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There were about 123 villagers to be rescued. The fishery patrol ship instructed on the radio that three fishing boats needed to leave the formation and go to Yuquan Village to transfer the villagers, still on a voluntary basis.
There were quite a few ships in the fleet; any two would suffice. They were still about 20 kilometers from Feisha Ferry, and Tao Sai didn't intend to cause any more trouble; she had more important things to do.
The next second, subtitles suddenly popped up on the game panel in front of her.
【Side quest has been opened.】
[Side Mission 2: Rescue the villagers of Yuquan Village, a total of 123 people (Note: If 1 or more people are killed, it will be considered a mission failure).
Mission Rewards: [Gold Coins x2000], [Experience x2000], [Universal Materials x300], [Star Upgrade Card x1], [Skill Blind Box], [Early Warning Radar - Primary]]
【Do you accept?】
Tao Sai: “…”
This scene unexpectedly triggered a side quest. Tao Sai frowned and checked the map on his phone. Yuquan Village was ahead of the fleet's route. More than half of the fleet's ships still needed to resupply diesel, so it would probably be some time before they could depart.
It seems like a good idea to do a task first. Besides, there are task rewards, so it would be a waste not to take them.
【The mission has been accepted.】
Tao Sai immediately chose "Yes" with his eyes and said to Wen Fu, "Uncle Yu, tell the navigator we're going to Yuquan Village."
Yu Wenfu actually wanted to stay hidden. Before leaving the East China Sea, he also wanted to follow the rescue team to get subsidies and rewards.
But he had just witnessed the horrific scene of the insect swarm devouring everything, and when he heard that there were people waiting for rescue two kilometers ahead, his heart tightened for some reason. He imagined that if one day it was his wife and children who were waiting for rescue... he thought about what he should do.
Tao Sai's words completely confirmed his inner thoughts.
"Okay!" Yu Wenfu agreed readily.
Under the command of village director Sun Jiyong, all the villagers of Yuquan Village gathered in an open space by the river, waiting for rescue.
Around ten o'clock this morning, the villagers of Yuquan felt a strong tremor, their houses teetering on the brink of collapse. Due to the frequent earthquakes across the country, with large and small aftershocks interspersed, earthquake bureaus at all levels have already been shut down.
The exact location of the epicenter was unknown, but based on his knowledge of earthquakes, namely the interval between the transverse and longitudinal waves of earthquake waves, Sun Jiyong judged that the epicenter was probably less than ten kilometers away from Yuquan Village.
During this period of time, Sun Jiyong watched TV news and mobile phone information almost every day. He knew that the epicenter meant the source of the insect tide - the insect xue.
Those in the village who could afford it had already fled with their families in their private cars. The rest were the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled who had no means of transportation, and the government's rescue forces were also prioritized towards big cities.
Sun Jiyong actually has a small electric scooter that he uses to commute from his home to the village committee every day, but the range of the electric scooter is only 60 kilometers when fully charged, and there is no way he can leave the villagers behind to run alone.
Despite this dire situation, Sun Jiyong, the village's pillar of support, remained calm. He organized a scouting operation to identify the insect swarm's movements in all directions of the village while gathering everyone in an open area to make phone calls. Everyone kept dialing, but the cell phone signal was spotty, and even if they connected, they couldn't always hear the voice on the other end.
It was not until three hours later that a villager in charge of reconnaissance came back to report that insects were swarming from the southwest. Almost at the same time, Sun Jiyong finally got through to the emergency command center's hotline.
The entire village rushed to the riverbank. Sun Jiyong directed everyone to retreat along the riverbank, as far as possible from the direction of the insect swarm. However, villagers reported sightings of insects to the northeast. The southeast lay the Wolong River, and the northwest might be the only escape route. But who could guarantee that further northwest would be completely safe?
As a result, Yuquan Village was surrounded by the insect swarm and its retreat was completely cut off.
Everyone gathered in the open space by the river, their hearts unconsciously in their throats. No one knew whether the rescue boat would arrive first or the insect swarm would swallow them up first.
Cheng Cong suddenly remembered something and nudged the middle-aged man next to him, "Dad, did you take the piggy bank on my desk?"
The middle-aged man had been in a state of nervous tension, and when his son suddenly pushed him, he shuddered all over.
He was obviously a little impatient, "I didn't take it, I don't want it."
It was already that late, he took out his big backpack and grabbed some valuable things, clothes and food from home and put them in. It was already full, so he didn't care about the other stuff because it was useless.
"Dad, didn't I ask you to help me put it together?"
Cheng Cong was so excited that he jumped up and down.
The middle-aged man completely ignored his son. He followed everyone's gaze into the river. The humming sound of machinery came from the bend of the downstream waterway, and ten seconds later, three boats suddenly appeared.
The decks of every ship were empty; they must have come to rescue them.
"We are saved!"
Everyone became excited and waved towards the fishing boat.
The middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief. There was always a way out. He put his arm around his wife and was about to hug his son with the other, but suddenly he realized that Cheng Cong, who had just been standing next to him, was gone.
"Where is my son?" he asked quickly.
