0153 162 The dead grass grows into splendor "Part 1"
"Secretary Zhou, are you alright?" The plainclothes officer pushed his way through the crowd to Zhou Xiye's side. "We don't know the specifics right now, and there's no cell phone signal..."
Zhou Xiye nodded. There was no light at all in the pitch-black tunnel, which was unusual.
The passengers turned on their phone flashlights, shining them all onto the ceiling, creating a rare sense of peace in the darkness.
"As long as the doors don't open, the situation inside the train is manageable. The main concern is outside... Under normal circumstances, there should be lights inside the tunnel, and the billboards should also be illuminated. Now that it's so dark, if the next subway train arrives and there isn't enough time to brake, or if this train also has a problem, then Line 2 will have to be suspended."
Zhou Xiye glanced at it, but didn't focus on the small details. Instead, he continued to analyze, remaining calm and rational.
The two subway trains are ten minutes apart, and soon the next one will arrive.
Three plainclothes officers approached Zhou Xiye. "So we can't go out now, right? This tunnel is quite long..."
"Secretary Zhou!! Where is Secretary Zhou—" The voice from the loudspeaker echoed throughout the carriage. After a few seconds of silence, many passengers joined in, shouting, "Everyone, please help us find Secretary Zhou! Secretary Zhou is on this subway train—"
Zhou Xiye didn't want to make an exception, so he didn't respond in the crowd. He whispered to the person next to him, "Don't make a sound yet. Come with me to the front of the car and see what's going on." The plainclothes officer didn't say anything, and the four of them slowly squeezed forward in the crowd.
"Secretary Zhou! How are you?!"
A sound came from ahead.
The noise from the crowd grew louder; it seemed that Zhou Xiye's presence in the car made them feel safe, since the municipal party secretary was there, someone would surely come to their rescue.
The questions grew louder, heavy footsteps approached, and a faint scream came from ahead—"Make way, Secretary Zhou, where are you? Make way, make way... give me some space..."
The shoving action greatly displeased the passengers, who cried out, "Hey, please be gentler..."
"Stop pushing! Stop pushing!"
"Hey, what are you doing?! What are you doing?!"
The voices of discontent grew louder and louder, and left with no other choice, Zhou Xiye had to speak up, "Don't come any closer, I'm coming right away!"
The noise was loud, and passengers around the front, back, and sides shouted in support, "Secretary Zhou said, don't come any closer, she'll go by herself!!"
But those people ignored the answer and continued to push forward relentlessly, shouting, "Don't move! I'm looking for Secretary Zhou!!"
Zhou Xiye raised his hand and waved, "Don't come any closer! Wait for me to get there!"
The men looking for the Party Secretary saw Zhou Xiye waving and stopped. Zhou Xiye always took the subway to work, and his superiors had long ago instructed them to recognize him. It was on the second day of Zhou Xiye taking the subway to work that a special morning meeting was held so that everyone would recognize him.
Zhou Xiye walked over, saw them, and scolded them in a low voice, "Didn't I say I would come by myself? Why did you push people? What's going on?"
"Secretary, we're just concerned about you..."
"You care about me, but you don't need to care about others?" Zhou Xiye didn't want to waste time on this question. "Let's go into the front of the car and see what's going on. Why did it suddenly stop when we were passing another vehicle? Did it run out of power? That's impossible, right?"
Several people walked to the front of the vehicle. Just a door away was the driver's cab, a small space that could only seat two people. The driver and deputy driver came out, hands on their hips. "Secretary Zhou, we don't know what went wrong. We're responsible for driving; the support and maintenance personnel aren't on board… This has never happened before. We'll try our best to contact them to come and fix it. The car's power is dead, and we can't even open the doors. It's so strange…"
"How many minutes until the next subway train arrives? Have you notified them?"
The two drivers were startled; they had completely forgotten about it. They had been adjusting the machine for a long time and were already covered in sweat. But then they remembered that they had notified the authorities.
They glanced at their watches. "Five more minutes... The message was sent, but there's been no response."
Zhou Xiye almost gasped. "If there's a collision, is it safer inside the car... or in the tunnel? Would that avoid the damage from the impact?"
The two drivers exchanged a glance. "If they were inside the train, the impact might be too strong and cause an explosion. If they were outside... it's not really possible... We have to make them run forward. Besides the issues of airflow and air pressure, the impact from the next train will also affect the people around them... They have to run forward to a safe distance."
"We can't be sure if the next train will brake in time, let alone predict whether an explosion will occur... It's best to jump out. Broken glass can be replaced, but once a person dies, there's no going back to life."
