Everyone's hunting for treasure: I'll give you 100 times the loot and hand it over to the

The heavy defensive array outside the old city hospital has solidified the triage area into a rigid barrier.

Twelve alloy barricades blocked the main road, and machine gun mounts were placed on the ruined walls of the outpatient building, with the muzzles all pointing deep into the hospital.

Armored vehicles rolled over biochemical debris in the sewer, their tracks leaving wet, black mud trails, the stench of gasoline mingling with the bodily fluids and cement dust.

A cold wind blew in through the gap in the broken wall, scraping against the broken steel and producing intermittent friction sounds.

The first squad retreated to the third guard corridor, while the engineers removed the remaining blood and debris from the rear.

Zhao Lei sat against the wall, his two shields stacked flat at his feet.

He took the entrenching tool, which had broken in two, and scraped hard at the red tendons and cartilage stuck in the shield ring.

The sound of the blade scraping against the edge of the alloy shield was more annoying than sawing iron.

"Damn, they made eight hundred pairs of boots to march in formation in the guard area."

Zhao Leiguang picked up a piece of cartilage and put it on the ground, then rolled it twice with the sole of his boot.

"Is this because they're unhappy with their jobs, or because there are so many tomb keepers that they need to build several memorial arches to worship them?"

Wen Yue leaned against a pillar to finish her choreographing, without looking up.

"If you keep hurling insults, they might actually put up a sign against you later."

Zhao Leiguang raised his finger and pointed to his double shields.

"What's written on it, Nishikawa waste disposal truck?"

"Repair fees pending payment"

Zhao Leiguang clicked his tongue and threw the entrenching tool against the wall.

Lu Yan did not respond.

He looked down to examine the identification tag on the gun handle; the corner of the tag was soaked in blood, and most of the writing was smudged.

Shen Xinglin stood to his left and tore off the blood-stained pocket from the crack in his armor.

After stuffing the dry towel inside, the cold air leaking into the nail folds was blocked.

Lu Yan raised his hand to press down on his shoulder armor.

That's enough.

Shen Xinglin fastened the empty medical kit back to his waist.

"Go back and change the nail plate."

"Make a note of this."

Su Yunqing knelt in front of Lin Chuxue, the suture needle between her two fingers.

Her fingers were terribly stiff, but the needle tip didn't deviate.

Lin Chuxue's breastplate had a crack, and the blood shield pressed against the damaged area, with residual heat still inside.

Su Yunqing lifted the watchman's coin on the inside of her breastplate and used a wet wipe to scrape away the rust and blood from the edges.

Lin Chuxue leaned against the wall, a lollipop stick between her teeth.

"Stop wiping."

Su Yunqing didn't stop.

"If you stick a copper coin to a wound, the rust will get into the flesh."

"Go in then."

"What your father left behind shouldn't fester in a wound."

Lin Chuxue turned her head towards the hospital and didn't speak for a long time.

Qin Wuyi sat on the other side, with the main plate on her lap.

The ninth stone slab has been embedded in the surface of the plate, and the crack has closed, but it has not completely disappeared.

The bloodline on the plate stretched from Xichuan all the way to Chang'an, stopping at the seventh gate.

Zhao Lei peeked out and took a look.

"Can you please stop relying on Chang'an for your business?"

Qin Wuyi covered the canvas bag.

"It doesn't ask me."

"Then ask it if there are any shield repairmen in Chang'an."

Wen Yue pressed the last box of scatter bullets into the magazine.

"Yes, but the price will be ten times higher."

Zhao Leiguang didn't reply, but looked down at the crack on the shield.

A sudden commotion came from the end of the guard corridor.

The warning lights in the restricted area were smashed, and fragments of the red light rolled across the ground.

A woman in research attire stepped over the firewall, two buttons ripped off her military overcoat.

Four soldiers with cable signs hanging on their shoulders followed behind her; they were running so fast their steps were unsteady.

The woman had a pressure test tube tightly clamped between her left arm and an insulation sleeve.

Zhao Leiguang reached out to touch the shield.

Wen Yue raised the crossbow muzzle by half an inch.

Lu Yan first raised his hand to stop the two of them and walked to the cordon.

Li Su took off her mask, her forehead was covered in sweat, and her lips were grayish.

Before she could speak, Lu Yan glanced at the test tube peeking out from her sleeve.

"The prefectural magistrate has just locked down the seven gates."

Lu Yan's mask was missing a piece on the side, and there was still blood on his armor that hadn't been wiped off.

"You brought Coldfire to the gun emplacement to do a great job?"

Li Su pressed her chest and coughed twice.

"No more nonsense about rest and recuperation."

She pushed the test tube forward.

"Quickly adjust the shock absorber rear compartment. The forward fire crew couldn't save many lives, and there's no way to retreat."

The clerk at the corridor caught up, his military boots crushing the casing of the alarm.

"Researcher Li, the Xichuan assessment team has issued a lockdown order; no samples may be transferred."

