Chapter 25: Rescuing the Second Chef, Zhang Qian

19 June, after 18:00

Xiao Mo ditched the motorcycle and rushed towards his brother’s restaurant. Perspiration and rainwater mixed together on his body. He did not even consider once whether the kid was able to catch up with him.

If Xiao Mo had looked back just once, he would realize that the little kid could shuttle between obstacle with great ease and dexterity that was even better than him by leaps and bounds. He was like a leopard, following his prey closely.

The eatery’s door was shut tight. Xiao Mo pushed open the glass door and rushed in. The kid following closely behind him nearly got hit on the face by the rebounding glass door as a result.

The air conditioning was still in operation, and all the seats were occupied by the customers, and all of them were bent flat over the table. A sharp burning smell permeated the entire place.

Over the cashier, Xiao Mo’s sister-in-law was bent over the machine, unconscious.

“Sister-in-law!” He knew that Deng An Jie was unable to hear him, but he was not able to control himself and unconsciously called out to her in worry.

He carefully held her up with shaking hands, before placing a finger under her nose to check her breath. Feeling the faint wind under his fingers, he was relieved and overjoyed.

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The big stove consists of 3 outlets and were mainly for stir frying. Presently, the two big stoves had dishes on it, and in one pot, there was oil and another one was cooking the stock for stir frying.

Even if the flame for the smaller stove were small, it had burned through the pots and the dark smog was so strong that the range hood and exhaust system were unable to control the smoke emission.

The stock in the stove was almost drying out and the contents of the stir-fry had almost turned into complete char and the base might even be thoroughly burnt through. The was nothing though. The worst part was : the second chef Zhang Qian. When he fell, he toppled the oil pot, causing the whole pot of scalding oil to capsize on himself.

Luckily, the both the big and small stoves had self-protection features. When the fire was extinguished, the gas supply will be cut off. So when the stove dried up for a minute, it would cut off the gas, hence minimizing the disaster.

Halve of Zhang Qian’s face and exposed skin had several bubbles. Some of them were even smashed and rotten. The most serious part was his right shoulder and chest. It was right where the pot of oil had toppled straight on to. With the chef uniform on, Xiao Mo was unable to judge how bad of a situation he was in.

It’s all over!!! Xiao Mo could not gather the courage to check whether he was still alive.

He was deceiving himself. He still remembered that Zhang Qian was getting married soon, on National Day. But now that he was burnt so badly, how was he going to get married in such a condition?

He used his hand and tried to fan away some of the smog blocking his vision, before digging out his phone to call the ambulance. He was just about to thank his luck that his phone was waterproof and started pressing the buttons, before he realized, where would he call to get an ambulance?

A small shadow passed by Xiao Mo and walked towards Zhang Qian. The kid squatted down and picked up his wrist to check his pulse.

“Luckily, he fell unconscious first before getting burnt, avoiding the shock. He is still alive, but in this condition, he won’t be able to hold on for long.”

Indeed, the environment in the kitchen was very poor. It was hot, stuffy, humid, and had thick smog. The hygiene of the place was not great either.

Xiao Mo wiped his face and forced himself to calm down. Hey, you see, even a four to five-year-old child also didn’t behave like him, making such a huge fuss.

He opened all the windows and doors to let the smog escape, then ensured that his brother and the other kitchen workers were unconscious but unhurt. Xiao Mo then headed back to the shop; he remembered that there was a first aid kit behind the cashier counter, and in it should have some cream meant for burn wounds.

He was worried about his family members- he had not found his father and younger brother yet, but Zhang Qian’s condition was critical and could not be delayed any longer.

Zhang Qian was also unlike the strangers he saw on the road. He had spent six years working in his brother’s restaurant, hence they were naturally close. He even addressed him as Brother Xiao. He had no reason to not attend to him when he was in such a bad shape.

The kitchen floor was oily and slippery, so Xiao Mo held tightly to the first aid kit before sliding back to the kitchen. He was about to grab some cold water, but the kid shook his head and stopped him.

“It’s useless. The surface area of the burn is too big, and they are all critical areas. Look at his skin, this is a deep burn, using cold water and burn medication will not help much.”

The kid had already removed the oil pot that was stuck on Zhang Qian’s chest. He did not touch his clothes though, he could not.

There was something weird about the kid, but Xiao Mo was in such a panic, he could not be bothered to guess why a kid that young had so much medical knowledge that only professional medical personnel could answer.

“Even if we send him to the hospital, do you think that there are still any doctors to treat him?” Xiao Mo irritably answered. “Don’t tell me we are watching him die. To say the worst, if it were not for him being unconscious and spilling the pot, everyone in the shop right now would be either dead or worse. Get out of the way, I will try my best to deal with it bit by bit. Who knows, when everyone wakes up later, everything will return to normal. By then, when we bring him to the hospital, perhaps there will still be hope to save him.”

The kid did not rebuke him. He had seen way too many lives being taken away, and was not moved a bit by the lose of a life. But Xiao Mo was unable to do so, if he does not even try a little, he will not be able to be at peace with himself for the rest of his life.

Xiao Mo saw the kid squat to a side. He knew the kid’s logic differed from the other kids in general, but he still did not want him to witness something this horrendous. Looking at Zhang Qian’s condition, even he himself might not be able to absorb it, how could a kid possibly handle such a situation?

