#41: Injury

Lu Zhou drifted, and the view outside the car window instantly changed from pitch black to a dim yellow. The car’s rear swung sideways, pulling out an arc and raising a hazy layer of sand.

Shen Yihuan, not sitting properly, hit her head on the car door.

Lu Zhou switched to a lighter pistol, maintaining speed, aiming at the distant figures, and firing accurately.

The night was deep and dark, the moon hung high, the wind howled, and the continuous high-speed driving and drifting kicked up yellow sand into the air, making it impossible to see five steps away, a suffocatingly gloomy atmosphere.

Lu Zhou fired all six bullets in one pistol.

They must have been close to those who were shooting at them because Shen Yihuan heard the wailing getting louder and louder.

Suddenly, the tires screeched violently on the ground, making a piercing sound. A sudden blowout at high speed instantly caused them to lose control, and the car spun rapidly.

Just as Shen Yihuan thought she was about to be flung out, she was fiercely pulled into an embrace.

Lu Zhou held her tightly against him, as if he wanted to crush and devour her, with immense force.

Qiu Ruru screamed, hitting something with a thud: “Hiss... Did the tire blow out?!”

The car spun an unknown number of times, and Shen Yihuan felt like she was about to vomit before it finally stopped.

Lu Zhou loosened his grip slightly, looking up to re-examine the situation outside: “The tire was hit. We can’t stay here; we need to find a way out.”

Shen Yihuan was stunned: “Out?”

Outside, gunshots were raining down like crazy.

Without the protection of the car and any bulletproof vests, Shen Yihuan couldn’t imagine how they would get through this hail of bullets.

Lu Zhou let go of her, assembled all the equipment in the weapon box, handed the lightest pistol to Shen Yihuan, and took an automatic rifle himself.

He turned and threw the last remaining gun inside to Gu Minghui.

“You take Qiu Ruru and hide on the east side of the nearby sand dune,” Lu Zhou said in a deep voice, then immediately pushed open the car door, crouched low, and moved agilely and swiftly.

Shen Yihuan was startled and blurted out, “Lu Zhou!”

A series of gunshots suddenly erupted in the wilderness with that movement. The next second, the car door next to Shen Yihuan opened, and Lu Zhou pulled her into his arms, his arm tightly wrapped around her neck, protecting her head against his chest.

“Come out quickly!”

Lu Zhou shouted to Gu Minghui.

Qiu Ruru had never seen a scene like this before, her legs were so weak. Gu Minghui practically lifted her out of the car, half dragging, half holding her.

Lu Zhou: “Run!”

They quickly ran in the direction of the sand dune Lu Zhou had just pointed to.

The desert was vast and empty, with no extra places to hide. They could only make full use of the existing conditions. Only that particular sand dune was a blind spot for all directions of fire, and hiding there was their only chance of escape.

Shen Yihuan shivered as the cold wind blew on her.

Lu Zhou held her tighter, his arm muscles taut with effort.

Bullets seemed to be hitting right at their feet, incredibly close, kicking up dust. Lu Zhou held Shen Yihuan with one arm, extending the other arm straight forward, firing accurately at several figures in the deep night.

Without the slightest hesitation, calm and composed.

“Are you cold?” Even in this urgent moment, Lu Zhou still took a moment to ask Shen Yihuan this question.

The wind whistled past her ears, and Shen Yihuan felt her ears were frozen and numb.

Her teeth chattered.

She kept moving, following closely behind Lu Zhou, striding forward. Her gauze dress lifted in the wind, creating an elegant arc.

“I’m fine,” she said, gritting her teeth.

On the other side, Qiu Ruru was completely closing her eyes, being pulled forward by Gu Minghui. She just wanted to spend a couple of days in Xinjiang, but who knew she would be so unlucky as to encounter a gunfight that some people wouldn’t experience in several lifetimes.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang near her ear.

Qiu Ruru instinctively screamed, hugging Gu Minghui’s arm: “Ahhh, you’re shot?!”

Gu Minghui rolled his eyes, simultaneously pulling the trigger: “I fired the shot.”

“Are we almost there?!” Qiu Ruru asked with her eyes closed.

Gu Minghui had no time to answer her. While pulling Qiu Ruru forward, he held his gun with one hand and fired blindly in the direction of the distant gunshots. No matter what, he had to disrupt their rhythm.

Lu Zhou’s weapon box only contained three guns.

