At the time, they had also prepared it to prevent the ten of them from getting lost, making it easier to find each other.
The group reached a consensus and decided to meet up with the Program Team’s staff first.
Austin and a few others crouched down and pushed the wire mesh apart with force, and with several low groans of pain, Alina’s trapped right foot was freed, and she was helped to walk forward by Owen and Roger.
"Let’s go over to those rocks, we need to disinfect your right foot first."
The wire mesh was covered with hard barbs, and the military boots that were originally worn had long been pierced, with fresh blood seeping out and dripping into the soil.
Alina nodded, enduring the pain and concentrating all her strength on her uninjured left foot.
Before long, the group arrived at the nearby rocks, where Owen took out spare gauze and alcohol swabs from his backpack for disinfection, performing a simple treatment on the wound.
Tang Shu stood at the back of the team, surveying her surroundings, and her gaze settled on the nearest towering tree. She took a few clear sniffs, noting the strong, refined, and elegant fragrance, which led her to identify it as Dalbergia odorifera.
Dalbergia odorifera, also known as fragrant rosewood, is a valuable timber and is also a traditional medicine with the effects of dissolving blood stasis, stopping bleeding, regulating Qi, and relieving pain. The Dalbergia odorifera she had been exposed to before wasn’t ; perhaps due to being in the tropical rainforest, the leaves of this rosewood tree were much thicker than usual, plus she had never seen such a large tree in her life.
Tang Shu glanced around, her eyebrows raising slightly in surprise, as this area was mostly populated by Dalbergia odorifera trees, most of which were over a hundred years old.
While the others were busy treating the wound, she broke off a few small branches, quickly and simply processing them with the tools at hand, then stepped forward a few paces to stand in front of Alina.
"Did you bring any painkillers?"
To be honest, the medicine they carried was actually quite comprehensive, covering anti-inflammatory, cold remedies, wound treatments, and so on, but they did not have any painkillers.
Logically speaking, even if they had sustained injuries, they would’ve been mere bumps and bruises. Who could have anticipated needing painkillers to such an extent?
Tang Shu handed over the medicinal herbs she held, "Infuse this in a thermos cup, drink it later, it can help with dissolving blood stasis, stopping bleeding, regulating Qi, and relieving pain."
"Does it really work?"
"You’ll know if you try."
Tang Shu also knew they were skeptical about traditional Chinese medicinal materials, except for Austin who was somewhat open to it, while the others had never really taken it to heart.
Faced with no other pain-relief options in the rainforest, Alina took Tang Shu’s advice and placed the medicinal materials into her thermos cup, intending to try it later in a last-ditch effort to remedy her situation.
After treating the wound, the group resumed their journey towards their destination, but this short distance of less than three miles took them quite some time.
Once the group stopped their precious journey, Alina took out the now-infused medicinal herbs and took a few sips, the unique taste of traditional medicine hitting her nose, with a hint of bitterness within the flavor.
What on earth was this? It was too bitter to drink.
"You’d better finish it all, it should take effect within ten minutes."
Tang Shu stood beside her and advised, having added a bit of other medicine during the processing for better efficacy, which she was confident was much more effective than conventional painkillers on the market, not to mention its properties of stopping bleeding and dissolving blood stasis.