These words came out of nowhere, and Zhou Xiye was starting to panic. "Will the car overturn after being hit?"
"Very likely."
Zhou Xiye turned his head and walked towards the car window, shouting as he went, "Smash the car window and have someone jump out and run forward, quick!"
Upon receiving the order, the group immediately jumped up, grabbed the red hammers beside the bed, and began smashing the glass. Zhou Xiye found a spot, stood on it, and shouted, "I'm Zhou Xiye! Listen to me, everyone! Right now, immediately, grab the fire hammers by the window and smash the glass. After you jump out, run forward. A subway train might be coming from behind, don't panic! We have time to evacuate! Don't panic!"
Those who heard this were stunned for a moment, but those who reacted quickly grabbed a hammer and smashed the car window. The four corners of the window shattered, and with a crash, they jumped out.
"After the adults jump out, take all the children out first!! Children and pregnant women go first!" Zhou Xiye jumped down from his seat, picked up a fire hammer and helped smash the windows, smashing one after another.
Some people didn't believe Zhou Xiye's words. The old men gathered together and said, "Don't listen to her nonsense. How could such a thing happen? I think there's a conflict within the municipal government. Someone wants to take down Secretary Zhou! This is the disaster she brought us. If she hadn't taken the subway to and from get off work and put on a show, we might not have encountered such a thing!"
The sound was abrupt, and most people didn't have time to respond as they were all focused on knocking on the window.
"Yeah, I think so too. No wonder the subway was working perfectly fine and suddenly the power went out and it stopped. What kind of electricity does the subway use? How could it run out of power! I think Zhou Xiye is the problem... This woman is a jinx to us!"
"And another thing, she abandoned Kunming and went abroad to enjoy herself for ten or fifteen days. What has she accomplished? I really don't know how she became the Party Secretary of the Municipal Committee."
"She came and implemented sweeping reforms..."
"Looking at it this way, the car accident on the elevated road last time might really be true... Someone wanted to teach Zhou Xiye a lesson, what a good deed!"
A group of old men chattered incessantly, their voices growing louder and more unpleasant as Zhou Xiye approached. She heard them but couldn't afford to argue; saving lives was the priority. After all, they were old and near death; dying in a car or at home made little difference.
The window next to the old man was knocked open, and a group of people jumped up, ready to leap out. Those who jumped were waiting to catch the child, but unexpectedly, a bunch of grown men jumped out. Finally, someone couldn't stand it anymore, grabbed the old man by the collar and pulled him back, saying, "You bunch of old geezers, the child and the pregnant woman go first, didn't you understand?!"
Everyone looked over and saw a woman. She was wearing shorts, tall boots, had red hair, a red tank top, and a large Guanyin tattoo on her arm. Everyone was stunned. The woman pointed at the old man, "What are you looking at, you old codgers? I heard you all chattering away over there, not moving an inch. Are you afraid you'll have nothing to say after you die? Now that the window's broken, you're all more afraid of dying than the rest of you. Have you no shame?"
The man who had been pulled and fallen stood up. "What's wrong with you being embarrassed! We're old people! We don't have the strength to hit you. You young girl, your tone is so harsh, are you a prostitute? Your shorts are so short your butt is showing, and you're lecturing me?"
The woman, holding a hammer, raised her hand to strike the foul-mouthed old man, shouting, "If I don't beat you to death today, I'll change my name..."
Zhou Xiye pulled the woman over. She had come over when she heard the argument. Her tone was calm and quick. "Get off the bus quickly. Children and pregnant women should go first..." She quickly glanced at the group of elderly people and looked away. "Then the young people should go first. The pillars of the nation should go first. The greatest contribution of those who are going to die is to die early. Don't waste time arguing."
"What kind of Party Secretary is this! Don't you know what it means to respect the elderly and care for the young...?"
No one cared about what the old man said. Zhou Xiye threw down those words, and everyone started moving again. But the group of old men were unhappy and pushed people aside, trying to squeeze and jump down.
The tattooed woman stepped forward and started fighting with them.
Just as Zhou Xiye was about to try to persuade her further, the person behind her pulled her back, saying, "Secretary, there are still two minutes left, please get off the car first."
"They haven't gone down yet!" Zhou Xiye was also anxious, as she was pulled back by someone.
"Secretary, there's no time! You jump first, and we'll help them get down. You have to get down!" After saying that, he put Zhou Xiye on the windowsill, and the people below caught her and pulled her forward.