Shen Yihuan also had one in her hand. She had never touched such a thing and didn’t dare to shoot, fearing that she might accidentally injure Qiu Ruru and Gu Minghui. She just held it tightly to her chest.

When the bullet pierced her lower leg, the pain was not yet obvious.

Only a sudden jump in her heart, her leg instantly went soft, and when she took a step, she fell directly. Then the pain spread upwards from below, climbing up her nerves to her brain.

“Hiss...”

She gasped in pain, her face instantly turning pale.

The moment she fell, Lu Zhou grabbed her, then saw Shen Yihuan’s tightly furrowed brows and cold sweat trickling down her forehead.

He trembled all over, his eyes instantly filled with a fierce, stormy look.

He said nothing, either too shocked or too calm.

He simply picked up Shen Yihuan, not daring to carry her on his back for fear of incoming bullets hitting her. Lu Zhou completely enveloped her, as if to absorb her into his own body.

Shen Yihuan felt warm liquid flowing down her lower leg, and the pain revived in waves. She clutched Lu Zhou’s clothes tightly, feeling his rapidly rising and falling chest, and held back from making a sound.

Lu Zhou ran extremely fast, reaching the back of the sand dune quickly.

He put Shen Yihuan down, tore a piece of his clothes to tie above the wound, fired several shots at the sand on the ground, and dug out a shallow pit in a few seconds, placing Shen Yihuan inside.

He touched Shen Yihuan’s cold face, cocked the pistol in her hand, and put it in her hand.

His eyebrows were tightly furrowed, his lips pressed together, and all expression had left his face, which was terribly grim.

“Protect yourself,” he said.

He stood up, tall and slender, blocking the moonlight. With a pair of fierce eyes, he strode forward, completely exposing himself to the enemy’s firing range, and clipped on a magazine.

He pulled the trigger cruelly and coldly.

Shen Yihuan wanted to call out to him, but as soon as she opened her mouth, the cold wind blew right through her, and the pain went straight to her brain, making her unable to shout anything.

Gu Minghui and Qiu Ruru finally arrived, practically falling onto the back of the sand dune.

They were also in a scramble when they came over and were startled to see Shen Yihuan alone, her face pale.

Gu Minghui: “Where’s Lu Zhou?”

“He went over there,” Shen Yihuan said, her voice hoarse with pain.

Gu Minghui and Qiu Ruru then saw Shen Yihuan’s injured lower leg through the cold moonlight.

Her gauze dress was stained with blood, and there was a rather deep horizontal gash on her lower leg. Blood was flowing down, staining her socks, looking shocking.

When Qiu Ruru saw it, the tears she hadn’t shed earlier instantly fell.

“Cherry... does it hurt?” She was at a loss, not knowing how to bandage the wound or how to comfort her.

Gu Minghui gritted his teeth, clenching and unclenching his fists. His chest heaved with anger. Shen Yihuan’s pale lips and the fresh blood made his temples throb.

He stood for ten seconds, then knelt down, pulled Qiu Ruru aside, and squeezed Shen Yihuan’s ankle to examine her wound.

It was fine.

The injury wasn’t serious.

At least the bullet hadn’t gotten stuck inside; it had just grazed the surface horizontally. Shen Yihuan’s leg was already thin, and after a piece of flesh was scraped off, even the bone was almost visible.

“Bear with it,” Gu Minghui glanced at her.

Lu Zhou had only done simple first aid.

Gu Minghui cleaned the sand off her leg, untied the cloth, spread it out, wrapped it twice around the wound, and tied a tight knot.

The moment the knot was pulled down, Shen Yihuan cried out in pain, arching her neck backward.

“Damn it...” Her lips were dry.

While in pain, she also had to worry about Lu Zhou’s situation.

The gunshots never stopped, rattling continuously and making a rapid whizzing sound in the wind.

“Don’t move!” Gu Minghui grabbed her and pressed her back.

Shen Yihuan didn’t know if the liquid on her face was tears or sweat. The wind blew, and it was chilly, drying one area. The wind also carried sand, which stung her face a little.

“Lu Zhou...” she murmured.

Qiu Ruru pressed tightly on her bleeding wound, still trembling a little. She still hadn’t fully understood what was happening; it was too sudden.

________________________________________

Lu Zhou rushed over, directly stepping onto the roof of their car.

He brought the gun stock across, pressing it against the neck of the man in the driver’s seat and pulling him up. He exerted force with his arm, a sudden burst of power, and twisted the stock fiercely to the side. The man fell.

There were still ten bullets left.

