Seeing this, the rescuer regretted telling them about the real situation.
He had only wanted to stop them from arguing further, but things took a turn for the worse.
If he had known, he would have kept his mouth shut.
With their morale at the dumps, the rescuers themselves weren’t sure that everyone would survive the ordeal.
No, they weren’t sure of anything at all.
The men couldn’t help but feel guilty. At the back of their minds, they had a nagging voice telling them that they had failed these poor citizens, the people they were supposed to protect.
The rescuer shook his doubts away and put on a brave face. They still had work to do. The most important thing now was for them to bring the students out of the mountain safely.
“Everyone, be silent and listen to me!” he yelled.
“Our communication signal was working just fine until we landed in this area. This might be related to the magnetic field of this place.”
It would have been all right if only one device was broken, but for all of them to suddenly stop working…
There was only one possibility. A magnetic field was interfering with the signals.
The rescuers assured themselves that everything would be all right. As per protocol, once their superiors realized that the communication had been interrupted, they would immediately restore the signal. They just had to wait until then.
“This lack of signal is only temporary. We shall be able to communicate with the authorities soon.”
“More importantly, our team will not be giving up on anyone. No matter what happens, we will make sure that each of you gets back to the city in one piece. Don’t worry too much, okay?”
“For now, we need to maintain a positive outlook and conserve our strength. We don’t know what might come our way.”
“Our team will be with you every step of the way. We will protect you, so please believe in us and do not fear!”
The rescuers’ speech finally calmed everyone down.
Chen Yi, on the other hand, had a sneer on her face. Her eyes were filled with distrust toward the men.
If they were so reliable, then why did they even lose control of their helicopter in the first place? They even had their communication line cut off.
How could they spew out these false reassurances when they didn’t even have a signal?
‘If I had stayed up there instead of following Yao Tang, I might have been rescued by now,’Chen Yithought bitterly.
Instead, she was trapped here with the lot of them, waiting to die a miserable death.
If she survived this, Chen Yi swore to herself that she would never make the mistake of believing Yao Tang again.
Just then, the ground began to tremble.
Everyone’s expressions turned from calm to confusion, and then fear.
“It’s an aftershock!” a rescuer shouted. “Everybody, get down!”
Screams and curses rang out as everyone blindly crouched on their bellies.
There were only three rescuers, and they were nowhere near enough to take care of so many students all at once.
Thankfully, the teachers were doing their best to protect them as well.
The tremors lasted longer than anyone expected, and it was almost stronger than the earthquake itself.
Everyone wobbled around, and a large crack appeared on the ground.
When that happened, the students started running in all directions. It was pure chaos.
When it finally died down, Yao Tangfound herself alone.
Shortly after the crack had appeared, the ground gaped open.
Lin Xin, who had been beside her at the time, lost her footing and almost fell into the hole.
Yao Tang managed to pull her back to the side. In the process, however, it was she who had fallen into the abyss.
If it had been any normal person, they would have died by now.
But Yao Tangwas agile. Despite the stones rolling down around her and the soil raining over her head, she was able to dodge nimbly and land on her feet.
Soon, she realized that she was standing in the middle of a large pit.
Dust was still flying around her in the aftermath of the sudden drop.
As they settled, she saw a few broken limbs scattered on the ground, with pools of blood here and there.
Yao Tang closed her eyes and tapped into the energy around her. She couldn’t sense any form of life. This meant that students had died in that terrible aftershock.
