Chapter 243 Typhoon Strikes

December 7, 2038.

Six o'clock in the morning, offshore platform.

Chen Xueming was awakened by urgent calls over the walkie-talkie.

"Director Chen! Director Chen! Emergency report from the Meteorological Center!"

He grabbed the walkie-talkie: "Speak!"

"Typhoon 'Haiyan' has suddenly changed its path! It was supposed to turn five hundred kilometers away, but now it's heading straight for us! It's expected to make landfall early tomorrow morning, with center winds at Category 14!"

Chen Xueming sprang from his bed and rushed out of the dormitory.

The corridor was already in chaos. Workers ran out of their rooms, some still in pajamas, some barefoot. In the distance, the sky over the sea was gloomy, with dark clouds piling up on the horizon like a closing black wall.

He rushed into the command room, and the meteorological satellite map on the screen made him gasp.

That massive vortex was moving toward the platform's coordinates at a speed visible to the naked eye, its edge already touching the warning line. Data refreshed constantly—center winds at 42 m/s, gusts at 55 m/s, and wave heights expected to exceed ten meters.

"When was this confirmed?" he asked.

The meteorologist on duty turned pale: "Five minutes ago. They kept saying it would turn, but suddenly..."

"Forget that," Chen Xueming interrupted. "Notify all construction vessels to evacuate immediately! Head for the nearest sheltered harbor! Platform personnel, Level 1 emergency response!"

The walkie-talkie instantly erupted into a frenzy.

"Vessel No. 1 copies!"

"Vessel No. 2 is weighing anchor!"

"Vessel No. 3..."

Chen Xueming rushed to the window and saw the engineering ships moored around the platform beginning their emergency evacuation. The ten-thousand-ton pile-driving ship turned slowly, dragging its massive hull away. The smaller barges were faster, already hundreds of meters out.

But the platform couldn't move.

This steel giant island of over sixty thousand tons was pinned firmly to the seabed by over a hundred steel piles. It could withstand a Category 15 typhoon—theoretically. But the equipment stacked on the platform, the newly arrived Carbon Nanotubes spools, and the crane components that hadn't been installed yet—they couldn't.

"Director Chen!" Liu Jianguo rushed in, drenched in sweat. "The ships have evacuated, but what about the stuff on the platform? That batch of Carbon Nanotubess just arrived yesterday and is still stacked in the East District!"

Chen Xueming gritted his teeth: "Organize a crew. Reinforce what can be reinforced, and move what can be moved. Everyone else, head to the living quarters to take shelter!"

"Understood!"

At eight in the morning, the first round of reinforcement began.

Chen Xueming led over twenty workers to the East District storage yard. Over thirty crates of Carbon Nanotubes spools were neatly stacked there, each weighing two tons. These were the first batch of 'rebar' for the sky ladder project, produced after a three-month wait.

"Secure them with steel cables! At least four per crate!" Chen Xueming roared, grabbing a cable himself to start tying.

The workers followed suit. Some drove forklifts to adjust positions, some climbed up to hook ropes, and others handed over tools. The sea breeze grew stronger, making it hard to stand steady. The sky had turned completely dark, with dark clouds hanging so low they almost touched the tops of the tower cranes.

"Director Chen, there are crane components over there!" someone shouted.

Chen Xueming turned to look—beside the partially installed tower crane on the east side, several large crates of parts were stacked. Even the smallest parts weighed hundreds of pounds; if the wind blew them away, it wouldn't just be a heavy loss, they could also smash other equipment.

"A few of you, come with me!"

He led five or six men and rushed over. Halfway there, a sudden gust of wind nearly knocked him over. He stumbled a few steps and grabbed a fixed pile to steady himself.

"Damn it!" he cursed and continued rushing forward.

The wind grew stronger. By the time they reached the crane, the rain had started—not as drops, but as a curtain of water crashing down. Visibility blurred instantly, making it impossible to see more than a few meters ahead.

"Push the crates behind the crane base!" Chen Xueming roared, his voice torn apart by the wind. "Cover them with windproof nets! Weigh them down with sandbags!"

Pushing and pulling, the men moved the heavy crates inch by inch to the leeward side of the crane base. The windproof nets were specially made, each weighing hundreds of pounds, requiring several men's combined strength just to cover them. Sandbags were piled on top, layer by layer, for two full levels.

By the time they finished, everyone was soaked through, though whether it was rain or sweat, no one could tell.

At twelve noon, the wind and waves were so great that outdoor work was no longer possible.

Chen Xueming led the last group of workers back to the living quarters. They practically crawled back—the wind was so strong that they couldn't stand, so they had to use their hands and feet, grabbing anything they could.

