Lin Xin happened to be passing by just then, and she heard the whole exchange. She immediately exploded in anger.
“You guys are really too much! If it wasn’t for Yao Tang, you would have died at the mountaintop. Or worse, you would have been lying bloody and lifeless under the helicopter crash. Why are you slandering her after everything she’s done to save you?”
She had unfortunately heard most of Chen Yi’s speech, and she couldn’t resist speaking up for Yao Tang.
But her words had no effect on Chen Yi at all. If anything, her lips curled into a sarcastic smirk. “Why you ask? Why are you speaking up for her, huh? Did she put you up to this? That two-faced snake!”
Unexpectedly, someone from Class 19 silently joined in the conversation.
“Lin Xin, you’re always tagging behind Yao Tang, right? You’re so desperate to be her sidekick. No one is stopping you, but don’t drag us along into your blind fanaticism!”
Although most of them knew that Yao Tangwasn’t as cunning and evil as Chen Yi said, there were also some who envied her for always being in the limelight.
“You’ve gone too far!”
Lin Xin glared at them ferociously, so mad that she could barely speak.
Yao Tang wasn’t expecting to return to such a wonderful scene after her discussion with the rescue team.
She turned to look at the formidable-looking Principal Kongand quipped, “At this rate, I might take over the Earthquake Disaster Bureau.”
He had always been on Yao Tang’s side, so when he heard the students speak badly about her, he grew even more furious.
“What’s wrong, have you guys gone mute?” Lin Xintaunted. “Chen Yi, weren’t you talking so passionately just now? You almost convinced everyone here thatYao Tangwas an omniscient god or something.”
She imitated Chen Yi’s mocking tone and even flashed her a disdainful smirk of her own.
Not to be outdone, Yao Ranstepped forward with a meek expression. “Don’t blame her. She was just stressed out. It’s not like she said thatYao Tangplanned for this to happen. She was just making some conjectures based on what we know so far. There’s no need for you to be so mean.”
There were telltale signs of fear in her eyes, as though she had mustered all of her courage to stand up for her friend. The fear was true to some degree, but Yao Ranwas only scared thatYao Tangmight stride over and hit her without warning.
Chen Yi grimaced after hearing that, like she had just swallowed a jar of flies.
She hated Yao Tang, but she detestedYao Ran, too.
“If you have time to argue, then why don’t you spend it on the problem at hand instead?” one of the rescuers said exasperatedly.
As soon as he said this, all heads turned toward the rescue team.
Everyone started talking all at once.
“Oh! Are we finally getting rescued?”
“When are the other helicopters coming? What do we need to prepare?”
“What a relief! This is great. We should go home right away. I’m starving.”
“I know, right? Once I’m back home, I’m going to eat a big meal. Today’s incident has scarred me for life. I think I might have to take an entire day off to recover.”
The students chattered excitedly.
None of them noticed the worry on the rescue team’s faces. They failed to understand what the man was trying to say.
The teachers were hesitant to correct the students. They were talking in high spirits, their voices so loud and eager.
When the adrenaline finally died down, they shut their mouths and looked at the rescue team expectantly.
The man who had spoken sighed helplessly. “As I was saying, we still have a problem at hand. Our communication line is not working, and we weren’t able to contact the headquarters.”
At first, the team had agreed not to tell the students about this.
But given the ruckus just now, they figured that they needed to come clean and keep everyone abreast of their situation.
The atmosphere instantly turned glum at the revelation.
“What are you saying? What do you mean, you can’t contact your headquarters?”
“Why is your communication line down? Aren’t you supposed to be equipped for emergencies? Did something happen to your devices as well?”
“No, that’s not right. You must be joking with us! How can you call yourselves a rescue team when you can’t even get us out of here?”
They fired their questions one by one, their expressions imploring.
Sadly, their pleas didn’t change the truth.
“We’re not lying to you. I’m telling you this so that we can dispense with petty arguments. We are still in a critical situation, and a fight among ourselves is the last thing we need.”