Chapter 856 Using Drones to Find People Lu Qingyang led seven or eight able-bodied villagers, walking and looking along the hillsides and field ridges ravaged by the flood.
The scene was heartbreaking. The once lush green rice paddies were now flattened in the mud, the corn stalks were scattered everywhere, and several vegetable plots were completely covered by sand and gravel.
"Comrade Lu, this...this is all over." A guy named Dashan said dejectedly.
"Don't worry, look over there." Lu Qingyang pointed to a group of plum trees that had fallen but were still connected by roots on the hillside. "The trees aren't dead. The fruit can grow back after it falls off. Under the sand and gravel that washed down there, there might be sweet potato vines that haven't rotted yet."
As he spoke, he walked over and seemingly casually rummaged through several piles of sand and gravel, and sure enough, he pulled out a few stubbornly surviving sweet potato vines from one of them.
"Look, it's alive! If we clean it out, we might be able to harvest some sweet potatoes in the fall."
Even more coincidentally, they found a black goat in a side ditch, which had been swept there by the flood and was stuck between the rocks.
The crowd worked together to rescue Do.
Now everyone doesn't care whose food it is, as long as it's edible.
The atmosphere at the ancestral hall was equally busy.
Shen Mo gave Old Wang a follow-up examination and confirmed that he did not have any more serious infection symptoms, which made her breathe a sigh of relief.
She organized the women to boil several large pots of hot water and use the limited amount of soap and lye blocks found in the ruins to wash everything that could be washed.
She also mobilized the children to draw squares in relatively dry areas of the village with lime water, requiring everyone to go to designated places far from water sources and to dig pits to cover the graves.
"As Dr. Chen said, if you don't mess around with your bowel movements, you'll have half the disease!"
The children ran around like messengers, chanting their own rhymes, making the serious health regulations seem somewhat comical, but also easier to accept.
Shen Mo made a special trip to visit the young woman who had lost her child; everyone called her Qiaoyun.
Qiaoyun remained silent, but she started drinking porridge, and her eyes were no longer completely empty.
Shen Mo didn't say much, but handed her a handful of dried mugwort and taught her how to twist it into a rope.
"Light it by the shed at night to repel mosquitoes." Qiaoyun took the mugwort, her fingers unconsciously twirling it.
Li Jianguo led a group of people.
Widening the road means moving a large amount of earth, rocks, and fallen trees.
Soldiers and villagers took turns fighting, and the sounds of bugles and clashing metal filled the air.
Li Jianguo charged ahead, his palms blistered, but he wrapped them with a strip of cloth and kept working.
During a break, a boy quietly approached him, stuffed half a charred potato into his hand, and ran away quickly.
Li Jianguo was taken aback. Looking at the hot potatoes in his hand and then at the group of villagers in the distance who, though tired, had bright eyes, he felt a surge of warmth in his heart. Without saying a word, he ate the potatoes in a few bites and felt even more energetic.
As the sun set, the three groups of people converged.
On Li Jianguo's side, the road into the village has been widened by a full meter. Although it is still full of potholes, cars can now barely pass through.
Lu Qingyang brought back some food, so everyone won't go hungry for the time being.
Dinner was still a thin porridge, but with more chopped wild vegetables, and the aroma seemed stronger.
The villagers sat together, and although their lives were still difficult, they began to talk and even laughed occasionally.
However, just as everyone was feeling a little relieved, the village secretary approached Lu Qingyang and the others with a worried expression: "Comrade Lu, Captain Li, Doctor Shen... there's something wrong. There are a few families behind the village, near Eagle's Beak Cliff, who were scattered during the flood and haven't been seen since. They're nowhere to be found, neither alive nor dead. Everyone in the village is worried about them, especially their relatives, who are almost at their breaking point."
As night deepened, the shadows in the direction of Eagle's Beak Cliff appeared particularly heavy. The village head's words weighed heavily on everyone's hearts. Searching that complex and steep cliff area at night by manpower alone would not only be inefficient but also extremely dangerous.
Lu Qingyang pondered for a moment, then said to Li Jianguo and the village clerk, "There's a method we can try to scout out the situation first." Amidst the puzzled gazes of the crowd, he opened the magical green sail again, and what he pulled out this time stunned everyone.
