Chapter 9: Rescue Helicopter
The storm had been pouring down onto the plaza for at least half an hour now, with Liu Gan trapped in it like it was a jail cell for what seems like an eternity.
With every flash of lightning or roar of thunder, he thought it would be the one that struck him. He wrapped his arms around his body tightly, worrying – trembling – from the cold as he waited for it to end, praying that it wouldn’t strike him down as he held on. Finally, the thunderstorm seem to have weakened – it seemed like it was blown away to a different location.
The torrential downpour gradually changed to a drizzling rain, and Liu Gan once again wiped his face to clear up his vision.
He was still alive.
Living was not easy. Liu Gan felt that, compared to his previous 20 years alive, nothing had left as deep an impression as today had.
The plaza still had thousands of zombies which were drenched by the rain. There were some female zombies which were wearing a thin layer of clothing, revealing their natural forms. On the floor of the plaza, there were no signs of any destruction from lightning. Liu Gan turned his head to investigate the reason for it, and at a far location he saw a flash of lightning, but it didn’t strike the plaza – it was diverted to the nearby hundreds of taller houses at the far edge of the plaza.
These houses must have installed a lightning rod to divert the lightning. There were countless lightning strikes in that thunderstorm, perhaps all of those lightning strikes were attracted to those rods? Luckily there were these tall houses, otherwise, with that many lightning strikes, one of them was going to strike Liu Gan who was sitting on top of the iron pillar for sure. That was probably the reason why he survived the thunderstorm.
It was only lightly drizzling now, as the sky above his area started clearing up. The frequency of the lightning strikes started get lower, then completely stopped. As long as the lightning rod on the houses stood, it wouldn’t strike Liu Gan.
Liu Gan took deep breathes to finally relax. He was in a state of anxiety which exhausted him quite a lot. This advertisement structure didn’t give him room to lay down to rest. There was only enough room for him to sit squat-like. Occasionally, he would adjust his seating style to feel more comfortable.
Zombies below the advertisement started to mindlessly try to climb up and form a human ladder. Listening to their moans and watching their expression, Liu Gan felt trapped and hopeless. Would these zombies never leave the plaza?
If they continued to stay gathered here, Liu Gan would forever remained trapped and be unable to leave.
In the sky, a faint noise could be heard. It was a continuous roaring noise, which didn’t sound like thunder, Liu Gan pinpointed the direction it came from. It was a helicopter which appeared from the direction of the taller houses far away.
Liu Gan had never felt so much joy. Naturally, he waved towards the helicopter, just in case the helicopter couldn’t see him. Liu Gan proceeded to climb to the highest part of the billboard and kept waving his arms.
The helicopter left the high-rise houses and proceeded flying forward at a low-altitude, and circled a few blocks nearby. Then, once again it flew closer to the plaza. Liu Gan was unsure if it was because they saw him, but then it flew directly towards him. It’s actually flying directly towards me. Liu Gan thought to himself. His efforts were not wasted. By the time it flew close to the plaza, the drizzling rain became even more scattered. Liu Gan could see the pilot and the helicopter crew.
From the side view of the helicopter there was a white shape which resembled three rings – it was San Xing Corporation’s logo. As a veteran player of San Xing Corporation’s games, Liu Gan was very familiar with it.
No need for further words, this must be San Xing Corporation here to the rescue!
“I’m right here! Hurry and save me!” Liu Gan shouted at the top of his lungs, while trying to maintain balance on the top of the billboard. Then he attempted to wave both arms in the air while shouting. It didn’t mattered if the crew onboard could hear him or not, but this was the only thing he can possibly do.
Although, deep down, he was a little worried that this might be a conspiracy by San Xing Corporation. He was worried that after entering the helicopter, he would be taken away by the crew to be used as a guinea pig for testing experiments. However, staying on top of the billboard would not lead to a good ending either. Liu Gan knew that he had to leave the iron pillar in order to plan his next step. So first, he needed to board the helicopter.
The helicopter definitely discovered Liu Gan – it was aiming towards the iron pillar, while carefully drawing near. It slowly halted right above the billboard. One crew member in San Xing Corporation’s work clothes stepped out.
Liu Gan was emotionally moved. He survived long enough for rescue to arrive! Luckily, he didn’t give up. Otherwise, by the time the helicopter arrived, he would be dead like the other players.
Although the thunderstorm had just about stopped, the wind blowing across the earth was still rather strong. The wind direction near the skyscrapers was also a bit odd. It would suddenly blow east or west, at times strong and at times weak, making the helicopter hovering on top of the billboard waver continuously.
As rope ladder was released down from the helicopter, it was still a good distance away from the advertisement, still a few meters above. It was these few meters that was the type of distance that Liu Gan was afraid of attempting to jump. Luckily, the female member of the crew kept looking down to observe. She kept relaying messages to the pilot to move slowly closer, towards the direction of Liu Gan.
Once again, a flash of bright light appeared before Liu Gan’s eyes. He was temporarily blinded. At the same time, the helicopter hovering above generated some horrible engine sounds. The next moment was followed by thunder which deafened his eardrums. The helicopter flew away from the billboard, it flew even higher than ten meters above. The tail of the helicopter started to smoke in mid air as it started to spin out of control.
“Damn! No way? There could be this much bad luck?” Liu Gan was shocked as he witnessed what happened. That sudden flash of lightning couldn’t possibly have struck the helicopter.
In the next moment, Liu Gan couldn’t help but sigh. The helicopter continuously spun a few times, gradually losing the ability to stop. With a slight decline it was aiming towards the billboard. Watching all that was about to happen, Liu Gan quickly jumped off the top and tightly gripped the bottom most part of the support structure, suspending his body on the structure.
The moment Liu Gan jumped, the helicopters metal body slammed into the billboard – at exactly the same position where Liu Gan had been previously – where it produced a loud ‘BANG’! It generated a dull echo as it smashed into the billboard, then fell towards the ground as it crashed and started rolling.