Chapter 18 Chapter 18
The situation of each hole and player was projected on the big screen in real time, and the accident at the preliminary round was quickly discovered by everyone.
The rescue team arrived as soon as possible, but the situation was not optimistic.
After Yumi was lifted high by Ansius, the staff came to lead him and the other contestants to the waiting area to wait.
While waiting, the contestants discovered that something had happened on the field.
Mei Kai, who was also in the waiting area, was originally talking to himself with a gloomy face, but after noticing picture No. 17 on the screen, his expression suddenly changed, and he rushed towards the cave desperately despite the staff's attempt to stop him.
Yumi looked at the live feed in the grid.
He had seen contestant No. 17 who was stuck in the cave in the lounge. He was the blond man who apologized for Mei Kai. His name was Harvey, and he was more than three meters tall. At this moment, he was stuck in a very narrow fork. Because he was too panicked, he turned back into his original form as a lion, which made him stuck even more.
Even through the screen, everyone could feel his pain.
The rest of the contestants have come out one after another. The host and staff are explaining to the audience and trying to disperse some of the crowd and maintain order...
Most of the audience were reluctant to leave. They were very eager to learn more about the contestant's safety. Some of them even had rescue experience and asked to help.
An accident occurred and the scene was somewhat chaotic. Anxius went over and took the confused Yumi to sit beside him, asking him if he wanted to go back first.
With a rescue team on site, generally nothing will go wrong.
Yumi shook his head. He wanted to wait until the people were rescued before leaving, otherwise he would keep thinking about this matter.
At Dongxue, Mei Kai was so anxious that he kept asking the organizer what was going on.
Xavi was stuck inside and rescuers were working on the situation. No matter how anxious he was, he couldn't go in and affect the rescue.
The staff comforted him, "There is nothing wrong with this hole. In the past, athletes who were stronger and taller than No. 17 all came out safe and sound... We don't know the specific reason either. Please wait patiently, we will do our best to rescue you!"
Mei Kai was so angry that he couldn't vent it. He could only hope that his friend would be rescued as soon as possible and went over to keep an eye on the surveillance camera.
The passage in front of Harvey was narrower, so the only way to rescue him was to drag him from behind. The rescue workers who entered the cave tried various methods but failed to pull him out. Harvey's original form almost blocked that section of the passage, and people of normal physique could only barely get close to his tail.
Rescuers repeatedly asked Harvey how he got stuck.
"I don't know... As I was crawling, my legs started to hurt, and then I couldn't move." Harvey said with difficulty.
"Could it be caused by a physical injury? For example, a disease like a tumor or a joint suddenly developed during a game?"
"No, I'm in good health and I even had a checkup before signing up..."
"That's probably a temporary problem inside the cave. We can only touch your ankles now. Can you move your legs and feet?"
"I can't move..."
Harvey's entire original form was stuck inside, and it was too difficult to check a certain part. The rescue team studied the internal map again. Although the corridor where Harvey was at this time was a bit narrow, with his human physique, he would not get stuck if he crawled normally.
"Maybe at first it was just a wrong posture, and it got stuck a little bit. He panicked and changed back to his original form. Naturally, his original form was not as slender as the human form, so he got stuck badly in an instant... Let's find a way to save him first!"
After discussion, the rescue team continued to deploy machines to carry out rescue operations.
Since Mike was Harvey's friend and smaller than most Sna people, the rescue team called him to go in with them.
Mei Kai was more than happy to do so. After entering, he followed the rescuers' instructions to comfort the suffering Harvey.
Harvey's original form was stuck inside, and his squeezed body couldn't turn back into human form in this environment. In order to loosen his body, Mackay drilled into the gap above him, but he couldn't get in halfway.
The lion below groaned in pain... Although Mei Kai was less than two meters tall, his frame was not small, and the space squeezed in him made him more and more uncomfortable.
Mei Kai was afraid that things would get worse. It was the first time for him to experience such a thing, so he was frightened and climbed out in a hurry. He remained calm and continued to help the rescue team pour oil on Mei Kai for lubrication.
But it still doesn't work.
The rescue lasted for nearly an hour. As the enemy was stuck in a very tricky place and the original shape almost occupied the entire corridor, the rescue team could only approach Harvey's back. Seeing that Harvey's condition was getting worse and worse, the helpless captain said: "The situation is not good... Send the protection equipment in as soon as possible, let No. 17 protect himself as much as possible, and prepare to blow up the cave."
Mei Kai heard these words as soon as he came out and was completely unable to react.
Soon, he saw someone carrying protective armor inside, and the tension in his heart finally broke.
