Chapter 76 Working Together to Save Lives
There were five soldiers in the water. It took a lot of effort to pull them back and avoid the menacing dead tree. Unfortunately, the soldiers suffered a lot, swallowing a lot of dirty water.
They reached the shore exhausted, sitting on the ground, panting heavily.
"The current is too fast, the impact is too strong, and there are too many rocks and vegetation in the water." As the soldier spoke, he raised his hands and legs, which were covered with scratches, from which blood was seeping out.
Another soldier said, "I used all my strength and swam for a long time before I only moved forward fifty meters. It was too difficult."
Everyone saw the soldiers' efforts and knew they had done their best, so no one could say anything to blame them.
“But the children are still upstairs.” One parent cried.
"The bamboo raft is here." Several soldiers ran up behind him carrying a bamboo raft.
The weeping parents stopped crying and their hope was rekindled.
There is only one river here, and floods are rare in previous years. They searched for a long time before finding this bamboo raft.
The bamboo raft was launched, and three soldiers stood on it with poles. But before they could even get a firm footing, the raft was swept downstream by the current.
"Stop!"
The soldiers inserted the poles into the mud, temporarily controlling the raft's downward drift.
However, before they could even breathe a sigh of relief, they heard a crack as the support pole broke.
The support pole was made of bamboo, and perhaps it had become brittle over time, so it could not withstand the force.
The three soldiers' expressions changed. The other two looked at the poles in their hands, their faces serious. The poles they were holding were also made of bamboo.
"Be careful," one of them said.
The other person nodded.
However, the current was too fast, and the bamboo raft was quite large, making it difficult to control without effort. In less than two minutes, another support rod broke, and the bamboo raft, like an arrow released from a bow, rushed downstream with the current.
"Danger!"
"There are rocks ahead!"
"Oh no, there's no escaping it!"
Amidst the worried gazes of the crowd, the bamboo raft crashed violently into the rocks, capsized, and scattered, with each bamboo stalk being carried downstream by the current.
The three soldiers fell into the water and disappeared from sight.
"Don't just stand there, save them!"
Several soldiers jumped into the water and swam toward the rock.
Fortunately, it was only about ten meters from the shore, not far. When they had swum halfway there, they saw the three soldiers surface, and together they swam towards the shore.
Even bamboo rafts wouldn't work, and despair washed over the parents once again.
"The water level is rising higher and higher. Is it going to flood the second floor?" someone murmured.
"When the school was built, it seems that the foundation was not reinforced with steel bars."
"Back then we were so poor, where did we get steel bars? We had to work hard to get bricks and cement. Later we got steel bars for the roof, but now we're worried about the foundation."
"The children have gone up to the roof."
Parents craned their necks, trying to spot their children in the rain.
"Give me the rope, I'll go," Molly, who had been standing at the back of the crowd without saying a word, suddenly said.
Everyone turned around abruptly, and their eyes lit up when they saw it was Molly.
"When did you get here?" Zhao Jian'an asked, sitting on the ground. He had been in the water and was soaking wet. He was also exhausted and had no time to pay attention to the person behind him.
"They've been here for a few minutes." Molly gazed into the distance and saw Lu Lu, Mo An, and Yu San San upstairs. The three of them were soaked to the bone and were hugging each other tightly.
Lu Lu: "Uncle, will Mom come to save us?"
“Of course.” Mo An’s tone was very firm.
Yu Sansan trembled, "I also believe that my aunt will come to save us."
"Mo An, your sister is home today, right?" Zhu Lezhi also wanted to cry.
"My sister was home when we left this morning." Mo An felt a pang of regret. He should have listened to his sister when she advised him not to come to school.
"I should have listened to my mother and not come to school," Lu Lu said, regretting his decision.
"Your sister has already advised you not to come to school, why don't you listen?" Zhu Lezhi said angrily. "If my sister tells me not to come to school, I definitely won't come."
"Mo An, the current is so fast, can my sister swim across?" Cheng Yubin's son, Cheng Cai, asked. He had just seen many soldiers go into the water and try to swim across, but none of them were able to reach the teaching building.
“It definitely can,” Yu Chen said, then looked at Mo An, “You agree, right, Mo An?”
“Of course.” Mo An gritted his teeth; he trusted his sister.
Molly tied two hemp ropes around her slender waist and then said to Zhao Jian'an, "Take off your belt. I need two."
