Chapter 327
Chapter 327
"Hansen, it's getting dark. Where are you going?" In the dining hall, Marissa was shocked to hear Hansen ordering a helicopter to be sent to the disaster area for a rescue mission. When she thought that he was going along with the helicopter to the earthquake-stricken area to rescue the victims, her heart instantly missed a beat.
It was not an easy feat for a helicopter to land after being in the air. Others might not understand, but she understood very well that there were demandingly strict conditions for a helicopter to land. With the area just experiencing an earthquake, it would be impossible for him to land without using a parachute. Even then, it was not guaranteed that he could touch down safely. In the unlikely event that he was not careful, his bones might get fractured, or even worse, get caught up with the wind... She dared not venture into this possibility.
She could not let her only son take such a risk. Anxiously, she turned towards Trevor and cried out, "Trevor, Hansen is going to the disaster area. You let him know that he only needs to donate more money. He should let the professionals do their job."
Marissa was panic- stricken, color draining from her face.
Trevor, of course, had overheard the order from Hansen. When he looked at Hansen with his deep eyes, the latter had already got on his electric car and hurried out.
After a moment of silence, he said to Marissa, "Don't worry. He knows what he's doing."
When he made it clear that he had no objection to it, Marissa hugged her head and cried.
Trevor stood up and looked at Hansen's car disappearing into the distance. His ears were filled with Marissa's heart- wrenching sobs, and his heart was extremely heavy.
Why would Hansen give out such an order all of a sudden? Did something happen?
Quickly, he walked into the living room, and soon, his eyes locked on the frozen image on the TV. He suddenly understood everything.
He rubbed his eyes and nodded after looking at it carefully again.
More than two hours later, the helicopter arrived at the town using satellite positioning.
As the helicopter slowly lowered, Hansen's heart sank with it.
This school was too small. It was impossible to land safely with a helicopter. He could only jump down there himself.
"Mr. Richards, let's get the ladder down and secure the rope to a safe place first. We can't use the parachutes." Alvin saw the sheet of grey ashes obscuring the ground. At this time, the only thing he could do was to further lower the helicopter and set down a thick rope down to save the victims.
Hansen nodded.
"Mr. Richards, you'd better not go down. It's too dangerous," Alvin said, concerned.
"Quit the cr*p. Hurry up and get ready." The fully- equipped Hansen looked angry, not allowing Alvin to question his decision. Alvin did not dare to speak again. As he ordered the essential items to be dropped off from the helicopter, he shouted at the people below with his loudspeaker.
Soon, the rope was released and the helicopter approached a hill. Hansen, Alvin, and almost ten members of the strictly trained special forces approached the ground using the rope.
The ground was covered in grey ash, collapsed buildings, piles of rubble, and the sound of crying and screaming deafened his ears.
Hansen landed on a hillside and glanced around in the darkness. It was after midnight, and there was still a distance between the collapsed school and where he stood. He immediately led Alvin and the others to the school.
When they got close, several bonfires were ablaze on the open ground, chasing the cold air away and illuminating the surrounding. What they saw was really shocking.
Only a few volunteers were there to rescue the students trapped under the rubble. There were even a few who were trapped so deep inside that they could not be seen and only their cries and shouts could be heard. The few who were buried even deeper inside might have lost their breath.
No matter who was crying or yelling, their voices had already become hoarse, and there was only sobbing left.
The situation was too dire.
"Alvin, save them first." Seeing the ghastly scene, Hansen could not care less about finding Jenna. He instructed his subordinates to focus on saving the students first.
The arduous rescue work that would last all night ensued.
One after another, children were rescued from the rubble and moved to an emergency tent nearby.
This primary school was a school of the villagers in the vicinity of Fisher Town, and the classrooms were already in ruins. Such an earthquake had almost destroyed the entire school.
Hansen took advantage of the downtime to take care of the injured children and survey his surroundings. Mountains were everywhere, and there was a small market in the middle of it. The school was located next to the small market. At present, there were some parents gathered in the ruined grounds of the school. However, they were all old, weak, sick, and disabled. They were all shouting their children's names, their voice laden with cries.
His eyes were searching for that familiar figure, but to his surprise, it was nowhere to be found. Did he get the wrong place?
Reaching for his mobile phone, he checked and confirmed that this was exactly the place.
"Mr. Richards, another one has just been saved." John's joyful voice came from the other side.
"Come, hand him to me." Soon, a woman dashed out of the tent next to him and stretched out her hand to accept the injured child.
Hansen took advantage of the dim light to look at her. Her face was ashen, completely stripping him of any chance to make out her face at all. Only her two eyes were revealed. Though she was a young girl, her round face and rough figure didn't look like his Jenna at all.
The moment the woman took the child, she noticed that Hansen was sizing her up. There was a wave of bashfulness on her face. She smiled at him and ran into the tent with the child in her arms.
