Chapter 21 Suicheng
Huijiang River is located at the junction of the suburbs of Suicheng and the suburbs of Ningcheng. The terrain on both sides is different. The first stop of this evacuation is to cross the Huijiang River and reach the suburbs of Ningcheng.
The water level of the Huijiang River nearby has always been mild, and this flood did not affect the banks of the Huijiang River, so previous evacuations have been safe.
No one expected that the Huijiang Dam would suddenly burst.
A dam breach is different from a dam break. A dam break is just a gap in the dam, while a dam break is the collapse of the entire embankment, the defense line is completely breached, and the flood rushes down with an overwhelming force, leaving no way to turn the tide.
In the picture, the rushing dark brown water rushes in like a mighty army, breaking through the embankment, carrying away the surrounding soil and trees on the shore, and rushing down with a devastating momentum.
The Huijiang River, which had been relatively calm, had now become a place where huge waves were roaring and surging. The entire river bank was flooded, and the few houses were all washed away, not to mention the evacuation ships that were originally on the river.
From hearing the air raid alarm, to seeing the flood roaring in from one side of the Huijiang River, to the boat capsizing and falling into the icy river water, it took only a few tens of seconds.
The raging waves rolled over, and no matter how the people who fell into the water struggled, they could not escape the cold and suffocation.
There was no time to react, no time to escape...
The images include aerial photos and photos taken by people in several buildings located on higher ground far away from the river.
Even through the screen, everyone can feel the roar and horror of nature.
The refugees in the library gradually stopped everything they were doing. Almost everyone was looking at their own or the people around them' mobile phones, checking the latest news about the Huijiang Dam with their hearts pounding.
Gradually, suppressed sobs and sighs were heard from the crowd.
Before the rain comes, when everyone is still living their ordinary lives as planned, such disaster news and images may attract their attention.
But if it were at that time, the busy real life and the peaceful urban atmosphere would quickly dilute their emotions before they have time to grieve.
They will feel emotional and melancholy, and perhaps many people will lend a helping hand and donate a small amount to the disaster area through the platform, but they will never feel the huge fear and sadness like they do now.
This rain changed everything.
They were in the midst of a disaster, and they could feel the same way about such a huge change that was so close to them.
The suburbs of Suicheng, Huijiang, and Ningcheng were also the places they had to go through during their evacuation. Some of them even knew friends who were on the evacuation ships today.
At this moment, they were all caught in the cold and terrifying waves, and their lives and deaths were unknown.
In such a huge and turbulent torrent, even if you are wearing a life jacket, your life will be hanging by a thread.
Yao Ruoyun, Li Tong, Xun Huiming and others stared at their phones in a daze, feeling a suffocating fear spreading from the soles of their feet.
Almost... they were almost on those ships together. The feeling of brushing shoulders with death was so frightening that they were shaking all over. The two timid ones were shaking so much that they almost couldn't hold the cell phones in their hands.
Lu Zheng held the phone in one hand and tightly embraced Lu Ce's shoulders with the other.
They arrived late and would not have boarded those ships in the first place, but they had thought about evacuating with the other students after all. Fortunately, they did not succeed. In fact, because of this incident, the original evacuation time of other students was indirectly disrupted.
He couldn't help but wonder, if they had not come to SuiDa, but followed the rescue team or another friend's boat to other shelters, would his classmates have also encountered this disaster today?
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look up at Shu Fu in front of the window. She was also looking at her phone, her brows were furrowed, and her face didn't look good.
In fact, if Shu Fu hadn't contacted him and said that there was a boat and that he must come to SuiDa, the chances of him and his brother coming to SuiDa would be very low...
She had told him that she came to SuiDa to look for someone, but they had been here for two days and he hadn't seen her find anyone...
So - is there really someone she's looking for here?
There were some incredible thoughts that even he himself found absurd, which flashed through his mind. He wanted to ask, but he didn't know how to ask. He even felt that the thoughts that came to his mind at the moment were too inexplicable and unreasonable.
Shu Fu could feel Lu Zheng's gaze and his hesitation to speak, but as long as he didn't say anything, she would just pretend that she didn't feel it.
Some things were originally mysterious, and even she herself could not figure out the ins and outs. She could only follow her heart, move forward with the mission, and then wait quietly.
Not long after, the silver bracelet on her wrist, which was invisible to others, vibrated slightly.
Mission... accomplished?
**
[Within six days, the task of checking in at the library of Suicheng University West Campus has been completed, and you will get a 15% progress bar for level 2 of the raft; an additional 15% progress bar bonus; and a 5-time wheel lottery. (Current progress of level 2 of the raft: 100%)]
[Congratulations! The raft has been upgraded to level 2! ]
[You can view the raft level 2 features in the "Unsinkable Drifting Island House". 】
Sure enough, this time there were several related characters, and the progress bar soared, even directly reaching level 2.
