WS - Chapter 110
Chapter 110
"Hah, so it seems I am that sheep."
When seven or eight Armed Forces soldiers rushed into Yao Yuxi's office, they saw inside one sitting and one standing, two women holding hands, and the paler one sitting in the chair let out a couple of chuckles and spoke a sentence they couldn't understand.
"Don't move. We are Unit 371 of the Mingtan System carrying out a mission. Which of you is Yao Yuxi?" An Armed Forces soldier stepped forward and spoke with a stern face.
Yao Yuxi stood up.
"You're coming with us." The soldier strode forward and was about to grab Yao Yuxi's arm.
Ye Liu frowned and instinctively blocked him.
Arm and hand collided with a thud; neither expected the other to be so strong.
"You, hands up!" The Armed Forces soldier stepped back and aimed his weapon at Ye Liu.
"I'll go with them." Yao Yuxi held Ye Liu, who was protectively standing in front of her, and slowly pulled her behind herself.
Ye Liu, who had just managed to clash head-on with a professional Armed Forces soldier, was easily pulled away by Yao Yuxi, whose face was pale and who had no strength at all.
Yao Yuxi stood before the Armed Forces soldier, forced a smile, and said softly, "If I leave just like this, many things in the company will be hard to keep running. Could I write a note authorizing someone to temporarily manage and make decisions for a while? Just two minutes."
"No. We have to go now. Extend your hand; I need to uninstall your StarNet Port." The Armed Forces soldier was unmoved by Yao Yuxi's agreeable attitude.
The hand wearing the StarNet Port by Yao Yuxi's side twitched slightly.
In places the Armed Forces soldiers couldn't see, those two videos were still playing.
Aunt Yao's daughter had not yet been rescued...
"Hurry up!" The Armed Forces soldier raised the hand holding his weapon and barked.
Without even turning her head, Yao Yuxi reached back and pressed down, instantly pressing on Ye Liu, who was indeed about to stir again.
No matter how skilled, could she be a match for these heavily armed interstellar soldiers?
What a silly girl.
Yao Yuxi slowly extended the hand wearing the StarNet Port.
Just then, a "ding-dong" of the elevator sounded outside, followed by footsteps completely different from the orderly ones when the Armed Forces soldiers appeared—numerous, chaotic, and rapid.
Most of the Armed Forces soldiers standing at the rear raised their weapons and aimed backward.
"Wait! We're on the same side! Same side!"
Even before seeing who was coming in, upon hearing that somewhat familiar voice, Yao Yuxi immediately lowered the hand that was almost raised before the Armed Forces soldier.
"You!" Feeling deceived, the Armed Forces soldier angrily tightened his grip on his weapon.
But Yao Yuxi just smiled.
The people outside came in quickly and smoothly, just as they had said before: the police and the Armed Forces can't really be considered enemies, can they?
However, soon those Armed Forces soldiers who had readily lowered their weapons to let them in would regret it.
The most senior person among those who came, Luo San, though merely a bureau director, brought orders from higher up.
Both were orders from above, but Luo San's higher-ups just happened to outrank the Armed Forces' higher-ups by a bit.
The Armed Forces, who had been the quickest to deploy to the Aerospace Bureau, the quickest to identify the issues inside, and the quickest to come arrest someone, ultimately lost in the power struggle of higher-ups and sheepishly withdrew from Yao Yuxi's office.
With the Armed Forces gone, Luo San waved his hand and shooed his subordinates out as well.
Once everyone unrelated had left, Luo San took off his hat, wiped sweat from his Mediterranean bald spot, and plopped down into a chair.
"Eh, eh, lost another handful." Looking at a short hair on his hand, Luo San sighed.
"Thank you, Director Luo." Yao Yuxi said it not with great formality, but with a closeness entirely different from how she'd faced the Armed Forces soldiers earlier.
"Enough. I was only two minutes late and I've already gone from 'Uncle Luo' to 'Director Luo.' How could I possibly deserve a thank you?" Luo San glanced at Yao Yuxi. "Big niece, you've gotten yourself into quite a bit of trouble this time. Even though you don't have to go with them for now, you still need to come with me to my bureau."
"I'll do as Uncle Luo says." Yao Yuxi seemed to shed some of her earlier tension, but after a pause she repeated what she'd told the Armed Forces about the numerous company matters and the need to write a note authorizing someone to make decisions for a while.
Luo San was naturally far more reasonable than those Armed Forces soldiers. He waved his hand and said, "Write, write, you can even take twenty minutes. By the way, will just writing a note like that really work? Won't you need a lawyer to come? And aren't you going to ask me—why they, and I, came looking for you?"
"What is it? Can you tell me now?" Yao Yuxi had some guesses, but without certainty, she'd wanted to wait for Luo San to bring it up first.
Whoever raised the subject first would be at a disadvantage. Those Armed Forces soldiers earlier—Yao Yuxi knew they wouldn't say anything. Maybe they wouldn't reveal anything until they had thoroughly interrogated her. But... Luo San was different.
