Chapter 35: Scavenger

Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Scavenger

A hospital!

The exhaustion that had been dragging Xiang Yi down vanished in an instant, replaced by a sudden rush of energy flooding through his body.

Before that burst of adrenaline could fade, he scrambled through a collapsed section of the perimeter wall beside the hospital’s locked front gate and made his way inside the main building.

He needed to find the emergency department or the surgical outpatient clinic — those were the only two places likely to still have the medicines he desperately needed.

The inside of the hospital was just as decrepit as the outside, but the directory signs were still intact.

A large, easy-to-read board in the first-floor lobby listed the different departments on each of the building’s ten floors.

Since he’d entered through the main building, the emergency department wasn’t here — but the surgical outpatient clinic was, right on the third floor.

He climbed the stairs and found the sign for the surgical outpatient department right near the stairwell exit on the third floor.

He shoved open the clinic’s door, which had already half-caved off its hinges, and barged into the doctor’s office inside, immediately starting to tear through everything.

Most of the cabinets were empty, as if someone had already picked through them before him.

It was hard to say whether anything would be left at all.

Xiang Yi searched the office methodically, checking every corner without exception, and came up empty every single time.

Just when he was ready to give up on the room entirely, he found a hidden compartment tucked inside a small drawer beneath the doctor’s desk — inside were a roll of bandages no one had bothered to take, a few bottles of antiseptic and rubbing alcohol, and a jumble of miscellaneous medications.

One of the drugs looked like it was for men only, which explained why the doctor had gone to the trouble of hiding all this stuff — the guy had clearly been up to something he didn’t want anyone knowing about.

Not that it was any of Xiang Yi’s business. If anything, he had to be grateful a doctor like that had worked here, because the stash he’d left behind might just save Xiang Yi’s life.

There was no fever reducer in the mix, but the anti-inflammatories and wound-healing medications were just as useful to him right now.

Xiang Yi peeled off his hazmat suit and pressed the back of his hand to his forehead.

A little warm, but it felt like a low-grade fever at most — something he could push through. If it got worse, he’d look for fever reducers somewhere else later.

He then rolled up his pant leg and unwound the bandage around his leg.

Both sides of the through-and-through wound had started to fester. If he’d left it any longer, it could have turned seriously bad.

Medicines in this era were supposed to be far more effective than anything he’d known before — he hadn’t expected things to get this bad anyway.

Without proper tools on hand, there was only one way to deal with it, and it wasn’t going to be pleasant.

He pressed his fingers around the wound — not directly on it — and applied steady pressure, forcing out a significant amount of dark, clotted blood and pus.

After several rounds of squeezing with nothing more coming out, he picked up a small bottle of rubbing alcohol and poured it straight into the wound.

"Ssss—"

The pain was enough to flush his entire face a deep, burning red.

He gritted his teeth against the urge to yank his leg away and kept flushing the wound with alcohol until every part of it was completely clean.

He gave himself a moment to breathe through the lingering pain, letting the rigid tension bleed out of his body.

Then he started rewrapping the wound with fresh bandages.

While he worked, his eyes kept drifting to the wooden cabinets, desk, and stools around the office — all solid fuel for a fire later, perfect for drying his clothes and warming himself up.

Food could wait. A day or two without eating wouldn’t kill him — at worst, his wound would heal a little slower. Wet clothes, on the other hand, could genuinely finish him off.

But his hands suddenly stopped moving. He held his breath and turned his head toward the office door.

Downstairs... something was making noise.

Xiang Yi quickly finished wrapping the bandage, pulled his hazmat suit back on, stuffed all the bandages and medicine he’d found into the small medical kit, and slipped out the door.

The hospital had an unusual layout — the five floors directly above the central lobby were open to the atrium below.

Leaning against the railing, he looked straight down into the first-floor lobby.

A group of roughly twenty or so people was filing in through the hospital’s main entrance, most of them hauling large, heavily loaded backpacks stuffed with camping gear.

The person leading the group shook the rain off their poncho and called back to the others: "No idea where this rain came from, but it doesn’t look like it’s stopping anytime soon. We’ll rest here for the night and head back to the city tomorrow."

Someone near the back muttered under their breath, "We’re so close though..."

The leader had sharp ears. They shot back immediately: "Oh yeah? You gonna carry all our wounded the rest of the way in this downpour? You covering everyone’s medical bills when they get sick from getting soaked?"

The person who’d spoken didn’t say another word.

The leader clapped their hands to get everyone’s attention and started giving out assignments: "Wounded, gather in the lobby and get your injuries sorted. Everyone else, head to the second floor — set up camp, get food going, get some rest."

"Anyone on watch duty tonight comes with me for a sweep. I’m not asking you to clear all ten floors, but I want the two floors above and below the second floor searched properly."

"Abnormality incidents have been picking up lately, so don’t get sloppy. Especially in a place like this — check every dark corner and crevice. There could be bodies stashed anywhere."

"Are we clear?"

The team gave scattered, half-hearted responses, like most of them hadn’t really been listening.

The leader didn’t seem bothered. They took two people with them and headed toward the stairwell, disappearing from Xiang Yi’s line of sight.

They’d barely reached the stairs when one of the two following the leader spoke up: "Boss, should we check if there are any meds left in the hospital?"

The leader gave them a sideways look. "What, you think we’re some kind of Scavengers picking through garbage? We’ve already got supplies — why would we waste time digging around in here?"

"We’re heading back safe tomorrow. This run went well — those Abnormality photos alone will fetch a good price from the military."

"Come on, let’s just get the second floor cleared."

Once the leader disappeared into the stairwell, the rest of the group followed, heading up to the second floor to sort through their gear and find spots to set up camp in the corridors and offices.

Some pitched tents, others started cooking.

These people clearly had it all — fire, medicine, food, spare clothes, and even proper tents and sleeping bags to rest in.

Xiang Yi looked on with envy, but he didn’t dare let them know he was there.

He was still off the grid, a ghost with no legal standing. Out here in the middle of nowhere, running into strangers could go sideways in a hurry.

Under normal circumstances, Xiang Yi wouldn’t have had many qualms about bending the rules a little and stealing some supplies.

He was half-dead. That qualified as a pretty reasonable emergency.

But he’d clocked that these people were armed.

Not just blades and makeshift weapons, either — several of them, especially the leader, were carrying firearms.

If things turned violent, there was no way he’d come out on top the way he had back in the prison.

Running headlong into danger while trying to avoid it was a losing move.

On top of that, they’d already started sweeping the hospital, which meant he needed to get higher up and stay out of their way before any of them stumbled into him.

The only question was whether they’d notice the traces he’d left behind in the surgical outpatient clinic.

If they did, the fire escape on the outside of the building would be his only way out.

Xiang Yi was just about to head for the upper floors when he heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps coming from the direction of the third-floor stairwell.

"That fast?"