Chapter 23

Dr. Zhao looked at Qi Xia with a difficult expression, and Qi Xia didn't know how to respond.

"Can this be used?" Qi Xia asked softly.

"It should be fine," Dr. Zhao nodded. "Medical sutures often use curved needles; as long as it's sharp enough, it will work."

Qi Xia thought for a moment, then spoke to the female shop assistant, "Miss, we don't have money. Can we trade something for it?"

"Money?" The shop assistant stared at Qi Xia with wide eyes, seemingly trying to understand what "money" meant. After a long pause, she said, "I don't want money. Sleep with me."

"Sleep...?" Qi Xia's lips moved slightly, "What do you mean?"

"After we sleep, we can eat the piglet!" The shop assistant showed a hint of madness, and then she even drooled.

With that, she walked to the dirty bed, bent down, and sat on it, patting the spot next to her.

That spot was covered with a large patch of dried blood.

"Come on, come over quickly."

The shop assistant quickly took off her top, revealing that she was not wearing anything underneath. Her emaciated body was covered in dirt and blood, looking like a skeleton.

Qiao Jiajin remained silent for a long time before nudging Qi Xia with his elbow and saying, "Just give yourself to her."

"Why don't you go?" Qi Xia said irritably.

"The boss asked for you," Qiao Jiajin said with a hint of schadenfreude. "Didn't you hear? As long as you sleep with her, we can eat the piglet in her pot. Besides, the writer is waiting for the fishhook to save his life. This is a great act of kindness..."

Before Qi Xia could respond, the shop assistant seemed to have heard Qiao Jiajin and turned to him, saying, "You can come too! All four of you can come!"

"Huh?" Qiao Jiajin was taken aback, "Me...?"

"What's going on..." Officer Li finally couldn't hold back. With so many years in law enforcement, the situation before him was completely beyond his comprehension. "Miss, what do you want? We're here to buy things. Why do you want to offer yourself?"

"I..." The shop assistant widened her eyes and suddenly shouted, "I want to eat the piglet!!"

After saying that, she seemed to remember something and quickly put the fishhook and line on the bed, then ran to the iron pot and looked inside.

"Piglet... don't get cooked too much..."

She picked up a stick and stirred the pot a few times, looking worried.

Taking advantage of this moment, Qi Xia quietly walked to the bed, picked up the fishhook and line, and handed them to Dr. Zhao, saying, "Go save the person first; we'll deal with this."

"Okay!"

Dr. Zhao took the fishhook and line outside, found a relatively clean stone, and began to prepare the fishhook. He briefly explained the situation inside to the girls.

Tiantian, being a professional, still couldn't understand the shop assistant's behavior.

"Let's not worry about that. Qi Xia is right; let's save the person first." Lin Qi took the fishing line and went back to check on Han Yimo.

Dr. Zhao used the stone to remove the rust from the fishhook and tried to make it as sharp as possible. Lin Qi also helped to organize the tangled fishing line.

"Almost ready..." After confirming everything was prepared, Dr. Zhao turned to Han Yimo and said, "I'm going to remove the spear and then stitch the wound."

"Okay..." Han Yimo nodded slightly.

"But we don't have any anesthetic," Dr. Zhao said hesitantly. "The pain might be more than you can imagine."

"It's fine... at least I'll survive, right?" Han Yimo smiled bitterly.

"If the wound doesn't get infected... you should be fine."

"That's good... go ahead..."

...

...

Inside, the three men stood behind the shop assistant, watching her stir the pot.

She was completely naked, but the three men felt no excitement, only a desire to escape.

"Hey, liar," Qiao Jiajin whispered, "You stole her 'goods.' What if she gets angry later?"

"I don't know," Qi Xia shook his head.

Officer Li remained silent for a moment, then whispered, "We still have the 'path,' right? I wonder if she wants it?"

"How can we do that?!" Qiao Jiajin said unhappily, "That 'path' was obtained with all our lives. Are you going to give it to this madwoman?"

"We're saving a life here!"

As they were arguing, the shop assistant slowly turned around.

She seemed relieved and walked to the bed, where the fishhook and line had been, but now it was empty.

She looked at the bed hesitantly, as if something was wrong: "Huh?"

But she quickly shook her head and said, "Right... sleep. Who wants to go first?"

She looked up at the three men, her expression wavering, and asked, "Not four? You've always been three? Never mind, three is fine."

Qiao Jiajin shook his head and whispered, "See, she's even more crazy than I thought."

"Um..." Qi Xia was stunned for a moment, then said, "We don't want to sleep with you. We're just here to buy things."

With that, he took a golden "path" from his pocket, placed it next to the shop assistant, and continued, "I don't know if this is valuable, but it's all we have."

As Qi Xia thought, people living here would recognize the animal masks and have heard of the "path," a thing obtained with one's life, which should have some value.

The shop assistant looked curiously at the bead, then picked it up and squeezed it a few times.

Then, to the shock of the three men, she threw the bead into her mouth.

With a "crunch," the bead was bitten and chewed, then swallowed.

"Not tasty..." The shop assistant shook her head, "Far worse than the piglet."

"This..."

The three men had never imagined that something they had risked their lives for would be treated as a snack, and they were speechless.

"Not sleeping... then you can leave..." The shop assistant sighed, looking very disappointed, "Someone will come to sleep with me eventually."

Although the situation was incomprehensible to the three men, at least they could leave now.

The three men reluctantly left the house, planning how to explain to everyone that they had lost a "path." They saw Dr. Zhao had already removed the spear from Han Yimo, and his blood was gushing out, his head drenched in sweat.

"Quick, help!" Lin Qi called out.

Qiao Jiajin and Officer Li rushed over to help hold down Han Yimo's limbs.

In such extreme pain, a person would move involuntarily.

"Han Yimo, look at me!" Dr. Zhao said sternly, "Do you know who I am?!"

"You're Dr. Zhao..." Han Yimo said, frowning and gritting his teeth.

"Right, stay conscious!" Dr. Zhao threaded the fishhook and quickly pierced his skin.

Han Yimo groaned again.

"Talk to me!" Dr. Zhao said calmly, "Talk about something you're interested in to distract yourself!"

"What I'm interested in...?" Han Yimo smiled bitterly.

"Aren't you a writer?" Dr. Zhao said, "How about we talk about your works?"