Chapter 409 Blood River
while the dimensional creatures in chess mountain had yet to rush out en ma.s.se, this was the best chance to go to chess mountain. the situation would only worsen in the future, so it wouldn’t be easy to head over again.
“just treat it as going on a vacation and touring the area. it will not be too late to return to campus after ják’s matter is resolved,” an sheng said.
“alright. when do we set off?” zhou wen asked.
“to prevent any delays, let’s do it now.” an sheng looked at zhou wen and said, “don’t tell me you still wish to return to the school and inform your schoolmates? wouldn’t that be equivalent to telling ják who matters to you so that he can threaten you with them?”
zhou wen thought for a moment and agreed with him. he gave up on his plans to return to the school and followed an sheng to chess mountain.
chess mountain was not far from luoyang city, so it was not long before zhou wen arrived at the encampment with an sheng.
as the situation at chess mountain was getting worse, qin wufu had been transferred here and was temporarily in charge of guarding chess mountain.
after an sheng introduced zhou wen to qin wufu, qin wufu sized up zhou wen strangely and said, “adjutant an, are you sure you want zhou wen to join the new unit?”
“yes,” an sheng answered affirmatively.
“it’s not impossible, but you should know the unit’s situation. the members are quite rowdy…” qin wufu knew zhou wen and knew his relations.h.i.+p with the an family. that was why he was being tactful. otherwise, he would have rejected zhou wen joining the unit.
after all, zhou wen was only a student. the unit he had recently established was used to guard chess mountain, so all the members were at the epic stage.
an sheng noticed qin wufu’s concerns, so he said, “you know zhou wen’s situation as well. the bureau has been looking for trouble with him over w.a.n.g mingyuan’s matter, so madam got him here mainly because she wants you to take care of him… actually, it’s just for a few days. madam has other plans, so he will be sent back very soon…”
qin wufu felt a headache coming on. defending chess mountain was enough to give him a headache. now, he had to take care of some nepotic fellow like zhou wen.
however, qin wufu had to take into consideration ouyang lan and reluctantly agreed to accept zhou wen. however, he rejected zhou wen’s entry into the unit and told him to stay put for a few days. there was no need for him to do anything.
zhou wen didn’t mind. he had only planned on staying temporarily for a few days, returning once he resolved his ják problem.
therefore, zhou wen stayed at chess mountain’s encampment. as he didn’t have a job scope and wasn’t a soldier, he didn’t need to be on duty. no one cared about him, so it suited zhou wen’s intentions.
on the day zhou wen went to the chess mountain encampment, he headed out to take a look. there was fog in the direction of chess mountain, so he couldn’t see anything clearly. it was as though a beast trapped in fog had opened its mouth.
the river flowing out of chess mountain was as red as blood. an sheng told him that it had started a few months ago.
“which military unit are you from? why are you wandering around here?” as zhou wen walked slowly along the riverbank in search of the tiny palm symbol, an officer leading a patrol stopped him.
zhou wen showed his identification card that qin wufu had given him. the officer took it and immediately felt respect for him. after a military salute, he handed the identification doc.u.ments to zhou wen. “so it’s doctor little zhou. what are you doing here?”
the job t.i.tle qin wufu gave him was an intern doctor. although he was only an intern doctor, doctors were highly respected in the military. no one could guarantee that they wouldn’t be injured on the battlefield. they would definitely need doctors to help them.
most people who could become military doctors had the ability to heal. this ability was extremely rare and precious on the battlefield. even an intern doctor was a rare species.
this officer didn’t know that zhou wen wasn’t even an intern doctor. his ident.i.ty was something qin wufu had temporarily given to him in order to make it easier for him to stay in the military camp.
“i just came to the river to take a look,” zhou wen said casually.
when the officer heard zhou wen, he imagined that zhou wen was investigating and collecting samples, so he sighed and said, “doctor little zhou, you have to investigate carefully. there’s indeed a problem with the river’s water. recently, many of our soldiers have suffered red rashes. the more frequently they patrol the river, the worse the rashes become. although they don’t deal any major harm and one can recover after two days from staying away from the river, the itch is really tremendous. it’s not like we can avoid patrolling.”
although zhou wen wasn’t a true doctor, he knew some basic knowledge. he asked casually, “have you tried using a filtered face mask?”
“we’ve tried. it’s completely useless. even protective suits have been worn. it’s still useless. as long as we get near this river, the rashes will still break out,” the officer said.
zhou wen really didn’t know much. just as he was thinking of how to send them away and continue his search for the tiny palm symbol, he saw a soldier running over from the mountain pa.s.s, panting.
“why are you here? shouldn’t you be guarding the sentry post?” the officer asked immediately when he saw the soldier.
“liu gui… he suddenly fainted… i can’t wake him up no matter what i do… he has rashes all over him…” the soldier said as he panted heavily.
“what… quick, find a doctor… ah, dr. little zhou is here… follow us quickly. we need to take a look…” the officer recalled that zhou wen was an intern doctor so he pulled him towards the mountain pa.s.s.
zhou wen’s face turned livid. he was an imposter. how could he know any medical skills? it would be a wonder if he could figure out anything.
however, he hadn’t denied his ident.i.ty as a doctor, so it wasn’t appropriate for him to say anything now. he felt that he wouldn’t say anything once he came to the soldier. he would immediately direct them to send the soldier to the medical team and be done with it.
the sentry post was the closest outpost to chess mountain. usually, there would be two soldiers standing guard and monitoring the situation nearby.
when zhou wen arrived at the sentry post, he realized that this was indeed close to the chess mountain’s pa.s.s. he could vaguely see the mountain pa.s.s’s cliff.
there was a soldier lying in the sentry post. zhou wen was shocked when he saw his face. his face was covered in rashes and parts were covered in blood.
“what’s going on? why are his rashes so serious?” the officer glared at another soldier and asked.
the soldier didn’t dare hide anything as he revealed the truth. “originally, the rule was to take turns every three days, spending a maximum of three days per rotation. however, liu gui had some matters to attend to and had to swap s.h.i.+fts with his other comrades. including today, he has been here for seven days.”