Chapter 524 - 524: Apology and Thanks

The crowd was mortified. Their faces burned, and they felt as if they had just been slapped hard.

But they couldn't get angry—or if they did, it could only be at themselves.

'This whole thing is just too humiliating!'

Zhao Yuan was clearly trying to save a life. It was one thing that they couldn't help, but they had actually mistaken him for a murderer. Thankfully, they were stopped before doing anything rash. Otherwise, they would have delayed the injured man's treatment and become murderers themselves.

A wave of lingering fear washed over them. At the same time, their hearts filled with both gratitude and guilt toward Zhao Yuan. They wanted to apologize, but they were afraid of distracting him from treating the patient, so they swallowed the words on the tips of their tongues.

The injured man's wife, who had fainted from shock, regained consciousness. Unaware of the situation, she struggled to her feet and shrieked, "You murderer! Give me back my husband!" as she lunged toward Zhao Yuan.

The crowd quickly surged forward to restrain her, everyone talking at once to explain.

"Ma'am, don't misunderstand! The doctor is treating your husband, not trying to kill him!"

"It's a first-aid technique!"

"Here, I just looked it up on my phone. See?"

After hearing the crowd's explanations and seeing the information from the online search, the injured man's wife finally understood that she had wrongly accused Zhao Yuan.

Meanwhile, Zhao Yuan had already used gauze to quickly apply a pressure dressing to the left side of the man's chest.

This would temporarily alleviate the symptoms of flail chest and help him breathe better. But it was just a stopgap measure. Lacking more advanced tools for better treatment, Zhao Yuan could only rely on these first-aid techniques to keep the man alive for the time being.

After doing all this, Zhao Yuan stood up, beckoned to the watching villagers, and ordered, "Quick, get him to a hospital for follow-up surgery."

A group of people immediately rushed forward. Grasping his arms and legs, they carefully lifted the injured man.

Zhao Yuan instructed them, "Be extremely careful. Don't bump his chest wound, and don't bump the pen barrel sticking out of his throat."

Hearing this, the people became even more cautious. The ones who had misunderstood Zhao Yuan earlier took this opportunity to offer him a sincere apology. "We're sorry. We didn't realize you were saving him. We misunderstood you, and we're truly sorry!"

"It's fine," Zhao Yuan said, waving his hand magnanimously. "You were just concerned for him. And my treatment method just now is indeed easy to misunderstand."

The more magnanimous Zhao Yuan acted, the deeper their guilt grew, and the more they admired his character.

The injured man's wife came over, dropped to her knees with a THUD before Zhao Yuan, and began to kowtow in gratitude.

She knew perfectly well that if Zhao Yuan hadn't stepped in to help, her husband would likely be dead by now. And yet, she had suspected him of murder. Her heart was now a mix of shame and immense gratitude.

Zhao Yuan hurried forward to help her up. "Ma'am, please, there's no need for this. I'm a doctor; it's my duty to save lives. I only did what I was supposed to do! Although your husband is out of immediate danger, his injuries are still quite severe. You should get him to the hospital right away."

The wife said emotionally, "You saved my husband. You're our family's great benefactor. And I... I failed to recognize your good intentions and misunderstood you. I should be kowtowing to apologize and thank you. I'll take my husband to the hospital now, but I will find a way to express my gratitude to you later."

Zhao Yuan waved his hand. "Don't worry about formalities. Just go. The patient's condition can't afford any delays."

A villager drove a car over. The group carefully placed the injured man in the back seat. His wife climbed in and knelt in the footwell to take care of him. The driver sped off toward the pier.

The island's local clinic was not equipped to handle the man's condition; he had to be taken by boat to a large hospital on the mainland.

After the injured man was sent off, the elder who had spoken up earlier stepped forward again. He spoke gratefully to Zhao Yuan and his companions. "Thank you all so much for what you did today. You must be exhausted. Please, rest a bit and have some water."

As he spoke, villagers brought over cups of freshly boiled water and handed them to Zhao Yuan's group.

After drinking the hot water and using the proffered towels to wipe their faces and hands, Zhao Yuan and the others felt their energy returning.

The elder made small talk with them. "You're here to visit Putuo Mountain and offer incense, aren't you? As you've seen, there have been a lot of earthquakes on the island lately. For your own safety, you should probably leave as soon as you can."

Zhao Yuan and his friends gave a vague reply. "We've come all the way to Putuo Mountain; it would be a shame to leave without offering a stick of incense, wouldn't it? Don't worry, sir, we'll look after ourselves. We'll leave as soon as we're done."

After a brief rest, Zhao Yuan's group prepared to set off.

To their surprise, as they were leaving, the villagers not only came out to see them off but also kept stuffing things into their pockets. Though the items were simple things like fruit and boiled eggs, they were filled with profound gratitude.

At the same time, Zhao Yuan harvested a wave of grateful Wish Power. Although Hao Li and Ying Ji couldn't absorb Wish Power, they were still affected by it; their fatigue was swept away, and they were restored to their peak condition.

The villagers had offered to guide them, but the group declined. Even so, the villagers stood at the entrance of the village, watching until they were out of sight. To avoid arousing suspicion, the group didn't immediately start tracking the Raccoon Power after leaving the village. Instead, they followed the mountain path toward the temple. Only after they were sure the villagers could no longer see them did Ying Ji take out the Mother Gu from the Mother-Child Gu set.

The Mother Gu oriented itself for a moment before flying off toward the island's interior.

"Follow it!" Ying Ji called out, leading the others off the main path and into a remote part of the island in pursuit of the Mother Gu.

Along the way, Hao Li recalled their earlier experience and sighed. "Those villagers were so enthusiastic. It almost made me feel embarrassed."

"We were all just basking in Zhao Yuan's glory," Ying Ji said, looking back over her shoulder.

Zhao Yuan quickly waved his hands, unwilling to take all the credit. "Don't say that. You all saved a lot of people, too."

As they spoke, the group ventured into more and more remote territory. The surrounding jungle grew denser, the terrain became more difficult to traverse, and all signs of human presence vanished.

Clearly, they had reached a desolate area that few people ever visited.

After walking like this for more than half an hour, the abdomen of the Mother Gu flying ahead suddenly began to pulse with a faint, golden-green light.

Ying Ji immediately recalled the Mother Gu and whispered, "The Child Gu is just ahead, fifty meters at most!"

They were surrounded by dense woods that obstructed their line of sight, so even though it was only fifty meters away, they couldn't see any sign of the Raccoon Power.

Cheng Haoyu glanced at their surroundings and made a snap decision. "We'll plant the explosives here and lure the Raccoon Power over to finish it off!"

"Right!" The others nodded in agreement.