Huo Haocheng felt something was off. Even if they wanted to slack off, they wouldn't do it now. They had survived the tough months before, so as leaders, they couldn't possibly fail to get through the last period.
Huo Haocheng felt increasingly uneasy.
"Gu Jinghe, why don't you go and ask Secretary Xu and the others first?"
"Deng Yi, Su Yanqiu, you two go to the army and ask if anyone has seen Commander Zhu in the past two days."
"You guys go and ask around among the crowd first, see if anyone has seen the mayor and the bureau chief."
Upon hearing Huo Haocheng's words, the group quickly stuffed the steamed buns in their hands into their mouths, chewed them a couple of times, swallowed them with water, and then ran quickly toward their mission objective.
Half an hour later, Gu Jinghe arrived with Secretary Xu. "How did it go?" Secretary Xu asked Huo Haocheng.
He only found out that the mayor, bureau chief, and commander had all disappeared when Gu Jinghe went to find him.
"....?" Looking at Secretary Xu's anxious appearance, it didn't seem like he was acting. But his own work partner had been missing for two days. Could it be that he really hadn't noticed at all?
"To be honest, we really didn't know Lao Cao was missing. I haven't seen him for three days. Before you arrived, we divided the work, just in case we got busy and couldn't find each other when the earthquake struck. I was in charge of the post-disaster reconstruction work, and he was in charge of cooperating with the Public Security Bureau and the military to protect the safety of people and property. So when you arrived, he was in charge, including your work on evacuating people and the subsequent search and rescue. These days we've also been calculating the losses caused by this earthquake and the funds needed for subsequent reconstruction. We need to calculate them in detail and report them to the central government."
"So this morning, we really had to trouble Dr. Ruan with the people's affairs!!!" Secretary Xu explained the whole story.
Huo Haocheng finally understood why they hadn't seen Secretary Xu even after so many days in Tangcheng.
"It's nothing, just a small favor. Everyone said they would rebuild their homes with their own hands, so Secretary Xu, we'll need you to take care of things from here on out." After learning the whole story, Huo Haocheng didn't make things difficult for anyone.
Once things were cleared up here, Deng Yi and his men arrived with two regimental commanders from the military headquarters.
"Commander Huo, we heard that our Commander Zhu and the Mayor have gone missing together, is that right?" The two had heard of Huo Haocheng before, so even though they were both commanders, they were willing to follow Huo Haocheng's orders when he led the team. They were so busy that they didn't notice that their commander was missing.
When Deng Yi and Su Yanqiu went to look for them, they were both quite confused. They asked around the entire army, but no one had seen the commander and the others. Anxious, they quickly ran over, hoping to find out if anyone else had any news about them.
Obviously, after hearing their words, it was obvious that they didn't know their commander was missing.
"Let's wait and see. Hopefully, we'll hear from Percy and the others."
A short while later, Persley and his group returned. With Ruan Ruan's influence in the morning and the crowd's initial disregard for Persley and his group, everyone felt quite ashamed to face them when they went to find them. However, when they heard that the mayor and the commander were missing, everyone began to recall.
Several people actually recalled that on the morning of the earthquake, the mayor, the commander, and the other two saw the entire military mobilized for search and rescue. They felt they couldn't just wait around, so they also grabbed their tools and went out to search and rescue as well. However, when they recalled it, it seemed that the mayor and the others were heading out of the city and did not enter the city.
After Bai Sirui recounted what they had seen to everyone present, everyone fell silent.
Especially Secretary Xu, after hearing Bai Sirui's words, blushed deeply and cursed inwardly, 'That old Liu is really something, at his age, why does he still go and cause trouble?'
Perhaps sensing Secretary Xu's embarrassment, Huo Haocheng ordered them to immediately lead their men to search outside the city. "If they go outside the city, they can only go to the communes below. However, you have already searched these communes, and no one has encountered them. So I am more inclined to believe that they may have encountered an aftershock shortly after leaving the city and then hurriedly sought a place to hide, or perhaps they encountered some misfortune. Let's all work in pairs, with a few soldiers, and focus on searching the surrounding mountains or under the roadside."
After Huo Haocheng finished speaking, they had no objections. They took their flashlights and tools and went out to look for people.
Just as Huo Haocheng had guessed, the people they were looking for had also wanted to do their part for the people after the earthquake, so they had set out with their tools.
Unfortunately, their journey didn't start well. Less than half an hour after they set out, they encountered a large tree that had collapsed due to the earthquake, blocking their path. The three of them thought that they should move the tree aside first, so that it would be easier for people behind them or villagers to get in and out. Anyway, it would have to be cleared later, so they could clear it now.
And so, as the three of them finally managed to push the tree to the side of the road with all their might, Mayor Liu did not pay attention to his footing. The earthquake had shattered the road into pieces, and he happened to step on a cracked patch of ground by the roadside. Combined with the weight of the tree, he rolled down the hillside along with the tree.
Upon seeing this, Director Qian, who was standing next to Mayor Liu, instinctively reached out and pulled him down as well, before also tumbling down the slope.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com