The Efficacy of Antibiotics

A live captive could be exchanged for five silver coins. A dead one was worth only five copper. The four worked together to tie the youth securely, dumped him alongside the dead reindeer onto a handcart hidden in a corner, and hauled it back to the base. "Blue coats! You're from the shelter?!" No one paid him any mind. Panic-stricken, the youth watched the concrete walls pass overhead as he was brought beside the granary. The handcart came to a stop. Fang Chang and Fleeting White Horse hoisted the reindeer together and tossed it onto the table in front of Brother Scrambled Eggs. "Bro, settle the bill." "Twelve silver." Counting out the coins, Brother Scrambled Eggs clattered them onto the table, then pulled out the cleaver stuck into the wood and began hacking the meat into large chunks with heavy thuds. Each dull thump of the blade against the board sounded as if it were chopping into his heart, making the youth tremble in terror. He had never heard of blue coats eating people! "Lord Manager? You're right on time! We were just about to bring him to you!" "Where did you get him?" "We ran into him while hunting. This punk shot an arrow at me, but missed." "Understood." Counting out five silver coins from his pocket, Chu Guang handed them to Fang Chang and gestured for him to untie the captive on the cart. Although Fang Chang felt it might not be entirely safe, having witnessed the manager's combat prowess, he wasn't too worried. He walked over to the cart with Gale Force 8. Hearing approaching footsteps, the youth struggled even more violently. Yet when he clearly saw the person following beside them, he froze. "Chu Guang?" The name was pronounced in the native language of this world. "Yeah, it's me." Chu Guang smiled and reached out to give him a pull up. "Sorry for the rough handling." The captive Fang Chang and the others had hauled back was none other than Yu Hu, the second son of the Yu family living across from him on Bet Street. Yu Hu rubbed his reddened wrists, nervously glanced at the blue coats gathered around, and asked in a low voice: "Are they all your people?" It had been a while since they last met. He had assumed this outlander had died out in the wastes, never expecting to run into him here. Just yesterday, he had been trying to persuade his sister to stop watching over the outlander's shack, saying the door had already gathered dust... "They're my companions." "What are they crowding around here for?" "Watching the plot." "'Plot'? What's that?" "It doesn't matter. Just ignore them. By the way, why are you here? Where are your father and older brother?" Chu Guang remembered that whether they went scavenging or hunting, they always moved together as a group. Yu Hu's expression darkened, and he said in a low voice: "A few days ago when we were hunting, my dad took a bullet in the arm from a marauder's gun. To save Dad, my big brother was bitten in the leg by a hyena kept by the marauders. After we fled back, Dad survived, but my brother's leg got infected. He's had a non-stop high fever ever since and has been bedridden... Winter is almost here, and I don't know if he'll pull through." Hyenas, vultures, and jackals were the opportunistic musketeers of the wasteland, completely indiscriminate in their diet. Mutant hyenas, in particular, the most common variety in Qingquan City, frequently fed on carrion when live prey was scarce. When desperate with hunger, they would even bite Gnawers. Consequently, their fangs were usually teeming with bacteria. If one was bitten by a mutant hyena and the wound wasn't treated promptly, infection was almost certain, and severe cases could easily turn fatal. After hearing Yu Hu's words, Chu Guang furrowed his brows. The Yu family had treated him reasonably well. While they hadn't given him extraordinary care, their youngest daughter had always looked after his shack and had even stopped the Wang family from burglarizing his place. "Bring your older brother here. I might be able to cure him." Yu Hu was stunned. "Really?!" Chu Guang nodded. "Yeah, just bring him over." Moved, Yu Hu suddenly lowered his head. "Thank you... You're such a good person. Before, we were always worried you might be a bad guy." Chu Guang replied generously: "It's fine. It's human nature to be cautious." In truth, he couldn't really be considered a good person anyway. "Um, there's something... I need to apologize to you for." "What is it?" Blushing, Yu Hu stammered for a while, scratching the back of his head before confessing: "Those ram horn potatoes you planted in front of your door earlier... I saw they never sprouted, so I dug them up and ate them." "..." *Damn.* *So it was you who dug them up all along!* *Whatever.* *It was just a potato, nothing major.* Rendered speechless, Chu Guang said, "It's fine. It was probably planted wrong anyway." Yu Hu nodded vigorously. "Yeah, yeah, you definitely can't grow anything like that! When I dug them up, two of the chunks were already rotting. To grow ram horn potatoes, cutting them into pieces isn't enough. You have to sprout them first, with at least two bud eyes per piece, then dust the cuts with plant ash before planting them. That way they'll mature in just a month or two!" Chu Guang looked at him in surprise. "You know how to farm?" The youth grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "It's nothing special, everyone knows a bit. But usually, Mom, Eldest Sister-in-law, and Xiaoyu plant them outside our door. Hardly anything planted out in the open survives—either someone digs it up, or rats dig it up and chew it to pieces." Chu Guang chuckled. "Alright. When spring arrives next year, I'll find some work for you. Let's not talk about that for now—hurry back and carry your brother over." At Chu Guang's reminder, the youth remembered that his older brother was still lying in bed. He hastily nodded. "Right away, I'm going now!" *** Wetland Park was roughly three kilometers in a straight line from Bet Street. Beyond the park lay sprawling concrete ruins interspersed with overgrown vegetation. To steer clear of the more perilous areas, one had to detour at least another two kilometers. Yet against all odds, Yu Hu took less than two hours to run all the way here with his older brother on his back. Chu