Sure enough, as soon as Yao Yuxi asked, Luo San gave her a sidelong glance. "That deputy director at the Aerospace Bureau, Deputy Director Sun, is dead. Around the time of the Yaoxing Storm on Wilderness Planet, he took poison in his office. He was already cold when they found him. A suicide note was laid out in front of him, saying that over two years ago, you used his wife, children, lovers, and illegitimate children to threaten him, making him conceal the Yaoxing Storm on Wilderness Planet this time, and he complied. Later he hid all those people away and stopped doing your bidding, but didn't dare report you, and his conscience kept tormenting him. Until this Yaoxing Storm really happened, he couldn't bear his guilty conscience, wrote the note, told about your affair, and then killed himself."
At just the beginning, Yao Yuxi couldn't help but exchange a glance with Ye Liu. They had indeed guessed some things wrong.
They had originally thought those Armed Forces soldiers and Luo San had come because of her unauthorized use of unregistered cameras to conduct unapproved filming, and thus suspected her of involvement with the Yaoxing Storm. They hadn't expected... the setup there was so deep.
But Luo San hadn't finished there.
"That Deputy Sun also wrote in his note that back then, out of fear, he'd destroyed all evidence of your dealings. However, he discovered you might not have been completely at ease, so recently he sought out a young director in their bureau named Zhao and obtained Wilderness Planet data once, just a few days before that variety show started." As he spoke, Luo San touched his head again and sighed. "There's quite a lot of evidence. You'll definitely have to come back with me. Next we'll see how to investigate and prove the evidence unreliable. I hope we have enough time... This time the military got into the Aerospace Bureau first, and it was they who found Sun. Even though we've now taken over the case, I don't know how long we can hold onto it."
"As long as we can uncover leads, we can keep it until the investigation is finished." Yao Yuxi touched the StarNet Port on her wrist and added, "This port—I won't be able to use it after I go in, will I?"
"Mm, it has to be removed. Zhao Youxiang's has already been taken off, and the tech department is working to restore your communications." Luo San checked the time on his own port. "Whatever you need to do, do it quickly. Although I said you could take twenty minutes to write something, we should still head down soon to avoid the military having something to say and causing more trouble."
With Luo San speaking so plainly, how could Yao Yuxi not grasp his meaning?
"Thank you, Uncle Luo." Yao Yuxi was genuinely grateful for Luo San's trust. With so much evidence, that Luo San could still believe and help her—this went beyond his relationship with the Yao family; it was also thanks to the many years of friendship between them.
"What are you thanking me for, with that touched expression? Hurry up." Luo San gave Yao Yuxi another sidelong look, paused briefly, then spoke again more cautiously. "Big niece, let me make this clear first: no matter who you are, you're still my big niece. I didn't mean to investigate you; I just happened to run into something on the edges. I was thinking, would you consider making that young lady's identity public? Then your looking for Zhao Youxiang would have a solid reason. If one of Deputy Sun's points in the note falls apart, the suspiciousness of the other points increases. It only benefits you."
The hand Yao Yuxi was using to tap rapidly on the holographic screen paused briefly. She looked up with a touch of relief. "I was wondering why Uncle Luo's trust came so unreasonably and overwhelmingly this time. Turns out you already knew about that matter."
"Mm." Luo San nodded and added, "Don't worry—only I and one of my subordinates know. Speaking of which, those shareholders under you probably only know you transferred your shares to Yao Qing's biological daughter, but they don't know who she is, right? By the way, just out of curiosity, what's there to hide? That young lady seems quite healthy, lively, and perfectly normal. Since you voluntarily gave her all your shares, your relationship should be all right, shouldn't it? Why haven't you made it public? Afraid for Yao Group's stock price? That shouldn't be it—you're not afraid of that..."
"It's not because of the stock price." Yao Yuxi's fingertip that had been poking the screen paused again. Then she sighed. "Even though it's only been a year since we found her, Qianqian has a great personality and our relationship is very good. But... well, for other reasons, we chose not to make public yet that we were switched at birth. We were about to go public... I never thought..."
"If we make it public now, there's a good chance some will say this Yaoxing Storm was engineered by President Yao to get rid of Feng Qianqian." Ye Liu glanced at Luo San and said bluntly, "Actually, it was those two Mu brothers who wanted to get rid of their father's illegitimate son, Mu Xingzhou."
"What the..." Luo San, who had been slumped in his chair, immediately sat up straight. "I haven't even started investigating, and you've already pieced it all together?"
Ye Liu glanced at the screen Yao Yuxi was still sharing beside her. On the right screen, Mu Xingzhou had already thrown himself beside Feng Qianqian, whose legs were crushed under a huge rock and who was unconscious, calling out repeatedly, "Feng Qianqian! Feng Qianqian!"
Even at a time like this, he's still trying to keep his distance, with a concerned face for a stranger, calling her by her full name.
If he's so afraid of people knowing, he should have guts not to show up with any concern at all!
Idiot.
Ye Liu cursed inwardly.
