"Quick! Get him inside! To the operating table… no, to the cleanest table we have!"
Faced with the stranger who had suddenly collapsed at their doorstep, life or death unknown, Chen Shouzhou's reaction was astonishingly fast. Without a moment's hesitation, he called for Lin Mo and A'Jie, and together they scrambled to carry the blood-soaked man into the warehouse.
Su Wan'er instantly slipped into her role as a doctor. Utterly composed, her eyes calm and focused, she immediately pulled a stethoscope, a blood pressure monitor, and a flashlight from her precious medical kit and began a rapid assessment of the man's vital signs.
"His heartbeat is faint, but it's there! Blood pressure is critically low, showing signs of shock!" Though she couldn't speak, she conveyed the man's condition clearly to the others through a series of professional and swift hand gestures.
She cut away the man's tattered clothes, revealing a crisscross of wounds. The most fatal was on his abdomen, a long gash torn open by some kind of sharp claw. The flesh was ripped back, and they could even see the organs inside. The skin around the wound had already turned an unnatural purplish-blue, and it was spreading.
"He's been poisoned!" Su Wan'er's expression became incredibly grave. She immediately wrote her conclusion on her notepad and then quickly rummaged through her medical box for a broad-spectrum antitoxin, preparing to inject it.
A'Jie also stepped forward to help. He carefully used scissors to cut away the shredded cloth around the wound and gently wiped away the blood with clean, warm water and cotton balls. His movements were still a bit clumsy, but his eyes were exceptionally serious.
Chen Shouzhou became a temporary nurse, handing over tools and assisting wherever he could, all while providing non-stop "spiritual therapy": "Hang in there, buddy! Don't you dare fall asleep! Think about it, if you die, who's gonna pay off your credit card debt? What about those gigabytes of 'study materials' on your hard drive? For the continuation of human civilization, you have to hold on!"
Just as Su Wan'er was about to inject the antitoxin, the unconscious man suddenly began to mutter painfully and incoherently:
"Lili... Lili... is still... still at the substation... save her..."
"Lili? The substation?" Chen Shouzhou immediately seized on the two keywords.
Just then, Lin Mo walked over, frowning. He wasn't looking at the wound, but at the peculiar claw marks on the man's body.
"This man wasn't injured by an ordinary mutated beast," Lin Mo said, pushing up his glasses, his tone certain. "The marks on his body are sharp-edged, with a composite characteristic of tearing and piercing, as if he was clawed by some kind of beast with arthropod features."
As he spoke, he took a portable microscope and a few glass slides from his toolbox and carefully scraped a small blood sample from the edge of the wound.
After observing it under the microscope for a moment, his face grew even darker.
"The blood sample contains trace amounts of a virus I've never seen before. Its structure... is very strange, possessing the dual characteristics of a biological virus and a neurotoxin." He speculated, "This man has most likely been in an area related to the Sky-Curtain Biotech test subjects."
As soon as he finished speaking, the system's prompt sounded in Chen Shouzhou's mind.
[Ding! New virus sample detected. Proceed with collection and analysis?]
"Collect!" Chen Shouzhou chose "Yes" without hesitation.
[Collection successful! Congratulations, Host, you have acquired a new skill: Basic Virus Identification!]
[Basic Virus Identification]: You can now identify most B-class or lower viruses, toxins, and their sources through contact or close observation.]
A cool stream of information flowed into his mind, and Chen Shouzhou felt as if he had instantly become a junior virologist. He looked again at the wound on the man's abdomen, and a new line of semi-transparent text appeared before his eyes.
[Source of Infection: Mutated Wolf Spider (Class B). Toxicity: Neuro-paralytic, muscle-dissolving. Remark: The venom is destroying his nervous system. In three hours, not even a god can save him.]
"Holy crap!" Chen Shouzhou jumped. He immediately shouted to Su Wan'er, "Dr. Su! Don't use that broad-spectrum antitoxin! It's useless! His poison is a neurotoxin, we need to use a different one!"
He rushed to the medical box and, using his newly acquired "knowledge," precisely located a specific antidote for neurotoxins among several similar-looking vials.
Although Su Wan'er was full of doubt, not understanding how he could make such an accurate diagnosis, she trusted him. She immediately switched the medication and injected the man.
Sure enough, after the new antidote was administered, the spread of the purplish-blue discoloration around the wound significantly slowed.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
A'Jie looked at the man who had been all but condemned to death, then at Chen Shouzhou, his eyes filled with admiration and a hint of... longing. He volunteered, "Chen-ge, I'll go to the substation to rescue her! You said there's a girl named Lili trapped there. I know the terrain, and I'm agile. Let me go!"
This was the first time he had actively requested to take on a dangerous mission.
Chen Shouzhou looked at his still-youthful face but shook his head.
"No," he refused flatly. "You're too green right now. Going there would just be feeding the enemy. Saving people is a good thing, but the prerequisite is ensuring you can come back alive."
The man, who introduced himself as Old Zhou, looked at the group gathered around him, his eyes full of gratitude. He struggled to sit up and told them his story.
He was a retired soldier who became a mercenary after the apocalypse. This time, he was hired by a survivor organization called "Dawnlight" to escort an important person—Lili, a female scientist who held some of Sky-Curtain Biotech's core technology—safely out of the city.
But while passing the abandoned substation, they were ambushed by a swarm of mutated wolf spiders. The entire escort team was nearly wiped out, and he was the only one who managed to escape.
"Lili... Lili is still alive!" Old Zhou gripped Chen Shouzhou's arm, his eyes bloodshot and pleading. "She locked herself in the central control room on the third floor, but the food and water in there won't last long! Those spiders... they're still waiting outside! I'm begging you, save her! I'll give you all the reward 'Dawnlight' promised!"
As soon as he finished, the system's prompt arrived, right on cue.
[Ding! New Mission Issued: Rescue Before Dawn]
[Mission Objective: Go to the abandoned substation and successfully rescue the trapped individual, 'Lili'.]
[Mission Reward: Unlock new skill 'Tactical Planning (Beginner)'.]
Chen Shouzhou looked at the new mission, a slight smile playing on his lips.
He looked at Old Zhou, then at Su Wan'er and A'Jie, who were also looking at him with expectant eyes. He knew this was a favor he had to grant.
He nodded and said in a tone that left no room for doubt, "Alright. We'll save her."