Chapter 703: Lone Mission

In the dead of night, the weather suddenly changed its face, and rain poured down in torrents.

Rainwater had already entered the tent, and Xu Damao sat up abruptly, cursing: "Why the hell is this rain so heavy? Is it even possible for people to live like this?"

Liu Sanmei also woke up and nudged Xu Damao: "Damao, why don't we go live in the house? The first earthquake didn't cause any issues, so the aftershocks shouldn't collapse the house either. I want to go back inside to sleep."

Xu Damao shook his head, his tone stubborn: "Didn't the broadcast say? Aftershocks could potentially be even more severe than the main shock. Let's not avoid being crushed during the main shock only to end up buried in the house by an aftershock; that would be too unjust."

Liu Sanmei said with a hint of spite: "I'm soaked to the bone, I refuse to sleep in this tent. If you won't go in, I'm going in to live in the house myself, even if I get crushed to death!"

Xu Damao was helpless, and in the end, he followed her back into the house, but lying on the bed, he tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep no matter what.

Liu Sanmei, on the other hand, fell into a deep sleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

Xu Damao couldn't help but curse in a low voice: "Stinking woman, truly heartless."

He simply gave up on sleeping, sat at the doorway, looked at the heavy rain outside, and sighed while smoking: "Tomorrow I must go find Siqiang and have him introduce a few people to build a sturdier shed."

On the other side, the Jidong disaster area.

He Yuzhu returned to the tent, exhausted, and saw Liu Siman still burying her head in statistical data.

Seeing He Yuzhu enter, she hurriedly said: "Siqiang, you should go inside and lie down to rest for a while."

He Yuzhu waved his hand: "Too hungry, let's eat something first."

Upon hearing this, Liu Siman immediately stood up happily, rummaged through a box to find a pack of instant noodles, deftly added the seasoning, and poured in hot water.

He Yuzhu held the bowl and asked casually: "What do you think of these instant noodles?"

Liu Siman smiled and said: "This thing you brought back is just too convenient. Secretary Liu even praised you, saying she would tell my sister to have their Food Factory learn to produce these too; they are both convenient and delicious."

He Yuzhu didn't respond, but a complex feeling welled up in his heart.

In his previous life, his stomach was ruined by this very thing. When he lived at school in high school, he completely let himself go, eating four packs of instant noodles every meal, every single day, until he forcibly wrecked his stomach. Later, when he went abroad to study, his stomach would ache severely whenever he touched anything of this sort. Therefore, after transmigrating, he even hoped this kind of thing would appear later. But he also had to admit that during disaster relief, this thing was truly useful.

Seeing his expression was off, Liu Siman asked cautiously: "Siqiang, do you not like eating this?"

He Yuzhu didn't tell the truth, only saying faintly: "It's not that, just too tired today."

"Then rest quickly after you finish eating." Liu Siman's tone was full of heartache, "You haven't slept for two days and two nights, how can you hold up?"

He Yuzhu said in a low voice: "I'm racing against the golden seventy-two hours. Within these seventy-two hours, the hope of rescuing people is the greatest; after that, the possibility of them being alive is slim."

Liu Siman nodded and said earnestly: "Yes. But your strength alone is limited after all."

He Yuzhu had just finished a bowl of instant noodles and was preparing to rest when a burst of hurried footsteps arrived. Ershuan ran in quickly, panting: "Zhuzi, it's bad! There's a gas leak at the steel mill, and it's about to explode. What should we do?"

He Yuzhu immediately asked: "Is the road over there clear? How fast can we get there?"

"The road is clear. If we hurry, we can get there in twenty-something minutes," Ershuan replied.

He Yuzhu said: "Hurry and drive me over. I'll doze off in the car for a bit; call me when we arrive."

Man Yatou was full of worry and said softly: "Brother Zhuzi, you must be careful. You haven't closed your eyes for two days and two nights."

He Yuzhu nodded and reassured her: "Don't worry, don't mind me, you should pay attention to resting yourself too."

After speaking, he followed Ershuan out the door. In the car, He Yuzhu had just dozed off for a little while when he was woken up; they had already arrived at the steel mill.

As soon as He Yuzhu got out of the car, he saw quite a few people gathered outside the steel mill. Everyone looked anxious and chaotic, clearly eager to find a solution but unable to find a way to start.

