7 Dayu's Flood Control ⑥

Abnormal flow of time

The loudspeaker gave them a one-minute pause. The craftsman led the way, followed by Zhu Heng. The six of them formed a long line, pushing through the crowded corridor and walking out.

The craftsmen have already communicated with everyone that the people on the ship should follow their will and not "get too involved in the play". The less determined people are, the more likely they are to be assimilated by the people on the ship.

Therefore, you must remember your identity.

So Tao Ran kept repeating to himself along the way: "I am a second-generation rich man. I have a lot of money. Apart from money, I have nothing else..."

They passed by Dayu who was standing still. Tao Ran couldn't help but look at him a few more times out of curiosity. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw a hand reaching out and quickly snatching away the key hanging on Dayu's waist.

Tao Ran was stunned for a moment, stopped muttering, and turned his gaze to the culprit - Zhu Heng.

Zhu Heng got the key and told the person in front: "Go to the captain's cockpit."

"What are you going there for?" Tao Ran asked curiously.

Zhu Heng found the key to the captain's cabin, held it in his hand, and said calmly, "Go and rebel."

The cockpit was not too far from the lounge, and a minute was enough for them to get there.

Although the people on board had completely blocked the lounge, as they walked towards the cockpit, they encountered fewer and fewer people in the corridor. Finally, they finally broke through the encirclement, and Tao Ran finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Without even turning his head, he reached out and touched Zhu Heng behind him: "Luckily you are here, otherwise we would have died countless times."

No one responded behind him.

Okay, Zhu Heng is cold and doesn’t pay much attention to people... Wait a minute.

Why did that feeling just now feel so sticky, slippery and cold?

Tao Ran's hair stood up all over his body.

He mustered up the courage to turn his head, only to be greeted by a sea of ​​"expressionless robots," who had at some point emerged from their paused state and were now gazing at the crowd with strange eyes. The one closest to Tao Ran was standing almost face to face with him, the corner of his mouth slightly raised in a sinister smile.

Zhu Heng, who was originally following the tail of the team, now stood aside, looking at Tao Ran with complicated eyes.

Tao Ran's legs were shaking like sieves: "What should I do now?"

The four people walking in front also noticed the strange atmosphere and turned to look over.

"What should we do?" Zhu Heng laughed briefly, the expression in his eyes gradually fading. After a second of silence, he suddenly uttered one word, "Run!"

"...You are such a jerk!" Tao Ran cursed loudly and ran wildly after Zhu Heng.

As the saying goes, under great pressure, Tao Ran ran at the fastest speed of his life. The other four people were not far behind. Even the actress in high heels and with a big belly ran faster than a rabbit.

"Didn't we agree to pause for one minute? There's not even one minute left! Damn it!" Tao Ran tore the loudspeaker into pieces over and over again in his mind.

Six people ran frantically towards the captain's cabin. The one in front caught a glimpse of a row of shovels used for dredging placed on the corridor. While running, he asked the people behind him to kick them down to block the pace of the crew behind.

However, there were too many creatures on the boat, and even with their six pairs of legs, they couldn't outrun so many people.

Suddenly there was a loud bang, and someone picked up a shovel, held one end in his hand, and smashed it heavily on the corridor floor.

An unexpected figure in green and red skirt flashed out and stood in front of everyone.

All I heard was the little peasant girl shouting, swinging her cobblestone shovel, hitting the crew members on the heads, taking care of them one by one.

Her movements were so fast, precise, and fierce that Tao Ran was stunned. He thought to himself, "Holy crap, so fierce!"

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up!" The little peasant girl urged, holding a shovel, and slapped a crew member away.

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up!" the little peasant girl urged, waving a stone shovel, and at the same time slapped an approaching crew member away.

She was guarding the back alone, and when no one rushed up, she stretched her joints. A look of satisfaction emerged on her face as she finally had the chance to show off her skills.

Suddenly, Tao Ran rubbed his eyes.

He seemed to see a Buddhist temple gate on top of the mountains, and the little peasant girl from the Song Dynasty was the Vajra guarding the gate.

The stone shovel in the hands of the peasant girl seemed not to be a tool for flood control, but a long spear.

Once upon a time, she had fought as a woman on the battlefield, battling the Liao army in the north, enduring countless life-or-death struggles, sharing food and drink with the men. The memories of those battles still burned in her blood.

Even though she later retired and returned to the mountains to live a peaceful life, those glorious years never faded.

The young peasant girl protected everyone as they retreated to the cockpit, while holding a stone shovel in her hand to deal with the scum in front of her.

She shouted, "They are just a bunch of fakes, and they dare to claim to be the ancestors of mankind?"

-

Everyone finally retreated to the cockpit door, Zhu Heng quickly took out the key and opened the door, and everyone filed in like a tide. The peasant girl quickly approached the door, and Zhu Heng grabbed her and pulled her into the cabin steadily.

The young peasant girl leaned against the hatch, panting rapidly and peering out through the glass. Seeing the pursuing crew blocked outside the door, she angrily banged her body against the hatch, making a dull thud in a futile effort.

She let out a long breath, feeling a sense of relief, but her legs couldn't stop shaking, and her body swayed slightly, as if she might fall at any moment. She barely supported herself with the shovel in her hand and tried to stay standing.

There was everyone in the cockpit and everyone was safe for the time being.

Tao Ran was still lying on the ground, with the filth next to his butt that he had vomited not long ago.