The woman looked around but didn't see anyone. She panicked and shouted, "Son! Congcong!"
Cheng Cong was wearing a striking fluorescent T-shirt today, making him easy to spot even in the crowd, but the two of them didn't even see him after turning around several times in the open space.
As expected, the three fishing boats docked at the riverside. Strong villagers tugged at the lowered ropes, while the rest, the elderly, the weak, and the disabled, began to board the boats in an orderly manner, organized by Sun Jiyong. The riverside area wasn't a designated ferry crossing, and there were no more suitable anchorages nearby, so everyone had no choice but to wade through the shallows and climb aboard.
Tao Sai and several other fishermen on the other boats came to the deck to help, picking up the villagers one by one. Those in good health helped those in poor health. When there were elderly villagers who were unable to go into the water, Tao Sai jumped into the water and carried them up on his back.
In ten minutes of racing against time, most of the villagers climbed onto the decks of the three ships and temporarily escaped from danger.
Tao Sai quickly counted the number of people. There were 49 people on their ship, and the other two ships had 42 people and 30 people respectively, totaling only 121 people.
"Village chief, is there anyone who hasn't boarded the boat yet?" Tao Sai asked Sun Jiyong.
Sun Jiyong stood on tiptoe and looked around, then began to count people one by one.
At this time, a woman on the opposite boat shouted: "Wait a minute, don't start the boat yet, my husband is going back to find my son!"
Tao Sai frowned. Well, she should have known the task wouldn't be so easy.
She said to Yu Wenfu in the cabin, "Uncle Yu, keep the boat ten meters from the shore. Wait for me."
"Okay, be careful." Yu Wenfu agreed.
Tao Sai nodded, quickly took off her backpack, and squatted down to wring out the water from her trouser legs. She spotted the loudspeaker hanging on the cabin door frame, grabbed it, and sprinted towards the village.
From the riverside, you can see a lot of brick houses and two-story buildings connected together on the hillside a few hundred meters away. There are no other houses around. That must be the village.
Without the technical support of the refugee ship to provide navigation and positioning, Tao Sai could only grope in the dark. After a few minutes, she ran up the hill panting.
The closer Tao Sai got to the village, the more familiar it felt. Yuquan Village, she seemed to have heard of it somewhere before. But the familiar feeling was fleeting; saving lives was more important.
The village was quite large, with numerous houses, but there wasn't a single person in sight. Tao Sai faintly sensed the ground shaking. It was the sound of tens of thousands of insects crawling across the ground, indicating that the insect swarm was quite close.
Tao Sai didn't dare to delay and quickly activated the skill [Gravity Adaptation].
Tao Sai's body quickly floated up under the control of his mind, and stopped after rising to a suitable height, from which he could have a bird's eye view of the entire village.
She took out a telescope and observed her surroundings. The insect swarm was pouring in from the southwest and northeast, and the closest one was only about 500 meters away.
The insect swarm on the northeast side gathered more mature insects and swept over. The large bamboo forest outside the village was eaten away by the autumn wind like fallen leaves.
Cheng Cong climbed up to the second floor, opened the door of his room, and did not find the piggy bank on the table.
He rummaged through the drawers again and then crawled over to look under the bed.
"Congcong!" The middle-aged man in the yard downstairs shouted anxiously.
"Dad!" Cheng Cong responded, rummaging through his closet. "Why is my piggy bank gone?"
The middle-aged man quickly climbed the stairs and went straight to his son's room. "If you don't have it, then don't. I'll give you whatever money is in it. Let's go!"
"No, I want my piggy bank!" Cheng Cong shouted.
The man was furious and rushed over to slap his ten-year-old son in the face. Cheng Cong was dazed by the slap, and the man forcibly carried him on his shoulders and ran away.
Along the way, the boy burst into tears and struggled constantly.
After walking down a long flight of mossy stone steps, the man stumbled and fell to the ground. Cheng Cong sobbed and got up, trying to run back.
"Fuck you!" the man roared furiously, taking off his shoes and preparing to throw them at Cheng Cong, when he looked up and saw insects circling in the sky. Countless black insects flapped their thin wings, making a buzzing sound that almost ruptured his eardrums.
Several flying insects flew towards Cheng Cong.
The man jumped up, picked up Cheng Cong and rolled down. The two continued to roll down the bluestone steps. When they rolled to the gravel road, they could hear the sound of houses overturning and bricks collapsing.
The man looked up and saw a swarm of black insects coming from all directions. He began to tremble unconsciously all over.
"If all else fails, just jump into the water. Aren't you a pretty good swimmer?"
At this moment, this sentence suddenly flashed through the middle-aged man's mind. A second before the swarm of insects engulfed him, he hugged Cheng Cong and jumped into the pool next to him.
The next second, dense swarms of insects completely covered the area.
Two minutes later, the insects around the pool gradually dispersed, revealing the entire water surface.
Tao Sai slowly descended from the air onto the water. At this moment, the middle-aged man emerged from the water, holding his breathless son. He looked up at the floating figure in horror, and after a long moment, he managed to squeeze out two words: "...Saisai?"
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