Chapter Ninety-Five: Rules Are Dead; People Are Alive

"Ah... all right, all right!"

Han Jiangxue did not know exactly what Su Chen intended to do, but she instinctively chose to trust him.

In truth, she had studied a little medical knowledge herself, and could tell that the shop owner’s condition was already teetering on the edge of life and death.

In a situation like this, even professionally trained medical staff with proper equipment would not dare operate without examination or consultation, let alone on a street with nothing at all.

While Han Jiangxue went to disinfect the tube for Su Chen, he looked up at the police and said, "Do either of you have a knife or some other sharp instrument? The sharper the better!"

The two officers exchanged glances. They did have police daggers on them, but in a situation like this, no one knew what Su Chen intended to do, and they absolutely did not dare hand him a blade.

One of the officers frowned and asked, "Sir, exactly what kind of surgery do you plan to perform?"

"An incision into the chest."

The police: ???

Su Chen’s words nearly made the officers tackle him on the spot.

If they had not watched the video Han Jiangxue sent and knew Su Chen was the victim, he would already have been pinned to the ground in handcuffs. How could they possibly hand him a knife?

From the expressions on the officers’ faces, Su Chen could tell roughly what they were thinking.

Of course, he did not even need to guess; the officers said it themselves.

"Well... we really can’t lend you one, and you can’t do this either. You’re not a professional doctor. If anything goes wrong with this old man, the entire responsibility will fall on you!"

"Let’s still wait for the ambulance."

Seeing that they not only refused to lend him a knife, but seemed to be considering restraining him, Su Chen let out a sigh.

If it were any other day, he would not have done this either. In his previous life, he had obtained a medical license in his spare time and could even be called a surgical expert; he had been invited many times by professional surgical conferences at home and abroad to give lectures.

But what happened in that life was that life’s affair. Su Chen might have been a surgical expert then, but in this life he did not even have a single certificate proving he was a doctor.

Yet the shop owner had been injured because of them and was now on the verge of death.

If Su Chen had the ability to save him, but because he feared taking responsibility he let matters slide toward the worst possible outcome, then if anything happened to the owner, he would never be able to live with himself.

"Officers, I may not be a doctor, but I know a great deal about medicine. In a situation like this, making him wait for the ambulance is no different from waiting for him to die!"

"The owner’s chest is injured, his lungs are damaged, and he can’t breathe on his own. I need to make an opening in his chest so his lungs can directly participate in breathing. Only then can he hold out until the ambulance arrives!"

"The owner is a good man. He was beaten like this because of me. I can’t just stand here and watch him die!"

"I understand what you’re thinking, and I understand your concerns. But rules are dead; people are alive. This is a living human life!"

"I only need a knife to save him. If anything goes wrong because of this, I will take full responsibility!"

Su Chen’s words moved the two officers deeply. They looked at each other and could see the struggle in one another’s eyes.

At that moment, they could not help recalling the oath they had taken beneath the national flag when they first became police officers: to dedicate themselves to the noble cause of public security and serve the people!

If they hesitated now and allowed this old man to lose his life, their consciences would never be at peace.

Just as they were torn inside, the owner lying on the ground suddenly began to convulse!

He kept curling up and then collapsing again, a choking sound spilling from his mouth as he strained desperately to inhale but could not draw in a breath.

"Uh... uh... uh..."

His complexion turned increasingly livid, a color the officers knew all too well; it was the face of someone who had died by suffocation.

Seeing this, Su Chen knew he had little time left, and shouted anxiously at the two officers, "What are you waiting for?! Hurry up!!!"

Startled by his cry, the officers stopped hesitating and gritted their teeth as they drew out the knives they carried.

Su Chen snatched one at once, splashed it with liquor as quickly as possible, then picked up a lighter left behind on the table and gave the blade a simple sterilization.

After that, he looked at the owner still struggling on the ground and, without turning his head, said to the two officers, "The owner is moving too much! Come help me hold him down!"

The moment they handed over the knife, the two officers had already decided to trust Su Chen, so when they heard this, they immediately went forward and pressed the owner down from the front and the back.

The officers were strong. Though the owner’s final struggle was fierce, they still managed to pin him down.

Taking advantage of the moment, Su Chen placed both hands on the owner’s chest and began feeling carefully, searching for the best place to make the incision.

Without specialized equipment, he could only rely on the oldest method a surgeon had.

Soon, Su Chen found what he believed to be the best spot, and once again warned the two officers.

"I’m going to make the cut. During this time, you absolutely must not let him move, especially his torso. Absolutely not!"

Seeing the seriousness and appeal in Su Chen’s eyes, the two officers nodded solemnly.

"Hiss... whoosh..."

Su Chen took a deep breath in, then let it out slowly. After doing so, the officers were startled to find that he had become visibly calm.

It had been a long time since he had stood over an operating table, and his hands should have been rusty, yet he found that he did not feel that way at all.

The surgical knowledge he had learned in his previous life surged through his mind, vivid and orderly, not forgotten in the slightest.

Su Chen did not know whether this counted as a special advantage brought by reincarnation, but he had no time to think about that now.

Holding the knife in one hand, he drove the tip steadily into the skin of the owner’s chest, without the slightest tremor, as steady as a machine.

What had once been a complicated surgical procedure became simple and swift beneath Su Chen’s hands. In less than a minute, he had opened a wound in the owner’s chest about an inch across, with hardly any bleeding at all.

The owner, for his part, was remarkably cooperative. Even without anesthesia, he somehow endured it, not making a sound.

Though perhaps it was because he was suffocating and no longer even had the strength to cry out...

Looking at the opening before him, Su Chen set down the knife and turned to Han Jiangxue, who had just returned, saying, "The tube."

Han Jiangxue handed over the sterilized tube, and Su Chen carefully inserted it into the opening in the owner’s chest.

Almost at once, the owner stopped struggling. The bluish-gray tint on his face visibly vanished!

As Han Jiangxue watched Su Chen, he seemed like a surgical expert at an operating table, confident yet meticulous.

It was hard to imagine that on a roadside like this, Su Chen had actually completed an operation.