It was not convenient to take out the raft for the time being, so she thought about it and took out the small bottle.
When the drifting island house was first activated, the drifting bottle had a different font. As expected, because the raft was upgraded to level 2, the font on the drifting bottle also changed.
["Unsinkable Drifting Island House" has been activated, "Raft" level: Level 2
Size of drifting island house: 40 square meters; driving mode: directional drifting; daily use limit: 12 hours]
Shu Fu was attracted by the 12-hour usage limit at first sight and was overwhelmed with joy. She had imagined that the best result after the upgrade would be that the usage limit would double from five hours to ten hours, but now it was two hours more than she had hoped for!
For a full 12 hours, or half a day, she can have a good sleep. If any emergency occurs, 12 hours is enough for her to hide in the house on the drifting island and escape!
The driving mode has also changed. From the literal meaning, it seems that the direction can be controlled?
The area of the cabin has increased from 10 square meters to 40 square meters. I don’t know whether the raft has become larger as a whole or the internal compressed space has increased.
She thought of the "unlimited electricity card" that she had won in the previous lottery, which could be used on the level 2 raft. Now that the raft has been upgraded to level 2, will there be more surprises waiting for her?
Shu Fu was very curious and wanted to release the raft immediately and go into the cabin to study, but that was definitely not possible at the moment.
Although the mission had been completed and she could leave the library now, she couldn't just jump into the water in front of everyone and release the raft to leave...
What's more, if possible, she still wanted to try again to see if she could leave Suicheng now.
She couldn't leave before because she couldn't pass through the suburbs of Suicheng, but now with the rescue team's boat as a carrier, perhaps she could leave smoothly with them.
**
The rescue work at Huijiang Dam continued until the evening. Netizens paid close attention to this matter. Additional rescue helicopters arrived before noon and continued to search for survivors.
The Suicheng rescue team recalled some assault boats and returned to the city to continue evacuating the residents.
The progressive evacuation rhythm of Suicheng was disrupted by the dam incident. The ships that were originally evacuating towards Huijiang were forced to stop, and many people who had planned to evacuate this morning had to stay in the original shelter.
In the afternoon, more refugees evacuated from the city to these shelters, causing a sharp increase in the number of people in each shelter, reaching an unprecedented saturation point.
The library has many floors and a large interior space. Although it is not as crowded as some other shelters, it has become noisy and chaotic as more and more refugees arrive. With fewer rescue workers and more refugees to be accommodated, Yao Ruoyun and his team did not have much time to sigh and lament before they once again got back to busy logistics work.
Afterwards, Shu Fu and Lu Zheng also joined in the auxiliary logistics work.
Everyone worked silently, and the sense of fulfillment from being busy replaced the fear brought by the breach of the Huijiang River Dam. When they were not busy at night, they gathered together to play poker and share a bottle of candy or a bag of dried fruits and vegetables.
Shu Fu is never stingy with these kinds of snacks. As long as they are small foods that can be kept at room temperature, she will share them.
It was not until the next morning that the evacuation route to the northwest of Suicheng returned to normal. However, after the dike breach, the water level on both sides of the Huijiang River rose sharply, and the low-lying areas that were originally only slightly flooded were completely submerged.
The flood has not receded for a day and a night. Now the river surface in this area has merged with the accumulated water areas on both sides. Heavy rain is still falling and the water level continues to rise. Many survivors are still missing from yesterday to now.
According to the current flood situation and water flow speed near Huijiang River, the possibility of these people surviving is extremely low...
The only good news among all the bad news is that due to the sudden increase in water levels, boats departing from the Suicheng shelter no longer need to change transportation several times. Refugees can stay on the boat and cross the Huijiang River directly to the suburbs of Ningcheng.
This time, Lu Zheng, Yao Ruoyun and other students' teams were arranged on the same ship, and the evacuation time was the morning of the ninth day.
This time, Shu Fu did not follow the main group. He evacuated later, saying he needed to wait for others. He was scheduled to evacuate on the evening of the tenth day. He was the last group of people to evacuate from SuiDa, and one of the last groups to evacuate from the entire Suicheng.
Even if there are some other situations during the journey, the evacuation will not be delayed until the next day, and will be carried out late at night on the same day.
This time is just right for Shu Fu. In today's weather, it is basically dark after dusk. After boarding the boat, she will find an opportunity to stay near the water on the boat. If any problems arise, she can jump into the water and leave at any time under the cover of darkness.
