“Huan…” As Lu Jin was about to shout Yan Huan’s name again, the earth trembled and the crowd gave out a loud scream along with a crack. Within a matter of seconds, the sound of rumbling reverberated across the atmosphere.
The hotel before them collapsed in a few echoes of rumbling sound. Everything was swaying, and trembled until they were not able to stand upright. It was crowded with people crushing over people, and the sounds of shrieking, wailing and crying resounded in their ears.
It’s earthquake, it really is an earthquake.
Not knowing how long it had passed, the quake of the whole earth had finally slowed down. In the meantime, Lu Jin held tight onto Yan Huan’s arm, his hands pressed with full force, causing Yan Huan to feel the pain.
Yan Huan looked back with a straight face. Even though she knew there would be an earthquake in her previous life, she had only seen news about it on television and internet. However, she had never seen it with her own eyes, not to mention experiencing such a terrifying incident herself. What was even scarier was that, when something toppled, everything would be gone just like this.
“It’s an earthquake, Dad.”
Yan Huan closed her eyes and her reddened eyes could not help but to let out a sobbing tone.
Lu Jin rubbed Yan Huan’s head like he was treating his daughter. At that moment, he did not even wear his shoes, but he was drenched with sweat from fright. A few minutes ago, he was still showering in the hotel and preparing to go to bed. If it was not for Yan Huan who pulled him out forcefully, then he could probably be crushed to death in the hotel when the entire hotel collapsed and fell apart.
He wiped his face. “Save others, save others first.”
He could not be bothered if he wore his shoes when he initiated to lead those who were still alive to rescue those who were buried. He could only rescue them by himself, the more he could save, the better it would be. Perhaps, he could really save many lives.
Yes, save people, save people. Yan Huan tagged along behind him. Those who were not here would never know how it felt to be shocked and helpless with one’s life. At this instant, they could not feel any pain or sufferings as the only thing they cared about was to rescue others, saved those who were buried, especially their good friends, relatives, siblings, husband or wife.
Yan Huan used both her hands to lift the floor slab on the ground.
“Help… help…” A soft and weak voice transmitted from a place nearby.
Yan Huan moved another piece, and at this juncture, her fingers were already worn out with blood dripping onto the cement and bricks, but she did not stop. She never thought of stopping because she wanted to save the person and others.
“Help, please help me…”
She could not remember how many concrete slabs and bricks she had moved to remove all the things that pressed on that person. Then, she dragged that person to the temporary emergency evacuation area.
At this moment, there were many people resting in it as if the whole world had already turned into grayish color. The air was filled with dust, even the atmosphere was seemingly occupied with grains of sand.
Many people were crying and shouting the names of their family members and even more people were relentlessly trying to save more people who were waiting to be rescued.
The night became darker and it became harder to view everything. Sometimes one could sense as though there were sounds of collapsing at some places.They were all sitting together, waiting for rescue, expecting dawn and anticipating safety.
Yan Huan walked to the front of a man, and stared at his legs, “Can you give me your shoes?”
The man nodded. A hoarse voice appeared from the crack corner of his mouth,
“Go ahead and take them. I know you all are saving people. My legs are broken so I could not be of much help.”
“Thank you.” Yan Huan slowly removed the shoes from the man’s feet as she was afraid to hurt him. She took down her backpack, and then fetched out a piece of chocolate and handed it to the man.
“Thank you…” The man said with a husky tone, taking the piece of chocolate with all his might as though his whole body was shivering; not sure if it was because of the loss of his family, or because of losing his legs.
“The rescue team will come for our rescue soon,” Yan Huan comforted him as she found solace in it. Yes, soon, but she also knew that it would not be so easy because the collapse had also destroyed the road. Now, they could only wait until tomorrow, not knowing if the helicopters would deliver food to them.
She then fished out several pieces of chocolate from her bag and put them in her pocket. She dare not hold them openly because there were too many people.
She only gave these chocolates surreptitiously to those who were injured as well as younger kids. She did not give out the two bottles of water in her bag.
She walked to the front of Lu Jin who was sitting down. His body was filled with sand, not knowing how many scratches he had on his body. He did not wipe off the dust on his face, and he was still barefooted. Even though his legs were not full of dirt, it was uncertain if he was severely injured.
“Dad, do you mind wearing someone else’s shoes?” Yan Huan put down the shoes. She was aware of Lu Jin’s personality. He was not a person who was particular about things, but there was one thing he was selective; he only wore his own pair of shoes and a pair of shoes he loved the most was the customized pair that Yan Huan bought for him. He purposely wore that out this time. To let him wear someone else’s shoes was similar to asking him to use someone else’s toothbrush to brush his teeth.
“It’s good enough to have a pair of shoes to wear.” Lu Jin forced a smile. As a grown man, a general, the scattered ruins before his eyes and the wailing and shouting sounds across the atmosphere that resounded in his ears caused him to choke with sobs. Natural disaster was inevitable, but it was even more heart-wrenching to experience it.
Yan Huan took out a bottle of water from her bag, opened the bottle cap and passed it to Lu Jin.
“Dad, drink a little bit of water.”
Lu Jin accepted it, and took a sip. But as he looked at several pairs of innocent, fearful, despair and greedy eyes staring at him, he heaved a sigh and passed the bottle of water to a child.
When the child received the bottle of water, he hurriedly drank a big mouthful and the parents’ of the child quickly snatched the water bottle from the child. It was not that the parents did not allow him to drink, but he was drinking it way too fast so they scared he would choked. However, the child was oblivious of that so he thought they were stealing the water bottle from him. Thus, he cried loudly, causing his parents to frown and began to shed tears.
Yan Huan tore out a piece of her clothes, and then took out another bottle of water from her bag. She poured some water on the torn piece of cloth on her hand. She raised her head and passed the water bottle to the person sitting by the side. His head was filled with blood; he kept a straight face, not knowing what he was thinking about.
The man took over the water bottle and expressed his gratitude. He drank a sip and started to cough violently, then he held his head and started to wail in pain.
Yan Huan sat upright and placed Lu Jin’s legs on her legs.
Lu Jin appeared to be a little embarrassed.
