Shen Cong had just passed through the small gate when she saw her sister struggling up ahead, pushing the little cart from home.
The cart must have been heavy, her body was bent forward, straining with obvious effort.
Shen Cong hurried a few steps, catching up to help her sister.
Only then did she see that the cart carried the small electric saw the family had stored, along with the iron shovel and hoe their father had bought.
“Did Dad ask you to bring these? Where are they? I’ll take them. Go back, sis.”
Shen Xi wiped the sweat from her forehead and refused. “No need. Shanshan is asleep, Tongtong won’t make a fuss, and Mom can watch things at home alone. I came out to help a little.”
“But…”
Shen Cong thought of the Qian couple she had seen that morning.
Before a disaster, there will always be people wholeheartedly trying to help, and people only thinking about themselves.
Shen Xi seemed to read her thoughts and reassured her, “Don’t worry. When I left, I moved the iron gate with Mom and blocked the main entrance. If we don’t go back, Mom can’t even get out herself.”
Shen Cong paused, then couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s so heavy, you’re really using all your strength, huh?”
“Of course. Even Tongtong helped,” Shen Xi said with a sigh.
The two sisters chatted as they walked forward, the atmosphere still somewhat light.
But once they rounded the building near the main gate and reached the rescue site, neither of them could laugh anymore, their faces instantly fell serious.
The V-shaped fissure cut straight through the center of the high-rise section of the community.
An entire building had collapsed into the crack.
The twenty-plus-story tower had completely vanished; even leaning over the edge, they couldn’t see a shadow of it.
Several people were crouched at the edge of the fissure, screaming downwards, clearly survivors from that building.
They were in a wretched state, their hands and bodies covered in injuries, yet they paid no attention to them.
No one seemed to know how long they had been crying; the sounds they made were no longer human cries but almost beast-like wails.
Shen Cong shivered all over.
Shen Xi, watching beside her, could no longer hold back and covered her mouth, crying along with them.
Beside these people, another scene of carnage unfolded.
The earthquake and the ground fissures had collapsed the two buildings nearest the crack.
One building had been cut in half at the waist, the upper portion having crashed down directly.
The other was even worse.
The ground beneath it had opened into a huge pit, swallowing the lower half of the building entirely, now only the top four or five floors remained above ground.
The twenty-plus floors below, along with the people inside, were buried completely.
Now, the community survivors, along with the property staff and the few remaining security guards, had spontaneously formed rescue teams, desperately searching for and trying to save anyone they could.
With so few tools available, mostly just iron spades, sticks, and other common household items, their efficiency was painfully low.
Many family members, seeing no other option, used their bare hands to lift, move, and carry debris, straining with all their strength to give their loved ones even the slightest chance of survival.
At such a scene, no one could even think of going home.
Shen Cong hurried to the wounded who had been carried out and temporarily placed in the shade, waiting to be taken to the relief station. She opened the first-aid kit and began cleaning and dressing their wounds.
Meanwhile, Shen Xi continued pushing the cart, making her way to the spot their father had instructed.
Soon, someone pushed a flatbed cart over. Seeing Shen Cong and the medical kit she carried, they were overjoyed.
“Doctor! Doctor! You need to go over there! There are so many wounded on that open ground. We don’t have any doctors here, hurry!”
Shen Cong didn’t explain that she wasn’t actually a doctor.
She moved quickly, dressing the leg of an elderly man beside her, then decisively ran toward the area the volunteer had indicated.
Sure enough, about two to three hundred meters beyond the collapsed buildings, a somewhat flat area had been cleared. Plastic sheets and tarps were spread out to shield against moisture.
Already, more than a dozen injured people were lying on the sheets.
Nearby, a few elderly women and some young girls were tending to them.
Not far off, a tricycle cart was approaching, its driver drenched in sweat, obviously running back and forth between the two community areas, transporting the wounded.
Seeing Shen Cong, the volunteers caring for the injured were filled with delight, as if they had just seen a glimmer of hope.
Shen Cong didn’t immediately start dressing the wounded. Instead, she quickly surveyed the situation.
The more she looked, the heavier her heart grew.
This wasn’t work she could handle!
The people left here were clearly the ones with the most severe injuries. One man had a broken leg, his lower leg bent outward at a grotesque angle.
Another had a large gash across his waist, flesh turned outward, blood gushing in a steady stream…
They were probably still here, instead of being moved to a better area in the villa complex, because no one dared to carry them.
But how could she treat such serious injuries?!
She pointed to a girl standing beside her. “Go quickly to the property office in the villa area and fetch Doctor Gu. Tell him there are critically injured people here and he must come. You know where the property office is, right?”
