Chapter 17

Fang Shimian obviously couldn’t just run away at a time like this. He did his best to drag the person out. Fortunately, Huo Zhongshan was conscious at this moment and could cooperate with Fang Shimian’s movements to move outside.

By now, the evening glow had disappeared, the sky was darkening, and the temperature was dropping.

Fang Shimian helped the person out, and with the light from his phone, he saw that Huo Zhongshan’s shoulder blade and abdomen were bleeding continuously, and his face was terrifyingly pale.

It was as if he was about to die.

Fang Shimian used all his strength to pull him onto the electric scooter, put the helmet on Huo Zhongshan without a word, and set the scooter to the highest gear he had never tried before, then sped off.

The wind howled against his sleeves, but the explosion still happened. The fierce flames soared into the sky, accompanied by airflow and debris scattering everywhere, the heat wave carrying a massive impact.

The last trace of the evening glow completely vanished, and the continuous explosions twisted in the biting cold wind, like the wailing of souls of the dead under this apocalypse.

Although Fang Shimian had already run a distance, he still fell off the scooter under the massive impact. It wasn’t serious; he rolled on the ground twice, protecting his head, and didn’t hit any vital parts.

He hurriedly scrambled to Huo Zhongshan’s side, only to see the man motionless, with only a slight rise and fall in his chest. He quickly took off the helmet, but Huo Zhongshan had already fallen into a coma.

There were several deep scratches on the helmet.

Fang Shimian felt the man’s icy body temperature, his eyes filled with near-desperate fear.

He trembled all over as he took off his cotton jacket and wrapped it around Huo Zhongshan, then pressed his hands on Huo Zhongshan’s wounds, at a loss for what to do.

Tears rolled down his face, but he was unaware.

Fang Shimian looked up and saw speed and surveillance cameras. He didn’t know how long it would take for rescue to arrive, nor did he know if there was someone watching the surveillance 24/7.

This was his first time facing death directly. He had clearly gone to save him, clearly succeeded, yet reality was so cruel, forcing him to watch a life he desperately tried to save disappear before his eyes.

Just then, Fang Shimian heard the sirens of an ambulance and police cars, like a sudden redemption from the depths of hell.

But the sound didn’t come closer.

Fang Shimian remembered there were two other scenes ahead, and this vehicle was still some distance from those car accident locations. They didn’t know, didn’t know there were still people alive here!

He whimpered, steeled his heart, wiped away his tears, took off his hoodie, and tightly wrapped it around Huo Zhongshan’s abdominal wound.

Then he got on his electric scooter and drove in the opposite direction towards the sirens at the fastest speed.

The pristine white ambulance, in this dim world, was like a divine soldier. Fang Shimian couldn’t help but feel grateful that he had called for rescue.

Seeing someone riding over, a police officer came to stop and inquire. Fang Shimian pointed ahead, using all his strength to shout, “There’s someone! There’s someone still alive up ahead, save him! Hurry!”

To think there was a survivor in such a car accident.

The police officers who gathered around had a serious look, and without a word, they took Fang Shimian into the car and quickly drove a rescue vehicle forward.

It wasn’t until he saw Huo Zhongshan being carried onto the ambulance by medical staff and emergency treatment began that Fang Shimian relaxed. He went over to pick up the blood-stained hoodie from the ground, feeling an indescribable fatigue wash over him.

After questioning, the police learned that he was the first to report the incident and the only witness at the scene. They first had a doctor check if Fang Shimian was injured, took him to the hospital for X-rays, treated and bandaged several abrasions, and confirmed there were no other issues before taking him back to the police station for a statement.

The electric scooter was also towed back to the police station.

Initially, the police asked very detailed questions about his rescue efforts, for a long time. But midway, the officer in charge of questioning was suddenly called out, and when he returned, he asked a few more questions, consciously avoiding Huo Zhongshan. After Fang Shimian answered honestly, he was taken out, registered some basic information, and was released.

However, Fang Shimian’s cotton jacket was taken to the ambulance, and in this weather, going out in just a hoodie was really uncomfortable.

Fang Shimian’s actions could be considered heroic. The on-duty police officer, seeing how young he looked, originally planned to notify Fang Shimian’s family to pick him up, but Fang Shimian firmly refused. So, the police officer gave him a down jacket to wear home.

After thanking him, Fang Shimian slowly rode his battered little electric scooter back home.

What he didn’t know was that Huo Zhongshan wasn’t sent to Haishi First Hospital. Because when the medical staff discovered that Huo Zhongshan’s wounds were actually gunshot wounds, they immediately informed the accompanying police, but the police received orders from higher-ups to arrange a handover.

The Huo family’s bodyguards stopped the ambulance directly at the intersection.

The Anhe Hospital’s medical staff were already in place, and the medical team was waiting at the nearest branch. Huo Zhongshan was quickly sent to the branch for emergency surgery.

Tonight, Haishi was destined to be restless. The major car accident on Yanshan Highway and the video of the explosion debris and flames at the scene went viral.

For such a tragic car accident to happen on a road with few vehicles, most netizens speculated it was a rich second-generation racing incident, while a few comments suggesting it wasn’t simple were quickly suppressed.

