Huo Haocheng led a group into the city, while Bai Sirui and his group split into twos and each led a group to check the situation in various communes.
Huo Haocheng and his team had just entered the city, and although they were mentally prepared, they were still shocked by the shocking ruins in front of them.
This street, which was bustling yesterday, is now filled with ruins. Broken bricks, twisted steel bars, and scattered rubble are piled up together, as if silently telling the story of the terror and devastation that struck when the earthquake hit.
The collapsed house looked as if it had been trampled by a monster, leaving only a broken frame that was still teetering on the brink of collapse; the shattered glass from the windows, with its sharp fragments, gleamed coldly in the first rays of sunlight.
Some once tall and straight trees were not spared either; some were broken in half, and others were uprooted and lay scattered on the ground, their leaves strewn everywhere, as if they were shedding tears as they mourned the disaster.
The air was thick with the smell of dust, making it difficult for them to breathe.
As Huo Haocheng and his group walked, they kept banging on the iron bars and shouting, "Is anyone there? Can anyone hear us?" Although they knew that the people in the city had been moved to a safe area, what if? What if there were still undiscovered people in some corner? What if someone secretly ran home at night without them noticing?
Four shelters were set up outside Tangcheng, located in four different areas. Yesterday, Huo Haocheng had all the soldiers and police officers from the four shelters come over, just in case someone tried to escape.
They searched the area near the school from the streets. At this time yesterday, students were rushing to school, afraid of being late. Today, everything is gone. Buried beneath the collapsed school building are the dreams and hopes of countless children. The playground is riddled with cracks and potholes. The trees planted on both sides are lying haphazardly, their lush green leaves crushed by cement and bricks. Up close, you can still see the patches of green from the branches.
Huo Haocheng led his men around the school and, finding no one there, they felt a little relieved.
Passing through the school, you'll find the supply and marketing cooperative store. The shelves inside were crushed by the collapsed wall, and the items that had fallen from the shelves were also buried underneath. Some of the goods were covered in dust, making it impossible to tell what they were. The scene of people crowding together and shouting to grab things seemed like a distant dream.
Huo Haocheng and his group went forward and searched through the pile of rubble to see if there was anything still usable. At this point, no one would be able to come in and deliver supplies to them in the short term, so they had to conserve every bit of what they could. In the rubble, they found a tattered doll, clothes with a tear in them from broken glass, a crushed bicycle... These things were witnesses to their previous lives and now evoked a sense of sorrow.
What Huo Haocheng and his group didn't expect was that Ruan Ruan had already called Huo Haoshen before setting off for Tangcheng. So, when the earthquake struck, Huo Haoshen and Zeng Yunye, who were far away in Yuncheng, had already loaded their trucks with daily necessities from several factories that had been cooperating with Yuncheng.
This time, in addition to bringing out their own factory's transport vehicles, they also directly rented all the available vehicles in the transport fleet. Twenty transport vehicles loaded with supplies are rushing to Tangcheng day and night. Along with Huo Haoshen and Zeng Yunye, there are also 50 soldiers including Sun Hongxin.
After learning about their operation, Commander Gu ordered Sun Hongxin to lead a team to escort the supplies over.
Huo Haocheng's team traversed one ruin after another, and besides seeing the entire devastated city, they only brought back a relatively weak cat.
Meanwhile, Bai Sirui and Ruan Shaoke's team arrived at Lijia Brigade, which was located in the commune. There, they saw the villagers working together to lift a collapsed roof beam.
"Quick, help!" Persley said and immediately ran forward, with the soldiers following closely behind.
"The People's Liberation Army is here! The People's Liberation Army is here!" Several children, who were being held in their mothers' arms, shouted immediately upon seeing the soldiers.
"Come on, let's count to three together and push hard!" Bai Sirui helped the young man in the middle to rest for a bit, and then shouted to the crowd.
"one two three"
"one two three"
"rise"
With the combined efforts of the civilians and soldiers, the roof beam was finally lifted. However, after they lifted it, all they saw were two elderly people embracing each other. Their bodies were stiff, and they had many wounds on their bodies. There were also many collapsed mud blocks around them.
Seeing this scene, everyone felt very sad.
Looking at the grieving villagers, Bai Sirui noticed that while they weren't exactly filthy, they didn't look like they had run out after the earthquake. They must have received prior notice and prepared in advance to go to the shelters built in the village. But why were these two elderly people crushed to death in their own home? Bai Sirui couldn't understand it.
"Excuse me, which one is the brigade leader?" He was determined to get to the bottom of things he didn't understand, and Bai Sirui wanted to find out more from the brigade leader. He wasn't suspicious of the brigade leader; judging from the villagers' situation, he knew the brigade leader had definitely made the necessary arrangements. He simply wanted to clarify the matter, also to prevent anyone from using the deaths of his parents-in-law as a pretext for future trouble.
"Comrade soldier, I am the battalion commander, my surname is Li." The speaker was a man who looked to be in his fifties. He had been helping out and was covered in dust, his hair also stained with dirt.
"Captain, I just want to know why they didn't go to the shelter?" Persley asked in a relatively gentle tone.
"Comrade soldier, I know what you want to ask, but I can't answer your question. Last night, after dinner, I notified everyone in the village to bring all their valuables to the shelter to rest. At first, Uncle Zhuang and Aunt Zhuang arrived at the shelter with the help of my son and daughter-in-law. Moreover, when I went to sleep at night, I made sure everyone was there before I went to sleep."
I don't know when Uncle Zhuang and Aunt Zhuang got home. When the earthquake struck, everyone was in chaos. Our village didn't have electricity, so I just shone a flashlight around and saw that no one was missing. After calming everyone down, we sat together until dawn. After dawn, my wife and the women in the village made breakfast, and then we realized that Uncle Zhuang and Aunt Zhuang were missing. That's when we started looking for them.
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