The next morning, Shen Yanming and his group ate some food and then went out.
Li Gangtie assigned tasks and dispersed the people to go through the fields and mountains in the village.
When they were clearing the road yesterday, they noticed that the ice lumps had shrunk considerably.
They used to be about the size of an egg, but now they're only the size of a ping-pong ball.
We can't delay any longer. If we delay any longer, it might only be the size of a fingernail. By then, it will be truly impossible to find.
Because they had frequent contact, Li Gangtie was familiar with Shen Yanming, so he took him, along with Yu Shui, Chen Qing, and another person he wasn't very familiar with, Yuan Jiasi, to the bottom of the ditch.
Sigou Village, Sigou Village, you can tell from the name that the village has four gullies. They are all at the foot of the mountain, and the snow is very deep.
The group hesitated, feeling that the location was not very safe.
But Li Gangtie said, "We can't just know there's something here and not go down."
Since the captain has said so, what can they do but follow him?
They all prayed silently, hoping that the trip would be safe and sound.
Even Li Gangtie was feeling uneasy.
On the one hand, there was the worry that something might really happen at the bottom of the ditch.
On the other hand, looking up at the mountain, it's quite small and not very high. Looking down at the ground, it's fairly flat, just a bit low-lying.
It doesn't seem much different from other places. Swaying left and right a bit, nothing should happen.
"Hey everyone, be alert. Let's quickly do a quick search and then get out of here," Li Gangtie said.
The group nodded, all looking somewhat nervous. Their concentration was so high that they didn't have time to speak.
Each person went in a different direction and started looking for ice blocks. Once the bags were full, they were placed at the intersection, and then collected and transported back together.
After going back and forth a few times and finding nothing wrong, everyone relaxed a bit.
But just then, the snow on the mountain, along with rocks and dead trees, began to fall down, looking like it was about to bury people alive!
"Run!" Li Gangtie shouted, and ran off in a certain direction.
Seeing this, the group quickly followed Li Gangtie's footsteps, but the snow was too deep to run.
But they still ran with all their might.
Comrade Shen isn't worried. Anyway, he has his own space, so he won't freeze or starve to death.
But the others were different; they ran and cried, their legs going weak.
Upon arriving here, Li Gangtie immediately surveyed the terrain and discovered a cave dwelling at the foot of the mountain.
He took a step and ran into the cave, then turned around and pulled Shen Yanming in.
Next were Yu Shui and Chen Qing.
But when he encountered Yuan Jiasi, he ran into some trouble. He was a little too slow, and his lower body was buried in the snow.
Yuan Jiasi cried so hard he was practically wailing. Li Gangtie didn't try to comfort him; instead, he quickly reached out and brushed the snow off Yuan Jiasi's legs.
Shen Yanming also stepped in to help. Yu Shui and Chen Qing were still recovering and collapsed to the ground, unable to move.
It took the two of them a lot of effort to pull Yuan Jiasi into the cave, but he was still crying.
The crying was so annoying that Li Gangtie said, "Stop crying, okay? It's not a big deal!"
These words ignited Yuan Jiasi's anger. He wiped away his tears and roared at Li Gangtie, "We're already on the verge of death, and this is still not a big deal! This morning I didn't agree to go to the bottom of the ditch to look for ice blocks, but you forced us to come."
Look, everyone's buried now, and it's uncertain whether they'll survive. You're yelling at me? What right do you have to yell at me?
Li Gangtie felt somewhat guilty about the accident.
Hearing this, he didn't back down at all. Looking into Yuan Jiasi's eyes, he asked, "When you came to the guard team, didn't you know what kind of situation you would face? When you enjoy the benefits of being a guard, didn't you know what kind of price you would have to pay?"
If you say you don't know, I can tell you now. If you're not happy about it, I'll remove you from the list when we get back.
Li Gangtie got angry, and Yuan Jiasi stood there stunned.
After hearing his explanation, she regained her composure. She said, sounding aggrieved, "I... I was just scared, that's why I said those things without thinking."
Li Gangtie sighed: "I have to take the majority of the responsibility for today's wrong decision. I'm sorry!"
But look at the people behind me, not one of them is crying or complaining. It's their first time facing such a life-threatening situation, yet they're all trying to stay calm and save themselves.
"Yuan Jiasi, today was an accident, but every day from now on could be more dangerous than today. You need to adjust your mindset."
Yuan Jiasi nodded, sniffing, and said, "I know, I'm just too scared."
"Hey, you're talking like everyone's scared. Look at me and Chen Qing, we're so scared we can't even stand up," Yu Shui said, waving his hand.
"Yeah, for a moment just now, I really thought I was going to die. Luckily, I exercise regularly and still had the strength to run over here," Chen Qing said, still a little shaken.
"Me? It's purely a stress response. If Captain Li hadn't dragged me running every morning, I probably would have been buried in the snow long ago."
Yuan Jiasi looked at the group and asked in confusion, "You all participated in the morning training?"
"Oh, what else?"
"Yeah, that's what the situation is like now. If you don't learn some self-defense skills, you never know when you might lose your life."
Yu Shui pointed at Shen Yanming: "See him, Lao Shen? He's one of the best trainees in our morning training class. Even though he's farther away than me, he can still run ahead of me. I wouldn't believe it if you told me it wasn't because of his persistent training!"
Thinking back on this experience, Yuan Jiasi realized that even though he was right next to Li Gangtie and reacted immediately, he just couldn't keep up with Li Gangtie's pace.
He instantly understood the reason and bowed to Li Gangtie: "Captain Li, please allow me to participate in the morning training."
Li Gangtie smiled and said, "You can come anytime you want, but let's wait until we're out of trouble."
"Hmm, I wonder when I'll be able to go home. Everything was fine, how did this avalanche happen?" Yuan Jiasi murmured.
"Yeah, the mountain isn't that high, so how did an avalanche happen? I used to see news reports that avalanches only happen in mountainous areas, and only on very high mountains."
Yu Shui rubbed his legs, leaned against the wall to stand up, and said.
"Perhaps it's because of the recent snowfall. The snowfall was too heavy, and the mountain couldn't bear it," Shen Yanming said after thinking for a moment.
"And then there's our location, it's so special. The snow on the hillside slides down and washes straight into the ditch. It's my fault for not thinking things through, and I've caused trouble for everyone," Li Gangtie said.
"Sigh, why say so much? Anyway, it's already happened, let's think about what to do."
"Yes, even elsewhere, accidents aren't always avoidable. We're lucky to have escaped unscathed from something like this. It just goes to show that surviving a close call might bring good fortune!"
"We're still trapped, haha, we haven't escaped unscathed. But given such a critical situation, we're already very lucky not to have been buried," Shen Yanming said with a smile, trying to dampen Chen Qingyu's spirits.
"Alright, alright, it's your decision." Yu Shui nodded and looked at Shen Yanming: "Old Shen, you tell us, what should we do now?"
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