Chapter 87 Chapter 087【VIP】
It wasn't just Taoyuan Base; other bases were equally bustling. The extreme heat ended, and then immediately turned into extreme cold, leaving no time for transition. This caused many people to fall ill, both psychics and ordinary people alike, with the elderly and children being the most affected.
Many electrical equipment in the base were frozen and damaged. Suddenly, the power to the base was cut off. Under the double attack of darkness and cold, panic began to spread.
Fortunately, the response was timely. With the broadcast notification in place, bases in other areas suffered casualties, but they were not numerous.
At the City A base, five hours after the extreme cold arrived, snow began to fall. It wasn't soft flakes, but tiny ice particles that stung painfully on the face. The news shared in Zheng Yong's group chat with some of the disaster relief workers, who were always working on the front lines, was becoming increasingly disturbing.
"There's a crack on the main road in the East District. Several cars are stuck in it. We need someone to put up warning signs."
"The subway station is frozen and people are trapped in the carriages!"
"The natural gas pipeline burst, and the entire South District is out of gas!"
Zheng Yong hurriedly put on the thickest clothes he could find and led the team to check the water supply system in the north district.
"Extreme cold could cause pipes to burst. I need to make sure our backup system is operational."
"Be careful of cracks in the ground," Lin Xia said worriedly, wrapping a towel around him as a scarf. "I heard the East District has already..."
"I know." Zheng Yong kissed her forehead. "I'll pay attention."
After Zheng Yong left, Lin Xia returned to the makeshift clinic, now housed in a corner of the community room. This was a job she'd found before the extreme cold arrived. The clinic had two people working there, primarily responsible for epidemic prevention work centered around Fire Station No. 1 and radiating to the surrounding neighborhoods.
On the first day of the extreme cold weather, a lot of troubles occurred and there was a shortage of manpower. People were being dispatched from all over to rush to various problem areas to carry out repairs and maintenance.
The next day, in the evening, a chilling news came back: a second, larger avalanche had occurred in the northern mountains, forcing the rescue team to withdraw, and hundreds of people were still buried under the ice and snow.
The next day, the temperature had dropped to -20 degrees Celsius. Lin Xia stood at the window, looking at the frozen world outside, and suddenly realized that Zheng Yong had been out for four hours.
She called countless times, but only got the cold "out of service" message. Then she called Zheng Meng again...
Zheng Meng also did not answer the phone. Finally, a patient who was treated said that Zheng Yong and Zheng Meng went out together to check the underground water pump room on the west side, and no one saw him since then.
Lin Xia's heartbeat quickened, and her fingers trembled uncontrollably. She turned to the pregnant woman sipping hot soup and said, "I have to go find my husband. Can you help look after my mother and Xiaoyu?"
The young mother nodded: "Go ahead, be careful..."
Her words were interrupted by a rapid knock on the door. Lin Xia rushed to open it. Zheng Meng, covered in snow, was standing outside, holding the unconscious Zheng Yong in his arms.
"Found it in the green space on the west side!" Zheng Meng panted. "The ground cracked, and he almost fell in. He grabbed a tree root and didn't fall in completely..."
In reality, Zheng Meng and Zheng Yong hadn't gone out together. It was Zheng Yong who went out first, and when he couldn't get in touch with him, Zheng Meng, as his younger brother, went looking for him. It was a close call, as Zheng Meng had come looking for him personally; otherwise, Zheng Yong would have fallen into the deep pit in the cracked ground.
Lin Xia's mind was blank, and only her professional instincts drove her to act. She checked Zheng Yong's pulse, which was weak but stable.
However, his right leg was severely frostbitten and his left arm may have been fractured, but there was no obvious bleeding.
"Help me carry him inside the clinic," she instructed. "Get some hot water and clean cloths, and... and that last bottle of rubbing alcohol."
For the next few hours, Lin Xia devoted herself to caring for her husband. She splinted his broken arm, slowly warmed his frostbitten feet with warm water, and constantly monitored his temperature and state of consciousness.
