2: 2
The moment I said it, Damian's whole expression changed.
Before I could react, he threw himself down, slamming his forehead against the ground.
Again and again, with a force that was frightening to watch.
Thud, thud! Thud, thud!
"Doctor! I'm begging you!"
"If it comes to it, I'll trade my life for hers!"
In seconds his forehead was a mess of blood and torn skin.
"Just save my wife, and I'll jump off this bridge right now!"
"I die, she lives!"
Just then the other drivers noticed the commotion and started getting out of their cars, crowding in around us.
"Oh my God, this is heartbreaking. The husband's practically killing himself over her!"
"Saving a life is worth more than anything! You're a doctor. How can you just sit there and watch two people die?"
"A man doesn't kneel for nothing. Nobody begs like this unless they're out of options."
"Stop hesitating and help them! Wait any longer and you'll lose the mother and the baby both!"
The crowd kept growing, the muttering rolling back and forth.
I lowered my window a crack, my eyes going cold.
"What would I want with your life?"
"Who exactly asked you to trade a life for a life?"
Damian switched tracks at once, like he'd found a new opening.
"I get it now!"
"Doctor, you think I'm just talking, that I won't back it up, is that it?"
"You want money, right?"
He forced himself upright, a calculating glint in his eyes.
"Name your price! Whatever it is!"
"Just get out and save them, and I'll give you everything I have!"
"If that's not enough, I'll apply online right now to mortgage the house and the car! Every asset I own, it's yours!"
"Just save my wife and my child!"
I shook my head, still not giving an inch.
"I'm sorry. Same thing I already told you. I can't save your wife."
"I'm a vet. I really don't have the ability to help her!"
At that, the crowd's uproar swelled.
"He's willing to give up everything he owns to repay her, and she still won't budge?"
"That's stone-cold. Money can be earned back later. You only get one life!"
"A vet still studied medicine! She'd know basic first aid. Anything's better than watching someone die!"
Every one of them was pushing me to get out of the car.
Pushing me to take this scalding-hot problem into my own hands.
Just then, from the wrecked car up ahead, a weak female voice drifted out.
"Help… it hurts so much…"
"Somebody save my baby… my stomach hurts so bad…"
The voice carried the agony of someone dying.
It didn't sound faked at all.
Damian's head snapped around, his voice raw with grief.
"Sweetheart! Just hold on a little longer!"
"Don't give up! The doctor's coming to save you! Hang on just a bit more!"
The moment he finished shouting it, he turned back and drove his forehead into the ground over and over.
He was crying so hard he could barely breathe, his voice shaking.
"Are you really going to watch them die right in front of you?!"
The crowd got swept up in it too.
"Exactly! We can't wait any longer! The pregnant woman's crying out in pain. Any longer and it'll be too late!"
"Doctor, what is it going to take for you to help them?"
"Can't you make an exception? Two lives are on the line!"
"We're all human. Don't be so cold about it!"
All their voices tangled together.
A flicker of doubt ran through me.
Could it be… the pop-up was wrong?
Could the pregnant woman really still be alive?
But before I could think it through, the pop-up scrolled again in front of my eyes.
【Don't believe it! That's audio he prepared in advance!】
【The woman was already dead before the crash, mother and baby both. There's no one alive in that car!】
【The second you get out to help, once she's declared dead beyond saving, every onlooker here becomes a witness!】
【They'll all testify that your botched rescue is what killed the mother and child!】
【He walks away clean, and you take the fall for everything he did!】
The last trace of pity inside me faded.
"I'm sorry. I really can't save her."
I stopped paying them any attention and pulled out my phone.
Then I called the traffic department.
"Hello, there's been an accident on the Hudson River Bridge, with a pregnant woman trapped inside."
"Please send someone to direct traffic as soon as possible, and dispatch an ambulance and the police to handle the scene."
"There's something wrong here. I suspect the pregnant woman inside is already dead!"
