Beads of sweat slid down Instructor Hong's cheeks. Just as the two of them were about to be swallowed by the flames, the fire behind them suddenly vanished!
A brief sensation of suffocation enveloped Instructor Hong's body, but it lasted less than a second before disappearing completely, as if it had never existed.
Only the lingering scorching heat in the air proved that a massive blaze had once swept through the underground.
It was Shen Qingzhu...
Instructor Hong gritted his teeth and inched his way upward through the passage. After an unknown amount of time, a faint glimmer appeared above his head.
It was the light of a flashlight.
"There's someone down there! It looks like Hong Hao!" A voice drifted down faintly from above.
The flashlight beams converged on Instructor Hong as several figures descended rapidly. They were instructors with rappel ropes hanging from their waists.
At the sight of those familiar faces, Instructor Hong finally let out a breath of relief. His taut body could no longer hold on, and sweat poured from his soaked military uniform like a waterfall.
The instructors quickly took the unconscious Baili Pangpang from him, fitted both of them with rappelling gear, said something into their radios, and slowly ascended.
"Instructor Hong, Instructor Hong! Are you all right?!" During the ascent, Han Li checked Instructor Hong's condition and asked anxiously.
His consciousness somewhat blurred, Instructor Hong waved his hand. "I'm fine. Just a little exhausted... Down there... there's still one more person."
Upon hearing that, Han Li turned to exchange looks with the other two instructors. The two instructors nodded and continued descending to search for the last person.
"How far are we from the surface?" Instructor Hong asked weakly.
"Two hundred meters. Another two hundred meters up, and we'll reach the surface."