Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 935: Sneaking into the Ark
After hearing what he said, everyone looked up and saw that the originally smooth edge of the Ark now seemed to have grown a row of jagged teeth.
"What is this? Who brought a low-light telescope? Lend it to me." Soap turned around and asked.
"It's something that grew on this fungal blanket." The leader of the Spear Squad put down the telescope and threw it to Soap. "It looks a bit like an ancient crossbow."
"Catapult?" Soap grabbed the telescope and looked at the row of "saw teeth".
Only after zooming in can you see that each sawtooth is actually a launching device with bones as bows and tendons as strings. In addition to the most basic bowstring structure, there are many details that are not clear at this distance. Combined with its size, it is really similar to the ancient crossbow in history books.
"It seems that these are the ones that attacked us just now." Soap said, "These things didn't exist an hour ago..."
"It's an adaptive defense capability." The Joker said to Soap, "It can evolve and mutate according to the type, ability, and characteristics of the enemy, and in a short period of time, it can produce an 'organ' that can effectively respond to and counter the enemy. There is a mutant erosion seed that has this ability."
He paused, then commented: "Very tricky ability."
"Mutated Seed of Corrosion? Is this thing a Seed of Corrosion? If so, wouldn't our active ammunition be effective against it?" a relic hunter said excitedly.
"It's useless." The Joker shook his head. "The essence of active ammunition is a toxin that specifically targets the seeds of erosion. The effect of the toxin is directly linked to the dosage. If you use a dosage of toxin that can just kill an ant to deal with an elephant, it will not have any effect."
“……”Everyone looked at each other and saw a trace of despair in each other’s eyes.
Even if all their active ammunition were added together, it would still be insufficient in front of this fungal blanket that was large enough to wrap up the entire Ark. At best, it would be like dropping a drop of ink into the ocean.
"What's more, it's still uncertain whether this thing is a seed of erosion." The "Clown" added.
"I hope not," Soap whispered, "if it is, don't even touch it."
Soap and Giraffe had participated in the last defense of Mukach Fortress, and had also taken on several missions to assist the regular army in eliminating heretical sects. They were very familiar with the characteristics of the Corrosion Seeds - active ammunition was highly toxic to them, and they were also highly toxic to humans. As long as there was a slight touch, even if there were no obvious wounds on the body surface, the cells of the Corrosion Seeds would have a high probability of invading the human body through the skin, and then alienating the original cells of the human body into its own kind...
For those who are "lucky", the Seed of Corrosion will condense a "core" in the chest, and use this person as a host to provide nutrients. Before the newly born Seed of Corrosion enters the rapid transformation period, this host can still survive as a container for several months to several years. For those who are unlucky, they will directly turn into a monster and go crazy and destroy themselves.
Just as everyone was thinking about the next countermeasure, the scout team in front suddenly sent back a message.
The message is transmitted in the form of light signals, of course, not visible light, but infrared. A thermal imager is also responsible for receiving the message, using the rhythm of changes in infrared intensity to represent the long and short signals in Morse code, and then compiling these signals into information written in human language.
"The scout team said they found someone who escaped from the Ark!" The soldier in charge of receiving the news raised his hand from the decoder and said to the captain of the spear squad, "But the other party is seriously injured and no longer worth saving."
This kind of light signal can only convey very little information. Just these two sentences took a full minute.
"Have the scout team provide immediate treatment. At least, make sure the person is alive when we get there." The spear team leader made a prompt decision. "Everyone else, gather in my direction, change to a high-speed mobile formation, and move at full speed to the scout team's location!"
The leader of the spear squad did not ask more about the wounded during the communication - it was useless to ask, and it would be a waste of time. He knew that the scout team did not carry many medicines. In addition to the standard first aid kit for field service corps, there were only some stimulants and fast-acting coagulants. It was impossible to save people from the hands of death with these things.
"Medics, be prepared for first aid. Surgery is allowed if necessary." The team leader hurried on while giving orders, "I don't need you to revive him, but you must wake him up so that he can tell me what happened on the Ark... By the way, all restricted drugs are now available. Use them directly without asking for permission."
After saying this, he looked at Soap and the others and asked, "Are there any of you who are good at battlefield first aid, or have a side job as a doctor?"
There were originally two medics in the Spear Squad, but one of them, like the sniper of the scout team, died during the emergency landing. If surgery is required later, someone with medical skills must assist the remaining medic.
"I can." The Joker raised his hand.
"You...you?!" The captain of the Spear Squad turned his head and took a look. When he found out it was the "Joker", a trace of surprise appeared on his face. "You...your specialty is not airplanes or machinery? I thought..."
The pilot of the transport plane following behind the "Joker" also looked at the "Joker" with surprise.
"Not really. My main job is an intelligence dealer, and my secondary job is a mercenary. I have nothing to do with mechanics." The Joker said, "It's just that I've always acted alone. Everyone knows that people who act alone need to master more skills, so I have dabbled in various professions... I can't say I'm proficient in them, but it should be enough."
"Okay, you will assist Ronnie later." The captain of the Spear Squad didn't have time to think too much. Since someone could do this, it would be great.
Ronnie is the surviving medic in the Spear Squad and the only female in the team.
"Hurry up, everyone. We can't hide our tracks at this time." The team leader urged again. The news sent back by the scout team was that the man "has lost his value in rescue." To put it in more popular terms, the person is only exhaling but not inhaling. If they are late for a few minutes, all they can see is a corpse that is gradually getting cold.
