Chapter 48 Published
The air was filled with smoke and dust, and it felt like it was freezing. A damp chill crept up through my fingertips.
"Cough... cough cough..." Ji Ruan opened his eyes in a feeling of suffocation.
At that moment, his vision was so blurred that he couldn't see anything clearly. His body was cold, heavy, and stiff, and he couldn't move. Ji Ruan took a deep breath and sat up instinctively.
The space here seemed very small. Ji Ruan only moved slightly and his arms stuck to the slippery wall, and his legs were curled up and couldn't be straightened.
He leaned his head back against the uneven stone and waited quietly for a while before his vision gradually became clear - the first thing he saw was the big stone right in front of him.
He didn't know where he was, but he knew he was stuck in a gap between several large rocks. If he had been a little less lucky, he would have been crushed on the spot.
Is this a blessing in disguise? Ji Ruan smiled bitterly.
But he seemed to be in a very bad state of mind. Ji Ruan was only conscious for a moment and his eyelids were drooping. He felt as sleepy as if he had not slept for three days and three nights.
He closed his eyes to rest, and then took a closer look at his surroundings.
——It was very cramped and small, with stones all around. One of the stones was just a dozen centimeters above him, supporting each other with several other stones. It was so close that he would even become cross-eyed if he looked at it for a while.
Ji Ruan leaned against the stone wall and moved slightly to the left, making a relatively spacious space for himself, at least to prevent the stone from hitting his face at any time.
He tilted his head and noticed out of the corner of his eye that there seemed to be another person not far away, lying against the wall with his back to him. A bit of his light grey sweater could be seen under the cover of the stone. He must have woken up as he moved a bit.
Ji Ruan's heart began to pound as he recognized him at the first sight.
It’s Cheng Zizhang!
It turned out that they were not separated, and Cheng Zizhang was still lying not far from him!
The excitement of finding a surviving friend in a desperate situation is no less than being reborn. After all, no one wants to endure alone in such an ice cellar.
Cheng Zizhang seemed to have not fully recovered yet. He struggled on the ground for several times but was unable to sit up.
Ji Ruan didn't know where he got the strength from, but he pushed the big rock in front of him and squeezed through the narrow gap.
Although Cheng Zizhang's place was still blocked on all sides, it was more spacious than his place and could accommodate the two of them.
"Senior? Senior, are you okay? Senior—"
Ji Ruan's hand that was pushing Cheng Zizhan suddenly stopped.
He tilted his head like a little animal just out of the nest, then suddenly touched his ears, his expression became extremely frightened.
Sure enough, the external machine had been thrown away somewhere unknown.
No wonder he didn’t hear any sound after waking up, no wonder he couldn’t hear himself talking clearly!
Cheng Zizhang seemed to have finally gathered enough strength to climb up, leaned against the rock to catch his breath, and reached out his hand to pull him up.
Ji Ruan saw her lips moving, she must be calling his name, but perhaps because she was weak, her voice was very soft and Ji Ruan could not hear it at all.
Ji Ruan calmed down, moved closer to Cheng Zizhan, and smiled rather bitterly.
He took a quick look at Cheng Zizhan's body. Apart from a few scratches on his cheeks, he had no other external injuries. He must have just not recovered from the shock yet.
He breathed a sigh of relief. In this situation, he was lucky not to be injured. At least he could hold on a little longer until rescue came. If he was injured anywhere, things would be much more difficult.
The light here was very dim. Cheng Zizhan's lips kept moving as she talked to Ji Ruan. Ji Ruan pulled her sleeve, pointed at her ear and shook her head.
"I lost my balance and can't hear you clearly. Please stop talking and keep your strength..."
He spoke this sentence very slowly, and because he couldn't hear clearly he had to correct his pronunciation word by word, but his voice still didn't sound good.
Cheng Zizhang was surprised for a moment, as if stunned. After a while, the corners of her mouth moved, and her eyes slowly turned red.
Ji Ruan laughed again, shook his head and said softly: "It really doesn't matter."
His cheeks were dirty and his complexion was bad, but even so his eyes were bright like guiding stars in a dark valley, and he looked especially well-behaved when he smiled.
Even if the little angel falls into the mud, he is still a little angel. He flaps his wet wings stained with mud desperately, and does not want others to be sad for him.
Cheng Zizhang's eyes turned redder, and his heart ached: "Xiao Ruan..."
Ji Ruan said a few words and felt a little exhausted. He had difficulty breathing and it seemed that he could never take a full breath.