"When we found Feng Qianqian back then, we conveniently checked into her underground boyfriend at the time—oh, that's this Mu Xingzhou. Then we discovered he's Old Master Mu's illegitimate son, and we felt that since he and Feng Qianqian had been dating for several years, and it was still a secret relationship, plus he'd never mentioned this other identity to Feng Qianqian at all." Ye Liu dodged Yao Yuxi's hand trying to grab her sleeve. "Feng Qianqian said to keep her situation undisclosed for now and see what happens. That 'seeing' lasted almost a year. This time, if not for Mu Xingzhou, why would Feng Qianqian go be some assistant, go to Wilderness Planet? None of your current troubles would have happened."
When she spoke the last sentence, Ye Liu directed it at Yao Yuxi with barely suppressed dissatisfaction.
Yao Yuxi sighed softly.
"If you cut me a watermelon right now, I might think I'm not a police chief but just a melon-eating spectator." Luo San touched his head—this time three hairs fell out, truly a handful now. He couldn't help but laugh. "Seriously, why don't you consider coming to work for me? The pay isn't much, but the people need you."
"Qianqian... is in great danger now." Yao Yuxi lowered her eyes and chose to share the screen with Luo San.
"Holy shit!" Earlier, when Ye Liu said the Mu brothers were the ringleaders of this Yaoxing Storm, Luo San had merely sat up straight. But now, the screen that suddenly appeared before him made Luo San, like a popcorn kernel heated to perfection, jump up from his chair.
Yao Yuxi: "..."
Ye Liu: "..."
"Didn't you say it was a Yaoxing Storm? Where's this livestream from? Holy shit, what's going on with Feng Qianqian?! Why is she lying there?! If Yao Qing saw this she'd come shooting up from the underworld!" The moment Luo San jumped up, his body lunged forward, his face practically pressing into the holographic screen.
Earlier, Yao Yuxi had been a step too late pulling Ye Liu; this time, Ye Liu was a step too late pulling Yao Yuxi.
Soon, with their explanations, Luo San finally understood the ins and outs of the whole situation.
Although the Aerospace Bureau had abundant evidence, Yao Yuxi and Ye Liu were basically going on pure speculation. But from Luo San's many years of experience clawing his way up from the very bottom to this position, their speculation was probably already very close to the truth.
"All right, regarding this livestream, what are you planning to do next?" Having digested their words, Luo San got straight to the point, as time was limited.
"Since I won't be able to use the StarNet Port going forward, I'll transfer the permissions to Ye Liu, record anything suspicious first, and see if there's a chance to link it to the Mu Group. Actually, we could also probe Old Master Mu's attitude. Right now Mu Xingzhou is still alive. If Old Master Mu personally sees the footage of Zhao Da and the others about to make a move on Mu Xingzhou, might he make some choices between his two sons and Mu Xingzhou?" Yao Yuxi said, looking at Ye Liu.
Luo San touched his head—this time five fell out...
"Xiao Liu, you grew up with Yuxi and have always protected her since you were little. You tell me, this livestream..." Luo San looked at Ye Liu, but before he could finish, Ye Liu spoke.
"President Yao is the scapegoat the Mu brothers have chosen. Since they dared to do this, they're fully prepared to make the charges stick. Maybe Deputy Director Sun was only their first step... but I still can't figure out what their next move will be. We can't just keep waiting and passively take the beating. Compared to the fake evidence they've fabricated, all we have is Mu Xingzhou's identity and the video of Zhao Da throwing a rock earlier. If we submit this evidence, there's no way it can shake the evidence they've built using human lives." Ye Liu glanced at Yao Yuxi. "Perhaps we could wait—wait for Zhao Da to kill Mu Xingzhou, wait for them to return from Wilderness Planet, wait for our recorded video to pass verification, wait for them to be interrogated. But how long will that take? How long will you be sitting in prison?"
Yao Yuxi: "With Luo..."
"Maybe you'll be transferred into the hands of those Armed Forces soldiers from before. The Mu Group has so much money—how much do you think those two would be willing to spend to pin the crime on you, paying off how high up? And right now, you're merely the nominal caretaker of Yao Group; you don't own even 0.01 percent of the shares. What will you use to fight them? Do you think this fight will just be about the truth from now on?" Ye Liu said expressionlessly, but her fingers were practically kneading the hem of her shirt into shreds. "I suggest we make the livestream public. We have enough resources to keep the government from tracing the source quickly. It won't even need much time—just five minutes, ten minutes, and this livestream will spread across the star system. No matter whose hands it originated from, those who see it won't let it be easily shut down. Even if traced back to us, it will keep going. Then we'll leak the matter of the Mu brothers and Mu Xingzhou, plus whatever else Zhao Da and the others do in the livestream. At the very least, we'll gain a foothold in public opinion."
As soon as Ye Liu heard Luo San bring up their childhood, she knew he shared her thoughts. They had no way to intervene in what was happening on Wilderness Planet right now, but Yao Yuxi was right there, so of course they had to protect what they could first.
What's more... although Feng Qianqian was Yao Qing's bloodline, the one they'd known and gotten along with all these years was Yao Yuxi. The former head of the Yao family, Yao Qing, had always believed Yao Yuxi was her biological daughter and cherished her like a precious jewel. Later after a marital breakup, she shouldered both family and career alone. She raised Yao Yuxi in the palm of her hand and before her death left her a thriving Yao Group. Not long after, Yao Yuxi discovered she had actually been switched at birth... Her longing for her late mother and her guilt toward Feng Qianqian all turned into love and concern for this younger sister.
