Chapter 623 - 638: Rescue

An Guoming and Yu Zheng sprang into action after receiving An Ning’s call.

Tons and tons of urgently needed supplies were being prepared.

After countless trips back and forth, An Ning finally managed to rescue some of the trapped people.

At this point, she suggested going out by herself. She needed to find boats.

"No way. If you go by yourself, Mom will kill me."

"Exactly. My dad would send me to join our ancestors."

Her two older brothers both disagreed, but they couldn’t change An Ning’s mind once it was made up.

"The more boats we have, the more people we can save. Are we just going to ignore all the surrounding villages?"

An Ning’s question left the two of them speechless.

"Wait here. I won’t be gone for long."

An Ning took a boat and left by herself.

She just needed some time and space to herself to take out the boats.

After leaving, An Ning picked a direction. Once she confirmed no one was around, she took out several compressed hovercrafts and inflated them.

She prepared a total of ten hovercrafts. Any more would be too conspicuous.

However, to make her story more believable, An Ning drenched herself from head to toe.

She couldn’t claim she found the boats out on the water, but she could say they were prepared in advance and had been stored in her house.

As for the compression technology, she was prepared to reveal it.

It wasn’t an incredibly advanced technology. When compressed, a hovercraft was about the size of a small tablet and as thick as a fist, making it very easy to transport.

An Ning tied the ten boats together with a rope. With her boat at the front, she created a winding, orange dragon of vessels as she piloted them back to town.

When An Ning returned with the boats, the town mayor was so overjoyed he wept.

Only boats could reach the submerged villages.

Soon, under the direction of the town officials, rescue operations began, with three people assigned to each boat.

An Ning, still accompanied by her two brothers, An Guoqing and An Guohui, sped toward a village to start the rescue efforts.

The water was receding faster in some villages. As long as they weren’t adjacent to the river, the flooding was severe but, thankfully, not life-threatening.

The villages along the river, however, were in a much worse state. The water was deeper, and since some villages weren’t near any hills, they had no high ground. The rooftops were the highest points, but many of them had been destroyed.

Let alone the people.

When An Ning’s boat and another arrived at one such village, the air was filled with wails, cries for help, shouts, and heart-wrenching sobs.

"Save them!"

Not daring to waste any time, An Ning made a call to report how severe the disaster was here.

As they moved through the floodwaters, An Ning kept relaying information to guide the external rescue teams.

Two boats weren’t enough!

So An Ning simply took out five more compressed boats and inflated them right in front of everyone.

An Guoqing looked as if he had witnessed magic, pointing at the boat, too stunned to speak.

"Brother, you take this one. Bring along someone who knows the village, and be careful."

An Guoqing nodded, climbed out of the hovercraft, and got into the other boat.

"Sis—this—"

"New technology! Compressed hovercrafts!"

"Ohhh—"

It was a moment of epiphany for An Guoqing. Even though he had no idea what this "new technology" was, simply being able to put a name to the strange object immediately put him at ease.

The appearance of the five additional hovercrafts greatly relieved the pressure on the rescue efforts.

A woman who had just been pulled aboard dropped to her knees with a thud in the middle of the boat.

"Save my child! Please, save my child! He’s only seven! Only seven!"

The woman’s sobs were heart-wrenching. An Ning learned that when the floodwaters had surged, they had lost their grip on the child, and he was swept away.

An Ning wanted to tell her that everything would be all right, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Not with these waters, and not about a seven-year-old boy.

"Lan’er, get up... Please, get up. Zhuzi couldn’t have survived... He’s gone."

An old woman struggled to pull the younger one up, and the two of them embraced, sobbing together.

It wasn’t that they didn’t know the truth; they just refused to accept it.

"My boy—"

Crying is contagious, but grief is even more so.

For a moment, everyone on the boat turned away, secretly wiping away their tears.

An Ning and her team transported the villagers to the high ground in town, handing them over to the people in charge there.

After a few more trips, everyone they could find in the village had been evacuated.

Before she knew it, night had fallen.

It was only when a young girl offered her a bowl of instant noodles that An Ning realized she hadn’t eaten all day.

"Hurry and eat. I put a sausage and an egg in it for you. This is for you, too. You need to eat. Thank you."

The little girl gave An Ning a warm smile.

"Thank you."

She accepted the warm instant noodles and the fork the little girl offered. Inside were two eggs, a sausage, and a packet of shredded pickled greens.

At a time like this, a bowl of noodles like this was a world-class feast.

An Ning ate every last bite, not leaving a single drop of broth.

With food in her stomach, warmth spread through her body.

An Ning still had the bread and water the little girl had given her. She secretly left them at the shelter, then got back in her boat and set out again.

Moreover, every time she returned, she brought back more food.

All of this food came from her pocket dimension. The problem was, she didn’t have many rations stored away. Most of her stock was raw grains and fresh meat, things she couldn’t possibly take out now.

It wasn’t much, but at least it was something for people to eat.

That night, An Ning took her boat out alone, having informed only the town leadership.

’I should search again,’ she thought. ’What if there’s still someone out there?’

In the darkness, a large searchlight illuminated the path ahead. Finding a deserted spot, An Ning refueled the hovercraft. The roar of its engine was exceptionally loud in the dead of night.

The beam of her flashlight fell upon a piece of paper, on which a list of names was written.

These were the names of the missing.

’The odds were slim, but what if a miracle happened?’

An Ning piloted the boat, the list committed to memory. With a megaphone in one hand, she began calling out into the night.

"Zhang Chuang— Zhang Chuang— Li Xue— Li Xue— Wang Jian—"

One after another, An Ning called out the names on the list.

From top to bottom, and then from bottom to top.

But the only answer seemed to be her own echo.

An Ning followed the current, pressing onward, her voice never ceasing as she called out again and again.

At that moment, An Ning was overcome by a profound, almost mystical sensation. She felt that as long as she kept calling, those people still had a chance.

If she stopped, she would be the one truly extinguishing their last hope of survival.

After calling out for what felt like an eternity, An Ning paused to take a drink of water.

"Hel...p..."

An Ning froze mid-sip, abruptly lowering her water bottle. Not daring to make a sound, she listened intently, spreading her spiritual power outwards.

"Help—"

’Someone’s really there!’

An Ning saw them!

"Don’t move! I’m coming to get you!"

An Ning piloted the hovercraft toward a large tree.

About five meters away from the tree, the boat could go no further.

Too many branches and pieces of debris were snagged on the tree, blocking the way.

The child calling for help was hanging from a branch, caught only by their thin shirt.

"Stay still. I’m coming in."