Chapter 52
Zhou Xinyi was the first to react, her face frighteningly calm, and she shouted at the others, "Run to the sides!"
Startled by her reprimand, the group slid to the sides after regaining their senses.
Before sliding down, Che Nanbei glanced at the three people behind him who were about to be buried in the snow, and his eyes immediately welled up with tears: "But Wanwan and the others are still there."
Jiang Zhuochun grabbed her and slid her forward: "Che Nanbei—only by staying alive can we save them."
Che Nanbei didn't speak, forcing himself not to think about what was behind him, and slid to either side of the avalanche.
Despite their desperate sliding, they were still too slow compared to the speed of the avalanche.
Fortunately, the avalanche was moving in the opposite direction to them, and they were at a certain distance from it, so they were not affected by the avalanche too much.
A minute later, the avalanche stopped, and the air was filled with snow fog, making it impossible to see anything. The sky seemed to have been stripped of its light, and everyone was surrounded by darkness.
Seeing that the avalanche had stopped, the group all braked suddenly and slid back as fast as they could.
The five skated towards the spot where they had last been seen. The three buried were the best skaters among them, while the five skaters were slightly inferior to them.
However, perhaps due to a life-or-death moment, the five seemed to unleash some kind of potential and slid incredibly fast.
The calmest of the eight was also buried in the snow, awaiting their rescue. The trio, mimicking Xiang Wan's usual demeanor, neither cried nor made a fuss, and began the rescue in an orderly manner.
Even Che Nan-nam, the most vulnerable member of the trio, didn't shed a single tear.
The golden rescue time after an avalanche is only 15 minutes, and everyone knew this clearly, so no one dared to waste any time.
It wasn't that Che Nanbei didn't want to cry, but she knew there was no time for her to cry now. The most important thing now was how to rescue Wanwan.
Jiang Zhuochun and Zhou Xinyi took out beacon machines and searched for the location where they were buried, while the remaining three put their backpacks in the snow and quickly installed snow shovels.
Before arriving at the ski resort, all eight people wore beacon devices on their thighs, so Jiang Zhuochun and Zhou Xinyi quickly located one of them: "We've located one!"
"Save Xiang Wan first!"
"Save Zhou Chengze first!"
Shen Feiyang and Zhou Xinyi spoke in unison. Upon hearing this, they exchanged a glance and realized that there was a disagreement between them. The two, who were usually easygoing, did not back down and instead looked at Jiang Zhuochun, who had spoken.
The golden time for rescue is only 15 minutes; whoever is saved first has a higher chance of survival. Although it sounds selfish, it's perfectly normal in the face of danger and self-interest.
The standoff lasted for several seconds until screenwriter Jiang Nan broke the deadlock: "Now is not the time for infighting. Whoever we locate, we'll save first."
"Okay." Jiang Zhuochun's personal wish was also to save Xiang Wan first, but they didn't know whose location the beacon had located, so this was the only option for now.
The group unloaded their skis and used probes to locate the position. Once they determined the depth and location of the burial, they worked together to dig the person out with snow shovels.
Seeing the light blue coat, Che Nanbei was somewhat disappointed that it wasn't Xiang Wan, but still excited: "It's Chen Yan."
The group worked together to dig him out. Chen Yan wasn't buried very deep; only five minutes had passed between him being buried and being rescued, so he was still conscious, though a little short of breath.
Jiang Nan patted his back twice and comforted him with a few words: "It's okay, it's okay."
Upon hearing this, Chen Yan did not relax at all. Instead, he grabbed Jiang Nan's gloves, his eyes red and bloodshot: "How many minutes have passed?"
Jiang Nan looked at him, then glanced at the group of people not far away who were frantically shaking the beacon because they couldn't locate the two of them: "Six minutes have passed."
Chen Yan's legs were a little weak from being buried, but he forced himself to stay alert, took out his beacon machine, and tried to locate Xiang Wan and the others.
