At that moment, Lei Qingyi was wearing a raincoat. He removed the hood, allowing the rain to drench himself so that he could clear his mind and calm himself down.
“We owe this to you. If it weren’t for you, the number of casualties might be higher. Those substandard railings had already been flushed away. Those pricks, those complete imbeciles, they dared to cut corners even in the guardrails repairing project. If the railings aren’t able to function properly, who would pay the price for the tragedies in the event of such once-in-a-century, great flood?”
He wiped the raindrops off his face. His eyes were fixed on the tossing and pounding of the waves in the Sea River not far away.
“I’ve never seen the Sea River this terrifying in my whole life, like a bloodthirsty beast that might charge forward anytime, destroying everything.”
“When the flood subsides, I must make them pay for this. That was a close call, who knows how many civilian or military lives would have been taken away by the flood? Everytime a catastrophe occurs, those who rush toward the frontline are always the soldiers, and our soldiers are human, they are lives that should be cherished too. They have parents, wives and children who are waiting for them to come home. If anything unfortunate happens to them, who can afford to pay for these lives?”
I can’t.
Lu Yi can’t too.
None of us can.
Lu Yi was also wearing a raincoat as he observed the Sea River before him. Despite the protection of the raincoat, he was still dampened by the rain, strands of hair stuck on his face, making his face look even grimmer and colder.
Yan Huan was right. This flood was a lot scarier than what she had imagined, and much harder to control. If it was not for their earlier preparation, more people could have died. However, there were places that they were unable to cover, people whom they were unable to evacuate. The only possible outcome for those who were flushed away by the flood was not merely their disappearance, but death; worse, their bodies might never be found.
As for those who did the shoddy repair work, they should never be forgiven. It was impossible to forgive them.
Their only hope was for the rain to lighten up. They could tough it out like this while putting in more effort. If the water level remained steady at where it was right now, then there was still hope for them to persevere.
Yan Huan had told them that the flood discharge capacity would be the highest for today. If they managed to make it through, things would be fine for tomorrow, for the next day, and the next.
Suddenly, someone approached them frantically.
“Sir, we found four people over there.”
“What did you just say?” Lei Qingyi glared at him. “Are they sick of being alive?” he bellowed all of a sudden, almost shredding the eardrums of everyone present.
What. The. Heck. Is this? What are these people doing?
Lei Qingyi was furious to the point that he felt like throttling someone. Are these people looking for trouble? Have they not witnessed what a flood is? Foolish, so foolish, who exactly gave birth to these pig brains, why don’t they go to the zoo and watch the pigs instead of watching the river and the flood.
Lei Qingyi followed the soldier’s lead with great strides, and Lu Yi followed suit. Every step he took splashed water all around him.
It was undoubtedly still September, but they could not feel any warmth. It was cold, freezing cold, as cold as frost and snow. It was like the cold of icy winds that pierced through flesh and bones, the cold that could freeze dripping water.
Lei Qingyi was completely enraged. How could these buffoons be this stupid, what are they doing here in this weather? Sh*t, we should just pull them out of there and beat them to death.
At the same time, Yan Huan rushed before the ladies.
Ye Shuyun was shocked by her actions, “Huanhuan, what is wrong with you? Why aren’t you wearing a raincoat, or holding an umbrella?”
Ye Shuyun was ready to take off her own raincoat for Yan Huan.
“Aunt, don’t take it off, let me do it.”
Yi Ling immediately stopped Ye Shuyun from doing so. How could she allow Ye Shuyun to take off her raincoat, she was Ye Shuyun’s junior! It would be not much of a problem for her to get wet in the rain as her body was still strong, but it was not the same for Ye Shuyun. The elderly must take good care of their own bodies, in spite of the fact that these two aunts were reluctant to admit their seniority up to now, otherwise they would not be here with her to experience life.
Just when Yi Ling was about to take off her raincoat, Yan Huan reached out and pushed her backward, nearly making her fall off.
“Huanhuan, what are you doing?”
Yi Ling stunned for a long moment. What happened? Why did she push me, what have I done wrong?
Yan Huan’s sudden action obviously came as a shock to Ye Shuyun and Madam Lei as well. Yan Huan had just arrived without a word, not even a greeting, with red eyes and trembling shoulders.
“GO!”
All of a sudden, she howled with all her strength.
“Go, go, just go!”
She stepped forward, pushing Ye Shuyun and Madame Lei forward with all her might.
“Go, go now!”
She yelled again.
Madame Lei and Ye Shuyun were utterly surprised. That was when they realized that something was not right. All of a sudden, a sharp cracking sound echoed behind them, as if something had broken apart.
Yan Huan felt chills down her spine. She felt an unspeakable fear take root in her heart.
She turned around, instantly noticing that the flood had begun to surge toward their direction. She extended her hands to grab both Ye Shuyun and Madame Lei, and immediately ran toward higher ground. As she turned her head around, she shouted hoarsely at Yi Ling again, “Run!”
That cry went almost silent as she nearly lost her voice. Run, run faster!
Right at that moment, Lei Qingyi and Lu Yi had arrived, but due to poor visibility in the heavy rain, he did not know who were the ones that they were searching for.
Cursing mentally, he jumped over the warning line, grabbed Madame Lei and Ye Shuyun with one hand each and dragged them up the hill. With only two hands, he could only grab these two people for now. There was another two left, but he was too occupied to help. Just when he was ready to pull the other two to safety, he raised his head to see that the flood was already sweeping towards them.
Both Yan Huan and Yi Ling were terrified. The latter stood motionlessly at where she was with her eyes wide open, staring at the flood as it surged towards her like an apocalypse.
Out of instinct, Yan Huan grabbed Yi Ling’s arm and started charging uphill.
“Here,” Lei Qingyi extended his arm. At that moment, the distance between them was only a few steps away. If they made it up the hill, things would be fine.
Lei Qingyi tried his best to reach out both his arms. His head was covered in cold sweat, his eyes were blurred as the rain pummeled him. Up to this moment, he still had no idea who these two ladies were.
