At 3: 03 AM, Lin Wen woke up from his nap and realized that the water had already soaked his hands and back.
Lin Wen was resting in a small cave on Mountain Qingfeng that was connected to the dam of Changpai Village. Although the cave was slightly lower than the dam, it should be far above the water.
Lin Wen turned on the light on the miner's hat and walked out of the cave, dripping water. In the darkness, heavy rain poured and the river surged. The world seemed to be submerged in water.
The surface of the river had risen by at least another 150 centimeters, and the water current was carrying huge waves.
In this short moment, the water had already reached his ankles. Lin Wen knew that the flood peak had arrived. He placed the radio in front of his chest, adjusted the channel, and turned on the power. Immediately, a shout could be heard.
"Changshan County! Changshan County! Please note that the first flood peak has crossed the border! The maximum flow is 175,100 cubic meters per second, and the duration will be 13 hours at least. The second flood peak will arrive in 18 hours!"
Without any hesitation, Lin Wen immediately used Nine Bulls and Two Tigers.
The power of the bulls and tigers penetrated his entire body.
Light in Darkness
The world was bright and clear.
Lin Wen's eyes focused. He leaped over a distance of more than five meters and landed steadily on the dam.
This was the result of twenty days of training. If it were in the past, he would have flown into the river.
Sweeping his gaze, he discovered that several of the previously blocked dark holes had begun to loosen.
Lin Wen took off the shovel that was wrapped around his waist, went up, and slapped it hard. Then, he casually rummaged through the supplies piled on the embankment, picked up an anchor pillar made of tens of steel bars, gathered all her strength, and thrust it into the ground.
If anyone else saw this method, their eyeballs would probably pop out. The specialists would curse that it was unscientific and illogical while finding their eyeballs on the ground.
However, there was no other way. Although Lin Wen was extremely strong, he had to stop once he got into the water. He couldn't exert any force in the water, so no matter how strong he was, it was useless. Furthermore, the river was turbulent. No matter how good one was at swimming, there was nothing one could do.
He could only stick it into the ground.
Lin Wen hung the shovel back to his waist and took out a large hammer from his waist. He struck the anchor pole, causing it to bend. The anchor pole swayed and sank.
After hammering a dozen times in a row, Lin Wen finally hung up the hammer, picked up the sandbag, and threw it onto the anchor. The sandbag was the standard anti-flood material. Lin Wen had found it in the warehouse of the town on one of his trips back to town. He wondered why such worthless things were stacked.
However, it happened to benefit Lin Wen. He arranged for ten manual laborers to move them out in three days, and then spent half a day carrying all of them up. Now, half of the dam was made of earth, and the other half was sandbags. There was also a portion of anti-flood supplies under the dam. In short, the supplies were basically enough, and it all depended on the final results.
After dealing with the danger here, Lin Wen continued to patrol the dam with the heavy rain and splattering waves. With his Light in Darkness vision, he could always find hidden dangers that were extremely difficult to detect and eliminate them at will.
However, due to the lack of quality of the dam itself, after a few hours, small surging, breaking and penetrating problems began to occur.
Lin Wen went around trying to solve the problems. He relied on his immense strength to forcefully fight back. Surging? He simply put a ten-meter-long stick into the pipe. Breaking? He simply put tons of sand and an anchor down. Penetrating? He just kicked and blocked the hole.
This battle lasted until dawn. Even Lin Wen felt that it was difficult. Fortunately, the first flood safely passed the first time.
Lin Wen rested for a while and ate something to fill his stomach.
A few hours later, it was dark again. The second flood peak arrived, this time even larger. It would last longer than 36 hours.
The rain didn't stop. Instead, it got heavier and heavier. The radio said that the rainfall had exceeded 600 millimeters, turning into a superstorm.
Obviously, the true calamity had only just begun.
Lin Wen roused his spirits and prepared to welcome the final test in this world.
At the same time, in the Ying Village 15 kilometers away from Lin Wen, even though Zhao Anping was wearing a raincoat and holding an umbrella, he couldn't help but feel a cold sensation crawling up his back.
In front of him, in the pitch-black night, a long string of lights meandered into a dragon. Countless sandbags, clay squares, stone cages, and even cotton-padded quilts were passed through the crowd and onto the dam of the Ying Village. They were then thrown down in front of the collapse, which was about three meters long and seven meters deep.
The work had been going on for three hours, and the hole was still not completely blocked. The river rushed out of the gaps, and the second flood peak had arrived. The danger was instantly multiplied.
However, he had no choice now. He had to forcefully block it.
If it wasn't for the timely discovery and County Head Zhao hadn't decisively ordered the only heavy truck to be loaded with sand and go down and block it, the dam would've been broken.
The Ying Village's dam was one of the three main dams of Changshan County. Once it was breached, the consequences would be unimaginable.
The cries on the dam rose and fell, and the voices of 8,000 people still could not suppress the sounds of the wind and rain and the roar of the river.
"County Head Zhao! County Head Zhao!" A figure ran over in panic and cried, "The west has been flooded! More than ten dikes have fallen!"
County Head Zhao said sternly, "Has the emergency notice been issued yet!?"
"Yes, yes, but…"
"Cut the crap. Hurry up and report to the higher-ups for help! Send out the announcement! Organize rescue! Hurry!"
County Head Zhao's mind raced as he thought, "The upper reaches are sparsely populated, the flood is slow, and there are many mountains and ridges. There are many highlands that can be used to avoid danger. There will definitely be enough time for an emergency evacuation. The key is still here."
