Chapter 306| Chapter 307| Chapter 308
Chapter 306: Choose One
“It’s a natural disaster! How are we supposed to fight against forces like this?!”
No matter how hardened the soldiers were, they couldn’t hold back their tears any longer. Some of them collapsed into the mud, their spirits temporarily broken by the sheer hopelessness of it all.
Gu Tingxiao wiped the rain from his face and turned to look at the senior officers—the regiment commander and the deputy regiment commander—along with his brother-in-law.
Sheng Wanze offered a grim, hollow smile, his eyes reflecting a mixture of profound sorrow and unyielding determination. “I’ll follow whatever path you choose, Captain,” he said, his voice steady despite the chaos. “We are here for the country and the people. At worst, once this crisis is averted, I’ll strip off this military uniform and kneel before my family to beg for their forgiveness!”
His words hung heavy in the freezing air, striking a painful chord in the chest of every man present.
They all knew exactly what choice they were supposed to make. As soldiers of the people, their sacred duty dictated that the public always came first.
“Why are you all talking as if we’ve already lost?”
Gu Tingxiao took a deep, steadying breath. If the heavens wanted to tear their lives apart, he would fight back until his very last breath. He wanted to see who would ultimately triumph—the fury of nature, or the resolve of men. Even if they failed, he would go down without a single regret.
“The backup units from the city need half a day to navigate the passes,” Gu Tingxiao shouted, his voice cutting through the roar of the downpour. “That means we have exactly half a day to seal the breach in this valley! If we plug it ahead of schedule, we buy ourselves enough time to race back and save the family compound!”
He stepped closer to the line, his fierce gaze locking onto each of his men. “This battle isn’t just for the state and the civilians anymore—this one is for your own flesh and blood! Company, stand at attention!”
The soldiers snapped their spines straight, their eyes locked onto Gu Tingxiao.
“I am giving you half a day to completely block the water flow in this village! This is an official command! Can you execute it?!”
“We can!”
“We can!”
“We can!”
The collective roar of the men surged with a sudden, fierce energy, the sound seemingly tearing right through the dark, turbulent sky.
“Move out!”
The platoons immediately threw themselves back into the disaster relief work with frantic urgency. Watching from the edge of the clearing, the village chief’s son lowered his head in shame. If these heroes hadn’t been completely consumed with saving his neighbors, their own wives and children wouldn’t be facing a lethal crisis right now. Yet the men of his village were acting like absolute cowards. Were they truly worthy of the supreme sacrifice these soldiers were making?
“Can I join the line?”
Gu Tingxiao heard a young, tentative voice break through the noise. He spun around to find the eighteen-year-old youth standing right behind him in the downpour.
“I… I’m strong,” the boy pressed, his chest heaving. “I can help carry the load.”
“How old are you?” Gu Tingxiao asked, his eyes scanning the boy.
“Eighteen!”
The teenager stared back at him, his eyes burning with a raw, passionate fire. Looking at him, the twenty-eight-year-old captain felt a soft smile touch his lips.
“Whether it’s shifting timber or hauling sandbags, I can handle it!” the boy eager insisted. “I work the fields every single day to earn work points for my family. I promise you, I have plenty of strength!”
Gu Tingxiao studied the familiar, burning idealism reflecting in the youth’s eyes, remaining silent for a brief moment.
“I really can do it! I’m strong!”
“The torrent down at the breach is incredibly dangerous,” Gu Tingxiao warned him, his voice flat and serious. “You could easily be swept under and die at any moment.”
“I’m not afraid! This is my birth village, and I want to fulfill my responsibility to it,” the boy countered fiercely. “My home and my parents are anchored right here. Even if I lose my life defending them, it’s worth it.”
“What’s your name?”
“Zheng Yongen!”
The boy looked at him nervously, his fists clenched as he tried to maintain eye contact with the imposing captain.
“Go assist the logistics team,” Gu Tingxiao commanded, his tone calm and reliable. “Help haul the sandbags down to the base of the ridge so the engineering teams can deploy them.”
