"You guys claim to save lives, but over there my little dog Pebbles is trapped. It's a life too, go save it now!"

The area where the dog was located had an empty space underneath. One wrong move and it could fall, potentially being buried by falling rocks and mud. It was extremely dangerous.

The rescue team members shook their heads. They were here to save people, not risk their lives.

Dash, who had already been rescued, struggled to stand up from the stretcher. Balancing on one leg, he gave me a hard shove from behind.

"Go save the dog! That's the stray my darling feeds every time she comes. If she finds out Pebbles is gone, she'll be heartbroken."

"Pregnant women shouldn't be upset, it's bad for the baby's development!"

"Besides, a dog's life is still a life. You can't just let it die!"

I was pushed to my knees, and a protruding piece of rebar pierced my hand.

Even with layers of masks on, my colleagues noticed the cold sweat on my forehead.

"Doctor Winters, are you okay?"

"You're not feeling well. Why don't you go down the mountain to rest? We can handle things here!"

Before I could speak, Dash started shouting hysterically.

"Go down? Who said you could go down? Our dog is still out there, how can you just abandon it?""Darling, making my darling sad is a crime punishable by death! If you won't save Pebbles, I'm not leaving either."

"What are you all doing here, putting on a show, you selfish cowards who fear death?"

"If you're too scared to save her, I'll go rescue her myself! If I die, it'll be all your fault!"

As he spoke, he pulled out his undamaged phone from his pocket and started filming us.

"You bunch of chickens, just wait to be cyberbullied!"

Dash had always been cool and collected around me, never laughing loudly or getting angry. When he was unhappy, his specialty was giving the cold shoulder.

I had never seen him in such a hysterical state.

Even when I was hospitalized after being stabbed by an irate patient, he comforted me calmly.

"They've lost their minds and are being unreasonable. Why bother stooping to their level? Just keep a clear conscience."

But now, he was clearly being the unreasonable one.

There were more people waiting for us to search and rescue; we couldn't delay saving other lives because of him.

I turned to discuss with my colleagues.

"Some of you escort him down the mountain, while others continue the search and rescue. I'll wrap things up here."

Coincidentally, members from another search and rescue team arrived to provide support, so everyone had to follow my suggestion.Only a few feet away, Dash stubbornly sat on the ground, insisting he needed to personally supervise me rescuing Pebbles to put his mind at ease.

I wrapped my injured hand with gauze and cautiously felt my way toward the sound of the barking dog, carefully testing each step forward.

Behind me, Dash kept urging me on impatiently.

"Can't you move any faster? That poor dog's been trapped for ages. I need to get down the mountain to have dinner with my darling after we rescue it."

"She gets picky about her food when I'm not around!"

"Women are just so timid and troublesome. I should've left one of the guys behind to save the dog instead!"

Finally, I reached the spot where the little dog was trapped. Only a thin, long tree branch was supporting the mudslide and rocks above.

The puppy wore a small jade pendant around its neck. My heart clenched painfully.

I had miscarried a child before, and spent countless sleepless nights grieving afterward.

Dash had accompanied me to the temple to pray and burn incense. We lit an eternal flame for our unborn sweetheart and received this jade pendant as a blessing.

"Naomi, as long as we keep this jade pendant, that unborn child will come back to us as mom and dad someday."

Later, when I couldn't find the pendant one day, he said he'd taken it back to the temple for a blessing.

Who would have thought he'd put it on a stray dog's neck instead? Was he trying to make my poor baby be reborn into a dog's womb?"Hurry up! What are you spacing out for? I'll file a complaint against you when I get back if you're not careful!"

I snapped back to reality, carefully bending down to reach for the little dog in the crevice.

The puppy seemed to have one of its legs trapped. My hand just happened to touch its injured spot.

The dog let out a sharp yelp and suddenly clamped its teeth onto my hand.

Pain shot through me, and no matter how I tried to pull away, it wouldn't let go.

"I heard Pebbles' painful cry. What did you do to her?"

"My darling loves Pebbles more than anything. If you dare to hurt her and make my darling sad, I'll picket your hospital every single day."

