Chapter 64: Ling Tai Has No Way to Escape the Divine Arrow

  A strong gust of wind howled, and the lights gradually dimmed. A bolt of lightning cut through the sky, followed by a loud clap of thunder, "Crack!" The long-awaited rain began to fall, pattering down in a lively rhythm.

  The city, once bustling with people, was now empty and deserted, with only this lone bicycle speeding down the road. Turning a corner, passing by one street after another, the lights flickered and gradually went out. Xue Xiang turned on the headlight of his bike, but the dim light could hardly penetrate the rain-soaked veil, and its range was getting shorter and shorter. His determined eyes stared straight ahead, the strong wind blowing his hair back, his thin shirt inflated like a balloon by the gusts.

  Liu Ying'er huddled in the bus, avoiding the wind and rain, her hands tightly grasping the steel frame in front of her, her fingertips turning white. Let the wind blow and the rain beat down, let the lightning flash and the thunder roar, as she gazed at this man who was risking his life for her, her heart felt infinite warmth. She didn't need to think about how he had found out that she was at the Beiqu People's Hospital, nor did she need to ask how he had managed to rush to her side from afar in this moment of life and death. Anyway, she knew that in this world, there were people who could pay such a price for her sake, what more could she ask for? She was no longer alone, this desolate world, her heart finally had someone to rely on. Unconsciously, Liu Ying'er's mind suddenly flashed with a line of poetry she had once read: "Easy to find priceless treasures, hard to find a loving husband!"

  The wind grew stronger, the rain denser. Xue Xiang couldn't stop wiping the rain from his face, to avoid blurring his vision, he had no time to look at the time on his wrist, it was the footsteps of death, getting closer and closer.

  "The road ahead is blocked by a fallen tree, hold on tight, we're going to crash through!" Xue shouted, and with that, he floored the accelerator, the engine roaring like a wild horse, the brakes released, the motorcycle shot forward like an arrow, "Bang" the front wheel hit the log, the bike bounced high into the air, flying forward.

  He finally passed through without any danger, Xue Xiang was somewhat relieved, no, something's wrong, why is the car body a bit unstable. He was greatly shocked, his face changed suddenly, the shaking car body almost made him lose control of the direction. "Ka Cha" sound, the horizontal beam connecting the motorcycle and the crossbeam suddenly broke, Liu Ying'er sat on the crossbeam and separated from the car body with him, crashing into a wall on one side.

  "Jump out of the car! Jump out of the car now!" Xue shouted, his eyes wide with a crazed expression.

  The moment the carriage separated, it was as if she would be forever parted from him. Liu Ying'er was so frightened that her six senses were gone, and her two hands only tightly grasped the steel frame, her eyes empty and lifeless. When she heard Xue Xiang's shout, she suddenly came back to herself: he was still by my side, I'm not afraid. At the moment when the carriage head crashed into the wall, Liu Ying'er jumped out of the carriage with a "pa" sound, fell to the ground, rolled far away, and then there was no more sound.

  "Yinger, Liu Yinger..." Seeing Liu Yinger fall to the ground and lose all sound, Xue Xiang was so frightened that his soul flew away. In the instant when the car body separated, he stepped on the brakes, not caring about stability, flipped over and got out of the car, rushing towards Liu Yinger's side. Unfortunately, the speed of the runaway carriage far exceeded his running speed, and in the end, he failed to catch Liu Yinger.

  Xue Xiang fell to his knees with a thud, embracing Liu Ying'er's body and shaking her, calling out her name. A bolt of lightning tore through the sky, illuminating Xue Xiang's vision - blood, his hands were covered in fresh blood. He panicked, picking up Liu Ying'er's body and trudging through the mud to the motorcycle, using the faint light of the headlamp to carefully examine her body. Fortunately, it was just a small gash on her calf, not life-threatening. He looked down at his own clothes, finding that only the front of his shirt was relatively clean. He quickly tore off a piece of fabric from the front of his shirt and roughly bandaged Liu Ying'er's wound.

  With a faint cry, Liu Ying'er woke up, the pain in her calf pulling her back from the underworld. Looking at Xue's anxious eyes, she clumsily wrapped herself up, and her eyes sparkled with tears that were indistinguishable from rainwater. As she gazed at the anxious, flustered, and clumsy man before her, she actually smiled.

  "You're awake, hurry up, I'll carry you, let's go quickly." Xue Xiang was both shocked and delighted.

  "The car is broken, I can't move anymore. Please find a safe place for me to wait until the earthquake is over..." The voice was still clear, but with a hint of pleading and weak breathing.

  "Cut the crap, if you're going, let's go." Xue interrupted her plea with a rough tone after hearing the first half of the sentence.

  Xue Xiang gently put her down, got up and rushed to the distant fallen panniers. The water bottle and military ration pack in the panniers had not flown far, scattered on the ground about four or five meters away from the panniers. Taking advantage of the lightning, he tore off the straps of two military water bottles, quickly tied a dead knot with the two straps, grabbed the only water bottle with a strap and the ration pack, and hung them randomly in front of his chest.

  Xue Xiang returned to Liu Ying'er's side, picked up the military-style three-wheeled motorcycle that had completely transformed, stood it upright, turned around and lifted Liu Ying'er onto its seat. He didn't dare let go of Liu Ying'er's body, fearing that if he relaxed his grip even a little, she would fall over. She was truly exhausted, having been busy all day and then rushing through the night, leaving her without an ounce of energy left in her body.