Just as Zheng Yongen thought he was going to be rejected, the captain’s words filled him with an immense surge of adrenaline. “Yes, sir!” he shouted, sprinting toward the supply piles.
Even though the floodwaters at the base of the ridge had already surged past waist height, Gu Tingxiao made sure to position the boy in a relatively shielded sector to guarantee his basic safety. The captain then hoisted a massive sandbag in each hand, wading effortlessly back into the thick of the torrent.
Zheng Yongen paused for a fraction of a second, watching the captain’s tall, unyielding silhouette march fearlessly into the freezing depths. A wave of profound admiration washed over his teenage heart. In his eighteen years of life, he had never experienced this kind of purpose or direction.
“Captain! The downpour is intensifying!”
“Accelerate the deployment!”
Down at the main breach, the force of the current was so intense that the soldier anchoring the front line lost his footing, his boots slipping against the mud as he nearly vanished beneath the waves.
Company Commander Fang lunged forward, catching the man by his tactical vest and hauling him back to solid ground. “Fall back to the supply chain and pass the bags down! I’ll take the anchor spot!”
“Commander, I can still hold—”
“This is an official order! Fall back!”
“Yes, sir!”
Gu Tingxiao arrived at the breach balancing two heavy sandbags, stepping directly into the absolute front of the line to shield his men. “Establish a continuous rotation between the front lines and the rear support! Take turns resting before frostbite sets in!”
“Yes, sir!”
The soldiers adjusted their formations, stacking the sandbags layer by layer against the raging current. Higher up the mountain, the displaced villagers watched the brutal struggle unfolding below, a wave of complex, wordless emotions shifting through the crowd. The village chief scanned the lower ridge, his eyes turning a brilliant, watery red the moment he spotted his only son tirelessly hauling sandbags alongside the troops.
“Captain! The men are hitting their physical limits! They’re freezing!”
Gu Tingxiao glanced back, noting that the faces of his comrades had turned a ghostly, translucent pale from the hours spent submerged in the sub-zero water, their teeth chattering violently.
“Enact the rotation immediately! Pull the front line back to dry ground!”
“Yes, sir!”
Despite the orders, the sheer scale of the breach required continuous manual pressure, and the men were running on empty. A few soldiers, their bodies thoroughly numbed by the freezing currents, lost consciousness and collapsed into the water.
“Are you alright?! Stay with me!”
As the medics scrambled to drag the unconscious soldiers up the muddy slope, a sudden, massive commotion erupted from the upper ridge. A large contingent of able-bodied village men came splashing down the mountain path, heading straight toward the flood line.
“Why have you left the shelter?!” Company Commander Fang roared over the rain. “It’s incredibly dangerous down here! Get back to the high ground!”
“We’re here to join the line!” the shouts came back.
Dozens of villagers stepped straight into the freezing waist-deep water, their hands reaching out to take the heavy sandbags from the exhausted soldiers.
“He’s right! We’re here to defend our own valley!”
“You heroes have done enough! Step back and catch your breath, let us take the weight!”
Nearly every single able-bodied man from the refugee camp had marched down the mountain, the volunteers ranging from sixteen-year-old boys to gray-haired men in their fifties.
“You folks…”
The soldiers stared at the villagers, their chests tightening with a profound emotion they couldn’t find the words to express.
“This is our home! If we don’t stand up to protect it, who will?!”
“Move quickly, everyone! Swap places with the soldiers and get them up to the bonfires!”
The villagers seamlessly integrated into the human chain, systematically relieving the frozen troops and guiding the battered men up the ridge toward the heat.
“Tingxiao! The civilian line has stabilized the sector!” Sheng Wanze shouted, using his own weight to brace a critical sandbag junction. He was thoroughly stunned by the sudden turn of events.
Gu Tingxiao threw a sharp look over his shoulder, his eyes flashing with a renewed, lethal intensity. “Command everyone to double their speed! Our family quarters are still waiting for us!”
“Listen up, men! Accelerate the pace! The family compound is still waiting!” Sheng Wanze echoed the command across the line.
