Chapter 141 Rescue
  "We're all trapped here. In this dire situation, everyone must prioritize the collective, and you guys... Humph! You're actually hiding something! Do you still have any sense of collective honor?"

  Li Xin glared at Wang Nan with a haughty expression, hatred boiling in her eyes. She wished she could just go up and scratch her calm face to pieces.

  Wang Nan, leaning against the rock wall, remained unresponsive. It wasn't that she was in a good mood, but rather that the cuts she'd sustained while escaping yesterday were slightly inflamed. She was still weak from a night of fever. If Fang Qing hadn't slipped her a candy, she would have fainted from hunger.

  Seeing Wang Nan didn't protest as usual, Li Xin grew more confident. She felt certain she'd been right, and she rushed over to rummage through Wang Nan's clothes.

  "What are you looking at? What else have you hidden? Hand it over!"

  The two instructors had gone out to find a guide, leaving only two classes of students in the cave.

  The lack of food gradually revealed the true nature of the students, who had previously been somewhat courteous. The sophomores had already been upset about these freshmen who weren't treating them with enough respect. After suppressing their frustration for so long, they finally had a reason to lash out.

  "You guys, quickly take out everything you have! We need to check!"

  Several girls arrogantly surrounded them, rolled up their sleeves, and grabbed Wang Nan and the others who were resting in the corner.

  Everyone was stunned at first, then felt absurd, even chilling.

  Yesterday, when these seniors were shivering and huddling together, they had shared their meager food and coats with them. Li Hui and several other boys, braving the pouring rain to gather firewood, also gave them half.

  Although they were all in trouble, they had no obligation to care for them, and they hadn't expected anything in return for their help.

  But these people weren't grateful enough, and now they were turning the tables, taking advantage of their smaller numbers to flaunt their prestige?
  Fang Qing watched these people's actions, her already suppressed heart suddenly surging with anger. She quickly approached several of them, grabbed one by the collar and threw him back, then kicked another one away. She summoned all her strength and finally, panting, stood in front of Wang Nan.

  "Try to move again!"

  Seeing the wooden stick in Fang Qing's hand, several people slowly retreated.

  They knew Fang Qing's reputation. She had made the campus beauty Liu Sisi return home with nothing, and then she had shined at the school celebration. This woman looked weak, but in fact she was the most difficult to deal with.

  However, the girls weren't afraid of her. Thinking of Wen Ning behind her, they hesitated. "How about... just forget it?"

  Seeing the girls actually retreat, Li Xin grew anxious. "What are you afraid of? Even if we return to school, we'll be in the right! Besides, we don't know how long we'll be stuck here. Do you want to starve to death?"

  Faced with Li Xin's unreasonable demands, Fang Qing remained unfazed. She glared at her coldly. "Li Xin, you always like to incite others to work for you, while you hide behind and reap the benefits. How come you forgot about what happened on the bridge last time so quickly?"

  Li Xin still felt a little afraid of Fang Qing.

  Ever since their first confrontation on the bridge, Li Xin had never gotten off the hook against Fang Qing. This, despite her usual success, had a lingering suspicion in her heart. Could this Fang Qing truly control himself?

  "I... I'm telling you, if you dare to do anything, there are so many people watching!"

  Li Xin, locked in Fang Qing's icy gaze, somehow dared not move a step forward.

  Catching a glimpse of Zhao Qiang and the others entering the cave, Li Xin felt emboldened and sprinted towards him.

  "Qiangzi, you're finally back! If you hadn't come back, I would have been beaten..."

  Zhao Qiang sensed something strange about the atmosphere as soon as he entered the cave. Following Li Xin's hand, he spotted Fang Qing glaring at him, along with several angry girls from his class. He

  knew it was another conflict between the women. But as a man, he couldn't help anyone, and it would be difficult to resolve the situation.

  After understanding what had happened, he glanced at Wang Nan, moved his mouth to say something, then lowered his head, pulled a small bag of cookies from his pocket, and handed it to Li Xin.

  "Don't be angry, I'll give this to you,"

  Fang Qing said, looking at Zhao Qiang with dismay. Wang Nan had begged Fang Qing to leave those cookies for Zhao Qiang the night before.

  Zhao Qiang went out several times, returning with plenty of firewood and wild fruits. Seeing his condition, Wang Nan finally couldn't bear it.

  "Qingqing, give him my piece. I beg you."

  The usually optimistic Wang Nan had never been so vulnerable. Fang Qing had no choice but to secretly slip the remaining biscuits into Zhao Qiang's hands.

  Unexpectedly, this useless man would, at this moment, give his last rations to Li Xin!

  But Li Xin, not satisfied, grabbed Zhao Qiang and started to make a scene. Fang Qing, unwilling to watch, embraced Wang Nan and closed her eyes.

  Meanwhile, trapped in the cave on the mountain, they waited hopelessly for help, while the rescue team, rushing down from the mountain, sped up their efforts.

  Wen Ning drank a sip of water, not even bothering to wipe the sweat off his face, and continued to dig with his hoe.

  Upon hearing of the incident, Wen Ning immediately signed up as a volunteer and joined the rescue team, rushing to the area overnight.

  Upon arriving, they discovered that several surrounding villages had been hit by landslides.

  Fang Qing's village was surrounded by mountains and had been hit by severe landslides. The road leading into the village had been completely buried, and large excavators had limited mobility. They had to rely on manual labor to dig a passage bit by bit.

  As the rescue team grew, they finally dug a mountain road that evening.

  Led by local villagers, they split into two groups and headed to different hilltops to search for the missing students.

  Halfway through, they unexpectedly encountered an injured guide.

  The guide had injured his leg and had been hiding under a rock until now. When he saw the rescue team coming, he excitedly pointed to the hillside and fainted.

  The local villagers suddenly realized what was going on and immediately led the rescue team straight to the open space on the mountain.

  The rain outside the cave gradually stopped.

  Fang Qing and several students sat at the entrance of the cave, looking at the sky that had been washed clean, and made wishes to the stars, hoping that tomorrow would be a sunny day so that they could escape from the predicament as soon as possible.

  It had been a long time since he had felt so quiet. Fang Qing leaned against the entrance of the cave and gradually felt sleepy. In a daze, he seemed to hear someone calling.

  Fang Qing laughed at himself. It seemed that he was really too hungry and had hallucinations. He lowered his eyelids and prepared to continue this beautiful dream.

  But as flashlights lit up in the distance, the others rushed out like crazy, screaming, "Someone's coming! We're saved! We're here, we're here!"

  Fainting, Fang Qing felt like she was dreaming. In her dream, she fell into a warm and familiar embrace. The low voice almost brought Fang Qing to tears.

  "Girl, I'm sorry, I'm late."

  (End of this chapter)