Chapter 1282: Unforgettable
Gu Nianzhi was shocked by the driver’s brief narration.
At that critical moment, Lina had pushed Vladimir away, but she had fallen into the huge pit…
She walked over and stuck her head out to take a look at the huge circular pit.
The bottom of the pit was blue, and the surface of the water reflected the sunlight. The bottom couldn’t be seen, and there seemed to be a mist lingering around it.
Gu Nianzhi only looked at it for a while before she looked away. She asked with lingering fear, “How deep is this place?” She asked again, “Does Major Lina know how to swim?”
There was allegedly plenty of water at the bottom of the giant pit. If she fell into the water and could swim, there should be a chance she survived, right?
Gu Nianzhi was thinking about how to comfort Vladimir when she saw a few people climb up from the bottom of the giant pit.
They were all drenched and dripping with water when they got out.
The last person to climb up was Lieutenant Colonel Peter.
Gu Nianzhi remembered this person who always appeared to have droopy eyelids, as if he hadn’t slept enough.
This person gave her a very sinister vibe. Gu Nianzhi’s gaze was usually fixed on this person and would avoid him whenever she could. She wouldn’t even look at him.
However, upon seeing that he had risked his life to save Lina this time, Gu Nianzhi had a much improved impression of him.
When Vladimir saw that Peter and the others had come up, he hurried over to them and asked anxiously and eagerly, “You’re all up here? Where’s Lina?!”
Peter took the towel from his subordinate and wiped his head. He said calmly and regretfully, ” … I’m sorry, Lieutenant General Vladimir, but this is all we found.”
As he spoke, Peter opened the black plastic bags in their hands.
Gu Nianzhi looked over as well.
It turned out that the plastic bags were filled with torn clothes and Lina’s KGB uniform.
Vladimir felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head.
His lips open and closed as he glared at Peter. He wanted to speak, but he couldn’t make a sound. It was like a living nightmare.
He wished that it was just a nightmare. When he woke up, the nightmare would be over.
However, the middle-aged driver came over and crushed Vladimir’s last hopes.
” … Huh? You guys only found clothes? They’re all outer clothes… Poor Major Lina. She must have rolled all the way down the huge pit, got knocked unconscious, and fell into the water…”
The middle-aged driver didn’t finish his sentence, but everyone present knew what he meant.
If someone fell into the water unconscious, it was almost certain that the person would die.
Peter patted Vladimir on the shoulders. “Boss, I’m sorry for your loss. “We’ve looked for many places down there. We’ve looked for all the places that we could walk to. We’ve also looked for those that we couldn’t walk to, but we only saw traces of someone rolling into the water… The bottom of this huge pit leads to an underground river. If Major Lina was really unconscious when she fell into the water, it would have been a disaster.”
Peter spoke Russian very fluently but with a slight accent, like an Eastern European person speaking Russian.
Gu Nianzhi didn’t understand Russian, nor did she wear a Bluetooth headset that could translate simultaneously. She had no choice but to turn to the driver again.
The driver relayed it to her in English.
Gu Nianzhi gasped. ” …They mean that Major Lina has… died?!”
The driver nodded. “I think so.” He shrinked his hands up his sleeves and sighed.
Peter’s eyelids drooped as he stood in front of Vladimir. After a while, he took out another black plastic bag and said, “I also found this down there.”
With trembling hands, Vladimir opened the black plastic bag and found a phone with a broken screen, a man’s watch, and a wallet — All the things that Lina had always carried with her.
“Boss, I’m sorry for your loss.” The other KGB members who had followed Peter down to find Lina also comforted Vladimir. “Lieutenant Colonel Peter led us down to look for many places. He even wanted to crack open the crack of a rock to take a look, but other than these things, we didn’t find Major Lina.”
Vladimir closed his eyes and held back the tears that were about to gush out of his eyes. He gnashed his teeth and said, “I don’t care! I’m going to keep looking! I want to see her alive, and even if she’s dead I have to see her body! ”
Peter nodded. “Okay, let’s keep looking.” With that, he tied the long rope that he had just untied around his waist and was about to go down again.
The middle-aged driver grabbed him and turned to Vladimir. “Boss, I know you’re very upset about Major Lina’s matter, but Peter is also your subordinate. You can’t be so harsh on Peter for Lina’s sake, right?”
Vladimir glared at the middle-aged driver and rushed over to untie the long rope from Peter’s waist. He tied it around his waist and said, “You don’t have to go. I’ll go alone!”
This time, he moved too quickly. Peter and the middle-aged driver did not hold him back in time and simply watched him jump down.
Peter was worried. He found another long rope and brought a few people down.
