Leader Huang above turned dark, "Commander Fang, this... Command didn’t issue orders to do this!"
Fang Huai retorted, "What did you call ?"
"Fang... Commander."
Only then did Fang Huai laugh and give the basket’s rope a tug, saying,
"That’s settled then! I’m giving the orders now, co on, pass the stones!"
...
Over half an hour later, when experts ca to check the situation, they found sothing wrong, and Commander Chang still received the news and ca.
"Fang Huai! What are you doing down there? Seepage! Can’t you see? Blindly doing things! Hurry up and co up!"
Fang Huai looked up, glanced at the ruler on the wall, but moved even faster.
"Commander Chang! It’s only about three ters left! Give five more hours! I guarantee we’ll reach the tunnel entrance!"
"No! Hurry up and co up!" Commander Chang firmly refused.
An expert beside him also said, "Commander Fang, you co up first! The tunnel can be dug later! Once you co up, we’ll use a hardener to cover the wall, and then it’ll be much safer to go down and work!"
Only then did Fang Huai stop, looked up, and frowned, "There’s such a thod? Why didn’t you say so earlier?"
The expert sighed, "It’s expensive... who needs such a large area? Plus, it’s toxic! It needs to be fully ventilated before we can go down and work!"
Fang Huai and He Zhijun exchanged glances.
Toxicity wasn’t an unsolvable problem: oxygen tanks and gas masks would do.
"How long will the hardening take?"
"Including application, at most... seven or eight hours!"
The expert had actually shortened the ti, but Fang Huai imdiately bent down and resud working, digging and saying,
"Seven or eight hours, I’ll have reached it! Commander Chang! The people below have been trapped for nearly 100 hours now! I don’t have ti to wait!"
Seeing him impervious to advice, Commander Chang cursed, "What are you panicking for? Don’t the people below have a water source? They won’t die of thirst! Can people starve to death in four or five days?"
Fang Huai looked up, seriously said,
"What if it collapses and they can’t get through? How long can they live without water? And what kind of water is flowing out of the mine?
The heavy tals are seriously over the limit! There could also be a large number of pathogens! Drinking too much could be lethal! Once infected, without treatnt, they would suffer and die in there!
lives, Comrade Chang Jianmin, can you bear this responsibility?!"
Fang Huai’s shout caused quite a silence above.
The soldiers from the Second Squadron who had co down, and even He Zhijun beside him, felt their hearts pounding.
Anxiety.
"Just say it, why bring up his na? Oh, Wheat ear!"
Yet, when it ca to critical matters, Fang Huai always had a dogged face and recognized no relations; the Second Squadron was used to it.
Commander Chang above was also shaken by these words.
After a long mont, he gritted his teeth, "Call all the experts in! Find a way! Strengthen this tunnel!! Fang Huai! I’m only giving you five hours! If it takes longer, even if I have to be arrested, I will have you dragged out!"
...
Ti passed by, second by second, imnsely precious.
Commander Chang had given five hours, but the condition of the tunnel entrance didn’t afford them that much ti.
Moist soil, with the constant vibrations below, had started to loosen.
A dull thud as a chunk of soil hit the shield.
This wasn’t the first piece to fall, the situation was already incredibly dangerous, but Fang Huai pressured He Zhijun not to tell those above.
It was already the fifth day, and should it fail, the chances of survival below would drop by another 30%.
"Hurry, hurry, you’ve been at it for hours, shall I take over?" He Zhijun couldn’t help but urge anxiously.
The tunnel entrance above had beco a distant light.
"I know, I know, just keep watch."
Having said that, Fang Huai took up the shovel and dug fiercely.
Suddenly, he stopped.
He bent down, scraped the ground with his hand, looking closely.
Not two seconds later.
"Hehehehe...."
Fang Huai looked up, laughing like a madman, his dirt-streaked face revealing a row of bright white teeth, and pointed at the gray concrete beneath the soil, bragging like a child with a new toy,
"Look, it’s through."
...
"Thud, thud, thud, thud...."
Fang Huai, no longer concerned, vigorously drilled down.
He Zhijun also shouted up, "Quick!! Packaged milk, bread!"
"What?" The voice that ca down echoed slightly.
Then He Zhijun rembered to use the two-way radio.
