Our neighborhood has been transported again.

Chapter 71 Divide the fish
"Doctor, please take a good look at me," the old woman pleaded, clasping her hands together in prayer to the traditional Chinese medicine doctor she had brought from Renhetang.

The old Chinese medicine doctor remained calm and silent, squatting down next to the old man leaning against the wall, carefully examining the bite marks.

"It's a poisonous snake."

Upon hearing this, the old woman nearly lost her balance.

"Based on your description, it should be a banded krait. According to traditional Chinese medicine theory, banded krait venom belongs to the category of wind toxins. Are you currently experiencing no pain, numbness in the wound, and difficulty breathing?"

The old man opened his eyes, his expression somewhat numb, slowly nodded, and then closed his eyes again.

The old Chinese medicine doctor frowned, reached out and lifted the old man's eyelids, took out a small flashlight and shone it into his pupils. His brows furrowed again. He reached out and took the old man's pulse, and after a moment asked, "The pulse is weak and the rate is fast. The toxin has already spread. How long has it been since you were bitten?"

The old woman said, "It's probably been about half an hour."

The traditional Chinese medicine doctor said, "Normally, the toxin shouldn't take effect so quickly. It must have been after being bitten and then engaging in strenuous exercise."

The old woman didn't understand, she just nodded.

"I'll prescribe some medicine for him; whether he pulls through or not depends on fate."

The old Chinese medicine doctor turned around and said to the young man beside him, "Xiao Li, go back and take five centimeters of Acorus calamus root and a small amount of Gentiana macrophylla root, chop them up and boil them in water for ten minutes. After the water boils, boil them for another five minutes. Have Xiao Ji bring some Acorus calamus root over."

"Okay." Little Li quickly ran back.

The old Chinese medicine doctor said to the old woman, "The banded krait is a neurotoxin, and Chinese medicine has limited effect. Whether she can survive depends mainly on how much venom the snake injected. If there is little venom, there is hope if she can pull through."

There's one more thing he didn't say: the key to death from banded krait venom is "respiratory paralysis," which boils down to whether the body can maintain basic oxygen supply even when respiratory function is weakened.

This puts an individual's tolerance threshold to neurotoxicity and their compensatory metabolic level to the test.

In this respect, young people have a greater advantage than the elderly because young people have better lung function and stronger kidney detoxification function.

Before long, a young man in a gray coat ran over, holding a root of sweet flag in his hand. The old Chinese medicine doctor crushed the root of sweet flag and placed it under the nose of the poisoned old man.

The elderly man, poisoned by the smell of sweet flag, opened his eyes.

"You can't sleep, you have to stay awake," the old Chinese medicine doctor said to the old woman beside him. "You hold it, don't let him fall asleep." The old woman quickly asked, "How much is the consultation fee?"

The old Chinese medicine doctor waved his hand, not mentioning the consultation fee, stood up, and said to the people around him, "Be careful when you go into the water, observe carefully, and don't get bitten by snakes. There are many snakes and insects in this forest."

As the water pump engine roared, the water level gradually dropped to the bottom. The old man leaning against the wall had turned his head to the side and stopped breathing.

Beside him, an old woman held him and wept bitterly.

Inside the garage, the water level was almost at the bottom, with only three inches of water remaining. At the bottom of the water was a layer of silt.

The air was filled with a rotten, damp stench.

As the water level dropped, the fish could no longer swim.

They hide under cars or in corners.

Some people went down with torches, while others carried flashlights.

Qin Ziwen took out a solar-powered flashlight from his pocket, turned it on, and a large area in front of him was illuminated.

"There are fish there!"

Deng Guang pointed to the side of the load-bearing beam, where a large black-backed fish was quietly pressed against the corner of the wall.

From the side, someone carrying a bucket hurried after them. The black-backed fish was startled and swam away quickly. The man lunged forward, but then everything went dark—Qin Ziwen had turned off his flashlight.

He stood up, seemingly realizing he was somewhat guilty of trying to get the light for himself, but he only glanced back at Qin Ziwen before carrying his bucket to the other side. After he left, Qin Ziwen turned on his flashlight again, and with the help of the light, he quickly caught several fish.

"Wait, there." Zhao Pu pointed to the car on the side.

Following the direction of his finger, Qin Ziwen moved the flashlight over and saw a snake lying on the car. It was grayish-blue, about a meter long, with a pointed head. Stimulated by the light, the snake sprang into the water and turned away.

The four of them were busy in the mud when Deng Guang said, "I'll go call my wife and kids down. The more people there are, the faster we can catch fish."

Zhao Pu looked at Qin Ziwen.

Qin Ziwen waved his hand, "No, my flashlight can only illuminate this small area. If there are more people, it won't be able to work properly, and we'll just be surrounded by shadows and won't be able to see anything. There are so many snakes here, so we should be careful."

Deng Guang felt somewhat ashamed. Qin Ziwen had provided both manpower and flashlights, and he felt that he had taken advantage of Brother Qin.

As more and more people started slacking off, some of the newcomers couldn't stand it anymore and joined the main group.

This makes Huang Tao's suggestion yesterday to distribute fish among those who donated gasoline a joke.

Everyone was using their own skills to slack off in the garage.

Four hours passed.

The entire garage was basically turned upside down by this group of people.

As Qin Ziwen climbed up the underground safety passage of Building 8, he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The buckets that Deng Guang and Zhao Pu were carrying were filled with fish.

Deng Guang walked over and said to Qin Ziwen, "Brother Qin, Dr. Zhao and I have discussed it. We caught these fish together, so let's divide them according to the number of people. He and I will share one bucket, and you can take one bucket."

Qin Ziwen didn't stand on ceremony, "Okay."

Deng Guang chuckled and said, "Okay, I'll clean the fish when we get back, remove the innards, and use them as bait for your fish trap."

"Oh no, my trap!" Qin Ziwen suddenly slapped his forehead. He remembered that he had set a trap downstream of the stream near the cave and hadn't taken it in yet.

Qin Ziwu turned his head: "Brother, it seems like today is the third day."

Deng Guang comforted them, "It's alright. It's normal for fish traps to stay in the wild for two or three days. When we set them out, some of them were still above the water, so the creatures inside won't drown."

Qin Ziwen sighed: "I'm worried about the flood, what if I get swept away by it?"

Deng Guang thought for a moment: "Probably not. I remember that the terrain there is actually quite high, and you even tied a rope to the tree next to it."

Qin Ziwen suggested, "It's noon now, so let's go take a look this afternoon, and we can also check out the cave while we're at it."

Deng Guang agreed without hesitation: "Okay, I'll go back and change my clothes. I'll go out in the afternoon after lunch. By the way, should we ask Dr. Zhao to come along?"

Qin Ziwen said, "Let me go with you and ask."

Upon learning of Qin Ziwen and the others' idea, Zhao Pu readily agreed, "Great! These fish just survived the flood, so let's keep them in clean water for a day first."

Qin Ziwen then carried the large bucket of fish home.

These fish vary in size, and together they weigh at least twenty or thirty pounds.

I found two large basins, filled them with clean water, and then put the fish in them.

Hearing the commotion, the harpy eagle rushed over. Looking at the fish swimming in the basin, its eyes widened in surprise. Was this a buffet?
(End of this chapter)