Chapter 99 (1/2)
On the morning of the second day, in an abandoned house at the east outskirts of Zhengzhou.
Gently peeling off the ”bandage” wrapped around Chang's head, Dr. Huang revealed a badly mutilated face; his face bones were shattered. Dr. Huang spoke with pity evident in her voice, ”I can't treat this kind of damage.
”And I can't treat hers, either.” Dr. Huang turned her head, pointing to the hooknosed commander, who was tied up in the corner. ”The incision is too big to treat, the only thing I can do is sanitize the wound and staunch the bleeding. As for your face, half of the bones are gone. I am sorry that I am not capable of reconstructing your face.”
”Thank you Dr. Huang. It's okay as long as I don't die from it, I'm fine with disfigurement.” Chang wrapped his face again, saying, ”I apologize for stealing you from the apartment at midnight.”
”No worries. But you did stun me with all the blood and injuries on you, especially by not saying anything about them and just taking me away from my place,” Dr. Huang said. ”What kind of trouble did you get into? I remember there were quite a few soldiers that came to our community, they didn't catch you?”
”My escape was a pure fluke. Look at her, she is the commander of that troop.” Chang pointed at Zhizhi. He then asked, ”What if I don't get treatment for my face, will this be a lethal wound?”
”I don't know, either. Chang, I've never treated a wound that is as severe as yours,” Dr. Huang answered. ”It is all about how well you can heal by yourself. I can give you an emergency treatment, but beyond that there is nothing I can do. Especially for your appearance. There is no way that I can restore it. Your bones were shattered, and I was just a family doctor before this apocalypse. I had never performed an orthopedic operation. This simply exceeds my capabilities.”
”I see. Don't worry, I understand what you're saying.” Chang gently stroked the intact side of his face and mocked himself, ”I wasn't good looking anyways. Anyways, its better to have the bandage on than show my disfigured face to the others. Zhizhi, am I right?”
While speaking, he turned his head to the hooknosed woman.
”Why did you tie me up? I've told you that I won't go back to the military! I don't see how this is beneficial for our future cooperation.” The hooknosed commander struggled on the ground, but the rope was secured tightly around her. ”Where is your humanity? To badly treat a severely wounded person like me.”
”Mr. Li told me that humanity is the most complicated thing in the world. Besides, I think tying you up is the most logical decision I ever made.” Chang walked up to the woman, saying, ”I don't fully trust you yet.”
”Time will let them know the truth.” The woman smiled without further explaining herself.
”Great, I'll loosen the rope if you answer my questions.” Chang squatted down in front of the woman, showing his index finger and asking, ”First question, did Zhuo send you to capture me?”
”Yes, it is an absolute yes. He also commanded us to capture you alive.” Zhizhi nodded.
”Great. My second question is, how many trackers like you does the military own?” Chang put on a straight face when he threw out this question.
”There are two more. The first one is the same kind of EM like me, but his degree of evolution is lower than mine. I know that his olfactory cells are less sensitive. The other one is working in Group Beta, which is conducting a biological weapon research. This person isn't a real EM, even though what he is capable of resembles the abilities of the cognitive category EMs. I think he is just smart. He is able to conduct a.n.a.lysis on footprints and figure out where the target went based on what the footprint looks like by deductive reasoning. But from what I've heard so far, this person belongs to the higher ups. His status is as high as Qing Shui's in Group Alpha. I don't think Zhuo could just simply order him to do the tracking work,” Zhizhi said, recalling what she knew.
”Do you remember what they smell like?”
”I do. I have seen them in the inst.i.tute, I won't forget any scent or odor I ever smelled.”
”That means...” Chang was speaking when he loosened the rope on Zhizhi. ”I don't need to worry about the military pursuing me anymore if I have you coming along.”
”Exactly. I am the best out of them. Even if the expert in deductive reasoning is sent off, I'll sense him far in advance, so don't worry.”
”Good to hear all this. And my last question is,” Chang became more serious when he was about to ask the last question, ”how is Qing Shui doing in the research inst.i.tute?”
”I don't know much about the higher ups… But I feel like he is quite close with Zhuo. You see, they are the best and the smartest researchers in the inst.i.tute, and they work together! They get most of the fundings for their projects, and I don't think there will be another group which can surpa.s.s them in the near future. The higher ups in both the government and the military attach great importance to them, so I guess he is doing pretty well in there.”
”Good, good.” Chang turned away from the woman, nodding.
Since Zhizhi didn't receive any more questions from Chang, she stood up with difficultly, pointing at her bandaged and amputated arm. ”Doctor, my wound isn't fatal, is it?”
”No, after all, humans are more than capable of self-healing these days, it'll be fine,” Dr. Huang answered. ”But it is impossible that you will have your arm grow out from the incision.”
”Well… Does that mean I am handicapped now?” Gazing at her own amputated arm, Zhizhi accepted the fact reluctantly. Her words were composed of sorrow and remorse.
”Come on, which one do you think is worse, disfigured face or amputated arm?” Chang looked at Zhizhi with a lonely eye. The bandage covered most of his face, leaving only his left eye out. ”I look worse than frankenstein, and all of the suffering was caused by you.”