Crossing the Western Tianshan Mountains

He smiled bitterly, put away his phone and continued to eat dry bread and drink a few sips of water. A sense of tragedy inexplicably arose in his heart. After understanding it over this period of time, he was almost certain that this was the most difficult engineering project he had encountered since he started working.

He has always been determined to work hard since he was a child, and this time he finally felt the sense of hard work.

After a few bites, he pulled out his recorder and muttered, "Site 13, leveling results show it's relatively flat, with loose soil. The previous survey may have been inaccurate, and a resurvey is necessary. I currently believe this is a sandy or silty soil layer, unsuitable for tunnel construction."

After a moment's thought, he added, "If the route is changed, we'll need to measure new markers 126 and 145. This will increase the survey workload and will take about half a month."

"In site 12, the wet soil layer is thick and is seriously suspected to be a broken and water-rich rock layer. Re-survey is required."

……

Generally speaking, re-survey does not mean denying the previous survey. The mountains are huge and the climate is ever-changing. Surveying the same place at different times may lead to completely different conclusions due to the influence of hidden waterways and climate.

After Li Jianguo finished recording, he continued to move forward.

I thought that after I finished inspecting the fourteenth site, I could go back to the camp.

I didn't expect that there was a deep ditch between the 14th mark on the drawing and the 13th mark. I measured it with a level and found that the ditch was about 30 meters long, and the slope was as long as one kilometer... In other words, the distance to reach the 14th mark was twice the actual expected distance.

It is just a round trip from the 13th to the 14th site, about four kilometers.

This made him obviously hesitate, but when he thought about it, he would have to take this road again when he came here to measure later, because it was impossible for a car to enter here.

The current situation is entirely manual.

Seeing the sun high, bright and warm, he looked back at the camp for a while, and finally gritted his teeth and decided to go to the 14th mark, measure it there and then return.

The downhill road from the Thirteenth Mark was still smooth, but there were too many sharp gravels, and his shoes were the first to have problems. He initially thought that the gravels had entered his shoes and were burning his feet.

I found a place to take off my shoes and check them, only to find that the soles of my shoes had been torn at some point and there was a hole in them, and my soles were covered with blisters.

At this time, he had just reached the lower half of the Thirteen Slopes.

After careful consideration, he knew that he could not reach the 14th site today. He put on his shoes, rested for a while, and climbed up to the 13th site, intending to return the same way.

When he was going down the mountain, he just felt that the road was difficult to walk on and he was particularly afraid of falling. When he was climbing up, it was even more difficult. He was out of breath after walking a few steps. He felt that the slope was not steep, but it was as difficult as climbing a cliff. He almost took a break after walking a few steps. Seeing the sun getting lower and lower, he became anxious.

Moreover, the wind on the slope was getting stronger and stronger. Although the sun had not completely set, I could no longer feel any warmth. Instead, I felt a chill rising from the soles of my feet.

Gradually, his breathing became heavier and heavier, his heart seemed to shrink with cold, and it was difficult to breathe.

Just at this moment, he suddenly felt an animal rushing past him... He knew there were wolves here and was immediately frightened.

After taking a few steps forward, he suddenly slipped.

With a thought in his mind that something was wrong, he fell uncontrollably and rolled down the slope. The sharp gravel pierced his skin and he felt that all the bones in his body were about to break. He grabbed around with his hands, but unfortunately there was not even a single weed on the slope. His hands were covered in blood, but there was still no grass or stone to stabilize his body.

He rolled straight to the bottom of the slope...

In the last sight, I only saw the setting sun as blood-red, and the sky quickly darkened in a second.

……

By nine o'clock in the evening, the people sent out still hadn't found Li Jianguo. This finally alarmed Ling Fengxi. When he saw Wu Yongjie, he said coldly, "How do you lead the team? Can team members leave without permission? If something goes wrong, who will be held responsible?"

Wu Yongjie sneered, "Don't worry. If anything happens to my team or my people, I, Wu Lao Hu, will be fully responsible! However, if anything happens to Li Jianguo, our entire engineering team will be unable to move forward. He is our technical backbone."

Ling Fengxi was stunned for a moment, then said to Ye Minglang beside him, "Notify everyone down there to gather everyone who can go up the mountain to look for the person. Also, have the medical team get ready. Everyone on the medical team must be fully equipped and on standby until the person is found. No rest is allowed!"

Fang Ya also became nervous after receiving the news. She gathered the girls together and said, "The higher-ups told us not to rest tonight. They must be worried that we won't be able to rescue people in time. So let's not sleep. Otherwise, others will think we're here for fun and to eat for free. Everyone, stay alert today. If we are needed, we must do our best."

"Yes! I understand!" the girls answered in unison.

Ling Fengxi was still worried and planned to go up the mountain to look for him.

Wu Yongjie grabbed him and said, "When the three armies are at war, the generals can't panic. He's my man. I didn't even go up the mountain. I'm waiting here. What are you doing up there?"

"I'm a soldier. My wilderness survival skills are better than others. There's nothing wrong with me going to look for them. You're the foreman, they all listen to you, and you really can't leave the camp. But they're running up the mountain like headless chickens. Who knows if they're doing a good job? There has to be someone up there to keep watch."

"But..." Wu Yongjie still hesitated.

"Don't worry about it, it's more important to find someone."

At this time, Ling Fengxi patted Wu Yongjie on the shoulder and said, "Wait for us to come back."

……

It turned out that Ling Fengxi's idea was right.

Most of the members of Wu Yongjie's engineering team were just ordinary workers. At night, they just wanted to rest. Even if they knew that one of their companions was missing, they did not think of trying their best to find him.

Besides, this missing companion is different from these workers. Li Jianguo is a technical backbone of China Communications Construction Eighth Construction Company. He does "high-end" and "precision" work. When he has nothing to do, he also drinks tea in the office. There is an essential difference between him and these workers.

To ordinary workers, it was like a "guy sitting in the office got lost."

Some even complained, "Really? If you don't have the ability, can't you just lie down in the tent? Why are you running around? You're keeping us from getting some rest."

"Yes, we climbed so high to find someone, do we get paid?"

Everyone was talking about it, and when they reached the eleventh mark, which was the hill opposite the camp, they basically didn't want to move forward.

They seemed to be looking for someone, but in fact they were just wandering around the eleventh site and didn't even go to the twelfth site.

After Ling Fengxi climbed up the mountain and saw this situation, he immediately shouted, "Come and gather!"

In the workers' eyes, Ling Fengxi was a leader after all, the leader who paid their boss's salary. Since it was a matter of money, the workers immediately gathered together.

Ling Fengxi divided them into three teams... "Team One, search the Tenth and Ninth Sites. Remember, this is a blanket search."

"Second team, search straight ahead three hills, targets 145, 46, and 47!"

"Team Three, follow me! Land Thirteen!"

Afraid that everyone wouldn't move, he added, "Find someone tonight, and rest tomorrow. Even if you don't work, your wages will still be paid! And we'll give you extra meat. Tomorrow, we'll make stir-fried big plate chicken with noodles!"

The workers had completely forgotten that they were looking for someone. Someone cheered, "There's a big plate of chicken to eat!"