Chapter 11: The War of Schools (Part 2)

  I secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and wiped the sweat from my forehead. I whispered to my classmate beside me: "Stay away from doors and windows, it's safer to hide behind walls. If anything happens, notify me immediately..."

  I rushed upstairs to the second floor, where I saw hundreds of people squatting on the ground, at least 700 or 800. All the windows on the second floor were sealed tightly shut, and many students were holding wooden sticks and other objects they had taken from their desks to defend themselves. This made me feel a little more at ease. It was only then that I realized there were also several teachers from our school hiding in the library with us.

  There was a teacher who taught me, surnamed Wang, named Wang Yong. I went forward and said to Teacher Wang: "Teacher Wang, you and these teachers help pay attention to all the windows on the second floor. If someone tries to come in from here, don't hesitate, use whatever is in your hand to smash them down... those **** must not be allowed to rush in."

  Wang Yong nodded, although also with a tense face, but still managed to force a smile: "Don't worry, we will guard all the windows here."

  I nodded, thought for a moment, and then said: "Move some tables to the staircase entrance. If necessary, block this staircase entrance as well to prevent anyone from rushing up from the first floor." After a pause, I added: "Twenty more people are going down. There are fewer people on the first floor. The first floor is relatively dangerous. Is there anyone who wants to go down voluntarily?"

  It seems that my words were selectively listened to by many people, I waited for a while, and surprisingly only three people voluntarily went downstairs to help guard the first floor. There was no way out, so I pointed at some of the boys closest to me and said loudly: "You guys, all go down and help. If we are still afraid of death today, those vicious people will kill us all. Only when everyone works together to defend this place and wait for the government's troops to come and rescue us, is our only chance of survival."

  Those boys were somewhat embarrassed by what I said and knew that what I said was indeed the truth, so they stood up together to go downstairs and help guard the first floor.

  I also went downstairs afterwards, quietly looked out through a gap, didn't see anything else lurking outside, so I slightly let out a breath, made a gesture to the classmates on the first floor, and let everyone relax for a while.

  Perhaps my plan succeeded in deterring the first batch of **** trying to rush into the library, so they no longer paid much attention to this library. In the next hour or so, despite the constant gunfire outside, there were no direct attacks on our library. Occasionally, stray bullets hit the doors and windows of the library, but did not cause us any substantial harm. I thought to myself: "Maybe we'll really be okay this time..."

  I secretly pray for the war to end soon, and at the same time, I secretly admire myself for successfully protecting so many classmates and teachers at a critical moment. Although it's not my sole credit, not everyone can do what I did in such moments, so I'm really proud of myself deep down.

  Unfortunately, my excitement was a bit premature. Just as I was secretly proud of myself, a loud noise came from the entrance of the library, and the library's door was suddenly blown open with a huge hole. Even the bookshelves piled up at the entrance were blown away more than a meter away. The windows of the entire library shattered with a crash, some glass shards flying everywhere, and many classmates' bodies immediately appeared with wounds, bleeding profusely.

  My ears were almost deafened, but my mind was clearer than ever. Just as the explosion occurred, I dodged back and avoided a piece of flying glass that was heading towards me, then shouted loudly: "Quickly, block the door!"

  I rushed over first and pushed the exploded bookshelf towards the door with all my might.

  Several quick-reacting students rushed over to help and soon blocked the blown-open door again.

  As for the window, since it was already blocked by a bookshelf before, although the glass shattered, there were no large cracks.

  Eight injured students were not seriously hurt, all of them were cut by glass fragments and had external injuries with more bleeding. With the help of other classmates, the bleeding was stopped in no time and simple bandages were applied.

  We, the classmates who have seen blood are not many, so although everyone is fine, one of my classmates still burst into tears. He bit his teeth tightly, not letting out a sound, but his tears kept flowing down uncontrollably.

  I knew he must have been hurt for the first time, so under tension and fear, he couldn't help but shed tears. This is not cowardice or timidity, it's just a very normal reaction. So I whispered to him: "Not everyone can pretend to be fine when they're hurt or scared. Crying is just one way of expressing oneself, like gritting your teeth and staring wide-eyed, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Wipe away your tears, we still have to keep fighting, my classmate, we have to survive." My words weren't just for him alone, so the surrounding classmates nodded in agreement and quickly returned to their positions.

  That classmate gradually stopped crying and returned to his own position, looking much stronger than before.

  The injured classmates, not one of them retreated to the relatively safer second floor. It seems that the new generation of Chinese people has changed, no longer just enduring and tolerating everything for the sake of living a peaceful life.

