512: first aid

When A Qi heard Minister Qi's words, his expression immediately turned grim.

"Weren't those reporters from Blue Sky Daily already sent back yesterday? Where did they get the information, and they even posted it online!"

But it was too late to pursue responsibility now. The only thing they could do was handle this difficult problem as quickly as possible.

"What's wrong?" Xiang Haitian asked with concern when he saw A Qi's expression was off.

A Qi gritted his teeth and said, "Those reporters got the news from who knows where... Minister Qi just called and said that today's front-page headline is about Cuifeng Mountain."

Xiang Haitian's expression also changed when he heard this. Reporting during the accident was completely different from reporting after the accident was resolved. The situation was very complicated now, and if not handled carefully, it could trigger a secondary disaster. If that happened, who would be responsible when the public pursued it? If the Municipal Bureau's credibility declined, how many major cases would it take to salvage it?

"Who said that!?" Xiang Haitian was a little annoyed, but A Qi stopped him.

"Getting angry now is useless. Besides, who would admit to something like this? If there are any problems... let's get the people out first."

Xiang Haitian took a deep breath and nodded.

The engineer responsible for calculations had been preparing for a long time, and finally, a person in charge arrived at six o'clock. He stood in front of Xiang Haitian and A Qi and said, "The rock structure of the mountain is not dense. It looks fine now, but once the balance is broken, not only the cave but also the possibility of a landslide exists. The heavy rain in early October softened the soil on the mountain. If possible, we suggest trying not to use excavators, as further damaging the mountain structure is too risky."

Hearing this, Xiang Haitian and A Qi's expressions became even uglier. If they couldn't use excavators, what on earth should they do?

...

Inside the cave, the two people were still chatting intermittently. Although Yang Qing's previous words had made Xiao Xiao more vigilant, thinking about it carefully, she had nowhere to escape. Moreover, if she didn't say a word, the boundless darkness was truly unbearable.

Xiao Xiao lit up her phone again and checked the time. The battery was at sixty percent, but there was still no signal. They had just walked to the edge of the collapsed area, trying to find a signal, but to no avail.

"It's only seven twenty... How am I going to get through this?" She felt like a long time had passed, but only an hour had passed since she last checked her phone.

At this moment, Yang Qing suddenly asked, "Oh right, I haven't asked before, but I'm very curious why you came back? I clearly saw you walking out of the cave."

Xiao Xiao was stunned for a moment, turned off her phone screen, and said, "Someone like you couldn't possibly commit suicide. And I've seen too many people who are determined to die; their eyes are different from yours. What's more, I've never seen a criminal who would leave ten million to be buried with them. Even if they were caught, it's impossible they wouldn't try to escape."

What Xiao Xiao said was what she truly felt. However, for Su Yue, this reason was clearly insufficient. But he didn't pursue it further, just smiled and didn't continue the topic.

Suddenly, Su Yue frowned. He heard Xiao Xiao's originally steady breathing suddenly stop. "What's wrong?"

Xiao Xiao did not answer.

Su Yue instantly sensed that the situation was bad, and his hand naturally reached for the camping light beside him.

With a "click," although the camping light was turned on, the light only flickered for a moment before quickly going out.

Although it hadn't been used all night, the battery power was depleted due to natural consumption, and the camping light completely lost its function.

Although the light only flickered briefly, Su Yue still saw the situation before him clearly—a snake was coiled around Xiao Xiao's neck!

There was actually a snake in the cave!

This discovery made Su Yue's heart tighten.

Was there only this one? Was it venomous?

Su Yue knew nothing about the species of this snake, and at this moment, it was tightly coiled around Xiao Xiao's neck.

No wonder she didn't even dare to breathe heavily!

Xiao Xiao could clearly feel the scales sliding across her skin. She had never experienced such a terrifying moment. She could even hear the "hissing" sound of its tongue flicking, and death felt close at hand.

Panic began to spread in her heart, and her mind went blank.

Her remaining rationality told her not to scream or move recklessly, but the taut string was about to snap.

At this moment, she even felt the snake's tongue touch her cheek!

In the boundless darkness, a snake was tightly coiled around her neck... A terrifying image formed in Xiao Xiao's mind: the entire cave was full of snakes!

At this moment, she felt the sensation of snakes crawling on her ankles, her legs, her waist... an uncontrollable fear surged into her heart.

"Don't move!" Suddenly, the voice from the darkness made Xiao Xiao's mind instantly clear again.

That unbearable itching sensation instantly disappeared.

"Calm down. Before it attacks you, maintain this state."

Although Xiao Xiao felt that these were all nonsense, she couldn't see anything at this moment, and even if she wanted to fight back, there was nothing she could do.