His gaze was sharp. He dragged the man out of the driver’s seat, using him as a human shield, his eyes fixed. His rifle-holding arm was straight, and he pressed the trigger cruelly and indifferently.

When they were in the car earlier, Lu Zhou had focused his fire on them.

Several people were already down on the ground. The remaining ones aimed their guns at him, not caring that the human shield in front of Lu Zhou was their own brother, and continued to fire.

Lu Zhou had no more time to waste.

The scattered firepower in other directions was converging on them. Shen Yihuan and the others could only hide behind the sand dune for so long.

Moreover, Shen Yihuan’s leg was injured.

Lu Zhou’s expression completely turned cold. He suddenly charged forward two steps, lifting his leg to kick away two guns pointed at him. After rolling over, he immediately fired accurately.

Two bangs, and two more fell to the ground.

________________________________________

Shen Yihuan was in so much pain and so cold that she was almost hallucinating.

She wanted to find Lu Zhou, but she couldn’t stand up; she could barely move.

Until suddenly, a car engine sound came from a distance. Lu Zhou stomped on the brake, pushed the door open, rushed out, and squatted beside Shen Yihuan, picking her up.

He was covered in blood.

It hadn’t dried yet.

He had torn a piece of his clothes earlier to stop Shen Yihuan’s bleeding, and his shirt hem was also torn, making him look unusually disheveled. His face was streaked with dried blood, and he exhaled puffs of white vapor.

“Get in the car!” he shouted, looking at Gu Minghui, “You drive.”

Shen Yihuan hooked her arms around his neck, her eyes closed, instantly feeling at ease. Her voice was hoarse: “It hurts so much.”

Lu Zhou’s heart trembled. He kept moving, lowered his head and kissed her forehead, his voice softening: “Don’t be afraid, I’ll get you out of here.”

Gu Minghui and Qiu Ruru sat in the front, and Lu Zhou carried Shen Yihuan to the back seat.

As soon as the car door closed, Gu Minghui floored the accelerator and sped off. Lu Zhou had already dealt with the people in one direction; they had to seize the time to break through there to escape.

Qiu Ruru turned the heater to the highest setting, not caring that she herself was shivering, and took off her jacket to cover Shen Yihuan.

Lu Zhou’s clothes were also covering her, but she still couldn’t stop shivering.

“She’ll be alright, won’t she?” Qiu Ruru gripped the car handle, looking at Shen Yihuan with concern, “Why does it feel like she’s about to faint?”

“The temperature is too low, plus blood loss,” Lu Zhou’s brows were tightly furrowed.

He lowered his gaze to Shen Yihuan’s leg; it was already bandaged.

Qiu Ruru looked at Lu Zhou again. He was covered in blood. When she first saw him, she thought he was seriously injured, but then she saw that his movements were completely unaffected. She hesitated for a moment and asked, “What about you? Are you injured?”

“No.”

Lu Zhou tucked the jacket tightly around Shen Yihuan, rubbed his hands together vigorously until they were warm, then placed them on her cheeks.

A black SUV sped through the night. At first, a few cars followed behind, but they stopped pursuing when they were close to exiting the desert area.

________________________________________

At the hospital.

Lu Zhou carried Shen Yihuan the entire time, from registering to disinfection and suturing. The anesthesia dosage was quite strong, and Shen Yihuan remained unconscious.

After everything was done, Lu Zhou carried her into the VIP ward. The corridor was quiet with few people.

Their attire, especially Lu Zhou’s, was quite eye-catching.

Qiu Ruru stayed in the ward to help Shen Yihuan change her clothes and put on a hospital gown.

Lu Zhou pushed the door open and went out.

The corridor was silent. Gu Minghui was leaning against the window, his back to him, smoking. The pale blue smoke dispersed with the wind.

Lu Zhou walked over.

“You bandaged her leg?”

Gu Minghui’s hand holding the cigarette paused: “Yes.”

“Thank you,” Lu Zhou said calmly.

Gu Minghui scoffed, turning his face slightly to glance at him: “I thought in that situation you wouldn’t let anyone touch her, but it turns out you still care if she lives or dies.”

Lu Zhou seemed not to have understood the sarcastic meaning in his words and nodded.

He said, “I was indeed not happy about you touching her.”

He raised his hand, the muzzle of his gun pointed directly at the back of Gu Minghui’s head, his index finger resting on the trigger.

Lu Zhou narrowed his eyes.

“Do you want to tell me why we were being hunted?”