  Of course, it's also good to be able to live in peace. Who doesn't hope that they can avoid being tossed about by the winds and waves every day? But when we are living in peace, if we encounter injustice, we must struggle against it with all our might, defend our own rights and interests, and help those who need help. Only then will life have meaning.

  This explosion seems not to be specifically aimed at the library where we are, but rather an accident. It's as if a grenade in a TV drama deviated from its trajectory and hit a place that shouldn't have been hit, causing unexpected damage.

  The explosion just now was probably a bomb or shell that wasn't particularly powerful, or maybe it was just a hand grenade, but the harm and fear it caused almost made us students who had never experienced anything like this before collapse. The intermittent screams and panicked voices from the second floor were enough to illustrate this point.

  I tried to eliminate the harm and fear, so I ran upstairs and shouted loudly: "There's nothing on the first floor, everyone can rest assured." After a pause, I continued: "Just now, only one stray bullet hit the big door of the first floor, it was not intentional attack on us. They have been surrounded, we are temporarily safe here. Everyone should not go to the window and try not to stand up. Once it's confirmed safe, we can leave."

  Actually I don't know if those places were surrounded by government troops or not, it was just something to comfort the timid classmates.

  This is also a kind of white lie.

  Time is passing slowly, and for those of us who stay in the library, it's really like counting the days, feeling that time is passing too slowly.

  At the same time, in my heart, I also hope that this temporary peace can continue, at least in this way we will not be in danger of our lives, right?

  The gunfire outside had been going on for almost three hours, but it seemed to show no signs of stopping, continuing non-stop. Even the transparent holes on the library's doors and windows were increasing.

  Slowly, the sky grew darker and night was about to fall. Due to the previous explosion and gunfire, almost all the power lines were destroyed, and the library was pitch black at night. A classmate suggested lighting up the books in the library with a lighter used for smoking, but I strongly opposed it, knowing that lights at night on the battlefield would only serve as a beacon for the enemy. So we all sat quietly in the dark library with our eyes wide open until the sun came out the next day.

  The gunfire at night became much less frequent, but it never really stopped for the whole night. The occasional gunfire made us feel even more frightened. Coupled with the innate fear of darkness that humans have, we felt that this one night of terror would be unforgettable for the rest of our lives.

  I can imagine how intense the battle outside is. Although I don't have the courage to stick my head out and take a look at the specific situation outside, from the various sounds coming from outside, I can roughly analyze that **** has indeed been surrounded by government troops in this school area.

  The second day dawned and we gradually relaxed a little bit from the high tension, because the gunfire really slowed down and stopped, and there had been almost half an hour without a single gunshot.

  I feel that this terrorist incident is about to end, so I went up to the second floor and said to the boys on the second floor: "All the boys go down to replace the people on the first floor. They haven't closed their eyes all night and can no longer concentrate on protecting everyone. You guys take them away and let them rest."

  No one opposed my suggestion, after all, it was the people on the first floor who protected the people on the second floor last night, so now it should be the people on the second floor who take turns to protect everyone.

  The people who came up were all tired, and those who were injured were even paler. They urgently needed to replenish their food and water. In fact, everyone was already very hungry at this time, but the previous gunfire and explosions had made everyone too frightened, and under the highly concentrated mental state, they hadn't thought of this point. Now that they relaxed a little, a large part of the people began to feel thirsty and hungry.

  This is a new problem, I didn't think of it originally, but now that it's arisen, I don't want to and can't anymore.

  So I started asking everyone: "Is there anyone who has brought snacks and water? Our injured people urgently need food and water now, so please, on the grounds that we are all classmates, actively hand over your food and water to me. I will give these food and water to those who need them most right now. I believe we will all be rescued soon, don't worry too much..."

  At first no one came forward to speak, I patiently asked a few times, and gradually several people handed over the food and water they brought to the library or always carried with them.

  Of course, there are also people who are not very willing to take out food. They often ask me: "What if we get stuck here for a long time and don't have food or water?"

  "My response was actually quite idealized: 'Don't worry, the city government will do its best to resolve this. Even if the city government is powerless, isn't there still the provincial government and the central government? We'll be rescued soon, everyone doesn't need to worry.' But in my heart, I was very uncertain about this, because I didn't know whether this incident was just happening in our area or had already spread to a large scale. If it's a large-scale terrorist attack, I'm afraid the time for us to be rescued will be indefinitely delayed, and at that time, water and food will really become our biggest problem."

  I dare not tell them all this, if I say it out loud, I'm afraid someone will rush out immediately, and by then, the entire library's defense line may collapse. In that case, our previous efforts would be completely in vain.