But no matter how important Feng Qianqian was to Yao Yuxi, as far as Ye Liu was concerned, the only one she cared about was Yao Yuxi.
And now they weren't being forced to choose between the two; it was merely asking Feng Qianqian to pay with a small possible issue in her love life, and in return Yao Yuxi would gain more time and support.
Even a fool would choose that.
Ye Liu had laid it out thoroughly.
Yao Yuxi, however, didn't speak for a moment.
It was Luo San who nodded first: "Fine, I didn't hear anything anyway. I'm just a melon-eater; I don't know anything about some livestream. Hurry up and get it done, then we have to go."
Ye Liu looked at Yao Yuxi's face, so pale it was almost translucent, and inwardly regretted how harsh her words had been earlier. Yet when she spoke again, her tone was still unpleasant: "How could President Yao not have thought of what I just said? Making the livestream public only benefits us—this minor violation can't compare to the benefit of broadcasting the situation on Wilderness Planet. It's just that you're too concerned, too worried about this sister you've just brought back. You're afraid that if it goes public, it might expose her relationship with Mu Xingzhou, that they might have problems after returning, that your sister might end up unhappy. But look—look at those two. Maybe you're just risking everything for two people who can't come back!"
"Enough!" Yao Yuxi slammed her palm onto the desk.
The mahogany desk let out a loud "bang."
Luo San's subordinates quickly rushed in, only to be waved away again by the helpless-looking Luo San.
"Enough. Yao Qing wouldn't want to see you dragged down like this. The Armed Forces Department is no good place; once you're thrown in there and the other side adds a little money, you'll just be a sheep. Forget everything else—just think about what Yao Group will become without you. When your sister returns, do you want to hand her a Yao Group with pockets cleaner than its face?" Luo San ultimately chose a side, and he chose it completely. "I know after learning your true origins you must feel indebted to Yao Qing, but haven't you already found Feng Qianqian and given her the shares? What more do you want? To give her your life? Is this current situation your fault? You shoulder everything yourself. You can't ask Yao Qing, but have you asked Feng Qianqian? All right, hurry up and finish what needs to be done."
They... all made good points.
Yao Yuxi understood.
This was a path she had thought of before.
Whether it was the deal with Zhao Youxiang or the unauthorized use of cameras, both were trivial compared to the crime of concealing a Yaoxing Storm.
She now had only some money left in her own name. If the Mu brothers quickly greased the palms of higher-ups to snatch her from Uncle Luo's hands...
And simply releasing Mu Xingzhou's illegitimate status and the video of Zhao Da throwing the rock with nothing but words could indeed guide public opinion a bit. But that wouldn't be enough.
No one knew how long this Yaoxing Storm would last. Yet without solid evidence, any trending topic could easily be redirected elsewhere and slowly covered up over time.
What they needed was for more people to remember the information they released for a long time, to believe their as-yet-unsubstantiated speculations, so that they would have more time to investigate further and gather evidence.
Only by letting more people personally witness the suffering, see the pain, and then see that killing intent could public emotion be most effectively stirred.
An anger that even all the Mu Group's money couldn't suppress.
Only then would there be a more thorough investigation.
And then, at the right time, reveal the source of the livestream.
At the very least, public opinion would protect her, keeping her from being crushed by the Mu Group's money.
Controlling public opinion to ensure Yao Yuxi wasn't transferred somewhere beyond the reach of Luo San and Ye Liu—that was the most urgent matter.
The handover between the two was quick.
Those cameras no longer had control rights, only playback permissions. Yao Yuxi specifically instructed Ye Liu: "Make sure to program a way to mosaic sensitive images."
Ye Liu looked back at her, and after a long while nodded.
The company had its own lawyers; after they came up briefly, Ye Liu became the proxy executor of Feng Qianqian's shares...
And Yao Yuxi, in the end, removed the now-processed StarNet Port and followed Luo San and the others away.
Ye Liu stood for a long time in Yao Yuxi's office, not going down to see her off. Only after a very, very long time did Ye Liu finally slam a heavy fist onto that desk.
Angry, very angry—but clearly what mattered most right now was not anger.
Standing by Yao Yuxi's desk, Ye Liu quickly pulled up the list of R&D department personnel.
Seeing the list, Ye Liu felt another surge of frustration. That Yao Yuxi, just because she was worried about that sister she'd barely just acknowledged, had wanted to use even the lab's prototype cameras. She'd gone on about how they had clearer footage and smarter image analysis—what did she need all that smartness for? It was all because Yao Yuxi wanted the convenience, wanted to control the cameras so she could switch views and observe whether Mu Xingzhou was truly good to her sister. They had all told her no, no, absolutely not, and Yao Yuxi had agreed obediently—then turned around and secretly sent a batch over...
While still angry, Ye Liu selected the usable people from the list.
While Ye Liu was working hard to rebuild the livestream, the people on Wilderness Planet were struggling just as hard to survive...
