Chapter 245 - Rescue
TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney
“Hmm for me? You will persist for me?” A hint of light flashed in Yin He"s eyes.
“Of course. I thought there was no one left for me to care about in this world, that was until you joined my side.” Liu Gan’s ice cold heart seemed to have melted a little.
As Yin He held on within Liu Gan’s embrace, she released more heat energy.
The pouring rain and crashing waves struck the lighthouse, it was like a lonely island towering above the seawater. Eventually the structure started to sway back and forth like the motion of the sea, as if it could collapse at any moment.
The other team members stopped talking. Even the talkative Treadmill shut up. They were on the verge of pa.s.sing out from extreme hypothermia, so it was hard for them to say anything.
The world was so quiet, it was as if Liu Gan and Yin He were the only ones remaining.
…
Liu Gan didn"t dare fall asleep. He kept watch on the situation with the sea level. He discovered that the seawater slowly receded by several meters. He quickly pulled away from Yin He then warmed up his extremities in order to climb down the ladder on the inside of the lighthouse.
There were floors within the lighthouse, with a small room on every floor. The inside had ladders that made it easy to travel up and down the lighthouse floors. After the water had receded from within the lighthouse, they descended from the top of the lighthouse, and entered the building through a window. Now they could temporarily avoid the wind and rain from within the lighthouse.
If no help came for these players, they would surely perish.
With Yin He’s a.s.sistance, Liu Gan carried them one by one from outside into the indoor rooms of the lighthouse.
The choice of staying within the rooms of the lighthouse was a rather dangerous one to make. For instance, if there was another tsunami, or an earthquake. If the waves reached the lighthouse interior, then they would drown while being stuck indoors.
As of right now it was the only available action, even if it wasn"t the best option. If they weren"t taken into the room, they might very well freeze to death. It was close to zero degrees celsius, and with torrential downpour many of them were already hypothermic.
Every one of the members were taken inside, including the bearded man and the young female. All of them were laid down on left over furnitures and objects within the lighthouse. Luckily there was a large wooden board to cover up the window that they broke to get in. It was suitable, at least temporarily, for blocking out the thunderstorm and turbulent wind.
“So cold! I"m going to die from the cold!” Treadmill mumbled as he was quickly losing consciousness. Seems like even with the body of a level 5 player, he wasn"t able to fully withstand it. Nevertheless, being able to resist hypothermia for this long of a period was truly remarkable.
Liu Gan took off the rain drenched winter clothing from the bodies of the players. After draining as much of the water as he could out of them, he helped the players put their clothes back on. The young therapist was the first to wake up, since he could self-treat himself with his ability. With the remainder of his energy, he used it to treat the others. This way the hypothermia would slightly more bearable after being treated. There were still patches of freezing water that touched their skin, but it was better than not being treated at all.
“Sorry… She is dead, I can"t force any more energy into her body.” Said the young therapist to Liu Gan. The young therapist was referring to the young middle schooler. The young therapist was known as Huang WeiTao. Therapist Huang was part of the crew of ATV riders from earlier.
Liu Gan didn"t say another word. He was about to throw the middle schooler over his shoulder and get ready to toss her out of the lighthouse.
“Elder Liu! Wait!” Zhang Hua shouted for Liu Gan to stop.
Liu Gan stopped in his tracks, and turned back to look at Zhang Hua.
“Allow me to try, maybe I could help her.” Zhang Hua quickly rushed over to carry the middle schooler onto the floor, and began to touch her chest… for CPR.
“It’s no use, if there were any use, I would’ve woken her already.” Said Therapist Huang, as he shined his flashlight in the lifeless pupils of the middle schooler.
“That"s still hard to say, maybe she still has a chance.” Zhang Hua continued with his chest compressions.
After several long minutes, there were still no reaction from the middle school girl. Even though Zhang Hua, himself, had a feeble body, but that didn"t mean that he was going to give up on the girl.
“Why not allow me to try?” Yin He looked at Liu Gan.
“You can try.” Liu Gan nodded. Even though Liu Gan agreed, he still had his hand on the wooden board covering the gaping hole. Yin He proceeded closer to the middle schooler.
Yin He held onto the middle schooler’s palm and ejected heat. Yin He’s body doesn’t require respiration, but she has the capability of storing oxygen internally. After heating up the oxygen stored within, she breathed into the middle schooler’s mouth. She did 5 minutes of continuous chest compression and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but the middle schooler didn’t have any response.
“It’s no use. Just stop.” Treadmill said from the side.
“Yeah… It won’t help. Just give up…” Some of the others chimed in.
Yin He looked over to Liu Gan. Even Liu Gan shook his head, so finally Yin He stopped her rescue efforts.
“I will try again!” said Zhang Hua. He wasn’t about to give up! He continued the chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
When Zhang Hua was 19 years old, he met a younger girl who was a middle schooler. The middle schooler that he met was similar in size to this unconscious middle schooler. They were also similar in regards to personality. Both of them were silent and always had a school bag on.
The middle schooler had family issues, and it resulted in her attempting to jump off a bridge, but she was stopped by Zhang Hua who was pa.s.sing by. After being enlightened by Zhang Hua, the two of them grew closer. Zhang Hua inevitably fell in love with the middle schooler, and the middle schooler was reliant on Zhang Hua. She would confide in him about her family’s situation all the time.
Eventually the middle schooler’s parents got a divorce, and right before the middle schooler attempted another suicidal jump, she sent a short text message to Zhang Hua. She thanked him for the short, sweet time that they had spent together.
Zhang Hua was with friends at a local pub, and he didn’t notice the notification on his phone. By the time he finally saw the text message and rushed over to the bridge, the middle schooler had already been fetched out of the river. There were still warmth coming from her body, but the rescuers had already given up. Not Zhang Hua. He was still performing CPR on her for the next 30 minutes. He continued until her body began to stiffen up, and the police forcibly dragged him away.
This event created a traumatic stress to Zhang Hua. He still blames himself for her death. He wasn’t able to forgive himself. His reason was that if he wasn’t drinking with his friends, then he might have saw the text message sooner, and made it in time to stop the tragedy.
So as he faces this unconscious middle schooler, Zhang Hua recalled the same scene that happened 10 years ago. He didn’t want such a tragedy to repeat itself, and this time he has the chance to redeem himself. He wants to save the girl even if it meant sacrificing his body.
It seems that everything was a full cycle, it was going to be inevitable.