Chapter 16 Tunneling
According to Engineer Yang's instructions, they dug to the left. The cave walls were hard, making excavation difficult and the progress was very slow. The edges of the shovel were bent, and only a few cubes of stone were dug out in the whole afternoon.
Tao Nanfeng remained calm, digging and trying to figure out what the patterns were in the unknown lines that appeared before his eyes.
The white line represents the best route for excavation?
Under the dim light of the flashlight, Tao Nanfeng thought for a moment, then swung the shovel and shoveled towards the position indicated by the white line in the front right.
"Swish!" There was a sound.
When digging out stones, the iron tool collided with the stone, and the "clang clang" sound was extremely harsh. This different sound means that what you shoveled is not stone, but soil!
Tao Nanfeng was delighted and continued digging, and soon advanced one foot forward.
Xiao Aiyun had been working side by side with Tao Nanfeng. When he saw that she had strayed from the route, he was about to remind her, but he heard the "Swish! Swish!" sound that can only be heard when digging into the soil. With an idea in mind, he picked up the flashlight and shone it over.
Under the light of the beam, a deep pit appeared on the right side of the cave, with large areas of hard soil and occasional yellow-brown stones.
No matter how hard the soil is, it is easier to dig than stone.
Xiao Aiyun exclaimed in surprise: "Ah, there is soil on the right and few stones." The cave was deep and her voice echoed in the cave, sounding very loud.
The educated youth stopped what they were doing and looked towards Tao Nanfeng in the direction of the light.
After confirming that the white line indicated the direction of excavation, Tao Nanfeng suggested: "Engineer Yang, let's dig to the right. This place is mainly hard soil layer, not many rocks, and the excavation difficulty is lower than the left side."
Engineer Yang also came over to check and nodded: "There is a difference between the two sides of the cave wall. I didn't notice it before."
The cave was pitch black, and the stone walls and soil were mixed together. There was no difference near the entrance, but changes began to appear as you went deeper.
Due to the lack of instruments and equipment, it is impossible to take samples at fixed points for survey. It was only because the cave entrance was on the right that Engineer Yang decided to dig to the left based on his experience.
Engineer Yang was a technical leader. He did not feel that his authority was challenged because Tao Nanfeng changed the excavation route without authorization. He laughed, and his laughter echoed in the cave, making his ears a little painful.
"Good, good, good. Tao Nanfeng has done a great job with this excavation. Comrades, change the construction route and dig on the right side."
After changing the excavation route, the road construction team's progress was significantly accelerated.
After a busy day, Tao Nanfeng returned to the educated youth point and lay on the bed, recalling everything that happened that day.
First, I dreamed of being bitten by a mouse, and then I found that I had acquired a new skill of digging holes, along with some habits of mice.
——Happy to eat snacks and dig holes.
As I pondered over this, the night grew darker. The other three girls sleeping on a large bunk bed were breathing evenly and sleeping soundly.
He turned his head slightly on the pillow and faced Xiao Aiyun's slightly dark face.
She has an apple-shaped face, thin eyebrows and eyes, and a few freckles around the wings of her nose, making her look a little playful. Her soft, yellowish hair was spread out, her lips were slightly parted, and she smacked her lips quietly, as if she was dreaming of something delicious.
The room was clearly pitch black, without a trace of moonlight, so why was everything so clear before my eyes?
Tao Nanfeng then realized one thing: in addition to being greedy and loving to dig holes, mice also like to move around at night and have night vision.
Tao Nanfeng raised his hand and rubbed his eyes, feeling a little amused and helpless. No wonder I became more and more excited as the night went on and I couldn’t feel sleepy at all. It turned out that it was my “rat nature” that was causing trouble.
A warm feeling came over her neck, as if reminding her of something. Tao Nanfeng raised his left hand and gently pulled out the red rope around his neck, with a emerald green jade buckle hanging below.
Holding the jade before your eyes, it feels warm to the touch, as clear and tranquil as a deep pool, lush green, and faintly glowing with precious light.
Recalling the dreams of the thatched house destroyed by the storm and the marks left by the attacks of zombies and mutant rats in the end of the world, it seems that it was all because of missing my mother at night, and my hands were tightly holding the jade button.
Is this the blessing from my mother?
My mother, Xu Xiqin, was the daughter of a wealthy family. She received a good education and was well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics, as well as music, chess, calligraphy and painting. Her clothes and daily necessities were very exquisite. Originally, there were many of her things left at home, but when the "Destroy the Four Olds" movement started, my father was forced to hand them over.
My father secretly hid this jade button in the inner wall of a drawer in his study, saying that he wanted to keep it as a remembrance. Before leaving, I somehow took it out and hung it around my neck, fastened my collar, and told no one.