Not long after they left, the vomit had already dried up into lumps, sticking tightly to the floor, making Tao Ran feel nauseous again.

He took a breath and complained, "We agreed on a one-minute freezing time, but it's only been a minute, not even half a minute?"

"It's one minute." The actress spoke.

She stood beside Zhu Heng, running out of breath, and had not yet fully recovered when she answered Tao Ran.

The strength in his hand loosened, and the diary fell straight in front of Zhu Heng.

Zhu Heng subconsciously stopped and looked at the ground.

Before the diary even hit the ground, the actress reached out to retrieve it, her movements as quick as lightning, as if it were something shameful.

Zhu Heng frowned. From her movements, he sensed a hint of panic and...fear.

Are you afraid of him?

Why.

Tao Ran was stunned after hearing what the actress said: "How is that possible?"

He had been secretly counting from the time they opened the door and broke out to the time they discovered that the flood control pioneers had lifted the moratorium. He swore on all his property that it was not even a minute.

The actress glanced at Zhu Heng, who looked calm, and breathed a sigh of relief.

She shook the watch on her wrist and said to Tao Ran: "Why not? I was watching the time when I was running just now. It was indeed one minute, and you see."

She simply stretched out the wrist with the watch and presented it to Tao Ran.

Tao Ran looked out and saw an incredible scene.

The pointer on the dial seemed to be moved by someone. Almost in the blink of an eye, the pointer turned several circles rapidly at a speed so fast that it was blurry. And in the next moment, the speed of the pointer suddenly slowed down, and the second hand turned a circle about every half minute.

The actress said quietly, "Time on the ship speeds up and slows down, but overall it's still faster than time in our real world. It's like a TV series that's only a few dozen minutes long, but the characters can spend a day, a week, or even a year or even decades in that one episode."

Tao Ran cursed: "...Then why are you running? What a shameless system!"

He was so angry that he punched the ground, accurately hammering into the vomit he had previously vomited there.

The sticky, half-dried liquid was smashed by the gravity and had nowhere to escape, so it had to hide in the gaps between Tao Ran's fists and fingers, making a nest in the crevices.

"..." Tao Ran was completely numb.

"Hey wait a minute." Tao Ran was suddenly startled, lowering his head to the floor, searching carefully among the filth. He caught a glimpse of a white, red-skinned, broken thing, and was shocked. Could it be... an apple?

When had he ever eaten an apple? Tao Ran wondered if this was something he had eaten before coming here. He had a weak stomach and it was difficult for him to digest anything.

Thoughts raced through his mind, but he couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried. Finally, he decided not to waste any more time and put the thought behind him. He took out a handkerchief, wiped his hands, and looked at Zhu Heng. At this moment, Zhu Heng stood in front of the center console, seemingly pondering something.

"Brother Zhu, didn't you hear it? This place is very weird. If you really didn't hear it, I'll explain it to you again..." Tao Ran tried to get his attention.

Zhu Heng spoke coldly, interrupting him without any courtesy: "I'm not deaf."

Without even turning his head, he looked out from the center console. In front of the boat, a high embankment made of sandbags was blocking the flood from upstream.

The dike was no longer very stable, and the previous sailors and ancestors were working to reinforce it.

"You've all heard the story of Dayu controlling the flood, right?" Zhu Heng suddenly asked.

Tao Ran was stunned for a moment: "I have heard of it, since I was a child."

After saying that, he touched the scholar's arm and said, "Scholars must know more."

The scholar smiled softly and nodded. "In the Book of Documents, it says that Yu spread the earth, carved wood along the mountainside, and laid the foundations for the great mountains and rivers."

Tao Ran was still waiting for the next words: "And then?"

The scholar said, "That's all I remember."

Tao Ran was surprised: "Impossible, you are taking the imperial examination."

The scholar was even more surprised than him: "...Why do you think I failed the exam?"

Tao Ran spread his hands, his hoarse voice revealing a need for a beating: "First, Dayu's father Gun failed to control the flood, so his son took over. Dayu controlled the flood for thirteen years, passing by his home three times without entering. Even a three-year-old child can tell you this, and you don't know this? From this point of view, you are no better than him."

“…” The smile on the scholar’s ​​face froze, and he was burning with anger inside.

I thought to myself, if you have the ability, you can memorize the entire "Tribute of Yu".

I'll be your son.

But he did not argue with Tao Ran because the latter suddenly froze in place, not moving.

"Are you possessed?" The scholar raised his hand and waved it in front of his eyes.

Tao Ran was stunned for a moment, his eyes trembling as he turned around, tears streaming down his face. "Thirteen years! It took Dayu thirteen years to control the flood. Did you hear that? Thirteen years!"

The scholar was confused: "What's wrong with thirteen years? I studied hard for thirteen years."

Tao Ran glanced at him, moved his lips, and imitated Dayu's tone in the cockpit, saying, "The flood has been raging for nine years... Have you reacted? It's only the ninth year, and it will take another four years to heal."

He held up four fingers. "Four years! That's more than enough time for us to become skeletons. And you just heard what we discussed. Time on the ship is faster than in our normal world. Even though we're still full of energy now, we could starve to death in the next second."

The actress touched her belly and rolled her eyes: "Shut up, is this how you use 'fragrant demise and jade death'?"

Zhu Heng was originally trying the buttons on the center console. Upon hearing this, he suddenly turned around and looked at Tao Ran: "What did you just say? Say it again."

Tao Ran was startled, his voice trembling: "Brother Zhu, don't look at me like that, I'm scared."