“Can you do me a favour? My brother rented a unit at level three. Could you help me to head up there and take a look at my father, younger brother, and nephew? Go check if they are in the house and if they have encountered any danger. This is my family photo, and this is the key to the third storey. Just walk out from the back door of the kitchen, turn left, and you can see a staircase. Walk up and head straight to unit 301.” Xiao Mo searched for the photo from his handphone and showed it to the kid. He also passed him the key.

The kid nodded his head and did not say anything. He silently took the phone and the key and walked straight towards the backdoor.

Xiao Mo made sure the kid had left before giving some simple treatment to Zhang Qian.

He was not a medical person, and Zhang Qian’s condition was too serious, so he did not know how to approach at the start.

Be he decided to do whatever he could and use all the minimal knowledge that he had to administer some basic burn treatment.

For the exposed skin, he used cold water and ice cubes to cover them before carefully applying the burn medication Those that were covered by clothes, he did not dare to remove, but poured the cold water on it before going to the shop to find some cooking vinegar and poured several bottles of it all over Zhang Qian.

Xiao Mo felt that it still was not enough, so he used a pair of scissors and carefully cut small parts of the cloth that had been soaked in vinegar. Seeing that the skin did not stick to the cloth, he continued to cut the rest of the cloth carefully.

It was really bad.

Zhang Qian’s right chest and right shoulder was almost cooked, and a weird kind of pungent smell came from it.

Xiao Mo did not know how to apply the cream. He was worried that even touching the skin with the cream will cause the skin to stick to his fingers and fall out.

Zhang Qian’s breathing became shallower and the movement of his chest was barely minimal.

You must continue living, must continue living!!

Not only live on, but also recover without any scars on the face! A fine young man should not be destroyed just like that, he did not want his brother’s family to shoulder the blame and bear the guilt for the rest of their lives.

As Xiao Mo was applying the cream on Zhang Qian, he kept praying in his heart repeatedly.

The small tube of medication was obviously insufficient for the widespread burns, so Xiao Mo tried to focus on Zhang Qian’s face, neck and chest, applying liberally on the important areas. As for the other parts, he could only make do with a ice and cold towels to wrap around the wounds.

He hoped the cream and ice compression worked. Even if it did not work, he hoped that it could help him last till everyone waked up and the hospital was running again.

Xiao Mo kept praying.

He had strong faith that everyone would wake up once again. He did not want to think of what would happen if everyone were unable to wake up.

Zhang Qian, you must pull through!

The kid came back and returned him the key. “Your dad, brother and your nephew are all upstairs. Your older brother was watching the television before he was unconscious. Your younger brother and nephew were playing computer games. Both your brother and nephew had fainted but are in no danger.”

Xiao Mo threw away the emptied tube of burn cream. He had applied all the cream on Zhang Qian and tried his best to cure him to the best of his abilities. Anything else was beyond his control. Also, if it weren’t his eyes playing tricks on him, he felt that after applying the cream, Zhang Qian’s condition already seemed much better.

Xiao Mo stood up, but a faint spell occurred and made his legs stagger. He quickly held onto the stove before he fell.

The kid held his hand and asked worriedly, “What happened to you?”

Growl…

“I’m alright, I just stood up too quickly.” Xiao Mo’s stomach rumbled loudly while he answered the kid.

Hungry again??

Xiao Mo felt suspicious. He glared at his own stomach.

Yes, that’s right. He not only felt hungry, he even felt so weak, as if he had not eaten for three whole days!

That damn virus! Xiao Mo scolded in his heart.

Luckily, he was currently at a restaurant.

Xiao Mo did not touch the ingredients in the kitchen, as those were mostly half done. He pushed the kid aside and rushed to the dining area of the restaurant.

It was only a short while and he was already feeling uncomfortable. Every single cell of his body was calling for him to eat.

Anyways, the food that the customer ordered would all go to waste. Who knew when they would wake up? Rather than throwing them all away, might as well let him eat it to replenish his empty stomach.

“Ding, recycler Xiao Mo’s genetic evaluation analysis completed by 25%. There are 3 choices of system rewards for the completion of Level 1 Mission #2; Recycler Xiao Mo can choose one of the three rewards available.”

Xiao Mo heard the system and stopped his hand that was about to grab the various dishes.

“First choice: Level 1 energy crystal absorption method and usage. Second choice: Spiritual space of one cubic meter. Third choice: Level 1 usage of supernatural power and basic foresight.”

Xiao Mo wanted to choose them all.

Even though he already knew that he could only choose one, he still asked, “I can only choose one?”

The system indicated that there were no grounds for negotiation.

“Ok, I will choose. But hold on and let me think about it.” Xiao Mo wanted to consult someone on this, but besides Xue Li Hong, there was no one else.

Even though he was a kid, Xiao Mo had never looked down on him. That kid was way too weird!

When Xiao Mo suppressed his hunger pangs and turned around to look for the kid, Xue Li Hong was still in the kitchen, squatting next to Zhang Qian. He was inspecting his burn wounds carefully.

Although a portion of the burn was covered by a layer of cream, Xue Li Hong could still see that his condition was way better than before. Especially his face, besides some faint redness, anyone that saw it wouldn’t think that he had been severely burned.