If she were alone, she could still try to go out, but it was impossible for others. Once they were involved, their fate would be to be buried underwater. Even if they were excellent swimmers, it would be of no use.
Liang Xiao believed in her judgment.
As they were swimming not too far, a bright light flashed nearby. Hai Baihe swam closer and was overjoyed, saying, "Come over here!"
As the light approached, Liang Xiao could see that it was an inflatable boat, probably a sample used for outdoor display in a supermarket. It was proving to be very useful at that moment.
The inflatable boat was small, already crowded with three or four people. When the three of them got on, it was a tight fit. One of the middle-aged women complained, "Oh, isn't this too crowded? What if the boat flips?"
Just as if to cater to her words, cries for help came from a distance. "Help! Is anyone there? Please save me!"
The person rowing the boat was a young man wearing a supermarket work vest. He immediately responded, "Where are you?"
Upon hearing the response, the person on the other end became more excited. "Here, here! Save me!"
"Everyone, let's help. Let's go in that direction," said the young man, intending to change course. However, the broomstick he was using as an oar was held by a refined man who said, "We won't have enough space. If the boat flips, we'll all die."
The young man retorted, "How can you say that? Saving one more person matters."
His colleague, a younger girl, got a bit agitated. "That person is still alive! How can we not save them?"
"But there's no more room. Will you give up your spot for them?" the middle-aged woman countered with sharp words.
The girl was infuriated. "It was us who found the boat first!" It was her quick thinking that remembered the inflatable boat, and then she and her colleague found the floating vessel in a corner, saving the lives of those people.
It was ridiculous how once they were saved, they turned heartless towards others in the same situation.
Liang Xiao summed it up concisely, "Saving people." He didn't give those two selfish individuals a single glance.
With the support of a third person, the situation shifted in their favor. However, the opposing side still resisted and raised a practical question, "There's no more space."
Hai Baihe sweetly smiled at him, "You make a good point. I see you're not very likable. How about this? If you keep talking, I'll push you down and make room for them."
The male employee and female employee exchanged glances.
The refined man became frustrated, "What do you mean by that? We saved you."
"If you lack ethics, then I won't have any either," Hai Baihe winked at him. "I'm a black belt in Taekwondo. You should consider that."
Under the threat of force, the man reluctantly remained silent.
However, the middle-aged woman's combativeness remained strong. "You're bullying an elderly person! Young people these days have no manners! Did your mother raise you like this?"
Hai Baihe raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, I'm an uncivilized person. If you annoy me further, I'll kick you down."
As the saying goes, fight fire with fire, and only shamelessness can subdue shamelessness. Under Hai Baihe's intimidating words, even the cautious middle-aged woman closed her mouth begrudgingly.
With no more opposition, everyone worked together to paddle the inflatable boat towards the
person in need of help. The female employee took a picture with her phone and realized that the person calling for help was a foreigner. Surprisingly, his Chinese was as fluent as that of an ordinary Chinese person. "Over here!"
He was lying on a piece of foam, vigorously kicking with one leg under the water while the other leg was covered in blood. Despite his injuries, he persisted, which was quite impressive.
He was a tall man, and with the boat already crowded, there was no space left. He looked at them and said, "I have enough room to lie down here. Can you take me with you?"
Hai Baihe carefully looked at him and noticed that he was handsome. She usually had more compassion for good-looking men and smiled at him, "Give me your hand."
"I'll pull you down," he said shyly.
Hai Baihe insisted, "Give it a try."
He tentatively held her small hand, and his body involuntarily moved towards the inflatable boat. Hai Baihe remained composed and even turned her head to joke with Liang Xiao, "Won't you get angry?"
Liang Xiao replied, "No." Surprisingly, he didn't find it strange at all! It felt familiar, but there were no clues in his memory. It was quite baffling.
Hai Baihe pulled the person to the back of the boat and had him hold onto it like a floatation device. The middle-aged woman was not pleased, "The boat is becoming difficult to navigate!"
"It wouldn't be difficult if you helped row," the female employee trembled with anger. She was sweating profusely from rowing the boat, while these people were sitting comfortably, making snide remarks.
The middle-aged woman justified herself, "It's because your supermarket didn't do a good job that we ended up like this. Don't you take any responsibility?"
The refined man pushed his glasses up, "You should compensate us."
Hai Baihe picked up a piece of board to paddle the boat and sneered, "You guys are impressive, rowing without oars."
"I know that joke!" The injured foreigner showed off his knowledge, making everyone laugh.
Although they laughed, the journey ahead was still difficult. The water current was strong, and the inflatable boat couldn't move smoothly. Sometimes they would go in circles, and sometimes they would start moving backward. When it came to critical moments, everyone put their quarrels aside and used whatever tools they could find to push forward. Hai Baihe even glanced at the middle-aged woman, who had impressive speed, as if she was snatching discounted goods. It was quite brave. On the other hand, the refined man seemed to be useless at rowing.
After tremendous effort, they finally managed to drift to the atrium. However, the boat was overturned by a wave, and the people on it fell into the water like dumplings.
The middle-aged woman acted quickly and grabbed onto the edge of the overturned inflatable boat. She firmly held onto the male supermarket employee, who was probably an honest person, as he couldn't break free from her iron grip. He just smiled bitterly and looked around for the female employee, Zhang Li. "Zhang Li, are you okay?"
