Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 402 Dead End
"Sorry, we can't save everyone."

Even though a long time has passed, Zhong Yin still often recalls that terrible explosion, the collapse that felt like the destruction of the world, the fading flames in the torrential rain, the cries and wails in the darkness, and the two cold corpses covered by white sheets.

The rescuer was soaked to the bone by the torrential rain, his gloves were torn, and his body was trembling with exhaustion. Despite being completely worn out from the rescue efforts, he still had to offer words of comfort to the people he had personally saved with a heavy heart.

really weird.

At that moment, Zhong Yin suddenly felt that this world was too absurd. The person who did everything he could to save people apologized, while a coward like himself who was saved felt a strange sense of anger after seeing the sad expression on the other person's face.

What are we angry about?

Are you angry that they couldn't save everyone? Or are you angry at your own incompetence?
...It is clearly I who should apologize.

She often thinks that if she had been braver back then, she might have been able to save her parents instead of watching them become cold, lifeless corpses.

She clearly had the chance to save everyone.

Even more tragically, the violent explosion severely damaged her hearing, so much so that she couldn't even hear her parents' dying words.

Not a single word.

Under the shroud of torrential rain, the whole world was blurred that night, and the wind, carrying a salty, fishy smell, howled and wailed in the firelight.

Through the thick curtain of rain, which acted like a barrier, she could neither see her parents' expressions nor hear their voices.

But she knew very well that whatever her parents said, it was the future they were desperately trying to give her.

But she let the "future" slip through her fingers.

Inside the ambulance, the doctors were frantically checking on Xiaoling. Although they couldn't hear what the doctors were saying, judging from their expressions, Xiaoling seemed to be out of danger.

This is the only good news today.

The best decision she made tonight was to tackle the unconscious Xiaoling to the ground just before the explosion and forcefully cover her ears.

She just didn't know how to face Xiaoling after she woke up.

In Xiaoling's world, her parents are her whole world. She is unsure whether she can be a good older sister and become her younger sister's new source of emotional support.

"You two are sisters, aren't you?"

Suddenly, a weary voice rang out beside me. It was the exhausted rescuer. He seemed to have been working too hard while rescuing people. He had many injuries on his body, and the skin on his hands had been worn away and was bleeding. He was forced into the ambulance.

She was stunned. She hadn't thought it was strange before, but now that she thought about it, she clearly couldn't hear anything, so why could she still hear this person's voice?
Is this a dream?

It was pitch black outside the car window, the whole world seemed to be shrouded in fog, and even the car headlights couldn't penetrate it. It felt unreal, as if it really was a dream.

Whether it's a dream or not, Xiaoling is currently in a coma and can't hear any sounds from the outside world. She can't even talk to someone if she wants to. Talking to this person might make her feel better.

"Yes, thank you for saving us."

A long silence surrounded her, and she suddenly felt a little scared. She didn't know if her hearing loss was too severe, because she couldn't even hear her own voice, and she didn't even know if she had managed to say those words.

"You're welcome."

Fortunately, after a long while, the man finally responded, saying in a bitter tone, "I'm sorry, I wish I could have saved your parents."

"There's no need to apologize. You've already done a great job by saving us."

She was a little angry; this person was saying those things again.

Seeing that the person was looking down and not speaking, as if in low spirits, she continued, "A person's ability is limited. You can't save everyone. Just do what you can."

"Is it within my power...?"

After a long silence, the man gave a bitter smile, "My abilities may be stronger than you think."

“That’s enough,” she said.

There was another moment of silence.

Is that enough?

"That's enough. In short, I don't want to hear any more apologies from you... I appreciate it."

The person seemed a bit slow to react, always a beat behind in their response. Suddenly, they shook their head and sighed, "You clearly understand this principle yourself."

"what?"

She didn't quite understand what the other person meant. Turning her head, her expression suddenly changed, and she asked in horror, "Are you...are you alright?"

"fine."

"But your ear is bleeding..."

This person's hearing is also impaired, no wonder he always answers a beat late, it turns out he can't hear himself clearly.

"Your ear is bleeding too."

The man touched his ear, looked at the scarlet on his hand, and seemed completely unconcerned.

"Doctor! Doctor!"