The long rope was tied around his waist and swung around in the huge pit. It went all the way down to the bottom.
Gu Nianzhi still wanted to poke her head out to take a look, but Huo Shaoheng pulled her back. “Don’t stand on the edge of the cliff.”
Wasn’t this just like a cliff?
Gu Nianzhi was even more worried.
Huo Shaoheng put his arm around her shoulder and stood next to the middle-aged driver. After a moment of silence, he said, “Our experiment is over. We have to go now. Let us know when you find Lina.”
Gu Nianzhi made a phone call to the driver and said, “Uncle Ivan can also send me a Wechat message or a b.u.t.ton. I’ll keep them on my phone.”
The driver nodded. “You guys can go first. The boss hasn’t finished sending his crazy messages. I don’t think he’ll let this go.”
Gu Nianzhi looked at the driver disapprovingly and whispered, ” … Don’t say that. Vladimir is so pitiful this time…”
The driver gave a wry smile. “I know, but we have to accept reality, don’t we? It’s a good thing they haven’t started dating yet. They just like each other, so he should be able to forget soon.”
Gu Nianzhi shook her head and said seriously, “No, I won’t forget Lina. I won’t forget Vladimir, and I won’t forget Uncle Ivan.”
As Gu Nianzhi spoke, she walked over and gave the driver a gentle hug.
The driver patted her on the back and kissed her on the cheek like an elder would treat a junior. “I won’t be seeing you off. Have a safe trip.”
Gu Nianzhi nodded solemnly. “You take care too.”
She followed Huo Shaoheng back to the Huaxia Empire’s base and watched as everyone packed their things. It didn’t take long for them to check out of the resort and drive their rental car out of the Tunguska region of Siberia.
They sped all the way to the nearest and largest airport, Irkutsk International Airport.
A special plane from the Huaxia Empire was already quietly waiting for them.
Huo Shaoheng had to go with someone to coordinate matters, so Gu Nianzhi followed Song Jinning and the other scientists onto the plane.
The captain led all the flight attendants to stand at the cabin door to welcome them and even gave Song Jinning a bouquet of flowers.
“Welcome back, Ms. Song.”
Song Jinning was very surprised. She had come to Siberia by train and never experienced such a high standard of treatment.
Gu Nianzhi guessed that Huo Shaoheng had arranged it. She smiled as she held Song Jinning’s arm and said, “We’re sharing the limelight of Ms. Song’s glory.”
The captain was also very respectful towards Gu Nianzhi. He stepped aside and invited Gu Nianzhi and Song Jinning to board the plane first.
After everyone had settled in, Huo Shaoheng quickly returned to the plane. He went to the c.o.c.kpit to discuss the route with the captain and his a.s.sistant. He also contacted the domestic airport and ordered them to take off immediately.
The flight from Irkutsk airport to the Huaxia Empire’s Imperial Capital International Airport wasn’t long. It was only three hours.
Because they were on a private plane, the green light was on the entire time. Other planes avoided their private plane, so it only took them an hour and a half to get to the Imperial Capital International Airport.
When the plane landed at the Capital International Airport’s Terminal 3, Gu Nianzhi could hardly believe her eyes.
This was too fast!
However, Huo Shaoheng and the Special Operations forces were particularly quick to act.
As soon as the private plane landed at Terminal 3, several buses drove directly to the tarmac.
Gu Nianzhi was even more surprised. She looked at Song Jinning. “Ms. Song, is that your car?”
Song Jinning looked at it and smiled. “How could we afford those kinds of cars? Those are military vehicles.”
“Oh, that’s Major General Huo’s car.” Gu Nianzhi looked inside the cabin but didn’t see Huo Shaoheng. She asked the people next to her and found out that Huo Shaoheng had already left.
Gu Nianzhi moved closer to the window and finally saw Huo Shaoheng’s tall and upright figure.
He stood in front of a bus as he talked to a bus driver. He waved his hand, and boxes half the height of a person were brought down from the plane and directly onto the bus.
Gu Nianzhi understood. “So it’s for you, Ms. Song?”
Song Jinning looked at them and nodded with a smile. “It’s our boxes. These machines are priceless now, and the data inside are invaluable. There’s no other way.”
Therefore, they needed military vehicles to escort them to ensure absolute safety.
The instruments of the Russian scientists had been destroyed in the explosion just now, so it was unknown whether they had made a backup.
Gu Nianzhi’s thoughts ran wild. She saw Huo Shaoheng walking over to their private plane with his long legs. She quickly withdrew her head from the window and smiled as she high-fived Song Jinning. “We’re finally home!”