When she turned the other person's face around and they looked up at her—
Just then, a drop of blood slid down his forehead and seeped into his thin, dark pupils. Through the bloody blur, he saw the person who had saved him.
"..."
"..."
"Who are you?"
Who are you?!
The two spoke almost simultaneously.
One voice was hoarse with doubt, while the other was bewildered and surprised.
Her chest heaved violently as she lowered her head, and sweat dripped from her chin onto his cheek, making his skin feel as if it had been scalded. His heart skipped a beat.
He felt very cold and quiet when he was buried under the rubble.
His senses of breathing, smell, and temperature gradually eroded under the pressure of the mud and rocks. The darkness had a suffocating, hellish feeling, like a treacherous tide slowly swallowing him up.
Just then, he heard a commotion outside, with people shouting things like, "Run!" and "It's too late to save it, it's about to collapse, run, don't throw your life away!"
He thought to himself, "Is it going to collapse again?"
There's no way anyone would stay to rescue him. During the escape, no one would remember that he was buried in this pile of rocks. After all, no one would be so foolish as to risk their life...
He wanted to sleep, so he relaxed his body and sank into the soothing and silent night sky.
However, to his surprise, a voice kept calling out to him anxiously, forcing him to regroup his confused and scattered mind.
He couldn't hear any other sounds, but he could hear her voice clearly.
He followed her instructions and painstakingly dug out a stone with his only movable finger, tapping the stone next to him again and again.
She said, "Close your mouth and nose, and I'll get you out right away!"
Then, the earth shook, and the darkness cracked open.
She led him out of that dark, deathly place, where he was isolated beneath layers of haphazard, crumbling ruins.
He had assumed that the person who would risk everything to stay and save him must be someone he knew, or someone who knew his true identity.
But to his surprise, the person who saved him was a completely unfamiliar young boy he had never met before.
It wasn't until she asked, "Who are you?", that he snapped out of his confusion.
She mistook someone for someone else.
The person she was willing to risk her own safety to save... wasn't him.
He was just someone she mistook for someone else.
His thin, gossamer eyelashes drooped, his face was pale, and he murmured something barely audible.
Do you regret it?
"It's too late, it's collapsed, run!"
Suddenly, a loud roar came from beside him. Zheng Quchi looked up and saw a large area of soil collapsing above him. Rocks, soil, and broken walls on the slope were rapidly sliding down under the influence of gravity.
The man realized the seriousness of the situation, but he was not in good condition.
My head was smashed open, and the blood loss caused dizziness and weakness. I don't know if the area below my waist was injured or if it was pressed down by a rock for too long, but it has become numb and I have no feeling in it.
He couldn't possibly get up on his own.
Just as he was calmly and almost coldly analyzing his current situation, a rough but powerful force dragged him out and then bent down to pick him up.
He was utterly astonished, turned his head, and stared blankly at the small face that was soaked in sweat and covered in grime.
Even the roots of her eyelashes were wet, clumped together, because she was exerting so much effort that her temples were bulging, and her jaw was clenched tightly.
He thought that once she realized he wasn't the person she was trying to save, she would decisively abandon him and run away alone.
At times like these, wouldn't having an extra burden just mean an extra layer of danger?
But why did she take him with her when she fled for her life?
"Hold on tight!" Zheng Quchi picked up the injured man and began racing against death.
Of course she knew she had misunderstood and mistaken the person, but she had already done the rescue, and she couldn't just stand by and watch a precious life be buried again.
She's not that cold-blooded.
The deafening roar of the collapse behind her was deafening, like a herd of horses galloping down like arrows. She felt her heart pounding in her throat and her feet practically flying.
At this moment, a gentle, reassuring voice told her, "Don't worry, as long as you keep running at your current speed, it's unlikely that it will completely collapse and cover us, burying us. If you can pull yourself out another twenty steps, you'll be completely out of danger and reach a safe place."
What?
Zheng Quchi couldn't see behind her and relied solely on her senses to make judgments, but the man she rescued methodically analyzed the situation for her.
Twenty steps, right?
Her legs swelled from speeding, nineteen, twelve! Finally, at the last moment, she took a big step, but her knees buckled and she fell heavily to the ground.
A massive cloud of dust rushed down from above, engulfing her. She scooped her arms up to cover her head and the man beneath her, waiting for the shock to subside.
Seeing her reflexive action of bending over and shielding herself with her body, the man didn't close his eyes. Instead, he gazed at her face with a gentle, unwavering look.
After everything was settled, the people who had been hiding from trouble finally realized what was happening and anxiously surrounded him. The county magistrate, who was still limping, asked anxiously, "Master Li, are you alright?"
Meanwhile, the two people in charge of the city wall project, Yuan Sui and Yin Xiao, rushed over. They had also been hit by the debris, but they managed to dodge in time, so they weren't buried too deep and were quickly dug out.
Their faces were pale and flushed, filled with worry and self-reproach as they tried to help the man up.
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