Zhou Xiye ran after them, and after getting a clear look at the people beside her, she asked again, "Was the train behind really unable to brake in time? Did they receive the message?"
"I don't know... Secretary, there were passengers on that train too..."
Zhou Xiye turned to look back. In the pitch-black tunnel, people were jumping out of the car windows and running forward. Suddenly, Zhou Xiye stopped and turned back. "I can't go..."
"Secretary, you have to go..."
Zhou Xiye was almost frantic. "I can't leave! If the next train doesn't stop, they'll be killed! And if there's an explosion, we're doomed!"
The person behind her jumped out and hugged her. "Secretary! You can't go! You can't get hurt! Think about it, the people who stopped this subway train just wanted you to get hurt! If you go back, you'll be doing them a favor! You're the one who has the ability to find the truth for them. You can't get hurt!"
Zhou Xiye's mind was completely focused on saving people; she really didn't want to care about anything else. Why? Whatever grudges or grievances they had, they could have come to her; why drag innocent people into it! Why?! It's too cruel! If she didn't comply, would everyone be implicated?!
The others saw that they couldn't hold Zhou Xiye back, so they could only carry her on their backs and run forward.
Suddenly, a blindingly bright white light appeared on the tunnel wall, followed by the rumbling sound of train tracks, "rumbling—"
The people getting off the car were cast in silhouette by the light, and at that moment, everyone was stunned.
In that instant, a spark of hope ignited in Zhou Xiye's heart: Brake! Brake!
The sound of brakes finally rang out.
"Boom—"
A burst of fire erupted violently.
Zhou Xiye was tackled to the ground, someone was pressing down on her. She did not feel the scorching airflow. The airflow burst out from her back with the momentum of a thousand troops, igniting everything in its path, like a giant python emerging from its cave.
On the subway platform, a passenger who had been waiting for almost twenty minutes anxiously looked at his watch, realizing he was going to be late for work.
The tunnel was very quiet; there was no sound of wind or the rails.
Everyone was anxious.
The next second.
Before the subway arrived, a deafening explosion resounded, and the earth trembled.
Immediately afterwards, a faint flame appeared.
"Aaaaaaahh ...
A train caught fire inside the tunnel, causing the temperature to rise rapidly.
The burning flames were reflected in Zhou Xiye's eyes.
The person who woke up beside Zhou Xiye gently touched his bent leg. His clothes were charred and his face was covered in soot.
Zhou Xiye didn't look at him, her brows furrowed, and behind the sound of the fire burning were various screams and struggles.
"...Secretary, please leave quickly, we have no strength left... Only you can save us... Please, please leave quickly."
Hearing the faint voice, Zhou Xiye turned his head to look, his finger twitching, "I will leave, I will save you..."
"Yes, we believe you, Secretary Zhou... It's too hot here, you should leave quickly..."
Zhou Xiye stood up. "Let's go, I'm leaving..."
She turned and ran forward, waves of heat following her.
Why! Why! Zhou Xiye ran desperately, trying to scream but she couldn't make a sound. Tears slid from the corners of her eyes and evaporated in the high temperature.
Zhou Xiye ran, his mind a jumble, but he had to keep running forward.
She didn't even notice when the logistics and maintenance staff drove up.
"Secretary, Secretary! Get in the car!"
Zhou Xiye stopped in his tracks, staring blankly at the living, breathing person.
"Go save them..." she began, her voice hoarse, her throat aching, "Go save them..." She pointed behind her, "There are still people there."
"Okay, we're going to rescue them. Secretary, please get in the car!"
Zhou Xiye nodded, climbed into the car, leaned back in his seat, and didn't say a word.
Meng Qinggong and Qiao Senxi arrived at the scene immediately. The people from the subway bureau had also arrived. Ling Xingzhi stood with his hands behind his back by the subway, looking at the dark tunnel entrance with a serious expression.
"Has everyone been safely evacuated? When the press release is made, the fact that Secretary Zhou was also on the subway must be erased..."
The surrounding area was in a flurry of activity.
A moment later, a beam of light shone out of the tunnel, and the car carrying Zhou Xiye appeared before everyone's eyes.
Almost everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Ling Xingzhi stared intently as Zhou Xiye got out of the car. His clothes were dirty and disheveled, his face was also dirty, and his eyes were inexplicably cold.
Zhou Xiye walked to the edge of the platform, looked up and saw Ling Xingzhi. The two looked at each other.
A few seconds later, Ling Xingzhi squatted down and stretched out his hand, "Come on up, Zhou Xiye."
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