"I'll take a look."
Li Ang, carrying a medicine box, stepped forward. The patient lying on the mat had sustained external injuries—fractures, dislocations, abrasions, contusions, and lacerations.
Among them, the lacerations had very strange marks. The wounds were long, boat-shaped, with rough edges, and had bridges of tissue between them. They did not resemble lacerations usually caused by the blade of a Dagger, nor did they look like puncture wounds. It was more like some sort of peculiar... blunt force laceration.
Could it be that a Martial Arts expert had inflicted these wounds using chopsticks?
"It's treatable, but whether he will survive mainly depends on whether there is an infection or not."
Li Ang took out a simple mask and gloves from the medicine box, put them on, and then pulled out a bundle of... silver thread.
All the villagers present stared with wide eyes, and a patient's family member couldn't help but ask, "Doctor, what's that?"
"Suture thread."
Li Ang calmly responded, disinfecting the silver thread with pure wine.
A knowledgeable villager whispered, "Isn't tree bark typically used for stitching..."
"Are you talking about Mulberry bark?" Li Ang casually said, "The thicker veins from the inner side of the mulberry bark are torn off, leaving the outer bark to be made into thin threads. When it's needed, it's steamed over boiling water to make it as soft as new, which is then used for stitching. It's a last resort but still tends to lead to infection, or inflammation. With silver thread, on the other hand, the tensile strength is high, there's less reaction with the tissues, and sterilization is simple. It's not prone to causing inflammation. The downside is its expensive price."
Li Ang, with a silver hook threaded with silver wire, skillfully disinfected, debrided, stitched, and bandaged the patients' wounds.
"It's fortunate these are all superficial injuries, which can be treated with silver thread. If it were deep tissue damage in the abdomen, we'd have to use catgut."
Since there was no anesthesia available, Li Ang treated the external wounds as quickly as possible to minimize the patients' pain.
He now had three types of surgical sutures available: silk thread, catgut, and metal wire. Silk thread was not absorbed by the body. Catgut was absorbable but caused significant tissue reaction and was likely to lead to infection. Metal wire, with high tensile strength, had minimal tissue reaction, and sterilization was simple, though it was expensive.
If I encounter patients with more severe injuries, especially in the abdomen in the future, I'll have to use absorbable catgut. It would be best to treat it with Iodine to achieve sterility. However, the prerequisite for iodine treatment is obtaining Iodine. This is done through the reaction of Potassium Iodide and sodium iodide, contained in seaweed ash, with sulfuric acid, which produces hydrogen iodide. Hydrogen iodide then reacts with sulfuric acid, producing free Iodine. And to get sulfuric acid, I'll need to find saltpetre and sulfur and employ nitrification...
Li Ang's stitching movements were skilled and swift. His thoughts wandered off, contemplating the complexity of modern industrial processes, where even a simple sterile catgut suture thread required complicated production steps.
The villagers and garrison soldiers watched in amazement at Li Ang's rapid stitching. The originally grotesque and ugly wounds gradually closed under the sutures, leaving only narrow scars behind.
Cheng Juxiu turned to Zhou Pingchun and said, "Recount the details of how these people were injured."
"Yes." Zhou Pingchun instinctively stood straight, his body shaking slightly as he began to narrate.
Two days ago, on the night of May 17th, a villager was awakened by the barking of dogs and the cries of goats coming from his livestock shed. Thinking it was a wild wolf that had come down from the mountains, he immediately grabbed a torch and a pole and went outside. His wife struck the copper gong to wake the neighbors.
It was everyone's obligation in the village to fight off wolves; after all, no one could guarantee that a wolf sneaking into the village wouldn't snatch their livestock or children.
People came running with shovels and hoes, illuminating the animal pen with torches. They discovered the pen's door was wide open. Inside, a guard dog and three goats lay dead. Additionally, two lambs were missing, suspected of being taken. The bodies of the dead dog and goats bore severe bite marks, scratches, and blunt force injuries; parts of their limbs were missing. It looked as if fierce animals like wolves, leopards, or tigers had done this.
Considering that two goats had been taken, it was highly possible that it had been the work of a pack of three or more wolves.
The village, built along the mountainside, had rich experience in defending against wild wolf packs. The next day, they immediately organized villagers and hunters to go up the mountain to track the wolves.
During the search, Wang Liubao's hunting dog was attacked and dragged away. Wang Liubao chased after it, but could not catch up.
Cheng Juxiu glanced at the simple and honest hunter carrying a bow. "Are you Wang Liubao?" he asked. "Did you see what attacked the hunting dog?"
Wang Liubao nodded earnestly. "Only a little bit," he said, his voice tinged with an accent. "The creature was on the ground, covered in black fur, like a wolf. It suddenly leaped from the bushes, killed my dog instantly, and dragged it away before I could even shoot an arrow."
Cheng Juxiu furrowed his brows. "Its body covered in black fur?"
"Yes, we organized a search party up the mountain this morning again, and many people saw it," Zhou Pingchun said. "The creature was like a big wolf without a tail. It rushed down the mountain and broke through the nets we had set up. Village hunters shot arrows at it but couldn't even penetrate its fur. Instead, it charged into the crowd and injured quite a few people before we drove it away using torches. Look, this is the net it broke."
"Limbs on the ground, body covered in black fur, no tail, immense strength, impervious to weapons, afraid of fire…" Cheng Juxiu summarized a few features and pondered.
"Inspector, could it be Sha Hai'er?" Niu Wenshu inquired. "A Demon, Level 5, 131. It resembles a wolf in form and possesses immense strength. When wild animals in the mountains see it, they reportedly smile and dive into its arms to be devoured. It was sighted in Liangxi Huishan sixty years ago."
"That's a possibility," Cheng Juxiu nodded. "However, there are too many lower-level demons and Demons with similar characteristics. Relying solely on features like black fur and being impervious to weapons, it could also be the Racoon Dog, Rhino Dog, or Werewolf. We need further verification. Judge Niu, release the tracking dog."
"Yes." Niu Wenshu turned and had a subordinate bring over a black and white fine dog.
This dog had a slim build, elongated limbs, drooping ears with blunt, round tips, and especially sharp and alert eyes. Even after running fifteen miles on the mountain with the cavalry, it did not show much signs of fatigue.
Cheng Juxiu explained casually, "This fine dog breed is specially bred within the garrison, subjected to strict selection and training right from birth. Every one of them originates from Chang'an. They can detect and trace a variety of scents including blood, sweat, alcohol, and sachets over long distances. For three hundred years, they have assisted the garrison and various Government Offices in solving thousands of cases, eliminating a large number of kidnappers."
The garrison soldier responsible for leading the fine dog and letting it sniff the broken net showed a proud expression, as if it were a personal honor. In some sense, this fine dog held a higher military rank than he did.