The exact millisecond the words family compound rippled through the ranks, the exhausted soldiers seemed to undergo a physical transformation, an immense wave of adrenaline surging through their veins.
What did the freezing cold matter? What did a bit of frostbite or exhaustion matter? Not a single shred of personal misery was more important than racing back to protect their wives and children!
Back at the staff quarters, Sheng Wanyan pushed her front door open, her expression darkening as she stared down at the floodwater that had already pooled up to her calves.
Without wasting a single second, she splashed across the narrow lane and began knocking frantically against the door of the opposite cottage.
“Wanyan? Goodness, it’s pouring rain and the roads are completely submerged. Why on earth are you out here?” Grandma Sheng asked, her eyes wide with surprise as she opened the door.
Sheng Wanyan bypassed the pleasantries, her voice laced with intense urgency as she looked past her grandmother. “Sister-in-law!”
Pan Yue hurried into the entryway, her brow furrowed. “Wanyan, what’s happened?”
“Gather Grandpa, Grandma, and little Huzi immediately. We need to evacuate to the concrete apartment blocks right now.”
“What?” Pan Yue stammered, entirely caught off guard. Why would they abandon their comfortable cottage in the middle of a torrential downpour to crowd into the communal apartment buildings?
“Sister-in-law, look at the water levels,” Sheng Wanyan pressed, pointing down at the lane. “The mountain village has already been severely flooded, and our sector isn’t going to be spared. The current is headed straight for us.”
Hearing the word flood, Pan Yue’s hands began to tremble violently, and the clean towel she was holding slipped from her fingers, landing in the dirty water. “You mean… a real flood is hitting the base?” Her voice cracked with terror, and Grandpa and Grandma Sheng stared at her, their eyes wide with shock.
“But our entire life is tied to this cottage!” Grandma Sheng cried out, looking back at their neatly arranged living room. “Everything we own is inside. If we just abandon the house, what’s going to happen to our belongings?” Every piece of furniture and dry ration represented the culmination of their family’s hard labor.
“Our lives are infinitely more valuable than material things!” Sheng Wanyan countered firmly.
Pan Yue snapped out of her panic at her words, immediately spinning around to scoop little Huzi out of his crib. “She’s entirely right! Grandpa, Grandma, structures can be rebuilt, but we cannot replace each other! Let’s get Huzi and little Jinsheng over to the concrete buildings first. Wanyan and I can double back afterward to salvage our critical documents and valuables.”
Before they could even begin packing their essentials, the front gate flew open. Political Commissar Xie and Pan Yue’s father came splashing into the courtyard, their faces pale and slick with rain.
“Move, quickly! Everyone evacuate to the upper floors of the concrete apartment blocks immediately!” Director Pan roared, rushing into the entryway and thrusting a heavy set of brass keys directly into Pan Yue’s hand.
Chapter 307: Flood! Move things!
“Dad!”
Pan Yue gasped, caught off guard by her father’s sudden appearance. Director Pan didn’t waste time on explanations. He firmly pressed the brass key into her palm and locked eyes with her.
“Take your in-laws and the children straight to our place,” he ordered urgently. “The village is completely flooded, and the family compound is next. There’s no escaping it!”
Pan Yue nodded quickly, her heart hammering. She wrapped little Huzi tightly in a thick blanket, grabbed an umbrella, and stepped out toward the apartment building.
“Grandpa, Grandma, stay close to me and watch your step,” she called out over the roar of the rain. Then she looked back over her shoulder. “Wanyan, hurry up! Scoop Yi Yi up and get out of there!”
Though this was Pan Yue’s first time dealing with a real crisis, she had grown up listening to her family’s stories about disaster relief. Instinct kicked in, and she began directing her family with surprising composure.
Sheng Wanyan turned and sprinted back into her cottage. She swaddled little Yi Yi securely in a warm quilt, and the moment her back was turned to the window, she began frantically sweeping important belongings straight into her spatial domain. Holding her daughter tightly against her chest with one arm and balancing a heavy umbrella with the other, she splashed out of the house and made a break for the apartment building.
