The First Order

To Liang Ce, Ren Xiaosu had helped him avoid a crisis. After all, the deserter had been pointing a gun at him throughout the ordeal. If it came down to a fight, he would definitely have been the first one to die.

Besides, Liang Ce felt it was understandable that Ren Xiaosu had opened fire to protect his girlfriend. If the deserter had tried to take Meng Nan away, he would probably have risked his life to fight him as well.

Ren Xiaosu handed the pistol back to Wang Jing in a fluster. “I’m sorry, I didn’t consider the consequences just now. If I didn’t manage to kill him, I would have implicated everyone.”

However, Wang Jing did not take the pistol back from him. He said with a smile, “You were right to shoot. However, you don’t have to return the gun to me. You can keep it. This gun was handed down to me by my father. But I think you’re more suited to owning it now.”

Ren Xiaosu said in surprise, “But I don’t know how to use a gun.”

“It doesn’t matter whether you know how to or not. What’s important is that you have the courage to open fire.” Wang Jing sighed. When he said that, the middle-aged man beside him felt a little ashamed.

At the beginning, he did even want to let Ren Xiaosu handle a gun. But in the end, he threw down his gun while Ren Xiaosu was the one who resolved the crisis.

It was apparent that Wang Jing had brought him along in recent years because he was the best shooter among them. But what good was that?

Wang Jing waved it off. “You don’t have to feel embarrassed. After all, we’re doctors, and we’ve never killed anyone before. This is only normal.”

Ren Xiaosu nodded to himself. Wang Jing was really quite a reasonable person, and what he said was true as well.

Wang Jing said to the middle-aged man and Liang Ce, “Carry this man’s body into the forest. We’ll be staying here for the night, so it won’t be nice to leave the corpse at the campsite.”

“Sure.” Liang Ce nodded in acknowledgment. The medical field was a little unique. Normal people tended to be afraid of dead people, but surgeons were used to seeing them. So they were not afraid of the dead but the living.

Wang Jing looked north and lamented, “It looks like the world is really going to get chaotic soon.”

“Elder, why do you say that?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“Recently, there have been people getting transferred away from the various hospitals. You know about that, right?” Wang Jing asked.

Ren Xiaosu nodded, pretending to know…

“Actually, these doctors have been temporarily redeployed by the Wang Consortium to join the military.” Wang Jing said, “Apparently, they don’t have enough medics, so they got the doctors in the strongholds to take their place. This is only the first batch. There will still be a second round of deployments after that.”

“The Kong Consortium and the Pyro Company are at war right now. Perhaps the Wang Consortium is making preparations in advance? However, I don’t think the Wang Consortium will be affected by the flames of war,” Ren Xiaosu speculated. In his opinion, the unfortunate ones were the Kong Consortium and Pyro Company. Currently, the Wang Consortium was just sitting back and waiting to reap the benefits.

But when Wang Jing heard his speculation, he shook his head. “I probably know more about this than you all. Those doctors and nurses have actually been deployed to the north.”

“To the north?” Someone was puzzled. Ren Xiaosu examined everyone’s expressions and noticed they seemed like they were hearing this news for the first time.

Wang Jing explained, “Yes, to the north. They’re heading to Stronghold 176! Rumor has it that a new enemy has appeared there. Awhile ago, the nomads came to deliver news that enemies from farther north will be coming to attack.”

“The nomads?” One of the doctors became angry when he heard that. “They’ve just killed so many people at Stronghold 176, so how can we believe their words?”

“This time, the nomads are not lying.” Wang Jing said with a sigh, “After getting the news, the Wang Consortium sent their scouts north and actually found traces of the enemy. Furthermore, someone said all of the nomads living in the grasslands have migrated east so they can avoid this disaster.”

Wang Jing was a medical authority who would usually come into contact with high-ranking officials. Some of the Wang Consortium’s big shots would even specifically look for Wang Jing to handle their treatment. He must have heard the news from those big shots.

Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin looked at each other. Then Ren Xiaosu asked in a low voice, “Before The Cataclysm, there used to be a vast territory up in the north. But from some of the old newspapers dating back some years ago that I read in Stronghold 88, it was said that the disaster had affected the Northern Territory much more seriously than here. How could anyone have survived there?”

