The village head turned and ran towards Zhang Xi’s house, shouting loudly, "All n, co with ! Hurry up and dig him out!"
Du Heng was also dumbfounded. Wasn’t it said that no one was buried? How could one person still be missing? He couldn’t help but let out a curse, threw away the bread in his hand, and ran after the village head.
It’s been a whole night! If he’s really been buried in the soil all this ti, he’s probably already stiff. They could set up a tombstone for him right here.
Hurrying, he took a few quick steps, caught up with the village head, and asked, "Mr. Zhang, what’s going on?"
The village head’s face was grim. "Zhang Xi is a bachelor in our village; he lives alone. Yesterday, when I was knocking on everyone’s doors, I knocked on his. I have a vague impression he even answered . How did he not get out?"
Du Heng didn’t know what to say.
A bachelor, living alone. No one cares whether such a person lives or dies. In other families, even the disabled and paralyzed had been safely evacuated. So people had even carried out their pigs and sheep. Yet, no one had paid any attention to this grown man. It had been a whole night. If the village head hadn’t specifically checked for him, they wouldn’t even have damn well known he hadn’t escaped. Bachelors really have no presence at all.
Looking at the village head’s face, pale and bloodless from a sleepless night, Du Heng could only sigh and quicken his pace to keep up.
Shang Ling Village was a village built against the mountainside, its houses arranged in tiers like terraced fields. The sand quarry on the back mountain had collapsed. Mountain torrents, carrying debris, gravel, and mud, surged down. The houses in the lower part of the village, unable to withstand the force, were instantly swept away along with their courtyards.
Du Heng followed the crowd, running, but their progress was painfully slow. It looked like solid gravel, but when they stepped on it, their legs imdiately sank. There was no solid ground beneath the gravel; it was all thick mud. And the farther in they went, the deeper the mud beca. Everyone proceeded with extre caution, each step careful.
Fortunately, Zhang Xi’s house was on the outskirts of the village, so they quickly reached its location. As they looked, they saw the old house had been struck by the mudflow from behind, causing the entire structure to tilt precariously forward. If it weren’t for the main wooden roof beams still holding, they might not have seen any discernible structure at all, just a mound. It was also thanks to these beams that the roof hadn’t completely collapsed, forming an angled space against the ground.
Under the village head’s direction, the n from their village, along with helpers from a neighboring village, worked together and managed to dig a small opening at the front.
Du Heng was extrely anxious. He desperately needed to know if anyone was under the house. This desperate uncertainty tornted him, making him deeply uncomfortable. He was afraid of finding soone, yet equally afraid of finding no one. If the man hadn’t escaped and was trapped under the now-collapsed house, his chances of survival were slim. But if there was no one inside, where could he have gone? The most terrifying possibility was that he had been directly engulfed by the mudslide.
As soon as a small opening was cleared, the village head, impatient, crawled in, leaving only the lower half of his body visible outside. But he quickly crawled back out. Ignoring the mud caking his head, he looked around anxiously, calling, "Doctor Du! Doctor Du! He’s in there!"
Du Heng squeezed through the crowd and rushed to the opening. He asked the mud-covered village head, "What’s the situation? How is he?"
The village head was agitated, gasping for breath. "He’s in there! The wooden edge of the roof is pressed against the ground, leaving a gap. He’s in that gap! But there are several timbers pinning his legs. We don’t know if he’s alive or dead."
"Let take a look," Du Heng said. To ascertain the situation, Du Heng bent down and crawled into the small, excavated opening. As soon as his head was inside, he saw a chaotic jumble of long wooden planks—the ones that had ford the roof—now strewn about haphazardly. Moreover, mud and water continuously seeped from what remained of the roof. The few supporting beams still in place were already precarious, groaning and threatening to give way at any mont.
Scanning the dim space, Du Heng spotted a man to one side—a man who was still snoring softly. The village head must have been too agitated earlier; he’d seen the man but hadn’t noticed the snoring before quickly climbing out.
If the situation hadn’t been so dire, Du Heng would have unleashed every curse word he knew. A large group of people outside were frantic with worry for this man, and here he was, sleeping so soundly he was snoring! But then he rembered the man was drunk. How could he stay angry with him?
"Zhang Xi! Zhang Xi!" Du Heng suppressed his irritation. The crucial thing now was to see if he could wake Zhang Xi and get him to crawl out on his own. After Du Heng called out several tis, Zhang Xi finally opened his eyes, dazed.
Seeing Zhang Xi attempting to sit up, Du Heng hurriedly shouted, "Zhang Xi, don’t move! Lie still!"
Zhang Xi, now sowhat sobered, was stunned by the chaotic scene before him. Hearing the shouts, he cooperatively remained still, only slowly turning his head, his eyes filled with confusion. What happened? Am I still drunk? Why does my leg hurt so much?
"AHHH! My leg! It hurts so much! Is it broken?" The heart-wrenching scream startled Du Heng. He’d never imagined a man in his thirties or forties could produce such a piercing, desperate cry.
"Stop howling!" Du Heng shouted, his patience wearing thin. Zhang Xi’s voice was so damn piercing. If it weren’t for his conscience, that shriek alone would have made Du Heng want to crawl right back out. "Stop your howling and try to move your body! See if you can shift outward!"
Zhang Xi seed to understand. Though still wailing, he began to inch his body outward, squirming like a maggot. As Zhang Xi moved, Du Heng saw the roof beam directly above the man’s head: a massive round log, fifty centiters thick, suspended precariously just above him. Every ti Zhang Xi shifted, the heavy beam moved too, and Du Heng’s heart leaped into his throat.
"Zhang Xi, smaller movents! Slower! Edge out slowly," Du Heng urged, his own voice now hushed and calm, trying to soothe him. "Just a little further. If I can reach your hand, I can pull you out."
Zhang Xi’s legs were pinned by several timbers. Du Heng couldn’t tell if they were broken, but every ti Zhang Xi moved, he would cry out, his wails clearly conveying excruciating pain.
"Almost there, almost there! A little more effort! I can nearly reach your hand!" While encouraging Zhang Xi, Du Heng carefully and cautiously cleared away the debris near him, trying to create more space to make it easier for Zhang Xi to maneuver.
Suddenly, Du Heng felt the makeshift roof above him shift and slide lower; pressure mounted on his back. Just then, he heard the village head’s furious roar from outside, "What in the hell do you think you’re doing?! Who told you to shovel that mud?"
A terrible premonition struck Du Heng. Before he could process it, the pressure on his back intensified sharply, crushing him flat against the ground. And he could only watch, horrified, as the massive roof beam slamd directly onto Zhang Xi’s forehead.
Then, everything went black as the remaining structure caved in completely.
Du Heng was plunged into darkness, the front half of his body buried. Fortunately, the jumble of timbers above his head had ford a small pocket of space, enough that he wouldn’t suffocate imdiately. But his entire waist and back were pinned, the crushing weight making him feel as if his spine would snap.
The people outside, terrified, grabbed Du Heng’s exposed leg and pulled hard. With that single, powerful tug, Du Heng felt as if he were being torn in two; his waist scread as if it were about to break. In a desperate panic, Du Heng could only flail his free leg wildly, kicking away those who were pulling him.
The village head saw Du Heng’s frantic kicking and understood at once. He hurriedly shouted for everyone to stop, "Don’t pull him by force! Dig away the earth from above!"
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