Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Rescue efforts are extremely dangerous. Some people found a few candles in the rubble, while others directly used the debris to start a fire. In the face of such a significant crisis, humanity has shown unprecedented unity.
With the fire, the on-site rescue work improved somewhat, but aftershocks were still frequent, occurring almost every few minutes. Everyone was cautiously conducting rescue operations while ensuring their own safety. Zhang Sanye, an elder of the village, had his young grandson unable to sleep due to the heat during the earthquake. The old man, feeling sorry for the child, asked his son to set up a bamboo bed in the courtyard and cover it with a tent, which fortuitously helped them avoid the most dangerous moment of the earthquake. Unfortunately, his wife could not escape. The old man is currently the most authoritative elder in the village and he persevered to direct the rescue efforts.
Li Yan felt heavy-hearted as he could hear many voices calling for help from beneath the rubble, including children and elderly people. He wanted to save them, but unfortunately… for the first time, he realized that having strong abilities was more important than ever in this apocalyptic world.
Zhou Miao and several young men, including Zhang Yi, managed to pry open a gap in a cement slab. With the light from their torches, they saw a woman covered in blood beneath it; it seemed there was a child under her. People nearby immediately moved the woman’s body and found a four-year-old child trapped underneath her. The child appeared stunned and pointed at the ground, crying out, "Mommy, Mommy." When he saw that his mother wasn’t responding, he burst into tears.
The atmosphere was heavy for those present; an ordinary mother had used her extraordinary maternal love to protect her child. Some people began to cry as they watched, and Zhou Miao also felt uncomfortable in his heart; this woman was truly admirable. “Don’t cry! Everyone needs to understand that there are many more people waiting for us under the rubble. You old men should swallow your tears; instead of wasting time crying, you should save more people!”
After hearing Zhou Miao's words, everyone felt a surge of spirit. Yes! Our One Village has at least over ten thousand people; we don’t even know how many have died since the earthquake struck at night.
Everyone wiped their eyes and continued rescuing people with iron rakes, hammers, and shovels…
When the first ray of sunlight broke through the clouds in the morning, everyone in the village felt an indescribable excitement as if they had finally seen clear skies after living in hell. Even though the ground was littered with wounds that shocked them, at least sunlight could offer some hope.
Most of the village had collapsed; even those structures that remained were hardly intact. Li Yan felt increasingly uneasy; during the day, the sun could burn people. With no place to stay while waiting for it to get hot outside, these villagers would likely struggle to endure…
Zhou Laoyezi brought Yu Tian and Li Ming to mix two bags of rice with cornmeal from their home. Being able to drink a warm bowl of something calmed many people's spirits somewhat. The village was filled with cries; Li Jingfeng had already wrapped his injured leg with cloth. The only doctor in the village had died, leaving most of those carried out simply wrapped in torn cloth.
“Li Village Chief, are you okay?” Zhang Yaoming asked with concern on his gentle face while handing Li Jingfeng a bowl of water. “It’s so good to have you here; you mustn’t get hurt! Right now, you are our village's pillar; many things depend on you.”
Upon hearing Zhang Yaoming's words, everyone realized how important leadership was and showed expressions of concern. Li Jingfeng raised his hand: “Let’s not talk about this anymore. Zhang Yaoming and Zhang Zhong should go to town and notify them that our One Village is suffering heavy casualties and needs support. As for everyone else, let’s eat first; only when we regain our strength can we continue rescuing people.
I know everyone is very sad, but you must understand that crying won’t help right now; it’s better to save your energy for rescuing others. My… my daughter is also buried under the rubble; I understand your feelings—everyone must hold on!” Li Jingfeng didn’t know what was happening in town; he just hoped his father-in-law was safe.
Li Jingfeng's speech resonated deeply with many survivors who wiped their tears and began eating in an orderly manner. Some took a moment to check on things outside; upon seeing it all laid waste, they nearly collapsed—everything was completely gone…
Li Yan shared his thoughts with Zhang Sanye, who organized women from the village to search through the rubble for cloth and clothing since sunburns had previously caused fatalities.