He slowly leaned back against the stone wall, not understanding why he was so tired.
It was too cold here. The stones were cold, hard, wet and slippery. His whole body was wet. Ji Ruan felt that with his current body temperature, he would not be able to wait until his clothes were dry or he would be frozen to death.
Suddenly he thought of something, opened his eyes quickly, and took out his cell phone from his trouser pocket, but he had no strength in his hands. The usually small cell phone now seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, pressing his wrist down heavily.
He took a deep breath and turned on the screen. Surprisingly, it wasn't completely broken. Although the screen was shattered into pieces and the touch screen was not very sensitive, it seemed to be still usable.
Ji Ruan seemed to see a glimmer of hope and turned to the dial button to call for help, but he realized belatedly that there was no signal at all. There was a small gray cross at the top of the signal grid, coldly blocking all contact between him and the outside world.
Ji Ruan's blood, which had just been hot for a few seconds, quickly cooled down again.
Snap——
A small drop of water fell onto the screen of the mobile phone, winding down the crack, and Ji Ruan's fingertips paused.
Snap, Snap——
More and more water drops fell, hitting the screen and splashing between the fingertips.
Where does the water come from?
But it’s impossible for the surrounding rocks to suddenly drip so much.
Ji Ruan looked up suddenly. In the darkness, through the layers of stone walls, he saw a small opening on the upper left, a small opening with a diameter of only a dozen centimeters, through which raindrops kept falling.
It should be the gap left by the collision of the rocks during the collapse. He and Cheng Zizhan were buried in it but did not suffocate, probably thanks to this small mouth.
Ji Ruan turned sideways, stroked the damp stone wall, half-knelt and looked outside the small opening. What he saw was a desolate scene. The sky was oppressive, and there were fallen rocks, weeds and broken branches everywhere, like another kind of doomsday.
Although the road they took is completely unrecognizable, it at least shows that they are not buried very deep. Maybe... maybe there will be a signal?
Ji Ruan raised his cell phone to the entrance of the cave and tried to take over the signal, but he was too weak and his raised hand trembled in the rain.
He stared at the screen, hoping for a miracle, but no matter how he moved, the little grey cross still remained indifferently at the top, showing no sign of change.
Ji Ruan couldn't lift his hand anymore and withdrew it dejectedly.
It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if there is no signal. They are not buried very deep. Even if they can’t contact the outside world, as long as the rescue team arrives, they should... they should be able to find them quickly, Ji Ruan thought naively, but his heart was beating uneasily.
The rain was much lighter than at the beginning, dripping intermittently onto Ji Ruan's face. He took a deep breath, but only smelled the strong fishy smell of trees mixed with rain.
As the cold air entered his lungs, he began to feel dizzy again.
Ji Ruan rested his forehead on the back of his hand and closed his eyes to try to ease the pain, but it was of no use. This feeling was very similar to the low blood pressure when waking up early, with a lingering dizziness that tortured him so much that he had no strength left.
If they were at home, Gu Xiuyi would immediately carry him back to bed and feed him salt sugar water. If he continued to act like a spoiled child, the man would hold him and coax him softly. He felt very warm.
Ji Ruan's nose felt sore and she suddenly wanted to cry. It was so cold here...
"Xiao Ruan!"
Cheng Zizhang seemed to call him, and the screaming tone exploded dimly in his ears.
Ji Ruan turned around and saw Cheng Zizhan’s face full of horror.
In the darkness, her wet hair stuck to her cheeks, and her eyes were wide open staring at a certain part of Ji Ruan's body, as if she saw something terrible.
Without waiting for Ji Ruan to react, Cheng Zizhang crawled over and put his hands on Ji Ruan's calves: "...Xiao Ruan...your legs...why...are they hurting..."
Her lips opened and closed quickly, but Ji Ruan could only catch a few vague words.
He followed Cheng Zizhan's movements and looked at his calves, and his pupils suddenly contracted.
With the faint fluorescence of the mobile phone screen, he saw that Cheng Zizhang's hand pressing on his calf was covered in blood, and the blood overflowing from between his fingers dripped down his trouser leg.
His white canvas shoes had long been stained blood red, and on the stone wall that he had just climbed, a long bloodstain was left. After being diluted by the rain, it spread out like ink and dispersed to both sides.
It should be that when he was buried, his calf hit a rock and left a cut.
But he felt no pain at all.
