46: Hospital

The police car, sirens blaring, sped like the wind into the Emergency Department entrance of the City's First People's Hospital. Before it even came to a complete stop, Wang Qiang and the young officer violently pushed open the doors and jumped out. Together with medical staff who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion, they frantically dragged and carried three blood-soaked, continuously wailing teenagers from the back seat, carefully placing them onto mobile stretcher beds.

"Quick! Get them to the Resuscitation Area! This one has an open abdominal injury, blood pressure is dropping!"

"Deep laceration on the right upper limb, severe wound contamination, prepare for debridement and suturing!"

"Suspected tendon rupture in both ankles, active bleeding, needs immediate hemostasis!"

The Nurses' urgent shouts mixed with the piercing screech of stretcher wheels grinding against the floor, instantly shattering the late-night quiet of the emergency room.

Wang Qiang, jogging alongside the stretcher, flashed his badge towards the triage station and shouted hoarsely, "We're from the XX Police Station! Save them first! All costs will be handled by us police later, we'll complete the paperwork immediately!" Seeing the situation and the police credentials, the hospital immediately activated emergency procedures and opened a green channel.

Lu Jianchuan followed at the rear of the group. His gaze swept over the three young faces twisted with agony and fear on the stretchers. Not long ago, they were still acting arrogantly at school, but now they lay limp like broken dolls, their vital signs rapidly fading. His eyes were calm, but turmoil churned beneath the surface.

Preliminary injury assessment, pressure hemostasis, and establishing intravenous access were being carried out tensely within the Resuscitation Area. Wang Qiang and the young officer, led by a Nurse, hurried about the corridor outside the resuscitation room, filling out one sudden form and consent document after another—with the parents absent, many emergency procedures required temporary police authorization.

Lu Jianchuan, however, voluntarily stayed in the waiting area outside the resuscitation zone. Leaning against the cool wall, his sharp eyes scanned both ends of the corridor and every entrance and exit. The oppressive feeling brought by the invisible hunter hadn't dissipated upon arriving at the hospital; his muscles remained slightly tense, and the dormant watch on his left wrist seemed to burn faintly.

Time ticked by in the smell of disinfectant. Suddenly, a chaotic flurry of footsteps accompanied by a woman's heart-rending wail exploded from the end of the corridor.

"Xiao Tao! My son!—What have you done to my son?! Where is he?! Where?!" Rushing at the front was a middle-aged woman in a crumpled nightgown, disheveled hair, and a portly figure. She was the mother of Skinny Monkey Zhang Tao, her face drained of color, leaving only overwhelming panic. Close behind her was a man in plastic sandals, his face ashen and silent—Zhang Tao's father.

Almost simultaneously, another set of parents arrived. The father of Sturdy Follower Liu Zhuang was a burly, thick-necked man wearing a heavy gold chain. Before he even reached them, his coarse roar shook the corridor: "Who?! Which bastard hurt my son?! I'll make them pay!"

The last to arrive was the mother of Green Skin Head Zhao Gang, a woman in a fashionable suit, though now her eyeliner was smudged and her lipstick smeared. Seeing the tightly closed doors of the Resuscitation Area and the lit red light, her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the floor, letting out a hysterical, dry wail.

"Officer! Where's my son? Where's Zhang Tao? How is he really? Tell me!" Zhang Tao's mother, catching sight of Lu Jianchuan standing guard nearby, lunged at him like a drowning person grabbing a lifeline. Her hands clamped onto his arm, nails almost digging into his flesh, her body trembling uncontrollably as she fired questions.

Hearing the noise, Wang Qiang hurried back from the Nurse's station, trying to separate the emotionally distraught family members, explaining in as steady a voice as possible: "Parents, please calm down first! The children are all inside receiving emergency treatment, the doctors and Nurses are doing their utmost..."

"Calm down?! How can I calm down!!" The gold-chain man—Liu Zhuang's father—cut Wang Qiang off abruptly, spittle almost hitting his face. "My son was perfectly fine when you took him, and now he's in the resuscitation room in the blink of an eye! What the hell are you cops doing?! Huh?!"

"Exactly! Weren't you just taking them for questioning and education? How did 'education' end up with them nearly dead?! You have to give us an explanation today!" Zhang Tao's father also spoke up in a sinister tone, his eyes scraping over Wang Qiang and Lu Jianchuan like knives.

A vein twitched at Wang Qiang's temple. Suppressing his anger, he tried to keep his tone even: "We were attacked suddenly on the way back to the station while transporting them. The attacker's identity and methods... are very unusual. We're still investigating."

"Attacked? What attack?" Zhao Gang's mother, still sitting on the floor, jerked her head up and shrieked. "Who dares attack you police? Don't you have guns?! Why didn't you protect my son?!"

"We... didn't see a clear attacker at the time," the young officer added with difficulty from the side.

These words were like cold water splashed into hot oil, instantly igniting the fury of all the parents.

"Didn't see an attacker?!" Liu Zhuang's father sounded as if he'd heard the most absurd joke in the world, his voice suddenly rising an octave, buzzing through the corridor.

