Officer Li Yuetian swore he hadn't been this excited even on his wedding night. A wild, incredulous grin split his face as he watched the final chain of survivors stumble from the shallows. He grabbed the shoulder of a bald man standing slack-jawed nearby, his fingers digging into the wet fabric. "Quit standing around, you bastards, get up there and haul them in!" His voice was a hoarse, joyful bark that sent the gathered officers and volunteers scrambling toward the water's edge.
The shark submarine gunned its engine, a raw protest of machinery, fighting the flood's pull, but it still couldn't crawl up onto the bank, its belly scraping softly against the submerged slope. Luckily, Officer Li Yuetian had brought more than a dozen officers, and together they waded in, boots sinking into the mud, and dragged people ashore, hands gripping under arms and around waists, pulling them from the brown water like landed fish.
While yanking the bald man up, he rushed over, his boots splashing through the shallows, and shook Jing Shu's hand, his grip tight and fervent, eyes shining with a wet intensity.
"Jing Shu, I don't even know how to thank you!" He pumped her hand up and down. "You have done something monumental. You are my lifesaver." He leaned in slightly, his voice lowering but no less earnest. "Say the word, and if I can help, I will. And I'm submitting your name for a first-class commendation! I mean it."
Heaven knew how stunned and overjoyed he had been when, in the middle of evacuating the oil-base community, his nephew Li Bailong ran up, breathless, to say the temporary shelter was full because Jing Shu had already transferred the supermarket crowd there. The man had been happier than winning five million, a sudden, dizzying weight lifted from his shoulders. He had never expected a family that looked so ordinary to be this capable, to pull off a rescue he thought impossible.
Never judge a book by its cover.
"In that case, thank you, Officer Li Yuetian," Jing Shu said, her hand steady in his, her expression calm amid the chaos of coughing, crying survivors being led away.
Off to the side, Jing Lai, wringing water from her sleeve, blurted, "Director? Why are you here?" She stared at the bedraggled bald man Officer Li had just pushed forward.
Officer Li Yuetian shoved the bald man forward again, a gesture of contempt. "This clown calls himself a director? He dumped every task on other people. He can hand over the whole job to someone else now." He fixed the man with a hard look. "The deaths at the supermarket are on him." Then he turned back to Jing Shu, his tone shifting to deliberate inquiry. "By the way, I heard your aunt worked as a supervisor there and was a key figure in the rescue?"
Jing Shu narrowed her eyes, a faint flicker of satisfaction in them. Officer Li Yuetian knew how to read the room. Third Aunt's promotion and fortune were just around the corner, and he was handing her the shovel to dig the foundation.
"Yes." Jing Shu nodded, her voice clear. "My aunt did a lot. She organized people to collect planks and basins and get everyone upstairs in order. Later, she personally directed and supervised things until the very last group was transported out."
"And me, I helped a lot too!" Wei Wei suddenly jumped out from behind a cluster of drenched survivors, desperate to claim credit, her face eager.
Smack.
Jing Lai slapped her again, the sound sharp. "Helped?" her patience, stretched thin by hours of terror and effort, snapped. "Don't think I didn't notice you secretly tying only two knots on that last line. I just didn't have time to deal with you." Jing Lai had nothing left to lose. With a disaster this big and plenty drowned at the start, her own position might be gone anyway. She might as well speak her piece.
Officer Li Yuetian waved a hand, not even looking at Wei Wei. "Cuff him." Li Bailong moved like lightning and cuffed the bald director, the metal clicking shut around his wrists.
Having made his stance clear, Officer Li Yuetian added, his voice formal now, "Your aunt performed exceptionally. I will apply to appoint her as the new supermarket director and to award her a second-class commendation as well."
Wei Wei clutched her stinging face, gaping. Only then did she realize they were divvying up the credit, carving out rewards from the disaster, and she had just thrown herself onto the wrong plate. Officer Li Yuetian was deliberately repaying the favor owed to Jing Lai's niece, and she had made herself an inconvenient splinter.
"S-sorry to disturb you," Wei Wei stammered, her cheeks burning hotter than the slap, then fled in tears, pushing through the crowd. She had jumped in before the conversation finished and made a fool of herself. From today on, the once-equal Jing Lai would probably leap three ranks and become the boss of Ai Jia supermarket. The thought was a stone in her stomach.
Satisfied, Jing Shu took the dazed Jing Lai by the arm and guided her home. Even after they arrived at the dry, familiar stairwell of their building, Jing Lai still looked stunned, moving like a sleepwalker. She had planned to work hard for half a year to be made permanent staff, then strive to become a manager within three years, and aim for director in five.
She hadn't expected a giant leap. One sentence from a man in a soaked uniform, and it was done?
Watching the shark submarine glide away into the grey afternoon, its mission complete, Officer Li Yuetian beckoned when no one else was around, his eyes still on the spot where it vanished. "Li Bailong," he said quietly, "tell me again, in detail, what you saw last time you went to her house."
