Sent to the countryside, I turned the health center into a top-tier hospital.

In the middle of the night, Chen Ping was awakened by a muffled thud.

The sound was distant and muffled, like someone far away smashing a drum with a sledgehammer, or like muffled thunder rolling underground.

But the rhythm is wrong; it's not thunder, thunder isn't this dense.

Another sound, then another, came clearly from the direction of the hill behind the health center.

Chen Ping suddenly sat up in bed, grabbed his coat, threw it on, and rushed out the door.

The moonlight in the courtyard was very bright, making the shadows of the poplar trees appear white.

Cui Ying's dormitory door opened almost at the same time as him. She was wearing a light pink cotton nightgown, her hair was loose, and her face still showed the bewilderment of someone who had just been startled awake.

Zhou Jie ran out immediately afterward, with Sun Xiaoyan following behind her. Neither of them even bothered to put on their coats.

Zhou Xiaohe was pulled behind Cui Ying, the little girl clutching Cui Ying's clothes tightly, her face buried in Cui Ying's waist, not daring to look out.

"It was gunshots."

Chen Ping pulled Cui Ying behind him and glanced towards the mountain.

The muffled thuds continued, one after another, occasionally interspersed with a few sharp, crisp sounds, bouncing back and forth in the valley.

The gunshots were not far away, in the direction of the chestnut grove on the back hill.

The mountain path he and Su Meng walked on last time they went hiking.

Liu Mazi and Ma Zhihao rushed over from the duty room in a panic, their flashlight beams flailing wildly on the ground.

Liu Mazi ran up to Chen Ping, his usual憨笑 gone, replaced by a tense expression. "Dr. Chen," he said, "there's a firefight on the mountain. These are gunshots. Quite a few people are making the noise."

"Don't stand outside. The wall is low; it won't be able to stop any stray bullets. Come inside!"

"Alright, you guys be careful too. Make sure you guard the gate. But if anything happens, don't fight head-on, since the other side has guns."

Chen Ping gave Liu Mazi some instructions.

"Understood!" Liu Mazi nodded.

"Cui Ying, Zhou Jie, Xiao Yan, all of you come to my dorm. If we all get together, we can look out for each other if anything happens."

Chen Ping spoke to the girls.

After all, this hilltop isn't far from the health center. If those poachers manage to escape to the health center while fighting, that would be troublesome.

Therefore, Chen Ping gathered everyone together so that they could look after each other.

Several people nodded. Even if they were asked to go back to their own dormitories now, probably no one would dare to do so.

Chen Ping invited all the girls to his dormitory.

Cui Ying carried Zhou Xiaohe to bed and wrapped her in a blanket. Zhou Jie and Sun Xiaoyan stood against the wall, neither of them speaking nor turning on the lights.

Moonlight streamed in through the cracks in the window, cutting a thin white line across the floor.

Gunshots were still ringing out, muffled and sharp, far and near, making it impossible to tell whether they were from the police or poachers.

Zhou Jie held Sun Xiaoyan's hand tightly. Neither of them spoke, but in the moonlight, you could see that Sun Xiaoyan's knuckles were white from being gripped so tightly.

They had never experienced a gunfight like this in their entire lives.

Let alone the girls, Chen Ping had never heard such intense gunfire in his entire life; it was just like two armies fighting.

It was crackling and popping, even more lively than setting off firecrackers during Chinese New Year.

After an unknown amount of time, the gunfire gradually subsided, turning from a chaotic barrage into a few scattered bursts, and finally stopped completely.

Outside the window, only the rustling of poplar leaves in the wind and the occasional bark of a dog in the distance could be heard.

Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief. Zhou Xiaohe peeked out from under the covers and whispered, "Is it over?"

Cui Ying gently patted her back, telling her not to speak.

Chen Ping cautiously looked out the window and found it was quiet and nothing seemed amiss.

Just as he was about to tell everyone to go back and rest, his phone suddenly rang.

The moment the screen lit up, he saw the caller ID was Zhang Jianmin, and his heart sank.

Making a phone call at this time is definitely not a good thing.

Chen Ping quickly answered the phone.

"Dr. Chen! Chief Zhou has been shot in the abdomen and is being carried down the mountain. There's no other emergency medical facility here in the township, so we have to send him to your location. Get ready quickly; he should be there in about ten minutes!"

Zhang Jianmin's voice sounded urgent and hoarse on the phone, as if something had scraped his throat. In the background, someone could be heard shouting, "Hold the stretcher steady and don't jostle."

Chen Ping frowned, hung up the phone, and walked out, saying as he went, "Zhou Jie, Xiao Yan, go and prepare the operating room immediately, and get all the medical instruments needed for the surgery ready."

"Okay!" Zhou Jie and Sun Xiaoyan both nodded upon hearing this, and then, without pausing for a moment, ran towards the operating room.

Although they didn't know what had happened, judging from Chen Ping's expression, it must have been something serious.

"Cui Ying, go to the pharmacy and take adrenaline, dexamethasone, dopamine, and hemostatic agents to the operating room. Also, take gauze and sutures, as well as any other medications needed for the surgery."

After Chen Ping finished speaking, he suddenly remembered that Cui Ying was just an accountant and didn't know anything about medical care.

Chen Ping looked at Cui Ying and asked, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Even if you haven't eaten pork, you've still seen pigs walk, right? I often hang out at Sister Fang's pharmacy. Whenever she needs something, I'm the one who gets her medicine. Don't worry."

After saying that, Cui Ying comforted Zhou Xiaohe for a couple of minutes, then ran towards the pharmacy.

The lights in the emergency room came on.

Zhou Jie connected the monitor's wires one by one, turned on the oxygen valve, and arranged the surgical instrument tray neatly under the shadowless lamp.

Cui Ying also brought all sorts of medicines.

Sun Xiaoyan arranged the emergency medications that Cui Ying brought in order on the tray: adrenaline, dexamethasone, dopamine, and hemostatic agent, each with a dosage label attached.

Cui Ying was also preparing the gauze rolls and sutures on the side. Her movements were not as professional as Zhou Jie's and the others, but they were steady and methodical, neither too slow nor too chaotic.

Calling others over now is definitely not feasible due to time constraints, so Cui Ying, the accountant, is being used as a medical worker as well.

The sound of the iron gate being kicked open came from the other end of the corridor.

Several police officers rushed in carrying a stretcher. Chief Zhou, who was on the stretcher, was as white as the sheet beneath him, his lips were gray, and his eyes were closed.

The police uniform was cut open, and the abdominal wound was temporarily covered with an emergency bandage, but the blood had already soaked through the bandage and was still seeping out, dripping all the way along the stretcher.

Zhang Jianmin followed beside the stretcher, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his hands covered in blood. Seeing Chen Ping, he said earnestly, "He was shot by a hunting rifle. Dr. Chen, you must save Zhou Suochu's life."

"I will do my best..." Chen Ping nodded.

Chen Ping had the stretcher pushed directly into the emergency room.

The operating light snapped on, shining brightly on the blindingly white skin, making the wounds clearly visible.

The bullet entered through the upper right abdomen and shattered into several pieces inside the abdominal cavity. The intestines were torn, the abdominal aorta was not damaged, but several small arteries were severed, and the abdominal cavity was full of blood.

The blood pressure on the monitor had dropped to the 50s, and the electrocardiogram showed a thin, almost invisible line.