Chapter 49: High Fever

During dinner, people did not need to queue up to get food. To avoid chaos, the prepared boxed meals were distributed by trucks in an orderly fashion, moving from zone to zone among the tents. The food trucks drove slowly, constantly handing out the boxes.

After dinner, the small bulbs hanging on the tents emitted a dim light, illuminating the area.

In front of the rows of divided tents for the public bathrooms, it was like a busy airport. After a hot day, everyone staying in the tents was covered in stinking sweat. The scorching sun shone on the tents, baking the skin of those inside until it was dark with patches of red blush. For coastal people who bathed almost every day, the sticky feeling on their bodies made them go crazy if they did not take a bath.

Zhou Liming and the others, who had baked in the tents for half a day and spent over a week fleeing, smelled so bad that he almost fainted from the smell himself, let alone the others? If most others were not like this, even Zhou Liming and his group, with skin as thick as a city wall, would be ashamed to death.

Squeezed in the line for the public bathrooms, no one knew when it would be their turn. Amidst the complaints, many people chose to leave.

The public bathrooms were just a small microcosm of the huge Refugee Camp. The massive number of refugees made the place overcrowded. Moreover, the restrictive policies meant that those who fled here could only stay in the Refugee Camp. The urban area, separated from the Refugee Camp by only a wall, became an uncrossable chasm.

But for Zhou Liming, this was not the worst thing.

The ten-day escape life was a mix of joy and sorrow. The weak children and Dean Zhou could last until now only because of a survival instinct under the pressure of death. However, after arriving here, they relaxed. The fatigue and mental exhaustion accumulated over ten days finally knocked them down, causing them to develop high fevers.

“Damn it, when will the doctor arrive?”

An anxious Zhou Liming paced back and forth at the entrance of the tent. Inside, An Xiaowei was using wet cloths to compress the foreheads of Dean Zhou and the four younger siblings with her. Having not washed their personal hygiene for ten days, their hair was matted into clumps, and their clothes were covered in stains. Where was the aesthetic impact they once had on Zhou Liming when they first met?

An Xiaowei touched Dean Zhou’s forehead with her hand. The burning feeling made her uneasy too. “Liming, the Dean’s temperature is probably above 39 degrees.”

Zhou Liming walked in, touched the foreheads of the Dean and the younger siblings, and knitted his brows in a frown. “Waiting like this is no solution. Who knows when the doctor will come?”

“But…” An Xiaowei pointed to the crowded people outside the tent. “But we cannot send the Dean and them there.”

Even with Zhou Liming’s amazing skills, he was only one person. If it were just the Dean, it might have been okay. But unfortunately, there were four younger siblings. How could he send them to the medical station on the edge of the Refugee Camp in this crowd? He had notified the doctors earlier, but facing the long lines at the medical stations, the possibility of the doctors coming was almost zero.

“Carry… carry the children first… first…”

“With the Dean here, it won’t… it won’t be a problem.”

“Liming, don’t worry about me, don’t worry about me…”

The persistent high fever made Dean Zhou talk nonsense. Her dry and cracked lips moved slightly, and she fell into a coma. Her fever was already higher than what An Xiaowei had guessed, 39 degrees.

Hearing the Dean’s nonsense and the murmurs of the children, Zhou Liming suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness. Seeing the pain on the faces of the Dean and the others, Zhou Liming clenched his fists tightly, making him want to suffer for the Dean and the others.

“Xiaowei, we cannot wait anymore.” Zhou Liming gritted his teeth, lifted Dean Zhou up, and carried her on his back. “We will find the doctor. You take Xiaoji and Xiaoli. Zheng Le, you help Little Hua. I will carry Little Duo. Yiqin, you stay behind to look after the other younger siblings. Do not go anywhere. Stay here peacefully and wait for us to return. Understood?”

Xu Yiqin was only ten years old but somewhat mature for her age. She naturally knew what was going on in the world now. Hearing Zhou Liming’s words, she nodded.

Zheng Le was the tallest among the boys, so the responsibility of supporting Little Hua fell on him. He struggled to lift Little Hua and put his hand on his shoulder, saying softly, “Hua Zai, be strong. Didn’t we say we are real men?”

Little Hua forced a smile, but the high fever had drained his strength, so he could only lean softly on Zheng Le.

