The interview concluded, and Reporter Huang asked Fang Huai about his Detachnt and Squadron, insisting on keeping Fang Huai’s phone number. She ntioned that her interview in Hanwang had finished and she was heading to Beichuan, hoping to do a special feature on these heroes in the future.
Fang Huai didn’t refuse.
With the microphone before him, he had the ability to speak out for more people.
After watching the reporter leave, without delay, he switched his two-way radio and fed Little White, who was resting in his backpack, so rice and at.
In fact, even military dogs need to eat, and although there was food in Hanwang, so supplies were in particularly short supply.
Shelters, warm materials, dical supplies—these items were consud in massive quantities every day.
They hadn’t even fully resolved the issue of baby formula, let alone make special trips to deliver dog food.
After Little White finished eating, Fang Huai got back on the road and returned to the school.
Along the way, he encountered several comrades who had finished their als and had restarted their rescue efforts on the streets.
They were scattered.
The search and rescue area was fixed to certain zones, but whenever locals suggested there might be soone trapped sowhere, they had to check it out.
On the way, Fang Huai saw Squad Leader Hao who was on a pile of rubble by the street, using a detector to probe beneath.
He saw Liu Jianfeng, perched on a tree like a monkey, watching and reporting the situation on the third floor of a nearby building.
Everyone was absorbed in the rescue and didn’t notice him passing by. Fang Huai didn’t greet them; instead, he stopped for a mont at the side of the street to watch Huang Yong, who had been lifted by an excavator’s bucket and was carefully observing the interior of a building from a high vantage. It made him rember that he was the squad leader of the Special Duty Squad of the Second Squadron.
Watching Huang Yong gripping the excavator’s bucket and shouting into the building, without jumping directly onto the perilous building’s window ledge, Fang Huai suddenly realized this rough man was actually quite careful. He laughed to himself, felt relieved, and continued quickly on his way.
...
Pm, 8:00.
Good news: Another child was rescued.
Bad news: Another amputation.
A girl, unconscious, had lost a leg.
But this had given hope to a man who had been crying in despair at the thought that his wife and parents were dead and his daughter too, after waiting a long ti at the middle school and nearly suicidal. He found a reason to keep living.
And Fang Huai was invigorated even more.
Because after the excavator had removed a layer of debris, the life detector started showing signs of life again, so he carried the two types of detectors and began searching the wreckage anew.
Of course, Little White wasn’t put to work. Fang Huai had let it rest properly in the tent for a while.
In the earthquake, many search and rescue dogs were worked to death on the spot.
Fang Huai didn’t bring Little White here to die, so except for search and rescue, the dog stayed in Fang Huai’s backpack, carried by him.
Battalion Commander Liang, seeing that the search and rescue were hopeful again, stopped urging Fang Huai to rest. A real man dies for his country on the battlefield; who needs to have his corpse wrapped in horsehide to return ho? If they could save just two more people, even if it cost them their lives, it would bring glory to their families. After the earthquake, he planned to apply to personally carry Fang Huai’s ashes to his family with full military honors.
However, that was just Battalion Commander Liang’s wishful thinking.
In this place, if soone was worked to death, Fang Huai wouldn’t be.
"Here, the carbon dioxide concentration is off; bring two comrades over to help dig!"
Fang Huai called out energetically.
Actually, it was only a slight signal, very likely from himself, but he still wanted to try.
Imdiately, two People’s Liberation Army comrades arrived.
After more than a day of non-stop effort, they no longer called each other ’comrade’; now they were all ’comrades-in-arms’.
And these two were sowhat exhilarated.
Because they had received so new equipnt—a batch of new shovels.
There were only 80 shovels in this batch; the shovels and pickaxes they had brought before were almost all broken from digging.
Those who got shovels were now among the first tier of the elite search and rescue team.
The rest could still use their hands, or shovels and pickaxes without handles to dig, but they couldn’t enter the inner circle of the rescue effort.
"Dig deeper!"
"Even deeper!"
"Alright, alright! I’ll give it a try!"
Fang Huai instructed the two to pause, and he placed the probe down.
The mont he saw the reading on the display, joy almost overca him.
The carbon dioxide levels really had risen!
"Step aside, let check again!" Fang Huai said excitedly.
"Is it really there?"
The two comrades quickly moved aside.
Fang Huai switched between the two types of detectors, testing them in turns.
For a long mont, he suddenly stood up.
"Dig! Dig quickly!"
The two comrades imdiately raised their hands, calling out loudly, "There’s soone here! Co quick!"
...
Pm, 9:12.
"Second Squadron, everyone, assemble at the Plaza Bell Tower!"
The two-way radio of Fang Huai’s squadron, which rarely activated, ca alive.
Fang Huai, who was focusing on a new gap in a collapsed underground classroom, frowned and picked up the two-way radio, saying, "Instructor Cao, I’ve just spotted a trapped student erging here; can I co later?"
"Fang Huai? You must co! Leave the rescue to other comrades! There’s a new task!"
The surrounding people all looked up at him.
A new task...
This young man, who kept creating miracles of survival, was leaving.
A rescue area is like a piece of the sky.
Everyone was busy within their small patch of the sky, and even if they were all in Hanwang Town, they might not see each other.
Fang Huai actually felt so reluctance; just monts ago, he had been planning. He would let a few of the stronger ones sleep tonight, and once the excavator cleared a layer of the ruins at site four, he would lead them in search and rescue.
"Go ahead." A hand patted him on the back from behind.
