Trapped for the third day.
It was dark in the ruins, and Dong Xuebing could not tell if it was day or night.
Dong Xuebing woke up and yawned. Other than sleeping for the past two days, he had nothing to do. Dong Xuebing looked around and found the oxygen tank in the dark. He used Reverse to restore the oxygen in the tank and used Reverse on himself to make himself less hungry. After that, he picked up the radio and switched it on. Maybe he had listened too much to the radio, and there was no sound. The battery had run out. Dong Xuebing opened the battery cover and used Reverse to restore the battery to full two days ago. After that, he continued to listen to the radio.
"Buzz …"
"Rustle …"
Maybe the signal was not good today, and Dong Xuebing could not hear anything even after changing his position. He could only hear rustling noises.
Dong Xuebing had no choice but to switch off the radio and stare at the ceiling.
After an unknown period of time, the clanking sound was suppressed again.
Dong Xuebing had heard this sound many times over the past two days. He knew the people outside and the rescue team had started to dig the ruins again. Every time he heard this sound, he would feel touched. Dong Xuebing knew many people were digging above because they did not have enough tools. Some of the people were using the most primitive method to dig with their hands. They will dig from morning to night and continue the work the next day. These people ignored the aftershocks of the earthquake and came here to save him. How can Dong Xuebing not be touched?
Suddenly, the ground shook violently!
Dong Xuebing's first reaction was to know it was an aftershock. He quickly lifted his feet up and used his shoes to hold the rocks above him. He was afraid he would fall down.
Luckily, the aftershock was not strong and was only about level 3. After a while, there were no more sounds.
Dong Xuebing was relieved to see the ground had returned to normal. He carefully removed his feet from the ground and wondered how long more these days will last.
Three days …
Five days …
Seven days …
In the blink of an eye, Dong Xuebing had been trapped under the ruins for ten days.
The aftershocks had subsided, and the cries for help from above had stopped at some point in time. There was a gloomy silence all around, so quiet that it was a little scary.
No one else?
Give up all of them?
Dong Xuebing smiled to himself. He doesn't know how much of the ruins have been excavated or how far he is from the outside world. But he had expected the rescue team to leave and was not surprised. Ten days, it had been ten whole days. Not to mention that he was covered in scars when he was smashed here, even if a hundred healthy people were thrown into the ruins, none of them would survive after ten days. This was common sense. There was no need to ask. No food, no water, no air, any one of them could kill a person. Needless to say, they must have thought that he was dead. Rather than investing so much manpower and resources to dig up a corpse, it would be better to organize people to save those who might still be alive!
Dong Xuebing's hopes of escaping are slimmer, but he did not complain. He lay on the bed quietly and switched on the radio to look for a signal.
"Sha sha sha …"
He didn't know if it was because a lot of the ruins had been cleared up, but the signal today wasn't bad.
The radio reported. "The death toll from the Fen Zhou earthquake had increased to 42326, 318923 injured, and 3,012 missing …"
Dong Xuebing's heart sank when he heard this. But he had tried his best. Compared to the future newspaper report, the number of casualties reported now is less than half of what he had seen in the past.
The radio continued to report the casualty figures. "The epicenter of the earthquake is in Da Feng County, and the death toll is 12100. Xi Ping District, 4,322, Dong Hai District, 4,566, Nan Shan District, 3,298, and Yan Tai County … 255. From what we know, Yan Tai County's Government had issued evacuation orders more than ten hours before the earthquake. That's why Yan Tai County, which is next to Da Feng County, had the fewest casualties among all the Counties in Fen Zhou City. The Nan Shan District Government had also warned the residents before the earthquake. That's why the number of casualties is lower."
The radio is talking about Xie Huilan and Geng Yuehua.
Dong Xuebing did not expect Yan Tai County to only have 255 casualties.
