making it difficult to hear clearly.

　　Meng Zhao tried his best to calm himself down, lowered his voice, and said in a volume that only the two of them could hear clearly:

　　”Lu Shichen, I hated you so much when I was in high school. Do you know why I was able to get into the Public University? At that time, I could remember what you said about stray dogs and beggar’s food almost every day. Every day I worked hard afterwards just to prove to you one day that you were just a dog looking down on people back then… So, you are not allowed to die! If you die, everything I have done will be meaningless. Who can I prove it to…”

　　Lu Shichen’s lips moved, as if revealing a faint, slightly sarcastic smile. He seemed to have something to say, but his voice was too weak and was blown away by the wind as soon as he opened his mouth.

　　Meng Zhao turned his head and put his ear close to Lu Shichen’s lips, and only then could he barely hear what Lu Shichen said: “You are so useless…”

　　”You’re saying I’m useless, right?” Meng Zhao turned around and stared at him, saying in an almost ferocious tone, “If you can’t make it to the operating room, you’re even more useless, Lu Shichen, don’t let me look down on you.”

　　Before Lu Shichen finished speaking, he looked at Meng Zhao and said very slowly: “To be honest, I have lived until now because I want to see whether the wild dog back then can live like a human being…”

　　”Then don’t die,” Meng Zhao said, almost gritting his teeth, “Then watch me get promoted to captain, win first-class merit, and be transferred to the provincial department… Every step of my future promotion, you must be there to congratulate me and admit in person that you were wrong!”

　　”I hope so.” Lu Shichen said softly.

　　After saying this, he seemed very tired and closed his eyes again.

　　Meng Zhao’s heart seemed to be squeezed tightly, making it hard for him to breathe.

　　He said something else, and he didn’t even know what nonsense he was talking about, but he couldn’t stop, for fear that if he stopped, Lu Shichen would also stop breathing.

　　The ambulance drove into the hospital gate and headed straight for the emergency building.

　　”We’re here!” shouted the staff member sitting next to the car door.

　　The other staff members quickly stood up, walked over to take Lu Shichen from Meng Zhao, and quickly carried him out of the ambulance.

　　The emergency department had prepared a bed in advance. Several staff members transferred Lu Shichen to the bed and quickly pushed him to the operating room.

　　Meng Zhao also got out of the car and ran to the bed, looking at Lu Shichen lying on it.

　　Lu Shichen was lying on the hospital bed with his eyes closed and a calm expression.

　　After a flurry of footsteps, Lu Shichen was pushed into the operating room.

　　With a bang, the door of the operating room slammed shut, and Meng Zhao was blocked outside the door. The beeping sounds of various instruments were also blocked inside the room.

　　In the corridor, medical workers were hurrying around. Meng Zhao stood in front of the emergency room, staring at the three words “In Surgery” lit up on the door.

　　He stood there almost at a loss, with only the huge emptiness in the corridor to keep him company.

　　He felt his legs go weak, he felt dizzy, and he couldn’t stand steadily, as if he had lost all his strength.

　　He walked over and sat on the row of benches against the wall. After staring at the air for a long time, he let out a long breath, closed his eyes, and buried his face in his hands.