Oppressive.
Incredibly oppressive.
The scene was deathly quiet, not a single person speaking. As soon as the Fire Brigade's truck stopped by the shore, seven or eight people jumped down. Three of them had already put on diving suits and oxygen tanks in the truck, clearly prepared in advance.
Wan Fanglei snapped, "When we need you, you can't get here! What are you even good for?"
A Public Security Bureau official said angrily, "Why did you only get here now? How long has it been? Look for yourselves!"
The firefighter leading the group hurriedly explained, "Everyone had just arrived for work. Preparing the rescue equipment on short notice delayed us a little."
A deputy mayor in charge of the matter also said furiously, "Ten minutes have passed! The people... What use are you getting here now? Huh?"
Dong Xuebin had been underwater for ten minutes, and twenty minutes had passed since the accident. The rescue team had only just arrived, which was indeed far too slow. The seven or eight firefighters understood that themselves. With Fenzhou City's municipal leaders, including the Party secretary and mayor, all present, they did not dare argue back.
Dong Xuebin was dead!
It was too late to say anything now!
The city leaders stopped criticizing them, each of them looking grim.
Suddenly, Xie Huilan erupted. She shouted at the firefighters, "What are you standing around looking at? Get down there and save him!"
Hearing Mayor Xie, Zhong Zhengwei immediately said, "Enough talking! Get him out first!"
Xie Huilan had said "save him," which showed she still held out hope. Zhong Zhengwei, however, had used the word "recover," clearly knowing that even if Dong Xuebin and the little boy were brought up, they would only be two corpses.
The three firefighters in diving suits immediately went