“We're close! We're close! Everyone, pull harder!”
The lieutenant's voice had long since grown as hoarse as a broken bellows, becoming raspy with every shout of the rhythm.
“Pull with all your might!”
Standing at the very front, her palms were rubbed raw and bloody by the hemp rope. Dark red blood seeped down the strands of the rope, dripping onto the blue whale's back before being washed away by the pouring rain.
Behind her, the Zhenbei Army soldiers and villagers helping to pull the rope were in no better state. Their bodies were bent like bows, every joint straining with effort.
“General Feng is a good person! Nothing can happen to her!”
The crowd wept and shouted as they pulled the rope with all their might, the coarse hemp rope rubbing back and forth against their palms.
Some had blood blisters on their hands that burst, their blood and flesh sticking to the rope, making them gasp in pain.
Yet not a single person let go.
“The General is almost up! Give it one more push!”
The lieutenant shouted with everything she had.
The rope was reeled back inch by inch.
Feng Chunya's figure drew closer and closer. The little girl was bound securely to her chest, and she held the little girl's father in a death grip, never letting him go.
In truth, she had long since lost all strength in the water, her arms feeling as heavy as lead. That she could swim back at all was entirely due to the pulling of the crowd on the blue whale's back and her own stubborn willpower.
The water buffeted her relentlessly. With every wave that crashed over her, she was dragged back a few inches.
Yet she still grit her teeth, using her last breath to paddle toward the blue whale with one hand.
“General! Give me your hand!”
The lieutenant leaned more than half her body out, stretching one hand straight down toward the water. Her fingers were splayed, her fingertips a mere palm's width away from Feng Chunya's pale face.
She was almost suspended in midair over the edge of the whale's back, her other arm held tightly by the soldiers behind her.
Feng Chunya saw that hand, saw the lieutenant's raw, bloody palm, and the mud caked under her fingernails.
With reddened eyes, she reached to grasp the lieutenant's hand.
Fingertip touched fingertip.
Just one inch short.
Just a little further, and she could grab it!
However, at that very moment.
The hemp rope let out a dull snapping sound.
The very front of the rope suddenly snapped. The rope recoiled violently, catching several people pulling it off guard. They fell one after another onto the blue whale's back, colliding in a messy heap.
In the water, Feng Chunya was dragged back two zhang by the current. The little girl in her arms burst into tears, her tiny hands clutching the front of Feng Chunya's clothes in a death grip.
Feng Chunya looked down at the child.
In an instant, she made a decision.
She untied the rope binding the child to her chest. The moment the rope fell loose, she used the last of her strength to lift the tiny body and throw her upward.
The little girl was thrown toward the blue whale.
“Catch her!” Her voice cracked completely.
The lieutenant's pupils shrank. Almost by instinct, she lunged forward, catching the tiny, soaking wet body in midair and cradling her tightly in her arms.
The little girl struggled against her chest, turning her head to cry out toward the water.
“Daddy! General Auntie!”
Her cries stabbed into everyone's hearts like knives.
Feng Chunya's figure had already been swept away by the raging torrent, yet her grip on the little girl's father's hand still did not loosen.
The two of them were swept away into the distance by the muddy waves.
Her face was the last thing visible above the water. Her lips were completely devoid of color, yet as she looked at the child who had been caught on the whale's back, the corners of her mouth actually curved into a faint smile.
And then.
A wave crashed over them, swallowing her figure.
“General!” The lieutenant knelt at the edge of the whale's back, trembling all over as she held the crying little girl.
Behind her, the crowd wept in unison.
Just when everyone thought Feng Chunya and the little girl's father were doomed, a sudden light pierced the sky.
The white-clothed Divine Lady descended from the heavens, stepping upon the light. Her silver-white hair billowed in the wind, every strand shimmering with a faint golden luster. Her sleeves fluttered like clouds, and her snow-white hem brushed across the murky water without catching a single drop of mud.
Her face was veiled by a sheet of sheer silk embroidered with lilies of the valley, leaving only a pair of cool, detached phoenix eyes visible.
Though they could not see her face clearly, the soldiers of the Zhenbei Army still recognized her. She was their faith, their Divine Lady!
“Thank heavens! It's the Divine Lady!”
“We beg the Divine Lady to save General Feng!”
“Divine Lady...”
Mildst the chorus of pleas.
The Divine Lady lowered her eyes slightly and flicked her wrist.
A long, snow-white silk ribbon flew out from her sleeve like a spiritual snake leaving its cave, trailing a long streak of light as it swept across the water.
In the blink of an eye, the ribbon wrapped around Feng Chunya's waist and the man who had submerged.
In the next second.
The ribbon pulled both of them out of the water.
Feng Chunya only felt her waist tighten before she was lifted by an irresistible force.
The wind rushed past her ears. By the time she realized what was happening, she had landed on the blue whale's broad back. Soaked to the skin, she lay there coughing violently, spitting up nothing but filthy mud and water.
The little girl's father was placed beside her. Though unconscious, his chest was still rising and falling; he was alive.
Holding the little girl, the lieutenant stumbled over and fell to her knees beside Feng Chunya with a thud. She reached out to support Feng Chunya's shoulder, her fingers trembling so hard she could barely hold on.
Her lips trembled for a long time before she could finally speak. “General... General, you're alive... You're alive...”
The little girl broke free from the lieutenant's embrace and crawled over to her father, weeping over him.
“Daddy... Daddy... Please don't die...”
Feng Chunya forced herself to sit up.
She spoke urgently to the lieutenant, “Xiaoyu, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Go check on the child's father first. He swallowed a lot of water just now!”
“Alright.”
The lieutenant knew some medicine, so she did not delay, quickly turning to treat the little girl's father.
Feng Chunya bowed three times to the Divine Lady in the sky.
“Thank you, Divine Lady, for saving our lives.”
Yun Shu's gaze swept over Feng Chunya and everyone else on the blue whale's back, her heart filled with mixed emotions.
This sudden flood had once again shown her the courage of humanity and the kindness that lay at their core.
Seeing that everyone was fine, the little fox secretly breathed a sigh of relief. With reddened eyes, it remarked, “That silly fish Xiao Lan has actually gotten a lot smarter. It even knew to come rescue people.”
The blue whale also saw Yun Shu and the little fox. Happily carrying the crowd, it swam toward them.
“Zhuzhu, Xiao Funi! I saved so many two-legged beasts today! Hurry up and praise me!”
Since the floodwaters were still spreading toward Wuling City, Yun Shu was in a hurry to save people there and had no time to pay attention to the blue whale.
She merely gave the little fox a quiet instruction in her mind to have it and the blue whale take Feng Chunya and the others to safety, then turned and flew toward Wuling City.
“Xiao Funi, why is Zhuzhu ignoring me?”
The blue whale felt a bit aggrieved.
The little fox watched Yun Shu's retreating figure. “Silly fish, my host is going to save people. Let's not get in her way.”
Rate on N.U.