He remembered that in a competition a few years ago, it seemed that a contestant had an accident and could not be rescued, so the choice was to blow up the hole. Although the contestant survived, he could never turn back into human form.
No...absolutely not!
Mike, who has been bullied and ridiculed since childhood because of his short stature, knows too well the pain of being different. He hates everyone in the world, but Harvey is his only friend.
The self-esteem of the past is nothing now.
He tried to dissuade them but to no avail. He knelt down anxiously and begged them hysterically: "Please try again! I beg you... give me a little more time to try..."
Rescuers inside the cave shouted, "He's going to pass out!"
The captain pushed Mei Kai away and began to arrange the scene: "Giving you time means not giving him time. We can't delay any longer. Do you want him to die? No one wants to give up on him. There is nothing we can do about it..."
“…”
Mei Kai moved his mouth. He was hopeless and wanted to say something with moist eyes, but someone behind him said, "There should be a way."
!
Mei Kai swore that this was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard in his life!
During this time, Yumi had been observing the situation inside. He walked forward and pointed at the surveillance screen inside the cave and said, "There should have been a small bulge in this place, where his hind legs are, but now it's covered by his original form."
As he spoke, he opened the map of the cave on his computer and showed it to them.
"No. 17 was stuck because he probably didn't notice the inconspicuous bulge. I suspect there was a stone or a sharp foreign object buried in the bulge. He must have sped up to get out as quickly as possible. You see, there are scales on the front of his clothes. When he rubbed against it, if he had enough force, it would be very likely to scrape or shatter the outer layer of the bulge, revealing the sharp object inside. The leg following behind would be quickly pierced, unable to move forward due to the pain. The bulge would get stuck even more severely while twisting, and he couldn't move back. It was probably because the thing that stuck him was in the shape of a barb. After he turned back to his original wider and stronger form, the whole body was squeezed and couldn't move at all... If we get rid of this "barb", maybe we can drag the person out."
Everyone was stunned.
The rescue team leader reacted immediately and called up the internal map to zoom in and take another look. There was indeed a very small bulge... The bulge was like a small drum. They saw it, but no one would have thought that such a round and small drum would trap the person inside.
The bigger problem is that even if they knew this, no one could get deeper into the part where Harvey was stuck. Even the short Mackay couldn't hold on in the gap for too long. It would be even worse if he got stuck in there too.
"I can try to get into the gap of No. 17," Yumi said, "but it's my first time and I have no experience."
Mei Kai still had traces of tears on his face, and he looked at Yumi in disbelief.
"Really? That's great! Your discovery has helped us a lot!" The captain wiped his sweat and spoke quickly, "We will never let you go in alone. I will go with you! I will tell you what needs to be done, and I will also do my best to ensure your safety."
After saying that, a tall man strode towards them. The low pressure around him made people shudder.
Yumi saw Anxius coming and raised her hand to show him her bracelet: "Wait a moment, I'll be ready soon."
He is showing off his safety.
Seeing the bracelet, Ansius paused, stared at Yumi and thought for a few seconds, then tied the rescue rope for him without saying a word. After checking it several times, he held the other end of the rope tightly to prevent others from interfering.
Yumi put on the protective clothing. When she was about to go down, Mei Kai walked over with a pale face, as if he wanted to say something, but before he opened his mouth, Yumi slid down.
When they reached the target distance, Yumi crawled towards the gap between the stone wall and the lion. He could drill very deep at once and turned on the flashlight to check the situation inside.
He was much lighter than Mike, so Harvey's reaction was minimal.
The captain was too big to go too deep, so he said to Yumi on the intercom not far away: "Please try to keep him conscious and pay attention to safety."
Yumi responded, and while lubricating the lion's contact with the rock wall with oil, he spoke to him: "Are you still awake? You can't fall asleep, otherwise you will be injured during the rescue. If you don't make a sound, no one will know."
Harvey was sweating from the pain. He couldn't see who was lying on his back, so he thought it was a small rescue worker. He was sure that he couldn't get out safely. He seemed to have made up his mind and said through gritted teeth, "I can't move at all. You'd better blow it up... If I die, tell Mei Kai that life is not determined by the wrong people."
Yumi continued to rub lube onto his head, "He's on top, you can tell for yourself."
Harvey was stunned and smiled bitterly.
After applying the oil, Youmi groped her way down the stone wall and began to look for the raised areas. While searching, she asked him where it hurt the most.
Harvey: "My entire body was in pain wherever it was touching the stone wall. It was numb and painful, and my right limb at the back hurt the most."
Yumi went to his right hind leg and carefully checked the gap.
During this time, Harvey was silent. He thought of what the captain said and was afraid that Harvey would die. He opened his mouth to ask him what he did for a living, but then he remembered that not everyone had a job, so he asked, "No. 17, what do you usually do?"