The moment he burst through the door of the living quarters, Chen Xueming glanced back.

The sea had completely changed. Massive waves surged one after another, slamming against the platform's edge and kicking up walls of water over ten meters high. The sky and the ocean were indistinguishable, the entire world a chaotic blur of gray and white.

The living quarters were crowded. Over three hundred workers were there, except for those who had evacuated on the ships. Some stood by the windows watching the storm, some sat on the floor in silence, and some prayed in low voices.

"Director Chen!" a young technician ran over. "Communications are still working! Chief Designer Lin has been asking for updates!"

Chen Xueming took the satellite phone.

"Old Lin!" he shouted.

"Xueming!" Lin Mo's voice came through the receiver, laced with obvious anxiety. "How are things over there? How many people have evacuated?"

"All the construction ships are gone. There are over three hundred people on the platform, all gathered in the living quarters!" Chen Xueming roared, the background filled with the sound of wind and rain. "We've reinforced all the equipment we could, the rest is up to fate!"

"Listen to me," Lin Mo's voice was solemn. "People are the most important! Equipment can be rebuilt if it's lost, but people can't! No matter what happens, you must protect the people!"

Chen Xueming was silent for a second: "I know."

"And," Lin Mo paused, "you have to come back alive, too."

Chen Xueming was stunned for a moment, then he laughed. Though it was a strange time to laugh, he did anyway.

"Old Lin, don't worry. I'm a tough one to kill."

Hanging up the phone, he turned to look at the people in the living quarters.

Over three hundred pairs of eyes were watching him.

He took a deep breath and said loudly, "You all heard that? Chief Designer Lin said people are the most important! Equipment can be rebuilt! So from now on, everyone stays in the living quarters. No one is allowed out!"

Someone in the crowd shouted, "Director Chen, what about you?"

"Me?" Chen Xueming pointed to himself. "I'm staying here too, of course. We're weathering this together."

At three in the afternoon, the center of the typhoon was only a hundred kilometers from the platform.

The living quarters began to shake.

This four-story complex was designed with wind resistance in mind, its foundation deep within the platform structure, theoretically able to withstand a Category 15 typhoon. But theory was one thing; when the gale truly arrived, no one could remain completely calm.

Every time a massive wave struck the platform, the entire building would shudder violently, as if shoved by a giant. The windows rattled under the wind pressure, and a few had already begun to leak. The sound of the wind was no longer a whistle but a sharp shriek, like countless wild beasts roaring.

Chen Xueming stood in the center of the first-floor lobby, looking out the window.

Through the rain-blurred glass, he saw the windproof nets at the storage yard bulging, looking as if they could be torn apart at any moment. In the distance, the boom of the unfinished tower crane swayed violently in the wind, making a tooth-gritting creak.

"Director Chen," Liu Jianguo whispered beside him, "that crane... it won't fall, will it?"

Chen Xueming stared at the swaying boom: "It shouldn't. The base has twelve piles, each twenty meters deep."

As soon as he finished speaking, a loud crash rang out.

Everyone's nerves tightened.

Chen Xueming rushed to the window—it wasn't the crane, but a shipping container at the storage yard that had been blown over. The container had been stacked at the very top and was ripped off by the wind, slamming onto the steel plates below with a deafening boom.

"Damn it!" He gritted his teeth.

Just then, a panicked cry came over the walkie-talkie: "Director Chen! There's someone over by Pier 3!"

Chen Xueming's heart tightened: "Who is it?!"

"I don't know! I just saw them on the monitor, a few figures! Probably workers who didn't evacuate in time!"

Chen Xueming's head buzzed.

Pier 3 was at the very edge of the platform and should have been empty by now. If anyone was really there, they wouldn't survive this storm.

He grabbed his hard hat and rushed out.

"Director Chen!" Liu Jianguo grabbed him. "Are you crazy?! You'll die if you go out now!"

"There are people still out there!" Chen Xueming threw off his hand. "I'm going to look!"

"I'll go!" a young worker nearby stood up. "Director Chen, you stay, I'll go!"

"Enough talk!" Chen Xueming was already at the door. "Anyone willing to follow, come!"

He pushed open the door, and the gale instantly swallowed him.

Pier 3 was three hundred meters from the living quarters.

A walk that normally took five minutes took Chen Xueming twenty minutes of crawling.

The wind was so strong he couldn't stand at all; he had to crawl forward, grabbing onto anything on the ground—fixed piles, cables, gaps in the steel plates. The rain hit him like stones, causing stinging pain. Several times, massive waves crashed over him, submerging him completely, nearly sweeping him away.

Five men followed behind him.

Liu Jianguo and four young workers. Like Chen Xueming, they were flat on the ground, moving forward inch by inch.