Song Shiyue's strength was continuously draining away, and the metal knife's amplifying effect was no longer very noticeable.
She chose a fallen tree, but after just two chops, Song Shiyue realized this definitely wouldn't work.
Yu Nianbing, standing nearby, didn't have Song Shiyue's firsthand sense of it, but from just those two chops... even Yu Nianbing felt it didn't seem very effective.
According to the plan Song Shiyue had outlined when they first left the cave, they needed a fair amount of wood. Add to that the digging time afterward, and with the efficiency of those two chops... Yu Nianbing felt it certainly couldn't be done before the aftershocks came.
This was something Song Shiyue understood even more deeply.
Not just the loss of strength, but also this feeling of becoming weak and powerless—all of it prevented Song Shiyue from doing anything efficiently.
Song Shiyue set down the knife and brought the backpack she'd been carrying behind her to the front.
The bulkiest item, a pack of jerky, was taken out first. Song Shiyue squeezed it to test its hardness and immediately gave up, setting it aside.
As for the rest...
Looking at the few seasonings laid out before her, a stainless-steel lunchbox, a small handful of raw rice, a bit of lamb's quarters, and a small bag of muddy wild scallions, Song Shiyue finally picked up that stainless-steel lunchbox.
When Song Shiyue had taken her backpack earlier, Yu Nianbing had gone to the side to drag over her own backpack—the one she'd thrown away before the earthquake and then picked back up when they returned—to see if she could find anything useful.
Yet in less than ten seconds, she saw that Song Shiyue had opened the stainless-steel lunchbox containing beef tallow and was spooning out the fat to eat...
"You..." Yu Nianbing's eyes instantly went round.
Song Shiyue spared a glance at Yu Nianbing—unsurprisingly, she looked a bit shocked...
If she'd had a choice, Song Shiyue wouldn't have chosen to spoon up this greasy, nearly flavorless beef tallow.
To be honest, the taste of those mutated animals and plants back in the apocalypse that couldn't be cooked according to the Culinary Canon because of missing ingredients was far worse than this tallow. Back then, if she'd had a box of beef tallow like this and just scooped it up to eat, it could even be called delicious—comparable to the pleasure of digging into a tub of ice cream during a summer day in peacetime.
But lately, Song Shiyue had been living rather well. Even after coming to Wilderness Planet, though the variety of ingredients had shrunk, the flavor of the food had been very good.
Which made this beef tallow seem rather...
Song Shiyue didn't dare imagine what kind of savage, raw-meat-eating image she was presenting to Yu Nianbing. She just shoveled the tallow into her mouth and gulped it down.
Forget it... since in a while she might lose both her strength and her soul anyway, as a mere passerby in Yu Nianbing's life, what did image matter?
Let her be remembered as odd; maybe decades later, when Yu Nianbing recalled it, it would give her a laugh.
Song Shiyue thought self-deprecatingly, not slowing down her scooping in the slightest. Only her heart, stabbed by this self-inflicted knife-thrust she'd learned at some unknown point, ached for a good while for no clear reason...
Fortunately, although the texture and taste of the tallow were quite oppressive, its effects were genuinely decent.
Among foods, animal fats contain a great deal of energy. Song Shiyue could feel that with each swallow, her strength was increasing.
However... not all the strength converted from the fat could be retained.
The food added strength, but the loss of strength hadn't stopped. Only because Song Shiyue was currently shoveling the tallow into her stomach quickly, gaining a lot of energy, did the net change in strength turn positive—it was increasing.
With limited food, this was a race against time.
As Song Shiyue efficiently scraped the last bit of tallow from the box into her mouth, she suddenly recalled a saying she'd heard before.
"As long as you eat fast enough, the weight can't catch up to you."
Now it could be adapted: "As long as you eat fast enough, the speed at which strength disappears can't catch up to you."
Song Shiyue swallowed the last mouthful of tallow, then extravagantly opened her water bottle and took a tiny sip of water to help it go down.
"I'll chop the trees. You pick out the suitable logs and place them aside. We'll carry them in together later." As she spoke, Song Shiyue's long knife was already hacking at the trees toppled by the earthquake.
The tree Song Shiyue had chosen wasn't especially thick, just a bit thicker than the span of a hand. Soon, the tree was stripped of excess branches, and after another dozen or two horizontal chops, it was cut into several sections.
With one tree finished, Song Shiyue didn't waste a second and ran to the next one she'd already marked, and continued chopping.
The logs Song Shiyue cut were quickly dragged or carried by Yu Nianbing to the cave's edge.
Neither had time to speak; they silently poured all their energy into one chopping and the other hauling.
Even midway when Yu Nianbing noticed the dog trying to bite and help drag a log but failing to grip it, she didn't have time to stop and pat its head to comfort it.
After felling four trees and gathering over a dozen logs, Song Shiyue stopped.
In Yu Nianbing's view, with that many logs, the two of them would need at least two or three trips to carry them all.
Unexpectedly, when Song Shiyue came over with the last few logs, she also had a bunch of vines she'd pulled from somewhere. In a few deft moves, she tied all the logs together, not leaving a single one for Yu Nianbing, and hoisted them onto her shoulder.