Although skills like great strength and digging holes are very useful for Tao Nanfeng to get used to farm life, the apocalyptic world in his dream with zombies rampant, mutant beasts running around, food scarce, and humanity lost... is really scary.
Tao Nanfeng reluctantly placed the jade buckle against his lips and pressed it against his lips, then took off the red string, stood up, and put the jade buckle back into the deep of the rattan box, not daring to wear it again.
She moved lightly, afraid to wake up her roommate, but Xiao Aiyun, who was sleeping lightly, was still awakened by her. She opened her eyes dazedly and asked, "Tao Nanfeng, what are you doing?"
Tao Nanfeng casually put on a piece of clothing and said, "I'm going to the bathroom."
Xiao Aiyun rolled over in the bed, turned over and sat up, and took out a flashlight from the pillow: "I'll accompany you."
The toilet in the earthen brick house is built indoors and connected to the main room in the middle by a back door. The farm has no access to municipal water or electricity, and no flush toilets, so it can only build dry toilets: a large earth pit with two wooden boards laid on top. If you take a wrong step and fall into a pit, it would be a disaster. Therefore, if they needed to go to the toilet at night, the educated youth agreed to have someone accompany each other.
Tao Nanfeng had just said it casually, but he didn't expect Xiao Aiyun to get up to accompany him, and he felt a little sorry.
Xiao Aiyun was used to living in a group, and it was common for her to go to the bathroom with her sisters. She didn't think it was a big deal, so she got up and put on her shoes: "Let's hold hands and walk later. It's really dark tonight, there's not even a moon."
Tao Nanfeng, who had a stepsister but had never experienced the deep love and care of a sister, felt a slight warmth in her heart. Perhaps it was the night that made her relax. She, who had never liked physical contact with others, took the initiative to stretch out her hand for the first time and gently held Xiao Aiyun's hand.
The little hands were soft and had the smoothness that only a young girl could have.
Xiao Aiyun was a little flattered. After spending so much time together, she could tell that Tao Nanfeng had a cold personality and didn't like to get close to others.
"Let's go, don't be afraid, I'll accompany you." In the darkness, Xiao Aiyun grinned, and the flashlight beam illuminated the way ahead.
The friendship between the two girls gradually grew stronger through their daily companionship.
The next day, the educated youth went to the site to get iron pickaxes, iron axes, shovels, iron spades, wheelbarrows... and gathered in front of the cave.
Xiangbei was successfully promoted to deputy director and was in charge of farm infrastructure.
It's easy to get things done if you have someone in the court. When Luo Xuan saw the road construction team coming, he gave them money, tools and food without daring to say a word. The canteen sent someone to deliver meals to the scene, which included a combination of meat and vegetables and generous portions.
Where have the educated youth ever enjoyed such treatment? Everyone is full of energy.
The road construction team members shouted slogans and fought against the cave walls. Truckloads of mud and gravel were transported out of the cave and dumped on the roadside.
"Working... Yeah, yeah, yeah
Promote production... Yeah, yeah
Road construction team members work together
Build a road for trucks to run... Yeah! ”
The singing echoed in the cave, shaking people's hearts. The team members were like chickens with their blood pumped up, waving the iron tools in their hands and widening the mountain wall bit by bit.
Engineer Yang is now the head of the Infrastructure Department, but he doesn't want to sit in the office. He handed the paperwork to Lao Huang and stayed at the construction site of the road construction team. When he heard the horn coming from the cave, he smiled and chatted with Xiangbei.
"No wonder you look at these educated youth from Jiangcheng differently. They are indeed good seedlings and are willing to work hard."
Xiangbei nodded and responded: "Passionate, simple and sincere, they deserve better."
The two looked at each other and smiled.
Engineer Yang patted Xiangbei on the shoulder and said, "It's good that you have figured it out. Although this world is unfair, good people don't get good rewards, and bad people live for a thousand years, but there must be someone who stands up to speak for and support the good people. Power is a good thing..."
He nodded to the north, his eyes slightly narrowed, as if thinking about something.
Engineer Yang took a look at the cave, his voice full of joy: "If the cave is dug through, the north and south slopes will be connected. The villagers on the north slope will no longer have to take a detour of more than ten miles of mountain roads to get to the town, and the children will no longer have to get up at crowing and go to school under the stars."
In addition to the farm, Xiufeng Mountain also has several villages, which are divided into the South Slope Brigade and the North Slope Brigade, with a total of seven teams.
The farm is located on the south slope. The villagers of Nanpo rely on odd jobs on the farm and selling tea-fruit oil, and their lives are relatively better.