This was an action she had planned long ago, but she didn't expect to meet new friends so soon and face separation in such a short time.
Yao Ruoyun tried to persuade her to stay and go with her, but Shu Fu insisted this time and said she would wait until the last moment. Yao Ruoyun had already stayed in the library for too long. Even if she didn't consider herself, she had to think about her parents. It was not appropriate for her to wait any longer.
Yao Ruoyun couldn't persuade her, so she could only hug her and say goodbye to her, and told her to remember to send her a message when she settled down.
Shu Fu smiled and nodded, and stuffed a box of unopened disposable underwear into the other person's pocket. No matter how big her backpack was, it still had limited capacity, and it would be inconvenient for her to take out more.
The act of giving him underwear before leaving successfully made Yao Ruoyun laugh. After laughing, she sighed with emotion: "You must like that person very much to be able to wait alone?"
On the side, Lu Zheng also looked up at her.
Yao Ruoyun hurriedly explained that Lu Zheng mentioned it unintentionally, saying that she originally came here to find someone and she had her own plans, so she shouldn't force her to go with him. And the rest was all Yao Ruoyun's own imagination.
"..." Shu Fu was a little speechless, but she thought it was a good idea to let the other party justify the misunderstanding, so she didn't explain in the end.
On the morning of the ninth day, Shu Fu got up early again. Although she was not going to board the ship, she planned to see them off.
Everyone had left and it was inconvenient to leave her things where they were, so she packed them up and stuffed them into her backpack and took them with her.
Lu Ce didn't talk to her much the whole day yesterday, probably because he found out that she wouldn't go with them, and he was feeling a little depressed. When he finished packing his things and went to line up, he kept his head down and teased the tabby cat in his arms.
He raised the cat for a few days and found that it was very clean, never pooped anywhere, and was not noisy. It always stayed by his side very well. He has decided to take it back to Pincheng.
At this moment, the tabby cat was stuffed into the backpack in front of him, with only its head sticking out of the backpack. Lu Ce's warm body temperature was warming it. It only struggled a few times at the beginning, and then quickly calmed down. However, it still tilted its little head and looked at Shu Fu pitifully with its beautiful blue eyes.
Shu Fu stretched out her finger and tapped its furry head, as if she was speaking to Lu Ce, or just to the cat: "Lu Ce will be a good master."
Yao Ruoyun and her mother Hua Qiong stood beside her and gave her careful instructions, saying that she would have to spend the night alone and that she must be careful. Although there were rescue workers here, the place was large and crowded, and she was a girl alone, so she must be careful.
Xun Huiming turned around after hearing this and said, "Don't worry, I've told my uncle that he will also leave around the same time tomorrow, and he will help take a look."
After he finished speaking, he saw Yao Ruoyun looking at him, and smiled at her and raised his eyebrows, "What's wrong, Shu Fu is also my friend. Although we haven't known each other for a long time, we are still companions who have served as volunteers and played poker together."
Yao Ruoyun was amused by his expression and said to him sincerely, "Thank you."
Shu Fu also nodded at him and thanked him.
Hua Qiong also praised: "This child is really good."
Xun Huiming felt a little embarrassed and turned around to continue queuing.
Shu Fu chatted with them for a few more sentences, and mentioned Shacheng in her conversation, still using similar terms as before with Chen Fa and the others, saying that she might go to Shacheng to settle down after this time, and she praised Shacheng highly.
On the side, Lu Ce suddenly asked, "Aren't you going back to Suicheng?"
"Hey, I thought you wouldn't talk to me today either." Shu Fu said, reaching out and pressing Lu Ce's head. "Whether I go back or not depends on the situation, but I really want to go to Sand City. I will go there as soon as I have the chance, and I may stay for a long time."
Lu Ce said "oh" and lowered his head again. After a moment, someone next to him stuffed a round object into his hand which was playing with the cat. He took a closer look and found that it was a can of chocolate beans. It felt heavy in his hand, so it must be full.
He felt a little sad, and he realized that this was a farewell gift.
Shu Fu's voice came: "Your brother has my WeChat, you can contact me anytime in the future."
"Um."
"Why don't you say thank you when someone gives you a gift?" Lu Zheng shook his head, a little helpless.
"Thank you Sister Fu Fu." Lu Ce said in a low voice.
Lu Zheng sighed slightly. Although he had persuaded Yao Ruoyun, saying that Shu Fu had her own plans and asked her not to force her to follow the team, if possible, he really wanted everyone to continue traveling together like this.