"Stick close to me." Although Song Shiyue had chopped trees quickly, the rate at which her strength drained was also not slow. By now she needed both hands to hold the vines, so she naturally couldn't support Yu Nianbing like she had when going in and out earlier.
Having witnessed Song Shiyue's completely unguarded actions, Yu Nianbing knew that now asking to take even one or two logs would only waste time and not help Song Shiyue much at this moment. She naturally nodded and agreed.
After entering the cave, Song Shiyue habitually gave the easier route to Yu Nianbing, but her strides were very large, and even without words, her urgency was evident.
Yu Nianbing assumed Song Shiyue, having heard about the condition of the girls inside, was increasingly anxious to save them, not knowing that Song Shiyue's urgency at this moment was more about worrying that her diminishing strength would affect the subsequent digging work.
When Song Shiyue and Yu Nianbing once more reached the spot separated from Director Zhang by a pile of rocks, before they even drew near, they heard Director Zhang's excited voice hailing them.
"I'm going to try digging here now. You all step back a bit." Song Shiyue set down the wood on her shoulder, turned to Yu Nianbing, and pointed to a spot many steps back. "Go stand over there and don't come closer."
Yu Nianbing glanced at Song Shiyue, then at the tall rock pile, and in the end nodded and went to stand at the spot Song Shiyue had indicated.
Earlier, when they'd obtained the long knife and gone out to discuss how to rescue people, the one thing in Song Shiyue's plan that worried Yu Nianbing without knowing how to handle it was those unstable rocks atop the tall pile.
Once they started digging below and vibrations began, the rocks above could very well come crashing down.
At a height of four or five meters, falling rocks could be very dangerous.
But if they didn't follow Song Shiyue's plan, Yu Nianbing truly couldn't think of a better one.
On one side were so many people; on the other, Song Shiyue's safety...
If there were ample time, Song Shiyue would have been happy to make a simple shock-absorbing hard hat or something to put Yu Nianbing's mind at ease. But... what they lacked most right now was time.
Unable to bear Yu Nianbing's worried and conflicted expression, Song Shiyue bluntly stated that she had the ability to dodge falling rocks in advance.
To Yu Nianbing, even knowing Song Shiyue had considerable skills, such a claim was impossible to believe.
At that time, the two of them had just taken the long knife and were on their way out of the cave to chop trees.
So Song Shiyue had Yu Nianbing randomly pick up a very small stone, stand behind her back-to-back, and throw it in some direction. Without turning back, Song Shiyue could accurately state the direction and distance of the stone Yu Nianbing threw, which would count as proof she had the ability to dodge falling rocks in advance.
This little experiment was conducted as they hurried along, wasting only a few seconds at most, so Yu Nianbing naturally agreed.
The experiment proved that Song Shiyue even got the angle almost right, and the distance paced out was exactly the same.
There were certainly still things that weren't completely foolproof, but clearly this was already the best choice and approach.
Yu Nianbing stood far away, staring at the top of the tall rock pile, her heart clenching so tightly she could barely breathe. If she could, she would take Song Shiyue's place and face the danger Song Shiyue was facing.
Regrettably... she was merely such a useless person.
All she could do was stand far off and not cause Song Shiyue any trouble...
Extreme tension made Yu Nianbing's body tremble slightly against her will. But whenever Song Shiyue looked back, Yu Nianbing would force herself to offer an encouraging smile.
This was all Yu Nianbing could do right now, yet she didn't know she wasn't doing it well.
If you don't want to smile, then don't... a smile that looks like you're about to cry really makes one's heart ache...
Song Shiyue turned back, reined in her thoughts, took a deep breath, and started working.
The plan was simple and crude, matched by Song Shiyue's even simpler and cruder method.
The fallen rocks in the pile weren't of uniform size. Song Shiyue carefully examined the general structure of this side of the rock pile and chose to start digging at the spot on the left next to the cave wall.
The larger fallen rocks above would stay wedged for a while longer. Biting the flashlight between her teeth, Song Shiyue first selected some smaller rocks, smashing or digging them out.
Then, using the wood they'd brought as supports, she dug and simultaneously stuffed them in to prop up from behind. Before long, she'd hollowed out something like a half-person-high doorway supported by wood. Only the other side of this "door" was still blocked by rocks.
The wood's load-bearing capacity was limited, but luckily the rock pile wasn't entirely small loose stones. Some larger rocks were still mutually supporting each other. As long as Song Shiyue moved fast enough, she should still be able to dig an opening large enough for a person in time.
The spot Song Shiyue had chosen was very good: large rocks above supported each other, while below it was mostly smaller stones. Except for the hassle of clearing them, digging and propping as she went was still quite smooth.
Although Song Shiyue initially thought digging an opening just large enough for a person to pass through at the topmost obstructed spot would be quicker and more convenient, when she'd tried climbing up earlier she found that the rocks above were still fairly prone to falling when disturbed. The people inside, even if they'd only suffered minor scrapes, or were completely unharmed, would certainly not avoid being hit by falling debris during the climb.
