He brought his bare index and middle fingers together, slipped them inside the boy's collar, and pressed them against his carotid artery.
It feels cool to the touch.
The pulsation of the subcutaneous blood vessels is weak, but the frequency is extremely high.
The boy's heart was pumping blood frantically, keeping the vital organs functioning at their last vestiges.
Pale gold subtitles appeared at the edge of Su Wei's field of vision.
[ Medical Module LV1 is activated.]
[Herbal identification: No usable herbs are found in the vicinity.]
[Target condition assessment: Closed tibial fracture, accompanied by grade I hypothermia.]
[WARNING: Rapid loss of core body temperature may lead to irreversible ventricular fibrillation and organ failure within 15 minutes.]
Su Wei withdrew his hand.
There was no time to assess why he had veered off the slope, nor time to wait for assistance.
Temperatures are still dropping, and a blizzard is about to seal off the ravines.
If not treated immediately, the boy will die from the low temperature within ten minutes.
Dragging or moving it is even worse; a misaligned fracture could sever an artery and cause massive bleeding.
We can only intervene on-site.
He needs thermal insulation and a sturdy external fixation brace.
Su Wei opened the side pocket of the snowplow bag with his left hand and pulled out a palm-sized silver aluminum foil bag.
The plastic tear was pinched and pulled open with force.
A two-meter square emergency thermal blanket unfolded in the wind, making a rustling sound.
The wind swirled in the narrow crevice.
Su Wei pressed the hem of the blanket down with his knees to prevent it from being blown away by the wind.
He had to isolate the boy from the cold snow.
Su Wei's hands reached over the boy's shoulders and under his armpits, his upper arm muscles suddenly contracting.
He exerted his strength and pulled his body, weighing over 30 kilograms, up 15 centimeters from the snow pit.
The first-aid blanket was then placed behind the boy.
Next came the package.
The aluminum foil side faces inward to reflect heat, while the outer layer is windproof and waterproof.
Su Wei wrapped the blanket tightly around the boy's head and feet, leaving only a small opening for him to breathe through his face.
Through the gap, the boy's face was exposed.
The bluish skin appeared deathly pale against the aluminum foil.
The change in position aggravated the broken bone in his right leg, and excruciating pain penetrated the numbness caused by the low temperature.
The boy's tilted helmet shifted slightly.
He was jolted awake from a semi-conscious state by the pain; the clapping and trembling of his jawline stopped abruptly.
The boy suddenly opened his mouth, his chest heaving rapidly.
He inhaled a large amount of cold air, and a scream was about to tear through the wind.
A large, gloved hand slapped down.
Su Wei covered the boy's mouth tightly with her left hand.
The palm fits completely against the mouth, with the base of the fingers pressing against the chin, leaving no gaps.
The scream was choked in his throat, turning into a muffled whimper.
"Shut up."
Su Wei's voice was low, and his words were short and abrupt.
"Cold air will tear your alveoli, so breathe through your nose."
The boy struggled desperately, his hands futilely scratching at Su Wei's wrists through the emergency blanket.
His eyes were filled with fear.
For a ten-year-old child, the extreme cold, the excruciating pain, and the brutal actions of a strange man constitute an extreme threat.
Su Wei pressed his right knee forward an inch, pressing it against the boy's left hip.
He pinned the boy's body firmly to the rock face.
Under the overwhelming force, the boy's struggles were futile.
Look at me.
Su Wei uttered three words.
The boy was forced to stop what he was doing and met Su Wei's gaze.
Those were absolutely calm eyes, devoid of pity, containing only precise assessment.
The oppressive feeling created by this calm forcefully cut off the boy's panic.
"Breathe."
Su Wei loosened the grip on his left hand fingers.
The boy's nostrils flared rapidly, and his chest began to rise and fall rhythmically.
Pale gold characters flashed by.
[Emergency blanket intervention effective. Core body temperature loss rate slowed by 40%.]
The boy stopped screaming.
He bit his lower lip so hard that his teeth dug into his flesh.
Su Wei withdrew his left hand and turned to look at the outside of the crevice.
A polar fir shrub grows diagonally in a crevice in the right rock wall.
He took two steps, his boots shattering the thin ice, and drew his KA-BAR 1217 survival knife from his belt with his right hand.
The black blade reflected a cold, hard metallic texture in the dim light.
He focused on two lower branches, each about the thickness of a thumb, and chopped them down with a flick of his wrist.
Two muffled thuds followed, and the wood fibers snapped.
Two fir sticks, each about forty centimeters long, fell into his hands.
The surface of the wooden stick is covered with rough bark and splinters.
Su Wei pressed his thumb against the back of the knife, the blade close to the edge of the stick.
[ Basic Woodworking LV1 Passive Trigger.]
The tactile sensation in my fingers changed instantly.
The grain direction and hardness of the wood are all transmitted to the brain through the fingertips.
The blade scraped along the grain, sending wood chips flying.
With a few quick slices and scrapes, all the potentially dangerous burrs were smoothed out.
The rough branches were transformed into two relatively smooth hardwood planks.
Su Wei sheathed his sword and walked back to the bottom of the pit.
The strong winds were blowing in from above, reducing visibility to less than ten meters.
Su Wei knelt down on one knee beside the boy and pulled out two rolls of gauze and three triangular bandages from her bag.
He reached out and grabbed the buckle on the boy's right footboard, then pried it upwards with force.
The frozen latch made two crisp clicks.
Su Wei peeled the heavy snow boots, along with the snowboard, off the boy's feet.
The deformity of his right calf was fully exposed.
The boy's body trembled uncontrollably.
Su Wei took a folded piece of medical gauze and stuffed it directly into the boy's mouth.
"I'm going to straighten your bones."
Su Wei stated the facts.
"Bite it."
The boy turned his head in terror, trying to avoid the gauze.
Su Wei ignored him, pinching his jaw with her left hand and pressing down hard.
The boy winced in pain, his mouth forced open, and Su Wei shoved gauze between his teeth.