Battalion Commander Liang gave him a smile, took out a small notebook from his pocket, wrote down a telephone number, and handed it to him, "When you have ti to visit Binzhou, give a call. You’re welco to visit our base, and if you want to shoot, I’ll arrange it for you."
During the day and more, while everyone was rescuing, they had talked. Fang Huai ntioned he wanted to try shooting with the People’s Liberation Army’s weapons.
Fang Huai took it, nodded with so emotion, "Thank you, Battalion Commander. I’ll call you when I get back."
With that, he stood straight, saluted his comrades around him.
Everyone straightened up and responded with a salute.
Fang Huai turned around, picked up Little White who was still sniffing the ground, and ran out of that small patch of the sky.
The people behind him watched him leave and plunged into their work once more.
...
By the ti Fang Huai arrived, there were already forty or fifty people beside the Plaza Bell Tower, busily packing things up.
Even after so long being busy, the clock on the bell tower was still frozen at 2:28 from the day before yesterday.
"Fang Huai! Command has summoned you!" Cao Yi pointed to the huge command tent and shouted to him.
At the sound of it, Fang Huai imdiately jogged to the entrance of the tent.
Just as he was about to report, Zhang Zhongting hurried out from inside, stopping him and pulling him outside.
Under the glare of the surrounding floodlights, Fang Huai could feel that beneath his uncle’s calm expression, there was a hint of... excitent.
They reached the edge of the plaza where it was deserted, and Zhang Zhongting suddenly turned his head and eyed him, asking, "Tell , have you really been to Beichuan?"
The question was a trap.
Fang Huai cleared his throat, "What’s wrong, Uncle? I haven’t been to Beichuan, but I’ve been to Hanwang with classmates."
"What about Tangjia Mountain you ntioned? How do you know about that place?"
Upon hearing this, Fang Huai was too lazy to continue with the lies and countered, "Has reconnaissance sent back information?"
Zhang Zhongting’s face showed his inner conflict:
"This afternoon, Commander Qin called the troops over there. By chance, there was a reconnaissance team nearby with satellite communications. They checked it out, and the situation on the ground is dramatic... It’s too similar to what you described, and they’re now storing water.
But at present, there is no way to deal with it. There’s nowhere nearby for helicopters to land, the weather is terrible, and flying is extrely dangerous. Moreover, all our resources have to prioritize rescue in the disaster area.
Experts inside are discussing this issue. Just now, they proposed seeking your opinion. This is a serious matter, and you mustn’t try to stand out.
You have done great to have discovered this, and leadership will comnd you. Answer a couple of questions, and then co out to join the assault team in mountain rescue. The specific task will be briefed to you in a bit."
After listening, Fang Huai pondered for a while but then shook his head:
"The longer we delay, the more water, the greater the pressure, and the more unsafe factors will increase, possibly leading to new dangerous conditions. The discomforts and psychological endurance of the people will also get worse.
The common folk downstream in Mianyang cannot possibly live at ease, and Tangjia Mountain also has residents.
The best ti to act is now. We must not fear sacrifice. If I don’t speak out, I can’t live with my conscience."
Zhang Zhongting listened silently.
Actually, ever since Fang Huai "interfered", he too had started to pay attention to this issue. The feedback from the situation just now was indeed as Fang Huai had described, which left him even more alard.
But for now, the idea of blowing up the dam was out of the question; they couldn’t even get food supplies in.
The dam might not have any issues, but charging in now would definitely result in an aviation accident.
To deal with it was to risk lives.
Politics requires extre caution. Matters that shouldn’t be raised, shouldn’t be spoken of.
"You don’t understand the situation. Don’t talk nonsense."
Yet Fang Huai understood clearly. If left unattended, just like in his previous life, the opportunity would be missed, and three hundred million cubic ters of floodwater would accumulate into a massive shadow.
Thus, he insisted, "I’m going in now to understand the situation."
Having said that, Fang Huai turned and approached the command tent’s entrance, stating loudly:
"Reporting!"
The dozen or so people inside saw Fang Huai again with a different expression from that afternoon.
The smiles had increased by at least threefold.
Because according to the news coming back from Beichuan, this young man’s "guess" was shockingly accurate.
"Co in!" said one of the military leaders, showing a smile for the first ti.
General Luo also smiled, "Little Fang, you’ve made a significant contribution. It’s beyond expectation, but you guessed it correctly. This intelligence will save a lot of ti in dealing with the situation! Leadership has summoned you to comnd you!"
"Thank you, leaders!" Fang Huai stood at attention.
Zhang Zhongting entered the tent at that mont, patting him on the back again as a reminder.
"Be modest when comnded by the leaders."
Fang Huai didn’t respond.
"Comrade Xiao Fang, your thinking is very accurate! Now we’re all discussing the treatnt plan for the dam body. Do you have any other insights? We’d like to hear them, to expand our thinking," said a middle-aged man in a suit sitting at the head of the table.
The question had still co.
Zhang Zhongting coughed lightly again, indicating he shouldn’t speak out.
Fang Huai was more careful this ti and asked, "Has the storage volu been assessed?"
"It has been asured," the senior officer replied:
"803 ters long, 611 ters wide, with the water level currently at about 40 ters high, wider at the bottom. The storage volu is estimated to be around 20 million cubic ters. The absolute elevation downstream is much higher than you might expect, between 740 to 750 ters, putting the total storage at over 300 million cubic ters.
However, for the ti being, it is anticipated that the maximum water level won’t surpass 120 ters. Compared to the vastness of the dam body, it’s still relatively safe for now. Once the weather improves and the roads are cleared, we can consider blasting or excavation to create a spillway."
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