All around her, the lane had descended into absolute chaos. Families were running through the downpour, their arms overloaded with clothes, pots, and whatever else they could carry.
When Sheng Wanyan finally reached the concrete building, she found the corridors already packed with displaced wives and children huddled over their bundles. No one wanted to rudely barge into a neighbor’s apartment uninvited, so everyone was waiting in the hallways, hoping a friendly door would open. It was a moment where true neighborhood bonds were put to the test.
Fortunately, Pan Yue’s parents lived in the building, saving Sheng Wanyan and her family from having to rely on the charity of strangers.
The moment they burst through the door of the Pan apartment, Sheng Wanyan and Pan Yue gently set the children down, leaving them under the watchful eyes of Grandpa and Grandma Sheng. They didn’t even pause to dry themselves off before turning right around to head back into the storm.
Before they left, Grandma Sheng pulled Pan Yue aside, rapidly explaining exactly where she hid the family cash and ration coupons so they wouldn’t be lost to the water.
Pan Yue hit her cottage like a whirlwind, packing every loose note, ticket, and portable valuable she could dig out of the drawers.
Sheng Wanyan, operating completely solo across the lane, took a much more radical approach. The exact second she cleared her threshold, she began clearing out the house. With a swift wave of her hand, the entire winter food supply in the cellar vanished into her spatial domain. She didn’t stop there—the wardrobe, the dining table, her desk, and the chairs all disappeared into the void. Bicycles, furniture, kitchen utensils, and even their two live hens were swept into the safety of her space.
At a time like this, survival trumped secrecy. If the water ruined everything and she couldn’t explain how she saved her household goods later, she would just have to confess the truth to Gu Tingxiao.
For the sake of appearances, she stuffed a single canvas bag full of random winter clothes to carry openly in her hand. She needed to look like everyone else struggling through the flood. Once her cottage was completely hollowed out, she whistled for Maodou and splashed back across the lane to help Pan Yue finish packing.
“Prioritize the baby’s things first!” Sheng Wanyan shouted over the rain, seeing her sister-in-law frantically trying to pack every scrap of Huzi’s clothing. She took the bundle of family cash from Pan Yue’s trembling hands and secured it in her own pocket, then hoisted a heavy bag of supplies and ran it back to the apartment building.
On her second trip back, she spotted Aunt Xie stumbling through the rising current, her arms overflowing with loose belongings. The elderly woman’s boots slipped against the hidden mud beneath the water, and she tilted dangerously. Sheng Wanyan lunged forward, catching her firmly by the arm just before she went headfirst into the flood.
“Merciful heavens! My heart nearly stopped!” Aunt Xie gasped, clutching her chest as she stabilized her footing. If she had gone down in this freezing current, a woman her age might not have gotten back up. She looked at the younger woman with immense gratitude. “Wanyan, thank goodness you were here.”
“Stay calm, Auntie. Just hold onto my arm and follow my steps,” Sheng Wanyan urged.
Aunt Xie nodded quickly, gripping Sheng Wanyan’s hand like a lifeline as they pushed through the water together.
Once they reached the dry safety of the apartment entrance, Sheng Wanyan dropped the bags, breathing heavily. She looked out at the courtyard, watching the frantic military wives struggle against the elements, then turned to look at the deeply anxious faces of her grandparents.
“Grandpa, Grandma, stay right here and guard the babies,” Sheng Wanyan instructed. “I have to go back out and help sister-in-law haul the heavy grain.”
“Go, go, don’t worry about us,” Grandpa Sheng responded instantly, pulling little Huzi closer. “We won’t stir from this spot. We’ll keep our eyes glued to these two children.” The elderly couple understood that the best way they could help right now was to stay out of the way and prevent a domestic accident.
Knowing her grandparents wouldn’t recklessly wander back out into the storm, Sheng Wanyan felt a massive weight lift from her shoulders. She ran back out into the pelting rain, heading straight for the regiment’s logistics depot to borrow a heavy wooden handcart.