Carrying Dean Zhou on his back and holding the youngest, Little Duo, in his left hand, Zhou Liming said, “Follow me closely.” He walked out of the tent, looking at the people with different purposes in the aisle. After An Xiaowei came out supporting Xiaoji and Xiaoli on both sides, he charged directly into the crowd.

He extended his right hand, pushing away everyone in front of him, and squeezed through. He tried to keep a gap so that An Xiaowei and Zheng Le could follow with the others.

There were doctors in the Refugee Camp, but in a short time, only over a hundred doctors were dispatched. To a city like Wan J with over a million refugees, this was like adding a drop of water to a cart of firewood. After more than ten days of escape, the lack of personal hygiene, and the cold and miscellaneous food eaten on the way due to hunger… a series of reasons led to the fact that after arriving in Wan J City, with mental relaxation, getting sick was only normal.

In a row of over a hundred small tents, sick-looking people formed a long queue that seemed endless.

Zhou Liming and An Xiaowei and the others had just rushed here with great difficulty in one hour. But looking at these long lines, he was dumbfounded. At this rate, there was no hope of seeing a doctor within three or five hours. It was already nearly seven o’clock in the evening. Under the nightfall, most people were as anxious as Zhou Liming.

Walking this far, An Xiaowei and Zheng Le had long been exhausted, but they still gritted their teeth and persisted.

Thinking that the Dean’s high fever was not like other illnesses that could be delayed, Zhou Liming looked at the long line and finally chose to cut in line, walking directly into the gaps between the queues. An Xiaowei and Zheng Le behind him did not hesitate and followed him.

The people in the queue, seeing someone trying to cut in line, immediately objected. Some shouted, while others, being impatient, directly left the queue and followed behind Zhou Liming. The two lines became chaotic in an instant, and the adjacent lines were also affected by the line-cutting.

The soldiers who maintained order at the medical station, seeing the disturbance, blew the whistles hanging on their chests vigorously and ran quickly towards this side.

“Doctor, doctor…” Zhou Liming acted quickly, rushing into the tents set up for the doctors at the medical station.

The middle-aged balding doctor seeing patients just glanced at Zhou Liming indifferently and said, “Queue up.”

“Doctor, she has a high fever and has fallen into a coma. I beg you to see her first, okay?” Zhou Liming put down Little Duo and had An Xiaowei help take Dean Zhou off his back, squeezing the unconscious Dean in front of the doctor’s desk.

The back of the queue was already in chaos. Especially the dozen or so patients who were about to be seen, they started cursing.

The balding doctor had worked hard all day and had been transferred to this ghost place. He was extremely unhappy. Seeing that Zhou Liming did not listen to him but instead pushed the person forward desperately, he slapped the desk violently and roared, “I told you to queue up. Are your ears broken?”

“But… but she…”

Zhou Liming had not finished speaking. The balding doctor was already impatient. He pointed to the chaotic scene outside and the people who persisted in queuing. “So what if she has a high fever? There are many who are much worse than her. If everyone cuts in line like you, how can we treat patients?” He waved his hand. “Queue up! Queue up!”

Admittedly, the attitude of this balding doctor was detestable, but Zhou Liming’s clenched fist, born of anxiety, could not be thrown out.

Yes, the other party was right. People collapsing while queuing because they could not get treatment were everywhere. Among the people in long queues, 80% had high fevers. There were obviously many people with conditions worse than the Dean’s. Cutting in line like this was indeed inappropriate. But the Dean’s life was in immediate danger of being burned to death by the high fever…

In his memory, the Dean was one of the people he was closest to, or even could be said to be his only family.

You cannot imagine what it feels like when the life of a family member is fading away, and you have no way to help. It makes people feel helpless and angry.

On one side was order and morality, and on the other was the critically ill Dean.

“Liming, run fast, run fast, the Dean is blocking them for us.”

The hoarse murmurs of the Dean came, making Zhou Liming, who was wavering left and right, like a stimulated beast.

The Dean wanted to protect these people and help them escape even in death. Now, in a situation where she could lose her life at any moment, how could he watch the Dean lose her life in front of him due to a minor high fever?

“No, no…”

The veins on Zhou Liming’s clenched fist bulged out. Without warning, he lifted the balding doctor up with one hand and roared, “I don’t care about your bullshit order, nor do I care about the lives of others, and I don’t care if you are willing or not. Treat her immediately, or I will fuck kill you.”