Li Bailong scratched his head, rainwater dripping from his fingers, and started talking. "…then we helped her catch Wang Zhong, and she gave us a big handful of wood ear mushrooms. Later, when we sent Wang Zhong to rot in a cell, she gave us a bag of soybeans." He shrugged, a faint smile touching his lips. "I think this girl is generous. She hits hard when she needs to, but she treats allies well. Today proves she isn't cold-hearted."
…
"Well, well, you two little brats finally came home." Grandma Jing stood in the doorway, hands on her hips, her face a mask of relief and scolding. "Huh? If your dad hadn't slipped up, I wouldn't even have known Ai Jia supermarket flooded! And you," she pointed a finger at Jing Shu, "bold as ever, taking that boat out there. Weren't you afraid you wouldn't find your way back?" Grandma Jing scolded, her voice thick with the fear she had been holding.
"You little rascal scared us half to death." Su Lanzhi pulled Jing Shu into a brief, tight hug, then held her at arm's length. "Don't you ever do that again!"
"As long as you are safe, as long as you are safe." Jing An repeated the words like a mantra, his own anxiety easing.
"Mom, Jing Shu, come eat!" The call came from the table, where steaming bowls were already set.
Grandma Jing and Su Lanzhi had called multiple times, the phone static-filled and frantic, worried sick, and only relaxed when they heard Jing Shu had already brought people out. The whole family had waited at the door, listening for footsteps on the stairs.
Jing Shu and Jing Lai took off their raincoats, heavy with water and the smell of the river, and washed their hands under the tap, the grimy brown water swirling down the drain. Then everyone dug in together. In a blur of clattering chopsticks and quiet urgency, they cleared the table, the hot food settling nerves and warming cold limbs.
Jing An came back later, his clothes damp at the shoulders, with four or five bedraggled chickens in a crate and news of a purchased pig, saying the Livestock Breeding Center was closed for the holiday, the animals hastily sold off.
"Our Planting Industry R and D Management Department is closed too," Su Lanzhi said, pushing her empty bowl away. "I heard the city is entirely underwater. With this volume of floodwater and rain, it won't recede anytime soon." She looked out the window at the relentless downpour. "It may get worse."
After a final bowl of warming soup, Jing An said, "I'm not sleeping tonight. I will keep watch outside. Nobody knows if the water will reach us." His gaze was fixed on the dark world beyond the glass.
Wu Youai added, "I have already told everyone in the group to handle their own meals for the next few days. And tonight I will hand out keys to the high floors so people can sleep there." She looked around at the family. "Or we can move to the top floor too? Just in case."
Even though Jing Shu knew the water shouldn't reach this area, the memory of a past that might not perfectly align with this present a cold thread in her mind, she didn't argue. Peace of mind was priceless. And if history decided to veer off from her memory and drown the place, the consequences would be unthinkable. Better safe, and exhausted, than sorry.
The family quickly agreed to sleep on the top floor of Building No. 25 for the night. Not just Jing Shu's household, Wu Youai arranged for dozens of other families to sleep up there too, a community migration upward.
"The tents I bought the year before will finally see some use." Jing Shu nodded toward the storage closet. "Let's bring tents tonight. It gets pretty cold up there with the wind."
They didn't need to bring much, just tents and basic supplies, sleeping bags and bottles of water. If they needed anything else, they could run downstairs. The only hassle was the eighteen stories of stairs, a vertical marathon they would have to climb in the dim emergency lighting.
The snowy old TV in the corner, its screen scratched, suddenly hissed to life with a pop of static. It was 19:00 on the dot. The evening news had begun, the anchor's face grave.
Sure enough, the news reported catastrophic floods across the country, showing brief, shocking clips of cities turned to lakes, and then delivered more bad news, the anchor's voice solemn:
Sea levels were still rising at a furious pace. In other words, today's flood was only a sprinkle, a preliminary taste.
Experts appeared on screen, their faces drawn, to say, "Our previous forecasts were correct. Rising sea levels will submerge at least 30% of the world's inland areas. Everyone must prepare. The situation is ongoing.
As of 18:00 today, Hainan Island has been completely submerged. Thankfully, there were no casualties. Evacuation was completed in late December last year." The anchor paused, allowing the weight of the next sentence to land. "China is the first to achieve zero casualties for an island evacuation of this scale."
The announcement shocked the nation, the words hanging in the quiet living room. Back then, so many had died during relocation, and there had been two waves of migration amid relentless opposition, arguments echoing in streets and online. And now? How many lives had that stubborn, unpopular policy saved? It proved China's decision had been right, a bitter vindication paid for in advance with struggle.
"Reports indicate that Japan and Indonesia are on the brink of being submerged. Casualties are incalculable." The screen showed chaotic, rain-lashed scenes of crowded ports and desperate faces. "Although emergency evacuations began when the rains started, countless people have still been swallowed by the sea." The footage cut to a wide shot of endless, heaving grey water where land once was, then back to the anchor, her expression bleak.