The villagers of Beipo Village live deep in the mountains. If they want to get out, they have to walk more than ten miles of rugged mountain roads to reach Nanpo, and then take a small road down the mountain to reach Quping Town. Due to inconvenient transportation, the villagers of Beipo live a very difficult life.
There is a high mountain jungle between the south and north slopes. If this cave can be opened, it will be much more convenient for the villagers on the north slope to reach the farm directly through this tunnel.
Hearing the enthusiastic shouts and the clanging sounds of iron tools hitting the stone walls in the cave, Xiang Bei smiled and nodded, saying, "Yes, if we can fix it..."
Before he finished speaking, a strange noise suddenly came from the cave.
Tao Nanfeng's voice was filled with extreme panic: "Go! Go! Get out!"
not good! Tao Nanfeng has always been calm and steady. If something big hadn't happened, he would never have shouted like that. Xiangbei was startled and ran quickly into the cave.
Tao Nanfeng's heart was pounding in the cave.
Just now, half a minute ago.
The team members waved shovels and iron spades at the cave wall, and Tao Nanfeng used an iron chisel and hammer to chisel out the rocks embedded in the soil. The excavated soil and broken stones were loaded onto trucks and transported out one by one.
“Beep, beep, beep—”
Tao Nanfeng suddenly heard a strange noise and looked up suddenly. Countless crisscrossing red lines appeared out of thin air above the area ten meters ahead.
Wei Min, Chen Zhilu and Qiao Yadong stood in a row, holding up their hoes and digging at the soil.
One, two, three red dots appeared and gradually connected into one. The red area covered Wei Min, Chen Zhilu and Qiao Yadong, and it was so red that it seemed to bleed.
not good!
Tao Nanfeng was shocked. Before that, she could only see white lines in front of her eyes, which represented the route of digging the hole. What do the red lines that suddenly appear now represent?
Is it a warning? It means there is danger!
A chill rushed to her head, and Tao Nanfeng felt her scalp tingling. This inexplicable sense of crisis made her dare not hesitate any longer, and she shouted loudly: "Go! Go! Get out!"
Xiao Aiyun was standing next to her. She was startled by the shout and quickly turned around to ask, "What's wrong?"
There was dirt falling off the top of his head in front of him and falling on Wei Min's head. Wei Min was frightened by Tao Nanfeng's shout and subconsciously touched his head. Why was there dirt falling?
Since she led everyone to build the brick house, Tao Nanfeng has enjoyed a high reputation among the educated youth. When they heard her shout so loudly for the first time, everyone subconsciously put down the tools in their hands, stood still and held their breath.
Tao Nanfeng was already in a state of extreme tension, with a sharp light flashing in his eyes. He quickly dropped the iron axe in his hand, grabbed Xiao Aiyun who was still bending over to carry stones on the ground, turned around and ran out, shouting as he ran: "The cave is about to collapse, get out!"
At this moment, the educated youth around Tao Nanfeng all understood.
The hole is going to collapse? This is a fatal matter!
Even the bravest Wei Min was infected by Tao Nanfeng's attitude, and hurriedly pulled his companions and ran out.
The old road construction team members were more than ten meters away from the educated youth and were fighting hard in the front. Hearing the noise behind him, Mao Peng, the current captain of the road construction team, stopped what he was doing, turned around and looked towards the cave entrance.
Tao Nanfeng's voice was particularly loud in the tunnel, making his ears hurt. When Mao Peng saw her pulling the people around her to run out, he panicked and was stunned. He didn't react for a while.
An extreme feeling of panic surged into Mao Peng's heart, his throat felt dry and his heart was beating fast. He tried to speak, but no word came out; he tried to move, but his feet seemed nailed to the ground.
Xiangbei ran into the cave at this time and shouted loudly: "All teammates, run forward! Come out——"
His voice was loud and high-pitched, his commands were clear and firm, and he carried an indomitable momentum.
Mao Peng seemed to have found his backbone, and he and other team members put down their work and ran out.
The soil layer on the top of the cave in the red area began to fall, and the puffing sounds became more and more frequent. As countless pieces of soil poured down, a corner of the entire cave began to collapse.
Seeing a corner collapsing, Xiangbei's adrenaline surged. He clenched his fists and rushed towards the people running towards him. He grabbed one and pushed him out, shouting hoarsely, "Run!"
If something goes wrong, you will be held responsible for the consequences!
Xiao Aiyun heard a roar coming from behind him and felt the vibration under his feet. He was so scared that he stumbled and fell to the ground.
Dirt poured down from above my head, and heavy objects pressed down on my calves.
"Ah——" A scream came from the throat, heart-wrenching.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
