Chapter 190: Survive A Great Disaster
Chongqing, abandoned printing factory.
The sky outside gradually brightened, Military Statistics Bureau, Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, Secret Agent Brigade, patrol soldiers.
Chongqing’s intelligence agencies and guard forces, after two hours of pursuit, finally locked the target in this abandoned printing factory.
Inside the printing factory, secret agents were waiting for Nantian Yangzi to issue the final instruction.
At this moment, after sending that plain text telegram, Nantian Yangzi slumped in front of the radio,
half an hour, one hour, two hours, the sky fully brightened, yet she still hadn’t received any message reply, so, I have been abandoned?
Cold sweat gradually soaked her back.
The premonition of death wrapped around her heart like an ice-cold venomous snake. She heard the low and deep, deadly engine roar coming from the distant sky, Empire bombers from the Hankou direction!
Nantian Yangzi’s heart turned to ashes; Kagesa Shinzhao’s choice was indeed the ruthless and merciless “Heavenly Punishment”!
Despair drowned her like a tide, but in this extreme despair, the instinct for survival flared up like the last spark! She couldn’t just sit and wait for death!
This printing factory…
She chose it as a safe house not only because of its remoteness, but also because it had a secret unknown to others!
She suddenly jumped up, her gaze frantically scanning the ground covered in dust and abandoned printing equipment.
Memories pieced together like fragments; when they seized this stronghold, the original factory owner seemed to casually mention that in the early War of Resistance, to prevent Japanese Army air raids, a crude air-raid shelter was dug beneath the factory, later abandoned, and the entrance seemed to have been sealed off…
Where is it? Exactly where?!
The roar of the bombers grew closer, like the death god’s summons, even faintly hearing the teeth-gritting metallic friction as bombs detached from the bomb bay!
Jiang Zhicheng, handcuffed by her to the iron pipe, also heard the sound, his face deathly pale, but seeing Nantian Yangzi frantically rummaging through the piles of debris, a flicker of doubt passed through his eyes.
“Right! The stone slab for pressing paper!” Nantian Yangzi suddenly remembered something and pounced on a bluestone slab in the corner of the workshop that looked like it was used to flatten paper!
She recklessly used her injured shoulder to push and her feet to kick!
“Section Chief Nantian, what’s wrong with you?” Kintada Shun looked in surprise at Nantian Yangzi’s frenzied actions.
“Takagi, take your men to stand guard outside. Kintada, come help.” Nantian forced herself to calm down, racing against the death god.
“Hai.” Takagi had no doubt about Nantian’s order; he waved his hand and led several secret agents cautiously to the printing factory entrance, preparing for immediate combat.
Nantian Yangzi and Kintada Shun together pried at that massive bluestone slab.
The stone slab was unusually heavy, but her desire for survival unleashed astonishing strength!
Plus the slab was old, its edges’ cement long weathered and loose!
“Creak—” A teeth-gritting friction sound; the stone slab was suddenly pushed open by her, creating a gap wide enough for one person to sidle through!
Below was a pitch-black opening emitting a strong musty smell and earthy odor!
A crude, rust-covered iron ladder extended downward, bottomless!
Saved! At least a glimmer of hope!
At that moment, the first bomb struck the main factory building of the printing factory with a piercing whistle!
“Boom!!!!!!”
An earth-shattering roar! The entire ground trembled violently! A massive shockwave carrying flames and gravel instantly devoured everything above ground!
Radio, machines, furniture… everything was torn apart, thrown up, and ignited in an instant! The position where Nantian Yangzi had just been was smashed by a fallen massive beam!
The powerful blast wave hurled Nantian Yangzi down the opening! She screamed, tumbling down the iron ladder and crashing heavily at the bottom, nearly passing out.
Almost simultaneously, bombs fell one after another!
The entire printing factory area was engulfed in a sea of fire and explosions!
Ground buildings collapsed, shattered, and turned to scorched earth at a visible speed!
Massive smoke pillars rose to the sky, flames soared, and at this time, the Chongqing military rushing from all directions was also affected.
The bomb’s terrifying shockwave cleared the printing factory area and dozens of meters around into flat ground.
Beneath the printing factory, air-raid shelter
The bottom was pitch black, only faint red light filtering from the overhead opening, deafening explosions, and constantly pattering falling soil indicating the devastation above ground.
Nantian Yangzi coughed up a few mouthfuls of bloody foam, her whole body aching as if her bones were falling apart, especially her arm in excruciating pain.
When she was blasted down by the bomb’s shockwave, her right arm hit the ground first, cushioning her body somewhat; now her right arm hung limply to the side, but she was still alive!
Struggling to pull out her mini flashlight, she turned it on. The light illuminated this cramped, damp, foul-air underground space.
This was more like a deepened cellar than an air-raid shelter: small area, crude structure, but seemingly sturdy enough to barely withstand the ground bombing.