"It’s through! There’s a risk of collapse in the tunnel! We’re about to go down! Hurry up and drop so food down!"
The people above, having heard He Zhijun’s words, went frantic.
The voice of Commander Chang above, excited, cut through the noise of the rock drilling machine.
"Quick, quick, quick! It’s through! Report to Command Headquarters imdiately!"
"Bread! Milk!"
...
"Attach the safety rope! Belts! There are people, alive!"
"They’re all alive!"
Cheers erupted both above Fang Huai and He Zhijun’s heads and below their feet.
"Am I seeing things? Has soone co?" So miners also shouted with all their might, fearing it was an illusion.
The process by which Fang Huai found the people was neither strange nor mysterious.
He had just cracked open a cent ceiling when he heard people shouting. As expected, the miners below were near the horizontal shaft.
Fang Huai peered down, turned on his headlamp, and upon discovering at least ten or twenty pairs of bright eyes, he was so excited that he was sowhat dizzy.
It could also have been because of exhaustion from digging for several hours.
"Move! Everyone below, move aside!"
Fang Huai stood up, grabbed the rock drilling machine to enlarge the opening below, and then jumped down without hesitation.
His first words were of reassurance.
"Don’t be afraid! We’ve co to rescue you!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a great wave of crying arose around him.
"Wuu wuu... why did you only co now..."
With his headlamp shining around, Fang Huai saw the wet ground by the drainage pipes and ditches. About a dozen people were standing, sitting, and lying down, all holding their heads and sobbing.
A few were lying motionless, seemingly passed out.
Two who still had strength hurried over and clung tightly to his arms, greedily staring at the light from the hole.
"How do we get out? How do we get out??"
"Don’t panic!" Fang Huai spoke to stabilize their emotions, then shouted upwards, "Send down so food!"
...
minutes later.
"Don’t step on the wall, let them pull you up, do you hear ?"
"All right, all right!"
He Zhijun and Fang Huai instructed a man, then tied a safety belt and safety rope on him, used the two-way radio to call, and sent him out of the hole.
Eight people had been rescued.
All those awake and still strong had finished their bread and sat beside the two n, hoping to see the daylight again.
But this ti, as the man was going up, the safety rope swayed, and in his panic, he stepped on the wall several tis, kicking at an irregular piece of rock jutting out from the wall.
Below, He Zhijun’s expression froze instantly, his lips trembling quickly as he muttered his frustration.
"It’s over, over, tell him not to step, oh my god, it’s all over, move away!"
Instantly, the already unstable earthen wall collapsed.
He Zhijun pushed two miners aside and the last scene he saw was a large rock falling down with a mass of soil.
"Clear the way!"
The tunnel collapsed with a roaring sound, gusting swiftly, and the light source vanished, the area above completely covered again.
Voices ca through the two-way radio: "It’s collapsed! Is everyone alright?"
"It’s done for! It’s done for! It collapsed again!" A miner scread in terror.
"Captain Fang! Are you okay?"
"I’m fine, the rock didn’t fall down, it hit the concrete roof."
Then ca He Zhijun’s swearing voice.
"Told him not to step! Not to step! Didn’t heed the warning! Report to Command, everyone’s okay!"
A mont of silence.
Sobbing filled the surroundings again, "What do we do now? What do we do..."
The atmosphere suddenly beca tense.
Click.
Fang Huai’s headlamp ca on, and light returned to the area.
"The remaining 19 people, are you all here? Is everyone alive?"
A miner who had just collapsed on the ground instantly got up and said:
"All alive! All alive!"
"That’s good!" Fang Huai then looked at the bread and milk on the ground, walked to the wall, and leaned down with a relaxed smile, saying:
"We have a basket of bread and milk, and now there are eight fewer mouths to feed. What’s to worry? Let’s rest a bit... wait for the people above to rescue us! He Zhijun, make an announcent..."
As he spoke, he closed his eyes and seed to really fall asleep.
The remaining miners in the mine also quieted down gradually due to these easygoing words.
He Zhijun picked up the bread and milk from the ground, staring absent-mindedly at Fang Huai, who had laid down to sleep.
"Hey, can you really sleep?"
But Fang Huai on the ground was completely still.
He Zhijun suddenly rembered, four days.
For over four days, the voice commanding through the two-way radio seed to have never stopped.
(Get so sleep early, good night)
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