But she couldn't ignore it, so she quickly called for a doctor. However, when she looked around, the doctors and nurses in the ambulance had disappeared. Only she, the man beside her, and Xiaoling lying on the stretcher remained in the ambulance.

There was no driver in the ambulance, but it continued to move forward.

This must be a dream...

She calmed down, but she still couldn't bear to watch the other person's ear continue to bleed. She hurriedly picked up the bandages from the car and used them as tissues to wipe the blood that had flowed down the person's cheek.

"Don't be so nervous. I told you, I'm more capable than you think." The man winced in pain, then gave a nonchalant smile.

"Are you a chuunibyou?"

She frowned, only then noticing that this person was surprisingly young, indeed like someone still living in a fantasy world.

What a strange and unusual dream.

She knew nothing about medicine and could do nothing but keep wiping the blood flowing from the other person's ear, just like how she could only watch her parents being swallowed by a boulder from afar with tears streaming down her face.

The person seemed to see the sadness in her eyes and kept offering words of comfort, but she couldn't hear a word they said, until they uttered these words—

“I heard your parents’ last words.”

She suddenly looked up, staring blankly at the other person.

"Didn't you hear me?" the man repeated earnestly. "I said I heard your parents' last words."

"What...is it?" Although she knew very well that this was just a dream, and the last words were nothing more than a self-comforting fantasy in the dream, she still wanted to hear it.

"they said……"

Just as the man was about to speak, the ambulance suddenly shook violently, and the roof caved in as if it had been hit hard by a heavy object.

As the ambulance began to swerve, she instinctively rushed to the stretcher, holding her still unconscious sister tightly in her arms to prevent her from rolling around and getting hurt in the vehicle.

"It seems like there's been another problem."

The man frowned slightly, gripped the handrail tightly, looked up at the dented roof of the car, and said, "I'll go out and check. You guys take care of yourselves."

"go out?"

She paused for a moment, staring at the raindrops rushing past the car window, and asked nervously, "How are you getting out?"

The man didn't speak, but answered with his actions—

He opened the car door and jumped out of the ambulance while it was speeding along.

She was terrified and quickly looked out the car window, but the person had vanished without a trace, completely disappearing into the torrential rain.

She stood there stunned for a moment, wanting to say, "At least finish saying my parents' last words before you leave," but then she realized that the person might never hear her say that, so she silently shut her mouth, hugged her younger sister, and stared blankly at the open car door.

The strong wind, carrying large raindrops, kept penetrating the car and stinging people's cheeks.

"Oh!"

"Oh!"

"Oh!"

It felt like heavy objects were constantly falling from above, denting the car roof. The interior space became increasingly cramped, and the surroundings gradually darkened, like a thick black liquid.

She gently laid her younger sister flat on the ground, carefully pressed her down on her body, and forcefully covered her ears.

Although I can't hear it, the sounds must be very loud now.

As the space inside the car shrank, she could feel heavy objects pressing against her chest. The air became increasingly stuffy, carrying a slightly fishy and salty smell, making it harder and harder to breathe. It was as if she were underwater, not in a car.

It got darker and darker all around, and gradually I couldn't see anything anymore.

What a terrible dream… she thought.

Even though it was a dream, I wish I could have asked that person's name just now...

He looks kind of familiar...

……

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Zhong Yin suddenly opened his eyes, coughed up several mouthfuls of water, and gasped for breath, greedily inhaling the long-lost air.

The sunlight wasn't glaring, but it still made her feel a little uncomfortable.

What made her even more uncomfortable was the pair of large hands pressing heavily against her chest, and the face so close to hers.

With its back to the sunlight, the face appeared somewhat blurry, gradually merging with the figure in the dream, but soon it became Han Zhou's face.

Pale, exhausted, with a few strands of water plants on his head, he looked extremely disheveled, but his eyes were exceptionally bright.

She was wet and sticky, and a gust of cold wind made her shiver. She pulled herself together from her wandering thoughts and looked around.

"Sister Yin, you're awake?"

Seeing Zhong Yin wake up, Han Zhou was overjoyed, and the women around him were even more relieved, excitedly crowding around him.

Zhong Ling wanted to rush into her sister's arms, but worried that she might hurt her, so she just knelt on the ground and held her sister's hand tightly.

