Chapter 184

Just as Zhang Ming pulled the old woman onto the raft, he heard a woman's cries coming from afar—

Wang Hu's raft was moored beside a broken bridge pier. He was grabbing a woman in a floral dress by the hair and dragging her off the raft. The little girl in the woman's arms was terrified and cried loudly, her little hands tightly gripping the woman's clothes, but Wang Hu ripped them apart and threw them onto the waterproof canvas on the raft.

"Let me go! What are you doing!" The woman struggled desperately, her nails scratching Wang Hu's arm.

Wang Hu, in pain, slapped her across the face. Blood instantly trickled from the woman's mouth as she collapsed onto the raft, still crawling towards the little girl: "Don't touch my child! Please!"

Wang Hu spat and shouted to his companions on the raft, "Tie this woman up! And keep an eye on the child! When we get to the higher ground, we can trade this woman and child for some supplies!"

The accomplices immediately stepped forward and tied the woman's hands behind her back with rope. The little girl rushed to the woman's side, crying and calling "Mommy," but was roughly pulled away by a bearded man and pushed to a corner of the raft.

The survivors floating around saw it all. Some were angry but dared not speak out, while others lowered their heads and pretended not to see it. Everyone remembered Wang Hu's ruthlessness in injuring the tall, thin man and pushing the old lady into the water, and no one dared to provoke him again.

Zhang Ming clenched his fists tightly, blood still flowing from the wound on his shoulder. He wanted to step forward to stop them, but the old woman held him back: "Young man, don't go! We can't beat them, we'll just be throwing our lives away!"

Ya Ya nestled in Zhang Ming's arms and whispered, "Dad, that girl is so pitiful..."

Zhang Ming felt a sharp pain in his heart, as if being pricked by needles, but he could only watch helplessly as Wang Hu's raft swam towards the highlands to the east. The woman's cries grew fainter and fainter, mingling with the sounds of rain and flowing water.

Just then, the "buzzing" engine sound suddenly became extremely loud—the silver-gray flying car rushed out of the clouds, twice as fast as before, with its wings unfolding on both sides of the fuselage, and swooped down towards Wang Hu's raft.

Zhang Ming's heart tightened, and he quickly hugged Ya Ya, thinking the plane would crash directly into it. But he saw the car stop ten meters away from the raft, suspended in the air.

In the driver's seat, Su Jing's fingers were on the control screen. The voice of Robot No. 1 came from the communicator: "Two women and children and five thugs have been detected on the bandit raft. The thugs are armed with kitchen knives, iron bars and other weapons. It is recommended to ram the raft from the side to avoid injuring the women and children."

Su Jing nodded, her gaze fixed on Wang Hu's raft—the little girl on the canvas was still crying, the bound woman was trying to break free of the ropes, and Wang Hu stood at the front of the raft, cursing at the flying car: "Where did this piece of junk come from! How dare you block my way! Get out of here! Or I'll shoot you down!"

Su Jing ignored his shouts, adjusted the angle of the flying car, and slowly moved the fuselage to the right edge of the raft—the farthest place from the women and children, where only a bearded man stood.

She gave the following orders into the communicator: "Number 2, prepare to deploy lifebuoys. After the impact, immediately transfer the women and children to safe waters. Number 1, monitor the water flow direction to prevent the raft from being swept into deep water after the impact."

"Roger that! The lifebuoy is ready!"

"The water flow is stable, and after the impact, the raft will drift northwest, away from the deep water!"

Seeing that the flying car hadn't left but was instead getting closer, Wang Hu panicked, but still stubbornly raised his kitchen knife: "If you come any closer, I'll kill this child!"

As he spoke, he grabbed the little girl by the collar and held the kitchen knife to her neck. The little girl was so frightened that she trembled all over, swallowed her cries, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Don't hurt the children!" Su Jing's voice came through the loudspeaker of the flying car, clearly reaching everyone's ears. "Release the women and children, and I can let you go."

Wang Hu sneered, "Let us go? Do you think I'm stupid? If I let them go, you'll turn around and kill me!"

As he spoke, the cleaver moved a little closer to the little girl's neck, and the child's skin was grazed by the blade, leaving a thin bloodstain.

Su Jing's eyes instantly turned cold—she no longer hesitated, and she slammed the flying car into the right side of the raft with a sudden acceleration!