"Not good, not good." In less than half an hour, Zhang Zhong came rushing back to this place, rolling and crawling. They had left on the only tractor in the village, but now only Zhang Zhong returned. "Chief Li, it's bad! A large section of the Safe Zone wall has collapsed! Many people have rushed in!"
The wall of the Safe Zone was originally built with a special material, and although it was sturdy without a foundation, it collapsed when the ground shook. The heavy wall crushed many refugees who were living near it. There was an earthquake inside the Safe Zone, and naturally, there was one outside as well, but outside there were plenty of people who weren't afraid of death. Seeing an opportunity, they rushed in like a swarm, grabbing anything they could find, and some even resorted to killing if they couldn't get what they wanted.
The expressions of those present changed. They didn't need to think hard to know what would happen if those people rushed in. Rescue efforts had to be halted; although some were unwilling to give up just like that, there was nothing they could do. One person couldn't save anyone, let alone lift a large stone.
Out of ten thousand people, fewer than four thousand remained uninjured, and many of them were women, the elderly, and children. Li Jingfeng squinted as he looked at Li Yan and Zhou Miao. Li Ming was wiping his brother's face; he didn't mind that his brother's face was covered in dust and dirt.
At this moment, Jiang Yuejiao was too scared to speak. She had no idea what was happening with her father after the wall of the Safe Zone collapsed. The only person she could rely on now was Li Jingfeng, whom she had abandoned before. Jiang Yuejiao stiffened her face and tried to show concern; after all, she had given birth to a pair of children for Li Jingfeng, so she believed he wouldn't harm her.
The men quickly organized a makeshift defense. Li Xiaoming also brought out two kitchen knives from his home, but after inspecting them, Li Yan confiscated them. The house belonging to Li Yan was relatively sturdy; aside from the woodshed in the courtyard that had collapsed, everything else was fine, with only some minor cracks here and there compared to other houses that had completely fallen down.
At this time, Li Yan generously allowed the injured to rest in his house. Although his home wasn't large, it could at least provide shelter from the scorching sun.
Most of the injured were arranged in a few houses that hadn't suffered much damage. At this point, they couldn't worry about aftershocks; being outside would either lead to sunstroke or getting killed by those bandits.
Just as the arrangements were made, those intruders stormed into the village. A group entered without saying a word and began grabbing whatever they could see. The men had organized themselves and weren't afraid of killing anymore; they fought back fiercely with whatever weapons they could find. The women and children had long hidden inside their homes, afraid to come out. Li Yan and Zhou Miao were notorious for being ruthless in the village. They had been known to kill before; now facing enemies directly, their skills honed in training made killing feel as easy as cutting tofu.
Before long, those surrounding them began to fall one after another, staining the ground with blood. People tend to bully the weak and fear the strong; gradually, those refugees dared not approach these two men anymore. If someone got beaten by others, it might just be a minor injury; but getting hit by these two would mean death. The villagers noticed this shift and quickly gathered around them for protection.
Many people rushed into the Safe Zone, but there were five villages here; even if all the refugees from One Village came over, there would only be a little over three hundred of them at most. Zhang Yi, who usually lacked courage, saw someone approaching him with an iron rod and thought of his son, his deceased wife, and his mother. His eyes turned red as he lost all sense of reason and swung his kitchen knife at the person before him. Each slash nearly reached bone as he hacked at them relentlessly. He was soon covered in blood; if not for another villager pulling him back, he might have turned that person into mush. When he finally came back to his senses, he trembled like a leaf in autumn.
"Zhang Yi! Get your act together and keep chopping!" shouted Zhang Jianguo, slapping him on the back. He was scared too; during his first experience running over someone with a vehicle, he hadn't slept for half a month out of fear. Damn it! In these times, you have to survive—humanity can't be afforded.
