Chapter 122 Let them fend for themselves
Chu Bai also led the main force to join the rescue. "Did you go out to investigate the situation of the beast tide?"
"Yes, this happened just as we were gathering at the ten-kilometer mark."
"So you haven't seen the beast tide yet?"
"Yes, the most important thing right now is to make sure everyone is safe. Enough talk, let's dig."
Chu Bai lifted a huge stone slab with his bare hands. The slab weighed at least a hundred pounds, and Chu Bai had no special abilities. Yet he was able to move such a heavy object with his bare hands.
Is anyone there? Is anyone still inside?
Yu Miaomiao placed one hand on the stone slab, and then with a thought, the stone slab disappeared into thin air. She shouted loudly at the ruins below the stone slab, hoping to find survivors, and released her mental energy to search out. With her mental energy, she could accurately detect survivors who were buried but still had vital signs.
Chu Bai then remembered, "Oh right, she's a superhuman, and a space-type one at that. That's great, this will speed up the rescue."
So, Yu Miaomiao was responsible for using her spatial abilities to move large items such as steel bars and stone slabs from the ruins, and she also took out some shovels and distributed them to the group led by Chu Bai.
Then she let the furry kids out of the space and put leashes on all three of them. The furry kids' sense of smell is dozens of times stronger than that of humans, and Yu Miaomiao couldn't rescue them in time by searching alone. Let the furry kids help out.
Give careful instructions with your mind.
"Good babies, you'll have a hard day today. You'll be going with those two older brothers to rescue survivors. Whenever you sense a human presence, call out, and the brothers will rescue them. Remember, don't grow bigger unless absolutely necessary, and be obedient. If you behave well, you'll get extra canned food tonight."
Ma Jiang was very eager and ready to go. Yu Miaomiao handed the leash to Lu An, and Ma Jiang "whooshed" off, pulling Lu An along and launching off. It seemed to be a good dog eager to make a name for itself.
Although the two kittens weren't particularly interested, Yu Miaomiao coaxed and tricked them until they accepted it. Yu Miaomiao could only hear the kittens' inner thoughts.
"Hmph, I'll reluctantly help you this once. For the sake of the dried fish, you'll have to eat a hundred dried fish today."
Yu Miaomiao's lips twitched, and she touched her heart.
"We really can't afford to raise them anymore..."
If only she had stocked up on more dried fish for them before the apocalypse, she would have known. Now that the children's appetites are growing, she's starting to doubt if what she had stocked up on would be enough.
A few survivors were rescued, but exposed to the extreme heat, many ordinary people quickly began to hallucinate. Xu Nan helped clean the wounds of the injured and also helped distribute the ice balls made by Lu An to everyone to cool them down.
"Thank you, little sister." A somewhat familiar old man's voice said, "But don't waste my time. I'm already this old, I can go when I'm done, don't waste my resources."
"Grandma, it's alright, don't speak yet, you can survive." Xu Nan looked at the crushed legs, her face pale. She recognized her; it was the old lady from the tailor shop.
This wasn't the first time she'd seen dead bodies and blood, but this scene was truly horrifying; flesh and bones were exposed...
Seeing tears welling up in Xu Nanwei's eyes, her grandmother touched the little girl's delicate face and comforted her instead.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Sensible children don't cry. Everything will be alright." Grandma trembled uncontrollably from the pain, but still managed a weak smile. "You children have suffered so much, so young, yet you have to go through so much."
The old man looked at the ruins with pain and resignation in his eyes, not knowing whether his family members were alive or dead.
Half an hour earlier, her daughter-in-law had helped her out of the underground hospital.
"Mom, please slow down." The woman was carrying a cloth bag containing a sleeping baby. She held some medicine in her left hand and supported her mother-in-law with her right.
"It's okay, I can walk by myself, you don't need to worry about me. You go home first, our youngest son is coming back today. You walk fast, so go home and cook."
"Oh my god, with your foot like this, how can I possibly go back by myself? No, I absolutely have to go with you."
"It's none of your business. You never listen to me. I'm telling you to leave, so leave. If you don't, I'll get angry." The old man's face darkened slightly, and the wrinkles on his face deepened.
"Okay, okay, Mom, try to control your emotions. I'll go back and cook for you. Please walk slowly. If you really can't get back, be sure to call me through the bracelet."
The woman kept turning back to look at herself. This old lady was always strong-willed. Today's test results were very bad, and there was no hope of treatment because there were no conditions for surgery or suitable medication available.
She vaguely guessed why the old lady had sent her away. She was conflicted. She didn't know whether she should expose her or try to keep her, and she didn't know what to do now. Their small tailor shop couldn't support the family anymore.
The woman walked away silently wiping away tears. She held her child in her arms, watching the chubby baby babbling in her arms. For a moment, she was ready to be selfish. After all, the old tree was old and frail, and what was in front of her was her hope for the future.
They hadn't gone far when the ground suddenly began to tremble. "Ah... what's happening, an earthquake?"
Unlike the earthquake last time, which only swayed from side to side, this time the ground cracked open.
The earth seemed to tear apart the cage that bound it, opening its blood-red maw in a frenzy of revelry, devouring everything—far more terrifying than an earthquake.
The woman, protecting her child, frantically searched towards the hospital. She deserved to die; she knew perfectly well that the old woman wanted to die, yet in those fleeting moments, she selfishly wanted to indulge the old woman and let her fend for herself…
She then realized she couldn't do it, but by the time she desperately crawled to the entrance of the underground hospital, the old man was nowhere to be seen. The underground hospital had been torn in two by the earth, with a deep ravine in the middle.
Now, it's all gone.
After parting ways with the woman, the old man, leaning on his cane, limped away towards the exit of the underground city.
"Where are you going? I'll give you a ride." A young man suddenly peeked out from the shadows; his clothes looked like those of a patrolman.
Without waiting for a reply, the young man pulled the old man into the shadows. The old man was terrified in the darkness, and it took the young man a long time to calm him down before he finally understood that the old man wanted to go to the entrance to the underground city.
"Young man, you can put me down. I can walk across this distance by myself."
The shadowy figure moved in a straight line, quickly traversing the underground city to the entrance, where it dropped off the old man and then left.
"I did another good deed today. I am truly a model youth of the new era."
"Hello, I'm leaving the city." The old man slowly walked to the door.
"Okay, okay, please wait a moment. Register your wristband here." The soldier replied without looking up as he was busy.