"Three half-grown boys, with two grown policemen right there, get hacked half to death on the street, and you're telling me you didn't see an attacker?! Are your eyes blind, or do you think us common folk are easy to fool?!"

"It must have been you! You were the ones who beat them! You beat them up badly and can't come up with a reason, so you feed us this ghost story!" Zhang Tao's mother completely broke down, crying and cursing while pointing at Wang Qiang's nose.

"If my son can't be saved, I... I'll fight you to the death!"

Faced with this barrage of malicious accusations and illogical speculation, Wang Qiang's face turned ashen, and the young officer was so angry his lips trembled, yet they were at a loss for words.

They had risked their lives dealing with an unknown enemy, desperately trying to get the injured to treatment, only to face such unbearable accusations now.

Lu Jianchuan stood silently a little farther away, extracting his arm from Zhang Tao's mother's death grip. He watched the chaos and clamor before him.

He understood the anxiety and panic born of parental instinct, but this indiscriminate dumping of all blame and malice onto law enforcement only made him feel a deep weariness and powerlessness.

He clearly knew that the real, fatal threat came from shadows beyond common sense, and this unknown that defied comprehension had now become the shackles binding them under siege.

Facing the parents' torrent of accusations, the wrinkles at the corners of Wang Qiang's eyes deepened slightly. He gently pushed up the brim of his police cap, revealing his sweat-dampened forehead.

He didn't choose a head-on confrontation. Instead, he turned sideways and made a simple gesture to the young officer, Xiao Li, saying quietly, "Contact the Command Center, report according to standard procedure, request Chief Liu and Internal Affairs to come assist with communication."

Xiao Li immediately understood and retreated to make the call.

Only then did Wang Qiang turn to the parents. He let his hands hang naturally at his sides, his voice not loud but clear enough to cut through the crying and shouting: "Parents, I am Wang Qiang, the officer in charge on-site, badge number 07XXX. I understand how you feel, but right now the most important thing is for the children to receive treatment. I swear on this police uniform that everything that happened tonight will be strictly recorded and investigated according to procedure, and we will give you an explanation."

He deliberately made his identity and badge number known. Seeing the mother still collapsed on the floor, he immediately crouched down to her eye level: "Ma'am, the doctors are doing their utmost inside. We're out here; we can't disrupt their work, right?"

This statement quieted the agitated parents somewhat. Seizing the moment, Wang Qiang nodded to the head Nurse: "Please arrange a quiet room. We need to understand the situation and take statements as soon as possible. Security, please ensure the emergency passage remains clear."

Watching from the side, Lu Jianchuan understood. Brother Wang hadn't gotten entangled in the unexplainable problem of the "invisible attacker." Instead, he quickly shifted the focus to procedure, treatment, and scene control. He saw how Wang Qiang's seemingly casual positioning allowed him to monitor both the resuscitation room door and the corridor entrance simultaneously; the instructions he gave Xiao Li were precise and compliant with regulations; his words to comfort the families expressed understanding while firmly upholding procedural boundaries.

At that moment, Liu Zhuang's father suddenly grabbed Wang Qiang's sleeve: "Officer Wang! Don't just say all that! How exactly was my son injured?!"

Wang Qiang didn't pull away. Instead, he used the hold to support the other man's arm, his tone steady: "Mr. Liu, I understand how you feel right now. Just hearing it from me, you'd naturally be suspicious. Look—" He pointed to the surveillance camera in the top corner of the corridor. "From the moment we entered the hospital, everything has been recorded. When the Internal Affairs colleagues arrive, we will retrieve the footage as per regulations, and everything will be clear."

He didn't promise an immediate explanation for the bizarre attack. Instead, he placed the commitment of "an open and transparent investigation process" upfront. Simultaneously, he skillfully directed the oversight of the subsequent investigation towards the more credible Internal Affairs department.

The young officer, Xiao Li, returned at an opportune moment and reported in a low voice: "Brother Wang, the Command Center has notified Chief Liu and Internal Affairs. They're expected in fifteen minutes. The hospital says the family consultation room is available for use."

Taking the notepad Xiao Li handed him, Wang Qiang turned to the parents. His tone was gentler but carried the unquestionable authority of procedure: "Please go to the consultation room for a short rest first. We need to register your contact information and basic details as per procedure. Updates on the investigation will be communicated to you promptly through official channels. According to regulations, investigations of this nature require the presence of the Internal Affairs department for supervision to ensure fairness. Please be patient for a moment."

With this series of actions, the originally tense, chaotic, and uncontrolled situation was gradually, step by step, guided by Wang Qiang with reason and evidence towards a standardized workflow. The crying and accusations didn't completely stop, but they were at least contained within a manageable range. Medical staff could continue their work, and order was restored to the scene.

Lu Jianchuan watched all this silently. For the first time, he felt so directly the value of an experienced veteran police officer—not merely in charging into battle, but in this ability to establish order amidst chaos and steady the course through emotional storms.

Behind this lay countless real-world experiences and a profound understanding of rules and procedures. He unconsciously touched the temporarily dormant "watch" on his left wrist, realizing there was still much he had to learn.