After Hu Qiang explained that Baku—the bodyguard Xu Ze had just shot dead—was actually a mole from the Dragon Lion Army, and that he’d been the one leaking their whereabouts, General Zuma’s initial anger over his guard being blown to pieces and his wife fainting from the shock finally began to subside.
“Xu is going to perform surgery here? And open up his abdomen?” General Zuma was stunned when he heard Hu Qiang’s words. He looked around at their surroundings and finally asked hesitantly, “Um… can you really do that here?”
After thinking it over, the general pulled Hu Qiang aside for a whispered discussion. Then Hu Qiang came back and said to Xu Ze with some concern, “Colonel… General Zuma says, if we can hold out a little longer until we meet up with the relief force and get out of the rainforest, he’ll call in a helicopter to fly this brave soldier to the nearest hospital in Xilin for surgery…”
“No. It has to be done now. He won’t last much longer.” Xu Ze shook his head gently, then turned to Bai Qi and asked gravely, “What’s his blood type? Do you know?”
Bai Qi’s face showed his difficulty, and he shook his head helplessly. “Headquarters has it on file, but I… don’t know.”
Xu Ze nodded and instructed, “Alright. Have your men come over. I need to test them.”
With that, he reached out and felt the wounded soldier’s wrist. As he did, a hair-thin needle quietly extended from the ring on his index finger and gently pierced the skin of the soldier’s wrist.
“Initiating blood type identification…” Xu Ze commanded.
“Type B Rh(-)…” the system reported back quickly.
By then, Bai Qi had brought over the remaining uninjured soldiers. Xu Ze looked at the seven men before him, nodded, stood up, and had them all extend their hands. Under their puzzled gazes, he went down the line, touching each one’s wrist in turn.
“Out of seven people, I should be able to find at least one or two. If my luck is really that bad, then we’ll have a problem…” Xu Ze thought to himself.
“Blood type A… excluded!” Xu Ze touched the first soldier’s wrist, heard the system’s report, and frowned. “Next!”
“Blood type O… pass.”
“Blood type AB… pass.” After three consecutive failures, Xu Ze was starting to get anxious. “My luck can’t be that bad, can it? Don’t tell me not one of these seven matches…”
But Xu Ze’s luck had been pretty good lately. The next report from the system put his mind at ease. “Beep… Blood type B… Cross-matching in progress…”
“Beep… Match complete. No abnormal rejection reaction. Compatible.” Hearing that voice, as sweet as heavenly music, Xu Ze finally breathed a sigh of relief. At least now he had one donor—one would barely get them through the surgery. If he could find two, that would be even safer.
“Next…”
“Blood type O… pass.”
“Blood type B… Beep… Cross-matching in progress… Beep… Match complete. No abnormal rejection reaction. Compatible.”
After testing all seven soldiers, luck was on Xu Ze’s side—he’d found two who were compatible with the wounded soldier. Satisfied, he nodded and said to the two men, “Get ready. You might need to give blood to your comrade. Any objections?”
“None!” Both saluted without hesitation, looking at Xu Ze with solemn determination. “Colonel, please save Li Hu’s life. Take as much blood as you need!”
Seeing their serious expressions, Xu Ze couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t worry so much. I’ll do my best to make sure Li Hu comes through this fine. And you two don’t need to be nervous either—with both of you, I won’t have to take all that much blood from each.”
After giving his instructions, Xu Ze turned to look at Zhao Jun, who was already prepared, and then said to Bai Qi, “Bai Qi… take the others and go to the vicinity to maintain a perimeter. Set up a perimeter of 500 meters…”
“Yes, sir!” Bai Qi nodded at the order, then looked at Xu Ze and said earnestly, “Colonel, Li Hu’s life is in your hands.”
“Go on. As long as I’m here, he’ll be fine.” Hearing those words, Bai Qi finally relaxed. He waved for the five uninjured men to follow him and strode off toward the perimeter.
Zhao Jun had made ample preparations. The injured Li Hu had been moved to a relatively open area and was lying on a cot. A small surgical kit had been opened next to him, and most of the disinfection of his abdomen had been completed..
When Zhao Jun saw Xu Ze approaching, he handed him a pair of sterile gloves and looked up with a worried expression. “Colonel… we don’t have the right anesthetics. What do we do about that?”
“Don’t worry. I have a way.” Xu Ze nodded, took the gloves, and asked firmly, “Do you have a double-ended IV needle?”
“Yes!” Zhao Jun replied, then looked at Xu Ze with confusion. “For the transfusion? But how are we going to cross-match?”
