All nearby landmarks disappeared, and Qiao Qingqing could only follow her instincts and lead her mother and eldest brother to run in a direction with fewer buildings, so as not to hurt them when the buildings collapsed. The water she had just drunk and the energy bar she had just eaten had not yet been absorbed and digested in her stomach, but they were already showing their presence wildly during the intense exercise, causing Qiao Qingqing's stomach to ache.
She tried her best to regulate her breathing, and when she heard that her mother's breathing was not right, she tightened her hands to support her mother.
The aftershocks caused the buildings that were on the verge of collapse in the first earthquake to collapse completely, and countless people cried out in despair under the falling objects.
On top of Ye Mountain, the mountain also disintegrated in the earthquake, with large chunks of it collapsing and falling. Even the arsenal hidden deep in the mountain was exposed in the earthquake. The roof of the arsenal made of special materials was smashed by huge rocks, leaving a hole, which made a loud clanging sound.
The helicopter from the administrative district had been circling over the mountain for more than twenty minutes, but couldn't find an opportunity to land.
Seventy percent of the helicopters, fighter planes, and transport planes on Yeshan managed to take off and hovered in the air like headless flies. The remaining aircraft had sunk into the ground, including some pilots who had not been able to evacuate in time. The armored vehicles, tanks, military trucks, and other equipment that had been evacuated from Yeshan and parked on the flat ground inside and outside the base were mostly swallowed up in the devastating earthquake, and some were stuck in the cracks. The soldiers pried open the covers of the tanks and climbed out, struggling to climb ashore.
The aircraft lowered a rope ladder as it took off, and the survivors held onto it and lay on it, swaying as the aircraft moved.
"Help me! Help me!"
The sound of the spiral masked other sounds, and the plane flew away with the survivors.
"Damn it!" The survivor on the ground stopped waving, gritted his teeth and ran towards the direction of the crack in the ground.
Everyone is struggling to survive.
Shao Shengan had just bandaged the wound on his mother's foot when the aftershock came and they had to continue running.
The deadly Grim Reaper showed no mercy and chased people relentlessly, chopping their heels with his scythe.
"boom!"
A dull explosion was heard, and Shao Shengan looked to the west and saw a mushroom cloud exploding in the distant sky. A ball of light that was more dazzling than the sunlight came into view. Even at such a distance, Shao Shengan seemed to feel the pain of being burned. He could not help but squint his eyes, and his heart suddenly sank!
That wouldn't be a nuclear explosion, right?
No, it could also be a missile, things might not be that bad.
His thoughts only lasted a few seconds, and soon Shao Shengan had no time to think. A man ran over from the side, and he only had time to grab his mother, but the man still stepped on his mother's foot, causing her to scream in pain.
The man continued to run without looking back, so Shao Shengan and the others had to stop. Fortunately, the ground nearby was relatively safe, so the three of them squatted on the spot, lowered their center of gravity and stabilized their bodies.
"Mom, how do you feel?" Shao Shengan was very worried. His mother's foot was scratched by a piece of cement just now. It was bandaged and now it was stepped on again.
"It's okay!" Shao's mother kept breathing in and out of breath because of the pain. It hurts so much! Her toes hurt like a hole in her heart. She refused her husband's attempt to take off her shoes, "It's really okay! Don't delay things, we'll talk about it later!"
"There's no need to run for now, it looks safer here." Shao Shengan said.
The ground was still shaking, and after a few minutes, it calmed down.
Father Shao raised his wrist to look at his watch: "It's only been half an hour, my God... I don't know how Qingqing and the others are doing now. Qingqing, your mother-in-law, and Feifei, how can I be at ease with the three of them!"
"Dad, we have to believe in them. We can all survive. As long as we are alive, there is hope that we will meet again." Shao Sheng'an suppressed his worries and sat down on the ground. "Let's take a break. We don't know when the next wave of aftershocks will arrive."
They sat on the ground, surrounded by survivors who had also stopped to rest. Everyone sat down tiredly, and soon mournful cries were heard in the wind.
"Let me see your feet, hurry up and apply the medicine." Shao's father took off Shao's mother's shoes again, and this time Shao's mother did not object. As soon as the shoes were taken off, her red, swollen and black thumb was exposed, which showed that she had been stepped on hard.
"Qingqing said that this kind of injury should be treated with cold compress first—" Shao's father looked at Shao Shengan.
Shao Shengan lowered his eyes: "I can't use the space, maybe something unexpected happened."
"What should we do? Is there a problem? Qingqing can't use it either? Oh, what should we do? What should they do?" Shao's mother was very worried.
"Mom, we all have backpacks, so it's okay for now. If you don't have ice, just apply the powder directly. Your nail is broken by being stepped on, so it shouldn't be of any use. When the injury heals and a new nail grows, the broken one will fall off." Shao Shengan took out the blood-dissolving powder from his backpack and applied it to her, then wrapped it with a bandage, not daring to tie it too tightly.
