Chapter 23: Mr. Gray Wolf had thought he would slowly pass away on a cold winter night with no one around him (1)
Ruan Qiuqiu carried the snow-filled basin into the cave. She went around the corner and to a spot in the bedroom that was sheltered from the wind. She leaned over and poured the snow into the heated stone pot.
She picked up a wooden spoon and stirred the pot of snow. Then, she crouched down and placed her red palms over the cracks in the stone stove to warm her hands up.
She had been delighted when she found out earlier that the firewood in Mr. Gray Wolf’s storage room wasn’t like ordinary firewood. Although they look the same as normal firewood, they burned at a higher heat and for a longer period of time. They also didn’t give off much smoke.
Since that was the case, the firewood that she had originally estimated as enough for five days might be enough for ten days instead.
Now that the weather had abruptly turned for the worse, these special firewood meant the difference between life and death for them.
Because she had found out about the firewood’s special qualities, Ruan Qiuqiu had moved the stone stove from the storage room to the bedroom after boiling the first pot of water.
The bedroom was around the corner from the entrance and was a good spot for sheltering from the wind. At the very least, the cold wind wouldn’t blow directly here.
Ruan Qiuqiu also wanted to change out of her animal skin clothing and alter it so that she could hang it over a bulge in the stone wall to block out the wind. But, her thoughts were focused on treating Mr. Gray Wolf’s injuries, so she hasn’t had time to do that yet.
It didn’t take long for the water to heat up. Carrying a basin of water that was at a suitable temperature, Ruan Qiuqiu slowly walked over to the stone bed.
Her husband’s complexion was still very poor. From time to time, his eyelashes would shake because he was in pain. Even the scary-looking scar on his face seemed as if it had come alive, it would occasionally twitch.
Ruan Qiuqiu took a deep breath. She hesitantly said, “Mr. Food Reserve, I’m going to do a basic treatment on your injuries. It’ll hurt a lot, so please don’t wake up…”
What would she do if he woke up when she was halfway through cutting away the rotting flesh and he thought she was trying to hurt him?
Ruan Qiuqiu laughed a little in self-deprecation. Mr. Gray Wolf was so weak right now. Even if he did wake up from pain, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to her.
Ruan Qiuqiu picked up the small bone knife that she had found in a corner of the storage room, disinfected it in the water that had just boiled, and slowly lifted the animal skin that covered Mr. Gray Wolf’s stump.
Her pupils shrunk. Even though this wasn’t her first time seeing this injury, Ruan Qiuqiu still felt somewhat horrified.
The flesh below Mr. Gray Wolf’s left knee had already turned a livid color.
The lower half of his left leg was probably bitten off by something. She could see the somewhat sharp edges of his exposed bone. She didn’t know how he had stopped the bleeding originally, but the flesh around the exposed bone was rotting. She had recently applied the topical herbal medicine that he was in dire need of. This sight of his injury was very gruesome.
Ruan Qiuqiu confirmed that the topical herbs, a clean animal skin, and warm water that had a drop of her healing water were all ready. Without further hesitation, bit by bit, she cut off the rotting flesh on Mr. Gray Wolf’s stump.
She quickly cleaned the injury and applied the herb, then she gently wrapped the stump using the softest piece of animal skin that she had torn apart for bandaging.
Ruan Qiuqiu nervously looked at his leg. After confirming that only a little bit of blood was leaking out, she weakly collapsed into a kneeling position on the ground.
When she returned to her senses, she noticed that her forehead and back were covered in sweat. She felt as if she didn’t even have the strength to lift up her fingers.
Although she had experienced living in a post-apocalyptic world for almost half a year, she was one of the lucky ones. The apocalyptic event in her world wasn’t like one of those zombie apocalyptic novels. It was simply transformations for all species. She had fled to a base in the early stages of it. Later on, she had awakened a water ability and was able to support herself by selling water.
Although her days were much harder than before the end of the world, she never experienced treating such a serious injury.
Luckily, Mr. Gray Wolf was a wolf demon and not an ordinary human. Otherwise, her treatment of his injury definitely wouldn’t work out.
She slowly exhaled. Her hands were shaking. While the water was still warm, she used the edges of a soft piece of animal skin to clean up Mr. Gray Wolf’s other serious injuries.
By the time she was done with this, she had used up all of the water. One piece of animal skin was dirty and another piece had been torn apart to bandage Mr. Gray Wolf’s other injuries. There were only five pieces of herbs left.
While she was mentally taking inventory of their assets, she didn’t notice that the wolf demon, who had been given two drops of water with a weak healing effect earlier and had herbs applied to his injuries, had regained partial consciousness.