Chapter 762: Arrived at the Hospital
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
*Clank, clank.*
Two assault boats were thrown down from two different helicopters. Along with the assault boats, a few large floatable pails were also thrown down.
A few mercenaries who were clad in professional military uniforms quickly grabbed onto those large blue pails. They then hopped onto the assault boats. After confirming their destination, they paddled forward at a high speed.
They were still more than 20 miles away from Guozheng Charity Hospital. However, if they were to proceed any further with the helicopters, they would not be able to find a place to land. It was an extremely dangerous place to go even with the assault boats.
The mercenaries did not mind, though. Compared with the missions they had embarked on before, this mission was extremely easy. Most importantly, compared to the missions that they have heard their compatriots boasting about, not only was this mission easy, but they could totally boast about it. All of them liked it very much.
Amid the heavy rain, the mercenaries weathered all obstacles and tried their best to advance. Even though things were not difficult to the point that they had to pave their own paths and build their own bridges, plenty of dangerous incidents that were complicated to deal with happened during their journey. The boats had capsized a few times, and there were places where they had to walk while carrying the boats. If it were not for the fact that they were highly paid, the mercenaries would have made a documentary about their journey.
Of course, if the pay was not that high, they would not have embarked on this mission at all.
They started walking at dawn, and only managed to cover the journey of more than twenty miles by evening. They stood looking at the silhouette of Guozheng Charity Hospital on the horizon.
“Alright, gentlemen. Right now, we have basically secured our pay.” The captain took a few photographs. He then adjusted his cap and laughed.
His team members cheered too.
“Next, we’ll do as planned. One team will be heading to Cuba Town while the other team will go to Guozheng Charity Hospital. As long as you protect the identified targets well, you’ll receive a reward. Aside from this, the roads between Cuba Town and the hospital are no longer usable. So, whichever team that comes up with a way to solve this problem will receive a reward too. If both teams do it together, you guys can share the rewards among yourselves.” The captain licked his lips and said, “An opportunity where you can earn so much money is hard to come by. So, do make sure that you guys stay alive.”
“Of course.”
“Cheers to money!”
“I’m going to rent a yard and f*ck all the way from above to below the deck. I’ll then f*ck all the way from below to above the deck. I’ll then—”
“You’re merely receiving a reward, not robbing a treasury.” The captain sighed in resignation and continued, “After the first team arrives at Cuba Town, do make sure to communicate well with Tian Guozheng’s bodyguards. You guys don’t need me to remind you about what you should and shouldn’t do, do you? The second team, make sure to keep your guard up regarding the plague. I suggest members of both teams to wear your gas masks.”
One of the team members said, “We’re not in Africa, and there’s no Ebola outbreak here. Very little viruses are capable of airborne transmission.”
“Don’t take the presence of dead bodies lightly.” The captain then pointed at the surface of the water and continued, “Polluted water can be deadly too, so, those of you who are going to Cuba shouldn’t let your guard down either. There’s plenty of cattle there, and a few hundred of them are already dead due to a lack of food. Some of their dead bodies are in the floodwater. If we’re not able to leave even after a day or two, you guys will definitely thank God for the creation of gas masks.”
After he said that, the captain pointed at the hospital with a solemn expression. “I’ll be leading the second team. Let’s take a ten-minute rest and make our way there. As none of the communication devices in the hospital are working, we don’t know the exact situation there. There’s a possibility that everyone is dead. Perhaps… Hmm, if all the people there are dead, we’ll have to look at the dead bodies one by one as we’ll need to bring the doctor’s dead body back.”
“I hope that other people have not eaten him up.”
“It’s only been a few days. Things can’t be that bad yet.”
“Have you not seen a person in despair before?”
The captain ignored what everyone was saying. He whipped out his satellite phone and tried to report the situation in town.
…..
In Botal City, the person in charge of the site, Lucio, became more and more agitated as he waited.
When the satellite phone started ringing, Lucio was looking outside the window. He immediately charged over to the phone, and he was so fast that it was as if he was on a skateboard.
He did not really have any useful subordinates, to the point that the situation could not be resolved at all. Right now, the only people he could pin his hopes on were the team of mercenaries. Of course, he had quite a lot of subordinates. It was just that none of them were useful.
In the face of such a disaster, other than the reporters, everyone intended to wait until the rain stopped before heading to the site of the flood via helicopters. At least, they would only like to travel there by the time they were sure that the rain would stop when they arrived.
No one was willing to risk their lives to enter the site of the flood like the mercenaries. After all, unlike the mercenaries, they were merely getting paid as civil servants.
There was nothing Lucio could do about this situation. This situation repeated itself every single time a flood happened. It was like this a few years ago, ten years ago, and twenty years ago. If it were not for the fact that Tian Guozheng and his entourage were trapped in the flood this time, Lucio would not have been this anxious.
