Chapter 1066 Three-Pronged Attack

Chunliang found the local temporary rescue point in the small square where disaster victims were gathered. This rescue point was not coordinated by the official command center but was organized by local residents themselves. According to them, when the first earthquake occurred, most of the town’s residents had already evacuated, leaving behind some elderly, weak, ill, and disabled people who couldn’t leave in time, then the aftershock happened.

Fushan Town is very special, with mountains on one side and water on three sides. The terrain that was once a source of pride now shows its drawbacks in the face of disaster, with all the bridges leading out destroyed and cut off.

The landslide, river embankment breach, and secondary disaster caused by the earthquake leveled this small town, temporarily turning it into an isolated island cut off from the outside world. Those who hadn’t yet evacuated are trapped here. Currently, about two hundred people are gathered in the town’s central square, but many other disaster victims are likely trapped elsewhere.

In the absence of professional rescue forces, these people barely managed to protect themselves. Organizing manpower to rescue other disaster victims was beyond their capacity.

Chunliang didn’t see Su Qing at the rescue point. After inquiring, he learned that Su Qing and several others went to Fushan Primary School.

That area is near the hillside and recently suffered a landslide. It’s said the school was already empty, as when the earthquake first occurred, teachers and students had evacuated to a safe zone as the first group to move out.

Fushan Primary School is more than three li away from Fushan Town. In normal times, this distance is nothing, but now, during this crisis, the escapees mostly gathered on the open ground at the entrance of Fushan Town’s Supply and Marketing Cooperative. They believed the school was already deserted, and as for those journalists who ran around digging for news, does news outweigh life? Non-rescue personnel shouldn’t add to the chaos during such times.

Chunliang quickly hurried over after getting clear directions to the school, reminding himself not to overthink and to trust that Su Qing would surely be safe.

The rain that had halted not long ago started again, adding significantly to the difficulty of this disaster rescue.

When Chunliang reached the vicinity of Fushan Primary School, he saw the school’s teaching building had collapsed, and his heart immediately leapt to his throat.

Chunliang shouted Su Qing’s name and rushed toward the ruins. He saw a person crushed under a floor who was motionless. Upon closer inspection, he was wearing a Pinghai Satellite TV work uniform, presumably one of the team members for this interview.

This staff member had already died. The direct cause of death was chest compression injury; his death was tragic, and his body had become cold and stiff from being dead for a while.

Chunliang loudly called out Su Qing’s name, and a faint sound came from not far away. Following the sound, he went to the location where it originated, distinguishing that the person was calling for help. Chunliang could confirm the rescue-seeking voice was female but definitely not Su Qing.

Chunliang called into the ruins, “Is anyone there?”

“Help… help…” The voice grew clearer, with more than one person beneath, and the sound indicated they weren’t far and weren’t buried deeply.

Chunliang looked around, finding no one to assist, so he had to rely on himself alone. He certainly couldn’t ignore it and began moving the broken wall while talking to those trapped below, “How many people are down there?”

“Three in total including me…”

“Is anyone injured?”

“I’m not.” The answer was very precise; the trapped person was unharmed, but he didn’t know about the others.

Chunliang quickly dug out an opening, and taking out his flashlight, he shone it inside, seeing a disheveled figure crawling towards him. The person reached out a hand; Chunliang grasped it firmly, noticing it was not as soft as a typical female’s hand, the palm covered in calluses, likely from frequent manual work.

With Chunliang’s help, she quickly escaped from the ruins.

Chunliang watched eagerly, hoping one of the remaining two trapped would be Su Qing. Next to be rescued was a middle-aged man whose leg seemed injured since he continued crawling even after breaking free.

Chunliang couldn’t attend to checking his injuries; he loudly called inside, “Su Qing, Su Qing, are you in there?”

Sadly, the last to be rescued was a young man. During the process of pulling him up, he kept crying out in pain, indicating his left hand and left leg might be broken, urging Chunliang to go easy.

The two people Chunliang previously rescued approached to help. As they got close to Chunliang, they suddenly drew weapons, the middle-aged man swinging a short knife straight towards Chunliang’s carotid artery, while the woman thrust a sharp three-pronged spike fiercely at Chunliang’s back.

They launched their attack at close range, moving decisively and ruthlessly, showing no mercy.

Meanwhile, the young man yet to be freed tightened his grip on Chunliang’s right hand, claiming his broken left arm as he pulled out a crossbow, firing at Chunliang’s face from close quarters.

These three people meticulously set up the ambush, coordinating seamlessly to trap Xu Chunliang in this narrow space. At such close range, dodging was nearly impossible, especially since Xu Chunliang’s right hand was grasping the young man’s right hand in an attempt to help, firmly gripped by the opponent.