Zhang Yi jolted awake; yes, this wasn't the time for dawdling. He still had a son! Grateful for Zhang Jianguo, he knew this man was infamous in the village for being petty. Gritting his teeth with veins bulging on his forehead, he continued fighting fiercely with his kitchen knife—if he died today then so be it; at least he'd take one down with him. In an instant, Zhang Yi became coldly determined—yes! If you want to live, you have to fight!
The scene was chaotic as a small group of refugees seized the opportunity to rush into better houses upon hearing voices from inside belonging to women and children. These villagers must have hidden food inside! Zhang Hong and several young men were tasked with protecting those houses; seeing people approach made them grip their shovels tightly out of nervousness.
Yu Tian shielded Li Ming and the old man behind him while Jiang Yuejiao instinctively stepped back behind Zhang Hong. She didn't believe that Yu Tian or Li Ming could make much difference.
Once those intruders broke in, Yu Tian's expression darkened as he gripped the stick that Zhou Miao had given him earlier—he couldn't let anything happen to the other two even if it cost him his life.
Soon, there were cries for help from the neighboring house. Jin Yu stood beside Li Zhi, and as soon as the refugees entered, Li Zhi instinctively shielded Jin Yu. The situation unfolded too quickly for Jin Yu to react. Seeing that she was a beautiful woman, one of the men immediately pinned Jin Yu to the ground and attempted to tear her clothes off.
The others who came in behind him wanted to follow suit. The women here were all born and raised in the countryside, and their dignity was quite important to them. They grabbed brooms and stools to fight back. Zhang Hong struck the refugee on top of Jin Yu with a stick, while Jin Yu, still in shock, pulled up her pants. She dared not look at Li Zhi, fearing she would want to kill him for being such a scoundrel. If she were to die because of such a person, she would not rest in peace even as a ghost.
Although Yu Tian was the slowest among the four in terms of cultivation, he could still handle a few refugees. With the help of Zhang Hong and the others, those few refugees were quickly dealt with. This time, it was Li Xiaoming who particularly caught everyone's attention; the little one held a brick that he usually used to crack walnuts. When he saw the bad guys coming, his agility was impressive. He moved so swiftly that it dazzled onlookers, hitting each of them with a brick—seven out of ten were knocked out cold by him.
Not just knocked out; they were killed outright. The men were astonished; the Li family was truly formidable—four out of five men could fight, and even the slow-witted one was a powerhouse among them!
The refugees had never encountered such fierce resistance on their way here. As they saw more and more people dying, they quickly fled in fear. Several villagers had also been injured or killed, but there was no time to comfort anyone; they first needed to assess losses and arrange patrols. Li Jingfeng was counting heads and compiling statistics while Zhang Yaoming busied himself running around.
Jiang Yuejiao nudged Li Zhi to take care of his father, but Li Zhi turned away and ignored her completely.
Li Yan looked around while holding the little one; he hadn’t gotten a drop of blood on him—very good. Zhou Miao was also quite pleased; his wife had now become an adult capable of defending their home. If it weren’t for others being present, he would have taken a bite out of her.
By the time Liu Tao arrived with his group, the battlefield had mostly been cleaned up. The bodies piled up could form a small mountain; Liu Tao was astonished—the combat power of One Village was indeed the strongest among all villages.
However, Liu Tao brought bad news: this earthquake affected a wide area, and the entire Safe Zone had been impacted. As for conditions outside, no one knew anything.
Several sections of the wall had collapsed, making it impossible to repair everything immediately. Not to mention that buildings in town were not as sturdy as those in the countryside; casualties were much worse than in the village.
Many excavators and other machinery had also been damaged, and there was a shortage of diesel fuel as well. The good news was that an announcement had been made from above to immediately establish a new Safe Zone; however, this time it would be much smaller than before, with stricter entry requirements.
There was even worse news: the District Chief died in the earthquake, and Jiang Yuejiao's father took over his position.
Comment 0 Comment Count