The air was filled with a pungent smell of gas—one could tell just by smelling it that it was a large-scale pipeline leak.

If the main valve wasn't closed, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Looking inside the steel mill, most of the equipment had already collapsed from the earthquake.

He took out his work ID and stated his identity directly: "I am the Rescue Deputy Commander for this operation. Who is the person in charge here? Tell me the situation in detail."

A team leader hurriedly stepped forward: "My surname is Xiao. Our Rescue Team is responsible for the steel mill sector. After receiving the report of the gas leak, I sent over a dozen people to close the valve, but then an explosion suddenly occurred... Those dozen people are all trapped underground, and their status is unknown. But the gas is still leaking, and we don't dare to go into the underground passage to close the valve anymore."

He Yuzhu asked: "Where is the main valve for the gas pipeline?"

The team leader turned to look at someone nearby: "Comrade Cui, you are from the factory, hurry and explain the pipeline situation clearly to the Rescue Deputy Commander."

That Master Cui hurriedly said: "The main valve is in that building, but the building has already collapsed. By the time the ruins are cleared, the factory will have long been blown flat. Those branch pipes are all in the underground passage; we originally wanted to close the branch valves underground first, but as soon as people went in, it exploded... Now, no one can go underground at all. We must close the main valve, but with the building collapsed like this, we don't even know where to start..."

After hearing this, He Yuzhu already had an idea. He had the Space Collection function, and for him to do it would be much simpler than for others. It was just that the smell of gas in the air was truly dangerous and could trigger a large-scale explosion at any moment. But right now, besides him, no one else had any way to deal with it.

He turned to look at Ershuan and ordered: "Organize everyone to retreat, move further away. I'm going in alone."

Ershuan was full of worry: "Zhuzi, but you... you can't find the main valve either, and we didn't bring a bulldozer over."

He Yuzhu waved his hand: "Don't worry, I have a way."

He then took out a Gas Mask and put it on.

Seeing he was fully equipped and knowing he was the Rescue Deputy Commander, everyone cooperated and retreated in an orderly fashion.

He Yuzhu walked straight toward the building containing the main valve.

He turned on the Scanning Equipment and searched for the leak points along the way. Master Cui was right; the underground pipes were already full of gas, so he had to head straight for the main valve.

He moved with the speed of flight and soon arrived in front of a pile of ruins.

The factory roof had collapsed, but after scanning, he discovered that the internal facilities were not completely destroyed—the main valve was still there, just pinned down tightly by steel plates and steel beams.

He looked around, confirmed no one was there, and immediately used the Space Excavation function to quickly collect the obstacles that could be moved, one by one.

Soon, a path leading to the valve was cleared in the ruins.

He Yuzhu stepped forward quickly and began to close the main valve.

Just as he was turning the valve, an explosion sound came again from the direction of a branch valve in the distance.

He Yuzhu's heart tightened, fearing that the gas would backflow along the pipes to the main valve's location.

He gritted his teeth, his hands turning the valve handwheel at a speed far exceeding that of a normal person, almost using all his strength.

Finally, the valve was completely shut.

Almost at the same moment, less than ten meters away from him, there was a "Boom" as it exploded, flames rushing toward his face, heat waves surging—a few seconds later, and the consequences would have been unimaginable.

He Yuzhu had no time for lingering fear and turned to head straight for the underground passage where the dozen or so team members were trapped.

He turned on the Scanning and soon discovered that several people were still alive underground.

They were trapped in a narrow space, and if there was any more delay, they would likely suffocate.

He Yuzhu immediately activated the Space Tunneling function, and after consuming ten kilograms of gold, he quickly tunneled through to enter the underground.

Coal gas that had not yet dissipated remained inside, and those few people were already on the verge of death.

He did not hesitate, decisively took action, quickly knocked the five people unconscious, and took them into his space.

After returning to the surface, he took a Flatbed Cart out from his space, released the five people from the space, and pushed the cart, rushing desperately toward the outside.

The smell of coal gas inside the factory area was still heavy; he was fine wearing a Gas Mask, but if these five people inhaled it for a long time, they would surely die.

The people outside learned that the main Valve had been closed, and that among the dozen or so trapped people, the five who were alive had all been brought out by him; they immediately burst into enthusiastic applause.

At this moment, everyone understood—

This Deputy Commander-in-Chief was a true god-like man.

A single person had accomplished a task that the entire Rescue Team could not do.