Fang Shimian took his little electric scooter to the place outside the community where he bought it for repair and inspection, then walked back to the flower bed downstairs in the community alone, still a bit shaken. But he had done everything he could, and Huo Zhongshan’s life or death was no longer his concern.

He went to the public restroom in the community to wash his face, then sat back on the flower bed, lost in thought for a while, before calling Xu Long to come down and have dinner together.

There were many people in the community. Although the square dance had already ended at this time, there were still children playing badminton under the streetlights, and parents gathered in groups discussing tutoring classes and the latest college entrance exam policies, as well as which schools were good or bad…

Under the sensor lights of the building, a few middle-aged people were playing hand-rolled mahjong, surrounded by onlookers, all from the community, occasionally chatting about this and that, or starting to intensely review which tile shouldn’t have been played in the last round.

Actually, Fang Shimian really liked it here. Although sometimes he didn’t know if it was the neighbors upstairs or downstairs who would argue and throw things, making it hard to sleep at night, he just liked it.

He really liked the current scene, liked seeing the neighbors’ grandmothers returning from grocery shopping with laughter in the morning when he went to work, liked watching high school students in uniforms gathering in the hallway to finish homework with laughter, liked young couples snuggling in the rain, talking about their hopes for the future…

Many times, Fang Shimian felt that living was a difficult thing, but many times, he also felt that life wasn’t so pessimistic. Not being driven by desires, living wasn’t that hard.

“Why didn’t you call me before you starved to death?” Xu Long’s face looked particularly resentful under the streetlight.

Fang Shimian rubbed his slightly swollen eyes, casually picked a leaf and handed it to Xu Long, “Here, have a bite first. It’s not good to starve to death.”

Xu Long calmly took the leaf, transformed into a T-Rex, and chased Fang Shimian for a while.

Fang Shimian’s legs were still a bit weak, and after running a few steps, he almost rolled into the flower bed, quickly stopping to plead, “Don’t be mad, Grandpa Long. What do you want to eat today? It’s on me.”

“Oh, did you strike it rich on your outing?” Xu Long looked at his phone, unable to decide among a bunch of food group-buying coupons, so he handed it to Fang Shimian, “Which one do you want?”

Fang Shimian was even more dazzled, and after looking for a long time, he handed it back to Xu Long unchanged, throwing out the answer, “I’m fine with anything.”

Xu Long almost transformed again, but Fang Shimian, seeing his expression, quickly picked one and handed it to Xu Long, “How about this one?”

Grandpa Long glanced at the navigation, it was a bit far, so the two of them turned back to ride the motorcycle.

Under the restaurant’s lights, Xu Long finally noticed Fang Shimian’s disheveled state. The down jacket was from the police, not damaged, which was fine, but his pants and shoes were stained with blood, and his hands were wrapped in band-aids and gauze.

Fang Shimian then remembered he should have cleaned up before calling Xu Long down.

But it was too late to say anything now. Under Xu Long’s aggressive gaze, Fang Shimian could only briefly recount his heroic act, omitting most of the dangerous scenes, only picking some general parts to tell.

“You said you saw a car crash, then left after saving someone?” Xu Long was full of questions, “Reincarnation of Lei Feng? Shimian, look at your injuries, shouldn’t you at least get some medical expenses?”

Fang Shimian looked at his hands, then thought of his battered little green scooter and the missing helmet, “Consider it collected in advance.”

“What do you mean? You saved someone you know?” Xu Long was confused, holding a pizza in his hand, “And according to you, the car exploded, there should be news by now, right?”

Fang Shimian wasn’t too concerned about that, so he shook his head, “I don’t know.”

Xu Long took a bite of the pizza in his hand, wiped his hands with a napkin, took out his phone, looked at it for a few seconds, then froze.

After a while, he raised his phone with a shocked expression, showing it to Fang Shimian, “The heroic act you did, it wouldn’t be this car accident, would it?”

Fang Shimian looked at the location and photos, nodded, “Yeah, it’s here.”

The air froze for a moment.

Xu Long took a deep breath with his eyes closed, took back his phone, read the article carefully, combined with the comments section, gritted his teeth, “Those reckless rich second-generation racers are worth risking your life to save? Could it be that brother who came to the surveillance room to recognize you last time?”

Fang Shimian felt that the car accident didn’t seem like it was caused by racing, but seeing Xu Long’s determined expression, he wasn’t too sure, so he could only answer, “Not Brother Zhu, it was someone else.”

“You know such lunatics?”

Huo Zhongshan… wasn’t a lunatic, right?

Fang Shimian thought for a while, picked up a piece of pineapple bun, “Not really, I’ve seen him… twice.”

Xu Long was impressed, “You’re really something, daring to save someone you’ve only met twice, and then running away after saving them. Even if the person didn’t make it, you should let their family know… Fang Shimian, I admire you, really, you’re a man.”

“Didn’t make it?” Fang Shimian looked at Xu Long in a daze, his breathing a bit rapid, “Didn’t make it?”

Xu Long, eating pizza, didn’t notice Fang Shimian’s abnormality, casually said, “Weren’t you clearer at the scene than I was?”

“The report says there were no survivors in this car accident.”