It would be best if she could evacuate to Pincheng with them. That was their hometown, they were familiar with the roads, and they had a house to live in there, so she didn't have to go to the shelter and squeeze with other people. When Suicheng returned to normal, they could come back together.
But he knew that Shu Fu seemed easy to talk to, but that was just because of her appearance.
She has a very pure face, with distinct black and white pupils, beautiful facial features, and dimples when she smiles. To put it bluntly, she has a non-aggressive first love face that makes people subconsciously want to get close to her.
But in fact, she is very opinionated and once she makes a decision, it is impossible to change it.
He hesitated for a moment, but still said: "If you go to Pincheng, remember to call us."
"Okay." Shu Fu responded quickly, and then said seriously, "Or you can go to Sand City to find me."
Lu Zheng laughed: "I understand."
At the side, another hand reached out and pressed on Lu Ce's head. Yao Ruoyun's hearty laughter came: "Boy, don't be depressed. Maybe we will all go back to Suicheng in a few days. Then we can sing karaoke together!"
Hearing about playing, the fat boy at the back of the line stuck his head out excitedly: "Let's go to a place where we can eat, get a private room, eat, play cards, and sing karaoke together!"
"Fatty, didn't you say it would be best if the holiday lasted until the winter break? Why are you thinking about going back again?"
The topic resonated with everyone and everyone started laughing.
"But when will the water recede?"
"I have to ask when the rain will stop..."
…
At around nine o'clock in the morning, Shu Fu, carrying a backpack and wearing a raincoat, stood on the platform of the library building and waved goodbye to the people on the boat.
In a few days, no matter how high the terrain was, the entire platform and stairs were completely submerged. There was water all around, and the library on the high ground looked like an island.
The ferry speedboat soon disappeared in the rain, and Shu Fu's world became quiet again. She turned around, stepped over the puddle on the platform, and walked into the library.
**
The next day, in order to prepare for the evening, she found an opportunity to go to the bathroom in the afternoon. In the cubicle, she took off her fleece coat, base clothes, and underwear, and put on a cold-proof diving suit.
This cold-proof diving suit is a two-piece suit with a front zipper. The bottom hem of the top has buckles fixed at the crotch, making it very convenient to wear. When you don't wear a diving cap, the collar is below the neck. You can put on a waterproof jacket on the outside and pull up the zipper to cover it tightly so that no one can see anything.
She is afraid of cold and wet, so wearing this outfit inside will not make her feel too uncomfortable even if she goes into the water.
It was almost four o'clock when Cheng Yu came to see her again. She had stayed in the cafe where the rescue team members rested the night before. It was a large cafe divided into many areas by bookshelves. In addition to benches and tables, there were also sofas and a water bar.
The members of the rescue team have different rest times, so they set up this place as a rest area.
There were also many female members in the rescue team. He found Shu Fu and arranged for them to come over directly, saying that it was only for one night and it would not be considered a violation of the rules.
Shu Fu noticed that Cheng Yu's tone when speaking to her was gentler than before, and his words contained a lot of care and advice.
She understood after a little thought that if the three of them had not come to join their classmates, the dam burst on the morning of the sixth day would most likely have taken Xun Huiming's life.
Even if in the eyes of others, this is just an unexpected coincidence, but as long as the result of the coincidence is good, some people will naturally remember it.
For example, Yao Ruoyun, Lu Zheng, and Cheng Yu.
They were about to line up to board the ship, and he came to find her at this time, saying that he could temporarily switch her and take her to the ship he was on. Because they were the last batch of refugees, some of the ships were not fully occupied.
Shu Fu thanked the other party for his kindness. She said that she could just board the ship as usual and there was no need to change. She was alone anyway and could go to any shelter.
Cheng Yu did want to take care of her, but seeing that she insisted, he did not force her. Instead, because of her answer, he looked at her sideways for a few times, and then asked: "You... are still alone?"
Shu Fu nodded.
He seemed to be hesitant to speak. Maybe he had heard something from somewhere. His tone became gentler. He gave her a few more instructions, then took out his phone and exchanged numbers with her. "I will be very busy during the evacuation. If you have anything, just call me directly."
"Okay, thank you." Shu Fu knew that he had misunderstood something, but this misunderstanding really saved her a lot of trouble of explanation, so she didn't say much and thanked him again.
**
The evacuation vessels were of different sizes, including double-decker ferries, yachts for water sightseeing, and some fishing boats. Most of them did not have a very deep draft, and some had two floors and some had one floor, but they all had roofs.
However, some of these roofs do not have four walls, and can hardly block much wind and rain when driving in heavy rain. Fortunately, everyone has gotten used to wearing raincoats recently, and they think that they can evacuate to a waterless place on the ground if they can endure it a little longer, so they don't complain.