With a loud bang, the right edge of the raft snapped instantly, the waterproof canvas was torn, and the bearded man standing next to it lost his footing and fell into the water with a cry of "Ah!" The iron rod in his hand also sank to the bottom.

The raft rocked violently, and Wang Hu loosened his grip on the little girl's hand, allowing the child to roll to the woman's side.

The woman immediately hugged her daughter, shielding her with her body.

Wang Hu and his remaining accomplices panicked, reaching out to grab the planks on the raft, only to be struck again by the flying car—

This time, Su Jing aimed at the middle of the raft, and the raft was instantly smashed into two pieces. One half carried Wang Hu and two accomplices away into the distance, while the other half, carrying women, children, and the remaining accomplices, remained in place.

"Number 2, drop the lifebuoys!" The moment Su Jing gave the order, the trunk of the flying car opened, and three orange lifebuoys were thrown toward the raft debris where the women and children were. Robot Number 2's mechanical arm extended, steadily grabbed the raft debris, and pulled it under the flying car.

The bound woman's eyes lit up with hope when she saw the lifebuoy. Holding her daughter, she reached out to grab it, but an accomplice grabbed her arm: "Don't even think about running! We're all going together!"

The woman struggled desperately. Seeing this, Zhang Ming quickly paddled the raft over and slashed at his accomplice's hand with the wire, shouting, "Let her go!"

His companion, in pain, let go and fell into the water. Zhang Ming seized the opportunity to climb onto the raft debris, untied the woman's ropes, and put lifebuoys around her and the little girl: "Quick! Grab the robot's mechanical arm; it will pull you up!"

The woman thanked them repeatedly, hugged her daughter, grabbed the robotic arm, and was slowly pulled toward the cabin door of the flying car.

Meanwhile, Wang Hu's raft fragments drifted into the deep water. He shouted at the flying car, "'God of Wealth'! I know it's you! Please let me go, I'll never dare to do it again! I also know where to find third-tier demon cores, I'll tell you!"

Su Jing ignored him and maneuvered the flying car toward Zhang Ming's raft. Her voice came through the loudspeaker: "The high ground to the east is a temporary shelter, but there are already a lot of people there. Be careful when you go there and don't squeeze into the crowd."

Zhang Ming nodded and waved at the flying car: "Thank you, 'God of Wealth'!"

The flying car flashed and flew towards the higher ground. The woman, holding her daughter, sat on Zhang Ming's raft and whispered, "My name is Lin Juan, and this is my daughter, Lele."

If it weren't for you and the "God of Wealth," my daughter and I would be finished.

Zhang Ming smiled and pointed to Ya Ya in his arms: "My name is Zhang Ming, and this is my daughter Ya Ya. We'll go to the highlands together, so we can look after each other on the way."

The old woman sat on the raft, watching the flying car gradually shrink in the distance, and said softly, "Thanks to the 'God of Wealth'... otherwise, in this chaotic world, we old, weak, women and children would not have been able to survive at all."

The raft moved towards the higher ground. The closer it got to the higher ground, the more survivors there were—some were paddling rafts, some were clinging to floating objects, and some were struggling in the water, all moving towards the higher ground.

On the distant high ground, people were already crowded together, a dark mass, and the sounds of arguing and crying could be faintly heard.

Lin Juan, holding Lele, looked a little pale: "So many people... can we squeeze in?"

Zhang Ming wasn't sure either. He looked up at the high ground and saw people pushing others down from it. Those below were desperately trying to climb up, but were being pelted down with stones by those above.

His heart skipped a beat as he suddenly remembered Su Jing's words, "Don't squeeze into the crowd"—it seemed that chaos had already begun on the high ground.

The current carried the raft closer and closer to the high ground. Zhang Ming could clearly see the people on the high ground pushing and shoving each other. Some people were pushed off and fell into the water, only to be trampled underfoot by the people behind them.

He quickly stopped the raft and said to Lin Juan and the old lady, "Don't go near the crowd! Let's wait here until the people inside calm down a bit before we go up!"

The surrounding survivors had gone mad, rushing towards the higher ground; some even tried to steal Zhang Ming's raft. Zhang Ming gripped the wire tightly, warily watching his surroundings.