"Tiancheng, Guanping!"
Under the vast moonlight and on the boundless hillside, his vision was blurred, making it difficult for him to focus on any particular point.
He had no choice but to shout his younger brother's and brother-in-law's names towards the hillside.
"Tiancheng, Guanping!"
"Mi Xiaoqing!"
Can you hear me?
Where are you?!
His voice echoed through the empty valley, but there was no response for a long time.
With no other option, he used his flashlight to check the surrounding area for signs of the three people falling, but the flashlight battery seemed to be running low, and it had become very weak, shining on the ground no differently than direct moonlight.
With no other option, he had to turn it off and put it back in his waistband.
"Tiancheng, Guanping!"
"Tiancheng, Guanping!"
"Tiancheng, Guanping!"
"Brother-in-law!"
Just as Wang Tianxiao thought his shouts were futile and was about to continue his search, Li Guanping's voice suddenly came from somewhere. He hurriedly called out again, "Is that Guanping? Where are you?"
"Below..."
This time, Wang Tianxiao realized that Li Guanping was located further up the slope.
Judging from the sounds, it seems to be on a different level; perhaps we've reached a valley.
"Are you all alright? Where are Tiancheng and Xiaoqing?"
"Xiaoqing and Tiancheng... are injured. We fell into a... pit and can't get out."
Upon hearing that both of them were injured, Wang Tianxiao was extremely anxious. Unfortunately, the worst happened, and both of them were injured at once.
"Wait here, I'm coming right now."
While comforting his brother-in-law, Wang Tianxiao slowly continued sliding down the hillside, which was uneven and full of potholes.
The raised areas are fine, but the snow hasn't completely melted in the recessed areas. Sometimes you might think it's a hole, but when you put your foot in it, it's incredibly slippery, and you almost slip and fall right in.
In relatively flat areas, the ground is frozen, making it difficult to find footholds and increasing the difficulty of descending.
There was no other way but to continue slowing down and proceed cautiously, prioritizing safety.
As he walked downhill, he didn't forget to talk to Li Guanping. It took him a full half hour to finally reach the edge of the hillside.
There was no road ahead, only a cliff face five or six meters high.
He looked around and found a relatively flat spot. He tied the rope around his waist to a nearby tung tree and slowly climbed up the slope.
Little by little, he finally reached the edge, looked down, and saw Li Guanping clinging to a horizontal tree, lying on the cliff less than two meters away.
They dared not move an inch.
Upon seeing Wang Tianxiao, Li Guanping excitedly exclaimed, "Brother-in-law, I'm here!"
"I see, please wait a moment."
Wang Tianxiao roughly estimated the distance: six or seven meters from the top of the cliff to the flat area below, and three or four meters between him and the pine tree. The 30-meter rope could be folded in half and still have a few meters left.
It can fully meet the needs.
He turned back, folded the rope in half, wrapped one end around the tree and tied it to his body, then slowly lowered himself down by pulling on both ropes.
The advantage of this is that when the object lands on the ground, the rope can be pulled back, and since the rope is essentially double-stranded, it increases safety.
Stepping on the rocks on the cliff, he slowly descended, gently pulling Li Guanping to his side. He first signaled to him not to panic, and that after he went down, he could slowly slide down to the bottom using the rope that had already landed.
Li Guanping said his hands were frozen and he was afraid he wouldn't be able to hold the rope. So Wang Tianxiao had no choice but to tie the rope to Li Guanping and slowly lower him to the ground, then slide down the rope himself.
As soon as Li Guanping landed on the ground, he collapsed. He had been clinging to the tree for an unknown amount of time in sub-zero temperatures, barely holding on by sheer willpower; otherwise, he would have fallen long ago.
Wang Tianxiao wasn't much better off.
He was already dressed lightly, and after all that fussing around, he was covered in sweat. As he slowly cooled down, he suddenly felt as if his body was frozen, and he felt a sharp pain all over his body.
But seeing Li Guanping like this, he had no choice but to force himself to persevere.
It's not time to rest yet. He's only found one of the three people; the other two are still missing.
It took Li Guanping a long time to recover; his mouth finally stopped trembling and he could speak normally again.
He explained the whole story.
It turned out that the group had been collecting rabbits all the way here when, by accident, a rabbit escaped from its cage. Mi Xiaoqing instinctively reached out to grab it, but her foot slipped, and she slid down the steep slope.
Wang Tiancheng, who was standing next to her, instinctively tried to pull her up, but ended up pulling both of them down with him.
Li Guanping was carrying a bag of rabbits and was walking behind when he saw this. He hurriedly dropped the bag to check, but his shoes had become very slippery from walking on so much snow. He lost his footing and fell into the same predicament.
To make matters worse, he ended up hanging in the tree, stuck in the middle, knowing that the two people in front of him had fallen and sustained different injuries, but he couldn't get up from the bottom.
So the two said they were going back to the depot to call for help, but they disappeared after calling for a long time.
Their fate is now unknown.
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