Volume 9: Molten Mine Chapter 431: The Critical Moment
Zhuo Ligetu could see the scanning image from the drone, and so could Ke Lan and others behind him.
"Damn... it's all red zone... there's not a single safe place to stand..." Layton stared, holding the drone's joystick tightly in his hand, swinging it back and forth in front of and behind the fold - but the result of each scan was the same, the entire fold area was a glaring bright red... This meant that this area could collapse at any time.
"Or, let's just give up." The Hound sighed, "Even if we rescue the person in the lifeboat, he may not be saved. It's not worth taking risks for a half-dead person."
"I've come this far, and I can't give up." Zhuo Ligetu panted. Although the power armor was used as an aid, the physical consumption of climbing over four folds in a row was extremely terrifying under such a highly nervous state. Even this strong Mongolian man had to stop and give himself a shot of stimulant and a shot of enhancer.
"I want to try." Zhuoligetu's breathing became a little more stable. "The lifeboat is so close to me. There's no point turning back now."
"Layton, pull the cable tight and be ready to rescue people at any time." Ke Lan said.
"I know, I've been pulling it all the time. I'm letting it out centimeter by centimeter." Leighton said nervously, his arms tightly holding the rotating shaft wrapped with the steel cable. The high-strength steel cable, as thick as his thumb, was stretched straight - if Zhuo Ligetu slipped and fell into the crack, this would be his only hope of survival.
Zhuo Ligetu bent down, hunched his body and began to reach forward. He first placed his hands on the sides of the folds, and after making sure that the part he touched was enough to support his weight, he transferred the center of gravity of his body over little by little.
"Okay, no problem here." He seemed to be talking to Ke Lan and the others, but also seemed to be talking to himself, "Next step..."
The steel claws on both hands popped out and cut into the rock. Zhuo Ligetu began to gradually increase the strength of his arms, while raising his right leg and kicking the hook claws on his toes into the slope.
It took him a full five minutes just to climb one step.
The flashing frequency of the orange signal light of the life capsule has become once every three seconds. The condition of the survivors has become very critical, but no one dares to tell Zhuo Ligetu - no one dares to urge him, for fear that he will make mistakes due to anxiety.
Another twenty minutes later, Zhuoligetu finally fixed his steel claws on the top of the wrinkled ridge. As long as he used the force to drag his body up, he would basically have succeeded in climbing over it...
But at this moment, a crisp "click" sound came from his ear.
Zhuo Ligetu suddenly froze. He felt as if his heart skipped a beat. He hung there, not daring to move, even holding his breath.
"Is it... an illusion?"
He waited for about five seconds, but nothing happened.
"It must be an illusion..."
Zhuoligetu calmed down and slightly increased the strength of his steel claws.
“Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka…”
This time, a series of clear shattering sounds rang out inside the folds, which confirmed to him that the sound he had just heard was not an illusion... But it was too late for him to jump off the folds. The top of the folds collapsed instantly, and the steel claws that were originally fixed on it also became unhooked. He completely lost the place where he could leverage his strength!
“Hua La La—”
The sounds of rubble colliding were chaotic, and Zhuo Ligetu felt his mind go blank - a strong airflow gushed out from below, and he knew that the ground under his feet had completely collapsed, and this airflow was not enough to support his body, and soon, he would fall into the magma!
…
"Retract!" Ke Lan shouted at the top of her lungs. Layton desperately turned the spool, the steel cable was frantically retracted, and the ground was constantly breaking apart. Zhuo Ligetu was always hanging on the edge of the cliff and couldn't climb up no matter what.
"Keep pulling him back!" Ke Lan shouted, "As long as the speed of the cable's retraction is faster than the speed of the ground's collapse, we can pull him back!"
"I know! This is already the fastest speed! The axle is starting to get hot, it can't go any faster!" Leighton roared with red eyes. The mechanical arm grabbed the handle of the shaft and kept turning it. The "squeaking" sound of friction inside the shaft was endless.
"You must leave here immediately!" Aya Breya came over at some point. "The entire compression zone has begun to collapse. It's possible that the outer areas will also fall into the magma!"
"We will not give up on our teammates." Ke Lan glanced at her and turned his head back. He was already prepared. Even if he was forced to activate the time stop, he would get Zhuo Ligetu back.
The Hound's answer was even more straightforward: "What the hell are you talking about? Get out of here!"
One hundred meters, fifty meters... Under the traction of the steel cable, the distance between Zhuo Ligetu and Ke Lan became smaller and smaller, and the entire compression zone continued to break and fall like a domino that had been pushed over - if you shift your sight to the ultrasonic scanning image of the drone at this time, you will find that the remaining green areas of the entire compression zone are rapidly turning orange, and then from orange to red.
A thousand-mile long dam can be destroyed by an ant hole, let alone this compression zone, which is full of "ant holes".
From the angle Ke Lan and the others were looking from, they could no longer see Zhuoligetu's figure. They could only see the steel cable racing against the collapsing ground.
The folds collapsed one after another, the rubble rolled down the cliff with a rumble, and the cracks on the ground spread and expanded rapidly outward. Ke Lan felt as if he could hear the sound of the magma flowing below.
Finally, when they were less than ten meters away from Ke Lan and the others, the trend of ground collapse finally stopped, and Layton pulled hard, lifting Zhuo Ligetu, who was "hanging" on the other end of the steel cable, up from the bottom of the cliff.
Only then did everyone notice that Zhuo Ligetu was holding the life capsule tightly with both hands.
"...Do you want to live? You just kept holding on to this thing and didn't let go?" Seeing this scene, the hound cursed immediately.
Even until his feet touched solid ground, Zhuo Ligetu's body was still in a tense state. He held tightly onto the pull ring on the life capsule with both hands, and his bent knees and calves could not return to an upright position .
"Relax, relax." Ivan rushed to his side immediately, and just by touching it through the power armor, he knew the problem.
"My legs... my legs seem to... be cramping, but... I don't know why... I can't control it..." Zhuo Ligetu said tremblingly.
"Well, I know, the muscle spasms are very severe. I have to give you a shot of relaxant, but the side effect is that you will have to rely on the power armor to move your legs for the next twenty minutes."
"fine……"
Ivan took out two syringes from the medical box, one for painkiller and one for muscle relaxant. He opened a flap on Zhuoligtu's leg armor and inserted the needle into the emergency injection hole reserved on the armor.
With the injection of the medicine, Zhuo Ligetu's pale face eased slightly. He held onto the lifeboat, slowly sat down, and began to breathe heavily.