When the other military wives saw her rolling past with a cart, a collective realization struck them. Abandoning their clumsy armloads, a dozen women sprinted toward the depot to borrow the remaining handcarts.
“Sister-in-law! Focus strictly on the food, the thick quilts, and the winter clothes!” Sheng Wanyan shouted as she met up with Pan Yue. “Leave the heavy furniture and pots alone—we can always scrub the mud off those once the water recedes!”
Pan Yue immediately pivoted, scrambling down into her cellar to hoist the heavy sacks of grain. Seeing her sister-in-law lifting the weight, Sheng Wanyan urged her to keep moving toward the stairs. “Go on up and pack the bedroom linens, Yan’er! Don’t waste time waiting for me. Save our food supply first!”
Sheng Wanyan, whose entire food supply was already sitting perfectly dry inside her supernatural space, could only offer a complex look. “…”
She ducked into her dark house, waited a few moments out of sight, and quietly pulled a few heavy sacks of flour and two thick winter quilts out of her spatial domain. She arranged them neatly on the wooden handcart, threw a tarpaulin over the top to shield them from the downpour, and rushed back over to help her sister-in-law.
Pan Yue was determined to salvage every single kernel of grain from her cellar, but by the time they loaded the first few sacks, the muddy water outside had already surged past their thighs. Realizing the danger, they had to abandon the coarser grains, prioritizing only enough premium food to sustain the household through the immediate crisis. Sheng Wanyan packed her grandparents’ heavy winter garments into a rucksack, threw it onto the cart, and grabbed the handles.
“Sister-in-law, the current is picking up! We have to leave right now!”
Pan Yue scrambled up the cellar steps, slammed the heavy wooden hatch shut to seal the remaining stores, and threw her weight into pushing the handcart alongside her.
As they rolled out of the lane, the freezing water was already swirling heavily around their knees. Ahead of them, they spotted Aunt Xie still struggling to drag a heavy chest through the current. Working together, Sheng Wanyan and Pan Yue hoisted the old woman’s valuables onto their wooden cart, and the three women joined forces, digging their boots into the submerged road to push the cart toward the apartment building.
Down by the eastern ridge, Political Commissar Xie and a desperate line of guard soldiers were frantically stacking sandbags against the main flume, their shouts entirely drowned out by the roar of the storm. Sheng Wanyan glanced toward the mountain slopes, watching the dark, heavy torrent of water cascade down the ridges. A cold dread settled into her chest.
The flood was completely unpreventable now. The lower mountain village had undoubtedly been wiped out, and the compound was next.
“Inside, quick! You two need to get into a hot bath immediately,” Mother Pan ordered the moment they crossed the threshold. She had just rushed back from her shift at the clinic to boil several massive kettles of water for them.
“Grandpa, Grandma, you two will take this front bedroom,” Mother Pan directed, organizing the rooms with practiced efficiency. “Xiaoyue, you, Wanyan, and the babies will occupy your old bedroom.” The Pan residence was a spacious three-bedroom apartment with a large living area, providing just enough space to comfortably absorb the extended family.
Sheng Wanyan wrung out her wet hair, looking at her aunt with genuine apology. “Auntie, I’m truly sorry for bringing such a massive crowd to disrupt your home during a crisis.”
“What on earth are you saying, child?” Mother Pan chided gently, waving off her apology. “In a disaster like this, minor etiquette doesn’t mean a thing. We are blood relatives, and everything in this house is at your disposal.” She tied her medical apron securely around her waist, her expression tightening. “I have to sprint back to the clinic now. The emergency rooms are completely overwhelmed with casualties from the valley.”
With those parting words, Mother Gu’s old friend hurried back out into the storm. Both she and her husband were in the business of saving lives, and neither of them would see a single hour of sleep for the foreseeable future.
Sheng Wanyan and Pan Yue took turns washing away the freezing mud in the hot bath, while Grandma Sheng stood over the stove, brewing a large pot of pungent ginger tea to ward off the chill.
“Drink it down while it’s boiling,” the old lady ordered, passing the steaming mugs around. “Get the frost out of your bones.”
