Master, That's My Wife and My House! - Chapter 26

Qiao Yu, being a veteran of the coal mines, was momentarily stunned before shaking his head and pulling Wu Wenhua aside, saying, “Don’t panic, it’s not a gas explosion, the sound is wrong! Something inside must have collapsed, most likely the roof has fallen.”

What is a ceiling drop?

Coal mining tunnels need to be supported; otherwise, if you drill a hole underground, it won’t be a regular earthworm hole. They’ll be at least three meters wide, and if the support isn’t in place, they’ll collapse at any moment.

Even with proper support, it’s still possible for the roof to collapse due to ground pressure or other reasons, causing the gangue from the overhead tunnel to come crashing down.

Although a roof fall is much less severe than a gas explosion, for the person being hit, there is basically no difference, and it is even less severe than a gas explosion.

Because the high temperature generated by a gas explosion is enough to kill a person instantly, but if it falls from the ceiling… it might hit your chest. You won’t die immediately, and you can’t run away. You can only endure it and slowly feel the fear of death in pain.

Wu Wenhua, being a former soldier, quickly regained his composure, turned around, and rushed back to the production line. Qiao Yu, seeing this, had no choice but to follow.

When the two arrived at the production site, they indeed saw a large section of the road had collapsed. Seeing this, Wu Wenhua’s heart sank. With such a large area of ​​collapse, the casualties would probably be no better than those from a gas explosion.

The thought of so many families on the ground, wives and children, crying and asking him for their husbands, fathers, and sons made Wu Wenhua feel dizzy.

“Notify…notify the mine leadership to summon the rescue team!” Wu Wenhua said through gritted teeth, his eyes already reddening.

Qiao Yu didn’t dare to be careless. He immediately nodded, then turned around and ran out again. The collapsed section in front of him was too long, and the telephones were all buried inside. If he wanted to notify the mine, he had to go to the main tunnel to dig out the telephones.

Just as Qiao Yu left, figures suddenly darted out of the refuge chamber next to them. Wu Wenhua was startled, but upon closer inspection, he realized that these people were none other than the workers from the No. 2 Coal Mining Team.

Wu Wenhua was first startled, then overjoyed, and quickly said, “You’re alright!”

The workers were terrified. The one in the lead, the deputy captain of the second coal mining team, stepped forward and said, “Section Chief Wu, I…we almost had a major accident. Didn’t you tell us to stop work? So we withdrew, and as soon as we came out, the inside collapsed.”

Actually, the workers weren’t telling the truth. Old Chen, the captain of the second coal mining team, didn’t take Wu Wenhua’s words seriously at all and asked the workers to continue construction. He was just worried that Wu Wenhua and Qiao Yu hadn’t gone far, so he had the workers withdraw first and only continued working after confirming that the two had left.

No one expected that just as they were evacuating, the area collapsed, burying people for about 20 or 30 meters, giving everyone a fright.

Seeing that everyone was alright, Wu Wenhua breathed a sigh of relief, but after glancing at everyone, he asked, “Where’s Old Chen? Where’s your captain?”

Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Finally, the deputy captain spoke up: “Captain Chen is inside taking inventory of the materials… he… he hasn’t come out.”

“Damn it, isn’t this courting death?!” Wu Wenhua cursed inwardly, but the fact that only Old Chen from the second coal mining team was trapped was already a stroke of luck amidst misfortune. From dozens dying to one dead, he should be secretly happy.

“Old Chen… let’s leave him to the rescue team!” Wu Wenhua glanced ahead, somewhat helpless. It wasn’t that he wanted to give up, but the extent of the collapse was too large. In fact, this basically sentenced Old Chen to death. With such a large-scale collapse, how long would it take to clear the way? The tunnel was sealed off, there was no oxygen inside, and once the harmful gases were released, Old Chen would have no chance of survival.

Ding ding ding!

Just then, a knocking sound came from the metal ventilator pipes.

Everyone was stunned. The so-called feng shui pipeline was a pipeline built by the mine for production purposes, running from the mine entrance all the way to the production head. It provided the production head with working water and air for the air compressor. The mine had very few pieces of equipment, and they all needed to rely on feng shui to function.

“Captain Chen!” someone exclaimed.

Everyone’s faces lit up with joy. The sound came from inside, and there was only Old Chen inside. It was obvious who had knocked, which meant that the old guy was lucky and hadn’t been killed.

But immediately, everyone’s faces darkened again. What good was it if he wasn’t dead? They couldn’t get in, and they couldn’t save him either. Old Chen could only wait to die on the spot. They might as well just smash him to death.

Wu Wenhua was anxious. He had been discharged from the army because he was wounded and almost died. It was his comrades who risked their lives to bring him out of the army. So for Wu Wenhua, he could never abandon his comrades.

“We have to find a way to get Old Chen out!” Wu Wenhua said, looking at everyone and quickly adding, “Everyone, think of something, see if you have any good ideas?”

The group looked at each other in bewilderment. They had spent every day with Old Chen, and their desire to save him was no less than Wu Wenhua’s. But the problem was that in this situation, even if the rescue team came, they would be dumbfounded and could only watch helplessly. After all, a passageway that was blocked for dozens of meters was not something that could be cleared so easily.

The crowd turned pale. The feeling of a coworker dying unexpectedly was completely different from the feeling of waiting and watching him die. Some people were anxious and had already picked up shovels to dig, but the rational ones knew that doing so was completely absurd. How could they possibly rescue him?

Just then, an old miner suddenly said, “Actually, the road to the other side isn’t completely blocked. There’s a place you can still get in.”

All eyes immediately turned to the old miner who had spoken. The old miner was in his fifties, and his hair had turned gray from the high-intensity work he did every day. But when he spoke, his eyes flickered, and he didn’t seem very confident.

Wu Wenhua immediately said, “Teacher, what road? Please tell me directly, and we can discuss it together.”

The old miner took a deep breath, then kicked the feng shui pipe under his feet before urgently saying, “The pipe! Although other places are blocked, the pipe is still open!”

Upon hearing this, everyone’s expression turned strange. The feng shui pipes were not large; to ensure water and air pressure, their diameters were small. The diameter of the air duct was only twenty centimeters, and the water pipes… were even smaller than the air ducts. Let alone rescuing people, even if you put a dog in, only a teacup dog could squeeze in.

Seeing the disappointed looks on everyone’s faces, the old miner immediately said, “Hey! Why can’t you understand?! Our pipelines aren’t just for ventilation and water; there are also gas pipes!”