Qiao Mei slowly opened her eyes and gradually had a clear idea of where she was. Her surroundings were all white and there were many identical beds around her. The people on those beds looked more seriously injured than her. Some of them were wrapped in bandages and some were in casts.
It appeared that there were still some people who did not manage to make it to the open space in time and still got injured. However, it was not possible for Qiao Mei to save so many people single-handedly. She had already done her best.
“You’re awake,” a medic said to Qiao Mei.
Qiao Mei was about to get out of bed when she was stopped by the medic.
“Hey! Don’t move. I’ll have to give you a checkup before you can move around.” The medic carefully checked Qiao Mei’s various joints and physical indicators. He only allowed Qiao Mei to move around after confirming that there were no abnormalities.
“Alright, you can go to the temporary base outside the city.” The medic packed his things and prepared to move on to the next patient.
“Wait, what’s the base outside the city?” Qiao Mei asked with a puzzled expression.
“It’s the place where the disaster victims are currently being held. We’re still in the city and it’s not safe. You need to evacuate to a safe area,” the medic said.
“Yes… Thank you, I understand now.” After saying goodbye to the medic, Qiao Mei began to think about how to stay inside the current camp. It was not easy to find Xia Zhe, so she could not leave so easily.
She quietly walked out of the tent and went around the area to see if there was anything she could do to help the troops. She had barely taken two steps before she ran into Xia Zhe who had come to take a headcount.
“You? Are you fine now?” Xia Zhe said as he looked at Qiao Mei coldly.
Qiao Mei did not dare to say that she was doing fine as she still wanted to stay here. If she was sent out of the city, it would be difficult for her to come in again.
“I… I’m still a little dizzy…” Qiao Mei pretended to be weak and reached out to hold her forehead.
Xia Zhe sized up Qiao Mei. She did not seem to have any external injuries, and the medic had already told him that this person was fine and could be transferred.
Qiao Mei saw that Xia Zhe was indifferent to her and reached out to tug at his sleeve. She said in a sweet voice, “Can I…”
Before Qiao Mei could finish speaking, Xia Zhe frowned. Why did this voice sound so familiar? Qiao Mei immediately became alert and stopped talking. She pretended to faint and fall against Xia Zhe.
Xia Zhe hurriedly caught hold of Qiao Mei, but as they were of opposite sexes, Xia Zhe called out to the female soldier who was closest to him and said, “You, come here! Send her to the infirmary!”
The young soldier immediately came over to help her up and they limped their way to the infirmary. Qiao Mei was secretly happy that he was not overly concerned about unfamiliar women and thought that he deserved praise for it.
When Qiao Mei arrived at the infirmary, she quickly woke up and said to the young soldier, “Thank you for sending me back. I feel much better now.”
Hearing her sweet voice, the young soldier thought of her as a gentle and kind little girl, and did not suspect that she was pretending to be sick. The soldier said to Qiao Mei, “You’re welcome. It’s what I should do.”
“By the way, please tell me where I can get some water as I want to wash up.” Qiao Mei touched her face and sighed as she looked at the two inches of ash on her hand.
Given that they were both girls, the young soldier also knew that it was really uncomfortable to be dirty all over. She pointed to the tent at the other end and said, “There’s a temporary water tank over there, you can get some water to do a simple wipe down or something. However, there’s not much water so you can’t take a shower, but you can wash your face though.”
Qiao Mei nodded and said, “Thank you. I’ll be careful about the amount of water I use. Don’t worry.”
The young soldier had other tasks to do so she bid a simple farewell to Qiao Mei and returned to the troop.
Qiao Mei took a basin to get some water and wiped herself clean with a towel before washing her feet. Water resources were very precious now, so she had to make full use of them as much as possible. After washing up, Qiao Mei looked like a completely different person from before. When she came out of the water storage tent, she was aware that there were many pairs of eyes staring at her.
Even if Qiao Mei had the ability to conceal her presence, she was now among the army troops and this was a place with more male soldiers than female soldiers. No matter how inconspicuous she tried to be, she was still very eye-catching. Many soldiers were stunned by the sight of her. They had not heard that there was such a beautiful girl among the people rescued.