71: Chapter 71 Cableway Completed

Several Soldiers used a door panel to carry back the bloodied person.

Every step they took was cautious.

As if the person lying on the door panel was not a human, but a piece of porcelain that would shatter completely with the slightest bump.

Shangguan Zhibiao followed beside them, his face ashen, his teeth clenching audibly.

He wanted to roar, wanted to curse, but couldn't utter a single word.

The Military Doctor in the warehouse rushed over, and with just one look, he froze.

That could no longer be called a back.

It was a charred, bloody mess, ploughed by shrapnel and shockwaves.

Several fragments of stark white bone had even protruded from the mangled flesh.

"This... this..."

The old Military Doctor's hands trembled violently. He had practiced medicine for half his life, yet he had never seen such terrifying injuries that still retained a trace of life.

He didn't even know where to begin.

"Save him!"

Shangguan Zhibiao's voice was hoarse, like a wounded beast.

"I order you, save him!"

The old Military Doctor's lips trembled. He wanted to say it was impossible, but seeing Shangguan Zhibiao's bloodshot eyes, he swallowed his words.

He could only use scissors, little by little, to cut open Chen Xi's tattered clothes that had long since stuck to his flesh and blood.

Each snip felt like it was cutting into everyone's heart.

"Regiment Commander..."

A Soldier watched this scene, his voice choked.

"Mr. Chen, he..."

Xie Jinyuan said nothing.

He just stood there, watching silently.

Watching the man who, for all of them, had used his own flesh and blood to carve out a path to survival.

There was no expression on his face.

But his tightly clenched hands, with knuckles turning white, betrayed the turmoil within him... The warehouse fell into an eerie, oppressive silence.

No one spoke.

Only the painful groans of the wounded and the almost imperceptible breathing of the person on the door panel could be heard.

Suddenly.

Xie Jinyuan turned around.

His gaze swept over every Soldier present.

His voice was not loud, but exceptionally clear.

"Mr. Chen used his life to secure the anchor point on the opposite bank for us."

"We cannot disappoint him."

He pointed to the huge winch, composed of countless gears.

"The final procedure."

"Begin!"

No mobilization.

No slogans.

The Soldiers silently stood up, wiped away their tears, and walked to the winch.

They knew what they had to do.

The heavy Main Cable slowly moved under their pulling.

The Great Wall Command Center.

Elder Long and all the experts stared intently at the main screen.

On it were real-time images of the warehouse interior and the Zipline installation point.

"Winch speed normal!"

"Main Cable movement speed, three point five meters per minute!"

"Wind speed stable, Zipline swing amplitude within safe range!"

Streams of data converged from various professional channels, integrated by AI, and finally sent to Chen Xi's system interface in the most concise way via encrypted bullet screen.

Although Chen Xi was unconscious.

Xie Jinyuan could see.

With Chen Xi's authorization, he had temporary observation rights to this "screen."

"Left winch, add two more people!"

Xie Jinyuan looked at the data on the screen and calmly issued commands.

He didn't understand what those complex parameters represented.

But he trusted Chen Xi.

He trusted this "eye" from the future, brought by Chen Xi.

This was an unprecedented collaboration.

Warriors of 1937, shedding blood and sweat, turned the winch representing the most primitive power of the industrial age.

Engineers of 2026, in temperature-controlled offices, tapped keyboards, providing them with the most precise data support from the information age.

Two timelines, at this moment, for the same goal, were closely connected in an unprecedented way.

The Main Cable, pulled by the Guide Rope, like a black giant python, slowly, steadily, crawled towards the opposite bank, that sole path to survival.

Time, minute by minute, flowed by.

The Soldiers' physical strength was rapidly depleting.

Everyone's clothes were soaked with sweat.

Their arms ached to the point of almost losing sensation.

But no one stopped.

They just gritted their teeth, squeezing out every last bit of strength and pouring it into the heavy winch.

Because they knew.

What they were turning was not a winch.

It was the lives of over four hundred brothers... Hours later.

In the last trace of darkness before dawn.

The end of the Main Cable, the metal head with a huge lock, finally reached the edge of the warehouse.

The final step.

Lock it onto the load-bearing pillar inside the warehouse.

"Prepare!"

Shangguan Zhibiao roared.

Several of the strongest Soldiers used crowbars and iron chains to firmly secure the huge lock.

"Pull!"

Everyone let out a beast-like roar.

Muscles tensed instantly.

Veins, like earthworms, bulged on their dark arms.

"Creak—"

A grating metallic friction sound echoed.

The lock, in an extremely slow, extremely difficult manner, was pulled little by little towards the cold, steel-forged load-bearing pillar.

Closer.

Even closer.

Click.

A crisp sound of metal locking into place suddenly rang out.

On this battlefield filled with blood and fire, this sound was almost negligible.

But at this moment.

It was like a thunderclap from the heavens, clearly resounding in everyone's ears.

Success.

The Hell Zipline, spanning the River of Death.

Was completed!

Inside the warehouse, there was first a dead silence.

Everyone seemed to have had their strength drained, slumping to the ground.

They looked at the steel cable, connecting life and death in the night, panting heavily.

A young Soldier, watching, suddenly smiled.

As he smiled, tears streamed down his face.

He didn't cry out loud.

He just wiped his face haphazardly with the back of his hand.

This laughter and crying seemed contagious.

Soon, a second, a third... The entire warehouse filled with a suppressed, strange sound, mixed with crying and laughter.

They hugged each other, patting each other's backs hard.

They had survived.

They could truly see tomorrow's sun.

Xie Jinyuan looked at these Soldiers who had survived the ordeal, a relieved smile appearing on his face.

But he didn't join them.

He turned around and slowly walked to the person who was still lying unconscious on the door panel.

All the cheers had nothing to do with him.

He was like an isolated island, quietly floating outside this ocean of joy.

Looking at that face as pale as paper, and those shocking wounds, Xie Jinyuan's eyes became incredibly complex.

There was gratitude.

There was admiration.

More than that, there was deep worry.

We have a path.

But can you still walk?

As if hearing his inner question.

Just as everyone watched with prayers.

That hand, stained with blood and dust, dangling over the edge of the door panel.

The index finger.

Again, faintly.

Curled.