Chapter 67: Final Profession

The helicopter, having emptied all its heavy machine gun bullets, finally roared away. Zhan Xiaoge and Zhao Haiping, looking disheveled, crawled out from their hidden spots. Zhan Xiagege briefly examined Zhao Haiping's wound. The blood flowing from Zhao Haiping's thigh was a reddish-brown color. Although Zhao Haiping had tied the wound with a strip of cloth, fresh blood still kept flowing out.
"You're lucky. The bullet only broke your vein, not even your bones." Zhan Xiagege let out a long sigh of relief. If this bullet had really struck Zhao Haiping's great artery in his leg and hadn't been treated promptly, Zhao Haiping might have already lost too much blood and died.
Zhanxiage moved Zhao Haiping to a slightly flat spot, lifted a twenty-centimeter-high stone, and had Zhao Haiping rest his injured right leg on the rock. Veins refer to the blood vessels that need to pass through when blood returns to the heart vessels. These vessels have lower pressure and lose blood more slowly after injury. Targeting the vein characteristics, Zhao Haiping had Zhao Haiping lift his injured thigh above his heart, helping blood flow quickly back to the heart, lowering blood pressure at the wound site and thus reducing bleeding.
Seeing that Zhao Haiping was already a bit dazed, Zhanxiage reached out and slapped him the face twice, whispering, "Listen, judging by your appearance, you've probably lost over 500 milliliters of fresh blood. With your current physical condition, if you fall into moderate shock, it will be very difficult for you to open your eyes again. No matter what, you absolutely cannot let yourself fall asleep!" ”
Zhao Haiping nodded vigorously. Zhanxiage had been feeling his body for a long time, trying to find a slightly clean cloth. But after more than two months of hard fighting, both his military uniform and underwear had never been washed. Even from twenty or thirty meters away, he could smell a nauseating stench. Sweat and blood soaked his clothes repeatedly, and now a layer of dark brown hard crust had formed. As his disciple, Zhao Haiping's clothes were definitely no better.
"Zhao Haiping, if you want to treat your leg injury now, there are two options for you to choose."
Zhanxiage stared at Zhao Haiping and said, "Your leg injury can't be stopped by ordinary pressing methods. You can choose to have me use the burning method or a tourniquet to heal you." ”
"Wearing a tourniquet will block blood flow in your thigh where you were shot, damaging your thigh thighs. If you tie it for too long, it can accelerate tissue necrosis in your thigh, and in severe cases, it may cause gangrene, leaving your entire thigh disabled!"
Hearing this, Zhao Haiping shook his head repeatedly. He looked at Zhanxiage with hopeful eyes and asked, "What about the burning method?" ”
"The burning method means directly burning your wound with fire, forcibly sealing it off. This may seem like a one-time solution, but if your wound reopens, I have to use a tourniquet to stop it. At that point, if you want to save your life, you'll have to give up one leg. Moreover......" At this point, Zhanxiage hesitated slightly and said, "Your body's endurance and vitality have already reached their limit. If you faint from the pain during the burn treatment, and we lack the necessary medical equipment, not even enough fresh water, the chance of opening your eyes will not exceed forty percent." ”
Zhao Haiping stroked his thigh, which was almost numb from pain, and asked, "Master, are you saying that if I use a tourniquet to treat the wound, I can survive and save my thigh, but my thigh will definitely lose some function due to prolonged lack of blood circulation; And if I had chosen cauterization, I might have died on the spot, lost my thigh due to a ruptured wound, or returned to China with a pair of intact legs?! ”
"Yes, so I want you to choose for yourself."
"Do I still need a choice?" Zhao Haiping said softly, "In the past, I would have chosen to keep my own life. After all, I'm already married, have a wife, and an obedient daughter. Even if I have a minor leg ailment, it's nothing special. If I return home due to injury, if I'm lucky, maybe I'll even get a good job. A warm home for my wife and kids—that was my greatest wish." But now, having met my master, I don't want to leave the army anymore. I thought I was proud to be a soldier! If I had a choice, I hope being a soldier would be my ultimate career in life! ”
"Alright!"
Zhanxiage quietly walked away. When he returned, he retrieved the backpacks he and Zhao Haiping had left in the desert. Zhanxiage twisted open the water bottle and slowly used the fresh water inside to clean Zhao Haiping's leg wound. Only after pouring all the fresh water onto Zhao Haiping's wound did he take out more than a dozen bullets from the magazine.