However, no matter how they tried to locate it, they could not find any distress signals.
Jiang Zhuochun was getting anxious and asked Che Nanbei and Shen Feiyang, "Six minutes have passed. Are you sure Xiang Wan really wore the beacon device?"
“Wanwan definitely brought it.” Shen Feiyang said with certainty, “She reminded me before we left, she couldn’t possibly have forgotten.”
"Shu Han has always been a very cautious person, unless..." She didn't finish her sentence, only feeling her heart being squeezed tightly.
“Unless she is unconscious.” Zhou Xinyi added the second half of the sentence.
Her voice was calm, even carrying a hint of indifference, but only she knew how panicked she was.
Neither Zhou Chengze nor Xiang Wan's beacon sent a signal, and given that they were in close proximity just a second before the avalanche, their situations were roughly similar.
Perhaps not only Xiang Wan is unconscious, but Zhou Chengze is also unconscious.
After saying that, Zhou Xinyi, overwhelmed by her emotions, uncontrollably collapsed onto the snow, a tear involuntarily streaming from the corner of her eye.
She touched the tears that had slid down her cheeks, somewhat bewildered that she had actually cried.
"Ten minutes have passed..." The speaker was Jiang Nan. She had been timing the avalanche since it started, just to remind everyone of the golden rescue time.
Upon hearing this, everyone reacted differently, but their purpose was very consistent.
Shen Feiyang and Jiang Nan kept swinging the beacon, searching for any signals from the two of them, while Jiang Zhuochun was digging in the snow and Che Nanbei was swinging the probe.
Zhou Xinyi had already stood up from the snow and was frantically digging at one spot with a snow shovel.
Despite his physical discomfort, Chen Yan ignored the signals his body was sending and kept shouting Xiang Wan's name at the top of his lungs in the snow.
Shouting at the site of an avalanche is dangerous, but no one stopped Chen Yan because they were also shouting the two men's names.
"Xiang Wan—"
"Xiang Shuhan—"
"Wanwan!!"
"Zhou Chengze—"
"Xiang!! Wan!!!!"
"elder brother--"
*
On the other side, Xiang Wan, who was buried in the snow, also heard their shouts.
In fact, she did not faint; rather, she was pulled into a cave by Zhou Chengze, the male lead with good fortune, before the avalanche.
Although the cave was shallow and could not accommodate the two of them, it still absorbed most of the impact during the avalanche.
She was only unconscious for a few minutes, and then she inexplicably heard what sounded like Chen Yan calling her, and gradually regained consciousness.
Half-conscious, she heard them calling her and instinctively tried to respond, only to find that she couldn't move.
Like a brief period of amnesia following some kind of shock, it took her a while to remember that she seemed to have just experienced an avalanche.
Xiang Wan frowned, realizing that even her head could only turn slightly. Her gaze flickered to the right, and she saw the unconscious Zhou Chengze. Only then did she remember that the hand that had grabbed her during the avalanche was his.
Realizing that Zhou Chengze had saved her a second time, her feelings became even more complicated.
But now was not the time to think about these things. She tried to sense her limbs and found that only her left hand was movable, while her right hand and both legs were weighed down by the snow and could not move.
Fearing that the oxygen would become increasingly scarce due to vigorous movement, Xiang Wan did not move around or call for help.
She could sense that Shen Feiyang and the others were quite far away, and there was a high probability that her faint cries would not be heard. The best hope now was the beacon machine to Zhou Chengze's left.
She kept a certain distance from the beacon, hoping that Zhou Chengze would regain consciousness and send the signal himself. However, Zhou Chengze was currently motionless, and Xiang Wan didn't even know if he was dead or alive.
Although she didn't think the protagonist, the chosen one, would die, Xiang Wan didn't dare to place all her hopes on someone else.
After trying several times to wake Zhou Chengze without success, she started reaching for the beacon machine next to him with her finger.
