Free Web NovelChapter 347: Chapter 280: The Difficulty of Paths in Shu
Day and night they pressed on, hastening forward at full speed.
Nine hours had already gone by.
The sky was gradually brightening.
A mountain where they walked hidden by rocks.
The mountain paths were full of rolling stones that made them anxious for the whole night.
In such circumstances, even if sleep came, it was often abruptly disturbed, and now that they finally reached an open area, everyone felt a sense of exhaustion creeping in.
Many had developed large blisters on their feet.
And for many others, those blisters on their feet had already burst, dried, leaving only a sticky feeling inside their socks.
Some soldiers who didn’t want to experience the painful pleasure of peeling their socks off removed their shoes from time to time to gently tug at their socks, preventing the burst blisters from sticking, and reminding their comrades close by.
Some didn’t heed the advice, insisting that it was easier to walk with the stickiness, only to be mocked:
"Ha, talk tough now, but when you’re crying and screaming later for help to cut your socks off, you’ll understand."
After descending the mountain, they passed through a shallow stream padded with many pebbles.
The next mountain suddenly opened up.
From the base, one could see an endless bamboo forest, the vegetation keeping the mountain solid.
"Quick! The sky is overcast; it might rain today!" Major General Jin herded the group from behind, allowing no one the chance to stop and gaze.
The old man ahead shouted loudly, "It’s not easy ahead! It’s very steep!"
Fang Huai at the front of the line, having been told several times about the difficult descent, turned back and shouted:
"Those behind, mark the trail as you go! To help those following us!"
With that, he ran up the mountain.
Timo, get on top.
I’ll go ahead and scout the way.
In truth, he was feeling somewhat fortunate.
If there weren’t that many falling rocks, how bad could the path be?
Everyone watched his large orange backpack swing as he quickly made his way up, leaving them speechless.
There’s a reason he could be the deputy captain.
But, it wasn’t long before Fang Huai came back down.
Running and shouting as he descended.
"Special Duty Team, prepare the safety ropes, tie two 20-meter ropes into one! There’s a cliff above! Get ready to take turns crossing the cliff!"
...
Actually, the cliff wasn’t very high.
Just about a dozen meters.
A meter to the side, there was a river flowing, at least a meter or two deep. If one were to fall in with the correct posture, death was unlikely.
The cliff wasn’t really a cliff; it was just a break in a narrow path, a bare slope of seventy to eighty degrees.
All were smaller rocks that had fallen from the wall, forcing everyone to step on them to cross. ƒreewebɳovel.com
To call it a path was a stretch; this was no path at all.
A slight mishap, and one would fall off, falling behind, and if the explosives fell into the river, they’d be ruined.
The hard-earned effort of bringing the explosives here—all its meaning—would vanish.
The old man said that when he came here yesterday, it was easier to cross since the slope still had some incline.
Fang Huai didn’t care anymore. After carefully assessing the length of the passage, he tied three 20-meter ropes together for a length of 60 meters and handed one end to the soldier behind.
"I’ll climb first; hold onto the end of the rope! Hold on tight because if I slip, I may need to leverage from this rope!"
No sooner had he spoken than a trustworthy man immediately stepped forward.
Hao Chengbin.
Squad Leader Hao tied one end of the rope around his waist, securing a knot, and grabbed the rope near where Fang Huai would be, stepping back two paces, saying:
"I’ll slowly let out the rope for you! If you slip, grab the rope and climb up!"
Fang Huai now felt reassured, laughed, and said, "Okay!"
With that said, he put down his heavy backpack and lightly jumped to warm up.
To tell the truth, the moment he took off his backpack, which he had been carrying all night, he felt as if he could fly.
Fang Huai tied one end of the rope to his waist, took a deep breath, and stepped off the solid ground beneath his feet.
With his step, more stones tumbled down with him.
Fang Huai quickly grabbed the rope and retreated, changing his footing to another spot.
He eventually found a relatively stable foothold.
Hugging the wall, he cautiously tested each step.
He constantly grasped at protruding rocks to bear his weight; after several missteps, which were all corrected by pulling on those rocks.
The gurgling river below seemed to be calling out to him.
Come down, have a soak.
Damn it, I’m still twisting and licking, not even Oreos could play this path better than me.
Fang Huai, who hadn’t really rested in two days, surprisingly started a tirade of complaints in his mind, grumbling and snaking his way forward.
The people behind him dared not to speak, watching Fang Huai pass the halfway point, they were inwardly thanking the heavens.
If it weren’t for this firefighting rope, of the 800 people today, at least 700 would have had to jump down.
Three minutes later, Fang Huai finally reached the edge of the broken path, grabbed a rock for leverage, and leaped dangerously.
He made it!
Being the first one to get past was like beating the level, signifying that those who followed could start the "Quick Raid" mode.
"The rope, bring another one over for a dual protection! Those behind me, bring my backpack across!
Don’t cross with more than two at a time! We can’t hold on if it’s too many!"
Fang Huai shouted loudly.
With two ropes in hand, it was much easier for the people behind.
Fang Huai held one end, and on the other side, three people held on, keeping the rope taut.
Soon, someone came to help hold the end of the rope on this side, and that way, they all supported each other to get across the cliff.