  After the gunfire stopped, I gave some food and water to some injured students and some classmates who were clearly uncomfortable. These classmates were physically injured and lost blood or were not in good condition, and after being frightened, they had been hungry for more than a dozen hours. If we didn't replenish some food and water in this place where there was no medicine at all, I'm afraid new problems would arise soon.

  Two hours have slowly passed, today the sun is invisible, the entire sky is filled with choking smoke, a gloomy and desolate scene of the end of the world. At this moment, some classmates are showing physical discomfort due to fright and hunger.

  Teacher Wang Yong has been in charge of observing this type of student, and he came downstairs to discuss with me. So I gave all the remaining food to Teacher Wang Yong and asked him to prioritize distributing food and water to the students who need it most.

  It's getting harder and harder to keep my classmates quiet and waiting for rescue. Gradually, I feel that all this is beyond my ability. I secretly pray to heaven to open its eyes, at least give me a glimmer of hope, so that I can also give my classmates a glimmer of hope. Otherwise, without food and water, the endless wait will inevitably lead to a series of accidents. By then, it won't be easy for me to calm down my classmates again.

  The mobile phone still has no signal, and the landline phone cannot be connected. I thought about it left and right, but there is not even a little way to send out a message.

  Once the news is spread, there may be a possibility of getting rescued earlier.

  Unfortunately, there is no way to send out a message now, and we can only wait passively for someone to find us and come to rescue us.

  Time is passing slower and slower, saying that days feel like years is no longer appropriate, I feel like now it's hours that feel like years. What's more, I think time is slowing down because more and more of my classmates are showing a look of unbearable hunger in their eyes, and on their faces, there is slowly appearing a look of anxious restlessness and impatience. I'm afraid that after just a few more hours or minutes, they will no longer be able to bear it and start "rebelling".

  I'm actually very hungry, but I couldn't show it. The current situation has given me an uncontrollable feeling, so my brain is frantically thinking, trying to come up with a solution in the shortest time possible, otherwise...

  I feel a slight headache, and for a moment, I'm about to experience another blank situation. I quickly forced myself to stop thinking, sat down on the ground, took a deep breath, and slowly calmed down.

  Some people say that hunger can bring out a person's usual thinking ability. Maybe this saying is true. I slowly thought of a solution.

  I immediately put my ideas into action. I first gathered dozens of classmates on the first floor and said briefly: "Now many classmates are hungry and anxious, wanting to rush out to find food and water, but once someone leaves here, their own safety will not be guaranteed, and secondly, it may also affect us all. So I decided that we would immediately form two special groups responsible for stopping all classmates who want to rush out. One group is led by me, and the other group will be led by Teacher Wang Yong in a moment. Our two groups will work together to stop those who want to rush out. Does everyone understand?"

  Perhaps it was related to personal safety, and none of the first-floor classmates opposed my proposal. Soon after, I, along with Teacher Wang Yong, each led thirty male students to guard the main gate and windows on the first floor, in order to prevent students from rushing out and also to prevent sneak attacks from outside.

  This method had a great effect, at least in the first few hours of implementation, no classmates dared to take risks and rush out.

  But what happened was an exception, just as my method had been implemented for almost four hours and it was noon, a female student fainted due to more than ten hours of fear and hunger.

  I immediately went to find Teacher Wang for water, and it was easy to revive the female classmate. Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, I heard someone shout: "Quickly come over, someone has fainted!"

  I knew things had reached a point of no return, and for the time being, there was no better solution. I had to rush over to rescue my classmate who had just fainted while shouting loudly: "Is anyone's phone available? Hurry up and make a call, report to the police if necessary!"

  Many students immediately took out their mobile phones, but without exception, none of them had a signal.

  The librarian came forward and said to me, "Jin Cang, I think it's better this way. As the administrator of this library, I have a responsibility to take care of everyone who enters this library. So, let me go out and talk to those people, ask for some food and water. Otherwise, I'm worried that our classmates won't be able to hold on..."

  I knew this method wouldn't work, but for the time being, I really couldn't think of any other way, so I had to hold my tongue.

  Teacher Wang Yong seemed to have made up his mind, and slowly said to me: "Jin Cang, at this point, waiting any longer may not be a good opportunity. Why don't I go out and take a look? Maybe we can really get some food and water..."

  I let out a long sigh: "I'll go take a look, Teacher Wang. You guys are in charge of one thing. Before I get back, don't let any student leave. The situation outside is still unclear, and up till now, not a single person has come looking for us. One thing's for sure, this area is still under ****'s control. If we go out, it'll be extremely dangerous."

  Teacher Wang and the librarian nodded together: "Don't worry, we will definitely not let our classmates go out and take risks."

  I no longer hesitate, nor dare I hesitate again. I turn around and head downstairs, striding towards the library's entrance...