There was a square, silver-gray metal box. When opened, it revealed a strange, sleek machine with rotors and a cleverly designed controller with a screen. In a remote mountain village in the mid-1980s, this thing looked like it had stepped right out of a science fiction movie.
"What...what is this?" A villager stared wide-eyed and instinctively took a half step back.
"The drone can fly up and help us take a look," Lu Qingyang explained simply, his hands moving non-stop as he skillfully extended the drone's arms, installed the battery, and checked the signal.
The indicator lights on the machine glowed softly, emitting a slight hum.
Li Jianguo squatted to the side, his eyes wide with surprise and curiosity: "Wow, Lao Lu, this... plane? It can obey your commands?"
"Give it a try." Lu Qingyang didn't say much, and smoothly controlled the drone to take off.
The plane climbed silently, quickly becoming a faint red and green dot in the night sky, flying towards the dark Eagle's Beak Cliff.
The villagers all craned their necks, mouths agape, some even muttering eulogies of divine intervention.
Shen Mo stood aside. Although she knew her husband had some secrets, she was filled with emotion as she witnessed this timeless creation being used in disaster relief.
Lu Qingyang stared intently at the controller screen.
The screen displayed live footage transmitted from a drone camera: under the moonlight, a mountainside shattered by floodwaters, fallen trees, and shimmering pools of water...
The screen slowly moved and zoomed in as he controlled it.
Everyone held their breath and gathered around. Although most people couldn't understand the swaying images on the screen, the focused atmosphere was infectious.
"A little to the left... Yes, there seems to be something behind that rock." Li Jianguo pointed out, relying on his soldier's intuition.
The drone deftly maneuvered around a protruding rock, its camera zooming in. In the footage, several large rocks suddenly formed a narrow, sheltered area, and within it, there appeared to be blurry figures moving!
"Someone's there! There really is someone!" a sharp-eyed villager exclaimed.
Lu Qingyang steadied the image and carefully examined it.
"One, two, three... There seem to be five, three adults and two children. Judging from their movements, they should still be alive, but they may be trapped or injured and unable to move."
Seeds of hope instantly ignited among the crowd.
The village secretary's voice trembled with excitement: "D...D...Erzhuang and his family, and his aunt next door!"
With the location locked, the next steps became clear.
Li Jianguo immediately stood up: "Old Lu, can you mark the location? I'll take some men up there!"
Based on the terrain and coordinates displayed on the screen, Lu Qingyang quickly drew a detailed route and the location of the stone pit on the old map brought by the village secretary, and pointed out several dangerous areas where landslides might occur.
"Team Leader Li, this path is the shortest but steepest. Be especially careful here and here. It's best to bring a rope," Lu Qingyang instructed.
Li Jianguo gave Lu Qingyang a deep look, patted him heavily on the shoulder, said nothing, turned around and quickly gathered a group of strong and brave soldiers and villagers, put on their equipment, and shot into the night-shrouded mountains like arrows.
The waiting time was incredibly long.
Lu Qingyang controlled the drone to hover near the cliff, acting as the "eyes" in the sky, ready to provide the ground rescue team with a clear viewpoint at any time.
Shen Mo prepared first-aid supplies and, together with several women, boiled more hot water.
About two hours later, voices and flashlight beams finally came from the mountain path.
Li Jianguo and the others are back.
In the middle of the group, supporting each other as they walked, were the five people who had gone missing.
Erzhuang's father had a tree branch temporarily tied to his leg, clearly injured, and was being half-carried by a soldier. Ershen was pale but could still walk. Although the two children were still terrified, they immediately cried and rushed over when they saw the familiar village and their relatives.
The relatives of the missing loved ones rushed up to hug them, wailing and crying, overjoyed at their reunion.
Others gathered around, some offering water, others draping clothes over them.
"Thanks to Captain Li, thanks to... thanks to Comrade Lu's plane, we were trapped in that crevice between the rocks, unable to go up or down, almost in despair... We saw a little red light spinning above, and thought it was a star..."
Li Jianguo wiped the sweat and mud off his face, walked up to Lu Qingyang, and stared at the drone that Lu Qingyang had just retrieved in his hand with shining eyes: "Old Lu, where did you get this treasure? I don't think we've ever seen anything this clever in our unit."
Lu Qingyang put the drone back into the box and said casually, "The military has already started manufacturing it, and I believe it will be put into use soon, which will make your missions a little easier."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
