Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 482 Crossing the River

The team leaders dispersed and returned to their respective squads to relay the message.

Xu Xiaoyan heard a low commotion coming from the next team. Some people were cursing, some were sighing, and some were silently accepting the reality.

Twenty or thirty miles of mountain road is nothing under normal circumstances.

But for these people who had been struggling in the mud and flood for more than twenty days and whose physical strength was already exhausted, it was simply risking their lives.

But no one objected, because they all understood that staying here meant no food, no water, and no shelter from the wind and rain.

If it rains again or a new disaster occurs, everyone will die.

Taking a detour at least offers some hope.

Xu Xiaoyan took out a compressed biscuit from her backpack, broke it in half, and handed one half to Lan Yue.

Lan Yue took it, but didn't eat it. She held it in her hand, stared blankly at the dark sky in the distance for a while, and then, as if she had made up her mind, stuffed the half-biscuit into her mouth.

The team set off again the following afternoon.

The morning was spent reorganizing the troops, distributing supplies, and providing basic treatment and bandaging to the wounded and sick.

Team Leader Gu led several soldiers to scout upstream ahead of time, marking the riverbank and determining the exact location for crossing the river.

Once everything was ready, the team, now numbering just over 70,000, slowly moved upstream.

The road is more difficult to walk on than before. At least the mudslide area was a remnant of the highway. Although the road surface was covered with mud, it was still flat and wouldn't veer to one side when you stepped on it.

The so-called road we are on now is a narrow gap between mountains, barely wide enough for one person to pass through. Locals might call it a "mountain path".

But in Xu Xiaoyan's view, it was more like a gully eroded by rainwater.

Some areas consist of steep mountain walls, with soft soil beneath your feet, a mixture of gravel and decaying branches.

With each step, I could hear a creaking sound under my feet; I couldn't tell if it was the stones cracking or the soil collapsing.

The road was so narrow that two people couldn't walk side by side; if the person in front stopped, the person behind had to stop too.

The team's speed was reduced to a minimum, even slower than when they had traversed the mudslide area.

Not long after we started walking, someone in front of us fell down.

The man was in his fifties. He stepped on a loose rock, which rolled down, and his body sank down, crashing against the mountainside.

One hand gripped a blade of grass growing in a crack in the rock tightly, while the other hand flailed wildly in the air.

The person behind him screamed, and someone reached out to pull him, but couldn't reach him.

Just when everyone thought the man was about to fall.

The soldier at the front turned around and rushed back, taking a few steps to the man's side, grabbing his wrist and pulling him up forcefully.

The man's body was dragged back from the edge of the ditch, and he collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, his face as white as paper.

"It's alright, it's alright," the soldier patted his back softly.

The group stopped for a while before starting to move again.

Everyone's steps became slower and more cautious, and they would test the ground with their toes before taking each step.

Only after confirming that the ground below was solid did I dare to put my entire weight on it.

As dawn approached, we finally reached the shallows upstream of the river.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't know how she got through the night. She only remembered that her legs were shaking uncontrollably, the kind of trembling that comes from overusing muscles.

Her lower back ached, and the backpack straps were digging into her shoulders, chafing with every step she took, making her wonder if the skin there was broken.

But when she saw the river in the morning light, all those discomforts vanished in an instant.

The river wasn't wide; it was much narrower than downstream, only about twenty or thirty meters wide.

The current was very rapid, and as it rushed down from upstream, it created white waves on the surface of the water.

The shallows were covered with pebbles of all sizes, smoothed and rounded by the water flow, making them easier to walk on than muddy paths, she admitted.

However, the slippery pebbles are not easy to deal with; if you are not careful, you will slip and fall into the water.

Captain Gu and several soldiers squatted on the riverbank, carefully examining the river's flow rate, direction, and depth for a long time, and even using their feet to test the stability of the riverbed.

Then, safety ropes were tied to several soldiers, and they held hands and slowly waded into the river step by step.

All eyes were on the soldiers.

The river water went up to their knees, then their thighs, and up to their waists.

The current was very strong, causing their bodies to sway from side to side.

They held each other's hands tightly, taking slow and steady steps, probing their feet along the riverbed, and only shifting their weight after confirming a foothold.

When they reached the middle of the river, the water reached a soldier's chest. He paused, and his body swayed.

The person next to him immediately grabbed his hand, and the three of them stopped at the same time, steadied themselves, waited for a wave of water to pass, and then continued to walk forward.

Finally, they reached the other side. The three figures stood in the morning light on the opposite bank, turned around, and waved to each other.

"Safe! You can cross!" the soldier on the other side shouted, his voice barely audible, mostly drowned out by the rushing water.

But those words were clearly heard by everyone present.

The team leaders immediately began to arrange the order in which they would cross the river.

"Elderly and children first! Young people help each other! Everyone hold hands, form a line, and don't let go! The current is strong, so keep your footing, take it one step at a time, don't rush!"

As instructed, the soldiers moved back and forth through the ranks, finding the elderly and children in the crowd and placing them at the front of the line.

Some people emptied their backpacks to reduce weight, while others took off their shoes and coats.

Some people tie their children to their backs and wrap them tightly with strips of cloth, wrapping them three times and then wrapping them two more times.

The first group began crossing the river. A dozen or so people lined up, holding hands, and slowly walked into the river.

Leading the way was an old soldier, over fifty years old, with a very straight back and steady steps.

Everyone behind him held tightly to the hand of the person in front of him; some held his wrist, some held his palm, and some interlocked their fingers, as if afraid that if they let go, they would be separated forever.

Everyone who stepped into the water gasped in shock.

The river water went up to their calves, then their knees, then their thighs, and the current tossed them about, but no one let go.

Someone slipped and swayed to the side; the person next to him immediately grabbed him and pulled him back.

Someone stepped on a wet pebble in the river, slipped, and fell to their knees in the water, but still clung tightly to the person in front of them, who pulled them to their feet and continued walking forward.