Even in such a dire situation, Xu Chunliang still managed an incredible reaction. He tilted his head to the left, and the middle-aged man’s attempt to sever the major artery in his neck failed to happen in the first moment.

Xu Chunliang’s right hand exerted force, crushing the right hand of the young assassin in the rubble. The young assassin experienced excruciating pain due to his shattered palm bones, yet he still managed to pull the trigger. Because of the pain and Xu Chunliang’s pull, his body shifted, causing the direction of the crossbow arrow to change. Several arrows missed, striking the bricks, but three of them flew out of the hole and all hit the middle-aged man’s knife-wielding arm.

The speed of the crossbow arrow was astonishing, piercing straight through the middle-aged man’s arm. The intense pain caused his movement to slash Xu Chunliang’s throat to suddenly halt.

Xu Chunliang could counter the frontal crossbow shot and the side blade slash. But then there was the woman, and the three-edged dagger aimed at Xu Chunliang’s back could no longer be avoided.

Under a three-pronged attack, with the opponent determined to kill, Xu Chunliang faced the peril. Since dodging was impossible, he no longer needed to avoid it.

The woman believed this strike was sure to succeed, her eyes revealed a fierce glow. The biting knife wind tore through Xu Chunliang’s outdoor clothing, ripping apart his black sweatshirt beneath. The woman saw Xu Chunliang’s bronze skin. Gathering all her strength at the tip of the three-edged dagger, she swore to pierce through his flesh and stab through his heart, completing their mission for the night.

The three-edged dagger was just an inch away from Xu Chunliang’s skin when the woman suddenly felt her arm lose strength, as if suffering from the numbness after prolonged pressure, impeding blood circulation. She could clearly see her own hands, yet in an instant, they lost sensation, as if suddenly anesthetized by someone.

She didn’t understand why this was happening. Her mind repeatedly urged her to complete this action, to drive the dagger into Xu Chunliang’s heart. However, she could only command with her brain and judge direction with her eyes, as her hands had completely lost feeling.

At this life-and-death moment, even a second of hesitation could be fatal. Xu Chunliang’s left arm twisted like a snake to his back, grabbing the woman’s wrist just before the short knife could stab into his body.

The previously soft and delicate left arm suddenly became as strong as steel, with a crack, breaking the female assassin’s wrist.

After crushing the young assassin’s right hand, Xu Chunliang’s right hand regained its freedom. The middle-aged assassin let out a heart-wrenching wail, staring at his pierced right arm. The scream abruptly ceased as Xu Chunliang grabbed his knife-wielding arm and thrust it forward, causing the middle-aged assassin to seemingly slit his own throat.

The middle-aged assassin’s eyes were filled with shock and unwillingness. He couldn’t understand how Xu Chunliang managed it. In their trap, amidst the three of them attacking, no one could escape barehanded. Yet Xu Chunliang did it.

The middle-aged man pulled the short knife from his own throat, hastening his death. Blood spurted out like a fountain.

Xu Chunliang didn’t even glance at him, kicking the female assassin who attacked from behind.

The female assassin then revealed her frail side, crying out as she collapsed onto the muddy ground. Not far from her lay the reporter trapped under the floorboard.

The female assassin supported herself with one hand, struggling to get up. Xu Chunliang slowly approached her, grabbed the board pressuring the reporter, and dragged it to her front. The female assassin shook her head in terror, hoping to awaken his sense of pity with her pitiable expression.

Xu Chunliang, expressionless, let the board drop gently, avoiding crushing her to death all at once.

Under the horrifying screams, the female assassin was pinned by the board, her limbs twitching continuously. She felt her body deform under the tremendous pressure, her bones and joints creaking from unbearable strain, ready to snap at any moment.

The young assassin’s right hand was completely shattered. Originally hiding in the rubble, he intended to deliver a fatal strike to Xu Chunliang. But now, he had completely abandoned his mission, struggling to escape outside, fearing that this rubble meant to confuse the target would become his eternal tomb.

Xu Chunliang tore open the middle-aged assassin’s clothing, glancing at the tattoo on his chest. As expected, it was the same as those who previously plotted to assassinate him, Wang Wenxiang and Fang Cheng. They all came from the Life-taking Sect.

As the young assassin was about to crawl out of the rubble, a stick was poked in from outside, pushing his body back in.

Xu Chunliang then stuffed the middle-aged assassin’s corpse inside, blocking the escape route.

The young assassin wailed, “Let me out, let me out…”

Xu Chunliang coldly replied, “I always thought the assassins of the Life-taking Sect were fearless of death.”

“Let me go, or your woman will die too.”

A chill ran through Xu Chunliang’s heart, “Speak, where is she?”