Li Su turned around and cursed.

"Those people have imposed lockdown orders on living people."

The combat clerk's face turned pale.

"There are unknown residues in Ward 7, and transportation would increase the risk."

Lu Yan reached out and took the sealing document, glancing at it twice.

The paper was stamped with the red seal of the Nishikawa Assessment Group, and seven sealing orders were neatly arranged.

The first barrier was to block off the main road to the triage area.

The second barrier sealed off the underground freight elevator.

The third barrier blocked the recycling lane on the east side of the old city hospital.

Lu Yan returned the document.

Who wrote it?

"Counselor Chen."

Where is he?

"Command vehicle."

Lu Yan looked up at the north side.

The sewage ditch is still open, and the engineering corps is dragging the flesh and blood pipeline out.

The No. 3 ventilation shaft on the west side has not stopped either; the fan is still sending air from the hospital to the old city area.

I'm really worried about any residue leaking out; these two places should have been sealed off long ago.

The seven doors were all locked neatly, but the one that should have been locked was left unlocked.

Zhao Leiguang understood as well.

"The closure was done quite carefully, blocking only the paths for people, not the paths for dirty things."

The clerk's lips moved, but he didn't respond.

Lu Yan handed the document back.

"Aren't you afraid of leaks?"

He looked at the red seal.

"You're worried that the things from Ward 7 will be taken away first."

The clerk gripped the edge of the document.

"The remains of the Night Watchmen must be collected and preserved by the local authorities."

Lin Chuxue stood up from the wall.

Her breastplate wasn't finished being sewn on yet; the copper coin was pressed against the inside of the armor.

"Store?"

She spat out the lollipop stick.

"My dad's ashes haven't even cooled down yet, and you've already cleared out the cabinet?"

Su Yunqing put the suture needles back into the needle case and stood in front of Lin Chuxue.

"The remains need to be handed over, but the wounded are the priority."

The clerk, trying to sound tough, said, "The procedures can't be messed up."

Lu Yan glanced into the depths of the hospital.

"Lin Jianguo has been waiting for ten years, without going through your procedures."

"He left the door open for living people, not for people to fill out forms."

Qin Wuyi gripped the strap of the canvas bag.

The ninth stone slab lay quietly in the bag.

Lu Yan turned to him.

"You may keep the stone slab."

Qin Wuyi nodded.

Lu Yan then looked at Lin Chuxue.

"The copper coins are yours."

Lin Chuxue didn't speak, pressing her palm against the breastplate.

Lu Yan put the gun back on his side.

"The ashes inside the cabin were escorted out of the restricted area by the first squad."

"Whoever wants to hand over the duties, bring the official orders."

"Anyone who dares to reach out first will be treated as trespassing on a historical site."

The clerk was sweating profusely.

He reached for the communicator, but ultimately didn't dare to press it.

Li Su stuffed the test tube back into her sleeve and tilted her head toward the temporary field house.

"You've saved the person, now it's my turn to speak."

The field house was set up behind the armored vehicle, its canvas roof snapping loudly in the wind.

On the table were disassembled rifle parts, hemostatic forceps, and half a box of cold compressed biscuits.

Li Su placed the test tube on the table.

A small piece of condensate fell off the edge of the outer insulation jacket of the test tube.

Su Yunqing reached out and caught it, rubbing the black ash between her fingertips.

She paused.

"This isn't old charcoal from the battlefield."

Li Su looked up.

Su Yunqing put the ash under her nose and smelled it.

"Three flavors of cigarette ash."

No one inside the room responded.

Zhao Leiguang stood at the door, first looking at the test tube, then at Lin Chuxue.

"Isn't this supposed to be cold fire?"

It's cold outside, but not inside.

Li Su removed the outer cover of the test tube, revealing a silver-gray light-blocking barrel.

Two thin holes were burned into the wall of the barrel, with the edges of the holes turning dark red.

Wen Yue placed the crossbow horizontally in front of the table.

"Whose blood?"

Li Su didn't answer, but looked at Lu Yan first.

"A while ago, someone was sent from the East China Sea."

"The person is neither dead nor awake."

"He had no injuries, but his blood was decreasing day by day."

Lu Yan asked, "Is it related to the Old City Hospital?"

"At first, we also took it as two different things."

Li Su fastened the pressure ring to the lid of the bucket, her fingers pausing for a moment.

"Later, this bucket of blood came into contact with ash that fell from the seventh ward, and the cotton swabs covering it started to burn."

Su Yunqing pulled Lin Chuxue back half a step.

Li Su pried open the pressure ring.

There was no ice fog inside the light-blocking barrel.

The military-grade cotton quilt was burned in two, and the bottom of the quilt was glowing red through.

Li Su stared at the red light, her throat bobbing.

"Nobody here listens to bureaucratic jargon."

"Look at the blood that the little war god drew from the third uncle of our Dongda Junior Master, the fourth Sea God Ancestor, a while ago."