For a one-kilometer journey, fully armed infantrymen are required to run within six minutes at a forced march. The requirement for special forces is a little stricter, usually around four and a half minutes. But this time, it took them less than three minutes to reach the place where the scout team found the survivors.
Of course, the price was that the formation of the entire team was scattered - only Soap, Giraffe, Clown, the Spear Squad Captain and several others who had undergone body enhancement or transformation surgery arrived at the target location. A full two-thirds of the people fell behind, including the medic named Ronnie.
The survivor found by the scout team had half of his body buried in the soil. According to the description of the scout who found the survivor, at first only his face and half of his chest were exposed. In order to prevent suffocation due to compression of the chest, the scout only helped him clear the sand above his chest, but did not dare to touch other parts of his body - this man had multiple fractures, and if he was forcibly dug out of the soil, improper operation would only cause greater harm.
Who knows, maybe he will just swallow the breath he is holding on to.
"Is he still alive?" The breathless spear squad leader glanced at the "survivor" and turned to ask the scout of the scout team.
"Alive, with a heartbeat, but his condition is deteriorating rapidly." The scout sighed. "In his condition, we can't give him any emergency treatment. We only dared to give him one-third of the dose of stimulants... We wanted to give him oxygen, but he seemed unable to breathe it..."
The scout's approach was correct. The survivor was buried in the soil and all parts of his body were under pressure. If he was given a full dose of stimulants at this time, it might cause a sudden rise in blood pressure and rupture of cerebral blood vessels, leading to death. That would not be saving his life, but hastening his death.
"Damn it, that girl Ronnie, I told her a long time ago that she should either get a strengthening surgery or double her exercise, but she always turned a deaf ear to me!" The team leader said impatiently. He looked back, but could not see any trace of those who had straggled away in the darkness. He also didn't know how long it would take for the medical soldier named Ronnie to arrive.
And now, for this survivor, every second of delay makes the hope of being rescued... or waking up, slimmer.
"Let me do it." The Joker said, "Can I lend you a few soldiers?"
"...Okay!" The team leader gritted his teeth and nodded, "You can ask them to do anything."
Originally, the clown was only supposed to perform auxiliary work, but now the assistant has become the one who takes the main responsibility. It would be a lie to say that the team leader was not nervous... But for some reason, there was another voice in the team leader's heart telling him that as long as he believed in this man nicknamed "Clown", he would be able to create another miracle like he did on the transport plane.
The "Joker" squatted down, carefully checked the condition of the survivors, and then opened the first aid medical kit - the first aid medical kit came with a set of simple surgical tools, including a scalpel, scissors, and hemostatic forceps, but ordinary soldiers could only use these tools to perform minor operations such as treating wounds and stopping bleeding, and major operations were simply not possible.
But as soon as the "Joker" got the scalpel, he directly cut the survivor's throat without even doing the most basic disinfection!
"What are you doing? Can you really save people?" The giraffe watching on the side was startled and immediately asked.
"His condition is very bad. I can't guarantee that I can save him." The "Joker" said silently, but the knife in his hand did not stop. It slashed all the way along the survivor's throat, cutting a gash about three centimeters long.
If there was another person here who was proficient in medicine, he would be surprised to find that the "Joker"'s knife-control technique was very sophisticated. He only cut the survivor's skin and did not injure the trachea and carotid artery. Even after the cut, there was not much bleeding at the incision.
"The survivor's breathing is obstructed and he must be intubated. I need a hollow tube, preferably a clean one... If you don't have one, a dirty one will do. The diameter cannot exceed 1.5 centimeters, but it cannot be too thin, otherwise the ventilation will be insufficient." The "Clown" said to everyone without raising his head.
"A tube... a tube... a gun barrel, will that work?" Soap took a look at the assault rifle in his hand. The diameter of the barrel clearly exceeded the standard of 1.5 centimeters. Using this thing to shove into the throat of a survivor would only stab the person to death.
"Use this." The captain of the Spear Squad took out a pen, pulled out the refill and the nib, leaving only a hollow pen barrel. He then rinsed the remaining ink inside the pen barrel with drinking water and handed it to the "Clown".
"Okay." The clown took the pen and stabbed it directly into the cut in the throat.
The next second, a "whoosh" sound was heard from the opening of the pen barrel due to the flow of gas.
"This is amazing..." Soap's eyes almost popped out as he watched from the side, "This... can this be considered a life saver?"
"It's still a long way to go." The Joker shook his head. "I just temporarily prevented his brain from dying due to lack of oxygen. Let alone saving him, it's hard to say whether he can regain consciousness."
At this time, medical soldier Ronnie finally arrived here. Without even taking a breath, she immediately squatted down and took out the medical box behind her.
When he saw how the Joker treated the survivors, he was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Have you learned battlefield first aid... No, do you have extensive battlefield first aid experience?"
"I've only dabbled in this a little. Since you're here, you should take the lead and I'll assist you." The clown handed over the scalpel in his hand.
"No, let me help you." Ronnie only took a look at the incision and was certain in her heart that the man in front of her, who was wrapped tightly all over his body, had medical skills far superior to hers.
"Alright." The Joker didn't refuse and immediately assigned tasks to everyone. "Two people, use the engineer shovel to carefully dig away the soil around the survivor, starting from the far end. Be careful not to let the shovel touch his body. Another person will perform CPR on him. Don't use all your strength, and be as gentle as possible. He has multiple fractured ribs, so don't let the broken bones pierce his internal organs."
