Power and Wealth
Chapter 1518 – Saving Others
Afternoon.
Fenzhou City.
The news of a major traffic accident on the highway spread quickly. The Secretary of the City Party Committee and the Mayor were shocked upon hearing it. Although Mayor Xie had already given instructions, they both hurriedly made phone calls and got into their cars to rush to the scene. This was not an ordinary traffic accident, nor was it a major one; it was a catastrophic accident. All relevant departments were vigilant; many officials knew they might be held accountable.
Why?
The reason was simple: lives were at stake.
In a collision involving ten vehicles, casualties were inevitable. The traffic congestion caused by the collision would prevent immediate access for rescue vehicles, delaying crucial medical treatment. Even if helicopters were dispatched for rescue, their deployment could take time, which could be critical for those injured. With lives on the line, someone would be held responsible for any fatalities.
This time, with ten vehicles involved and a bus carrying dozens of children, the most conservative estimates predicted ten fatalities.
Ten lives were lost.
Everyone felt the weight of this reality.
No one wanted to witness such a tragedy.
Dong Xuebing was no exception. He anticipated the worst-case scenario and knew valuable time would be lost if he waited for authorities to respond. Therefore, his first instinct was to immediately instruct his wife to rush to the scene. Waiting for the police to verify the report, coordinating with highway personnel, reporting to City authorities, and receiving orders from City leaders would all take precious time. If the situation was as dire as reported, delays could be fatal, and the media coverage and potential impact on his wife’s career were additional concerns.
With so many lives at stake and his wife at a critical juncture in her career, Dong Xuebing made a snap decision: he couldn’t afford to lose a single life. Not one. It wasn’t just about respecting each individual’s life and protecting his wife’s future.
Therefore, Dong Xuebing took the initiative without hesitation. He rushed forward, ignoring the risk of explosion from the vehicles, and rescued the unconscious man first. The man was pale, indicating shock, but there were no visible signs of external bleeding, only burns on his legs.
“Old Xu!” his wife cried out.
Dong Xuebing sprinted over, carrying the man to a safe distance.
“Old Xu, wake up, don’t scare me,” his wife panicked.
But Dong Xuebing remained calm. He applied pressure to specific acupoints on the man’s neck and silently invoked the “REVERSE” command, focusing on his head. Within a second, the man made a soft sound and miraculously regained consciousness.
“Old Xu!” His wife wept tears of joy. “Thank heavens.”
Dong Xuebing quickly said, “Minor burns. He’s not in immediate danger. Tear off his pants to prevent infection. The ambulance will be here soon to take him to the hospital.”
The woman expressed her gratitude, “Thank you, thank you.”
Realizing that this young man had rescued him from the burning vehicle, the man weakly echoed his thanks, “Thank you.”
But Dong Xuebing didn’t have time to linger. He asked the remaining drivers, “Who has a fire extinguisher?”
Initially hesitant due to the fear of explosions, several people eventually stepped forward. Witnessing this young man’s fearless plunge into the burning car to save lives, even sustaining burns on his arms without flinching, left everyone in awe.
“I have one!” someone shouted.
Dong Xuebing said, “One isn’t enough.”
“I have one too. Wait a moment,” a woman replied.
Soon, several fire extinguishers were brought over. They were all small, portable ones meant for vehicles. Dong Xuebing could have spent more time. He grabbed one and rushed to the burning car, spraying the fire vigorously. The woman with the other extinguisher bravely joined him, though her trembling legs betrayed her fear.
“It hasn’t reached the fuel tank, so it won’t explode,” Dong Xuebing calmly assessed.
The woman nodded, biting her lip nervously.
Seeing a young man and a woman bravely stepping forward to save lives, many men in the crowd felt inspired.
“Let’s save them together!”
“Anyone who can help, come forward!”
“Let’s support each other in times of need!”
“Look at these youngsters and the lady. They’re setting an example!”
With Dong Xuebing leading the way, the others were spurred into action. They rushed forward to help, some pulling open car doors to rescue people trapped inside while others assisted with the bus.