She heard rustling sounds of groping and footsteps, as if Yang Qing was feeling his way towards her.

The light that flashed by earlier allowed her to glimpse Yang Qing's figure; he was not far from her.

Although panic still filled her mind, at this moment, she finally felt a trace of reassurance.

"Is your phone still in your hand? Turn on the screen."

Yang Qing's voice was much closer this time. After hearing this voice, Xiao Xiao immediately turned on her phone screen.

The light allowed Su Yue to quickly locate the snake!

At this moment, the snake had coiled three times around Xiao Xiao's neck.

Su Yue knew he only had one chance.

If he couldn't get rid of this snake, the attack it launched would inevitably make it even more difficult for them to survive in the cave.

He took a deep breath and pulled out a dagger from his ankle.

Xiao Xiao didn't dare to move recklessly and could only look sideways with her peripheral vision.

When she saw Yang Qing walking towards her with a dagger, his eyes revealing killing intent, she mistakenly thought Yang Qing was coming for her.

"You..." She was just about to open her mouth to ask when she saw a cold light flash!

Scarlet blood instantly gushed out!

Swish!...

The sound of cutting through the air suddenly arose. The blade, carrying a cold light, flashed past Xiao Xiao's eyes. The sharpness of the blade tip was almost within reach!

A cold light streaked across, and scarlet blood splattered onto Xiao Xiao's neck and cheek, instantly dyeing the cold light of the phone screen red.

Xiao Xiao suddenly stood up, yanked off the still writhing snake body, and threw it out forcefully.

The headless snake body hit the stone wall heavily, then fell to the ground.

She gasped for breath, raised her arm, and wiped the blood from her cheek.

Then, Xiao Xiao suddenly thought of something and immediately cast her gaze towards the ground. The first thing that came into view was the phone screen covered in blood, followed by the snake head on the ground.

Even though the snake head was separated from the body, it was still writhing. This scene was both astonishing and chilling.

Just as she subconsciously wanted to evade the snake head's possible next attack, she saw Yang Qing act again.

Yang Qing switched the dagger from a forward grip to a reverse grip and stabbed down directly with a sharp motion!

Thud!

The sound of entering flesh was harsh and made one's teeth itch.

But when the dagger's blade sank into the snake head, the writhing snake head immediately stopped moving.

"Hoo..."

"Hoo..."

The cave was filled with red light. Amidst Xiao Xiao's heavy breathing, the atmosphere felt somewhat off.

She looked up at Yang Qing, a hint of gratitude in her still-shaken eyes.

She wanted to say something, but just then, the faint light from the phone screen went out.

The entire cave plunged into darkness once more.

She wanted to ask "Where are you?", but in the end, she didn't say it. Instead, Yang Qing's voice asking, "How are you?" came through.

Hearing that Yang Qing's voice was still steady and not far from her, Xiao Xiao felt a little more at ease.

"I'm fine."

"I wasn't bitten."

Yang Qing's voice came again: "Take off the jacket you're wearing."

This sentence made Xiao Xiao pause. The originally shaken her suddenly felt her cheeks getting hot.

"The temperature in this cave isn't low, but if you continue wearing the blood-soaked jacket, it will absorb your body heat."

"And, we have no way to replenish heat..."

"Taking insulation measures is just as important."

Hearing Yang Qing's words, Xiao Xiao responded and then, as he said, took off her jacket.

Although it was pitch black, she could still vaguely see some outlines...

It must be said that as the deputy captain of the Municipal Bureau, who often exercised and had learned Taekwondo, Xiao Xiao's figure was indeed good...

Although it was very dark, it had a sense of hazy beauty...

This made the atmosphere a little subtle.

After settling down for a moment, Xiao Xiao asked again, "When did you start carrying a dagger?"

Although her wariness towards Yang Qing had decreased significantly, when he walked towards her with killing intent just now, she was still very vigilant in her heart.

After all, their identities were different. Even with some understanding and comprehension, they were ultimately on opposing sides.

She had to remain vigilant, and she also had to appropriately remind this guy...

However, when she asked that question, what she got in return was a light chuckle.

This light chuckle reminded Xiao Xiao what kind of ability this "artist" beside her possessed.

What would her reminder and probing look like in his eyes?

"I associate with those tomb robbers, so of course, I have to be prepared like this."

"And also... I'm really sorry for cutting off your hair."

Hearing this, Xiao Xiao was stunned for a moment.

Then she immediately reached for her hair.

Her originally long hair had now become short hair.

...

A strange pang of heartache surged in her heart.

But considering the current critical situation, she naturally couldn't say much.

After a moment of silence, she softly replied, "It's... it's okay."

Then, she sincerely said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. If you died, I'd go crazy too."