Once she finished her tea, Sheng Wanyan hurried into the bedroom to check on little Yi Yi. Seeing that her daughter was perfectly safe and warm, she joined Pan Yue in the living room to systematically organize their salvaged provisions.
Down on the first floor of the apartment building, the rising water had already begun breaching the entryways, forcing the lower-level residents to frantically haul their belongings up to the second-floor corridors. Under normal circumstances, the upper-level residents would have tightly locked their doors to protect their personal space, but under the strict scrutiny of the military administration, displaying such cold selfishness would permanently ruin a soldier’s professional reputation.
Consequently, the families opened their doors, taking in neighbors they were close with, provided the refugees carried their own food supply. No one complained about the tight quarters; survival was the only currency that mattered now, and having a dry piece of concrete to sleep on was a luxury. Even the most reluctant families had no choice but to smile and welcome the crowd. Those who couldn’t secure a spare mattress simply laid their blankets out on the living room floors; as long as there was a roof over their heads, it was enough.
Because Director Pan held a senior leadership rank on the base, the average compound families didn’t dare barge into his residence looking for space, granting Sheng Wanyan’s household a rare sanctuary of quiet and privacy.
Sheng Wanyan turned over every single scrap of the food she had brought to Pan Yue, leaving her sister-in-law in absolute control of the family rations. After all, she, her child, and her grandparents were effectively guests living under the Pan family roof, and she refused to let her aunt and uncle suffer a single ounce of financial strain on their account.
With everything arranged, Sheng Wanyan went over to the window, parting the thick cloth curtain to stare down at the submerged compound.
The water levels were rising visibly by the minute, and she couldn’t stop her mind from drifting out into the dark, freezing valley. Tingxiao… she thought, her fingers tightening against the glass. You promised me you would bring yourself back alive.
As the winter storm rages outside, how will Gu Tingxiao and the soldiers survive the cresting floodwaters?
Chapter 308: Flood in the Family Courtyard
Pan Yue firmly refused to take the money and pushed it right back into her hands.
“Don’t do that, Yan’er. Wanze has a share in this too. We’re family.” Pan Yue bristled slightly. Did her sister-in-law think she was the type of person to take advantage of her own relatives during a disaster?
“Sister-in-law, then please just use it to keep the family well-fed,” Sheng Wanyan pressed gently. “Everyone needs to keep their strength up in a crisis like this.”
Hearing her put it that way, Pan Yue finally relented. She took a small portion of the bills and left the rest untouched. “Alright. Yan’er, you stay here and watch the two children. I’ll go light the stove and start on dinner.”
“I’ll help you,” Sheng Wanyan said, stepping forward. “Grandpa and Grandma can look after the little ones.”
Sheng Wanyan was determined to slip a few drops of her spiritual spring water into the cooking pot; otherwise, with everyone soaked and freezing, they would undoubtedly catch a terrible chill.
Just then, Grandma Sheng walked into the room and shooed them both toward the kitchen, promising to keep an eye on the babies.
Little Huzi was absolutely ecstatic to finally be reunited with his baby cousin, whom he had missed so dearly. Sitting cross-legged on the platform bed, he stared at Yi Yi with wide, curious eyes, occasionally reaching out a chubby finger to gently poke her soft little cheek.
While Sheng Wanyan and Pan Yue busied themselves in the kitchen, they both knew that Director Pan and his wife wouldn’t be returning for dinner tonight. The military hospital was in absolute chaos, and Mother Pan couldn’t possibly abandon her post. Meanwhile, Director Pan had rushed out to help manage the flood lines. If they couldn’t contain the breach, the backup troops marching from the city wouldn’t even be able to enter the base, let alone head into the valley to rescue the trapped villagers.
After a quick meal, Sheng Wanyan stepped out into the concrete corridor and peered down at the rising waters below.
The flood had already surged to a grown man’s waist, completely submerging the first-floor apartments. She didn’t waste energy worrying about her own cottage across the lane; she just silently hoped the structure wouldn’t collapse under the pressure.