What's more, there were Feng Qianqian and Ni Jinghe.
Using whole logs as supports—though they couldn't hold for very long—should still be enough for them to get out.
But this method of digging from below while also setting supports, hollowing out and stuffing—it increased the difficulty exponentially for Song Shiyue.
Luckily, Song Shiyue and the people inside were fortunate; all along the way, she didn't encounter any large stones that couldn't be pulled out. As long as she was quick enough pulling them, with the mutual support of the rocks above and Song Shiyue occasionally using her arm as a temporary brace, once she could wedge a piece of wood in to prop up, the supports on both sides were easy to manage. And the stones in the middle were cleared out with relative ease by Song Shiyue.
This sounds simple, but for anyone without Song Shiyue's strength, it would be utterly impossible to pull out those tightly packed stones like removing Jenga blocks. Let alone the dangerous move of using her arm as a support.
Song Shiyue worked somewhat recklessly. Perhaps because she was applying too much force too hastily, a few times small stones fell from above, but each time Song Shiyue quickly retreated and dodged them.
For Song Shiyue, the sound of falling rocks was obvious, and dodging was fairly easy.
But for Yu Nianbing watching from afar, it was entirely different.
Every single time she heard the sound of rocks from over there—even when it was clearly just Song Shiyue pulling a stone out and tossing it on the ground—Yu Nianbing would tense up until her heart spasmed with pain.
And whenever Song Shiyue quickly stepped back, Yu Nianbing would become so tense she had to clench her teeth and cover her mouth just to ensure she didn't make a sound.
All of this, however, was unknown to Song Shiyue, who was forcefully pulling stone after stone from the pile.
Time stretched on infinitely between each stone being tossed out.
On the other side of the rock pile, Director Zhang, Captain Yang, and Wang Daming were keeping far back, but their flashlight beams shone straight at that rock pile.
Over there, Song Shiyue was in constant motion, and the sound of stones hitting the ground rang out frequently.
Unlike Yu Nianbing's worry, for them, each sound was like them taking another step toward freedom.
But such excitement didn't last—not all the way until Song Shiyue, as she'd promised, dug out a passage.
For some unknown reason, the sounds from the other side of the stone wall suddenly stopped.
Yes, they knew very well: no matter how much faith they placed in Song Shiyue, Song Shiyue was ultimately human, not a perpetual motion machine.
She... needed rest too, didn't she?
Whether it was the emotionally volatile Director Zhang or Captain Yang, who usually didn't get along with Song Shiyue, both held back from urging her at this moment. Yet the nervousness and fear still rose uncontrollably.
Would they be abandoned...
This question unavoidably lingered in their hearts.
No...
If Song Shiyue would abandon the likes of them, she wouldn't have come back risking her life.
This internal Q&A could only give them a brief moment of reassurance, and then it was another round of repetition in the dim cave.
Thankfully, the noise from the other side of the rock pile resumed.
The stop and restart had only been separated by a short while, but to them it felt like an eternity.
In reality, Song Shiyue had indeed only stopped for a brief moment—just enough time to say a couple of words to Yu Nianbing and hand something over. She hadn't even had time to drink a sip of water before continuing.
Song Shiyue could feel that she was close to opening a passage.
This was good news.
The bad news that came with it was that her strength had dropped considerably, and her work efficiency was declining.
And up to this point, there was still no news from the other side that Feng Qianqian had been rescued.
In other words, she would likely still have to deal with a huge rock that even two or three people inside working together couldn't budge. Replenishing her strength was now an urgent matter.
What Song Shiyue didn't know was that the people inside, due to various concerns and considerations, hadn't even started trying to lift that rock yet.
Because Wang Daming had gone in earlier to borrow the knife, Zhao Da and the others knew Song Shiyue was trying to get in.
They hadn't been confident they could move that stone with just two or three people without jostling it. Now that Song Shiyue was coming in, it meant one more person and another pair of hands.
What's more, they all felt that with Song Shiyue there, they'd gain more than just one person.
Actually, before Wang Daming borrowed the knife, Zhao Da had wanted to climb over and see if he could help rescue.
After all, losing a leg was still better than being crushed to death, right?
But Mu Xingzhou climbed over first, with Zhao Da following closely. Finding that once Mu Xingzhou got there he just lay down next to Feng Qianqian and started calling her name, Zhao Da's urge to rescue eased a bit.
The employer was also a giant pitfall. In this team there was clearly someone Mu Xingzhou knew well, and it hadn't been mentioned in the materials at all.
So young, yet so anxious...
Zhao Da had some suspicions.
Any information that could strike at the target or increase opportunities, Zhao Da wouldn't spoil.
Just like... that huge rock pressing down on Feng Qianqian's legs.
Zhao Da and Zhao Er were of one mind: they just said waiting for Song Shiyue to come in would give a better chance. If several of them combined their strength but one slipped and let go, the barely lifted stone might drop again, and then Feng Qianqian would truly lose her life.
With the two of them speaking this way, even though Zhuang Jiachuan and Mu Xingzhou wished they could immediately heave the stone away, what could they do?
