"Underground?"

The three men shouted in unison, surprised.

The young man, Ding Le, held his head injury with disbelief:

"How did we end up underground?"

"Are you stupid? Didn't you notice the earthquake?"

"Even if it was an earthquake, the building didn't collapse. How could we be buried underground!"

Ding Le and the middle-aged man argued back and forth.

Gu Ji stomped his foot, drawing everyone's attention to the cement floor beneath him.

"There are many possibilities: large-scale subsidence caused by natural factors like earthquakes, fault displacement, changes in ground stress, or man-made factors like extracting groundwater, oil, solid minerals, karst areas, or even a combination of both."

"No matter how much the building has sunk, our floor is the basement, so it's definitely at the lowest point!"

This room had no windows, moist walls, and a musty smell, clearly a basement of the building.

The professional terms Gu Ji used left everyone stunned for a moment, recalling that Hui had said he was an old miner, so his judgement on geological disasters was likely quite accurate.

For a moment, Ding Le lowered his head dejectedly.

"Can we still get out..."

"It's not impossible."

Gu Ji's words were like a beacon in the darkness, lighting up everyone's hope for survival, "But the premise is that we need to cooperate well."

"Mr. Wa, tell us how to cooperate, we will definitely listen to you!"

Ding Le was the first to raise his hand in agreement.

The middle-aged man and the doctor exchanged glances, then looked around, seemingly unable to think of any good ideas, and thus, they agreed.

Gu Ji knew each of them harbored their own secrets.

After all, anyone who would choose to smuggle themselves to a place like Northern Myanmar certainly wasn't a good person.

But the first rule of self-rescue during a strong earthquake in the "Military Disaster Prevention Manual" is to look for survivors, which holds true in reality since humans are highly social animals, and teamwork often makes it easier to get through crises.

Besides, he didn't know whether the game would include any rescue missions later.

"Since we've chosen to cooperate, let's all state our names, professions, and skills."

To show goodwill, Gu Ji introduced himself first.

Ding Le was the second to speak.

"My name is Ding Le, I was tricked by the Jinyuan Group into doing telecom fraud. I studied car repair in university for a while."

"My name is Wang Jinkang, I used to be a shop owner. I lost everything in the Golden Yuan Casino in Kokang. I... I only know accounting."

The middle-aged man lowered his head awkwardly.

The doctor, covering his broken rib, stood up, dusting off his white coat, "My name is Yang Dong. I used to be a surgeon, but after a medical accident, I was fired from the hospital and ended up in this godforsaken place."

Yang Dong was very tall, and his tone carried an air of arrogance, much like Wu Kang.

He probably considered himself the most capable one present.

After the three of them finished speaking, all eyes were on the orange-haired girl. Wang Jinkang stared at her exposed skin, swallowing greedily.

The orange-haired girl, with a strange smile, approached Gu Ji with a steel pipe, "Pan Xinli. I do..."

Before she finished her sentence, she suddenly reached her hand towards Gu Ji's legs, but he grabbed her wrist. Just as he was about to exert force, she chuckled foolishly with a Wanzhou accent:

"I only know how to make people feel good, hehe!"

Gu Ji glanced at Pan Xinli, who seemed a bit deranged, and let go of her wrist.

"Regardless of the reason for the ground subsidence, there's a possibility of aftershocks and secondary collapses at any time. According to the 'Golden 72-hour' rule of rescue, the survival rate on the first day is about 90%; it drops to 50%-60% on the second day; and by the third day, it's only 20%-30%. So, we don't have much time."

"Yang Dong, you and the other two should treat your injuries immediately and tell us everything you know: the room's location, where the emergency exit is, whether there are any survival tools, food, or water nearby. Pan Xinli, help me gather all usable supplies in the room, especially medical emergency supplies."

Initially, when talking about "cooperation," everyone thought of it as a temporary assembly, a way to get by.

However, Gu Ji's words completely convinced them.

Professional and logically clear;

It even optimized the allocation of human resources.

Yang Dong couldn't even believe himself, but he instinctively moved his feet to follow orders.

"Don't just stand there, move quickly!"

Gu Ji urged once more.

Having gone through two crisis situations and a month of intensive police training, his command ability was indeed much improved.

After Pan Xinli found medical gauze.

Yang Dong instructed Ding Le to apply pressure binding over his broken rib, while explaining:

"This is the 2nd basement level of the Jinyuan Building, with secret rooms for detainees and a water prison nearby, as well as an underground parking lot. I'm not sure where the emergency exit is..."

A water prison means water;

A parking lot means supplies!

Gu Ji felt slightly relieved. Despite the hellish start, there was at least a glimmer of opportunity for survival.

Just as he was packing the dressings into a makeshift backpack with Pan Xinli.

"Ah... is anyone there... help... Hui! Xiaodong! Are you down there..."

Hearing someone call out, they all stopped what they were doing.

Ding Le looked up at the cracked hole in the ceiling, indicating the sound was coming from above.

The person dared to call Hui by name, obviously one of their group. Perhaps because of the deep scar left by Jinyuan Group's enforcers, Wang Jinkang began to shiver again.

"It sounds like gunfire..."

"I... I heard it too."

Ding Le looked up at the cement wall's crack, unsure where the gunfire was coming from, then looked down at Hui's body and that of the enforcer on the ground, trembling as he spoke.

"Mr. Wa, should we really go up? What if they catch us and beat us to death?"

"Our only way is up. If we don't climb, we'll suffocate to death here."

Gu Ji spoke calmly, providing a strong sense of safety, "Don't get distracted by other things. Focus on your tasks!"

Yang Dong shifted his gaze, continuing to help Wang Jinkang with his arm.

Soon, the three of them were done treating their injuries.

Gu Ji also gathered all the scattered medical supplies from the operating room. The most valuable items were the propofol injection anesthetic and iodine solution for skin disinfection.

He was covered in wounds himself, and these items could greatly reduce the risk of infection.

Once they were all set, they headed to the door.

After the entire building subsided, it wasn't completely vertical but had some inclination, somewhat like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Naturally, the building's walls couldn't remain unchanged.

The door was slightly bent under the pressure of the wall crack.

Gu Ji studied it for a moment: "We'll have to break the door down by force!"

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