Zhang Li emerged from underwater and also tenaciously held onto the edge of the inflatable boat. "I'm fine. How about you?"
"I'm okay too."
Hai Baihe floated on the water's surface, looking around. The atrium was elliptical, hollow from the eighth floor to the ground floor. Although it was adorned with many posters, neon lights, and billboards, it was still better than crashing into a wall. Judging by the billboards, the water had already reached the
fourth floor and was still rising.
"What will we do if this place gets completely flooded?" the injured foreigner, speaking fluent Chinese like a native, asked. "Is there a way upstairs?"
Hai Baihe said, "The eighth floor and the restaurant on top are part of a hotel. If worse comes to worst, we'll have to break the windows and get out."
"What if the outside is flooded too?"
Hai Baihe thought for a moment and then hugged Liang Xiao. He asked with concern, "What's wrong?"
"I love you." She smiled sweetly, making a heart shape with her hands on her chest. "Muah!"
The foreigner, unexpectedly fed a spoonful of dog food, exclaimed, "..."
Liang Xiao, unexpectedly forced into the role of a drama's male lead, thought, "...Do I still need to fulfill this role responsibly? If I pinch her, will the team leader beat him to death and deduct his salary and allowances?"
"Cough." He cleared his throat. "Stop fooling around."
"Just kidding. Didn't you notice that the water level is rising slower now?" Hai Baihe showed no sense of danger in the water. She even seemed to be enjoying herself. After all, she rarely had such a large space to play around in, even in a swimming pool!
She was extremely thrilled!
If every time she transmigrated came with these perks, she wouldn't mind at all!
Despite the anxiousness of the others, the water level gradually rose and stabilized at the halfway mark of the eighth floor. Hai Baihe said, "It seems our luck is good. We can go ashore now."
With a splash, she dived into the water and swam up to the eighth floor. She was the first one to reach land and waved for them to come over.
The male supermarket employee, Liu Kai, asked his colleague, "Zhang Li, can you swim?"
Zhang Li smiled bitterly, "I can't hold my breath for too long, and it's too far. I won't be able to swim across."
The middle-aged woman chimed in quickly, "I can't swim either. Young man, it's your responsibility to take us across."
Liu Kai sighed and asked for their opinion, "Should we flip the boat first? Those who can't swim can climb up, and we'll figure out a way to get ashore."
Neither he nor Liang Xiao moved. The middle-aged woman was the first to climb up. Liu Kai lifted Zhang Li, urging her to climb as well. Liang Xiao looked at Bai Wenwen, "Miss Bai?"
Bai Wenwen tried to climb up using her own strength, but after being soaked in water for so long, her stamina couldn't support her. In the end, it was Liang Xiao who lifted her up.
Originally, there was one more injured person, but the refined man, without changing his expression, was the first to climb up. The foreigner grinned, "Don't worry about me, I'll just stay like this."
Liang Xiao and Liu Kai supported the overturned boat, slowly swimming towards the shore. Zhang Li and Bai Wenwen also helped paddle a few times, but the refined man and the middle-aged woman sat without moving, claiming their spots. The middle-aged woman even complained about her rheumatism acting up.
Zhang Li's anger surged, and she was about to explode, but Liu Kai shook his head, gesturing for her to let it go. There was no point in reasoning with such selfish people.
Finally reaching the shore, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the ground, all wet. In the distance, they heard footsteps approaching. Liang Xiao quickly sat up, only
to find that it was Hai Baihe who had returned. She held a towel and offered it attentively to Liang Xiao, saying, "Darling, quickly dry off. Don't catch a cold."
Liang Xiao felt a subtle sense of horror. He thought of Bai Wenwen still watching them and reluctantly took the towel, placing it on her head to dry her hair. "You're still wet."
"I'll be fine," Hai Baihe smiled sweetly. "I already checked. The rooms here are all vacant, no one's here. Let's rest."
As she spoke, Liang Xiao also remembered. He walked to the service desk to make a phone call, but he realized that the power was already cut off, and their phones had been washed away by the water.
"Do any of you still have your phones?" he asked. "Can anyone make a call?"
Everyone shook their heads, indicating that their personal belongings were lost. However, at the initial stage, like Hai Baihe, they remained optimistic, believing that government rescue would come soon.
The middle-aged woman still held a grudge, saying, "The government must compensate us! How can they let something like this happen? Didn't they give any warning?"
"But, it's strange," Zhang Li hesitated. "It didn't rain today. Even if there was a storm, it couldn't have caused such a massive flood."
The injured foreigner, limping, found a first aid kit at the service desk and bandaged himself. "I don't think it's a flood caused by a storm. It's not that fast. Judging by the situation..." he pondered for a moment, "...it's more like a tsunami."
"A tsunami? How is that possible! Hai City can't have a tsunami!" No one believed it. Although Hai City was a coastal city, it wasn't located on a tectonic plate's edge. The chances of an earthquake were low, and there were no known underwater volcanoes. The most severe natural disasters were usually typhoons.
A tsunami? That was too far-fetched.
"Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So, Jehovah decided to use a flood to destroy all flesh under the heavens, everything that had the breath of life." The foreigner mentioned a story that people in China were not very familiar with but had heard of—the story of the Great Flood. "Why is it impossible?"