218: Chapter 218 Operation Red Sea! War Correspondent Xia Qinglan! Hundreds of Overseas Chinese Taken Hostage!

How much time does it take for a bustling city to turn into ruins?

The answer is, three days!

The capital of the Wild Camel Country. Northern Sae City.

In the midst of the ruins, there stood a three-story factory.

The exterior of this factory was remarkably intact; aside from a few collapsed walls, it stood out starkly against the surrounding environment.

You have to understand, after three consecutive days of fierce airstrikes, it was nearly impossible to find another building as intact as this one in the vast northern part of Sae City.

Was it luck?

Not entirely.

Because atop this factory, a crimson dragon flag of China fluttered in the wind!

Inside the factory, listening to the occasional sound of explosions, over 300 refugees from various countries wore expressions of terror.

"Reporter Xia Qinglan!"

"When do you think our Chinese embassy will come to save us?"

"It's already been three days!"

"We're trapped here with no water, electricity, or food!"

"If the embassy people don't come soon, we're definitely going to die here!"

"Waaaah!..."

The middle-aged man grew increasingly aggrieved as he spoke, and by the end, he was sobbing openly.

"If I had known I'd earn money but not live to spend it, I never would have gone abroad to earn this damn money!"

"My poor eight-month-old child, I haven't even seen them once since they were born!"

"If I die here, leaving the mother and child behind, how will they survive!"

"Waaaah!..."

Reporter Xia Qinglan spoke up to comfort him.

"Engineer Wang, you must trust our motherland!"

"I estimate!"

"At the earliest tonight, at the latest tomorrow!"

"China will send people to rescue us!"

Hearing this, the panicked Engineer Wang, not caring whether it was true or not, regained hope.

"That's good, that's good!"

Reporter Xia Qinglan's words were also heard by the surrounding Chinese citizens, and everyone flocked over.

"Reporter Xia Qinglan, is what you said true?"

"You said the same thing yesterday!"

"It's been three days, and no one has come yet!"

"I pay so much tax to the country every year, and it's useless when it matters most!"

"It's fake, it must be fake!"

"Traffic is cut off outside, communications are blocked, how can they save us?"

"They can't save us, we're doomed!"

"..."

Seeing the crowd on the verge of losing control again, in order to take charge of the situation, Reporter Xia Qinglan raised her voice.

"Everyone listen to me!"

"Listen to me!!"

"Please rest assured!!"

"I, in my capacity as a war correspondent for CCTV, give you my word!!"

"Our China will absolutely never abandon any of our compatriots!!"

Reporter Xia Qinglan knew that she couldn't calm these people, who were on the verge of a mental breakdown, with just a few empty words.

She took a deep breath, stood up, and smiled at the crowd.

"Don't forget!"

"What day is it today?"

"It's the seventh day of the Lunar New Year!"

"On such an important day, we have hundreds of Chinese citizens trapped by war!"

"Ask yourselves, if something were to happen to us, what kind of impact would it have on China?"

Reporter Xia Qinglan's words were articulate and resonant, full of the professional style of a CCTV broadcaster, and combined with the persuasive nature of her words, she quickly calmed everyone's emotions significantly.

Seeing everyone's emotions gradually stabilizing, Reporter Xia Qinglan continued to encourage them.

"Put yourself in their shoes!"

"If it were you in the high-level leadership of China!"

"Could you watch your own compatriots die while trapped and out of contact during the Spring Festival?"

"The answer must be!"

"Do everything possible to carry out rescue operations, and never abandon or give up on anyone!"

"Everyone, think about it carefully, isn't that the logic!"

"Therefore!"

"We just need to trust our country and wait with peace of mind!"

The logic became clearer as she spoke, and Reporter Xia Qinglan's encouragement was very effective.

The people present, not knowing if it was to comfort others or themselves, quickly shifted from initial disparagement and despair toward China to fervent praise.

In the mouths of these people, it seemed as if China was already invincible, capable of wiping out all the armed militants outside in ten minutes, and then sending helicopters to rescue them all!

Some people became more and more excited, and some even began to lead the singing of the Chinese national anthem. As they sang, more and more people joined in, and the entire factory was filled with singing.

In a corner nearby, there were over 60 other foreign citizens who had taken refuge there. Although they couldn't understand Chinese, seeing these Chinese people looking so happy, they also felt much more at ease.

...

As everyone sang and danced, Reporter Xia Qinglan quietly retreated to a corner.

Others didn't know, but as a war correspondent, she knew best that the current predicament was by no means as simple as just blocked traffic!

The location of this factory was completely cut off from the Chinese Navy's evacuation point by the core area of the armed conflict!

According to normal procedures, even if a humanitarian corridor were opened, neither side of the conflict would abandon a core strategic stronghold!

Just thinking about it, both sides were fighting fiercely, so was it possible to have hundreds of people brazenly walk straight through the core area of the armed conflict?

Reporter Xia Qinglan felt a glimmer of despair in her heart, but she always kept a smile on her face.

She hid her emotions deep within her heart, not daring to reveal even a fraction of them.

...

Inside the factory. As more and more people sang the national anthem, the entire factory echoed with the sound.

There is an old Chinese saying: "Extreme joy begets sorrow." Now, in this factory, it had become a self-fulfilling prophecy...

Before they could finish singing the national anthem, a large group of armed militants wearing black headscarves, drawn by the sound, rushed into the factory, and the scene instantly descended into chaos.

"Cover your heads!"

"Get down!"

"Otherwise, we'll kill you!"

The leader first spoke a stream of the local language, and realizing no one understood, he simply took his AK rifle and fired into the ceiling.

"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!"

Hearing the gunshots, everyone immediately covered their heads and crouched down on the spot.

"Does anyone know how to speak the local language?"

Reporter Xia Qinglan stood up. "General, I understand it!"

The leader looked at Reporter Xia Qinglan with extreme disdain.

"A woman?"

"A heretic!"

Without another word, he raised his muzzle directly at Reporter Xia Qinglan's head!