Qiming Chapter 83

Chapter 83


Their car swerved and wobbled across the elevated road, scraping along the guardrail before gradually coming to a stop.

Gu Yunfeng’s face grew more and more twisted with pain. He glanced at the rearview mirror, the veins bulging on the back of his hand as he gripped the steering wheel tightly and clenched his teeth. "Let’s switch places, you drive."

"This isn’t about who’s driving right now!"

"We can’t stop here, get us off the elevated road first." Just as he finished speaking, a large truck sped past them, brushing against their car. The police car crashed into the railing and nearly flipped off the elevated road.

The violent impact sent both of them lurching forward. With the massive inertia, Xu Chengyue’s head slammed against the window. Dazed for a moment, he turned to see Gu Yunfeng’s pale face as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. Blood spattered across the steering wheel, and he pointed at the endless stretch of road ahead, urging him to drive.

"Get us off this elevated road first, head to the nearest hospital."

Xu Chengyue had no choice but to open the car door, move into the driver’s seat, and shift the gear, releasing the clutch and pressing the accelerator to continue driving forward.

His heart was a tangled mess. Sitting amidst the splattered blood, Xu Chengyue looked up at the mirror and saw his sweat-soaked hair and neck. Suddenly, tears began to fall from the corner of his eyes.

He hadn’t cried in a very long time. Ever since he’d undergone surgery and his brain had been altered, he had lost the ability to cry. After all, it wasn’t a real human brain, always missing some functions it should have had.

He knew very well what this kind of injury meant, although the rifling wear had greatly reduced the bullet’s velocity and the wound was likely less deep than it normally would be. But the injury was in the abdomen, where all the internal organs were located, the softest and the least protected part of the body. He didn’t dare to look closely at the wound, afraid that a shot to a critical organ would be beyond repair, leaving no hope at all.

The streetlights flew backwards as Gu Yunfeng pressed down on his wound, his consciousness fading in and out. Sweat trickled down his cheeks, chin, and back, soaking the seat behind him. He bit his lip hard, using the pain to stay awake. Turning his head, he saw the first tear slip from Xu Chengyue’s eye, and suddenly felt much more alert.

"Don’t cry, I’m not dead yet..."

"If you were dead, I wouldn’t be crying like this." Xu Chengyue told him, reprogramming the navigation to the nearest hospital. But they were on a one-way elevated road, and getting to the nearest hospital meant a detour of nearly ten kilometres after getting off the road.

In fact, calling an ambulance would be more efficient.

So he immediately dialled the emergency services and reported the nearest location where they could stop after getting off the elevated road, stressing that someone had been shot in the abdomen and needed immediate rescue.

After hanging up the phone, Gu Yunfeng looked at him and, to his surprise, managed a weak smile. "So, how would you cry?"

"I’d cry and jump off the elevated road."

"Huh?" He was taken aback, then burst out laughing uncontrollably. "Hahaha, are you saying you’d follow me in death?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Gu Yunfeng coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood and quickly closed his mouth, trying to regulate his breathing and relax his muscles.

"I’m talking to distract you, so stop talking." A frown formed between Xu Chengyue’s brows as he tried to use the walkie-talkie to call Qin Wei and the others, but every attempt failed.

It was probably damaged when they were grazed by the large truck earlier. He had no idea if Old Qin had successfully caught up to Fang Xing. What kind of situation was he facing now?

But none of that mattered to him anymore. Compared to Gu Yunfeng’s life and death, wherever Fang Xing had run off to, whether he lived or died, didn’t concern him.

"Once I get us off the elevated road, the ambulance should be there," Xu Chengyue kept talking to him. "Don’t worry, just relax, everything’s going to be alright."

"I’m not worried," Gu Yunfeng said. "I’m just thinking, if only he had shot my shoulder instead, I’d just need some bandages and could keep going. But no, he had to aim for the heart. He took my gun and still managed to shoot me, where’s the dignity in that?"

"Luckily, I dodged and only got hit in the abdomen, I should be able to last a few more hours," he said optimistically, then gazed at Xu Chengyue with a mix of tenderness and frustration. "But he didn’t dare touch you, you're too important to them."

The longer Xu Chengyue lived, the more it proved the success and value of their experiment. Gu Yunfeng was genuinely curious about the kind of people who had developed a chip that could almost replace the human brain, giving a new definition to the concept of a soul.

A mix of bone-chilling pain and loss of consciousness washed over him as he looked at Professor Xu's profile. In his daze, he felt that the extreme anxiety and tension he saw in Xu Chengyue's face mirrored his own and everyone around him.

There was gentleness, indifference, passion, and a blend of anger and anxiety. Xu Chengyue had a complete personality, coupled with exceptional abilities. It was as if fate had chosen him, gifting him extraordinary talents in the face of life and death.

To Gu Yunfeng, he wasn’t a machine. He was the most real, tangible person standing before him. He wanted to reach out, wrap his bloodstained body around him, kiss him with pale lips, and feel his warmth up close.

About five minutes later, the emergency centre called back.

Xu Chengyue answered on speakerphone, and a hurried, apologetic voice came through, "We’re sorry, sir, but it’ll take four hours for our ambulance to reach your location."

