Shen Yanming glanced at Yu Shui and said, "Yu Shui, help me count how many people are outside and see if there are any buried underground. Find out their locations so we can start digging later."
Then he looked at Zhu Shiliang and saw that his arm was hanging down, obviously injured. Before Shen Yanming could speak, Zhu Shiliang took the initiative to say, "I will take the injured one back to treat the wound first. We will come back to help later if it is not serious."
Shen Yanming nodded and led the uninjured colleagues to the location of the two team leaders.
Since they had never dug up anyone before, and they didn't have any so-called positioning equipment, no one was in a hurry. Instead, they shouted loudly, "Captain Zhou, Captain Li, are you here? Are you injured?"
"We're here. We just got stuck in a hole. We're not injured, but we're probably buried a bit deep." Zhou Qi and Li Gangtie felt like the sky was about to fall when the aftershock first hit. Who the hell could have imagined that Suzhou, which had been quiet for so long, would have such a big aftershock?
Fortunately, they were carrying supplies out of a hole they had dug, and it happened to be a triangular area. When the rubble and bricks fell from above, they ducked inside. Although they were trapped in the ruins, they were not seriously injured.
Using sound to pinpoint the location, the group confirmed the exact location of the two captains. Lacking experience in digging people out, they only dared to start digging from the vicinity of their location, hoping to clear out that area to free the two men. Although it was more troublesome, it was much safer.
Zhou Qi and Li Gangtie had no objections. After all, digging for people wasn't as simple as just working blindly; it involved many principles of mechanics. If ordinary people didn't understand the dangers involved, it could easily lead to further collapse of the building. Therefore, caution was paramount.
Time passed second by second, and it was unclear how much time had gone by, but Shen Yanming and his men finally rescued Li Gangtie and Zhou Qi.
As soon as the two of them came out, they squinted. After spending several hours in the dark and cramped space, their eyes were no longer used to the intense, scorching sunlight outside.
Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief. They slumped to the ground, waiting for the two captains to give their next instructions.
After all, they are the professionals.
After resting for less than two minutes, Zhou Qi asked, "Are any of our men still buried?"
Yu Shui shook her head. "No, the injured have already gone back to be treated, the rest are all here."
Zhou Qi glanced at Li Gangtie and smiled sheepishly, "I didn't expect that out of so many people, we were the only unlucky ones. But anyway, we're still pretty lucky that nothing serious happened."
"Yes, otherwise I'd never have peace of mind for the rest of my life. Having brought them all out safe and sound, I have to bring them all back safely." Li Gangtie smiled, then looked gratefully at everyone, stood up, and bowed: "Thank you!"
"No, please don't! We're all in this together. We can't accept that." Ye Qingxiong quickly waved his hands. "Tell me, what should we do next? Continue digging for supplies, or go help dig for people?"
Li Gangtie and Zhou Qi exchanged a glance. Without even discussing it, they had an idea. Li Gangtie said, "We'll split into two groups. One group will stay here and continue digging for supplies, while the other group will go with Captain Zhou to dig for people."
Zhou Qi explained: "Because there is no way to contact other teams right now, and we don't know if they also have people trapped, I need to take some people to confirm the information."
If they need help, we'll stay; if not, we'll come back and continue digging for supplies.
Everyone nodded, and then more than a dozen people volunteered to follow Zhou Qi.
Of course, there are some people who genuinely want to save people, but most of them are thinking that if the other party doesn't need help, they can rest during this break.
After all, they had been under a lot of mental strain for so long, and they were quite tired.
Shen Yanming didn't speak. He wanted to stay and dig for supplies, but Li Gangtie's words, "Shen Yanming, you go with Captain Zhou!" disrupted all his plans.
It wasn't that he didn't want to save people; it was just that he was afraid of seeing those bloody and gruesome scenes, so he preferred to stay and spend his energy digging for supplies.
Since Li Gangtie had made this arrangement, he didn't object and simply nodded before leaving with Zhou Qi.
Ugh, this is so difficult!
Because the guard team held a meeting every night to confirm the scope of operations for the next day, Zhou Qi remembered the locations of the other teams. He led his men a short distance before they saw several people, their faces covered in tears, sweat, and blood, digging for something.
"What's wrong?" Zhou Qi panicked and quickly stepped forward to ask.
Hearing the familiar voice, the guards digging through the brickwork turned around. Seeing it was Captain Zhou, they couldn't help but cry out, "Captain Zhou, they...they're all buried underneath! Several of them..."
Zhou Qi originally thought that only he and Li Gangtie were unlucky enough to be buried in their squad, and that the other squads should be fine too. But who would have thought that the first squad they encountered would have several members buried?
“Okay, leave this to us. You guys take care of the wound first. It’s so hot, be careful of infection,” Zhou Qi said.
Those men were still worried and wanted to continue digging, but Zhou Qi yelled at them, "Don't you want to live anymore?" Only then did they obediently go and treat their wounds.
But how do you treat it when there's nothing available? You just grab a tissue and haphazardly wipe away the dust around the wound, without even cleaning or disinfecting it.
Shen Yanming felt a pang of heartache; he had everything, but it was inconvenient for him to take it out.
Having no other option, he could only suggest to Zhou Qi, "Why don't we send someone to retrieve the first aid kit, or bring the medical staff over directly?"
Zhou Qi's immediate thought was, "Did I get hit on the head by a rock? How come I didn't remember that? Could it be that I've been digging for so long that I've forgotten even this basic common sense?"
He was a little embarrassed, looked at everyone, and said, "Well, you guys keep digging, I'll go back to the guard team to get help, and then see what arrangements the Suzhou City guard team has?"
Everyone nodded and continued with their work. Seeing this, Zhou Qi returned to headquarters.
As soon as he entered, he found the headquarters packed with people, and everyone looked terrible.
"Why are you only coming back now?" Qin Yuncheng asked Zhou Qi, who looked somewhat bewildered.
"After I was rescued, I was thinking of going to help out in the surrounding area, so I forgot to come back and listen to the instructions." Zhou Qi lowered his head, his cheeks burning.
Qin Yuncheng didn't say anything, but pointed to the screen in his hand and said: "In this aftershock, at least 153 people were buried in the East City area, all of them our guards."
Moreover, there's no guarantee that some of them won't lose consciousness and fail to activate their smart bracelets in time.
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