All along the corridor, the other military wives hovered near the railings, their faces pale with dread. If the water kept climbing at this rate, how were any of them supposed to survive?
She counted their blessings that the Pan family lived safely on the fourth floor. Had they been registered on the ground level, they would currently be sleeping on the cold hallway floorboards like the rest of the displaced families.
Sheng Wanyan tracked the driving rain, wondering grimly if the residents on the second floor would even remain safe by nightfall.
“Merciful heavens! How did the water get so high?” Grandma Sheng gasped, stepping out onto the landing. She was thoroughly shaken by the sight below, silently thanking her lucky stars that her granddaughter had forced them to evacuate when she did. Had they lingered in the cottage, navigating the torrent with two small children would have been a nightmare. “Wanyan, do you think we’ll be alright?”
Grandma Sheng stared down at the swirling muddy currents, her voice trembling. By now, residents from the other floors had filtered out into the corridors, staring blankly at the rising tide.
“Don’t worry, Grandma. The political commissar and the guards are already down at the flume trying to plug the breach. It will be alright,” Sheng Wanyan reassured her.
Grandma Sheng let out a heavy, anxious sigh. Having survived a major flood in her younger years, she knew exactly how deceptive and ruthless water could be. A breach wasn’t just a simple, single point of failure; it was a massive, shifting baseline. More importantly, the military base sat right against the foot of the ridge, and the mountain slopes simply couldn’t absorb this volume of torrential rain. It wasn’t hard to deduce what kind of nightmare was barreling toward them.
“I certainly hope so,” Grandma Sheng murmured, her heart heavy as she turned back inside the apartment.
Sheng Wanyan’s brow furrowed. Given the catastrophic weather, she highly doubted the reinforcements from the city could even navigate the washed-out mountain passes. The base personnel had to seal the localized breach immediately; otherwise, the city troops would be entirely blocked from entering the disaster zone.
And then there was the hospital. If the freezing floodwaters breached the medical wings, the consequences would be absolutely devastating. The facility housed priceless, specialized diagnostic equipment—the financial and structural loss to the state would be catastrophic.
Yet, with almost the entire regiment deployed to the valley, only a handful of senior administrators and gate guards remained to defend the compound. Their headcount was laughably small.
Unless…
Sheng Wanyan cut the thought short, not daring to follow it to its logical conclusion. If the situation forced their hand, the sheer volume of human suffering would be unendurable.
Time marched on relentlessly. The moment the floodwaters crested to chest height, the fragile peace in the apartment block shattered completely.
“What are we supposed to do?”
“We’re going to be drowned like rats in this building!”
“Look at the marks! The second floor is going to breach any minute!”
Panicked voices echoed through the concrete halls as terrified families paced back and forth along the corridors, their nerves frayed to the breaking point.
Watching the escalating hysteria, Aunt Xie felt her heart skip a beat. If someone didn’t step up to pacify the crowd immediately, the building would dissolve into a dangerous, chaotic internal riot. In a crisis like this, if they didn’t actively organize a workforce to fortify the internal drains, they were simply waiting to die. Once the water rose past a person’s height, rescue would become a mechanical impossibility.
Aunt Xie marched out into the center of the corridor, raising her hands to gather the crowd. “Everyone, please, look over here! We need to discuss a counter-strategy!”
“Quiet down, everyone! Please, listen to me!”
Aunt Xie shouted until her throat was raw, but her voice was entirely swallowed by the cacophony of the crowd. The women were sobbing, screaming over one another, completely consumed by terror.
Sheng Wanyan watched the elderly woman struggle and immediately understood what Aunt Xie was trying to achieve—she was trying to rally them to do something monumental.
Sheng Wanyan turned back into the Pan apartment, grabbed a heavy wooden stool, and slammed it violently against the thick apartment door.
BANG!!!
The explosive, echoing crash reverberated down the concrete corridor. The sudden noise startled the crowd into an instant, dead silence.
“Do you actually want to survive this night?” Sheng Wanyan’s voice cut through the quiet, cold and sharp.