"Director Chen!" Liu Jianguo shouted from behind. "How much further!"

Chen Xueming looked up, barely making out the direction through the curtain of rain: "Ahead! Another hundred meters!"

Another gust of wind hit, and he was tumbled over twice, only stopping when he hit a fixed pile. His ribs ached from the impact, but he didn't care and continued crawling forward.

Finally, they saw the figures.

Three workers were huddled behind equipment at the end of Pier 3, clinging tightly to each other. There was no cover around them; a massive wave could sweep them away at any moment.

"Over here!" Chen Xueming roared, his voice shredded by the wind. "Get over here!"

The three men heard him. They looked up and saw Chen Xueming and the others as if they were seeing saviors. But as soon as they tried to stand, they were blown off balance.

"Don't stand up! Crawl over!" Chen Xueming roared.

The three began to crawl. They covered the dozens of meters in five minutes. Halfway, one man was nearly swept away by a wave; Chen Xueming rushed over, grabbed his arm, and hauled him back by force.

Only when the last person crawled into the safety zone did Chen Xueming see their faces.

All three were new workers, one of whom was not even twenty years old, his face full of terror.

"Why the hell are you still out here?!" Chen Xueming roared.

The young worker cried out, "We wanted to reinforce more equipment... we didn't expect the wind to get so strong so fast..."

"Enough talk! Follow us, crawl back!"

Seven people began to crawl back.

Five went out, seven came back. The wind was stronger, the waves higher. Every time a massive wave hit, someone's body was dragged, but they clung to the ground and each other, moving back inch by inch.

Chen Xueming's arms were numb, whether from the cold or the exertion. There was only one thought in his mind—get everyone back.

Suddenly, a scream came from behind.

He turned and saw the youngest worker being lifted by a wave, his body going airborne, flying toward the sea.

Chen Xueming didn't hesitate; he let go of the fixed pile and lunged.

He grabbed the worker's wrist in mid-air, and then both slammed onto the edge of the pier. The worker's lower body was already dangling over the edge, with ten-meter-high waves below.

"Hold on to me!" Chen Xueming roared, one hand death-gripping the pier's railing, the other clutching the worker's wrist.

The wind tore at them, the waves pounded them. Chen Xueming felt like his arm was about to dislocate, but he didn't dare let go.

Liu Jianguo and the others crawled over and pulled the worker up with multiple hands. Then they pulled Chen Xueming up.

Everyone collapsed on the pier, gasping for air.

"Let's go!" Chen Xueming struggled to his feet. "Keep crawling!"

They crawled for another ten minutes.

When the door to the living quarters finally appeared before them, everyone was on the verge of collapse. The door was pushed open, and the people inside rushed forward to drag them in.

The door slammed shut, sealing out the gale and the waves.

At eight in the evening, the eye of the typhoon passed over.

In the living quarters, everyone huddled together. No one spoke; there was only the sound of wind, rain, and the occasional screech of tearing metal.

Chen Xueming leaned against the wall, soaked to the bone, his arms too painful to lift. Liu Jianguo sat beside him, wrapping him in gauze—at some point, a long gash had been cut into his arm, and the blood had already clotted.

"Director Chen," Liu Jianguo whispered, "you really were reckless just now."

Chen Xueming didn't speak.

The young worker who had been saved squeezed through, knelt before him, and cried, "Director Chen, thank you... thank you..."

Chen Xueming looked at him and said after a long while, "Next time, follow orders."

The young worker nodded frantically.

Outside, the wind still howled.

But the most violent moment had passed.

At four in the morning, the wind stopped.

Chen Xueming pushed open the door of the living quarters and walked out.

The sight before him made him fall silent.

The storage yard was a mess. Several containers had been blown over, their contents scattered. Windproof nets were torn to shreds, fluttering from the crane. The boom of the unfinished tower crane was twisted and deformed.

But the Carbon Nanotubes spools were still there.

Of the over thirty crates of spools, except for the top one which had been blown over, the rest were firmly fixed in place. The steel cables were pulled taut, but not a single one had snapped.

Pier 3 was still there.

The equipment they had just saved was still there.

The people were all still there.

Chen Xueming stood in the center of the ruins, watching the sky slowly brighten.

His phone rang.

It was Lin Mo.

"Xueming! Are you still alive?!"

Chen Xueming wanted to speak, but his throat felt blocked. He cleared his throat before saying, "Alive. Everyone's alive."

The other end of the line was silent for a few seconds.

Then Lin Mo said, "Good."

Just that one word.

But Chen Xueming heard everything in that word.

He hung up the phone and looked at the streak of spreading orange-red on the eastern horizon.

The sun was coming out.