On Mingtan Planet, with Ye Liu taking the lead, several cars drove out of the Yao Group building.
In the cars following behind Ye Liu, aside from the drivers, everyone wore serious expressions and nervously tapped at their StarNet Port keyboards.
Lines of code were written, assembled, displayed, or concealed. They were all promising talents Yao Yuxi had once discovered and nurtured, with both skill and reliability on point.
A new livestream interface would only be a matter of time.
While driving, Ye Liu hadn't closed the Wilderness Planet livestream. Since it was switched to Mu Xingzhou's camera, Ye Liu could now clearly see Feng Qianqian up close.
Pale complexion, sweat beads constantly oozing out...
Because Yao Yuxi treated Feng Qianqian so well that Ye Liu felt an unfaceable jealousy, she had never liked Feng Qianqian.
But seeing a young girl she had at least some connection with suffering such torment, while Zhao Da and Zhao Er beside her looked like they were waiting to watch a show, truly made Ye Liu's anger surge.
And this anger burned to an extreme when Ye Liu's car passed the main entrance of Yao Group and she discovered quite a few reporters staked out outside.
It seemed that earlier when Yao Yuxi left with Luo San...
Ye Liu subconsciously freed a hand to search StarNet using Yao Yuxi's name as a keyword. Soon, her grip on the steering wheel suddenly tightened.
Very well, everyone wants to play public opinion games, is that it? Then we'll see who outplays whom next.
Putting aside who would outplay whom between Ye Liu and the Mu Group, Song Shiyue was about to be outmatched by the rocks in front of her.
Her strength was draining too fast. As she pried out these stones one by one, the difficulty had gone from dismantling a pile of cotton candy to a pile of building blocks, and now she was truly prying apart solid rocks.
Song Shiyue let go of the stone she'd been gripping with her fingers for a long time without managing to pull it out. As she withdrew, a sharp edge on the stone cut a gash on the pad of her right index finger, and bright red blood immediately smeared onto the stone.
It seemed the building blocks had thoroughly become rocks...
Song Shiyue's ears twitched, but she quickly pressed the injured finger into her palm to hide it and turned around. Yu Nianbing was already just a few steps behind her.
"Didn't I tell you not to come over? When I'm done I'll eat on my own." Hiding her injured finger, Song Shiyue reached out and took the lunchbox from Yu Nianbing.
Inside the stainless-steel lunchbox that had previously held beef tallow was half a box of water-soaked jerky.
Under the flashlight, the water that had soaked the grease and jerky was oily and murky...
Smelling the blood in the air, Yu Nianbing bit her lip and held out the chopsticks in her hand.
Song Shiyue was about to take them but instinctively pulled her hand back.
"I saw it." Yu Nianbing's eyes reddened.
"Small injury, it's nothing." Song Shiyue couldn't bear seeing Yu Nianbing like this, but the injury had already happened, nothing to be done.
Since Yu Nianbing had already seen it, Song Shiyue no longer hid it. She extended the still-bleeding hand to take the chopsticks and started eating.
Thank goodness, although the soaked jerky had a somewhat odd texture, it was still better than that greasy tallow from before.
Beef, oh beef, strength-growing beef—Song Shiyue chanted to herself as she chewed and swallowed the largely flavorless jerky bite by bite.
First beef tallow, then water-soaked jerky.
Yu Nianbing knew very well that Song Shiyue wasn't the type to stall rescue time with eating and drinking.
But as for the reason behind it, Yu Nianbing didn't want to think too deeply right now.
All her attention was on Song Shiyue's finger, which kept oozing blood with each motion of picking up jerky.
Yes, Yu Nianbing knew: never mind compared to Feng Qianqian inside right now, even compared to the injuries of Director Zhang, Captain Yang, and the others, Song Shiyue's was very minor.
But...
It was different.
Song Shiyue... was different.
Yu Nianbing hadn't expected that in her heart she could distinguish closeness so clearly, and even less had she expected that Song Shiyue had already come to stand so close.
Rescuing people now was right.
Injuries were also unavoidable.
Yu Nianbing knew this clearly, yet her heart still ached.
But she couldn't say anything. All she could do was, after Song Shiyue wolfed down that jerky and asked her to soak some more, take the lunchbox, and then rather forcefully use a tiny bit of clean drinking water to rinse Song Shiyue's injured finger... that was all.
Song Shiyue recovered a bit of strength, barely managing to turn the obstacles ahead from rocks back into building blocks—well... roughly between the two, more towards building blocks.
But before Song Shiyue could get back to work, she heard Director Zhang's voice from inside.
"Um... Xiao Song... I think I heard some sound. Is everything... all right over there?"
"Nothing, just had a couple bites." Song Shiyue answered offhandedly, switching to her left hand as she did so. She gripped the stone she'd pulled at for a long time earlier between two fingers, and this time, just applying a bit more force, she pulled it out.
Director Zhang: "..."
"Just as I thought earlier, it sounded like someone eating."
"She's actually..." Wang Daming murmured.
"Shut up!" Director Zhang cut him off in time, but his voice was even quieter than Wang Daming's.
Captain Yang kept a sullen face and didn't join the exchange.
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