Everyone put on life jackets first, carried their backpacks in front of them, and then put on raincoats on the outside.
The raincoat is large and can be quickly taken off in the water if you really fall into the water. If necessary, the backpack in front of you can also be discarded. As long as the life jacket is still there, at least you will not drown.
As long as you don't encounter a torrent with huge impact force, the probability of survival is still very high.
After everyone boarded the ship via the assault boat, they couldn't help but think of those people who encountered the dam burst during the evacuation the day before, and once again sighed that they had bad luck.
Yes, when almost everyone was wearing life jackets or carrying life buoys, they actually encountered the worst situation...
Because it was the last group of people from Sui University to leave, the rescue team was also evacuating supplies at the same time. The people were queuing up to board the ship very slowly, and it was not until after six o'clock that Shu Fu got on board.
She boarded a sightseeing yacht, not a small private yacht, but a double-decker rectangular sightseeing yacht.
The first floor is an inner cabin with seats, with three rows of seats on each side. The upper floor is a flat observation deck. Originally there was no roof, but now a temporary waterproof cloth awning is used to cover the roof and four walls. When traveling in heavy rain, rain will still flow in through various gaps, but it is better than nothing.
The rescue team did not have a mandatory requirement to give the seats in the inner cabin to the elderly and children, but many people gathered together as a family, so there were always older or younger people in the team.
Some people don't like to argue about these things, but some people do. Shu Fu saw several elderly refugees enter the cabin and quickly use their bags to occupy a few seats next to them, and then called their family and friends to sit over there quickly.
Some people don't want to get involved, so they walk closer and when they see their seats are occupied, they give up the seat and move to another place. Some people can't stand this kind of behavior and insist on sitting down in the seat next to the other person.
The people who occupied several seats were angry and shouted, but the people who sat down turned a deaf ear to them. The rescue team only said that if there is an empty seat, you can sit down, but did not say that they can help people save seats. As long as there is no one in the seat, anyone can sit down. Who cares who the seat belongs to? This is nonsense.
One party sat there with a cold face and ignored the other party, while the other party angrily scolded them, and soon led the rescue team over. The person who occupied the seat was not in the right, so he had to give up.
The short process of getting on board a ship can also reveal the various aspects of life.
Shu Fu shook her head, lowered the brim of her raincoat, and went straight to the upper level.
The ship was not fast and soon fell behind after setting off.
Ahead were other ships that were evacuating together. Because suburban waterways were prone to running aground, they did not sail in parallel and instead maintained a single-line formation.
The surroundings were very empty. Originally there should have been green space nearby, but now it was all water. Looking out in the night, it was pitch black, with swaying waves, and they seemed to be traveling on an endless sea.
There were also some originally tall trees that appeared in their field of vision, but the surroundings were too dark, and with the dim light from the hull, they could only barely make out the shadowy branches, like creatures with strange limbs, standing silently in the dark water, staring at them silently.
It was dinner time, and the refugees on the ship had lined up early to wait for boarding. Most of them had not eaten yet. At this moment, those sitting in the inner cabin took out dry food such as biscuits or bread from their backpacks and ate a few bites to fill their stomachs.
As long as the people on the upper level were standing in a place where they could not see the rain, they could just stuff some bread into their mouths to satisfy their hunger.
Shu Fu planned to follow the boat to break through the invisible barrier of Suicheng. He was a little nervous and didn't feel hungry for the moment.
After a while, she saw that no one was paying attention, so she quietly went down one level along the gangway.
There is a toilet on this sightseeing yacht, located at the stern of the first floor. In this case, almost no one would use the toilet on the boat. This place is close to the water, separated from the inner cabin, and the light on the boat is dim, so she chose this location after boarding.
She touched her left wrist and activated the storage mode of the bracelet space. The cool silver soft metal gloves wrapped around her fingers, making it convenient for her to store the backpack into the space at any time.
It was too dark around, and after being flooded, she couldn't tell where in the suburbs of Suicheng she was. She only knew that the boat had sailed a long distance, which seemed to be beyond the range when she tried to leave before.
Beside her ears, the sound of water crashing gradually became louder, and ripples began to appear on the water surface. She leaned forward and saw the faint glow of city lights at the end of the darkness in front of her.
She knew where this was!
We are about to reach Huijiang. The dim lights are the lights of the shelter in the suburbs of Ningcheng.
Shu Fu opened her eyes wide. Could it be that she had made it out successfully?
The excitement in her heart had just begun to rise when the twinkling city lights in front of her suddenly distorted, as if a normal TV screen suddenly had ripple-like distortion, becoming weird and unreal.
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