As time passed, Xiang Wan could feel the oxygen becoming increasingly thin, and her breathing became more and more difficult.
She could roughly guess that this avalanche was most likely orchestrated by the same mastermind behind it all.
But she was in the open while the other was in the shadows. Even though Xiang Wan knew that the other wanted to take her life, there was nothing she could do.
She lay in the snow, feeling time ticking away. At the same time, she could also feel that not only time, but also her life was gradually diminishing.
Her consciousness gradually faded, but with her strong enough willpower, she still managed to reach the beacon.
She only dared to fall into a coma after pressing the distress signal button on the beacon with her left hand...
*
On the snow, Shen Feiyang saw the new location on the beacon and thought she was seeing things. It wasn't until she slapped herself and was overwhelmed by the pain that she realized she wasn't dreaming.
Behind him, Jiang Nan's increasingly somber voice announced the time: "Only two minutes remain until the golden rescue window."
A surge of adrenaline rushed to Shen Feiyang's brain, and she raised the beacon high: "SOS signal to Xiang Wan!!!"
Due to some kind of psychological suggestion, she just felt that this was Xiang Wan's position.
Without even a moment's hesitation, the group dashed towards the location of the beacon. Che Nanbei poked at the snow with a probe, while the others frantically dug around the spot with snow shovels...
A minute later, Che Nanbei was the first to dig up Xiang Wan's arm. Everyone was excited to see the pink ski suit in the snow.
Fearing that the snow shovels might injure her, they all threw away their shovels and began digging through the snow with their hands.
Shen Feiyang used his hands to brush the snow off Xiang Wan's face to make sure she could breathe properly. Then the group began to try to dig her out of the snow.
Zhou Xinyi worked very hard during the rescue, but while she dug through the snow at a rapid pace, her eyes were filled with tears.
Xiang Wan has escaped danger, but her brother is still missing.
It wasn't until she was digging into Xiang Wan's left hand that she caught a glimpse of the corner of Xiang Wan's blue ski suit beside her...
Zhou Xinyi remembers clearly that when Zhou Chengze left the Xiang family's villa in Northern Europe that morning, he was wearing a blue ski suit.
Realizing that the person they had unearthed was very likely Zhou Chengze, Zhou Xinyi burst into tears of joy, her voice choked with emotion as she cried out, "My brother—my brother—"
Overjoyed, she even stammered a little, but even though she struggled to express herself, everyone understood what she meant when they saw that patch of blue in the snow.
"Wanwan's breathing is stable, she should be fine. Let's save Zhou Chengze first." Shen Feiyang checked Xiang Wan's breathing, which was a little weak but still stable.
Everyone picked up their snow shovels again and began digging at Zhou Chengze. Before digging, Zhou Xinyi glanced back at Shen Feiyang, her eyes filled with gratitude: "Thank you."
"If Wanwan were sober, she would do the same."
Since it wasn't a good time to chat, the two of them knelt down in the snow and started digging in the snow after they finished talking.
The two were buried very close to each other, and Zhou Chengze was not buried very deep, so the process was quick.
Jiang Zhuochun cleared the snow from his mouth and nose, checked his breathing, and then reported the good news to the people waiting behind him: "His breathing and pulse are both there."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this; since eight people had come out together, they naturally had to go back together as well.
The sound of helicopters circling overhead could be heard; it was the air rescue team that Che Nanbei had called. The rescue team leader was a Chinese woman from Northern Europe. Although she was in charge of the rescue work, she also had some medical knowledge.
She first checked their pulses, but paused when she saw Xiang Wan's face. Xiang Wan was quite famous in the Chinese community in Northern Europe, so although they had never met, she recognized her.
The rescue team leader took the three people onto the helicopter, told them which hospital to go to, and then the helicopter flew away.
Xiang Wan and Chen Yan are both in good condition, but the most critical situation is that of Zhou Chengze, who has been in a coma since the avalanche.
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