Hansen was utterly disappointed that he could not find Jenna, but the situation at hand was too critical. He could not focus solely on searching for someone. It was a matter of life and death. The rescue work had to be prioritized.
In the tent, there were a number of children who had been rescued. Those who were missing their arms and legs were all groaning in pain. Content provided by NôvelDrama.Org.
A thin and weak woman was cleaning the wounds of the children. After the wounds were cleaned, she sprayed the disinfectant on them, applied medicine, and bandaged them.
There were not enough people here and there was a shortage of medicine. Fortunately, Hansen had brought some first aid kits with him on the helicopter and promptly made use of them.
"Miss Lewis, there are so many handsome guys outside. Fortunately, they are here and these children are saved." Amy looked at the woman called Miss Lewis and said, "Especially that handsome leader, he's so elegant and handsome. I've never seen such a handsome man in my life."
Amy widened her round eyes, puffed her cheeks, and with an infatuated look on her face, she fawned over him.
The woman only replied with a faint 'hmm' and said in a hoarse voice, "Amy, quickly bandage the children's wounds. Now there are a lot of children who are seriously injured. I'm really worried that the wounds will cause high fever if they get infected. There is a shortage of medicine at the moment. So, we have to control the situation."
"I know. God, if only the electricity is back and the roads are repaired. Otherwise, we're on our own in here," Amy said as she busied herself. The injured children wailed from time to time, complaining about the pain and hunger. The scene was a total chaos.
This place was remote and far away from the city. So, it was not easy to get their hands on reinforcements. Despite knowing that, they still clung on to hope.
"Quick, stop the bleeding." The tent was opened, bringing with it a gust of night wind. A tall figure rushed in with a little girl in his arms. The little girl was obviously sensible. Her hands were bleeding, but she bit her lips hard. Her eyes were full of tears, but she never cried out loud.
"Evie, you're hurt so badly." As Amy heard Hansen's voice, she stood up to welcome him. She stretched out her hand to pick up Evie in his arms.
"Bring me some disinfectant," Hansen said to Amy when he saw that there were only two women in the tent to tend to the many children with serious injuries. After all, Evie had just been saved from
under the debris and was seriously injured. He was afraid that if no emergency attention was given, Evie's wounds would get infected.
The light in the tent was dim, with only a lightbulb. Yet, since Hansen came in, the whole tent seemed to be lit up. Amy's eyes were shining, her whole body buzzing with vitality. In the face of such a tall and handsome man, Amy couldn't be more excited, her heart beating fast.
"Okay, okay," she answered while holding back her excitement.
As she spoke, she quickly brought the disinfectant and squatted down in front of him.
"Could you please get me some water?" Hansen's eyes caught a glimpse of the back of a thin woman who was crouching by the side, busying herself. His heart skipped a beat as he spoke to her.
This person was thin but very calm. She was busy and moved deftly, not reacting much when she heard his voice. Instead, she turned around and scooped up a spoonful of water. The medicinal cotton in her hand was also handed over to him along the water.
Making use of the dim light, Hansen wanted to see her face clearly, but she lowered her head. Her hair was tousled, covering almost half of her face. He could only see a face buried in grey ash. Her face was even vaguer than what he had seen on TV.
She offered her hand. Hansen looked down and saw that the backs of her hands were covered with black calluses. He felt a little familiar with it. From the looks of it, they must have been eroded by the environment here!
In an instant, Hansen felt an uncontrollable impulse. When he received the medicinal cotton, his big hand almost held on the pair of small hands. However, the other party was very sensitive, as if she
had expected him to do this. As soon as the cotton was in his hand, she immediately retreated her hand and went to work with her back towards him.
Stunned for a moment, Hansen felt a strange feeling linger in his heart. It was as if some sort of interest had been stirred within him.
At this time, the painful groans of the child in his arms became heavier and heavier, and he hurriedly cleaned up the wound for her, with Amy beside him to help.
There were more and more wounded children in the tent. Only two women were busy in the tent. They were getting overwhelmed.
When Hansen finished cleaning Evie's wound, the sun was already rising outside.
"Mr. Richards, we've already saved all those we could, but we couldn't save every one of them. We have to wait until it's morning to search again. It's just that we don't know when the rescue team would be here. We have no choice but to rely on the machinery to find those buried deeper underneath." Alvin came in with a face full of sweat, and his expression was not optimistic. "I think there are still many children trapped underground."
"There are a total of 132 children. 78 have already escaped, 30 have been rescued, 10 deceased confirmed, and the other 14 remained missing." A hoarse voice came from one side. Although the voice was so hoarse that no one could recognize the original sound, these numbers were very accurately passed to him.
Hansen and Alvin both looked in her direction.
She was still tending to the child's wound, her head hadn't been raised.