Aunt Xie stared at her in awe. If the gravity of the situation hadn’t forbidden it, she would have given the young woman a standing ovation on the spot. Taking a deep, steadying breath, Aunt Xie stepped forward to pitch her strategy.
“We have exactly one move left to play!” she announced, her voice commanding the silence. “It is the only choice that can guarantee our survival tonight. Are you willing to listen?”
The crowd shifted instantly, a desperate surge of hope turning every face toward her.
“Auntie, please, just tell us! What do we need to do?”
“Yes! We can’t just sit here and drown!”
“Director Xie’s wife, please, tell us what the plan is!”
Frantic and weeping, several wives lunged forward, clutching Aunt Xie’s sleeves as they begged her to speak.
“Our only choice,” Aunt Xie delivered firmly, “is to form an immediate human chain and block the internal drain ourselves!”
The exact millisecond the words cleared her lips, a heavy, suffocating silence fell over the corridor.
“Are you mad? How on earth are a bunch of women supposed to plug a military drain?”
“Exactly! The current outside is already chest-deep! If we step into that torrent, we’ll be swept under and drowned instantly!”
“Besides, what are we supposed to use as a barrier? Every single piece of sandbagging and engineering equipment on this base was shipped out to the mountain village hours ago! Don’t think we don’t know the inventory!”
“She’s right! The logistics depot is completely cleaned out, and our husbands are miles away! What resources do we have to fight the water?!”
“Waaah… I don’t want to die here…”
The collective panic flared right back up, tears spilling down the women’s faces as they shouted over one another.
“We all know sealing the breach is the answer!” a voice cried out through the sobs. “But we have absolutely no materials! How are we supposed to build a wall?!”
Aunt Xie’s expression faltered. She possessed the conceptual solution, yes, but she lacked the physical logistics. The base depot was entirely bare; what could she possibly offer them to build a barrier? Feeling cornered, her anxious gaze shifted left, landing desperately on Sheng Wanyan.
Sheng Wanyan lowered her gaze, her eyes hooded as her mind raced through calculations.
The sound of weeping grew louder around her, the women staring at Aunt Xie and Sheng Wanyan as if they were their final lifelines. They were unarmed, untrained civilians—what could they possibly accomplish against the fury of a flood?
Sheng Wanyan raised her head, her sharp eyes sweeping over the sea of tear-stained faces. The sight of their raw, unvarnished terror struck a painful chord in her chest.
She turned her head slightly, looking past her shoulder into the Pan apartment. Inside, her grandfather, her grandmother, and her sister-in-law were huddled together. These were her people—her flesh and blood.
And tucked safely in the back bedroom, her little nephew Huzi was sleeping.
Most importantly, her precious, darling daughter, Yi Yi, was resting right beside him.
She refused to let a single drop of harm touch her child, even if it cost her her own life to prevent it. She had already survived death once in her previous existence; if fate demanded she lay down her life in this world to safeguard her daughter, she would make that trade without a single shred of regret.
Sheng Wanyan looked back out at the crowd, her eyes hardening into absolute, ironclad determination.
“If I can provide the materials to block the current,” she demanded, her voice ringing clear down the hall, “are you brave enough to step into the water?”
Everyone stared at her in absolute, stunned disbelief. What exactly does she mean?
“I am asking you a direct question,” Sheng Wanyan pressed, her tone absolute. “Will you march, or will you hide?”
The women swallowed hard, exchanging frantic, uncertain glances, but not a single soul spoke up.
“Your children and your families are anchored right inside these apartments,” Sheng Wanyan reminded them, her voice dropping to a fierce, urgent register. “I suggest you think about them very carefully. The exact moment we seal this localized breach, we guarantee a future for our households—and we ensure our husbands down in the valley have a home to return to!”
“Are we content to huddle here like cowards and wait for the dark to claim us, or are we going to take the initiative and strike back at this storm?”
“Look inside your own hearts. I am not forcing a single soul into the current.”
Sheng Wanyan raised her own hand high into the air. “Anyone who is willing to fight for their child’s life, raise your hand right now.”
