"Doctor, please take a good look." The old woman clasped her hands together, pleading with the old traditional Chinese medicine doctor they had invited from Renhe Hall.
The old doctor maintained a calm expression, saying nothing as he crouched beside the elderly man leaning against the wall, carefully examining the bite marks first.
"It's a venomous snake."
Hearing this, the old woman nearly lost her balance.
"From your description, it should be a silver-ringed snake. According to traditional Chinese medicine theory, silver-ringed snake venom belongs to wind toxin. Are you currently feeling no pain, with numbness at the wound site and difficulty breathing?"
The old man opened his eyes, his expression somewhat numb, slowly nodded, then closed his eyes again.
The old doctor frowned, reached out to lift the old man's eyelids, took out a small flashlight to examine his pupils, then frowned again. He reached out to check the pulse, and after a moment asked, "The pulse is thin and weak, with increased pulse rate. The toxin has already spread. How long has it been since he was bitten?"
The old woman said, "Probably about half an hour."
The old doctor said, "Normally the toxin shouldn't act this quickly. He must have engaged in strenuous activity after being bitten."
The old woman didn't understand, just nodded.
"I'll prescribe some medicine for him. Whether he can pull through depends on fate."
The old doctor turned back and said to the young man beside him, "Xiao Li, go back and use five centimeters of sweetflag root, a small amount of large-leaf gentian root, chop them up and boil in water for ten minutes, then continue boiling for five minutes after the water boils. Have Xiao Ji bring some sweetflag root over."
"Okay." The young man named Xiao Li quickly ran back.
The old doctor said to the old woman, "The silver-ringed snake carries wind toxin, which is neurotoxin. Traditional Chinese medicine has limited effect. Whether he can survive mainly depends on whether the snake injected more or less venom. If there's less venom, there's hope if he can endure it."
There was one more thing he didn't say - the key to silver-ringed snake venom lethality is "respiratory paralysis." The core issue is whether the body can maintain basic oxygen supply when respiratory function weakens.
This tests an individual's tolerance threshold for neurotoxins and compensatory metabolic level.
In this aspect, young people have an advantage over the elderly because young people have better lung function and stronger kidney detoxification ability.
Not long after, a young man wearing a gray jacket ran over, holding sweetflag root in his hand. The old doctor crushed the sweetflag root and placed it under the poisoned old man's nose.
Stimulated by the scent of sweetflag, the poisoned old man opened his eyes.
"You can't sleep, you need to stay awake." The old doctor said to the old woman beside him, "You hold this, don't let him fall asleep." The old woman quickly asked, "How much for the consultation fee?"
The old doctor waved his hand, not mentioning the consultation fee, stood up, and said to the people around, "You need to be more careful when entering the water, observe carefully, don't get bitten by snakes. There are many snakes and insects in this forest."
Accompanied by the roar of the water pump engine, the water level gradually reached the bottom. The old man leaning against the wall had tilted his head at some point, completely without breath.
Beside him, the old woman held him and wept bitterly.
......
In the garage, the water level was almost at the bottom, with only three inches of accumulated water remaining. At the bottom of the accumulated water, there was a layer of mud.
The air was filled with the smell of decay and damp foulness.
As the water level dropped, the fish couldn't swim anymore.
They hid under cars or in corners.
Some people went down holding torches, while others carried flashlights.
Qin Ziwen took out the solar flashlight from his pocket, turned it on, and a large area in front of him was illuminated by the light.
"There's a fish over there!"
Deng Guang pointed to the side of the load-bearing column, where a large black-backed fish was quietly pressed against the corner.
From the side, someone quickly chased after it with a bucket. The black-backed fish, startled, quickly swam away. The person pounced, but suddenly it went dark - Qin Ziwen had turned off the flashlight.
He stood up, seeming to know that his behavior of using the light was somewhat unjustified. He just glanced back at Qin Ziwen, then went to another area with his bucket.
After he left, Qin Ziwen turned the flashlight back on. With the light assistance, they quickly caught several fish.
"Wait, over there." Zhao Pu pointed toward a car on the side.
Following his pointing finger, Qin Ziwen moved the flashlight over and saw a snake lying on the car, grayish-blue in color, about over a meter long with a pointed head. Stimulated by the light, the snake leaped into the water with a spring-like motion and swam away.
The four of them worked busily in the mud. Deng Guang said, "I'll go call my wife and children down. With more people, we can catch fish faster."
Zhao Pu looked at Qin Ziwen.
Qin Ziwen waved his hand, "No, my flashlight can only illuminate this area in front. With more people, it would actually be harder to move around. There would be shadows everywhere and we wouldn't be able to see clearly. There are so many snakes here, we should be careful."
Deng Guang felt somewhat ashamed. Qin Ziwen was both providing manpower and the flashlight, and he felt he was taking advantage of Brother Qin.
As more and more people joined in fishing, those who came later couldn't stand by anymore and joined the large group.
This naturally made Huang Tao's statement yesterday about letting those who donated gasoline share the fish become a joke.
Everyone relied on their own skills, fishing in the garage.
Four hours passed.
The entire garage had basically been turned upside down by this group of people.
Going upstairs through the underground safety passage of Building 8, Qin Ziwen wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The buckets carried by Deng Guang and Zhao Pu were filled with fish.
Deng Guang walked over and said to Qin Ziwen, "Brother Qin, Doctor Zhao and I discussed it. Since we caught these fish together, let's divide them according to the number of people. He and I will share one bucket, and you take one bucket."
Qin Ziwen didn't stand on ceremony either, "Alright."
Deng Guang said cheerfully, "Good, when I get back I'll clean the fish and remove the internal organs. I'll give them to you later as bait for your fish trap."
"Oh no, my fish trap!" Qin Ziwen suddenly slapped his forehead. He remembered that he had placed a fish trap downstream in the mountain cave stream and hadn't retrieved it yet.
Qin Ziwu turned his head: "Big brother, today seems to be the third day."
Deng Guang comforted him, "It's fine, it's normal to leave fish traps in the wild for two or three days. When we placed it, part of it was exposed above the water, so the things inside won't drown."
Qin Ziwen sighed: "I'm worried about the flood, in case it got washed away by the floodwaters."
Deng Guang thought for a moment: "That shouldn't happen, right? I remember the terrain there is actually quite high, and you tied it to a tree with rope."
Qin Ziwen made a suggestion: "It's noon now, so let's go check this afternoon. We can also take a look at that cave while we're at it."
Deng Guang agreed without hesitation: "Alright, I'll go back and change clothes, have lunch, then go out this afternoon. By the way, should we ask Doctor Zhao to come along?"
Qin Ziwen said, "I'll go with you to ask him."
After learning about Qin Ziwen's plan, Zhao Pu agreed immediately, "Great, these fish just experienced the flood, so it would be good to keep them in clean water for a day first."
Then Qin Ziwen carried the large bucket of fish home.
These fish varied in size, totaling at least twenty to thirty pounds combined.
He found two large basins, filled them with clean water, and put the fish inside.
Hearing the commotion, the crowned eagle came to investigate. Seeing the fish swimming in the basins, its eyes widened - was this an all-you-can-eat buffet?
......