"I certainly don't want to spend the unknown time ahead in this cave with a corpse."

...

Outside the cave, the rescue operation fell into a temporary standstill after the excavator plan failed.

However, more and more reporters and onlookers were gathering at Cuifeng Mountain.

"Xiang Team! Do you have time for an interview?"

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"Excuse me, is the person trapped in the cave the Deputy Captain of the Economic Investigation Team?"

"Is this incident related to the stolen celadon crouching sheep? Is there any information that can be disclosed now?"

The clamor of the reporters was somewhat annoying, but they couldn't say much due to their status. Furthermore, their questions couldn't reveal any information.

As long as they didn't express an opinion, it didn't matter how they speculated. The press conference could salvage everything later.

Time would smooth over everything.

But the immediate problem was how to rescue the people.

At this time, a lot of food, such as milk and bread, and some tables and chairs were transported from the city.

They sat at the tables, eating food and discussing the relevant situation.

Xiang Haitian borrowed a power bank and finally turned on his phone.

He first replied to the Municipal Bureau's message, stating that he had just turned on his phone, and then sent a message to his family to let them know he was safe.

Then, while listening to the discussion, he scrolled through the blue sky news.

"Tsk..."

"A Qi, look..."

He handed the phone to A Qi.

Seeing the content on the phone screen, A Qi's expression also wasn't very good.

It had actually been revealed by the reporters that Xiao Xiao was the one trapped in the cave.

How did these reporters manage to do that?

However, the comments below were unusually harmonious.

【Hope the female comrade is safe.】

【A good comrade who stepped forward for the people, thumbs up!】

【So beautiful Officer Si, the most beautiful Officer Si, love her!】

Just as he was looking at the report, he heard Xiao Ting's voice again.

"Qi Team."

A Qi raised his head, looked at him, and asked, "What is it?"

Xiao Ting's expression was quite serious. He opened his mouth and said, "I thought of a method..."

Hearing his words, A Qi and Xiang Haitian's cheeks, which were chewing bread, stopped moving.

"What method?"

Xiao Ting said solemnly, "Directional blasting."

"..."

After a moment of silence, A Qi asked, "Is that reliable?"

Xiao Ting gritted his teeth and said, "I can't guarantee it."

But he immediately added, "But this might be the only chance! Other methods take too much time! And directional blasting can control the range of force transmission."

"I think we can try it! If the amount of explosives is controlled properly, the blasting range can be completely controlled near the cave entrance, and it won't affect the mountain body!"

Hearing this, A Qi and Xiang Haitian exchanged glances.

Xiao Ting is an expert in this area. Since he said it's possible, then this might indeed be a solution!

A Qi swallowed the bread in his mouth, then stood up and immediately dialed the phone.

Xiang Haitian handed the data file given by the measurement expert earlier, which was in the briefcase next to him, to Xiao Ting and said solemnly, "Then I'll leave it to you."

The call A Qi was making at this time was precisely for the directional blasting that Xiao Ting was about to prepare.

He contacted the Municipal Bureau, briefly explained a few things, and then inquired about the situation of the arrested tomb robbers.

Officer Si Boyan was responsible for the interrogation and communication work for this case of cultural relic theft and smuggling. After Xiang Haitian's phone ran out of power, A Qi had been in contact with Boyan.

Now that the resources required for directional blasting needed to be prepared, he naturally had to communicate with Boyan.

"Boyan, please prepare the things I mentioned first and send them over as soon as possible."

"Also, what did those tomb robbers say?"

"What is the specific situation? Did they say where the cultural relics are now?"

Hearing A Qi's questions, Boyan answered in detail, "Their confessions are quite consistent, not just the tomb robbers, but also those few swindlers."

"According to them, the celadon crouching sheep should still be in the cave."

"The most crucial thing is that in their words, they are very respectful towards a person surnamed 'Wang'. According to the transcript, this Mr. Wang should be a very cunning swindler."

"He disguised himself as the Third Brother among the tomb robbers, and his ultimate goal should be money."

Hearing Boyan's words, A Qi smacked his lips and asked doubtfully, "Disguised himself as the Third Brother among the tomb robbers?"

"Didn't the previous investigation say that these few tomb robbers had been working together for two or three years? How did he disguise himself?"

Boyan's tone carried a hint of mockery, "They did work together for two or three years, but these few people had too many tricks up their sleeves."

"They called themselves brothers, but in reality, it was all for money."

"However, to be able to disguise himself like this... it is indeed surprising, this Mr. Wang is not simple."

A Qi frowned and asked, "You mean he impersonated Third Brother? What about the real Third Brother?"

Boyan replied, "He was caught in Guangrao Village, tied up and gagged. He was terrified when we got there."

