Chapter 110

In front of the TV, Yang Dahai stared at the screen anxiously.

The phone rang, and he grabbed the phone.

“Lao Yang… there is still no news…” It was a call from the head of the military district, his voice low.

“Don’t worry. We have already dispatched helicopters and will definitely find them. …Yang Lei volunteered to undertake this task and rushed to the very front. He is an excellent soldier…”

Yang Dahai slowly put down the phone. His hair was gray, and his face seemed to have aged many years overnight.

The sound from the TV was still coming through. Yang Dahai hung his gray head low…

In Meng County, there was hectic search and rescue, as well as the noisy propellers of helicopters, military and police fighting bravely in the muddy water, dams urgently being reinforced, hoarse commands, shouts, the clamor of people, mud splashing in all directions, the surging flood of the river…

“How is it?” Commissar Lu anxiously raised his walkie talkie.

“We have not yet found the target, not yet found the target…” The voice in the helicopter repeated.

“Report!” A soldier came running through muddy water. “Someone wanted to go into the mountain to find someone, but he was stopped outside the valley. He’s a civilian!”

“Nonsense! Hold him back! Other than the reinforcement team, no one can stay here!”

“He is Staff Officer Yang’s friend. He…”

“Tell the public to rest assured that we will definitely find them!” Commissar Lu was nervous.

A group of people hurried over with alternating shallow and deep steps, protecting someone. Commissar Lu braved the wind and rain to meet them.

“Is there news?” Yang Dahai’s face was anxious and exhausted.

“…” Commissar Lu shook his head heavily. Yang Dahai was dejected…

The rain fell harder and the current was strong. The mountain soil had been soaked and the soil had been washed away.

“It’s too dangerous here. Please retreat to a safe place outside the valley.” Commissar Lu asked someone to escort Yang Dahai away.

“I’m fine!”

Yang Dahai lost his past elegance and calmness. He was a cadre, but he was also a father.

The people around them were silent…

“Wait! You can’t come in here! Comrade!”

Someone threw aside the barricade and rushed in. Yang Dahai saw him, and Yang Dahai was shocked.

“Where’s Yang Lei?”

He rushed before Yang Dahai.

“…” Yang Dahai was silent.

“Where is he?!”

Fang Yu roared.

There was commotion in a distant corner. The crowd broke into an uproar, and many people ran up the mountain.

“There are people on the mountain!”

“Quick! Rescue team!!”

“Report. Found the target, found the target…”

Fang Yu rushed up. Commissar Lu and Yang Dahai both ran over…

In the old forest halfway up the mountain, six or seven soldiers protecting several villagers and children as they came out, fell to the ground and were surrounded. Commissar Lu and Yang Dahai pushed the crowd aside, but their pleasantly surprised expressions gradually froze.

“Where’s the other person?” Commissar Lu was shocked. Out of eight people, seven people were there. Only Yang Lei was not seen.

“Hurry… Staff Officer Yang is still inside!” Commander Huang anxiously pointed at the back of the mountain. There was a crack at the back of the mountain. Turbulent currents poured down from the valley and submerged the crack. Broken branches and boulders were all over the place. When they fell into the water, they were swept away and swallowed up.

“…He was bringing up the rear and the top collapsed, the water rushed down… He pushed people over. The road… the road was washed away by the flood. …He was trapped inside!”

“Where is he?!” Fang Yu grabbed him.

“I’ll lead the way!” Commander Huang struggled to get up.

Torrential rain poured down. The current became more and more turbulent and swift, sweeping along rolling mountain rocks, letting out rapid roars.

“This sound isn’t right. Hurry out of the valley!” The local reinforcement team member panicked. Their rich experience made them aware of the danger.

Commissar Lu picked up his walkie talkie. His expression changed, he asked for instructions, and finally put down the walkie talkie. His expression was troubled and grieved…

“I have received an order from the superior to notify everyone to retreat, evacuate immediately, and leave the valley!”

“What about Staff Officer Yang?!” Commander Huang was worried.

“There will be another mudslide here at any time, and hundreds of lives will be swallowed up! Everyone, first retreat to a safe region before organizing a rescue!” Commissar Lu held back his pain…

“Let the army withdraw, and I’ll find him!” Commander Huang wanted to rush up.

“I’ll go!” “Me!”

The soldiers surged forward.

“Obey the command!! If you go now, you’ll only die. Can you get over it?”

The crack spanned right behind them, but the narrow crack had now reached its farthest gap. The frightening red current let out roars, like a devouring, wide-open mouth. Large and small rocks and trees as thick as children’s arms were wholly swept up in the large waves. In the blink of an eye, they rushed down. As long as there was ample time, they could use tools and manpower to go over, but at the moment, the torrential rain could cause a landslide at any time. Now, there was already no more time.

The people were silent. Everyone knew that this was a difficult choice, the choice between one human life between human lives. Commissar Lu looked at Yang Dahai.

“…”

Yang Dahai’s face was ashen with defeat, but he didn’t say anything.

Commissar Lu trembled.

In the face of a major moral issue, between his own son’s life and the lives of hundreds of people, a father made a decision.

Commissar Lu issued an order: “Retreat!”

The troops began to withdraw. People began to rush down the mountain, and the stream of people evacuated downwards.

“Hey, hey, you…!”

A soldier exclaimed. In the exclamation, someone grabbed the search and rescue bag on his back and threw it across the crack, suddenly jumped onto a mountain rock, and climbed up the pile of rocks jutting out from the crack.

“Who is that! Pull him down!!”

The people were shocked. Commissar Lu shouted anxiously. The soldiers rushed forward to pull at him. That person had already climbed to the top.

“Throw me the rope!”

Fang Yu roared downwards.

“Quick!!”

The soldiers were stunned. It wasn’t known who reacted, picked up the rope fixed to the ground, and threw it up.

No one wanted to give up on their comrade. That was the instinct of the people in the moment.

Tightly tying the other end of the rope fixed around his waist to the tree on the jutting rock, Fang Yu stepped onto a section of the wooden bridge that had been half washed away by the flood waters and was teetering in the air. The load-bearing wooden plank let out a creaking fracturing sound. Fang Yu stepped forward…

The stunned crowd, Commissar Lu’s alarmed roars, soldiers who rushed to the side of the bridge and grabbed the rope… Over the surging water, the wooden plank that was unable to support weight finally let out a tearing sound and broke. In the people’s cries of alarm, a figure jumped down…

At that moment, some people closed their eyes.

Some people dared not look at the opposite side. Some people dared not look at the surging current.

Yang Dahai was shocked…

He watched Fang Yu tightly grasp the upright branches on the opposite side, anchoring his body that had nearly been swept away by the torrent. He watched Fang Yu step onto the narrow ground extending from the water and use his arms to climb up the stone slope on the other side… Everyone watched in a daze as that figure disappeared on the other side. In the roar of the water, Yang Dahai didn’t move at all…

T/N: Bonus chapter this week because chapter 109 was so short!