“Yes,” the girl nodded quickly, then without another word dashed off.
Shen Cong had come from that side and knew that the wounded in the villa area had already had their injuries treated.
For the severely injured in this tent, before the government medical team arrived, they could only fight for their lives themselves, no one else could help.
In this situation, it made more sense for her father-in-law to come here.
Even if Shen Cong hadn’t sent someone to fetch him, Gu Zhengchu was already prepared to come.
The main problem was that his bandages were almost used up.
He had brought all the leftover trauma medicine from the clinic, thinking it would be enough.
Who knew that in just a short time, more than thirty injured people had been brought over, completely consuming his stock!
“Is it bad over there?” he asked the girl who had come to call him.
“Yes,” she nodded, gasping for breath, barely able to speak.
But hearing Gu Zhengchu ask, her eyes immediately welled up red.
He didn’t ask further, but his brow was already furrowed into a deep knot.
His daughter-in-law had foreseen the earthquake and had prepared a large supply of trauma medicine, enough to last for a while.
But—
No matter how much one person prepared, it wasn’t enough to support all the injured in an entire community!
And even if the home supplies were temporarily sufficient, he couldn’t just give everything away.
Otherwise, no one has the energy to pay attention to this now, but what about later?
When the time comes, someone is bound to wonder, where did all these medicines come from?
The community itself has almost no reserves; all of it is supposedly leftover from his clinic. How much could a small clinic possibly have left?
Gu Zhengchu glanced at the moaning injured people nearby, then at the volunteers with sweat-soaked faces and solemn expressions, and felt the weight of responsibility press down even more heavily on him.
By the time Gu Zhengchu and Shen Cong finished treating all the injured, it was already dark.
Gu Kai came to find them and get them to return home.
After a whole day apart, Gu Kai looked like a completely different person.
His hair was clumped into strands by dust and sweat, his face and body covered in dirt.
The black long-sleeve T-shirt he wore was soaked through with sweat, sticking to him, filthy and smeared with unknown substances.
It was unclear how long it had been since he last drank water; his lips were cracked and dry.
The gloves he had worn in the morning were gone, his hands filthy, several fingers cut and covered with blackened bandages.
“Doctor Gu, Sister Shen, you should go back first. We’ll watch things here. You’ve worked all day, get some rest. Tomorrow who knows how long it’ll take again!”
The girl who had earlier gone to fetch help spoke as she saw him.
Shen Cong nodded. “We’ll go back and tidy up first. I’ll come back to take the night shift. If any new survivors are found, go straight to our house and call me; my father and I will come immediately.”
In fact, no new survivors had been brought in since four in the afternoon.
With this kind of building collapse, there simply weren’t many people who could survive.
The girl agreed decisively.
Only then did the three of them head back home together.
When they returned, Shen Jianyi and Shen Xi had just moved the security door blocking the entrance and hadn’t even stepped inside yet.
Seeing them, Shen Jianyi immediately said, “Xiao Kai, after you eat, let’s fix this door. I checked earlier, the frame’s still usable. We just need to secure the door.”
Gu Kai didn’t agree immediately.
He walked over, examined it, and said, “Dad, I suggest we don’t reinstall this door. Let’s bring some bricks from the flower bed and just seal this side off. In the future, we’ll go through the backyard; it’ll be safer that way.”
When he said that, Shen Jianyi quickly walked over and looked around from all sides.
After thinking for a moment, he nodded. “That works too. This trench can’t really be filled. Our house is too close to it; coming in and out this way is definitely a little scary, especially with kids around. Alright, alright, later we’ll seal this door together.”
The group chatted as they went back inside.
Because the crack formed a large V shape, Shen family’s front door was located at the very bottom of the V.
So their backyard and the area beyond it remained relatively level, with no sinkholes or fissures, making the small gate in the backyard a safer entrance.
Cheng Ru had been busy at home all day.
After the disaster, she developed a kind of obsession: to prepare as much food as possible in case the situation got worse.
So after tidying up the house a little, she spent the entire day cooking.
The water and electricity were out, and the gas was unusable.
Cheng Ru went outside, collected some bricks, and built a makeshift stove in the yard.
That day, she steamed all the rice stored outside, tens of kilograms of it, and used up all the flour as well.
She didn’t have the energy to make delicate buns or dumplings, so she just kneaded the dough and baked it into flatbreads.
Even with good health, Cheng Ru was in her sixties.
She had to cook while watching the children, with no water, no electricity, no air conditioning, and tending that makeshift stove.
By the end of the day, she was utterly exhausted, almost collapsing from fatigue.