Zhao Jian'an asked, puzzled, "Why do you need my belt?"
“I need it. Hurry up, the wall of the teaching building is crooked,” Molly urged.
Upon hearing that the teaching building wall was crooked, before Zhao Jian'an could react, the person next to him immediately unbuckled his belt and handed it to Molly, who tied it around her waist without saying a word.
She then took off her shoes and jumped into the raging floodwaters.
The yellow floodwaters kept rushing towards her, and Molly couldn't keep a straight line, moving forward at an angle.
She moved very fast, like a nimble fish rising and falling in the waves.
The people on the shore held their breath, their eyes fixed on the person in the water, not daring to blink, for fear that if they blinked, the person would disappear.
They watched as Molly got closer and closer to the teaching building, until finally, ten meters, eight meters, six meters, four meters, two meters, and then she grabbed onto a stone pillar in front of the building.
"She did it!"
The parents wept with joy.
Molly tied the hemp ropes to the pillars, one rope to each pillar. After she had tied both ropes, she swam to the stairwell and went upstairs.
"Someone has arrived at the teaching building!"
Who is it?
"Sister! Mo An, it's your sister!"
"No, she's everyone's older sister!"
Molly went up to the rooftop, where the teachers and students saw her and both laughed and cried.
“Time is of the essence, so I won’t say much. I’ll take Mo An and Lu Lu there first, and then come back to pick up the others. Besides me, the soldiers will also come to rescue everyone. Don’t rush, don’t panic, and don’t fight. Don’t worry, there’s still time.” Molly said, holding Mo An’s hand in one hand and Lu Lu’s hand in the other, and said to Yu San San beside her, “I’ll be there to pick you up soon.”
"Auntie, I know, I will wait for you." Yu San San wanted to cry, not because Molly took Mo An and Lu Lu away first, but because of Molly's promise.
She was finally not the one who was forgotten.
Molly led Mo An and Lu Lu downstairs, carrying Mo An on her back and securing her with a leather belt. She then held Lu Lu to her chest and secured him with a leather belt as well.
“We’re going into the water now. Be careful with your mouths and noses; don’t let them get wet,” Molly instructed.
Molly stepped over the railing of the second-floor corridor, grabbed the rope on the pillar, and her slender arms seemed to have infinite strength, carrying the three of them forward in the surging flood.
The rolling waves crashed against Molly, and also against Mo An and Lu Lu, causing them pain as if they had been slapped in the face. Their heads spun and their vision blurred.
Besides Molly, the soldiers also went into the water, one by one holding onto ropes, and like Molly, they also had two leather belts around their waists.
When they met face to face, the soldier looked at Molly with admiration and said, "Comrade Molly, please be careful."
Molly nodded slightly. "You all be careful too."
"Sister, I'm sorry." Mo An apologized, looking at the vast flood and feeling the force of the water hitting his body. Mo An knew what his sister was going through.
“You didn’t know this would happen,” Molly said. She didn’t blame Mo An; if even she couldn’t be sure, she had no reason to expect Mo An to believe her.
"From now on, no matter what Mom says, I will listen to her." Lu Lu said, his lips trembling. He finally understood that listening to his mother was the right thing to do.
Molly was speechless, suddenly unable to think of a way to correct her son's words.
Molly escorted Mo An and Lu Lu back to the shore, took off her belt, and tied it back around her waist. "Check your wounds first. If they are serious, press them down with your hands."
On the way back, we inevitably got scratched by branches and stones.
"Aren't you tired? Do you want to rest for a while?" Zhao Jian'an asked worriedly. "The rope has been set up, and others can handle the rescue."
Although the process was tiring, it couldn't stop the soldiers who trained every day.
“I promised San San I would pick her up, and I can’t break my promise,” Molly said. “I’ll rest after I bring her back.”
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jian'an stopped trying to persuade him and said, "Be careful."
When Molly returned to the teaching building, Yu San San was indeed waiting beside her. There was another girl next to her, her second sister Yu Duo Duo. Yu Duo Duo was thirteen years old and in the same class as Mo An.
Molly led the two downstairs. Yu Duoduo was tied behind her back, while Yu Sansan was tied in front of her. The two sisters faced each other, but neither of them spoke.
The two sisters were much lighter than Mo An and Lu Lu, so carrying them back wasn't too much of a burden for Molly, and she quickly caught up with the warriors ahead.
