As he gradually retreated from that cramped space, the dull and decayed odor dissipated, replaced by the intoxicating freshness of the outside air.
The sense of oppression slowly faded away.
If this was how he felt, not to ntion the children inside.
"Fang Huai!"
Cao Yi’s shouting could already be heard from outside.
The orderly footsteps and calls were also drawing near to this place.
"One! Two! Three! Four!"
The parents turned their heads back, and their voices of excitent were continuous.
"The People’s Liberation Army! So many soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army!"
"Help has arrived! The crane is here too!"
Hearing this familiar call-out, Fang Huai quickly scrambled to his feet and couldn’t help but stand up straight before bellowing:
"Present!!"
Cao Yi approached quickly, pulled Fang Huai aside, his eyes round with incredulity, and whispered, "You almost scared to death just now!"
Fang Huai frowned and asked, "What’s wrong?"
Cao Yi leaned closer to Fang Huai and whispered sothing urgently.
Fang Huai was also taken aback.
He knew the high-ranking official had visited various places in the earthquake area, but he hadn’t expected him to arrive in Hanwang today.
"Yes... That official...? Has he left yet? Has he?!"
Fang Huai’s heart was shaken, and he wanted to chase after the official to take a look.
Just one glance.
That grandfather, after all, was his idol!
But Cao Yi held him back, saying:
"The official is very busy and has already visited other disaster areas! Tomorrow, he is going to Beichuan, which has been assessed as one of the most severely affected areas!
Before leaving, he gave instructions! The assault team that arrived first has done a great job! Within two hours of their arrival, they had already made progress in rescue, cutting in very quickly!
Just now, all of us in the Firefighting were with our two-way radios on, and everyone heard what you said!
The official even praised you specially, saying that nothing is more important than rescue! Upon hearing that the middle school needed manpower, he imdiately instructed the accompanying Jinan Military Region chanical Camp to dispatch two companies to co and support us!
Where is the rescue needed? The two reinforcing companies are now all under our command!"
Several officers of the People’s Liberation Army also ca over, and a leading lieutenant colonel asked, "Comrade, what do you need us to do? Send in n or machines? We’ve also brought a few life detection devices!"
Hearing this, Fang Huai’s heart montarily returned to him, and he felt sowhat invigorated.
Turning back, he imdiately gestured toward the two piles of rubble and spoke loudly:
"Right now, there are people alive under these two spots! As I stand here, there might be two or more children, and over there, there are also signs of life!
We need your manpower and lifting machinery to quickly clear these two areas!
The comrades using the detection devices, start searching along the western side of the courtyard wall! And that ruin left with only the beams after the quake, I’ve already searched elsewhere once... What kind of life detection devices do you have?"
One of the lieutenant colonels imdiately signaled the soldiers to bring up the detection devices.
"We’ve borrowed these from our local customs! They work by asuring carbon dioxide concentration to detect signs of life!"
Upon hearing this, Fang Huai imdiately bent down to look through things, found the instruction manual for the brought detection device, and read it.
After a while, he stood up and said, "Okay! Your devices complent ours perfectly! They may help find those who have fallen into a coma and are motionless!
I ask your rescue personnel to carefully assess the gaps in the rubble at each site! Each piece of rubble must be searched back and forth!
Coordinate by tapping on bricks and stones, shouting and listening while lying on the ground, and analyze the structure, purpose, material, and collapse condition of the original toppled objects to judge the survival situation of the buried people!
Within 48 hours, there is the greatest chance of survival! Be thorough!
The rest, where there are no large beams, try to remove the rubble by hand as much as possible, being mindful to prevent the rubble from collapsing!"
The lieutenant colonel, having heard Fang Huai’s words, gained so confidence in his professionalism and looked at the surrounding Earthquake Rescue Team, saying:
"Alright! Assessing the structure of collapsed objects is a strong point for our Engineering Squad, we’ll leave that to them! You firefighters are the experts in rescue, and you have fewer people, so you take charge of the coordination. Leave the hands-on work to us!"
The mbers of the Earthquake Rescue Team were a bit embarrassed.
Their clothes were too similar, and the lieutenant colonel of the People’s Liberation Army had mistaken them for soone else.
Cao Yi also felt awkward and pointed at Fang Huai, saying:
"Only he’s from the Firefighting, the others are comrades from the National Earthquake Rescue Team; they are even more professional than us."
Yet Fang Huai shook his head and loudly declared, "In the past, we each had our own titles, but today, no matter which departnt, we’re all the sa here! We’re the Rescue Troops! If the common people call us the People’s Liberation Army, then that’s what we’ll all be!
Let us, as the People’s Liberation Army, work together to give the children every chance of survival!"
The freshly arrived soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army and the personnel from the National Earthquake Rescue Team who had been involved in the rescue here for so ti were all moved by these words.
"Excellent! Well said!" The officers of the People’s Liberation Army exclaid loudly and excitedly.
The lieutenant colonel turned his head and shouted loudly to the neatly arranged soldiers, "Did you hear that? As long as we are part of the rescue troops, we are one and the sa! Entering this battlefield, survival is the command! Everyone must follow the expert direction!"
"Yes!!" More than two hundred soldiers responded with a thunderous roar.
Cao Yi looked at Fang Huai and couldn’t help but nod approvingly; his Squadron soldier managed to unite everyone’s beliefs at that mont, breaking down command barriers between different troops, and with a single sentence, he promoted sincere collaboration—a fortunate turn for both his Squadron and the disaster-stricken people.