Yang Xiaojin replied, “I doubt any of us has ever been that north before, so that’s probably just speculation. After all, the newspapers that reported it were not Hope Media, so their credibility must be taken with a pinch of salt.”

Honestly, probably no one in the entire Central Plains would have expected enemies from farther north of the grasslands to come attacking one day.

Ren Xiaosu had thought this chaotic war in the Central Plains would only involve a few consortiums. But he never expected there to be such a turn of events.

Ren Xiaosu looked at Wang Jing and said, “Is that why you’ve been frowning all this time?”

“Yes, even though we spend an entire lifetime learning how to save lives, we end up realizing how insignificant we are in the face of war. You can save 10 people today, but thousands of people will perish just in a small-scale war, with thousands more injured as well,” Wang Jing said.

When a young doctor nearby heard this, he became a little despondent. “Then have we studied medicine for nothing?”

Wang Jing patted him on the shoulder. “How could it be for nothing? We’ll still save as many people as we can. Each of us was required to take an oath when we entered the profession. Do you still remember the oath you took back then?”

The young doctor said, “Of course I remember it. Health entrusted. Lives confided. I will do my utmost to alleviate human suffering and promote human health, safeguarding the sanctity and honor of medicine. I will heal the wounded and rescue the dying regardless of the trials and tribulations. As long as my life endures, may I commit myself to advancing the well-being of the entire human race.”

The oath was still not over. Wang Jing immediately said with a nostalgic look in his eyes, “I aspire to be a candle that burns brightly from tip to end.”

Ren Xiaosu was stunned. That was what Zhang Jinglin said to him as well. So it turned out this was an oath taken by doctors in this era of the wastelands. Only at this time did he remember that Zhang Jinglin used to be a medic who was unwilling to open fire when he served at Fortress 178 a long time ago.

Ren Xiaosu felt an inexplicable sense of respect for Zhang Jinglin. It was just like when he met Jiang Xu.

In the past, he always held a pessimistic view of this world. But gradually, he realized it was because he had too little life experience and had not met enough people yet, so he was unaware there was still hope in this world.

Wang Jing waved everyone in. “Let’s settle down and eat. After you’re done eating, rest early. We continue our journey tomorrow.”

At this moment, Liang Ce and the middle-aged doctor named Sima Gang returned to the campsite. Ren Xiaosu signaled to Liang Ce and said in a low voice, “You like Meng Nan, right? Right now, while the impact of the crisis hasn’t subsided yet, she’ll certainly be quite affected. Have you heard of the misattribution of arousal[1] before? It means that when a person is in danger, their heart will involuntarily beat faster. At this moment, when she meets another person, she’ll think that she has a romantic interest in that person. Hurry over to her.”

Yang Xiaojin glanced at Ren Xiaosu. “You sure are full of tricks.”

Ren Xiaosu quickly explained, “It’s just something I saw in a book…. I thought we were giving Liang Ce some advice? I’m just applying what I’ve learned.”

As Liang Ce had also heard of the misattribution of arousal before, his eyes lit up. He turned around and walked towards Meng Nan. However, he saw her silently sitting next to the campfire, hugging her knees. It looked like she was still affected by what had happened just now.

Liang Ce sat down next to Meng Nan and asked softly, “Are you scared?”

Meng Nan’s expression softened a little. She nodded her head and replied, “A little. I used to listen to songs all night when I felt scared. When I saw a cadaver for the first time when I started studying medicine, I was so scared I couldn’t fall asleep for the entire night. But as long as I listened to songs, I would not feel that scared anymore. I forgot to bring along my portable music player this time. Can you chat with me?”

Liang Ce got excited. “There’s no need for that, I brought a portable music player with me!”

Ren Xiaosu was speechless. As was Yang Xiaojin.

Then Ren Xiaosu watched Liang Ce walk to the car to retrieve his portable music player for Meng Nan before sitting down by the campfire alone.

He suddenly believed this guy deserved to be single.

[1] Misattribution of arousal is a term in psychology which describes the process whereby people make a mistake in assuming what is causing them to feel aroused. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misattribution_of_arousal