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

"Dual-channel rapid volume expansion of crystalloid solution, begin!"

Chen Ping reached out his hand, and Cui Ying had already placed the scalpel in his palm. The curve of the handle fit perfectly between his thumb and forefinger. "After opening the abdomen, first suction out the blood accumulated in the abdominal cavity, find the bleeding point and ligate it. Sun Xiaoyan, prepare the blood dilator."

The surgery was being performed against the clock under the operating lights.

The shrapnel was removed piece by piece from deep within the abdominal cavity, the sound of metal clashing against the disc crisp and piercing.

The ligation forceps moved back and forth across the blood vessel, and the sutures flew across the needle tip. Zhou Jie's forehead was covered in sweat, and Sun Xiaoyan, unable to free her hands, turned her head and rubbed her forehead with her shoulder.

Cui Ying stood by, handing over equipment, wiping sweat, and carrying trays. Her eyes were fixed on Chen Ping's hands; whichever direction his fingers moved, the next piece of equipment would be steadily handed to his palm.

In the darkest hour of the early morning, Zhang Jianmin squatted outside the emergency room, his hands covering his head. His police uniform was still stained with Chief Zhou's blood, which had dried to a dark brown.

Several police officers paced back and forth outside the operating room, their faces filled with worry.

Zhang Jianmin took out a pack of cigarettes, distributed some to several police officers, lit one, and took a deep drag.

"How many people have you caught?" Zhang Jianmin asked.

"There was only one. He was shot in the leg, but he couldn't escape and was caught. The others knew the terrain too well and they all ran away."

"A tall police officer said."

"Sigh..." Zhang Jianmin sighed, "Chief Zhou was so badly injured, and we only caught one person. Have they interrogated him yet?"

"The case has been reopened. The others definitely can't escape either. They should be people from this area, otherwise they wouldn't be so familiar with the terrain."

"That's what the tall policeman said."

Zhang Jianmin stopped talking and lowered his head to take deep drags on his cigarette.

After what seemed like an eternity, the operating room lights finally went out, and the sky outside was beginning to lighten.

Chen Ping took off his gloves and threw them into the trash can, then removed his mask and gasped for breath.

Cui Ying handed him a glass of warm water, which he took and drank in one gulp before turning to look out the window.

I noticed that it was already slightly light outside!

Chen Ping pushed open the operating room door and walked out, his mask still hanging on one ear, and a small patch of dark red blood stained the cuff of his surgical gown.

As soon as he stepped out the door, Zhang Jianmin and several police officers swarmed around him. Their eyes were bloodshot, and the smell of smoke and sweat mixed together to create a pungent and astringent odor.

"How is it? How is Director Zhou?" Zhang Jianmin grabbed Chen Ping's arm, his fingers trembling.

"His life has been saved."

Chen Ping took off his mask, his voice a little hoarse. "The shrapnel didn't damage the aorta or major organs. There were several tears in the intestines, which have been cleaned and sutured. The blood in the abdominal cavity has also been cleared. His vital signs are stable now, and he needs to rest in bed for a while. If all goes well, he can make a full recovery."

There was a moment of silence in the corridor, then the police officers all breathed a sigh of relief.

A younger policeman turned around and vigorously wiped his face with his sleeve.

Zhang Jianmin gripped Chen Ping's hand and shook it vigorously, his lips trembling several times before he could speak: "Dr. Chen, if it weren't for you in Siping Township, Old Zhou would have died on the mountain today. If he had been sent to the county or the city, he would have bled to death on the way."

After he finished speaking, he turned his head and glanced at Director Zhou, who had just been pushed out of the emergency room on a stretcher. Director Zhou's face was still pale, but his chest was rising and falling evenly, and the IV bottle next to him was dripping medicine drop by drop.

Chen Ping waved his hand, "Secretary Zhang, don't say that. It's my duty to treat and save lives, especially since Director Zhou was injured while on duty."

"You've all stayed up all night, go back and get some rest."

Zhang Jianmin nodded and was about to call a few police officers to walk out when suddenly a series of slow footsteps and the clanging of metal came from the other end of the corridor.

Two police officers escorted a man from the gate of the courtyard.

The man limped along, dragging his left leg, which was covered in blood. His trouser leg was cut open, and several bandages were wrapped around his knee. The blood had long since soaked through the bandages, and each step he took left a dark red mark on the cement ground.

He was handcuffed, his hair was a mess, his face was covered in mud, his eyes were gloomy, and his mouth was turned down, giving off an attitude of "a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water".

The two police officers holding him were ashen-faced. One of them had veins bulging on his arm, his knuckles cracking as he gripped the arm, but he could do nothing but clench his fist.

This is the poacher who was caught after his leg was injured.

Zhang Jianmin stepped forward, looked at the poacher, then at the police officers escorting him, and asked, "Did he confess?"

Both police officers shook their heads.

One police officer said, "He wouldn't say a word, and he didn't know anything when we asked him. He was very stubborn. We saw that he was bleeding too much and were worried that something might happen, so we came over to remove the bullet and stop the bleeding."

Zhang Jianmin glanced at the poacher, then turned to Chen Ping and pointed to the wound on the man's leg. "Dr. Chen, could you please remove the bullet and stop the bleeding? Just make sure he doesn't die."

Chen Ping nodded and had the poachers escorted into the clinic.

The fluorescent lights in the examination room were blindingly bright, making the mud and bloodstains on the man's face stand out.

He sat on the examination bed, crossed his injured leg, and looked around the room with a disdainful expression.

Chen Ping picked up a pair of tweezers from the instrument tray, took a wad of iodine-soaked cotton ball, walked up to the person, and said, "Stretch out your legs."

The man glanced at the tweezers in Chen Ping's hand, then scanned the examination room. Suddenly realizing something, his expression changed. "Take it here? Not in the operating room? Where's the anesthesia? Give me anesthesia!"

Chen Ping twirled the tweezers in his hand, then wiped the edge of the wound with an iodine-soaked cotton ball. As the cotton ball brushed against the broken skin, the man grimaced and pulled his leg back an inch.

"Removing shrapnel from your leg doesn't require surgery. As for anesthesia?"

Chen Ping turned his head and glanced at him. "We just used up the resuscitation materials for Director Zhou. Just bear with it, it'll only take a moment."

The man's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He sprang up from the examination bed and tried to back away, his handcuffs slamming against the bed railing with a loud clang. He yelled at the top of his lungs.

"You're going to use tweezers to force it open without anesthesia? You want to kill me with pain? I'm a human being! I have the right..."

"Hold him down," Chen Ping said without turning his head.

The two police officers were already seething with anger. Upon hearing this, they immediately pushed the man back onto the treatment bed, one holding down one of his arms and the other firmly pressing down on his injured leg.

The man struggled desperately, the handcuffs scraping against the railing with a harsh sound, his legs kicking wildly in the police officer's hands, and the expression on his face finally changed from disdain to terror.