The military vehicle responsible for Village 7 pulled up, and dozens of new recruits and instructors rushed to the village, which had been reduced to ruins. Some were responsible for searching for the victims, some for digging and rescue, and some for setting up a temporary treatment station nearby...
Everything proceeded in an orderly manner amidst a tense and heavy atmosphere.
Soon, someone carried the man who had knelt on the ruins to the treatment station while patiently inquiring about his condition. Another group of people quickly dug through the thick soil to search for his wife and parents.
The man stared blankly at the scene, tears streaming down his face. This tough, upright man in his thirties cried like a child for the first time.
"Please...please save them..."
"Please rest assured," Zheng Zhong said earnestly, his back to him. "This is our duty."
The other covered wagons simply passed by the village gate without stopping, speeding off towards other villages.
At the foot of Jinan Mountain, there are seven more tragedies like the one in Village No. 7, and time does not allow them to linger for even a moment!
Sitting at the back of the covered wagon, Lin Qiye silently watched the figure of the man wailing. As the vehicle drove away, his crying grew fainter and fainter, and the outline of the ruins gradually disappeared in the rain.
Although he could no longer see it, the image of the man crying was etched into Lin Qiye's heart, lingering there for a long time... His heart felt as if it were choked, an indescribable pain.
Inside the car, there was a deathly silence.
"We're almost at Village 5. After Rescue Team 5 gets off the vehicle, we'll leave the main force and head straight into the mountains," Instructor Hong said, gazing at the village that was faintly visible in the distance.
As the vehicle drew closer to Village 5, it became much quieter than Village 7, which they had just passed.
There were no wailing men, and as far as the eye could see, there were no survivors. The thick mud and rocks seemed to have buried all life, leaving only ruins to tell a tragic story...
Inside the vehicle, Lin Qiye could clearly feel the other recruits clenching their fists tighter and tighter, their gazes fixed on the silent ruins, as if they could breathe fire.
Before the truck had even come to a complete stop, someone suddenly stood up from their seat, leaped out of the moving van, and rushed towards the ruins in the rain.
"The soldiers of Great Xia are here!! Death, retreat!! Those who survive will live!!"
His voice echoed across the ruins in the rain, unsure to whom he was speaking, but he always felt that someone would hear him…
Hearing it is like seeing hope.
They are the hope for these people!
After one person jumped out, more people couldn't sit still. Clenching their fists, they jumped off the vehicle, mustered all their strength, and ran towards the ruins, shouting:
"The soldiers of Great Xia are here! Death, retreat! Those who survive will live!!"
"The soldiers of Great Xia are here! Death, retreat!! Those who survive will live!!!"
"The soldiers of Great Xia are here..."
One sound after another echoed through the ruins. The vehicles did not stop, but all those who were supposed to be going to help the village had already jumped out of the vehicles.
The instructor driving the car seemed to be infected by the atmosphere. Seeing that everyone who was supposed to get off had gotten off in the carport, leaving only ten people, he stepped on the gas pedal to the floor, and the roaring engine sounded again. The vehicle began to speed towards the depths of Jinan Mountain!
...
At the foot of Jinnan Mountain.
Temporary rescue headquarters.
Inside the makeshift military tent, two instructors had finished connecting the satellite tracking equipment and were busy setting up the electronic communication network. Yuan Gang stood at the tent entrance with his hands behind his back, frowning as he looked at Jinan Mountain, which was submerged in the heavy rain, and remained silent.
"Sir, all the rescue teams' communication equipment is connected," an instructor said after carefully adjusting the equipment.
Due to heavy rain and mudslides, most of the nearby signal towers were damaged, making it necessary to establish a satellite communication network to contact rescue teams in the mountains.
"All rescue teams, report the situation," Yuan Gang said in a deep voice.
"Rescue Team No. 8 has arrived at the target village and has begun rescue operations."
"Rescue Team No. 7 has arrived at the target village and has begun rescue operations."
"Number 6..."
"..."
"Rescue Team 1 has not yet reached the target village."
Instructor Hong's voice finally came through the communication device. Apart from the three rescue teams No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 that went deep into the Jinan Mountains, the other teams had basically started their rescue operations.
Yuan Gang looked down at the map on the table. According to his calculations, rescue teams No. 2 and No. 3 could reach the target village within 5 hours, while rescue team No. 1 would need at least 10 hours, even if everything went smoothly.
He walked to the tent entrance, looked up at the dark clouds in the sky. Judging from the current situation, the rain wouldn't stop anytime soon. If the rainfall continued for a long time, the possibility of another mudslide could not be ruled out.
As Yuan Gang pondered, he seemed unaware that the voices of the two instructors adjusting the equipment inside the tent were growing softer, the patter of raindrops hitting the tent roof was fading away, and the trails of the falling rain were becoming increasingly blurred... as if everything around him was slowly drifting away.
When he came to his senses, the surrounding sounds had completely disappeared, the falling raindrops were frozen in mid-air as if a pause button had been pressed, and the two instructors who were originally in the tent had disappeared without him noticing.
In the empty world, he was all alone.
Or rather, he didn't know when it started, but this place was no longer the world he knew.
Yuan Gang frowned deeply, but the eeriness around him did not make him panic. He seemed to have sensed something, and his gaze fell outside the tent.
On the other side of the horizon, a figure is slowly walking through the suspended rain, heading this way.
He was a man dressed in a black tailcoat, with long hair casually draped down his back. He wore a purple iris brooch on his chest, and a faint smile graced his alluring face. He looked like a noble gentleman attending a high-class ball, dignified and courteous.
Upon seeing this man, Yuan Gang's face instantly darkened.
"[Dreamer]".
The man raised his eyebrows in surprise, his voice gentle and refined, "I didn't expect that you, the deputy captain of the Beijing squad, would actually recognize me."
"You're just too recognizable," Yuan Gang said calmly. "The real nightmare, the mind manipulator, one of the three oldest 'gods' in the Ancient God Church, and also the creator of the believer contract…"
"Of course, the most crucial thing is your nauseating aristocratic manners."
Yiyu smiled, his narrow phoenix eyes slightly narrowed. "How rude of me... Chief Yuan."