“Help!”
“Brother, don’t worry, we’re here!”
“Save the students first!”
“If you’re badly injured, come out first. We’ll pull you!”
The scene was filled with shouts and banging on car doors.
As Dong Xuebing’s fire extinguisher ran out of foam and the woman’s was almost empty, the fire on the car was brought under control.
“Can someone help?”
“Someone’s stuck in a car, the door won’t open, it’s deformed!”
After extinguishing the fire, Dong Xuebing didn’t hesitate. He turned and rushed toward the trapped car, still holding his fire extinguisher. He looked at the people helping with the rescue and said, “Move aside.”
The people who were pulling the door back immediately stepped back.
Dong Xuebing used the fire extinguisher to strike the deformed door forcefully.
With a single loud crack, the deformed door was forced open.
The people inside were a father and son.
Because the truck in front had slowed down before the accident, the impact from the collision behind wasn’t too severe. The damage to the vehicle was within a specific range, and neither the father nor the son showed signs of external bleeding. However, the impact of the airbags was still significant, and the young boy was crying out in pain.
“My hand!”
“Xiao An, what’s wrong with your hand?”
“Dad, my hand, it’s broken!”
“How did this happen? Let me see.”
The boy’s hand was visibly twisted, hanging limply by his side, indicating a severe injury.
Before the young boy’s father could exclaim, Dong Xuebing bent down, grabbed the boy’s shoulder, and with a firm twist and push, he said, “There, done.”
The boy cried out in pain, “Ah!”
His parents were shocked and angry, “What are you doing?”
Suddenly, the boy moved his arm and exclaimed, “I can move my arm! It’s not broken!”
Everyone realized it was just a dislocated shoulder, and the hand was not broken. Seeing Dong Xuebing casually relocate the boy’s shoulder, several people nearby looked at him with surprise.
The boy hurriedly said, “Brother, thank you.”
Dong Xuebing replied, “If you can move, help with the rescue; if you can’t, stay out of the way.”
The boy’s hand would heal eventually. As for the father, despite the scrapes on his leg, he stepped forward and said, “Thank you, little brother. I can still move, so I’ll help you.” He instructed his son to rest on the side and joined the rescue team.
Meanwhile, another call for help came.
“We can’t move it!”
“Is there anyone else who can help?”
“Someone’s trapped under a car; we can’t lift it!”
“Is there anyone strong enough to come and help? The person underneath can’t hold on much longer!”
Dong Xuebing glanced over and saw an overturned vehicle. It seemed that the owner had jumped out hastily during the accident, only to be pinned under the car by the front end of another vehicle that had flipped. There was some space underneath, but it was cramped. The trapped person, a fat individual, was unconscious, lying in a pool of blood.
Without hesitation, Dong Xuebing dashed forward.
The woman who had helped him with the fire extinguisher followed, saying, “It looks like it’s too late for this person. There’s too much blood loss, and their sternum may be severely fractured.”
It couldn’t be too late.
Nobody could die today.
Dong Xuebing approached and loudly instructed the two people lifting the car, “Step aside for a moment. I’ll move it, and you get ready to pull the person out.”
Both men, tall and strong adults, wondered if Dong Xuebing’s ability. “Young man, you can’t do it. You’re not strong enough.”
“We can’t move it either. We need more people.”
“This car weighs more than a few hundred kilograms. Is there anyone else?”
But Dong Xuebing didn’t say a word. He went up and grabbed the bottom of the car. With a sudden burst of strength, he lifted it. Time seemed to slow down as many onlookers watched in astonishment. Dong Xuebing single-handedly lifted the car, raising it nearly half a meter off the ground.
Many people were stunned.
The quick-thinking woman urged, “Stop talking and pull the person out!”
The two men hurried forward and dragged the injured person out from under the car.
The woman helped, saying, “Be gentle. Don’t injure him further. His ribs were fractured. If it punctures the heart, it’ll be disastrous.”
Once the person was pulled out, Dong Xuebing released the car, and it fell heavily to the ground with a loud thud.