NOVEL NEXT Chapter 294: Is He Dead?
After the deafening crash.
A severe jolt made Jiang Xiaoxiao's upper and lower teeth clash incessantly.
Following that was the sharp grinding sound of metal, and the thunderous roar when metal was torn apart, which overshadowed strange clashing and banging noises amidst the violent collision.
She felt like a rag doll being tossed around at the back.
For a moment, she felt completely unable to control herself.
The surroundings suddenly plunged into darkness.
Because of this, she realized, at some point, a rope had appeared on her, binding her shoulders tightly to almost an unbearable extent.
What followed was the sensation of weightlessness and falling.
The rope held her in place in the truck bed, while her limbs flailed like a broken doll.
Then the right side of her head hit something hard, and she was consumed by darkness.
Jiang Xiaoxiao woke up coughing violently.
Her brain weakly recorded this body's natural response.
Jiang Xiaoxiao opened her eyes and slowly realized something was wrong; she seemed unable to breathe properly, feeling terrified in her daze. She attempted to move, tried to sit up, but her legs and arms refused to cooperate.
It seemed no longer to be her body.
Jiang Xiaoxiao was speechless.
What was wrong with her?
Was she dead?
She tried to concentrate again, gathering all her focus to move, but the exertion resulted in her fainting once more.
When she regained consciousness again, she struggled to focus all her attention, finally managing to move her left hand's fingers.
At first, she could only perceive slight changes, fingers could move, then toes, legs, arms; frankly, who could tell her how difficult it is to move?
Her right arm felt like it was slashed, and she wanted to cough.
Beyond these sensations was a relentless full-body pain.
There wasn't a single spot on her body that didn't hurt.
She was bruised all over, as if she had fallen from somewhere...!
Fallen!
Yes!
She crashed down.
That's right!
She remembered the crash...
No! The tractor... was already shattered.
The tractor was already smashed to pieces, but she was still alive, she was still alive!
She didn't want to open her eyes, didn't want to know the extent of her injuries.
Now her brain finally functioned, but her body still couldn't be controlled at will.
Jiang Xiaoxiao thought if she was missing an arm or a leg, she didn't want to know now, because such a revelation would ultimately mean dying from shock and blood loss in this desolate forest.
She was far from any possible rescue, miles away, she just wanted to lay there with her eyes closed, letting whatever happens happen.
Besides, every part of her body was severely injured, she dared not move for fear that any movement would intensify the pain.
But frustratingly, she couldn't breathe smoothly, her right arm injured badly, feeling as if something sharp was digging in.
Reality told her she had to move, had to get away from the wreckage of the tractor.
There's always a risk of fire after such accidents, isn't there?
She had to move.
And there's Song Moting.
How is Song Moting now?
His position is more precarious than hers.
Groaning, she opened her eyes.
At first, she couldn't focus at all, only seeing a bundle of green stuff before her.
Unable to distinguish what was what.
Even doubting if her eyes were functioning right.
She blinked relentlessly, finally realizing it was some sort of fiber, possibly cotton fabric.
Yes!
Green fabric, the fabric of her military coat.
Now the military coat was flipped over, covering most of her head.
Jiang Xiaoxiao struggled to raise her left arm, sweeping away the clothes covering her eyes.
Some unidentified debris also got swept away, making a faint noise.
Good news was, her left arm could still function.
That's good.
She tried to prop herself up, sit straight, but something felt off.
Her whole body seemed displaced, disassembled.
She weakly shifted, trying in vain to sit up.
Then she uttered a low sigh of defeat, sitting up had become the hardest thing in the world, maybe her spine was injured?
If so, she would die just the same.
Never mind!
Let's assess the situation first, clear what she was up against.
Focusing was hard, but she had to focus.
She took deep breaths while looking around, trying to recognize her surroundings.
Snow, lots of trees, wind whipping snowflakes everywhere.
Then she saw her own feet, her left foot barefoot.
Where are the boots?
Where is the shoe?
Then, like an electric shock, a thought flashed through her mind.
Where is Song Moting?
Where is he?
She struggled to lift her head, and immediately saw him.
He was wedged into a tree branch, head leaning forward.
The whole person was hanging there.
She couldn't see his features clearly, his face was covered by gushing blood, dripping down his cheeks.
In desperation, she tried to sit up briskly, only causing another futile attempt.
Of course, there was another bout of unconsciousness.
When she awoke, her location confused her.
Was she lying in the tractor's rear bucket?
No.
She frantically focused, forcing her brain to adjust, concentrate on sensing her current position. Suddenly, she felt it.
The rope on her shoulder must have been Song Moting's lone safe measure for her in a crisis.
She painstakingly untied the rope, her restrained body fell from the truck's bed, directly crashing to the ground.
Because of the severe impact, compounded by her injuries, the pain made her groan again.
Then she felt there was something stabbing her right arm, because indeed there was something embedded in her right arm.
A glaring triangular piece of metal was stuck in her upper arm.
She felt inexplicably this wound was humiliating, falling off a cliff, just this injury?
She pulled out the fragment, tossed it away, then crawled forward until she could reach Song Moting.
Song Moting must have been thrown out when he fell, thanks to this pine tree, otherwise now even a deity couldn't save him.
Also thanks to these trees, the tractor was wedged tight between two big trees; otherwise, how could there not be a fire.
She was now dizzy, painfully injured.
But she still managed to use her right foot to pedal the turned-over tractor's bed edge, pushing herself up.
Trying to get closer to Song Moting.
My God, so much blood.
Is he dead?
He desperately maintained the tractor's angle, giving them a chance to survive, otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.
She couldn't stand the thought he saved her life, only to die saving her.
They were one.
She didn't need destiny to be so cruel.
Her hand trembled, reaching out and touching his neck, but her body couldn't stop shaking, unable to test if he had a pulse.
Her whole body shivered.
"You can't die!"
She murmured urgently, placing her hand under his nose to see if she could feel his breath.
She thought she felt it, but then seemed not, tensely watching his chest.
Finally, when she clearly saw his chest moving, a feeling of relief was so intense it nearly made her cry.
He was still alive but unconscious and injured.
What should she do?
Should she move him?
If his spine was injured, he couldn't be moved.
Even if she were a doctor, she needed to get him down to examine.
With the naked eye, she couldn't manage that.
But if she did nothing, he'd bleed out!
She leaned her aching head against the tree beside him for a moment.
Her head was hit, likely a concussion.
But she didn't have the right to rest.
In this damned weather, resting meant giving up on treating Song Moting.
Jiang Xiaoxiao commanded herself.
She had to do something.
She first dealt with injuries she was aware of, rather than potential ones. She knew he lost a lot of blood, so stopping the bleeding was top priority now.
But at this height, she absolutely couldn't get him down.