"Let me tell you, even if you die, you can't let our Pebbles get hurt in any way!"

He was still rambling on, but I heard the cracking sound of branches under my feet. That small tree probably couldn't support the weight above it much longer.

Using all my strength, ignoring the pain in my hand, I yanked the little dog out and ran desperately back the way I came.

Behind me, there was a constant rumbling sound, and the ground beneath my feet was shaking.

Just as I was about to reach Dash on solid ground, I tripped over some rebar at my feet.

The ground beneath me was cracking and sinking. If only Dash could pull me up, I'd be safe on shore.Little did I know, he'd snatch the puppy right out of my hands and kick me for good measure.

The nearby intern who had stayed with him shouted loudly.

"Why did you kick us, Doctor Winters? The ground over there is sinking! Are you even human?"

Dash, holding the puppy, limped down the mountain without looking back.

"If she comes over here, our side might collapse too."

"Let's go, let's go. She chose to save the dog to keep her job anyway. It's fate, we can't blame others."

I kept falling, with mud and rocks pouring down from above like a flood.

I crashed hard onto a protruding concrete platform below, with the exposed rebar piercing my lower abdomen.

The intern had somehow run down and was now supporting me as we fled.

I heard a huge crash behind us, and that concrete platform was instantly buried under mud and debris.

I felt a wave of fear, realizing that if it weren't for this intern girl, I might have truly lost my life here.

A sharp pain twisted in my belly. Despite pressing hard on my abdominal wound, blood still dripped steadily, leaving a trail behind us.

Just as we reached the bottom of the hill, I saw Dash arguing with the medical staff.

"Why won't you give my darling a stretcher to lie on?"

With numerous casualties, the first-response stretchers were in short supply. Although Meadow had been trapped, she only had some minor scrapes.Not far from me, Meadow and Dash were squeezed onto a single stretcher, while another stretcher sat empty nearby.

Their medical colleagues tried to negotiate the use of that empty stretcher, but Dash shouted abuse in their faces.

"Even if my darling doesn't need it now, she might get tired later and want to rest on it. We're not giving it up!"

He then turned and gently caressed Meadow's visibly pregnant belly.

"Darling, don't be afraid. I won't let anyone bully you!"

"Honey, I heard there was a second collapse upstairs. Are you okay? I was scared to death!"

"Don't think about those unimportant things. Even if people died, it was their fate!"

"Sweetheart, you need to stay in a good mood. Otherwise, if my son comes out with a wrinkled face, what are we going to do?"

Dash held their dog, Pebbles, as the two of them cuddled close together, looking especially cozy.

Meanwhile, I was losing too much blood, waves of fainting spells washing over me, as if I'd fallen into the depths of a harsh winter.

I once had a corgi that had been my companion for many years, but when we first got married, Dash claimed he was allergic to dog hair.

I compromised, saying I'd keep the dog in a separate room and not let it out, but he still wouldn't budge.

He said it was either the dog or him. In the end, I had to painfully give up my dog.Love and indifference were so starkly apparent.

"Someone come help! Doctor Winters is injured!"

The medical staff around finally noticed me. My injuries were severe, and I urgently needed to lie down to slow the bleeding from my abdominal wound.

But the only stretcher left was the empty one meant for Meadow.

"What are you all looking at? That stretcher is for my darling!"

"Besides, look at her covered in blood. It's bad luck! If she lies on the stretcher my darling used, what if she passes her misfortune to my darling? Who's going to be responsible for that?"

Dash made a huge fuss, arrogantly stacking the two stretchers and sitting on them.

"How fussy! If you're so delicate, don't come out here pretending to save people!"

"It just shows your life is worth less than others. I pity whoever married such an unlucky woman! The ground is wide enough, why don't you just lie there!"

In the end, it was a volunteer who couldn't bear to watch anymore. He helped me into the passenger seat of his car, reclining it so I could rest for a bit.

The incident happened so suddenly that all the hospital's ambulances had already been dispatched. Many of the seriously injured patients had been taken away first.

It was a long wait before an ambulance finally returned.