But thinking of her husband, her in-laws, and her daughter and son-in-law working outside, enduring so much, she couldn’t help but want to do even more, fearing they would overexert themselves and go without proper meals.
So, dragging her completely exhausted body, she managed to cook two more dishes and a soup on that temporary stove.
Seeing the undamaged stainless-steel bowls, pots, lids, and cutting boards in the kitchen, she had put them all to use. The whole house was filled with the aroma of rice and flour.
On the table were two dishes and a soup. When Shen Cong and the others came in, they were completely stunned!
They couldn’t believe that Mrs. Cheng had accomplished such an enormous task in such a short time.
“Mom, how much work did you end up doing after I left?” Shen Xi murmured.
At this point, Cheng Ru was so exhausted she could barely straighten her back.
She didn’t answer her eldest daughter, but instead held her waist and said to Shen Cong, “Congcong, quickly put these things away and clear the basins for me. Tonight I still need them to steam salted fish and cured meat.”
Shen Cong felt a pang of concern.
She stepped forward a couple of paces, wanting to help her mother, but seeing her in her own messy clothes, she stopped herself.
She could only stand there and complain, “Mom, we already prepared so much before, enough for the whole family to eat for a year. Don’t tire yourself out like this, there’s still a long life ahead.”
Cheng Ru waved her hand. “Don’t worry about it. I’m stuck at home and can’t go out, so all I have left is overthinking. Better to do something useful. Just do as I say: put these things away, then get some vegetables and meat ready.”
Hearing this, Gu Kai nudged his wife. “Listen to Mom.”
Shen Cong had no choice but to nod.
Compared to other families, the Shens were still relatively well off.
Since the bathtub, showerhead, and other bathroom fixtures were damaged in the collapse, Shen Cong took a portable dormitory-style shower set from the space. Combined with the warm water she had stored in small tanks beforehand, the family was finally able to take a proper bath.
Knowing that running water wouldn’t be available for a long time afterward, they didn’t just waste the dirty bathwater. Instead, they stored it in a large bucket they had bought earlier for composting, saving it to flush the toilet.
Shanshan was no longer running a fever and was in much better spirits than in the morning.
After what happened yesterday, Tongtong seemed to have grown overnight, becoming like a little adult.
Knowing he couldn’t help the adults much, he carefully took care of his younger sister, feeding her water, fanning her, telling her stories, and staying by her side while she slept.
In his own way, the little boy was trying to lighten the adults’ burden.
But upon seeing his mother, he finally reverted to the behavior of a six-year-old, unwilling to leave Shen Xi’s side for even a minute.
He recounted everything that had happened during the day, how he helped Grandma pick up stones, washed his sister’s face…
His small mouth never stopped, his hands tugging on Shen Xi’s clothes, following her wherever she went, refusing to let her leave his sight for even a moment.
Only at that moment could one truly feel the deep fear lodged in the child’s heart.
After the meal, no one came to call Shen Cong and the others.
This meant that no new injured people had been brought to the temporary aid center.
This realization didn’t bring any relief; if anything, it made the pressure even heavier.
“It’s so hot. If there’s no water or electricity for a long time, it’s not just the injured who can’t handle it, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to either!” Cheng Ru spoke first.
“Not just no water or electricity, the food isn’t enough either!”
Shen Xi sighed. “Mom, you didn’t go to the high-rise area, so you don’t know what it’s like there. Most of the people living there aren’t owners, they’re tenants working in nearby towns.
They’re gone all day for work, so their homes don’t store much food. These past couple of days, because of the constant earthquake warnings, the restaurants and shops in town were closed. They didn’t go to work either, just stayed home…”
Her head dropped as she spoke, her tone heavy with unhidden sorrow.
It took her a moment to regain control of her emotions before continuing, “It’s terrible. Not to mention the ones who died, what about the people who survived? What will they do? They don’t even have enough to eat.
Our neighborhood doesn’t have a cafeteria or anything, and the property management wouldn’t have stocked food!
I spent almost the entire day digging with those volunteers just to get to that small supermarket in Building No. 2.
But when we finally got it open, we realized there wasn’t much in stock.
It makes sense, it was just a small ground-floor shop that had been converted, not very big. We dug out all the broken cookies and instant noodles we could find, and it still didn’t fill even one tricycle.
How could that possibly be enough?!”
“Besides food, there’s not enough water either. You can survive without food for a while, but without water in this heat, people just can’t live,” Shen Jianyi added with a heavy sigh.
At this, the whole family instinctively looked up at Shen Cong. “Congcong, you don’t think the government would just ignore us, do you?”