“Boss, we found the car.” The voice of one of his subordinates rang out from the satellite phone.
Lucio froze for a moment and shouted out loud in disappointment, “Just give me a normal voice call if you found the car. Why the heck did you call the satellite phone? Can you be a little more careful with the taxpayers’ money?”
“Oh, okay… I’ll give you a call.” His subordinate immediately hung up.
Lucio froze for a moment. He said angrily as he held the satellite phone which was bigger than a tomato, “Don’t these people know how to finish what they want to say before hanging up?”
Before he could finish cursing his subordinate, the phone on the table started ringing. Right after that, the satellite phone in Lucio’s hand rang again.
Lucio answered the satellite phone first.
“We’ve already arrived in Cuba Town.” The voice of the captain of the mercenary team rang out from the satellite phone.
Lucio perked up. He immediately asked, “How’s the situation there now?”
“We’ll be in the city center in ten minutes. There’s nothing out of the ordinary about the situation here…” The captain of the mercenary team did not have anything to report, but he spoke to Lucio anyway. This was because he wanted to report the progress of the mission to Lucio so that if an accident were to happen that prevented them from completing the mission, he could charge them based on what they have done. After all, mercenaries were the type to show off for a long time even if they only completed their basic tasks.
Lucio quickly offered him some encouragement. After he hung up, he could not help but smile. He even started whistling a song.
For him, it would be enough to protect Cuba Town. As for how things turned out in the hospital, he did not care.
Of course, it would be best if there were a few survivors in the hospital.
As Lucio thought about this, he could not help but walk toward the window again. He was deep in thought as he gazed at the rain outside the window. If he managed to save Tian Guozheng this time, he could try participating in the election.
After a long time, the satellite phone did not ring again.
Lucio raised his left hand abruptly and glanced at his watch. He furrowed his eyebrows. “Almost half an hour has passed.”
His second-in-command nodded. He was secretly impressed. ‘True, you did zone out for half an hour.”
“Where are the mercenaries? Have they arrived?” Lucio continued inquiring.
As they spoke, the satellite phone rang again.
“Boss, we have arrived at Guozheng Charity Hospital.” The captain was very accurate in his pronunciation of “Guozheng”.
“How’re things? Did you guys find that Chinese doctor?”
“Yes. You’ll never be able to imagine what he’s doing.” The captain was emotional.
Lucio’s heart skipped a beat. What decisions would a doctor make when he had to deal with almost a hundred patients as well as their family members in a hospital in a site of disaster? He had already conjured up a tragic story in his mind.
Fortunately, the captain did not expect Lucio to reply. He continued, “They’re barbequing meat.”
“What… meat?”
“Beef. They gathered a herd of cattle who were escaping the flood and also obtained some coal. It is really delicious. One of the patients’ family members is a cook. A few of the people here had also worked in barbeque restaurants before. They totally set up a free barbeque restaurant here. Hm, everything’s perfect aside from the fact that there’s no beer.” After the captain said this, he realized that he was not conveying important information. He quickly continued, “The Chinese doctor is operating on patients. He seems very healthy. Everything in the hospital is going really well too. They powered up the hospital with a backup generator…”
However, Lucio did not relax when he heard this. He asked, “Did nobody die? How many survivors are there?”
“Nobody died. At least, not for the past few days. All the patients, their family members, and the people who are taking refuge here survived.” The captain bit off a mouthful of beef as he spoke. After trudging through the flood all day, he felt like he was in heaven to be able to sit in the clean cafeteria and devour delicious barbequed meat.
“It looks like you’re loving the food. Eat up.” With a friendly expression on his face, the head chef placed a large chunk of barbequed rump on the table. He then asked, “You guys have a satellite phone? Can we borrow it? I’d like to give my family members a call.”
“Me too.”
“Thank you for bringing the satellite phone over. Our only worry is that we can’t communicate with the outside world.”
Everyone in the cafeteria crowded around the captain and sucked up to him.
As a mercenary, the captain rarely had the chance to become the center of attention. Every time he was the center of attention, he was merely being cursed. His ego inflated at lightning speed, but he learned how to put on a humble act even though no one was teaching him how to. “You guys don’t have to thank me. This is nothing. You guys should thank the Chinese doctor. He saved everyone in the hospital.”
“Doctor Ling doesn’t need our gratitude. He’s a saint.”
“Yes, Doctor Ling provided us with guidance and saved us. He also taught us how to maintain the order in the hospital.”
“Meeting Doctor Ling is the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
Everyone in the cafeteria clasped their hands together and started a round of prayer.
After a while, the head chef turned and flashed the captain a smile. “After Doctor Ling is done operating on the patient, he’ll probably come over to meet you guys and thank you for your contribution. You guys showed that there’s good in humanity.”
The captain stayed silent for several seconds. He then said, “You’re welcome.”