“Don’t worry about that. I know what I’m doing. Have these two soldiers sit down beside him. The double-ended IV needle is small, so we need to establish the venous connection now—both of them will transfuse blood to Li Hu simultaneously. And hang a bag of Ringer’s solution for him too.”
With that, Xu Ze pulled two silver acupuncture needles from his pocket, sterilized them with iodophor, and quickly inserted them into Li Hu’s neck. Then he looked at Li Hu, who was pale and listless, and gave him a reassuring smile. “Li Hu, I’m going to perform surgery on you now. It won’t hurt, and it’ll be done soon. Don’t be nervous.”
“I’m sorry to trouble you, Colonel…” Though Li Hu was in poor spirits, he was still clear-headed, and he managed a weak smile at Xu Ze.
“Start the transfusion now?” Zhao Jun hesitated when he heard they were beginning immediately. It seemed almost unthinkable—if the blood types didn’t match, pumping it in would kill the wounded soldier on the spot.
But seeing Xu Ze’s calm, confident expression, Zhao Jun sighed and decided to follow the order. After all, the young colonel’s two previous miraculous feats had given him an almost blind faith in the man.
He carefully hung the Ringer’s solution, then used the double-ended IV needle to connect the veins of the two soldiers to Li Hu’s arm. As he watched the crimson blood begin to flow slowly through the transparent tubing into Li Hu’s body, Zhao Jun’s heart started to rise into his throat.
Seeing Zhao Jun’s nervous look, Xu Ze couldn’t help but chuckle. “Zhao Jun, relax. It’s fine. Come over here and get ready to assist me.”
Those words, for some reason, eased Zhao Jun’s anxious heart. He quickly acknowledged and moved over to help.
“Xiao Dao, monitor Li Hu’s vital signs throughout the surgery. Report any abnormalities immediately.”
“Understood. Surgical monitoring started… Respiration 23 breaths per minute, heart rate 96 beats per minute, blood pressure 95/60 mmHg…” Xiao Dao dutifully reported.
Hearing the report, Xu Ze raised an eyebrow. The blood pressure was already on the low side. If it dropped any further, shock would set in—he needed to finish the operation as quickly as possible.
After putting on the sterile gloves and nodding to Zhao Jun, Xu Ze picked up a scalpel from the surgical kit, attached the blade, and began to make his incision.
Seeing Xu Ze start the operation, everyone else stood carefully about two meters away, watching with rapt attention. Even General Zuma, supported by Jida, came over and looked on with curiosity, wondering how Xu Ze could possibly perform such a major surgery in a place like this.
When Xu Ze made the first cut, quickly opening up the three-centimeter wound, Zhao Jun couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath. He turned to look at Li Hu’s face—but saw no trace of pain whatsoever, as if that knife hadn’t been cutting into his body at all.
Not only Zhao Jun, but everyone else was stunned. Cutting into a person without any anesthetic—how could it not hurt?
After watching Xu Ze make two more incisions, Zhao Jun finally couldn’t contain his curiosity. “Colonel… um… doesn’t he really feel any pain?”
“Of course not.” Xu Ze smiled faintly and raised a finger, pointing to the two silver needles in Li Hu’s neck that no one had noticed. “Have you ever heard of acupuncture anesthesia?”
“What? Acupuncture anesthesia? You can actually replace anesthetics with silver needles?” Zhao Jun stared at those two tiny needles and couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement. “Colonel, can just two silver needles really achieve that kind of anesthetic effect? They won’t wear off midway through?”
Xu Ze smiled lightly. “No… with this type of acupuncture anesthesia, as long as the points are chosen correctly, the effect lasts as long as the needles stay in place. And unlike conventional anesthetics, there’s no risk of anesthesia accidents. It’s very safe and effective.”
Seeing Zhao Jun nod with undisguised envy, Xu Ze didn’t elaborate further. He focused instead on carefully cutting through the skin and muscle layers around the wound on Li Hu’s abdomen, one layer at a time, occasionally using gauze to soak up the blood seeping from the severed capillaries.
Soon, with a few gentle strokes of the scalpel, Xu Ze had opened a ten-centimeter incision in Li Hu’s abdomen.
Seeing that Xu Ze had opened the wound, Zhao Jun quickly scanned the surgical kit and managed to find a couple of forceps. He used them to retract the edges of the wound, revealing the white peritoneal membrane beneath, so Xu Ze could see what was inside.
Xu Ze nodded in approval. Without hesitation, he reversed the scalpel, inserted the tip into a small opening, and carefully lifted the peritoneum bit by bit until he’d opened a seven- or eight-centimeter gap. Then he set the scalpel aside, slipped several fingers carefully through the peritoneal opening into the abdominal cavity, and began gently feeling around inside.