The surge of adrenaline when the body was suddenly injured numbed Ji Ruan's sense of pain for a short period of time, so that the moment Ji Ruan saw the blood, his brain made a "buzzing" sound.
He suddenly lost strength and fell back like a kite with a broken string. His already terrible complexion turned paler by the second until it became almost transparent.
·
The rain stopped and a long cordon was set up at the exit at the foot of the mountain.
The second rescue team had been in there for almost an hour, but there was still no news.
Gu Xiuyi checked the communication signal over and over again, and even though he knew the signal was zero, he still called Ji Ruan again and again in vain.
He couldn't go into the mountains, couldn't go find Ji Ruan in person, and couldn't cause trouble for the rescue team. In the face of such a major disaster rescue, any interference could lead to irreversible consequences.
So all he could do was wait for news, contact the hospital, and make all preparations in the worst-case scenario.
But this kind of torture is no less than a slow slicing, and more painful than death.
He wanted to rush into the mountains and dig deep into the ground to find Ji Ruan, but he knew very well that this was just an unrealistic fantasy. Reason and impulse kept intertwining, cutting Gu Xiu's tense nerves repeatedly like a blunt knife, giving him a splitting headache.
Gu Xiuyi had never felt so powerless.
He has enjoyed endless power and status since he was born. There is nothing he cannot get whenever he wants. No matter how difficult the task is, he can achieve it as long as he is willing to use his brain and wrist. Therefore, he never believes in fate and luck.
Some even condescendingly believe that only losers would kneel in the mud, grovelling and praying to God for a bit of luck that does not exist at all, and that only those who are at the end of their rope would desire mercy.
But now it's different.
For the first time, Gu Xiuyi truly felt how little he could do under the pressure of nature.
In the dark sky, the mountain pressed down lifelessly like a huge tomb, hitting Gu Xiuyi's chest heavily, making it impossible for him to breathe while leaving a tiny gap to sustain his life, torturing him repeatedly but not letting him die.
"No, it's okay..." Song Ling spoke carefully, looking at Gu Xiuyi's extremely gloomy face, and handed him a glass of water: "This mountain is not high, and the road they walked is not long. They will find it soon, and they will be fine!"
Gu Xiuyi pursed his lips tightly and nodded slightly when he heard the words, but he blocked Song Ling's hand that was handing him water.
"Report, report!" A crackling sound came from the intercom of the command center not far away, and Gu Xiuyi turned his dry eyes to look over.
"...We have discovered four collapse sites. It will take at least three to four hours to search them all..."
"...One of them is quite serious. A huge rock has fallen and broken through the fence. We cannot rule out the possibility of it being swept into the river. Please give us your instructions..."
Damn it! Song Ling's heart sank, and he immediately squeezed a hole in the mineral water bottle.
Gu Xiuyi in front of him just stood there motionless, with no expression on his face and unable to react at all, as if his soul had been suddenly sucked out, leaving only a seemingly indestructible empty shell.
Song Ling was extremely anxious. He wanted to pat him on the shoulder but didn't dare to reach out his hand. He wanted to say something but didn't dare to open his mouth.
He really wanted to comfort Gu Xiuyi, saying that it was okay, that there was a possibility of being washed into the river, and that was just the worst case scenario. But Ji Ruan was such a well-behaved child, he must have good luck and would definitely not become that unlucky guy.
But he couldn't say it, and he knew in his heart that this kind of comfort was even weaker than a joke.
“Buzz——”
It seems like something is making a noise.
Where does the vibration come from?
Song Ling looked around and finally his eyes fell on Gu Xiuyi's cell phone.
It seemed like the signal was being received, and a person whose caller ID showed a small cherry icon called Gu Xiuyi.
At that moment, Song Ling saw Gu Xiuyi's eyes widen, as if they were suddenly filled with the breath of life.
Then, all the anger in his body turned into great joy at this moment, which was a thousand times greater than the joy of a poor person winning 50 million and finding out that his cancer was a misdiagnosis.
He felt that Gu Xiuyi's eyes were red, and his hands were shaking uncontrollably when he pressed the answer button.
·
"Don't be afraid, Xiao Ruan, I'll be gentle..."
Cheng Zizhang used his cell phone to illuminate the area and carefully rolled up Ji Ruan's blood-soaked trouser legs. The moment he saw the wound, tears came to his eyes.