“They’ll respond, of course, but whether the government has the capacity right now is another matter. We don’t even know the situation in the city, and, who can say this earthquake only happened in Beining?”
Shen Cong’s voice was calm.
But her words felt like a bucket of ice water poured over everyone’s hearts, chilling them from the inside out.
“What do we do then? Just wait to die? Hundreds of lives are at stake!” Shen Xi’s voice cracked with tears.
Tongtong didn’t fully understand what the adults were saying, but seeing his mother close to tears, he became frightened.
He scrambled onto Shen Xi, clinging tightly around her neck, pressing his face to hers, urgently shouting, “Mom, Mom!”
Seeing her older brother like that, Shanshan also got scared.
Originally held in Cheng Ru’s arms, she struggled to get down and crawled toward Shen Xi’s embrace as well.
Seeing her children like this, and thinking of the hopeless future ahead, Shen Xi felt like she was about to break down completely.
“Come on, come on, let’s go seal the door. Tongtong, come help Grandpa, Shanshan, you come too, let Grandma can take you to catch cicadas.”
Seeing how frightened the kids were, Shen Jianyi stood up and tried to change the subject.
He walked over, took his grandson from his eldest daughter’s arms, and gave her a meaningful look, reminding her to keep her emotions in check.
Shen Xi lowered her head and quietly wiped away the tears that had overflowed.
The others also stood up.
Topics like this were far too heavy; even though everyone knew they couldn’t avoid it, they didn’t want the children to feel it too early.
The whole family went out to the front yard. Shen Cong brought out the tools and turned on the large solar-powered emergency light, and everyone gathered together to discuss the best way to seal the door.
At that moment, a commotion suddenly arose outside.
They went to look and saw a line of people slowly making their way toward them.
The path in front of Shen Cong’s house was very narrow; it was even precarious for two people to walk side by side. On top of that, night had fully fallen, so the group moved cautiously and slowly.
It took several minutes before the person at the front reached Shen’s gate.
“Shi Lei, where are you all headed?” Shen Jianyi recognized the leader and called out.
The man recognized the Shens as well, immediately smiled, and said, “Uncle Shen, Gu Kai, so this is your house! What a solid place, really sturdy.”
He clicked his tongue in admiration.
“Good timing, we’d just finished repairs before the earthquake,” Gu Kai explained casually.
Then he glanced at the others following behind and asked, “And you all, where are you headed?”
“To the empty villa in front,” Shi Lei said, pointing west of Shen’s house.
“Aren’t the buildings over there all collapsed? The few that are still standing are unsafe to live in. So we talked with the property management and decided to come stay with you. Your place still has a lot of empty houses, right? Property management agreed,” Shi Lei explained.
“Alright, that’s a good solution,” Shen Jianyi said, nodding repeatedly when he heard the reason.
He looked at the people behind Shi Lei and asked, “Is it just you few?”
“No, there are over a hundred of us, and some stayed in the villas to the east. We’re the few coming here, single, no family, no elderly or kids. The road is too narrow; we didn’t want anyone in danger, so we decided a few of us would come first,” Shi Lei said.
As he spoke, he glanced instinctively at the huge chasm nearby and sighed, “Your family is really lucky… just a little off and it could have been terrible. Truly, you have such good fortune, so fortunate!”
“This gap, just walking past it makes my legs tremble.”
Shen Cong now understood. Shi Lei was clearly the leader chosen by the residents of the high-rise buildings.
Today’s rescue efforts over there had all been led by him together with the property management staff.
She glanced back and recognized several familiar faces among the group, people who had helped transport the injured earlier.
It was obvious that these few following Shi Lei were the main volunteers from today’s efforts.
Knowing that after a whole day of work they had even given up the better accommodations for others made Shen Cong think even more highly of them.
After a moment, she stepped forward and spoke: “You’re Shi Lei, right? I’m Shen Cong, Gu Kai’s partner. Are you free tonight? If so, Gu Kai and I can come by and discuss something with you.”
It was dark, and Shi Lei hadn’t noticed Shen Cong before. Hearing her, he quickly turned toward her, his voice full of gratitude.
“Doctor Shen, yes! I saw you at the care station earlier. You were busy then and probably didn’t notice me. Thank you so much today, and also Doctor Gu, you really saved a lot of people!
Doctor Shen, whatever you need, just say it!”
Shen Cong didn’t bother correcting him about whether she was really a doctor.
She just nodded and repeated: “You go ahead and get settled first. We have some things to take care of at home too. Around eight o’clock, we’ll come over. If possible, it’d be best to gather everyone in charge in the community so we can have a meeting to discuss future plans.”
She paused briefly and added, “We’re running low on medicine and gauze.”