When Zheng Yong finally opened his eyes, it was past midnight. His first words were: "The pump room... the pump room is fine... I reinforced it..."
Lin Xia's tears finally burst out, dripping onto her husband's pale face. "Silly..." she choked, "You almost died..."
"But I'm not dead." Zheng Yong smiled weakly, "And... I discovered something..."
He described in fragments what he had discovered under the crack in the ground - in the crack, he saw an ancient brick structure, which might have been an old well or cellar buried decades ago.
"If...if we can dig through..." Zheng Yong's voice faded away, "our underground city excavation work will progress much faster."
Lin Xia gently pressed his lips: "Rest, we'll talk tomorrow."
Outside the window, a blizzard raged, and ice particles hit the window, like
Lin Xia sat on the edge of the bed, looking at her sleeping husband, not even noticing her hands.
Sky.
Emergency Notice: The city's power supply system is overloaded, and the temperature has dropped to -25 degrees Celsius. Citizens are advised to minimize going out...
Lin Xia sighed softly and tucked in Zheng Yong's blanket. Tomorrow, there would be another battle. But tonight, at least tonight, they were all here, alive, and warm.
She walked to the window and looked out at the world covered in ice and snow. In the distance, the outline of the city was blurred by the wind and snow, with only a few scattered lights stubbornly lit, like the last beacon in the dark ocean.
"I don't know how long this snowstorm will last."
"It's probably been a while." Xiaoyu got up and stood by the window with her mother. They hadn't been home for several days.
There was a problem with the air duct in the main underground house, so in order to avoid a disaster, everyone moved out to live.
At the same time, many engineers and construction workers are working overtime to carry out emergency repairs and continue to build the underground city.
The weather is fine now, but construction will be halted once the temperature drops below -40°C, and resumed once the weather warms up. While this intermittent construction schedule may affect the project timeline, the dungeon will surely be completed within my lifetime.
This snowstorm, which was not sudden, lasted for two days and the outside world had become a frozen world.
The trees in the entire A City base were covered with a thick layer of ice, shining strangely in the sunlight, like countless crystal sculptures.
Outside the base, there was half a meter of snow, and several conspicuous cracks were winding through it like black scars. Those were the cracks in the ground that almost swallowed Zheng Yong.
"Someone come, that pregnant woman is about to give birth!"
The simple clinic suddenly became busy. Lin Xia's medical bag was already empty, but she instinctively grabbed it and rushed to the small cubicle where pregnant women were temporarily housed.
"The pregnant woman started having labor pains this morning. At first, she thought it was a false labor, but it wasn't until her water broke that she realized she was really going to give birth."
The girl who was guarding the pregnant woman was about seventeen years old. She was shivering all over, both because of the cold and because of fear.
"How could it be so fast? She's only seven months pregnant..." Lin Xia's voice was choked by the cold wind.
"It was premature. The doctor said it might have been caused by the cold and shock."
The scene in the makeshift clinic was even more chaotic than Lin Xia had imagined. On a "bed" made of several tables, the young mother curled up in pain, a few barely clean coats cushioning her body.
Doctor Zhao knelt beside him, his face even paler than the patient, and the sweat on his forehead almost froze in the low temperature.
"Lin Xia..." Doctor Zhao breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing her. "I can't hold on any longer...blood sugar..."
Before he could finish his words, the old man fell to the side and was supported by two volunteers.
Only then did Lin Xia notice that Doctor Zhao's left leg was abnormally swollen. Due to severe frostbite and overwork, the old doctor finally collapsed.
"Give me hot water! A clean cloth! Anything that can be disinfected!" Lin Xia shouted while quickly checking the pregnant woman's condition.
The young mother grabbed Lin Xia's hand, her nails almost digging into her flesh: "Save...save my child...please..."
"What's your name?" Lin Xia asked softly, while professionally checking the dilation of the cervix.
"Su...Su Qing..." the pregnant woman answered with difficulty, "My husband is a psychic... He's still rescuing people in the northern suburbs..."
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