Chapter 66 ☆ An Accident (Part 2)

“No, you can’t leave!” Cheng Yaoyao shouted at the leader of Bashang Village. “Those are human lives! Why are you condemning them to death like this?”

The leader of Bashang Village responded sternly, “Did you not see the landslide just now? People have been buried all afternoon. How can they survive?! If we delay any longer, more lives will be lost! Is it worth sacrificing so many lives for just two people?”

“Xie Zhao is not dead yet! He won’t die!” Cheng Yaoyao insisted fiercely, her stubbornness unwavering. “I know he’s still alive. He has to be fine!”

Lin Jiaqi grabbed Cheng Yaoyao’s arm, pulling it back firmly. “Stop talking.”

At that moment, the thunder ceased. In the brief silence, Li Cheng’s choked voice rang out clearly: “What if they’re still alive? If you leave now, what if they are still alive…”

The woman’s cries grew louder and more desperate.

A villager hesitated, speaking up, “Captain, she has a point…”

The leader of Bashang Village wiped his face and said, “Are you going to listen to me or her? Everyone from Bashang Village, go back!”

Thunder roared once more, lightning split the sky, and heavy rain poured down, washing away the ditches and creating new torrents.

Lin Dafu also shouted, “The rain is getting heavier. People from Tianshui Village, go back immediately!”

The villagers, no longer hesitating, began to leave in small groups, carrying their tools and retreating from the dangerous hillside.

Lin Jiaqi directed the villagers to leave. When he turned around, he suddenly noticed that Cheng Yaoyao was missing. He grabbed Lin Jiajun, demanding, “Where is Cheng Yaoyao?”

“She was here just now…” Lin Jiajun said, bewildered.

The hillside was rapidly becoming more treacherous. Muddy water rushed down, hitting Cheng Yaoyao’s face. Ignoring the discomfort, she continued to dig through the mud with her hands. She crossed a tilted tree trunk and pressed on.

Spiritual spring water flowed continuously from her fingers, and her Yang Qi was rapidly depleting. Cheng Yaoyao dug deep into the soil, feeling for any signs.

As the last of the villagers left, a small figure remained climbing up the steep hillside. Cheng Yaoyao’s face, covered in mud, showed a flicker of excitement.

Suddenly, Lin Jiaqi pulled Cheng Yaoyao up from behind, yelling, “Are you crazy?!”

Cheng Yaoyao looked up, her face smeared with mud and rain, but her eyes still shone with intense determination.

Lin Jiaqi, though furious, was taken aback when Cheng Yaoyao asked, “If you were Xie Zhao, where would you hide?”

“What did you say?” Lin Jiaqi asked, puzzled.

Cheng Yaoyao, climbing up with fervor, asked again, “If you were Xie Zhao, where would you hide when the landslide happened?”

Lin Jiaqi, drawing on his experience from rescue operations in the army, considered the terrain carefully. “There are shelters on both sides of the hillside… But we’ve already dug there and found no one.”

Cheng Yaoyao pressed, “Where are the places with shelters?”

After some thought, Lin Jiaqi said, “There are three possible places, but I can’t be sure which one.”

Cheng Yaoyao asked urgently, “What if I can be sure?”

Lin Jiaqi, wiping the rain off his face, asked, “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Cheng Yaoyao said, pointing at the pile of dirt behind them with a mix of tears and laughter, “they are right here. I can feel that Xie Zhao is right under this spot!”

Lin Jiaqi looked at her in silence.

Cheng Yaoyao, her face even more disheveled, tried to explain, “I’m not crazy. I’m serious! Xie Zhao is not dead. I can feel that he is right down here…”

Lin Jiajun, climbing up, shouted, “What are you doing? Get out of here!”

Cheng Yaoyao grabbed the shovel from Lin Jiajun and began digging the mud. Her movements were awkward, and the mud splashed around with each shovel.

Lin Jiajun stared at her, shocked, then glanced at his brother. “What… is she doing?”

Lin Jiaqi looked up at the storm. The weather was worsening, and Lin Jiajun, growing anxious, tried to pull Cheng Yaoyao away. “Let’s go!”

“Let me go!” Cheng Yaoyao struggled, shouting, “Xie Zhao is right down there, he’s not dead!”

The steep slope made it dangerous, and Lin Jiajun hesitated to force her. He shouted to his brother, “Brother, stop hesitating and help me pull her down!”

Cheng Yaoyao clung to a fallen tree and threatened, “If you want to leave, just go! If you force me, I’ll jump down!”

The three were locked in a standoff, their struggle illuminated by the flashing lightning.

Suddenly, they started digging from the top of the hillside, not the sides. Lin Jiaqi and Lin Jiajun dug desperately, with Cheng Yaoyao directing them.

The heavy rain poured on them, and the work was exhausting. Cheng Yaoyao’s directions were erratic but persistent. Lin Jiaqi followed her commands, digging quietly, while Lin Jiajun panted and muttered, “I’m going crazy, really.”

Eventually, the shovel hit something hard. After a few more strokes, the yellow mud was cleared away, revealing dark brown bark.

Their eyes widened with hope. Lin Jiajun shouted, “It’s that big banyan tree!”

This ancient banyan tree, massive with a trunk as wide as two people could hug, was identified. Cheng Yaoyao, kneeling, touched the trunk, her small lotus leaf swaying with joy.

Cheng Yaoyao shouted, “Right here, right here!”

“Get out of the way!” Lin Jiaqi pushed Cheng Yaoyao aside and began digging around the tree trunk with Lin Jiajun.

Suddenly, Lin Daguan also climbed up and started helping without saying a word. After a while, several villagers, both familiar and unfamiliar, joined them. Their children had been rescued by Xie Zhao, who had been wandering below and hadn’t left. Seeing this, they also began digging.

The leader of Bashang Village shouted at the people below, “Get down here! Are you trying to get yourselves killed? Get down here!”

The mud and water on the hillside were sliding down, with the risk of collapse at any moment. But everyone kept digging desperately, not retreating. The team leader also climbed up, cursing as he went.

At that moment, someone shouted, “I hear something!”

Everyone fell silent, straining to listen. The only sound was the rumbling of rain—no other noise could be heard.

Cheng Yaoyao placed her hands on the tree trunk and shouted into the gap, “Xie Zhao! Xie Zhao, is that you?!”

Her tone carried a hint of tears as she tried hard to hold back, shouting again, “Xie Zhao!”

She continued shouting until her voice was hoarse, but the sound of rain and thunder resumed, completely drowning out her voice. Just when Cheng Yaoyao was in despair, she suddenly felt the tree trunk shake a few times.

Cheng Yaoyao pressed her palm against the trunk, and soon there were several rhythmic vibrations—someone was knocking on the tree.

“Here! Here!” Cheng Yaoyao was overjoyed and pointed at the section of the tree trunk.

Everyone quickly focused on that spot, digging up the soil. When they all worked together to move a stone pressing against the tree, a gap of about ten centimeters appeared.

Rain poured down, and everyone held their breath, staring at the gap.

Those few short seconds felt like an eternity.

Cheng Yaoyao half-knelt, reached her hand to the edge of the gap, and murmured, “Xie Zhao…”

She swore in her heart: If Xie Zhao was safe this time, she would never get angry with him again!

A large blood-stained hand reached out and grasped her fingertips firmly.