"Some experts estimate that this Fen Zhou City's magnitude 8.0 earthquake is not as severe as before, and the number of casualties might be doubled or even tripled. But the reason why so many casualties were avoided is because of Guangming Street Office's Chief Dong Xuebing's article in Fen Zhou Daily. It is reported that 110,000 people had evacuated overnight after reading the article. More than a million people had prepared for the earthquake because of this article. This article can be said to have saved many lives." The radio paused, and there was the sound of pages flipping. "I have a few more numbers here. Within the jurisdiction of Nanshan District's Guangming Street Office, the number of injured during and after the earthquake was 776, but the death toll was only seven."
Dong Xuebing let out a long sigh.
Or did someone die? Dong Xuebing's goal is to make sure no one dies!
But after thinking about it, it's impossible. Even Dong Xuebing cannot predict some accidents. For example, his current situation. Before the earthquake, Dong Xuebing did not expect himself to be in such a desperate situation.
"We had done a simple calculation. Before the earthquake, Guangming Street Office's Dong Xuebing had already moved the residents in the buildings to a safe place. For example, a health wine factory's billboards had caused many casualties in other Counties. Almost all of the billboards had collapsed during the earthquake. But we found out that these billboards had been forcefully removed by Guangming Street Office a few days before the earthquake. The Guangming Street Office had made sufficient preparations for the earthquake, and that's why the number of casualties is in single digits. Many people also know that Dong Xuebing, who had made great contributions to Fen Zhou City, had been missing for 243 hours."
Dong Xuebing had mixed feelings when he heard about himself.
"According to the information gathered over the past few days, we have compiled all the outstanding deeds Chief Dong has done. In the end, our radio station's staff were all very shocked. When I received this script this morning, to be honest, I couldn't stop my tears. I don't know how to describe my current feelings. Other than shock … .it's shock. Let me read it to everyone."
Statistics?
What statistics?
Dong Xuebing pricked up his ears to listen.
The female broadcaster continued: "Two years ago, when Dong Xuebing was working in Yan Tai County, he volunteered to be a hostage when he was facing 9 vicious prisoners and students. He risked his life to save them. A few days later, there was an attempted suicide at the County's County Party Committee compound. Chief Dong caught a man who jumped down from a 5-story building with his bare hands, but he was hospitalized and almost had both his arms amputated. In the same year, a bus overturned in the outskirts of the County, and there was a landslide. Chief Dong disregarded his own safety and rushed into the landslide to save the people. He was buried in the landslide and almost lost his life after being rescued for two days and two nights. A few months later, Chief Dong was on a bus at a safari park, and a boy fell off the bus. When the tiger was about to pounce on the boy, Chief Dong jumped off the bus and fought with the tiger. The boy was saved, but Chief Dong almost lost his life in the tiger's mouth!"
Huh? How can it be so exaggerated?
Dong Xuebing felt embarrassed and blushed.
"A few days ago, at the moment of the earthquake, Director Dong rushed into a house that was about to collapse and saved a child. He was only a second away from being buried by the house. Then, the District Committee Compound caught fire, and it was Director Dong who risked his life by using his arms to catch the government officials and workers who jumped down from the five-story building. He was the one who got injured and was hospitalized. Then, Director Dong discovered the cracks in the First Hospital's building and rushed to evacuate the injured people, but he stayed behind. When the aftershock came, he was smashed by a window that fell from the upper floor, and the floor was covered in blood. Even so, when Director Dong realized that there was a nurse in the hospital who didn't manage to evacuate, he got up with all his might and rushed back to throw the nurse out of the window. By then, the building had already collapsed, but Director Dong didn't make it out. He paid the price with his life at the age of twenty-five.
Everyone at the scene was crying! "Missing for ten days and still buried under the rubble.
The female broadcaster's voice was hoarse. "These are all the things we know about Director Dong. It's shocking. I can't imagine how he felt when he was saving the people. Why … … he is willing to sacrifice his life again and again for the people. I think this should be what a Party member is like. This should be what our government officials are like." The female broadcaster seemed to be crying. "Although all the radio channels are talking about this these few days, I still want to say sincerely … … Chief Dong, rest in peace!"
Dong Xuebing rubbed his nose. I don't want to rest in peace. I want to go out now!
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