Chapter 243: Finding the Red Mark

She did not sleep, and even when eating, she would just hold a bun in her mouth; she would not even climb down the ladder, simply taking a few bites and swallowing them, and that counted as a meal.

Only when feeding the baby rice soup was she at her most patient.

"Clatter," the small spoon fell into the bowl, and the rice soup splashed out.

Her hands were trembling, yet she still slowly picked up the small spoon, feeding the child the rice soup one spoonful, two spoonfuls... at a time.

It could be said that this child was very well-behaved; when she carried him on her back, he was always quiet, and apart from making a few "keng-keng" sounds when hungry or having soiled himself, he would always keep his eyes wide open looking around, or sleep soundly.

After feeding the rice soup, she threw the porridge bowl into her space; she dared not drink water, only taking a tiny sip when she was extremely thirsty, as the cave was only so big, and everyone had physiological needs.

With the child strapped to her back, she slowly climbed up the ladder, "Ding-dang, ding-dang, ding-dang..."

The wall had already been hammered in quite a bit, and it was already a good dozen centimeters different from the outside, but the further out she went, the more the hammer encountered obstructions, and the greater the probability of her hammering her own hand.

"The food is placed over here; come over and have a bite when you're hungry." The woman, along with the fellow villagers who had cooked, placed large buckets on the ground.

Now that supplies were plentiful, there was not a shred of joy in people's hearts.

An Yinan had not stayed at the Command Camp for long, but she had saved many people.

Four days!

Everyone's eyes were bloodshot; previously they would work in two shifts, but as time dragged on, everyone fell silent, not saying a word.

Every person, as soon as they had strength, would rush to the battlefield.

That's right, this was also a battlefield—a battlefield against a natural disaster.

The military and the people were of one heart!

"Go get some rest." Yun Shu pushed Yun Mo; ever since arriving here, Yun Mo had not closed his eyes.

Yun Mo was like a stubborn donkey, holding onto a burst of energy!

"I'm not tired!" No sooner had the words left his mouth than he collapsed onto the ground!

Yun Shu sighed and had two people carry him to the back.

Wang Ping immediately walked over, took out a needle, pricked the blood blisters on Yun Mo's hands, and then sprinkled on Hemostatic Powder.

This time, the Research Institute had also taken action, though they had not come to the scene, but were instead providing them with Hemostatic Pill from the far rear.

Yun Mo only rested for an hour, then went to the wooden barrel to scoop a bowl of porridge, opened his mouth, and gulped it all down.

Afterward, he continued to the front to dig snow.

And at this moment, An Yinan felt her vision blurring; the lack of oxygen to her brain made her gasp, as she was suffering from cerebral hypoxia.

She instinctively swung the hammer, and suddenly, it went through.

It was empty.

"Bang!"

But she also fell straight to the ground, landing on her back.

Fresh blood seeped from the corners of her mouth, and in the instant she fell, her thought was actually, "Thank goodness I wasn't carrying the child."

She felt dizzy today; even though the child had cried twice, she hadn't dared to carry the child up the ladder. She knew there would be more air above, but she really had no other way.

Four days; she had been chiseling the wall for four days!

At this moment, she did not yet know that the empty strike had actually chiseled a hole through the cave!

The hole was not large, only letting through an opening the size of a finger.

But the air finally had a passage and rushed straight into the cave.

An Yinan was unconscious, and the child's crying could not wake her from her deep sleep.

Four days, without sleep or rest, cerebral hypoxia, chiseling the wall non-stop—four days.

Finally, they had found a glimmer of life!

"Found the Red Mark!"

"Continue pushing forward!" Zhang Qian widened his eyes and said with pleasant surprise.

They had dug for a long, long time and still hadn't found the Red Mark.

After entering the low-lying mountain pass, everyone could only spread out to search for the direction; the snow fog was even more intense than before, and the visibility in the air was too low, making them fear they wouldn't find the correct orientation.

The avalanche had come in a circular pattern, and there was only one exit at the mountain pass, so the trajectory of the Red Mark could be slightly calculated; at the very least, it was the only clue in the vast, snowy expanse.

Chen Xun was still charging at the very front; whenever someone told him to rest, he would just remain silent. His arm had been bandaged after Qin Hao pressed him to do so, but he ignored it entirely, digging snow desperately every day.

It was as if he had only this one conviction: dig snow, dig snow, dig snow!

Or rather, his conviction was only one thing: An Yinan!

Four days and four nights, this man seemed not to know what fatigue was.

Yun Fei walked over and patted his shoulder, "Chen Xun, this was Nan Nan's choice."

Chen Xun kept his head lowered; no one could see his expression clearly.

"But I... abandoned her!"

Between the people and her, he had abandoned her.

Yun Fei sighed, "As her uncle, I am very angry."

"But as a soldier, if I had been there, I would have made the same choice."

They, as soldiers, had no other choice!

"Trust her; at any time, choose to trust her," Yun Fei said in a low voice, looking at the man who had lost the light in his eyes; this was all he could say.

Just at this moment.

"Found the Red Mark!" someone shouted loudly.

Everyone looked over, waiting for the direction to be analyzed, and some fellow villagers followed along, offering their opinions based on their experience.

Sometimes, one wants time to be slower, just a little slower.

But it ignores everything, walking only its predetermined path, never stopping for anyone, never slowing down because of beautiful scenery.

It was two days later when An Yinan woke up; the intense pain and the baby's crying finally roused her.

The cave was pitch black, but there was an opening shining with a faint fluorescent light.

"This is... chiseled open?" An Yinan looked at the familiar place and widened her eyes; her persistence in the later stages had been purely out of instinct.

She was too tired, and in too much pain.

Lying on the ground, she didn't even want to get up.

But the baby's crying continued, expressing his sorrow and helplessness.

An Yinan sighed; she did not know how long she had slept, but the air had already filled the cave, giving them hope for survival.

She slowly rose, but every slight movement caused a pulling pain in her back.

Her head also throbbed with intense pain; An Yinan reached out to touch it and came away with a hand full of blood.

"Ugh..." She first used medical gauze and iodine to disinfect the wound, then sprinkled on the powder of a Hemostatic Pill, and wrapped her head with a clean cloth.

Although two days had passed, her arms and hands had not reduced in swelling; instead, they were like Steamed Buns being steamed in a pot, becoming even more swollen.

Tying a knot took a long time; her fingers had completely lost their dexterity, and the more anxious she became, the less she could tie it!

In the end, she had no choice but to find a clip to secure the cloth.

She slowly moved to where the baby was; in two days, the baby's voice had become hoarse from crying.

"Poor little guy." An Yinan first took off the baby's diaper and wiped his little bottom clean with a wet wipe; seeing that his bottom was covered in red spots, she suddenly realized that a long time had probably passed.

She hurriedly took out herbal ointment, applied it to the little guy, then changed him into a clean diaper, took a clean cotton garment, and wrapped the baby up.

After finishing all this, she was already panting; this time it wasn't because of a lack of oxygen, but because her physical strength was severely overdrawn, and every movement tugged at the pain in her back, leaving her drenched in cold sweat despite the freezing weather.

An Yinan took millet porridge out from her space and fed it to the baby spoonful by spoonful; the spoon slipped from her hand several times, and she struggled to pick it up again.

The baby had been starved for these two days and was swallowing it in big gulps.