"Where is this place?" Father Shao looked around and saw a desolate and completely unfamiliar place.
Shao Shengan put away the medicine and continued to fumble in his backpack. Hearing this, he shook his head and said, "I don't know either. We all have flares in our backpacks. I'll try to release one. Maybe Qingqing and the others will also release flares. Then we will know each other's location. Maybe they are nearby."
"Yeah! I forgot about the flare! Let's set it off quickly."
Mother Shao also breathed a sigh of relief: "I remember Qingqing said that if we agreed to separate, we would set off flares, white ones during the day and red ones at night, one at eight o'clock in the day and one at eight o'clock at night, am I remembering correctly?"
"Mom, you're not mistaken. It will be eight o'clock in nine minutes—"
As they were talking, a red light shot up into the sky in the distance. It was a red flare. The next second, a second flare was fired, also red.
Shao Shengan had joined the security team before. According to the security team's signal conventions, one red light meant danger and needed support, and two red lights meant the situation was urgent and needed support. He pursed his lips and watched the red smoke slowly dissipate. He didn't know whether it was an official signal or a signal from survivors, nor did he know if anyone had gone over. He only knew that they could do nothing.
"The two red ones, could they be Qingqing and the others?" asked Shao's father.
"No, it's not the hour yet." Shao Shengan said. In order to make it easier for the elders and big brother to remember, and considering that the backpack should focus on survival supplies and the limited number of flares, he and Qingqing set the rules for firing flares to be relatively simple. One color during the day, another color at night, fired on the hour. Didn't they consider how to wait until the hour in an emergency? But there is no way, there are many people who use flares, unless the entire backpack is filled with flares, they can't combine the complex flare codes to recognize each other. Qiao Qingqing believes that if she packs one more box of flares, she will pack one less pack of compressed biscuits, and she would rather bring more food for her family.
Perhaps because there were no aftershocks, the survivors had a brief respite, and flares were fired from other places, mostly red and white. At the hour, Shao Shengan fired a white flare, but there was no white signal in response.
"It may be because it's too far away that I can't see it." Shao Sheng'an blinked, hiding the disappointment in his eyes and pretending to be optimistic, "I'll leave a mark first." There was no standing wall around, so he found a brick and carved a clover on it with a knife.
As a psychological comfort, he placed the brick on a higher piece of ruins. Looking at the inconspicuous brick, his eyes turned red.
Eight minutes ago, five kilometers away, Qiao Qingqing and his team also stopped and fired flares, but also received no response. Qiao Qingqing realized that they were too far away to see each other's signals.
Actually, this was normal. After all, they had been running for their lives during the two escape trips. Based on the degree of muscle soreness, she estimated that she had run at least three or four kilometers in a short period of time. But they kept taking detours in the middle, and she believed that Sheng An was doing the same thing, which was why they were getting farther and farther away.
From now on, her memories of her previous life have come to an end, and she can no longer make any announcements. This undoubtedly made her lose some sense of security, but compared to others, she already had a great advantage, at least she and her family had enough food and drink, and she should be satisfied. Moreover, after years of training, and with sufficient supplies, they were able to pay high medical expenses and receive professional symptomatic treatment in the hospital. Their family was relatively healthy and strong, without the torment of sequelae of the disease, which allowed her, her mother, and her eldest brother to successfully escape twice, and none of the three were seriously injured, which was already a great blessing.
She had no other wish, only that Sheng An and the others could survive so that they could meet again in the future.
The three of them sat behind the ruins and ate compressed biscuits and washed them down with water.
"Sister, where are dad, mom and brother?" Shao Shengfei asked vaguely while chewing a compressed biscuit.
Qiao Qingqing retracted her gaze and looked at Shao Shengfei and said, "They are also running for their lives under this sky just like us."
"You're not coming with us?"
"We'll meet again later... later. Do you still remember the marks I taught you to make?"
Shao Shengfei nodded heavily.
"You will draw the mark later."
Shao Shengfei found a piece of wood and carefully drew a clover, which represented that the three of them were together and safe.
The magnetic field has been chaotic in the past few years since the natural disaster. Not only can the communication not be restored, but the compass can no longer be used. The only way to judge the east, south, west and north is by the direction of the sun. The satellite is damaged, the network is unusable, and it is impossible to determine the exact longitude and latitude. Now there is a major earthquake, and all landmark buildings are submerged under the earth. Everyone is floating on the vast land like duckweed.
It seems that if we want to meet again, it all depends on God's will.
Although she prepared flares, she was not optimistic. Looking at the clover, Qiao Qingqing felt heavy-hearted.
Shao Shengfei was very happy, he simply thought that as long as he made a mark, his parents and brother would be able to find him in the future. No one would break Shao Shengfei's dream, Qiao Songzhi turned his head and gently wiped the corner of his eyes.
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