Free Web NovelChapter 44: Chapter 43: In Hand
At this moment, Su Su and the other three didn’t have the slightest hesitation about what Doudou and Qin Xiaoxia had said. Their chance to change their lives depended on this very moment.
The four of them ignored the pounding rain and howling wind, dashing out of the woods and running toward the wire fence Qin Xiaoxia had knocked over earlier.
The mine pit in the distance was pitch-black, and the tremors in the ground had gradually ceased.
A terrifying presence emanated from ahead, but instead of retreating, they quickened their pace.
"Hurry, hurry, over there!"
Su Su’s eyes were sharp; she could faintly make out a massive crater where the mine pit had been, with a dark figure standing in the center.
In the night, the brilliance flickering in Qin Xiaoxia’s eyes seemed to pierce their very minds, making it impossible for Jenny and the others to meet his gaze, even in the darkness.
"Mr. Qin, are you alright?"
The mine pit had completely collapsed, leaving a massive crater of earth and rock in its place. The drop was at least four or five meters, and there was no way for Su Su and her group to get down.
The torrential rain continued to pour.
The rain had already formed a small lake within the crater.
To the astonishment of the four onlookers, all the water in the crater was swirling around Mr. Qin, forming what looked like a whirlpool.
Only then did they notice many people floating haphazardly on the water’s surface, spinning along with the current.
Due to the poor visibility, they couldn’t see clearly whether Jack and Joseph were among them.
Qin Xiaoxia was not in a good state. Forcibly detonating his Magic Power to blast open the collapsed mine had pushed his body far beyond its limits.
His entire body was wracked with muscle strains, and countless capillaries had burst.
Unlike the last time, however, his Magic Power was not depleted, so he could still force himself to stay standing.
But right now, he was also dividing his focus to spread his Magic Power, severing the connection between the Mother Crystal Ore and the Demonized Mine.
Seeing Su Su and her group run over, Qin Xiaoxia breathed a sigh of relief.
"I’m fine. I’ve dealt with the Demonized Crystal Ore, but your friends might not be in good shape."
Hearing this, Su Su quickly translated for Jenny and the others.
Qin Xiaoxia’s right hand, held close to his chest, was trembling uncontrollably. In its palm, where Magic Power was gathering, he tightly gripped a struggling blue Crystal.
Each time a layer of purple Magic Power enveloped it, the Crystal Stone’s struggles weakened, until it finally fell completely still.
"Get ready. I’m going to throw the people up from down here. Find your friends first."
After saying this, Qin Xiaoxia grabbed the ankle of a naked man near his feet and, with a flick of his arm, tossed him toward the four on the "shore."
The immense force knocked all four of them over. The two girls hadn’t even managed to get back up before they realized it was a large, naked man—and Jenny happened to be grabbing his private parts.
"AHH—mmph..."
Jenny’s scream had barely started before Su Su clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Shh! I’m not screaming, am I? It’s not like you’ve never seen one before!"
Mark and Joey, less dramatic than the girls, simply rolled over and got up to see who had been thrown to them.
Joey turned the man’s face to get a closer look. It was a fierce-looking man with a scar. freewёbnoνel.com
"It’s not them."
"If it’s not them, just put him aside. There are plenty more down here."
Qin Xiaoxia shouted, and as soon as the four above were ready, he tossed up another.
There were quite a few of them. Qin Xiaoxia started throwing them faster and faster, and the group above couldn’t catch every one, sending several of them rolling away.
Excluding the seven who were beyond saving, all ten of the remaining people were thrown up.
Fortunately, Qin Xiaoxia had held back his strength when throwing them, so between that and the cushioning from the rain and mud, they should be fine.
Using the downpour to wash the mud from the naked men’s faces, the four of them frantically went around turning people over to identify them.
"I found Jack! But he’s not breathing!"
"Joseph is over here! He’s not breathing either!"
"Sob, are they dead?"
Jenny covered her mouth, her voice choked with tears.
"Stop crying and do something! Didn’t you study first aid?"
Mark’s roar interrupted the girl’s budding emotional breakdown.
"Right, right, turn them face down, so they don’t choke on the rain... No, wait, they’re not breathing, we need to do CPR... Oh, is there a heartbeat?"
Jenny’s words were as panicked as her movements.
But then, their savior finally arrived.
Qin Xiaoxia leaped up from the crater, landing directly beside them.
"Stop the first aid. They’re not dead. Grab your friends and these two men, we have to leave now. The rain is about to stop!"
Due to his poor physical condition, his Magic Power was becoming unstable, and he could no longer maintain the Reaction Technique for the downpour. Once the rain stopped, their cover would be gone, and they would be easily discovered.
Taking Jack and Joseph was a must, but the reason he included the other two was because they were the most severely injured, beyond what a normal person’s body and spirit could heal on their own.
Leaving them behind would be a death sentence.
As for the remaining six, they were merely in a state similar to a deep coma. As long as they weren’t left unattended, they could be saved if taken to a hospital.
Qin Xiaoxia lifted the two heaviest men, one in each hand, while Su Su, Jenny, and the two guys carried Jack and Joseph away. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
The rainwater automatically parted at their feet, preventing them from losing their footing.
A little over a minute after the group left the recycling yard and reached the woods, the torrential downpour suddenly stopped.
Aside from the mud-covered ground it left behind, even the clouds in the sky had lightened.
...
The three policemen and Old Ode, thinking it was an earthquake, scrambled out of the house in a panic.
But not long after they got out, the ground stopped shaking, as if it had just been their imagination.
After standing in the rain for only a few dozen seconds, the cold forced them back inside to take shelter.
As for going to check on the mine pit, no one uttered a word.
Only Old Ode kept staring in that direction. But in this wind and rain, not only was his vision completely obscured, but you’d have to shout to be heard even by someone standing right next to you, to say nothing of hearing any commotion from the direction of the mine pit.
And he didn’t dare go over by himself.
But before long, the downpour that had started so abruptly ended just as suddenly.
One moment, the four men inside were huddled around the stove, shivering and complaining; the next, the scene fell silent along with the rain.
Suddenly, you could hear a pin drop.
After about twenty seconds, Old Ode finally couldn’t take it anymore and broke the silence.
"Shouldn’t we go take a look at the mine pit?"
The atmosphere tonight was far too strange, and there was a nervous flutter in their hearts. But truth be told, things hadn’t yet reached the point of a genuine crisis that would require calling for backup.
Everyone was deliberately avoiding the topic of the mine pit. Over the past two days at the station, the rumors about the mine had been growing increasingly detailed and credible.
But for men who wore the badge, it wouldn’t be right to refuse now.
The policemen, plus Old Ode himself—four people in total—grabbed their flashlights and headed toward the mine pit over a hundred meters away. They trudged through the mud and puddles, skirting around piles of debris and trash that had been knocked over by the wind and rain.
They were all wearing Old Ode’s old clothes, looking exactly like a group of terrified civilians.
Blocked by the recycling yard’s many heaps of trash and debris, the area of the mine pit still looked like a patch of utter blackness from a distance.
When they got to about fifty meters away, they could finally see a bit more clearly.
"Is that... a small lake?"
a middle-aged policeman said uncertainly.
But Old Ode just screamed and started running toward it.
"My Crystal Ore!!!"
