Chapter 19 – Neighbors Unexpectedly Injured

Zhou Qiuyang’s injury was severe — the knife wound on his back was so deep the bone was visible, and the flesh was torn open.

Xia Xiaoman frowned. “This kind of wound needs stitches. Weren’t you looking for a rescue team? Did you find any doctors?”

Ye Xiaojie shook her head. “After getting injured, we tried to find a rescue team, but had no luck. We were worried that if Zhou Qiuyang stayed in the rain too long, he wouldn’t make it, so we brought him back first.”

“If we had surgical suture thread, I could try stitching the wound. Unfortunately, mine is at school.”

Xia Xiaoman’s eyes lit up. “You’re a medical student?”

“No, I study veterinary medicine. I bought a suturing practice kit for learning debridement procedures. It includes suture thread and needles.”

Although the quality wasn’t great, with proper disinfection, it could still be used.

“I have suture thread. Wait here—I’ll go find it for you to see if it’s usable.” Xia Xiaoman ran back into the house.

She had previously found it in a submerged pharmacy warehouse — a small cardboard box full of surgical sutures.

Ye Xiaojie inspected the supplies Xia Xiaoman brought: 1/2 curved 4*12 cosmetic suture needles, 10 packets per box, each in an individual sealed pouch.

Although already well-sealed, Ye Xiaojie still disinfected everything in boiling water before beginning the stitching.

She didn’t ask Xia Xiaoman too many questions about how she had the sutures.
It wasn’t exactly rare — outdoor enthusiasts and people in dangerous professions often kept such items at home. Sun Qing had bought a set before but lost it during a hiking trip.

Xia Xiaoman’s space contained a lot of medicine, but she didn’t act like a savior by offering everything. She only supplied the suture kit. The iodine and Yunnan Baiyao powder were gathered by Sun Qing and Wen Jianfeng.

Zhou Qiuyang provided the antibiotics — and by the looks of it, he was probably the only one who needed them. Sun Qing and Ye Xiaojie seemed in relatively better shape.

After treating the wounds, Xia Xiaoman kindly cooked a pot of noodles for them. The noodles came from Sun Qing’s stash, the seasoning and gas from Zhou Qiuyang’s, and Xia Xiaoman added two cans of luncheon meat.

While cooking, Ye Xiaojie briefly explained how they got injured.

“We paddled for over an hour and met two rescue workers. They said the entire country is experiencing disasters. Rescue manpower is stretched thin, so the government is calling on everyone to start self-rescue efforts.”

“The grain warehouses in Floating City have been flooded. Food is scarce. They said there’s no longer enough supply for free distribution. Instead, people are encouraged to salvage supplies from the flood and exchange them at aid stations for food.”

What sounded like a resource control strategy was, in reality, likely a plan to use civilians to help gather supplies and speed up post-disaster recovery.

At the same time, it distracted people from relying solely on the government — instead, encouraging them to fend for themselves.

Of course, the rescue workers didn’t say this outright — that was Ye Xiaojie’s analysis.

“Knowing we had to rely on ourselves, we figured we might as well scavenge a bit before heading back.”

That nearly cost them their lives.

Although the storm had just passed and water levels dropped slightly, they were still dangerously high.

Most supermarkets and stores were on the first few floors — at most the third or fourth. But now, with water levels reaching six or seven stories high, looting required diving gear.

Their main goal was to gather intel, so they hadn’t brought any diving equipment. Like others, they resorted to collecting floating items.

Plenty of others were doing the same. Among all the makeshift rafts floating about, their inflatable kayak stood out.

Their eye-catching boat attracted attention. While entering an office building, they were ambushed.

The attackers were numerous and strong — even though Sun Qing and Ye Xiaojie were skilled fighters, they couldn’t avoid getting cut.

Just as someone was about to strangle Sun Qing to death, Wen Jianfeng happened to be nearby, looking for supplies in the same building.

At first, he heard the fighting and intended to walk away. But then he heard Ye Xiaojie shout Sun Qing’s name. Concerned it might really be his student, he doubled back — and sure enough, it was her. So he jumped in to help.

Most of the attackers were already half-disabled by then, so Wen Jianfeng didn’t have much trouble scaring them off.

Seeing the women badly injured, he brought them to his nearby home for first aid.

While they were treating wounds, Wen Jianfeng’s deceased wife’s younger brother showed up and caused a scene.

Wen Jianfeng’s wife had passed away after years of poor health post-childbirth. Her family was the classic “favor the son, ignore the daughter” type — treating her like a walking blood bank.

But she was strong-willed and refused to be an ATM for her family once she started working, sending only a fixed allowance home.

Maybe because she never had a room of her own growing up, she’d saved obsessively and bought the home they lived in — the very one they were now being kicked out of.

Her younger brother’s house had been flooded. He came over in the rain, shamelessly claiming that since the house had belonged to his sister, and she had passed, it now rightfully belonged to him.

Wen Jianfeng beat him to a bloody pulp on the spot.

Xia Xiaoman asked, confused, “If you could beat him off, why did you still move?”

“Because that building is about to collapse,” Wen Jianfeng said grimly. “It’s been standing for a long time. After being soaked in water for this long, it’s starting to tilt.”

That house held all his wife and children’s memories. He wouldn’t have left unless he absolutely had to.

But when he brought Sun Qing and the others home, he realized the building was leaning. Staying any longer would be risky. He could live with that — but he had two children to think about.

Ye Xiaojie added, “Since Coach Wen had nowhere to go, and we had plenty of empty units, I suggested he stay here temporarily.”

Xia Xiaoman nodded. “That works. Now the 13th floor is fully occupied.”

After hearing the whole story, she didn’t feel any hostility toward Wen Jianfeng and his kids. If anyone should be afraid, it was him — after all, he was the one caring for two young children.

No supplies were distributed that night — all the items they brought were from Wen Jianfeng’s home.

Still, even without sharing supplies, they learned something important:

Floating City had officially encouraged civilians to scavenge supplies from the flood.

Which meant starting tomorrow, Xia Xiaoman could go looting underwater… with zero guilt.