It was Gu Zheng!
How had Gu Zheng ended up down here too?
Had the rope around her waist dragged him down?
Song Ning's heart tightened. She quickly reached out and grabbed a jutting rock, anchoring them both.
The log paused for only a moment before spinning away downstream, its mission successfully completed.
Gu Zheng grabbed a tree on the bank, wrapped his other arm around Song Ning's waist, and hauled her out of the torrent.
By the time they clambered ashore, gasping for breath, they were both utterly exhausted.
Once she had caught her breath, Song Ning reached over and nudged Gu Zheng beside her...
"Regimental Commander Gu! Gu Zheng! Are you all right?"
The current had been so fierce, and he had come hurtling down so fast. When he struck the rocks, he had taken the weight of both of them...
Gu Zheng took a moment before opening his eyes. Wearily, he said to Song Ning:
"Well, well! Doctor Xiao Song! You even dared to jump into a debris flow! You really do keep giving me one 'surprise' after another!"
"It happened so suddenly. I had no choice!" Song Ning said. "But how did you get down here too? I remember the rope snapping!"
Gu Zheng closed his eyes to recover for another moment before curling his lips into a smile. "I told you, no matter what happened, I'd hold on to you! This guy... keeps his word!"
Something about his condition felt off to Song Ning. "No! Let me check your back. Are you hurt?"
But Gu Zheng pushed himself up off the ground and pulled her along. "The rain's too heavy! Let's find somewhere to shelter first!"
The rain really was so heavy that they could barely keep their eyes open.
Supporting each other, Song Ning and Gu Zheng walked a little over half a kilometer before finding a slanting overhang with a cave beneath it. They ducked inside.
During that walk, Song Ning had become increasingly certain that something was wrong with Gu Zheng.
She asked no questions, only hurried to gather the dry grass and branches inside the cave. She needed to get a fire going first to keep them both from becoming hypothermic.
Gu Zheng reclined against the cave wall, watching her bustle around, and called out with a smile:
"My hardworking doctor comrade! Allow me to report: I do have a box of matches on me, but they've been soaked through!"
Song Ning froze. Right! Never mind that she had no matches on her-even if she had, they would have been soaked too!
She looked at the first-aid bag she was wearing. When she rescued Tiedan, she had only taken out the two big, heavy bottles of glucose solution. The bag was still on her back.
Worried about the rain earlier, she had tightly wrapped the common medicines inside in two or three layers of plastic bags. No water had gotten in.
Song Ning checked the medicines, and her brow relaxed.
Then she clapped her hands and said to Gu Zheng, "All right! My rather weary-looking regimental commander comrade, perk up a little and watch this doctor perform a magic trick!"
As she spoke, she poured some dark reddish-black powder from a kraft-paper medicine packet onto a rock in front of her.
Gu Zheng recognized it as potassium permanganate, used for disinfection. His soldiers often carried it too.
Then she took out a round, sealed plastic bottle with a long nozzle.
Gu Zheng thought it looked familiar, but he could not remember what it was used for.
Song Ning snipped open the nozzle with a small pair of scissors and said to him, "Comrade, don't blink! It's time to witness a miracle!"
Then she squeezed the liquid from the bottle onto the potassium permanganate powder-
With a hiss, a spray of golden-purple sparks immediately shot up from the powder. Then it actually burst into flame, its brilliant colors gleaming in the dim cave.
Song Ning picked up the dry grass she had prepared beside her and calmly lit it.
Then she turned and used it to ignite the stacked firewood. The flames grew higher, and the fire was successfully lit.
Gu Zheng was truly stunned!
He had not blinked!
He stared at Song Ning beside the fire. Its yellow glow cast her profile onto the cave wall, her features soft and lovely.
The firelight flickered, and the young woman before him began to blur along with it.
"Well, comrade... look... the fire's lit! Isn't it... amazing...?"
Gu Zheng blinked hard. He saw that she seemed to be smiling at him, her smile so warm...
But her voice... why did it sound... farther and farther away...?
Finally, his vision went black, and he passed out.
After lighting the fire, Song Ning had wanted to show off a little, only to see Gu Zheng's head slump to one side. He had fainted.
She hastily dropped the firewood, moved him beside the fire, and examined him carefully-
Only then did she discover that the back of his head was injured, and badly at that. The back of his clothes was stained with blood.
It had been raining outside, so even while supporting him, she had not noticed at all.
Song Ning's heart sank. An injury to the back of the head could have consequences... that were very hard to predict.
She quickly removed Gu Zheng's outer jacket, moved him as close to the fire as possible, and carefully took his pulse.
His pulse revealed nothing beyond exhaustion for the time being.
The blood around the wound had already clotted, but to be safe, Song Ning still thoroughly cleaned and disinfected it, then bandaged it with gauze.
Still worried, she also inserted needles into several Aperture-Clearing acupoints on his head, hoping to prevent any blood stasis or similar complications.
Once Gu Zheng's breathing had fully steadied, Song Ning opened his collar and checked his back-
Sure enough, there was a large expanse of dark bruising.
He had gotten it from hitting the rocks.
A falling rock had snapped the rope holding her. Gu Zheng had jumped down, grabbed the broken end, and tied it around his own waist. But the current was too fast, and he had kept looking for an opening...
Only when they were nearing the cliff had he pulled the rope around her waist taut and sped up to get in front of her, cushioning her before she struck the rocks.
His speed, combined with the speed of the current and the weight of both of them, had subjected him to an impact several times greater than his body could bear.
That was why she was so worried. His back could heal with rest, but a blow to the head...
What if it left him brain-damaged?
He was a regimental commander!
How was she supposed to make up for that?
Gu Zheng remained unconscious. Uneasy, Song Ning checked his pulse several times. His temperature and pulse were both normal.
Thinking about it, he probably had not had any proper rest since the disaster began.
Look on the bright side!
Maybe a good sleep was all he needed to recover!
In that situation today... if she hadn't jumped, Tiedan would definitely have died!
She had saved Tiedan, and Gu Zheng had saved her-
The military and civilians were one family!
Both jumps had been worth it!
So no beating herself up over it!
Song Ning built the fire up high, then drifted off into a groggy sleep herself.
When she woke again, the fire was almost out.
Their jackets, propped up beside the fire, had both dried.
Outside the cave, the rain was still falling. The sky remained gloomy, as though it would never brighten.
Song Ning added wood to the fire, glanced at the still-sleeping Gu Zheng, and felt his forehead. Thankfully, he had no fever.
While she was at it, she lifted his sleeve to check his watch. Sure enough, it was already two in the afternoon.
But before she could draw her hand back, Gu Zheng caught it.
Song Ning looked up. Gu Zheng was indeed awake-
And staring straight at her!
"Gu Zheng, you're awake! Do... do you still recognize me?"
She had meant to ask whether his head hurt, but perhaps because she had been worrying all along that the blow might have left him brain-damaged, her nerves made her ask the wrong question.
Just as she thought Gu Zheng might laugh at her, the man before her unexpectedly asked in all seriousness:
"M-miss! Who are you? Why am I here?"
Before you continue