Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

The dry branches were readily available, and a fire was quickly lit outside the tree hole, gradually bringing warmth into the hole.

"Cough cough..."

"Ruiwa, the girl is awake. Don't you have the medicine Minister Lin gave you in your bag? Give it to her."

"Master, wait a minute. The water's all frozen. Let me boil some water first."

Zhou Rui took out the lunchbox, put some clean snow inside, and put it directly on the fire to roast.

"Water...water..."

A weak voice came from inside.

"Ruiwa, hurry, she's thirsty."

Zhou Rui knew that this was caused by a fever.

"They're here, they're here."

Zhou Rui quickly took the lunchbox down; he couldn't wait any longer. The snow had melted and was warm enough. He crouched down and went inside, stuffing two pieces into Wu Jiajia's mouth.

"Here, have some water."

The moment the lunchbox was brought to my lips, my throat started moving involuntarily.

"Slow down, don't choke."

"Cough cough..."

Wu Jiajia coughed a few times and finally came to her senses. Her throat was moist, and the burning sensation was gone.

Who are you?

When Wu Jiajia saw that there were two more people in the tree hole where she was hiding, she shrank back.

"Don't be afraid, we are the rescue team that Director Qin found."

Zhou Rui's words seemed to have a calming magic; Wu Jiajia's body went limp, and her tense nerves immediately relaxed.

"Brother Qin? Where is Brother Qin?"

"Director Qin is waiting for you to come home at Taiping Commune."

The word "go home" seemed to touch Wu Jiajia, and tears streamed down her face silently.

"How is Lü Zhixue?"

Wu Jiajia snapped out of her daze, turned her head with difficulty, and looked at the dark shadow on the ground.

"Don't worry, it's just some external injuries; you'll all receive medical treatment."

As he spoke, Zhou Rui took out some anti-inflammatory medicine and gave Lü Zhixue one as well. After drinking some water, both of them felt much better, and a gurgling sound came from their stomachs.

"Ruiwa, let's get them both out of here. Lü Zhixue's external injuries need to be treated as soon as possible; it's really difficult to deal with them in here."

"Okay." "No, don't go out."

Two voices rang out simultaneously, and Zhou Rui and Wang Shouye both looked at Wu Jiajia. The cave was too dark for them to see Wu Jiajia's expression clearly.

"There are bad guys watching us outside." Wu Jiajia's voice revealed an uncontrollable fear.

The two were stunned; they hadn't expected there to be a new development.

Zhou Rui reassured him, "Don't worry, we've thoroughly checked the outside; there's no one there. Besides, we brought a hunting dog with a very keen sense of smell. If anyone gets close, it will warn us."

After a while, the four of them sat by the fire, their backs against a big tree. A pot was placed on the fire, and inside, Zhou Rui had broken up compressed biscuits and cooked them in the snow.

This is probably the fastest and most convenient food.

In just ten minutes, the contents of the pot turned into a paste. Although it didn't have a particularly strong aroma, just looking at it made Lü Zhixue and Wu Jiajia keep swallowing their saliva.

They had been starving these past few days. Not only did they have no meat, but they didn't even have a single grain of rice. Fearing the bad guys watching them, Wu Jiajia could only go out under the cover of darkness to dig up some tree bark and grass roots.

Having never experienced hardship, the two were struggling to swallow food that even country folk wouldn't eat, and their stomachs were burning with pain.

Seeing the two of them wolfing down their food, Wang Shouye felt relieved. Being able to eat was a blessing, meaning neither of them had any major problems.

"Ruiwa, go fire a few shots and notify Dayong and the others to come and join us."

Zhou Rui picked up his rifle, preparing to find a high vantage point to fire.

Seeing this, Lü Zhixue quickly put down the food he was holding: "Don't go. Jiajia is telling the truth. There really are people watching us. If you fire your gun, it will attract them."

Seeing the fear in their eyes, Zhou Rui realized that what they were saying was true.

"Okay, then I won't shoot. Uncle Wang, how about I write a note and have Spotted take it to find the person?"

"Okay. It's hard to find someone who's been missing for several days, but it's quite easy to find someone you've only been separated from for a few hours."

After Hua Ban left, Zhou Rui and his companion sat down and listened attentively to Lü Zhixue and his companion's account. This provided them with updated information, which would be helpful in finding the remaining people.

"That day, Hu Dongmu led us to the fork in the road, and we heard the roar of a Siberian tiger. The sound was so loud that it shook my body and my legs were shaking uncontrollably."

"Then Jiajia and He Wu ran out, and by the time my legs recovered, they were gone."

At this moment, Wu Jiajia lowered her head, blushing slightly.

"I...I was scared. My head was spinning, and I don't know why I just ran forward."

"But as I was running, I tripped and fell, scraping my hands raw."

As he spoke, he flashed his wrist, but his hand, covered in wood ash, was so dark that it was impossible to tell anything from it.

"Then I got up and looked around, and found that there was no one around me. I had no idea where I had gone."

"I went back to look for them, but I didn't know which way I was going, so I just wandered around aimlessly."

After Wu Jiajia finished speaking, Lü Zhixue continued his description.

"My brother and I took Qin Rui to chase after them, but there were many forks in the road in this valley, so we separated."

"I searched for Jiajia for most of the day before I finally found her. But we got lost, and without a guide, we couldn't find our way back at all."

"That day, Jiajia and I climbed to the top of the mountain, thinking that if we stood higher, we could discover something. But..."

Lu Zhixue paused, fear showing on his face, as if something terrible was swirling in his mind.

"A bullet grazed my face, followed by a gunshot."

Lu Zhixue stroked the rough scar on his cheek, a scar that would perhaps stay with him forever.

"Jiajia and I were so scared that we quickly crawled on the ground. Then the second bullet hit the ground right in front of me, just a short distance away. Ice shards hit my face and stung."

"I rolled over and fell off."

Wang Shouye nodded. He had initially thought that Lü Zhixue had fallen because he missed a step, but he hadn't expected that he had been forced to fall.

"I saw Zhixue fall down, and I was so scared that I didn't dare to move. I waited for a while until I heard no more sound before I went down to look for him."

"After we went down, I saw that Zhi Xue had a head injury and a broken left leg. I helped him walk out, but halfway there, we were shot at again."

"After that, we didn't dare to stand up anymore and could only crawl."

"Didn't you think about fighting back?" Zhou Rui looked up and remembered that several of the boys were carrying guns.

Lü Zhixue gestured to Wu Jiajia. Wu Jiajia went back into the tree hole and soon came out with a Type 56 rifle.

"This gun broke when I fell down, and I can't fire it."

Zhou Rui took the rifle from Wu Jiajia and saw that the bolt was broken and the barrel was also deformed.

"This is troublesome. If there are any unknown enemies watching from the shadows, this person will be even harder to find."