Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 1005 - 662: Zhaodi and Brother Si

The sky was pitch black, and the rain kept pouring down.

People often describe heavy rain as if it were beads that have broken off a string, continuously falling.

But that's wrong. Real heavy rain isn't broken beads; it's like a string threaded with beads, unending and relentless, pouring down from the sky.

Under the flashes of lightning that split the sky, the water shimmered darkly—a vast expanse, covering everything, steadily approaching.

Those who have never experienced a flood can hardly feel this kind of fear.

Zhaodi held her sister, Brother Si, and escaped to the second floor, temporarily safe.

But her heart was still anxious because she didn't know if the waters would keep rising, if the house beneath her would collapse, or if someone would come to rescue them.

She wanted to run out; it would've been better a little earlier, but now it's too late!

In the darkness, with heavy rain, there was no path outside, no sight of the ditches, just a sheet of water everywhere.

If the flood came during the day, it would be slightly better; at least she could see how high it had risen and maybe climb onto the roof with her sister, or dive into the big wooden tub used for bathing.

The most frightening time is at night, too scared to sleep, for once you fall asleep, you won't know if the water has risen, nor how high it has risen. Last night, she fell asleep only to suddenly find her bed floating away...

"Sis, I miss Mom."

"I miss her, too."

"Sis, I'm scared."

"With me here, don't be scared."

Children from poor families grow up fast.

Their father was working in East Guang, and their mother went there to visit with the sisters during the summer break, planning to work short-term for two months, leaving the six-year-old sister in the care of twelve-year-old Zhaodi.

She might say she wasn't scared, but inside, she was terrified. Yet now they were trapped in the flood, screaming to the sky yielded no response, pleading to the earth got no answer. The only thing she could do was tightly hold her sister, place the kerosene lamp by the window, hoping someone in the distance might see it.

There really was someone in the distance!

On the dike about two miles from her home, many people arrived as darkness fell.

From the window, they could see the lights on the dike and even hear the roar of machinery and urgent whistles.

Brother Si gazed toward the lights on the dike, tightly gripping her sister's neck, asking, "Sis, is that the liberation army?"

"Yes, it's the liberation army; they'll surely come and rescue us."

"When will the liberation army arrive?"

"Soon, the liberation army will also bring us good things to eat." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Last night, they slept so soundly that even when the house flooded, they didn't realize.

The rice, vegetables, and oil were all downstairs, either submerged or floated away.

The upstairs was usually unoccupied, with nothing inside, and even if there was something, there was no stove to cook.

Zhaodi, like her sister, was thirsty and hungry, staring at the distant lights, suddenly reminded of "The Little Match Girl," feeling as though that story was about herself.

...

On the dike, the emergency response assault team's First Team was urgently working.

"First Team" was a temporary name given by Huang Yuanchang in the afternoon; he said over the phone that the Changhang Bureau leaders would come to visit the soldiers, and without a clear name, introductions would be difficult.

Though the emergency response assault team was also a temporary unit, it was established as a temporary committee, not a temporary branch.

If they used "First Team" and "Second Team" to distinguish the two amphibious combat formations, the unit level would seem too low; using "First Team" and "Second Team" was just right.

If both rescue teams executing rescue tasks here and in Shashi were teams, wouldn't the emergency response assault team become the general team?

Han Yu found it somewhat amusing but considering the Changhang system's high administrative level, like the Changhang Binjiang Branch Linghai Port Police Station, which only had a few people and not much work, yet it was a Full Department Level unit, it all seemed quite normal.

They were urgently rescuing the Yangtze River tributary dike section directly blocking the water.

A breach occurred yesterday morning, coupled with continuous torrential rains, raising the water level outside the dike very high, flooding the inside into a vast ocean.

The long river dike lay isolated on the water's surface, with floodwaters steadily pouring through the breach into the dike.

Currently, only a small civil dike was submerged; if they didn't hurry to seal the breach more civil dikes would flood, causing greater damage.

Because the inside of the dike was also flooded, the dike resembled a long, lonely island, unable to receive personnel support from either side, relying solely on the "First Team" for rescue, without assistance from local cadres or the public.

The entire dike was soaked in water, and the rescue difficulty was immense.

The most direct impact was the inability to obtain soil; all the soil required for rescue had to be transported by boat from soil extraction points over ten kilometers away.

Enduring the rain, battling day and night.

Using the temporary pile driver mounted on the floating crane, braving storm and rain, they managed to drive a row of piles, and Han Yu immediately ordered to throw the stones.

Dumping, packing, rolling…

Under the illumination of powerful searchlights on the ship, the loader operator Zhang Dapeng closely cooperated with the safety officer, swiftly performing a series of actions above the breach.

10 meters, 8 meters, 2 meters, with each progression of filling, the length of the breach continued to shorten, finally completely sealed at 4:11 a.m., although the danger wasn't entirely eliminated.

The rain fell harder, and the water level in the Yangtze River tributary kept rising.

If it rose further, the newly filled dam could be washed away by the flood again—time and rain were competitors they couldn't afford to lose!

Zhang Dapeng didn't want to hand over his shift like this, but as his shift time came, he had to switch.

This wasn't just due to fatigue possibly causing safety incidents, but also considering more dangers that needed urgent attention.

After all, the emergency response assault team was different from the soldiers like those from the 127 Regiment standing guard on the dike, who could rest once the flood was blocked. The emergency response assault team couldn't rest; for them, rest wasn't an option.