Everyone felt a surge of exhilaration, the strength of unity allowing them to fully conquer this great mountain.
The marvels of the ancient Egyptian pyramids were nothing in comparison, give them the chance, and surely they could work together to erect a taller Chinese tower with their bare hands.
But when the last soldier had nobody to hold onto one end of the rope, Fang Huai had no choice but to ask him to go back.
His backpack had already been taken up by everyone at this end of the cliff.
The soldier, having stood the last watch, left with a hint of loneliness.
One less person again.
However, being able to return with a lighter load might have been his fortune; the hardships to come were shouldered by his comrades for him.
...
Climbing mountains.
Dammit, still climbing mountains.
Everyone’s shoes were as worn as those of the locals, some laces were even plucked off by branches.
With branches and weeds everywhere underfoot, some found them cumbersome and simply tore them off to discard.
A group of stooped soldiers carried heavy backpacks as they pressed on laboriously; the mountain was too steep, and every once in a while, they had to grab onto the slope to climb up a section, everyone was almost at their limit, their waists increasingly bending.
"Chen Wei, weren’t you all talk yesterday? A mountain climbing expert, how come now...do you still feel like climbing?" someone panted and joked.
"No more climbing... ah, damn, I feel like I have climbed all the mountains for a lifetime!"
Everyone grumbled about the mountain with bowed heads.
Sometimes, griping really could bring strength.
But soon after, locals appeared.
Groups of locals sat at the edge of the slope, having made it here with great difficulty only to be told by them that there was no way out.
They were racing against the daytime, hoping to pass through this mountain to the outside world, only to learn that there was no way through, and some began to collapse into tears.
But with only a few hours left, they really didn’t have time to offer comfort.
Constantly, people were heading out as they were moving in.
For these people in the midst of suffering, they could only take out all the supplies and water from their bags and distribute them while hunching forward.
Even, there was no time to raise their heads to look, nor was there speech.
Feeling someone by the roadside, they extended ham sausages, water, rations from their hand.
If someone took it, they gave it; if no one took it, they put it back; if someone called out, they tossed it over.
They didn’t even have the energy to be polite with the locals.
But behind them, more and more locals began to follow.
None of them knew where to go; they only knew, by following the troops, they could survive.
With the continual chatter of many locals, information about the dammed lake gradually became clearer.
There hadn’t been much rain, yet the dammed lake was rising still.
Some people didn’t know what a dammed lake was, calling it a devilish lake, which had appeared out of nowhere after the earthquake and was ominously gathering water, surely it would drown all of Beichuan.
Others said Beichuan had become impure, and the Dragon King wished to send a great flood, that celestial soldiers were performing rituals and they had to run fast, escape from Beichuan.
Panic spread everywhere.
The soldiers, however, grew even more determined as they listened.
They were infuriated by the fear of the common folks.
Angry at the damnable dammed lake, the damnable earthquake, and themselves for not being able to tell the people they were there to blow up the dammed lake.
Yes, this was a semi-secret operation, as the command intended, it was best to blow it up while the water level was still low, to prevent excessive panic among the populace.
Blowing up the dam would inevitably bring water through Beichuan, but it wouldn’t amount to a flood, as it wasn’t so high above ground level, it would at most cause collapses, stirring up some big waves, but it would merely cover the ground and soon pass.
Therefore, they could not speak, they could only listen to the people’s words while silently telling themselves.
Dammit, even if there were celestial soldiers working magic, they, the soldiers on the ground, would be there to cut it off!
Beichuan belongs to our human world, even the heavens and the King of Hell have no say over it!
...
"Once we cross there, we can see the town of Beichuan below!"
The old man suddenly pointed to a lookout rock on the heights.
Fang Huai was stunned for a moment, then turned and shouted back, "Major General Jin! We’ve arrived at Beichuan!"
"Ah?!"
Major General Jin, who was over forty and had started using a tent pole as a walking stick on this challenging stretch, suddenly seemed to recover, his makeshift cane no longer touching the ground as he began to run up the vexing slope.
Fang Huai also started to walk faster upwards.
The rock looked close, yet at least three hundred meters away.
Upon reaching the four-meter-high boulder and rounding a corner of the mountain,
they looked to the northwest and saw a city surrounded by low mountains, startlingly before their eyes.
What a city it was.
The low mountains they saw were still higher than parts of the city.
What should have been houses were indistinguishable white masses.
Pillars were evident, but the houses were askew, the buildings collapsed.
Some appeared intact from afar, but up close, the walls and windows were gone, and the foundations looked halved, thoroughly incomplete.
The entire city was like a chaotic pile of toys discarded by a rambunctious child, houses meant to be neatly arranged were all pulled down to the ground.
Vegetation on the mountain had curiously moved down in large, irregular swathes, sliding into a corner of the city.
"How many must have died..."
Major General Jin, squinting, stood behind Fang Huai and let out a long, deep sigh.
In that instant, he even thought cities should not exist, that people should live on grasslands, in fields, perhaps without buildings, there wouldn’t be so many lives lost.
Fang Huai saw in greater detail with his keen eyes.
Figures toiled on the ruins, sweating profusely.
Their rescue efforts were irregular, yet they persevered with simple farming tools.
"Let’s go, blow the dam, into Beichuan!"