He twisted open the bullet nozzle and poured all the gunpowder onto Zhao Haiping's wound until the gunpowder completely covered it. The war hero then placed a branch into Zhao Haiping's mouth and whispered, "Hold on, don't pass out!" ”
Zhao Haiping bit down the branch in his mouth and nodded vigorously. Zhanxiage pulled out the bullet of a bullet and stuffed as much dry moss he'd found under the stone as possible into the casing. He fired a shot at the other side, and the moss sprayed out of the barrel started to burn. Zhanxiage carefully used a branch to stir up a small flame and placed it on Zhao Haiping's thigh.
"Sizzle......"
A thick cloud of smoke rose from Zhao Haiping's thigh, the smell of burning flesh wafting through the air. Zhao Haiping's eyes widened wide, and with a crisp "smack," he bit through the branch in his mouth. Zhao Haiping's body suddenly tensed up like a shrimp thrown into a pan of oil, bouncing thirty or forty centimeters high from the ground. While Zhanxiage was crying out in his heart, his body, stretched to the limit, suddenly relaxed, and with his thigh that had stopped bleeding, he collapsed straight to the ground.
Zhanxiage lunged at Zhao Haiping, grabbed his collar, and slapped him hard across the face, shouting, "Zhao Haiping, open your eyes!" If you are my disciple of Zhanxia Song, if you are still a man, then open your eyes for me! ”
"Hmm......"
Zhao Haiping really wanted to try hard to open his eyes, but he felt as if something was pressing down on his eyelids. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't escape the grip of darkness. A seductive voice whispered in his ear: "You're already exhausted. Why do you still cling to it so foolishly? Give up, give up, give up...... You'll find that lying in the dark and sleeping is so comfortable, and you'll realize that forgetting everything makes you so happy. ”
That voice was so tempting that, compared to it, the war hero song's roar sounded too harsh. Zhao Haiping muttered to himself, "I'm really tired, Master, I'm really tired. Please, let me sleep for a while, even just for a minute!" I'm really exhausted! ”
A warm, warm current flowed into Zhao Haiping's mouth. The sweet taste reminded him of the taste of milk. He began to suck hard, and as he kept sucking, a smile that seemed to show the purest smile on his face, like a child receiving a beloved toy. As he kept sucking, he realized that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't draw in that sweet warmth again. Zhao Haiping protested in dissatisfaction, thrusting his body into silence.
Zhanxiage sat on the ground, holding Zhao Haiping tightly in his arms. He gazed at his wrist, which no longer bleed, raised his tiger-tooth combat saber, slashed his wrist again, and then brought the new wound to Zhao Haiping's mouth. Zhao Haiping tasted fresh blood in his mouth, and a joyful smile appeared on his face again. He continued to suck hard.
Zhanxiage sat quietly holding Zhao Haiping, letting Zhao Haiping slowly draw out his blood and his life force. As Zhao Haiping sucked hard, Zhanxiage's face turned pale, sweat the size of beans slowly seeping from his forehead, but his face always wore a calm, indecipherable smile.
Liu Wei probably never understood in this lifetime that Zhao Haiping was definitely not a so-called follower to Zhan Xia Ge. In Liu Wei's eyes, the current behavior of the war hero was even more foolish.
Zhanxiage and Zhao Haiping fought together for survival on Russian soil, and through countless battles where they stood by each other and shared life and death, a bond had developed between them that was even closer than bloodline. Although they had only known each other for a few months, for a man, savoring the trust that allows him to entrust his back to the other, enjoying the friendship that grows amid iron and fire—even if just for one minute, it was enough!
The two of them sat quietly there, as if their words had been engraved into the eternity of history.
Drinking the blood of his brothers, the blood of the strongest man in the world, Zhao Haiping, a man who is equally strong, finally had the chance to open his eyes once again. It was already late at night, and the temperature in the desert had dropped to over ten degrees Celsius, but Zhao Haiping was not cold at all, because his body was tightly embraced by his brother's warm embrace. Under the bright moonlight, Zhao Haiping looked at Zhan Xiaoge's wrist, which had three knife wounds, gently savored the lingering sweet, fishy taste in his mouth, then looked at Zhan Xiaoge, already asleep on a rock with a pale face. Burning tears finally slowly seeped from Zhao Haiping's eyes.