"What's wrong, Qi Team? Is there any problem?"

A Qi was stunned for a moment, then quickly replied, "Oh, nothing."

"No problem."

"Boyan, please contact them to send the things over as soon as possible. I'll contact you again if anything happens here."

Then they hung up the phone.

While Xiao Ting was studying the data and calculating the amount of explosives, A Qi called Xiang Haitian aside.

A Qi's expression was a bit grim. He opened his mouth and asked, "Do you still remember that Mr. Wang?"

Xiang Haitian nodded, "What about him?"

A Qi repeated what Boyan had just said, and Xiang Haitian raised his eyebrows after hearing it.

Then he raised his arm and pointed towards the direction of the cave, "Are you saying that's Su Yue?"

A Qi nodded heavily and said, "Very likely."

"Being able to disguise himself as someone else, and even if the relationship between those few tomb robbers wasn't that good, being able to hide his identity in this situation, it's very likely Su Yue!"

Xiang Haitian was stunned for a moment, then said, "So you mean he's very likely still in the cave?"

A Qi hummed in agreement, then shook his head again, "It's just a possibility. Since the cave entrance collapsed, this could also be a trap left by Su Yue."

"Perhaps he's delaying our time, who knows."

Hearing this, Xiang Haitian gritted his teeth, and finally sighed, "If he's not there, then so be it. Rescuing the people is the priority now."

"If he is there, then... it seems it's fate that he will be arrested."

A Qi nodded, "Hope the collapse in that cave stopped him."

"Hope this Mr. Wang is Su Yue..."

"This way, when we rescue Xiao Xiao, we can also catch Su Yue at the same time..."

"But no matter who it is, he can't escape now."

...

In the cave, Su Yue naturally didn't know that people outside had begun to suspect his identity.

However, this was irrelevant to Su Yue.

Whether they knew his identity was "Mr. Wang" or "Su Yue", they would arrest him. So what Su Yue had to do was find a way to escape after they dug a passage.

"Cough cough cough..."

Xiao Xiao suddenly coughed, her voice particularly clear and harsh in the cave, like a heart-wrenching cry.

Su Yue frowned and asked with concern, "What's wrong? Did you catch a cold?"

Despite being in the dark, Xiao Xiao still shook her head, "No, it's an old problem, nothing serious."

However, as time passed, although neither of them felt hungry yet, the feeling of thirst gradually crept in.

In the darkness, Xiao Xiao's brows were tightly furrowed. She had just gone to the hospital yesterday to get medicine, and she didn't expect to encounter such an accident today.

"It should be fine..." she thought to herself, but a feeling of tension began to spread.

In this sealed environment, even if her condition flared up, she couldn't take medicine or receive first aid. This tension made her chest feel stuffy.

"Relax... relax..." she told herself over and over again, but this self-suggestion made her even more nervous.

Even Xiao Xiao's breathing became rapid, and she felt as if she was having difficulty breathing.

"Cough cough cough!" She coughed violently again, and her hands involuntarily pressed against her chest.

"Am I going to die?" This thought suddenly surged into her mind. The boundless darkness made her heart beat faster and faster.

The crisis of death was closing in step by step. She wanted to save herself, but her limbs were weak, and the sense of urgency was gradually eroding her mind.

She felt as if she was falling into the deep sea, unable to breathe, getting farther and farther from the surface, sinking towards the dark and deep seabed.

Just then, Xiao Xiao suddenly heard a voice beside her say, "Tell me how to save you."

This voice seemed to penetrate the dense water and reach her ears.

It was him...

Xiao Xiao looked in the direction of the voice, but in this darkness, she couldn't see anything.

That sudden hope that was instantly cut off made Xiao Xiao's chest even more painful.

She clutched her chest, and suddenly, her hand dropped powerlessly.

Snap.

Su Yue heard the sound and grabbed Xiao Xiao's hand in the direction of the sound.

"So cold?" he discovered in surprise.

"What's wrong with her? Could it be..." He didn't dare to imagine the worst possible outcome.

Although Su Yue's knowledge of medicine was limited, some relevant books he had recently read allowed him to immediately discern Xiao Xiao's current situation.

"Pulse is weak, hands are cold..." he muttered nervously to himself.

Immediately after, Su Yue quickly leaned close to Xiao Xiao's chest, no longer caring about too much.

He didn't want a dead person lying next to him in this dark environment!

He pulled open Xiao Xiao's clothes and listened. Although her heart was still warm, the sound of it beating was noticeably very slow.

"Shock?" he guessed, "Does she have some special illness?"

Warm reminder: The website is about to be revised, which may cause reading progress to be lost. Please save your "bookshelf" and "reading history" in time (screenshots are recommended). We apologize for any inconvenience caused!