Chapter 831: Special treatment
“It’s great to hear that we don’t have to head to the front line,” Wang Jing said weakly. After taking some antibiotics today, he was feeling much better. Ren Xiaosu even went to get some warm water for him.
He looked at Ren Xiaosu. The young man had already reverted back to his harmless and innocent persona after the battle in the stronghold. If they had not witnessed for themselves how this fellow had performed a “craniotomy” on Kong Erdong, everyone would probably think that Ren Xiaosu was just a normal cardiac surgeon.
Suddenly, someone sighed and said, “I’m so hungry. If we don’t get any food, I’m afraid we’ll die of starvation before we even get to the medical center. Ren Xiaosu, do you have any ideas?”
“There’s nothing we can do about that.” Sima Gang wrapped himself in a blanket and said limply, “As you all can see, every time Ren Xiaosu went to line up for food, if they refuse to serve him, they’ll refuse to serve him. I’ve seen many of the Pyro Company soldiers getting turned away as well.”
“I’m not blaming Ren Xiaosu.” The person who spoke up quickly responded, “What kind of person do you think I am? Xiaosu has already done a lot for us. I just thought I’d ask if he had any good ideas since he’s so resourceful.”
Although they were all adults, they could not help but hope that Ren Xiaosu could come up with something whenever they faced any thorny survival issues. However, Sima Gang looked at Ren Xiaosu and said, “Xiaosu, you don’t have to feel bad. Since we still get about a meal a day, we should be able to make it to the medical center. At that time, we’ll definitely have enough to eat.”
Ren Xiaosu gave it some thought and said, “I’d better think of something. If we keep having to endure the hunger and cold while sleeping in the truck bed for another four days, it will become a problem.”
Normally, it would be fine if they had to go hungry for a few days. But weathering the arduous journey while enduring the hunger and cold, some of them might fall sick.
After saying that, he went off to look for the Pyro Company officer again as the troops were reorganizing. The officer was in his vehicle reading an unknown newspaper. When Ren Xiaosu approached him, no one even tried to stop him. The Pyro Company soldiers really treated them like helpless doctors.
At this moment, Ren Xiaosu realized the Pyro Company’s troops had an advantage that no one else had. All their commanding officers possessed extremely strong physical fitness, and they could even survive gun attacks like the T5 combatants. In many cases, this would prevent the total collapse of the troops if the commander were to suddenly be killed.
When the Pyro Company officer heard the footsteps, he looked up at Ren Xiaosu. “Anything the matter? Is Mr. Wang Jing feeling better?”
“He’s better now. Thank you for the antibiotics,” Ren Xiaosu said.
The Pyro Company officer glanced at Ren Xiaosu. “There’s no need to thank me. From a rational perspective, if the doctors can avoid getting sick, they can save more of my comrades in the upcoming war.”
“Sir, how should I address you?” Ren Xiaosu suddenly asked.
“P5092.” The Pyro Company officer said with a smile, “The name might feel a little unfamiliar to you all.”
Ren Xiaosu was taken aback. He knew about the T5s, but this was his first time seeing a P5-ranked officer. So it turned out the commanding officers within the ranks of the Pyro Company were prefixed with a “P.” Moreover, his serial number was 092. It seemed like he was someone quite high ranking in the Pyro Company.
P5092’s curiosity was piqued. He looked at Ren Xiaosu. “I’ve already verified all of your identities, but I’m still curious about something. Although you’re only a resident in your group, which isn’t exactly very high ranking, you’re the person handling everything. Why is it not the older ones looking for me instead? Aren’t you afraid of us?”
The Pyro Company members knew they had been demonized by the rest of the world, but they did not feel wronged. After all, their way of doing things had always been different from the other organizations. They only pursued the outcome and did not care about the process.
As such, normal people would fear the Pyro Company.
But P5092 realized the young man in front of him did not seem to be afraid of him at all. And he even came to look for him twice as though it were a casual visit between neighbors.
Ren Xiaosu replied, “I’m actually very afraid of y’all. But as a junior member of the group, of course I’ll be running the errands.”
P5092 smiled and said, “I don’t believe your explanation. Rather, I think it’s because you’re more responsible and braver than them. So tell me, what is it that you want this time?”
Ren Xiaosu said, “Since we’ve been conscripted as military doctors, can you issue us official military uniforms? We don’t need any ranks, just the uniforms will do.”
P5092 was a little puzzled. “Why do you need military uniforms?”
“So that we can eat.” Ren Xiaosu explained clearly, “If we’re not in uniform, we have to wait for the other soldiers to finish collecting their meals before we can get ours.”
P5092 laughed. “So it’s just because of that?”
“Eating is very important.” Ren Xiaosu said seriously, “You said earlier that from a rational perspective, if the military doctors are well taken care of, they can save more of your comrades later on.”
P5092 nodded. “I can’t issue you the military uniforms as it’s a matter of principle. But I’ll tell my men so you won’t need to wait for them to finish collecting their meals before you get yours. But remember, I’ll only make this exception for you alone.”
Ren Xiaosu suddenly bent down and picked up a watch from the ground. “Eh, did you drop this watch, sir?”
This time, P5092 did not reject it. He put on the watch and asked, “Looks like you have another request?”
“Yes,” Ren Xiaosu said, “for the next few days, can you pass me the newspapers after you finish reading them?”
P5092 thought for a moment and said, “No problem.” He then passed the newspaper in his hand to Ren Xiaosu.
After Ren Xiaosu thanked him, he turned around and left. The deputy commander came over and asked, “Sir, why did you accede to so many of that kid’s requests?”
P5092 said with a smile, “I’m not sure either. I just feel like there’s something special about him, so maybe it’s for the karma? Did you not notice that he isn’t actually afraid of us at all? No matter how good his acting might be, his gaze can’t fool me. His pupils never constricted throughout the conversation.”
The deputy commander wondered, “Could he be a spy?”
“A spy?” P5092 laughed and said, “How could he be a spy when he’s so skinny? Besides, doctors are highly specialized professionals, so spies won’t usually use this as their cover. Go and inform the troops that he can collect his meals together with our soldiers from now on.”
On the way back, Ren Xiaosu caught sight of another large group of people entering the temporary camp from the south. It looked like there were quite a lot of them too.
The troops who had conscripted Ren Xiaosu’s group were probably just part of the main forces responsible for the siege from the west. And now, the other troops had probably caught up.
However, what surprised Ren Xiaosu was that there seemed to be even more escapees being escorted in that group. He wondered if they had also been temporarily conscripted by the Pyro Company like himself.
Ren Xiaosu roughly estimated the number of escapees to be around 600. A small number of them were wearing glasses and looked like they were intellectuals.
A small portion of them were also carrying toolboxes in their hands, and it looked like they were technicians from the stronghold.
As for the others, Ren Xiaosu could not tell who they might be.