Nantian Yangzi took a breath; the pungent musty smell made her instinctively cover her nose as she struggled to move her body.
Jiang Zhicheng… that important amulet… must have been shattered in the ground explosion.
The last value lost. Even if she survived temporarily, what then?
Kagesa wouldn’t let her go, and the Military Statistics Bureau certainly wouldn’t.
However, once ignited, the desire for survival is hard to extinguish.
Nantian checked herself; she was lucky, apart from a fractured right arm and some abrasions and sprains, no fatal new injuries.
She had to leave here! The Military Statistics Bureau would soon arrive at the explosion site to search; this cellar wasn’t safe.
Nantian raised her tactical flashlight, shining it carefully on the surrounding walls. Suddenly, she noticed one soil wall seemed different: the bricks and stones were laid in an older way, and… there was an extremely concealed gap!
She pushed hard, and that wall actually shook slightly!
Could this be… what the original factory owner mentioned, the secret exit secretly dug in an emergency years ago, leading to the nearby sewer system?
Later sealed when abandoned?
Hope reignited! She recklessly used nearby gravel chunks, even her injured shoulder, to batter that fragile brick wall!
Once, twice… bricks and stones loosened, dust flying…
Meanwhile, after the explosion,
Military Statistics Bureau Action Department Director Lin Zhao arrived at the scene with a large force, seeing only a still-burning scorched earth.
The explosion’s power was immense; survival was nearly impossible.
“Search! Alive or dead, we need to see the body! Focus on Nantian Yangzi and Deputy Commander Jiang!” Lin Zhao ordered with a grim face.
Boss Dai flew into a rage upon hearing of the printing factory explosion; he hadn’t imagined the Japanese’s ruthlessness exceeded his expectations, using bombers directly to silence!
And most critically, according to the message from Deputy Commander Jiang’s secretary, the Chongqing Defense Map was missing.
This matter could be big or small; if the defense map turned to dust with Nantian Yangzi, the impact would end there.
But if Nantian escaped, and with the Chongqing Defense Map…
Boss Dai didn’t know what the old man would do to him.
“Search, inch by inch, carefully; we must see Nantian’s corpse.”
Lin Zhao tugged at his collar, his throat inexplicably dry; the team members cautiously began searching the dangerous ruins.
Underground printing factory,
“Crash—” Nantian Yangzi finally battered down that weak brick wall!
Behind it was indeed a narrow, filthy passage barely allowing one to crawl through, a strong sewer stench hitting her face!
She didn’t hesitate, bit the flashlight in her mouth, and crawled in arduously. She didn’t know where it led, but it was her only way out.
Behind her, the fire from the explosion began spreading; scorching heat waves and thick smoke poured into the cellar, gradually devouring the traces she left.
Hours later, when the Military Statistics Bureau search team finally cleared some ruins and found the cellar entrance, inside remained only partially charred debris and heavy smoke smell.
They saw the broken hidden wall and the narrow passage to an unknown place, but the passage entrance was blocked by collapsed soil and burned debris, filled with toxic smoke, impossible to enter immediately.
“Report Captain! Suspected underground shelter found! There’s a passage, but blocked and full of smoke; unable to determine if anyone passed through!”
Lin Zhao stared at the pitch-black, smoke-belching opening, his face clouded.
Nantian Yangzi… did she die up there, or luckily escape below? What about Deputy Commander Jiang?
“Immediately dispatch engineers and chemical defense personnel! Thoroughly excavate and clear this area! Alive or dead, we need to see the body! Also seal all nearby sewer exits! Hurry!”
The subordinate saluted and rushed to gather engineers and chemical defense personnel.
Soon, the sewer blueprint was delivered to Lin Zhao; looking at Chongqing’s extensive underground drainage system, a strong sense of helplessness appeared on his face.
So many outlets; even deploying the entire Secret Agent Brigade couldn’t fully control them in short time.
And Nantian wasn’t dead; she would run.
Seven hours had passed since the bombing; Nantian had likely vanished long ago.
“Arrange manpower, go down, go check.” Lin Zhao issued the final powerless order, though he knew this decision was largely useless.
The sky gradually darkened,
By the Jialing River, an unremarkable drainage culvert opening had its trash-blocking wire mesh kicked open.
A black figure emerged like a ghost crawling from hellfire.
Nantian Yangzi cautiously checked the surroundings, confirmed no one watching, dragged her injured body ashore, then vanished into Chongqing.
Seven days later, Chongqing train station, a woman in ordinary Sichuan-Chongqing peasant attire, head wrapped in floral cloth, carrying luggage, appeared at the station.
The peasant woman followed the crowd slowly onto the platform, until boarding the train; Nantian Yangzi touched the Chongqing Defense Map sewn into her underwear, a glint of post-disaster survival in her eyes, fleeting.
