Chapter 3: The Storm
"What do you say? You can't wait for a day? At least half of the hundreds of thousands of people in this square have been waiting at the train station for a week. Aren't they still waiting? Why are you in a hurry? There are more than 20,000 people lined up in the fence, and even if they wait until tomorrow, they may not be able to buy tickets. What's the use of you coming in but to increase the number of people? If you want to wait, you can continue to wait, and if you can't wait, go home immediately, don't shout here and create chaos!" a man who maintained order shouted impatiently.
Ning Hao, who was unwilling, did not leave immediately, he, like the other passengers who were surrounded at the entrance, hoped that the people who maintained order would be kind and put them in the iron horse fence. Because only when you enter the iron horse fence can you have the opportunity to buy a train ticket.
Half an hour later, the wall of people surrounding the entrance showed no signs of loosening. The man standing on an iron shelf inside the iron horse fence used a loudspeaker from time to time to advise the hundreds of thousands of travelers in the square to leave the square as soon as possible, and they were about to clear the square.
But the passengers who were bent on buying train tickets were unmoved, still standing in the square with the scorching sun above their heads, enduring the scorching heat, the squeezing of the human wall, and the suffocating stench, waiting for the opportunity to enter the ticket area.
After another hour or so, the distant sky slowly became darker. Layers of black clouds are superimposing, rolling towards the sky above the railway station square, and there is a tendency for dark clouds to overwhelm the top.
There was a sudden vision in the sky, and a storm was coming, but the travelers in the square did not disperse, they were still praying for a miracle. The main thing is that there is no shelter from the wind and rain in the square, and there are no standardized evacuation routes and exits.
Suddenly, a whirlwind blew, and all kinds of dust and garbage and the hats on the heads of some travelers flew wildly over the square, making it impossible to open your eyes. Fortunately, there are human walls to rely on for each other, so they are not blown down by the whirlwind.
In the howling of strong winds, several blinding lightning bolts streaked across the sky, and deafening thunder suddenly exploded, followed by a downpour of rain from the sky. In an instant, the flow of people in the square was shrouded in a thick curtain of rain.
Ning Hao, who was still standing outside the iron horse fence, was enduring the raging storm, he buried his head, his eyes were closed, and his hands tightly hugged an iron horse guardrail that was fixed to avoid being blown down by the strong wind. He opened his mouth wide and gasped for air, sucking the sewage into his stomach and feeling like he was about to suffocate. At this moment, how he wished he had worn a trench coat that could help him shelter him from the wind and rain and make his breathing easier.
Some of the passengers standing behind Ning Hao could not withstand the attack of the storm, because they had lost the support of the human wall, and there were no iron horse guardrails to hold onto. They were staggered by the strong wind, unable to stabilize their bodies, and fell down with the wind and rain in the shaking.
The storm lasted for more than half an hour before it gradually stopped. At the beginning, all the passengers who were still standing in the square turned into chickens, but the number did not decrease much, because the vast majority of passengers had nowhere to avoid, and there was no way to escape.
Ning Hao was not spared, he was not able to withstand the raging storm in the end, and he also fell into the wet pile of people. Luckily, he collapsed on the top of the pile, and he didn't suffer much damage except for choking on the rain and almost suffocating.
During the whole process, Ning Hao's hands kept clutching the belt on his body, and he was afraid that the belt would be washed away by the water jet. Once he lost the money to buy a train ticket, it meant that his dream of going out to work with Lu Yao was shattered, which he absolutely could not accept.
After Ning Hao recovered his strength, he first spit out some fishy and bitter sewage and debris in his mouth, then choked out the water in his nostrils vigorously, and reached out to push away the person who was holding his feet, he wanted to stand up.
As he pressed his hands against the man below, he heard a low, painful exclamation. At the same time, he felt as if his hands were touching someone else's injured part.
He quickly raised his hands, wiped the water droplets from his eyes and face, and turned his head sideways to see that there were several women next to him.
Ning Hao's heart was hot, and his whole body seemed to be passed through by electricity, and it was like floating in the clouds, and he lost his direction in an instant.
Someone let out a cry of pain, instantly bringing him back to reality from his fantasy. He immediately realized that his weight of one hundred and seventy pounds was pressed on others, and the pain and unbearable that others had endured, and he had to get up from the crowd quickly.
Thinking of this, Ning Hao opened his mouth wide and took a deep breath, put his hands into fists in front of his chest, and made a very unsuccessful carp stiffening with a slight effort throughout his body. With a squeak, he slid down the other's body and fell to the ground. He immediately grabbed the belt where the money was hidden with his left hand, and then supported the ground with the palm of his right hand, and climbed up sideways.
Ning Hao looked at the people who fell to the ground in front of him, they were all soaked. He really wanted to leave directly and go to the edge of the square to find Lu Yao. But the scene in front of him, and the exclamation he heard the woman crying just now, his heart was mixed at the moment, more sour and helpless.
Lu Yao reached out and grabbed the white and soft hand of a woman at the top of the pile, and asked, "Are you hurt?"
"Ahh The woman cried out in pain.
"Then, what should I do?" Ning Hao hurriedly let go of the woman's hand, at a loss, and asked in panic.
"Young man, help her up, our hands and feet are numb. A man who was pressed down on the floor below shouted.
"But, she's ······"
"Young people, at this time, don't worry about the difference between men and women, you can be kind and accumulate virtue. If the people above don't move away, the people below us won't be able to move!" shouted a man who was crushed at the bottom of the pile.
Ning Hao no longer hesitated, he first carefully picked up the top hand that was crushed, with short ear-length hair, wearing a white padded shoulder shirt, denim shorts, a handsome face with a hint of pain, eyes slightly closed, and a young woman with white skin like jade, and walked briskly to the side of the iron horse. He slowly lowered her, and after holding her back against the iron horse, he turned to help the others.
After a while, with the help of Ning Hao and the other passengers, most of the passengers who had fallen in the crowd stood up. But there were still a few people who were sitting or lying on the ground, unable to stand. They either had their legs crushed or their hands dislocated.
At this time, many medical personnel in white coats appeared in the square and were treating the injured passengers.
Ning Hao, who grew up in the mountains, was the first time he had seen so many people injured by a violent storm in a short period of time. It was also the first time he truly experienced the ruthlessness of nature and its powerful destructive power, which cannot be resisted by human beings.