"Auntie, some logs are coming down from the mountain," Yu San San reminded her. Just as she finished speaking, a wave crashed over her, and she accidentally swallowed two mouthfuls of water, causing her to cough violently.
Molly turned her head, and the soldier turned his head too. The piece of wood was as big as a human head and about three meters long. If someone were to hit it, they would probably get injured.
That's incredibly fast!
Just as Molly was about to reach out and push the log away, someone was faster than her. With a long arm, they pushed hard, and the log changed direction, floating away behind them.
Before they could even catch their breath, the soldier somehow slipped, and both his hands were now free from the rope.
Danger!
The children were so frightened they couldn't speak.
The soldier's expression changed as he realized he was doomed. With two children in tow, they were doomed in the raging flood.
In the nick of time, Molly grabbed the clothes of the child behind the soldier. The soldier reacted quickly, turning around in the water and firmly gripping the rope with both arms.
His two children had choked on water, but thankfully they weren't swept away.
Molly breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, the other party reacted quickly enough, otherwise she really wouldn't have been able to hold out for long.
"Thank you," the soldier said sincerely.
Molly gripped the rope with both hands, trying to steady herself. "You're welcome."
Once back on shore, Molly was completely exhausted.
Zhao Jian'an came over and helped her take off the Yu San sisters' clothes, and advised, "We're here. Why don't you take Xiao An and Xiao Lu back first?"
Molly waved her hand, said nothing, and plopped down on the ground. She had recently lost some tentacles, and now, having expended so much energy, fatigue overwhelmed her, making her drowsy. It wasn't that she didn't want to go back, but she was too tired to walk any further and needed to rest.
"Sister, I'll take Xiaolu back to boil water first," Mo An said.
Molly nodded, then said weakly, "Go back and change out of your wet clothes first, then make some ginger and brown sugar water to drink."
"Okay, I'll cook a lot. Remember to drink it when you get back," Mo An said.
Molly nodded again, too exhausted to even speak.
"Sister, you're too tired, you can't go into the water, okay?" Mo An said worriedly.
"Stop nagging." Molly glared at him. "I'm going to rest for a bit and then I'll be back."
Mo An was relieved to hear this.
As children were rescued one after another, fewer and fewer parents waited on the shore, while the number of soldiers gathering there increased. Generally, one soldier would only go once, and after rescuing someone, someone else would take their place.
Molly gazed towards the rooftop, counted the students, and said to Zhao Jian'an beside her, "There are still six teachers and twenty-two students."
Without hesitation, Zhao Jian'an replied, "Then we'll need seventeen more people to go."
Molly added, "There are six people halfway there."
“Then we need eleven more.” Zhao Jian’an turned to the people behind him and said, “Who will go up for the remaining eleven? Get ready.”
The soldiers counted out eleven men and lined up in front of the rope.
As Molly looked at the people and then gazed at the houses in the middle of the flood, that bad feeling welled up again.
"Is the classroom wall tilting even more?" she asked.
The rain intensified, shrouding the water in a misty haze. The school building, submerged in the floodwaters, became blurred, its basic outline obscured. Under normal circumstances, being able to see clearly beyond twenty meters is considered good eyesight.
But now it's not twenty meters, it's two hundred meters.
Zhao Jian'an and his group couldn't see whether the teaching building was tilted or not, but they trusted Molly. When they heard that the teaching building was tilting even more severely, their expressions changed.
"Everyone, stop queuing and let's all go down together. Let's be quick." One of the soldiers said, and stepped into the water first. The others immediately followed suit.
Zhao Jian'an stood up straight and looked around, but the rain was getting heavier and heavier, and he couldn't see anything.
Molly remained seated, her gaze fixed on the mountaintop. The floodwaters were rising, and the school building was doomed. She could only hope it would hold out a little longer, until everyone was safely evacuated.
"Several regimental commanders have already led their men to the nearby disaster area for relief efforts," Zhao Jian'an said.
Molly understood. No wonder she hadn't seen Cheng Yubin and Yu Jin'an today; only their wives had come.
"not good!"
Molly suddenly stood up straight. "There are cracks in the wall."
Zhao Jian'an and the soldiers present changed their expressions and shouted to the people in the water, "Come up quickly!"
Zhao Jian'an added, "Tie the ropes around your body and be ready to rescue at any time."
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