Ji Ruan couldn't really hear what Cheng Zizhang was saying, but he knew that Cheng Zizhang was crying, so he could only pull the corners of his mouth hard: "It's okay, it doesn't hurt..."
But his voice was so weak that he could hardly hear it himself, and even moving the corners of his mouth required him to muster up a lot of strength.
"How can it not hurt!" Cheng Zizhan's hands were covered in blood. He wanted to find something to help Ji Ruan stop the bleeding, but there were bare stones all around and he had no idea what to do. He was so anxious that tears fell.
There was a long cut on Ji Ruan's calf, at least ten centimeters long. It was not deep enough to see the bone, but at least the skin and flesh were torn. Dark red blood gushed out of the hideous wound and flowed down along the ankle like a winding stream.
Cheng Zizhan wiped his face with the back of his hand, trying to find something useful. Suddenly, a piece of clothing was handed to him. Ji Ruan had a pale face but was still smiling.
"You're still laughing?" Cheng Zizhang said unhappily.
Ji Ruan didn't want to laugh either, but when Cheng Zizhan wiped her face, her cheeks were stained with blood, and she was crying so hard that she looked a little funny.
But this speech was too long and Ji Ruan couldn't finish it. He gathered his strength for a long time to take off his shirt and now it was difficult for him to open his eyes.
"Wipe your face, and then help me bandage it, Senior..."
The surging adrenaline began to subside, and the pain gradually surged up. Ji Ruan was speechless. The strong smell of blood filled the narrow stone wall, making Ji Ruan feel extremely nauseous.
His Adam's apple rolled up and down with difficulty, and he forced a weak smile at Cheng Zizhang.
Cheng Zizhan took the clothes with tears in his eyes, but did not wipe his face first as Ji Ruan said. Instead, he pressed on Ji Ruan's wound as quickly as possible, and then bandaged it tightly in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
Ji Ruan's eyes began to see black mist and he felt extremely sleepy, but he knew it was only because he had lost too much blood.
I can’t sleep, I absolutely can’t sleep, if I do, it’ll be over…
He tried hard to keep his eyes open and used all his willpower to stay awake, but fatigue and weakness were like a devil crawling out of the abyss, sucking his blood and peeling off his skin to pull him back in.
At the last moment, as if it was destined, Ji Ruan turned on the screen of his mobile phone again.
Then he saw the little gray cross on the signal grid disappear and turn into a faint black spot.
"Ah, Ji Ruan!" Cheng Zizhang looked at Ji Ruan's actions in horror.
At that moment, Ji Ruan almost instinctively climbed up and held the phone to the edge of the small hole above.
He seemed to have a last burst of energy, and when the signal turned two bars, he dialed Gu Xiuyi's number without hesitation.
He actually still had some rationality left and knew that he should call for help at this time, either 110 or 119, and then accurately report his location, injuries, and the number of trapped people, and then wait for rescue.
But he was too tired to say much. It was desolate outside and he didn't know where he was buried. But if it was Gu Xiuyi, that person would definitely find him even if he spoke incoherently.
Well...actually, he also wanted to hear Gu Xiuyi's voice again.
Moreover, Gu Xiuyi had promised him that he would never ignore his calls again.
He promised.
Ji Ruan turned up the volume to the maximum, put the music close to his left ear, and his heart was beating sharply.
The arc was quickly connected after a "beep" sound.
"Ji Ruan?!"
Ji Ruan had very poor hearing in his left ear, and Gu Xiuyi's voice came through the receiver as if it were from across a whole forest, with ethereal echoes mixed in between the fragmented human voices.
But Ji Ruan still heard it.
His tears fell uncontrollably. He could still smile in front of Cheng Zizhan, but when it came to Gu Xiuyi, he was completely defeated at the mere sound of his voice.
He held the phone tightly, as if afraid that what he heard was an illusion, and said in a trembling voice: "Gu, Gu Xiuyi..."
·
Gu Xiuyi's heart was broken.
Ji Ruan's pronunciation was strange, mixed with sobs, like a child who was just learning to speak.
Gu Xiuyi knew that he might not be able to hear clearly, or he might have dropped the external machine during the process, or he might have been injured. Gu Xiuyi didn't know, and he didn't dare to think about it.
"I'm here, I'm here, baby." He held the microphone and raised his voice, then turned around and ran quickly towards the rescue center.
The rescue team leader, who was talking loudly on the walkie-talkie, was stunned when someone patted him on the shoulder. The person who called him had a frighteningly gloomy face, but there was a strange joy and nervousness in the gloom, and the strong sense of oppression brought by his tall physique made people shudder.
