“Who’s the one with the highest rank?” the officer asked.
Zhao Yunlong took a step forward. His steps were firm and powerful.
The officer handed a satellite phone to Zhao Yunlong and said, “Set up the surgery squad. Go and check the situation. According to the route assigned and arranged by the command center, you should be entering the mountain areas.
According to the maps before the earthquake of the administrative area, they would be looking for villages and towns in the mountains.
“When you’re there, use the GPS to locate the villagers that can be guided and taken away. Bring them out. Those that can not be brought out, record the situation and move them to a safer place nearby. Return and report the situation afterward. Wait for the frontline to send out a more suitable rescue team if needed.”
“Yes!” Zhao Yunlong stood at attention and roared.
The military officer was silent. He looked into Zhao Yunlong’s eyes. There was only determination and no fear.
“All of you… Come back alive.”
Just as he finished speaking, the ground trembled. A dull and despairing sound could be vaguely heard from the ground.
The ground surged like a wave again. The hard track was torn open, and the sound of the cement road breaking could be continuously heard.
Zheng Ren staggered for a moment and immediately steadied himself. He looked straight ahead, trying his best to stand like a warrior.
“All of you, turn right! Run! Go!” Zhao Yunlong quickly adjusted his standing posture as he spoke with difficulty, stepping ahead on the surging ground.
The aftershocks were not only so numerous that they could be said to be dense, but they were also very strong.
Within ten minutes, the aftershocks were unceasing. Although the aftershocks were strong, compared to the collapse of the mountain range, these aftershocks were slightly gentler.
Zhao Yunlong was young and well-trained. He immediately began to organize the formation and ran to the side of the motorcade.
The reporters and cameramen looked at each other. After an urgent discussion, they brought their equipment and followed closely behind.
“You guys follow the next wave,” Zhao Yunlong said in a deep voice, his thick eyebrows knitted together to form a rope.
“Sorry, this is our mission,” the female reporter and host said. She was very scared but still stubbornly persisted.
Along the way, there was an aftershock. The female reporter fell down twice. The delicate energy of a city beauty disappeared, leaving only a body of dust and a face of stubbornness.
She looked a little disheveled but still pushed through.
It was all a mission, so Zhao Yunlong had no choice but to bring the photographer and female reporter along.
There were lots of vehicles but they were very nervous.
Six or seven people in a car went to get the military supplies which were piled up like a mountain. They each took a military medical kit, water, food, and other supplies. After changing into camouflage clothes that could either fit or did not, they just walked away.
Zheng Ren, Zhao Yunlong, Su Yun, and the others were in a car. He frowned very deeply. When they drove out of the airport, he opened the first aid kit, took a look, and asked, “Chief Zhao, is this all the supplies we have?”
“Yes,” Zhao Yunlong replied.
Zheng Ren was speechless. This was a first-aid kit for the battlefield. There was not enough and they did not have enough things to treat a variety of injuries. It was okay for emergencies but if they were to face a large number of injured people, they would probably be in trouble.
In the individual first-aid kit, there was a mouth-to-mouth respiratory membrane, a rubber tube tourniquet, a medical bandage, two first-aid tourniquets, foldable dressing, a 14g pneumothorax needle, a nasopharynx airway, disposable gloves, two morphine shots, an injector, iodophor, cotton swabs…and a life-saving whistle or something like that.
It was definitely not enough. Even if it was a wounded person on the road… Almost everything would be used up.
“Comrade Zheng Ren, the surgeon squad’s mission is to observe the situation, not to carry out a rescue,” Zhao Yunlong explained. “We need to use a satellite phone and GPS equipment to mark the rear. After that, there will be rescue supplies and personnel arriving.
“The most important thing for us is to determine how many emergency medical supplies and how many doctors are needed in a certain place so that we can organize and make arrangements. If possible, we will be the first batch of doctors to go deep into the epicenter of the earthquake. When the time comes, we will do whatever we can.”
Zhao Yunlong did not address Zheng Ren as Chief Zheng or Boss Zheng. Instead, he called him Comrade Zheng Ren.
Zheng Ren thought about it and it made sense. He nodded and did not say anything else.
The car continued to shake. It was clearly a flat road, but the vibrations were very obvious.
It was an aftershock, an aftershock of at least a magnitude 5 earthquake. Zheng Ren could not imagine how strong the aftershock would be if they went to the earthquake’s epicenter.
Zhao Yunlong picked up a military map and pointed to the front. “Our target is Nanchuan Town. It’s about seventy kilometers away from the airport. A normal car journey takes an hour and twenty minutes.”
“How long do you think it’ll take us in these conditions?” Su Yun asked.
“We won’t be able to reach our destination.” The driver was focused on the road as he answered him, “The tremors there are stronger than those in Chengdu. It’s said that there are two earthquake zones. All the roads along the way are broken. You’ll have to walk there for about twenty kilometers. It’s just as we saw beforehand. The mountains on both sides are still dropping rocks. Now, we’ll probably have to walk forty to fifty kilometers.”
Everyone was silent. They stared blankly at the surrounding ground, which would fluctuate like waves from time to time.
After entering the mountain, one could imagine how dangerous such aftershocks were.
They did not want the mountain to collapse. As long as a rock fell from a high place and hit their head, they would be finished. Even if it did not directly hit their vital points, wherever it touched would probably cause them to be disabled.
Zheng Ren took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
“Are you afraid?” Su Yunqiang asked calmly.
“I’m not. I’m just a little dizzy,” Zheng Ren said. “It’s my first time getting carsick.”
Indeed, the car was very bumpy. The military jeep drove a little wild on the waves.
In the hospital, first aid was given to one person. However, there were more than tens of thousands of people there who needed first aid.
Sichuan was a semi-karst area. The safer places were only said to be relatively flat. With the frequent aftershocks, the terrain would not be changed, but it would also cause landslides and cordoned off the lake area.
The so-called safe areas were also places where one could not even stand on their feet with the aftershocks.
“Comrade, did you drive in after the earthquake?” Zhao Yunlong sat in the front passenger seat and understood the situation.
“I did.” The driver’s face was very dark as if a storm was brewing.
Zhao Yulong did not know what the situation was. In the face of resistance, he could not ask in detail.
On the way, he saw a mess. The people who had escaped from the earthquake were looking for their families in confusion. Some were crying, while more people were looking around blankly. There were many taxis and private cars leaving the city one after another. They picked up the injured and sent them to the hospital.
The injuries of the injured were not serious. They were the lucky ones who had escaped.
Just as the driver had said that, the road was cut off soon after they left the city, not even 50 kilometers away from where they had started.
The military jeep trudged through the ruins with great difficulty, the bumps even more severe. They could only hold on by desperately grabbing onto the car frame and any place where they could borrow strength from to ensure they would not be thrown out.
However, after entering the mountain area, the Jeep could no longer drive.
“We can only send you here.” The driver’s face was gloomy as he said, “Be careful. When I came in the afternoon, the place was not like this.”
Zhao Yunlong nodded.
“Over there.” The driver pointed at a mountain rock in the distance and said hoarsely, “Yesterday it was just a town, but now it’s all gone.”
