Ye Huohuo felt a bad premonition when she heard the voice and could no longer sit still. She jumped out of the police car and ran towards Cai Bei.
The area was already in chaos, with a large circle of people gathered. Screams of agony could be heard from within.
"Help, what is this monster? Ah..."
"Shoot it dead! This head is alive!"
"Run, there's a monster!"
"..."
Exclamations kept coming from the crowd.
"Don't panic, what's going on!" Liu Keqiang's stern shout finally quelled the commotion.
These were well-trained police officers, and ordinary frights wouldn't make them lose composure like this. What had they seen? Ye Huohuo wondered as she ran towards them.
Finally, she squeezed into the crowd and saw the dozen or so heads that had been neatly arranged on the ground earlier were now in disarray. Cai Bei had arranged them in a neat row for his examination, but now they were scattered everywhere, some stepped on, their jawbones crushed. Rotten tongues dangled out, looking incredibly gruesome.
Although Liu Keqiang's shout had stopped the commotion, the crowd kept their distance, leaving a large open space where the heads lay scattered.
Cai Bei squatted on the ground, holding a police officer in his arms. He was injecting something into the officer with a syringe. A dark, furry mass lay discarded beside them.
Ye Huohuo focused on the mass and her pupils contracted.
"He was bitten?" she hurried to Cai Bei's side and crouched down to examine the injured officer.
The officer's hand was completely black, with two small puncture wounds on the back of his hand. A black, foul-smelling liquid was oozing out, and the edges of the wound had already begun to fester.
"It's a mutated black-furred snake, and there's no anti-venom for it yet. The injection you gave him can only delay the venom's progression. The most important thing now is to quickly expel the poison from his body," Ye Huohuo said, tearing a strip of cloth from her clothes and tying it tightly around the bitten officer's upper arm.
But as she used Cai Bei's scissors to cut open the officer's sleeve, she couldn't help but gasp. His arm below the elbow was blackened, and the black lines were spreading upwards at a visible rate.
"Do you have a way?" Sweat beaded on Cai Bei's forehead, his face extremely pale. He knew Ye Huohuo was right. The serum he had injected was ordinary anti-venom, which had no therapeutic effect. Time was of the essence, and seeing the black lines creeping up, he had no better solution.
"This poison is very potent. You can't suck it out, or not only will the victim not be saved, but the rescuer will also die," Ye Huohuo said. Having worked all night and injured, her face was pale, with dark circles under her eyes, making her look exhausted.
But her eyes were resolute, shining like stars, a stark contrast to Cai Bei's panic. Her calm demeanor was unsettling yet reassuring, as if her presence guaranteed that nothing too terrible would happen.
Liu Keqiang also approached them. "What do you need us to do? Call an ambulance or send him to the hospital immediately? As long as his life can be saved, just say the word." He wasted no time, his attitude clear: full cooperation.
Ye Huohuo shook her head. "There's no time. It's risky, but it's the only way!" She too spoke without unnecessary words.
As she spoke, Ye Huohuo took a scalpel from Cai Bei's forensic kit, expertly fitted a blade, and without hesitation, made an inch-long incision on the bitten officer's blackened hand.
The placement of the incision was precise, directly over a vein on the back of his hand. The angle and depth of the cut were carefully controlled, slicing the skin but not the vein itself, to prevent the poisonous blood from seeping into the surrounding tissue, making it harder to clean.
She then made several more cuts on his arm, targeting large veins. Black blood gushed out uncontrollably, its foul odor reaching even those standing far away.
The smell was so offensive that some of the newer officers turned away to vomit, while even some of the veteran officers couldn't help but cover their noses tightly, afraid of inhaling any more of it.
Liu Keqiang also turned his head away, covering his nose and gagging twice before managing to suppress it. Cai Bei, standing closest, was fortunately a seasoned forensic examiner, nearly immune to various putrid smells. However, he still felt dizzy and his vision blurred. He struggled to maintain his composure and supported the unconscious officer.
Although Ye Huohuo had seen her share of gruesome scenes, she was still a step below Cai Bei's professional experience. While she didn't move far away, she still retreated a few steps, covering her nose, forcing down the bile rising from the instant noodles she had just eaten. She was proud of herself for managing not to throw up.
After about half a minute, the black blood gradually congealed. She then made several more incisions on the injured man's arm.
This process repeated, with over thirty cuts made over ten minutes. Finally, the blood that flowed out turned from black to dark red, and then to a normal red. However, the officer's arm was mangled like a piece of cloth, covered in wounds, a horrifying sight as if subjected to torture.
"Give him another dose of anti-venom. His life is saved, and he needs to be rushed to the hospital. If they're fast enough, his arm might still be salvageable. But he probably won't be able to hold a gun anymore. A shame," Ye Huohuo wiped the sweat from her forehead, feeling almost depleted. She swayed as she stood up.
Liu Keqiang had already arranged for a car and escorts, and an ambulance was en route to meet them, ensuring the injured officer received the earliest possible treatment.
Ye Huohuo picked up a branch from the ground and poked at the black furry mass. It was about the same size as the black-furred snake she had captured earlier, coiled on the ground like a ball of hair, making it difficult to identify as a snake.
"Is it dead?" Ye Huohuo turned it over and saw a bloodied hole at its seven-inch mark, almost cut through.
Glancing at Cai Bei's feet, she noticed a scalpel with blood on its tip. "I didn't expect Forensic Examiner Cai to have such good knife skills!"
Cai Bei smiled wryly. "I was desperate then and didn't care about anything else to save him. Fortunately, my aim was still good, and my knife skills haven't deteriorated over the years."
Ye Huohuo heard a hidden meaning in his words and became curious. "Why does Forensic Examiner Cai seem to have a story? That knife work doesn't look like the usual work of a forensic examiner; it resembles the fine needle knife used in traditional Chinese medicine. Could Forensic Examiner Cai be a TCM practitioner?"
Cai Bei's smile became even more bitter. "I'm not. At most, I'm half a one. Actually, the one who can truly be called a TCM practitioner is my sister, Cai Xiaoxi!"
"Oh? That's interesting. Your knife skills are already excellent, so your sister's must be divine! Then why didn't she become a doctor but instead works in the police station managing documents?" Ye Huohuo was truly curious.
"This... it's a long story!"