"Huh? Why?" Xu Chengyue almost slammed on the brakes. It felt as if a jolt of electricity had struck him out of nowhere. He maintained his driving position, but his body was rigid, unable to move.

"There’s been a major accident on the only route to your location, it’s estimated to take at least four hours to clear the scene before the road can be reopened."

"What kind of accident takes four hours to handle? This is the Jinping District criminal investigation team, the captain was shot in the abdomen during an arrest! His life is in danger!"

"We’re very sorry, we'll rush over as soon as possible. We have already requested a helicopter for rescue, but that will also take some time..."

Xu Chengyue hung up the phone, nearly jumping out of his seat in frustration. He regretted putting the call on speaker for Gu Yunfeng to hear, what if Captain Gu heard it and gave up? He slammed his phone back into the holder and pressed the accelerator hard, speeding off the elevated road. His mind raced with the thought that relying on others was futile, it would be faster if he drove Gu Yunfeng to the hospital himself.

As he was about to force a lane change to make a sharp turn, a news alert popped up on the screen.

A malfunction at an autonomous vehicle factory in the suburbs had caused dozens of vehicles to head towards the city centre simultaneously, resulting in a massive traffic collision near Yulong Avenue and severely blocking the roads.

Autonomous vehicle manufacturer? The term instantly caught his attention, reminding him of the times he had been chased by such vehicles. His back broke out in a cold sweat.

If that were the case, driving back would be just as futile, with the traffic gridlocked.

"What the hell is Fang Xing playing at???" he muttered instinctively, though he struggled to maintain his composure, avoiding showing too much emotion. Turning calmly towards Gu Yunfeng, he said, "The ambulance can't make it, but there’s a helicopter, don’t worry."

For some reason, Xu Chengyue felt an unprecedented sense of despair as he said those words. How much time did they have left? How many minutes, how many seconds, could they afford to waste?

They were far from the hospital, surrounded by endless fields and forests, with the vast ocean in the distance. Yet, they were merely in the outskirts of a city, not in a desert or wilderness, but it felt as if they were stranded on an island, completely isolated.

"But I can’t wait." Gu Yunfeng leaned back against the seat. He was losing so much blood that his vision blurred, and everything before him darkened, yet his expression remained calm.

"You can park up ahead, right there." He pointed forward.

"Park and wait for rescue?"

"We’re not waiting." Gu Yunfeng shook his head, lifting himself slightly. "We’re taking the bullet out now."

"What?" Xu Chengyue was certain he hadn’t misheard, but he still asked again.

"Take the bullet out."

Take the bullet out, stop the bleeding, disinfect, ease the pain, and then spring back to life. Did he think this was a scene from a movie? Gu Yunfeng hadn’t died instantly from the shot to the abdomen, likely due to the poor state of the gun, and now he wanted to open his abdomen further with a knife? Xu Chengyue slammed on the brakes, pulling over under the shade of a large sycamore tree, utterly dumbfounded.

The sun had fully risen. The sky was a clear, pure blue, and birds soared between the clouds, some low enough to brush the treetops, others high up, vanishing into the clouds.

"Now? Who?"

"You."

"Me?" Xu Chengyue glanced around, staring at his reflection in the car window. He could hardly believe his ears. Sure, the ambulance wasn’t coming, and who knew how long the helicopter would take? They certainly couldn’t wait four hours.

But to let him take the bullet out...

"Yes, Professor Xu, you, now, here." Gu Yunfeng’s voice was weak, his words broken and laboured.

Even though the gun’s rifling had been heavily worn and the bullet hadn’t gone too deep, it had still struck his abdomen. His internal organs would undoubtedly be seriously damaged from the impact, and immediate surgery was necessary.

"But I don’t know how to perform surgery???" Xu Chengyue’s voice trembled.

"Learn on the spot."

He's crazy, had he lost so much blood that his brain was malfunctioning? That was Xu Chengyue’s only thought. He grasped Gu Yunfeng’s cold wrist, feeling the faint pulse beneath his fingertips. His breathing was rapid, his blood pressure plummeting. It wasn’t unreasonable to assume he wasn’t in his right mind anymore.

"I’ve thought this through carefully," Gu Yunfeng added, seeing Xu Chengyue’s clear reluctance. After a brief hesitation, he reached out, his blood-stained fingers brushing Xu Chengyue’s face and lips, painting the professor's pale lips with a bright smear of red.

This seemed to be their only choice. They either risked everything or waited helplessly, hoping for a miracle from the heavens.

"You’re not like the rest of us, you can do what others can't."

"Though you’ve never outright said it, I know. I guess that after you fell from the building and became brain-dead that year, an AI chip was implanted in your brain, replacing your brain functions, calculating your thoughts and emotions."

A gust of wind rushed into the car, and Gu Yunfeng smiled faintly. "You can use it to calculate my wounds, my internal organs, the depth of the bullet, and the precious minutes we don’t have."

"In the end, you’ll perform a perfectly calculated surgery and save me."

The morning sun ascended to the centre of the sky. The faint moon finally vanished entirely, and in the cool morning breeze, the wild grass by the roadside swayed furiously. 

"To me, you’re a human with extraordinary abilities, gifted with a great talent, and bound to carry a heavy burden."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: September 11, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 5, 2024 by Angel

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