Gu Xiuyi didn't have the slightest thought to pay attention to other people's expressions, and directly turned on the speaker: "Ji Ruan? Honey, don't be afraid, listen to me carefully now--"
The captain knew there was hope when he heard this. At least someone was still alive and could make a phone call. This was great news. He quickly raised his hand to quiet down the people around him.
But the student opposite spoke strangely, with unclear articulation, and at first glance, he didn’t even sound like a college student.
The man said a few brief soothing words, and then asked the question very clearly, enunciating each word as if the person in front of him was a child who had not grown up.
"…Are you with Cheng Zizhang? Are you injured?…"
"…It doesn't matter if you don't know where it is. Think carefully about the surrounding environment before the landslide. Is there any conspicuous sign or special thing? Anything will do..."
"…It's okay, baby. Everyone is working hard to rescue you and we will find you soon. But if you can provide some information, we can meet sooner, don't you think?…"
All the staff held their breath and waited for the other side's reply. Every minute and every second seemed to be stretched to an infinitely long length at this moment.
The captain saw the tall man next to him, his knuckles turning white from holding the phone with so much force, and you could tell from his finger bones that all the muscles in his body were tense.
But every word he said was surprisingly calm, even gentle. If you didn't see it with your own eyes, you would never imagine that he was so frightened.
"Yes, there is a brand..."
The student on the other side finally spoke. The captain immediately shifted his attention away from the man and listened carefully to the words on the phone. The child's voice was trembling, but he was trying hard to speak every word clearly.
"There was a forest fire safety sign in front of us. I only saw it once from the time I came down the mountain to the time the landslide occurred..."
The captain clenched his fist and immediately opened the satellite map. All the signboards on the entire mountain were recorded, and the first fire safety sign on the road down the mountain directly identified the specific location.
He turned on the intercom and said in an unquestionable tone: "Everyone, go directly to point D of the landslide for rescue. It is confirmed that there are people trapped..."
As he was speaking, there was a cry from the other end of the phone. The student who sounded very sensible finally couldn't hold back and burst into tears:
"Senior is here...but I am bleeding, Gu Xiuyi...so much blood..."
When the captain saw the man who had relaxed a little, his expression suddenly became extremely terrifying, a pain that was difficult to describe in words, as if the sky was falling and the earth was splitting apart.
He pressed the intercom: "Attention, attention, two people are trapped, one of them is injured and bleeding, speed up!"
·
Ji Ruan slid down the wall weakly and closed his eyes amid Cheng Zizhan's crying.
In the end, Ji Ruan could no longer hear Gu Xiuyi's voice. Perhaps the signal was not working again, or maybe he just couldn't hold on any longer.
He wasn't sure how much Gu Xiuyi had heard, but he felt that all the blood in his body was about to be drained out and he could no longer exert any strength.
Through the slits of his eyes, he saw Cheng Zizhan pick up the phone and try to keep in touch. She held the phone and her lips moved rapidly, but she seemed very anxious. Then she put her hand down dejectedly and arched her back.
It seems to be a signal problem...
Ji Ruan's thoughts began to drift away slowly. His heart beat became irregular. Sometimes it was so slow that it seemed to stop, and sometimes it was so crazy that it hurt his chest with a slight pain.
In fact, Ji Ruan did not live a very good life. He was unfamiliar with most of the good things in the world, but was extremely familiar with death.
He knew very clearly that he was having some heart rhythm irregularities, which was a sign of impending shock due to excessive blood loss.
But the best thing he could think of right now was for Gu Xiuyi to hug him again.
The huge abyss surged up again. Ji Ruan struggled on its edge for a long time, but finally fell into it.
The water inside was colder than I had imagined.
He floated for a while, and suddenly surfaced. He heard a dim noise and a girl crying. Was it Cheng Zizhang?
But before he could figure it out, the tide rose and he sank again.
This time he sank for a long time. Something heavy was pressing on his chest, making it hard for him to breathe. He tried to breathe hard but to no avail.
It was not until the last second before he was about to suffocate that he suddenly breathed in fresh air and surfaced again.
But this time it was fished out by someone.
Someone hugged him, and he felt extremely warm in his arms.
Ji Ruan couldn't open his eyes, but he knew it was Gu Xiuyi, he smelled his scent.
Ah... I'm saved, Ji Ruan thought.
Saved while alive.
very nice.
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