  Xue Xiang Bian supported her, straddled the carriage, and then used two military canteen straps to tie a long rope. He wrapped it around his own body from behind Liu Yue Er's back, passed through her two jade legs, and tied a tight knot, firmly binding her to his back. Because he was worried that she had no strength left, her dangling feet would get tangled in the wheels, so he had to tie her legs tightly as well.

  After a lot of twists and turns, consuming no less time, Xue Xiang didn't dare to look at the time anymore. With a "roar", he started the motorcycle and sped forward. Having escaped from the crossbow's lock-on, he had gotten rid of this heavy burden, and his speed was now several times faster than before. He could be said to have profited from disaster. He couldn't care about distinguishing directions anymore, lifting his head to look around, rushing towards the direction without tall buildings.

  The wind and rain joined forces, gathering into a whip, the wind assisted the rain's momentum, the rain borrowed the wind's might, and it came pouring down on him like a deluge. This eerie rain-whip seemed to be the magic of the god of death unleashed, determined to claim his life.

  Xue Xiang held onto the handlebars with one hand, while constantly wiping away rainwater from his eyes with the other. Buildings whizzed by in front of him, left far behind to await destruction. The motorcycle finally exited the city, and he let out a slight sigh of relief, but danger had not yet been averted - he clearly remembered the intensity of the Qin Tang earthquake's tremors, equivalent to the power of 400 Hiroshima atomic bombs exploding, with its seismic source extending over 40 miles. He didn't dare slacken his pace, and with his head down, sped forward, the motorcycle traversing hills and ridges, amidst strong winds and heavy rain on this night, birds flying about wildly, frogs croaking in unison. As the vehicle reached a stone bridge, despite the torrential rain and howling wind, Xue Xiang could clearly hear the gurgling sound - upon lowering his head to look, he saw the winding river water churning with waves, mud and sand flowing down together.

  Is it finally coming? Xue no longer acted like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, looked at his watch, 03:35, still eight minutes to go, and then it would be doomsday. He barely crossed the stone bridge when the boiling river water surged up, submerging everything. He decided not to escape anymore, wiped away rainwater, lifted his head to look around, searching for a place to take shelter. Damn it, how did he end up in a place surrounded by water and trees during the chaos? With the earthquake, the river water churned, people drowned, trees swayed and fell, wasn't this a dead-end place?

  Xue thoroughly panicked, it was too late to escape, he abruptly cut off the ropes on Liu Ying's body, abandoned his motorcycle, and carried Liu Ying forward. Liu Ying had long been exhausted, she fell asleep heavily on his shoulder, at this time being held in his arms, completely unaware.

  Xue Xiangshen ran forward with one foot light and the other heavy, mud and rainwater filling his leather shoes, weighing them down. Where could he hide? He almost wanted to throw his head back and let out a long sigh. It was as if all the gods in heaven had gathered together, each holding a divine bow aimed at him, leaving no place for escape.

  Beyond a forest, a dark granite fault cave suddenly appeared. Heaven does not cut off the path of men, Xue Xiang knew that the granite was extremely hard, and the layers on top of this cave were not thick, the probability of collapse was very small. He couldn't care about anything else, all around him was deadly terrain, only here could he survive, holding Liu Ying'er, they took a few steps and rushed into the cave.

  Xue Xiang's body had just sat down when he heard a loud "boom" and the earthquake erupted.

  In an instant, it was as if a giant hand of a demon god beneath the earth was about to drag Qin Tang into the depths of the underworld. The entire city of Qin Tang collapsed instantly, with the boundless surface of the earth sinking violently, and huge cracks appearing on the exterior walls of the buildings. Suddenly, there was a loud crash, and the short buildings and bungalows were destroyed like withered grass. One by one, the factories and houses collapsed. The demon god seemed to have swung the whip of death beneath the earth, causing the surface to undulate and crack inch by inch. A massive shockwave radiated from Qin Tang City in all directions, causing the river water to surge up, and instantly creating a mountainous wave. Towering trees were snapped like twigs, as if they were small grasses swaying in the wind. The phrases "the sky is falling" and "the earth is shaking" probably originated from this moment.

  Xue Xiang tightly hugged Liu Ying'er in his arms, he didn't have time to look at the scenery outside the cave, and the inside of the cave was not as calm as he had imagined. He felt like a toy being played with in a pair of giant hands, shaking and rolling between the palms, he held onto the unconscious Liu Ying'er tightly, refusing to let go. A shockwave destroyed the forest outside the cave in an instant, a huge wave crashed into the cave, although it was just the tail end, it still knocked him out, slamming him against the wall. The world sank into darkness, and he fainted.

  …………..

  After a while, ding dong, the rainwater seeped in from the rock wall, dripping onto the ground, and the accumulated water was deep. The droplets that dripped again hit the accumulated water, splashing up a piece of water, sprinkling on Xue Xiang's nose, "ah choo", he let out a sneeze, woke up.

  His whole body felt weak and numb, Xue Yang didn't even want to lift a finger, his head was throbbing in pain, as if someone was nailing it from the inside. He turned over and bumped into something, feeling a softness that transmitted through contact. He lifted his heavy eyelids, and all he saw was darkness. He stretched out his hand to feel around, touching a smooth pillar, followed by a coarse fabric above. With a slight pinch, a "tsk" sound came from it, and he instantly woke up, realizing he had touched Liu Ying'er's injured place.

  Liu Ying'er woke up with a start, having dozed off for a while, unaware of how much time had passed. In front of her was a dark blur, and she didn't know where she was either. She felt a little scared, curled up into a ball, and her body trembled slightly.

  "You're awake," a familiar voice came, instantly driving away all the darkness and fear.

  With him by my side, I'm not afraid!