Chapter 523 - 523: Killing? Or Saving?

Cheng Haoyu led Ying Ji and Hao Li forward to intercept. After telling the young mother to take her child and get back, Zhao Yuan led the Bone Woman and the White Cat to charge from the other side, intending to encircle it.

The Raccoon Power keenly sensed the danger. It immediately stopped its rampage and tunneled underground at extreme speed, vanishing without a trace in an instant.

Hao Li said, exasperated, "That beast is so cunning! The second it senses danger, it takes off running."

Cheng Haoyu, however, was calm. "That's why we need to set up an ambush beforehand. We have to injure it or knock it out with an explosion first to keep it from running!" He immediately turned to Ying Ji and asked, "How about it? Did you manage to lock onto it?"

Ying Ji pulled a beetle from her clothes. It looked very similar to a chafer but was slightly larger. She said, "Don't worry. When it charged over just now, I released the Mother-Child Gu and had the Child Gu attach itself to it. No matter where it runs, I can pinpoint its location through the connection between the Child Gu and Mother Gu."

"Good." Just as Cheng Haoyu was about to ask Ying Ji to lead the way, he suddenly heard a scream from the village: "There are still people in the collapsed building! Help! Someone, help!"

Zhao Yuan and the others quickly turned to see villagers rushing toward one of the collapsed small buildings. While digging through concrete and bricks, they shouted down into the ruins, "Hang in there! We're coming to save you! You have to hang in there!"

Zhao Yuan made a snap decision. "Save the people first!"

Ying Ji, Hao Li, and Cheng Haoyu all agreed with his proposal, saying in unison, "That's right. Saving people is more important. We can chase the Raccoon Power later!"

The four of them and the Bone Woman immediately rushed into the ruins, joining the rescue effort. They were much stronger than ordinary people. With their help, the people buried under the rubble were pulled out one by one.

After each person was rescued, Zhao Yuan would go over to check their condition. Fortunately, their injuries weren't too severe—mostly bruises, fractures, and bleeding from external wounds. Zhao Yuan performed simple yet skillful bandaging to stop the bleeding and set the broken bones, then had the villagers use a car to take them to the hospital.

However, the last person rescued was in far more serious condition than the others.

When the man, who was in his thirties, was dug out from under the rubble, his entire face was a dark purplish color from suffocation. Although his mouth was wide open as he gasped for breath, he couldn't seem to inhale much air. Furthermore, his chest exhibited a strange, paradoxical movement with each breath.

Using the Qi Observation Technique, Zhao Yuan could see even more clearly that the man's Life Force was rapidly fading away!

"Quick, lay him on flat ground," Zhao Yuan called out. He and the others carried the injured man to a level spot outside the ruins and set him down.

As soon as he touched him, Zhao Yuan discovered that the left side of the man's chest was soft and sunken.

The cause of this phenomenon was multiple fractures in his left ribs!

"His condition looks really serious. Can you do anything?" Cheng Haoyu asked. Although he didn't know medicine, he could tell the man was in extreme respiratory distress. If his condition wasn't alleviated, he would soon die from suffocation!

"Doctor, please, you have to save my husband!" The injured man's wife was terrified and beside herself, pleading desperately with Zhao Yuan. She had seen him bandaging and treating the other injured people, so she knew he was a doctor.

"Don't worry, I'll do everything I can to save him!" Zhao Yuan knelt beside the man. While prying open his mouth to check for any foreign objects obstructing his airway, he ordered without turning his head, "Don't crowd so close. Spread out, let the air circulate."

"Listen to the doctor! Everyone, back up a bit!" an old man said. He seemed to be a person of some standing in the village, as everyone listened to him and obediently moved back.

At the same time, Zhao Yuan confirmed there were no foreign objects in the man's mouth or throat.

He quickly thought to himself, 'The most urgent thing is to get him breathing again. Otherwise, in his current state, he won't last more than a few minutes, let alone make it to a hospital. There's no other way. I have to perform a cricothyrotomy to restore his breathing first!'

A cricothyrotomy requires a large-bore needle, but he didn't have one prepared in his Storage Ring Space. The pack of medical supplies Cheng Haoyu had prepared earlier didn't have one either.

But fortunately, there was a substitute he could use.

Zhao Yuan took out the brush he used for Drawing Talismans and a scalpel from his Storage Ring Space.

With a swift movement of his hand, SWISH, he sliced the bamboo brush handle diagonally. The cut end was sharp and pointed, like the tip of a knife. He immediately followed up with another cut at the top of the handle, shaving off the cap and exposing the hollow tube inside, which connected to the opening at the cut end.

Zhao Yuan set down the scalpel. He used the index and middle fingers of his left hand to stabilize the man's larynx on both sides. Then, grabbing the brush handle with his right hand, faster than the eye could follow, he plunged it into the soft depression just below the man's Adam's apple!

That location was precisely the cricothyroid membrane!

The sharp brush handle pierced the cricothyroid membrane in one go, entering the trachea hidden beneath it.

The injured man immediately broke into a coughing fit. If Zhao Yuan's hand hadn't been steady, the brush handle inserted into his trachea might have been dislodged. However, after a few coughs, his labored breathing was clearly and significantly relieved.

However, the onlookers knew none of this.

They saw Zhao Yuan sharpen a brush handle and stab it into the injured man's throat, and they were all horrified.

After a brief silence, someone started screaming at the top of their lungs, "He's killing him!"

The man's wife was so terrified that her vision went black and she fainted. Meanwhile, his relatives and friends charged furiously toward Zhao Yuan, intending to punish the "murderer."

The Bone Woman performed her bodyguard duties well, blocking the angry crowd and barking, "My master is saving his life! You cannot go up there and interfere!"

"Saving him? Nonsense! He's obviously killing him!"

"What kind of rescue involves stabbing someone in the throat with a sharp object?"

"Don't waste your breath on this woman! They're all in it together! Seize them all!"

Zhao Yuan secured the brush handle with adhesive tape, then glanced back at the emotional crowd and shouted, "Take a good look! Does he look like he's dying? His breathing was obstructed, and with no other equipment here, a cricothyrotomy was the only way to relieve his respiratory distress and keep him from suffocating to death! If you don't know what a cricothyrotomy is, look it up online yourself! Stop your useless shouting and delaying my rescue!"

The man's relatives and friends were stunned into silence by his rebuke.

Looking at the injured man, he really didn't seem to be dying. In fact, he looked much better than before. Someone couldn't help but pull out their phone and search for "cricothyrotomy." After reading the results, they said sheepishly to their companions, "It seems... we really did misunderstand. He's actually saving him!"