Fortunately, the lion's body moved slightly, and he spoke vaguely: "I... Mei Kai and I were originally working in sales in a company. Later, the company went bankrupt, and we couldn't find suitable jobs, so we took out our savings to set up a stall and buy goods to do business..."
Yumi held up a small chisel and hammered at the bottom: "So you are a boss."
"Haha... we're just setting up a stall. Mei Kai is not tall, but he has a good business sense. With him controlling the expenses, we can make a profit from setting up a stall. I'm not as smart as him, but when I'm here, the gangsters don't dare to cause trouble."
"You are a tall lion after all," Yumi took advantage of his small size and moved forward a distance, digging at the stone wall near his hind legs, "By the way, what do you sell?"
Harvey laughed again, and he seemed to be talking about something else: "We mainly sell food, breakfast and dinner. Boiled eggs are the best seller because they are not expensive, nutritious, and filling. Many people buy boiled eggs."
Yumi didn't expect to get unexpected business information at this time, and murmured: "Not bad, if I don't have a job in the future, I can use a cart to sell tea eggs."
"...Tea eggs? What are those?"
Just as Yumi was about to answer, the stone wall in front of him suddenly began to bleed. He knew that part of the opponent's hind limb was embedded in the nearby stone wall, so he quickly asked the medical staff above to get ready. Then he took the hemostatic bandage handed over by the captain and bandaged the exposed wound first. Then he took out the toolbox and asked Harvey to continue talking about his years of struggle, and worked hard... Ten minutes later, the lion groaned and his body suddenly relaxed.
Yumi said, "Try to move back."
The other party had no hope, but thinking about the little rescuer who had listened to his story for so long, he tried to stretch his back... and his hind legs could actually move!
He himself couldn't believe it!
The captain saw it and shouted excitedly: "It's out! Pull it out!"
Yumi ran from the lion's back to the lion's head carrying a small tool. He commanded Harvey, who could not even open his eyes, to retreat as hard as he could.
When Harvey's whole body was pulled out of the place where he was stuck and he was being pulled away, Yumi, like a little leader, stood with his hands on his waist and shouted with a walkie-talkie: "Don't let go after you pull him up, there are rescuers behind him! One, two, one, push hard! One, two, one, push hard! One, two, one..."
The people outside didn't know why he was shouting "one, two, one", but when they found that he was getting more and more energetic, they immediately started shouting too.
The sound was deafening.
Harvey opened his eyes blearily. He felt himself rising rapidly. He lowered his eyes and saw a small figure who was shouting something solemnly.
That little guy looks familiar...
After the distance between them widened, he could see the other person very clearly.
It’s… contestant number five, Yumi!
Yumi was wearing a special safety helmet at this time - because his horns would be hurt by wearing the helmet, he originally didn't plan to wear it. Ansius borrowed tools and poked two small holes on the top of his safety helmet on the spot, just enough to expose his horns.
At this time, the rope on Yumi's body was also pulling him up. He wiped the sweat off his face while straightening his helmet. Under the helmet, two bright eyes flickered and showed a serious look.
After Harvey was pulled out of the cave, his body was intact, but he lost too much blood and fainted. Medical staff rushed forward to treat him.
On the other side, Mei Kai, who was staring at the monitor in the cave, seemed to have completely forgotten who he was most concerned about at the beginning. His soul had already left him with the sound of "one, two, one" again and again. He stood motionless in front of the monitor, looking at the cave where Harvey was no longer there.
He forgot everything and only had eyes for the figure that was smaller than him.
The tiny figure floated up like a flying bird, higher and higher, and its nonexistent wings seemed to be fluttering towards him.
For a moment, Mei Kai remembered the flying birds from the divine world that he saw in picture books in his childhood. The birds pulled him out of the mud, and they flew through the clouds and left this world forever.
The next moment, his fantasy was gone, there was no bird, only Yumi.
Yumi wouldn't pull him, nor would he fly away, and he was so small that it seemed like he couldn't go anywhere.
He is one with this world, yet so different from it.
Soon, Yumi disappeared from the surveillance screen.
Mei Kai's eyes were hot.
The cracks that had been stuck together in the past were now completely shattered to the ground. A wingless bird grew out of the fragments. The bird tiptoed around the fragments, walked forward a few steps, and looked back at him from afar.
Mei Kai turned around trembling.
He looked at the dirty Yumi who was hurriedly carried out of the cave by the man. Then his lips trembled and he could no longer hold back his tears. He squatted down in front of countless people's astonished eyes, crying so hard that he could hardly maintain his human form, but he clearly said three words:
"sorry……"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