Just as he was thinking about this, a cry of alarm sounded from the dike. Zhao Anping suddenly raised his head, only to see a strong water stream suddenly appear in the middle of the dike. The water spurted several meters high, accompanied by a large amount of sand and stones, scattering the surrounding people.
Supervisor Liao Zhian shouted, "Block it! Hurry up and block it! Hurry up!"
County Head Zhao felt a fire rushing to his head. He picked up the loudspeaker and shouted, "I'll block your entire family! Run! The dam is about to collapse! Run! Run!"
A wave of people rushed down from the dike. Shouts filled the air as the people below the dike frantically ran back.
County Head Zhao felt the blood vessels in his head throb as he shouted, "Hu Ping! Hu Ping! Quickly gather people and send out an emergency notice. All the villages behind us can't be protected. Get the people inside to quickly run. Don't take anything and run downstream! The upper reaches are already flooded. We can only run downstream!"
Despair and fury did not interrupt Zhao Anping's calm thoughts. "At least the eastern dam is fine. Quan Village should be safe. I'll bring my men to seek refuge!"
It was especially difficult to organize people in the dark and torrential rain. Amidst all kinds of clamoring and shouting and the sound of wind and rain, there was a loud crash. The Ying Village's dike collapsed, and the flood tore open a thirty meter long huge crack as it charged towards the Ying Village.
Zhao Anping could no longer care about anything else and ran with the crowd. The torrential rain hit his face and seemed to pour into his heart.
He didn't know how long he'd been running, but he didn't stop until he couldn't hear the roar of the flood. He found a safe high ground. There was someone who had brought a high-powered searchlight that would serve as a lighthouse.
Zhao Anping held onto the searchlight and shone it into the sky while instructing the staff to gather the crowd. He smiled bitterly and thought, "Why do I look like a defeated general in ancient times who started gathering their troops after losing a war?"
He looked around and saw that the surroundings were filled with people who were in a state of panic and hung their heads in dejection. They really did look alike defeated soldiers.
"Yes, the enemy must have taken advantage of the heavy rain and the night to launch a surprise attack. At the same time, they used water attacks and defeated the Changshan Army led by Zhao Anping. After this battle, Zhao Anping was unable to recover and died with hatred in his heart."
Zhao Anping teased himself quickly. Seeing that more and more people were gathering, he raised his loudspeaker and shouted, "It's safe here. It's good that everyone is alive. This flood is rare. The Empire will definitely help everyone rebuild their homes."
With just this sentence, the crowd calmed down a lot. Zhao Anping wanted to take the opportunity to say something else, but he saw another group of people rushing over from the north. When the leader saw Zhao Anping, he wailed, "County Head Zhao! The eastern dam has collapsed! More than a hundred thousand people have suffered a disaster!"
Zhao Anping's head buzzed as he grabbed him and shouted, "What did you say!"
That person's face was covered in rainwater and tears as he cried, "The rain is too big! The eastern dam can't hold on. I saw that it didn't look good, so I let everyone run. After walking for a few minutes, the dam collapsed and the water rushed out like crazy. I, I…" He started crying again.
Zhao Anping felt a chill down his spine. He instantly realized that if the Ying Village's dam and eastern dam had collapsed, this place wouldn't be safe either. He had to continue running downwards.
He raised his megaphone and shouted with all his might, "The eastern dam has collapsed! The flood is coming! It's not safe here. We have to run!"
In an instant, cries rang out again. Zhao Anping got three people to carry the searchlight and head downstream. The crowd was forced to move.
After walking for less than thirty minutes, they heard the roar of water behind them. Someone shouted, "The water is here! Run! Run!"
The crowd started running. After running for a long time in the dark, they finally couldn't hear the sound of water. Fortunately, there was a searchlight guiding them this time, so not many people fell behind.
Zhao Anping once again found a place to rest against the rain and asked, "Where are we?"
The people around looked at each other. After a long time, someone finally answered tentatively, "I think we're near Niujiao Village."
"It's Niujiao Village. I herded bulls here." Someone confirmed his words.
Zhao Anping thought for a moment. "Then it should be safe. The flood can't reach here."
"No!"
Zhao Anping suddenly jumped up.
"Isn't Changpai Village next to Niujiao Village?"
The faces of the people around turned pale. They immediately realized that they were facing the dam of Changpai Village!
A few people had already started running out.
"No, no!"
Zhao Anping immediately denied his previous thoughts. "The dam of Changpai Village should have collapsed! It doesn't make sense that the eastern dam has collapsed before it!"
Right.
Everyone thought.
It should have collapsed a long time ago. The eastern dam had exhausted so much manpower and resources, but it still couldn't make it past the second round. What did Changpai Village have? Collapsing twice in five years?
But look at the surroundings. Did it look like a flood was passing by?
"It's useless to just think about it," Zhao Anping said. "We'll know once we take a look. The dam of Changpai Village isn't far. It's only a few miles away."
"But…" Xiao Zhang was trembling all over, her legs trembling. The terrifying scene when the dam collapsed had given him a huge shock. "Why don't we just move away?"
"Move away?" Zhao Anping looked around. There were tens of thousands of people lying on the ground, exhausted. Many of them were injured, and the sound of crying could be heard incessantly. Countless people had run away along the way.
"Can they still walk?"
"But—but what's the point of us going to see it?"
Zhao Anping's authority as the county governor was still there. He chose ten people to go with him. "If there's an emergency on the dam, we can help."
"Let's go."
"Is that you, Lin Wen?" Zhao Anping asked himself.