The China National Earthquake Disaster Ergency Rescue Team, internationally known as the China International Rescue Team or CISAR, was a formation personally authorized by the high-ranking official who just visited.
It was the first rescue team to be tasked with parachuting into the center of the disaster zone.
With a total of 230 people, the first team to arrive had 180.
They comprised a multidisciplinary team with experts in earthquakes, a unit of the People’s Liberation Army engineers, and dical personnel from the People’s Ard Police General Hospital. This was a team with multi-level leadership, participation from multiple departnts, and people from various professions—so soldiers, so not.
But at this mont, they were all soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army, united by a common task.
To stitch the fractured land back together!
...
Night had fallen.
The yellow glow from the engineering vehicles was the dominant hue amidst the ruins of the school.
The first night of the rescue, much like the last night, was t with tears from the heavens.
The torrential rain poured down on every "People’s Liberation Army" soldier, yet it seed to affect them not at all, not hindering their actions in the slightest.
From a higher vantage point, one could hear the shouts from all directions of the town, the sounds of other rescue sites in operation.
In this small town of less than two square kiloters, more and more troops were arriving, committing fully to the rescue efforts.
This truly personified the saying: I am willing, as is everyone else.
Many locals, anxiously waiting on the outskirts of the rubble with their umbrellas, brought clothes for them, yet not a single one was worn.
There were also CCTV reporters and crews on site, capturing the rescue scenes for the entire nation to witness.
After a search and rescue, two more places with people trapped were identified, dividing the site into four groups for rescue operations.
The first to erge was indeed in the location that Fang Huai had discovered. The person buried beneath was relatively near the surface, likely having been on a higher floor of the teaching building originally.
"Quick, quick, quick! There’s soone!"
"A child! A child!"
Fang Huai lay next to a small opening, just big enough for an arm to fit through, which the second company of the chanical Camp had managed to dig out. He shone his flashlight through and inspected carefully, reporting the situation inside.
Upon hearing him, everyone around hastened their efforts.
Fang Huai saw dust falling inside and hastily raised his hand:
"Slow, slow down, there’s a large beam! Call for the crane to bring over the boom, prepare the ropes! Bring over the lighting too!"
Imdiately, soone called out loud, "Boom! Lighting!"
Fang Huai shone the flashlight in again to confirm the situation.
There was a space inside supported by a horizontal beam, one end of the beam was inside, the other end exposed.
Underneath was sothing resembling a table, yet to collapse.
Under the table, the outlines of two students, a boy and a girl, could be seen curled up, unconscious, not shouting but still, under the light, showing faint signs of breathing.
There were also a pair of adult feet.
Upon seeing this scene, Fang Huai shouted loudly, "At least three people! Two are alive!"
Soon, the boom and ropes were in place, and the area was brightly illuminated.
The people nearby carefully cleared the loose stones off the horizontal beam.
"Over there, try to make a hole! Right through the beam!"
As Fang Huai instructed, he quickly went downhill to fetch the rescue support bars from his equipnt box, propped them open, and extended them between two slabs of stone to maintain the gap.
Although the rescue support bars didn’t have the 50-ton strength of a hydraulic jack, their maximum extension length could reach over 70 centiters, with a maximum bearing load of 10 tons, which was more than enough for the space.
The Second Company of the People’s Liberation Army imdiately took up the task, digging out the debris by hand.
With limited equipnt, they only had ordinary work gloves intended for laborers. For so soldiers, their gloves had already torn after just over an hour on-site.
But a pile of rubble was far from enough to deter their resolve.
The area beneath the opposing beam was quickly cleared to create a hole, with light shining through from the opposite side.
"Rope, rope!"
Fang Huai reached out his hand.
A steel-wire weight-bearing rope was passed to him.
Holding one end of the rope, Fang Huai slowly threaded it through the hole on the opposite side.
Once the people on the other side pulled the rope through, both ends were secured to the hooks on the boom, and the other end was fixed in place.
Only then did Fang Huai adjust the support bar slightly, aiming it more towards the middle, before shouting:
"Pull slowly! Pull very slowly!"
A lieutenant colonel of the People’s Liberation Army exclaid in surprise, "Get out first!"
Fang Huai retorted impatiently, "I can’t move! If the beam breaks and falls inward, what should we do? I have to hold this support bar! If it breaks, this bar will be the support point!
Have people clear the rolling stones from farther away. I’ll keep an eye on what’s happening below. If sothing goes wrong, I will shout to stop!"
Upon hearing this, the lieutenant colonel grew anxious, "If it falls, you don’t care about your hand? Use ropes to pass through on both sides! Hold the support bar, not with your hand!"
Fang Huai looked up and yelled, "Stop wasting ti, what’s more agile than a hand? Ropes can’t guarantee the best position for the support bar if it breaks! Other places need rescue too, I’ll ensure my own safety as much as possible! Start pulling!"
As he spoke, he was already ntally prepared to dive in if a gap appeared.
Just extending one hand in was not enough to secure the support bar; his entire body needed to be used to firmly hold it in place.
The lieutenant colonel looked at the young-faced Fang Huai, whose gaze remained undeterred by danger and focused on the crevice. He couldn’t help but admire him internally.
A good soldier.
The surrounding soldiers looked at Fang Huai with reverence for his composure in the face of danger.
They gritted their teeth and gave the signal.
"Pull!"
The crane started up.
Rubble gradually began to roll down from the top, while the nearby soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army didn’t retreat an inch, ready to rush forward and support it with their bodies should the beam break.
They all belonged to the People’s Liberation Army. If Fang Huai was brave, so were they!
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