Chapter 622: Canned Meat
Chapter 622: Chapter 622: Canned Meat
The workload suddenly increased today, and Wendy was already exhausted.
"Evelyn, Rosemary has a great memory, but she’s a little timid. When I took her on rounds, we had to change the dressing for a man whose arm had been amputated. Rosemary’s face went completely white. She couldn’t even bring herself to look at the wound."
Wendy sounded worried. "I don’t know if she’ll be able to overcome that fear."
"I can see her attitude toward learning is excellent, and she’s very proactive. It’s probably just the first time she’s seen a stump up close, so she’s just not used to it. Don’t worry, you can’t become a doctor overnight. Courage needs to be trained, too. Weren’t you scared the first time you saw someone’s amputated limb? Just like when you watched someone give birth up close yesterday?"
Wendy nodded. "You’re right, I was being too hasty. I should be more patient."
Both of them were dead tired today. When they returned to the cabin for dinner, the others were chatting, but Evelyn and Wendy didn’t even have the strength to speak.
Back in the bedroom, Ronan Kendrick was still in the shower. Evelyn lay down and fell asleep almost instantly. When Ronan came out and saw her sprawling, unrestrained sleeping posture, he couldn’t help but smile helplessly.
Ronan sat down on the edge of the bed and gazed at Evelyn for a long time. Then, he cut his finger and brought the bleeding digit to her lips.
As the fresh blood trickled into her mouth, Evelyn whimpered softly. Ronan reached out and gently patted her shoulder to soothe her.
"Drink my blood, and you won’t be tired anymore. Good girl, just a little more."
As if mesmerized by his voice, Evelyn opened her mouth, bit down on his finger, and began to suck fiercely.
The next morning, Evelyn opened her eyes, all traces of fatigue gone. She felt brimming with energy, as if she could run a marathon without breaking a sweat.
Ronan was still lying beside her. Evelyn stared at him for several seconds before, on a whim, she leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Suddenly, a hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her whole body into his embrace.
"You’re awake?"
Ronan smiled. "Just woke up. I didn’t expect Felicity to steal a kiss from me."
Evelyn was both shy and annoyed. The embarrassment of being caught in the act made her act unreasonably.
"You were awake the whole time! You deliberately kept your eyes closed to bait me into kissing you."
Ronan’s eyes crinkled with amusement. Hearing her accusation, he nodded with a straight face.
"Mhm, I did it on purpose."
Evelyn’s ears instantly turned bright red. She grabbed a pillow and threw it right at his chest. Ronan let out a muffled laugh and pulled her into a hug.
"How about another kiss? You’ve been so busy lately you haven’t had any time for me. You were already asleep when I got out of the shower last night."
He sounded a little wronged, which made Evelyn feel a bit guilty.
"Alright, alright, my bad. How about I make it up to you?"
"How will you make it up to me?" His spirits lifted instantly, his eyes full of anticipation.
Evelyn blinked. "I’ll tell you tonight. It’s time to get up now."
Today was another busy day. Her three apprentices were like they’d been shot with adrenaline, waiting outside the truck first thing in the morning. They clutched the notebooks Evelyn had given them the day before, which were filled with dense notes. When Evelyn came out, they were still reciting the procedures for treating external injuries.
Evelyn smiled with satisfaction and had them get into the truck. The column slowly set off. At ten in the morning, a man who had been exiled from a team ahead of them tried to blend into the crowd. After being discovered, he dropped to his knees and begged the team leader to let him stay.
"I know I was wrong, Team Leader! Have pity on me, please let me stay! We’re all countrymen. You’re soldiers, you can’t just leave me to die! I can gather wood, scout the path, find water, cook... I eat very little. I’m begging you."
The team leader couldn’t be bothered with his nonsense. People who get exiled are never up to any good. ’Could someone like that repent so easily?’ The man’s eyes were vicious, his hostility palpable. ’He’s probably plotting something.’
The team leader didn’t waste any more time on him. He called over a few men and had them drag the man into the nearby woods for a harsh interrogation. After a brutal beating, the man confessed everything.
"I was with Team Three. I got kicked out by their commander just for taking someone else’s can of food. I had nowhere to go, so I waited on the road for Team Four. I managed to sneak into their ranks and thought I was in the clear. But when I was in the food line, some little punk noticed the mark on my forehead. The person serving food not only refused to give me any, but they also humiliated me. I tried to argue with them, but two squad leaders whipped me twice.
I was exiled again. I spent a miserable night in the woods up ahead and happened to find a small rattlesnake. I hid the snake in my bag, planning to catch up with Team Four, sneak back in, and get my revenge. But they were moving too fast, and I couldn’t keep up. When I saw your team, I changed my mind. I wanted to try the same trick again, but I never expected to be discovered once more."
A soldier snatched the man’s bag and pulled out a thin, brown snake. It was already dead.
When the man saw the dead snake, he started screaming.
He had planned to squeeze the venom into the pot of cooking noodles, but his plan had failed yet again. He couldn’t accept it. After a few shouts, he suddenly burst into tears.
"All I wanted was a full belly! I wasn’t trying to do anything heinous! It was just one can of food! On what grounds did they exile me? Why did they brand my forehead? I’m not a criminal, so why treat me like this? I worked at the pig farm in the base for six years! I was a diligent worker! Those pigs that were made into canned food—I raised them! Why can’t I eat them?"
"I was just too hungry. I couldn’t walk anymore. I just wanted a little something to eat. Why are you doing this to me? Why?"
"Waaaah..."
"You ate someone else’s can of food, which means they had to go hungry. Did you ever think about them?" a soldier asked grimly, hauling him up from the ground.
"But I was starving! I couldn’t think about anything else! I just wanted to be full! I begged them to let it slide, but they wouldn’t. Just for one can, I was exiled in front of everyone and branded with the mark of an outcast."
He screamed until his throat was hoarse. He felt he had done nothing wrong. ’It was just one can of food. So what if someone else went hungry for one meal? It wouldn’t kill them.’ He had worked at the base for so many years; they shouldn’t have branded him an irredeemable villain, exiled him, and marked him as someone who had lost all human rights over a single can.
But he forgot that while he had worked at the base for six years, the base had also given him housing and a job. The base owed him nothing. He ate someone else’s food, so someone else had to go hungry. Each person only received one small can containing just two pieces of braised pork—it was what the team distributed to everyone to replenish their strength and nutrition.
"You brought this on yourself. You deserved to be exiled."
The man knelt on the ground, cursing the base’s unfairness, cursing the commander for looking down on him, cursing the team leader for exiling him, and cursing everyone for not treating him like a human being.
"I hate you! I hate all of you! I’ll poison you! If I have to starve, then none of you will get to eat either!"
As his curses trailed off, he started crying again.
"Waaaah... Spare me, please... I’ll never steal anyone’s food again, I swear! I know I was wrong! I was just so hungry..."