Guang had Tengteng bring over an animal pelt to cushion the wooden table, then had Yu Hu lay his older brother, Yu Xiong, onto it. This burly, muscular man was now at his last gasp, his face deathly pale. The scavengers of Bet Street had a monotonous diet and were mostly malnourished. Coupled with the lack of effective medical care, staying healthy was their only hope; once sickness or infection struck and they couldn't endure it, death was almost always the outcome. Chu Guang briefly inspected the wound. Judging by the color of the festering pus, he deduced it was a bacterial infection, so he administered an antibiotic pill he had drawn last time, followed by basic wound treatment. "Is using plant ash really okay?" Yu Hu asked nervously. "Depends on the kind. Plant ash calcined at high temperatures is fine." This stuff consisted of potassium salts and was alkaline, offering a respectable antiseptic effect; it was essentially what the *Compendium of Materia Medica* referred to as soot from burning herbs. While its efficacy was inferior to alcohol, in the absence of high-purity alcohol—especially in the wilderness—it served as a decent alternative. Naturally, that applied only to plant ash calcined at high temperatures. Scooping ash at random from beneath a stove would be a recipe for disaster; heaven knew whether tetanus bacilli lurked inside, and smearing a handful onto a wound might send someone straight to their grave. About five minutes later. Yu Xiong's complexion noticeably improved. His furrowed brows relaxed, and his cold sweat ceased. Chu Guang made a mental note. *As expected of pre-war technology. The efficacy of this antibiotic is truly impressive.* Beside him, Yu Hu was far less restrained. Seeing his older brother take a turn for the better, he threw himself forward in excitement, gripping his brother's hand with teary eyes. "Bro! How do you feel now?" "Xiao Hu? Where... where is this..." Noticing Chu Guang standing beside him, the groggily waking Yu Xiong paused, surprise surfacing on his weak face. "...Chu Guang?" "It's me." "Aren't you..." "Still alive. But I probably won't be going back." Yu Xiong was taken aback, then glanced at the blue coats around him. Piecing together the situation, a smile appeared on his face. "Congratulations. Looks like you found your companions." "Yeah, just recently," Chu Guang smiled faintly and said. "Thank you for looking after me back then." "Don't say that! When did we ever look after you? If anything, you just saved my life... That capsule must have been very expensive, right?" The burly man looked thoroughly embarrassed. Such pills that felt like plastic to the touch were luxury goods only found in Boulder City. He had only heard tales of them before and had never even seen one. Even in Boulder City, surely not just anyone could afford them. "Don't worry about it. It was no trouble at all. I'll give you another one in a bit. Take it if you feel feverish; if not, there's no need, and you can keep it as a lifesaver for later." Chu Guang remembered any kindness shown to him, even if it was just a flatbread. Besides, while the pill was precious to them, to Chu Guang it was merely a prize from drawing a blind box. Hearing that Chu Guang intended to give him another pill, Yu Xiong hastily shook his head. "How could I! You've already saved my life—how could I accept something so valuable?!" Chu Guang didn't waste words. He stuffed the small piece cut from the blister foil into his younger brother's hand. "Keep it for your brother. I'd hate to have gone through the trouble of saving his life only for him to catch another infection and die on your way carrying him back." Yu Hu hesitated, but after glancing at the wound on his brother's leg, he finally nodded. "Thank you... I will repay you! Once I carry my brother back, I'll come work for you every day!" "No need. You're the pillar of your household now. You're the only one left who can hunt; if you work for me, what will your family eat? If you really want to repay me, get through the hardship right in front of you first. We'll talk about other things once spring comes next year." Seeing that Chu Guang put it that way, the two didn't refuse any further. Their eyes brimmed with gratitude as they promised to repay him once this winter passed. Watching the cutscene from the side, Fleeting White Horse tugged at Fang Chang and asked in a whisper too low for the manager to hear: "What are they saying?" Fang Chang rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Can't understand them, but I've guessed the gist of it." Beside them, Ye Shi urged him on. "Spill it! Even the gist is fine." "Fine, I'll give a brief summary, though it might not be entirely right... That native kid went out hunting to treat his family's illness and ended up getting captured by us. The manager recognized him and told him to bring his sick family member over, then cured them using medicine from the shelter. Deeply moved, the natives said we're their friends, and next we'll probably establish diplomatic relations with them." Fleeting White Horse was puzzled. "How do we establish diplomatic relations?" Before Fang Chang could speak, Ye Shi clapped him on the shoulder and grinned teasingly: "Are you stupid? How else do natives establish ties? Through political marriage, of course! A chieftain marrying off his daughter—isn't that the classic trope?" "Holy crap! Wouldn't our manager be making way too big of a sacrifice?!" Gale Force 8 cleared his throat. "Don't listen to Ye Shi's nonsense. While that possibility can't be ruled out, I'm personally rooting for him and the weapons shop lady boss as a ship." Fang Chang nodded. "I always find common ground with Gale Force 8. You two should really reflect on why your brainwaves are never on the same wavelength as normal people." Tengteng's eyes sparkled, and she whispered excitedly: "Why does the ship have to be the lady boss? Can't it be the grateful native youth?" "Damn! Something is wrong with you!" "Is this game wholesome? It's wholesome, right?" "..." Chu Guang truly couldn't listen any longer. Pretending he hadn't heard a thing, he walked away. Speaking of which... Did the tailor profession seem to be earning a bit too much in the current version? Guess he'd rebalance it in the next patch.