Zhong Yin's mind was hazy, but she had already remembered what had happened before. She seemed to have fainted after seeing Han Zhou approach, and she couldn't remember anything after that.

She smiled at Zhong Ling, then suddenly remembered something and asked nervously, "Where are Guzheng and Yixia?"

"Don't worry, they're all fine."

Ouyang Lianyu explained with a smile, "They woke up earlier than you, but they were all too tired, so they're lying there resting while Xiaoxiao takes care of them."

She pointed to a spot not far away where Gu Zheng and Mo Yixia were lying on a low slope, basking in the sun, looking exhausted. Beside them sat Xiao Xiaoxiao, her hands supporting her chin, as if she were talking to them.

Mo Yixia remained calm, holding her breath and waiting for rescue after falling into the water. Gu Zheng, on the other hand, had plenty of energy, so both of them were in better condition than Zhong Yin. Although they were unconscious for a while after getting ashore, they woke up quickly.

It is worth mentioning that although Mo Yixia woke up quickly, she pretended to be unconscious. Her acting skills were superb, and she almost fooled everyone. Han Zhou immediately decided to perform artificial respiration on her. Gu Zheng, who woke up first, objected loudly and almost got up from the ground with her head on the ground, repeatedly insisting that she should perform the artificial respiration.

Mo Yixia was incredibly patient, waiting until Gu Zheng was almost touching her lips before opening her eyes and casually saying, "Be careful, or I'll sue you for sexual harassment."

Gu Zheng could easily see that this girl was trying to trick Han Zhou into giving her CPR, and she immediately flew into a rage, cursing her for being shameless. Mo Yixia, on the other hand, remained calm and replied, "It's your own fault for not knowing how to seize the opportunity," before closing her eyes to rest.

Han Zhou was in a real bind, but Zhong Yin, whose condition was the most critical at the time, was still in danger. So he left Xiao Xiaoxiao to take care of the two of them and then rushed over to give Zhong Yin artificial respiration.

It wasn't that he wanted to take advantage of the situation, but Ouyang Lianyu had already performed CPR on Zhong Yin, but there was still no sign of improvement. That's why he took over and used his few remaining points to activate "Experience is the best teacher" while pressing on Zhong Yin's chest.

Perhaps it was due to the effect of "experienced illness becoming a doctor", or perhaps it was because Ouyang Lianyu's previous artificial respiration was only now beginning to take effect, but under repeated chest compressions, before he could even blow air into him, Zhong Yin suddenly woke up and sprayed water all over his face.

After hearing the general situation from Ouyang Lianyu, Zhong Yin breathed a sigh of relief, sincerely expressed his gratitude to everyone, and then asked in confusion, "How were we rescued?"

In her opinion, the situation was already quite critical. It would take a lot of time to help Mo Yixia clear the weeds tangled in her feet or to get the guzheng ashore. Han Zhou shouldn't have had time to rescue her as well. Could it be that someone else went into the water at that time?
Ouyang Lianyu laughed and said, "I forgot to mention that Han Zhou rescued you all. He took a fishing line with him before he went into the water, and he tied the three of you to his body to swim up."

"Tie it to your body..."

Zhong Yin was stunned for a moment before noticing a deep laceration on Han Zhou's black thermal underwear, with faint traces of crimson blood seeping out.

She vaguely remembered that while she was unconscious, it seemed like someone was dragging her upwards towards the surface of the water.

Han Zhou hadn't had a proper rest since he went into the water, and only now did he have time to sit on the ground and recover his strength. Hearing this, he smiled indifferently and said weakly, "It's not entirely my doing. If it weren't for everyone on the shore helping me with their fishing rods, I wouldn't have been able to bring you all up."

Wang Lengqiu stood behind him, silently helping him remove the water plants from his head.

Zhong Yin stared blankly at Han Zhou's still bleeding abdomen, and the image of the other man tightly wrapping the fishing line around his abdomen involuntarily appeared in his mind. He thought that although the guy spoke casually, the situation must have been quite dangerous at the time.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Just then, Wang Lengqiu, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke, his tone revealing neither joy nor anger.

"When Han Zhou came ashore, the fishing lines on your bodies were tied in a knot."

(End of this chapter)