CHAPTER 270: CHAPTER 270 ORIGINAL SIN 79

Having just finished eating, before we could rest, we saw Song Lian rushing over and shouting, "Everyone with energy, get up! We just got word that there’s a group of children trapped in a kindergarten waiting for us to rescue them! Everyone with energy, get up and follow me!"

At Song Lian’s shout, almost everyone who heard it got up from the connected bamboo rafts, including Shuangshuang and Zhang Bing. In the end, Song Lian noticed there were too many people, so he named those who didn’t look in good shape to stay behind and only took those in better condition on the bamboo rafts to go rescue people.

Originally, Song Lian wanted to leave Shuangshuang behind, but Shuangshuang felt she was definitely in good condition and firmly requested to go. Song Lian saw that Shuangshuang’s condition was indeed okay, and having one more person wouldn’t hurt, so he didn’t insist further.

The kindergarten requiring rescue was a single-story building, though built quite high, about one and a half stories of an average building. After the flood came, the teachers hurriedly led the children to the roof, barely keeping them safe.

The trouble was that in their rush, the teachers didn’t bring any phones, making it impossible to call for help, so they could only hope someone would discover them.

We have to say that the teachers and children’s luck was quite good; fortunately, a man rescued by a soldier under Song Lian knew about this kindergarten. During the flood, it coincided with the time when kids were in class, so he mentioned it to the soldier who saved him.

When Shuangshuang and Song Lian arrived, the situation was a bit dire but not too bad. It was dire because the kindergarten building couldn’t withstand the flood’s attack and had started to collapse.

Not too bad because the tables and chairs in the kindergarten were made of wood. Turning a table over could hold a small child without any issue.

Even more fortunately, because of the heavy rain, many parents were uneasy about sending their children to the kindergarten, so there were only a few parents who mindlessly sent their children to the kindergarten, which remained open despite such bad weather. Consequently, the number of children trapped was far less than Song Lian had imagined.

Everyone paddled the bamboo rafts over and then carried the children out one by one from the small tables. The whole process was surprisingly smooth, making the rescue unexpectedly easy, which lightened everyone’s mood a bit.

"Help! Help! Help... glug... Help! Help..."

On the way back, halfway through, the barely joyful mood of everyone was suddenly broken by a series of desperate cries for help. The moment everyone heard it, instinctively, they hurried to paddle the bamboo raft towards the source of the sound, then dove into the water searching for someone!

The cries had stopped by the time everyone arrived, leaving only the sound of splashing in the water. By the time everyone swam towards the sound, even the splashing had ceased, indicating that the person had exhausted themselves and submerged into the water.

Everyone felt a bit anxious, as there was nowhere nearby for someone to stay afloat. On the pitch-black water surface, only a meter-long round log was floating. Apparently, the person might have been holding onto the log to stay afloat, and in a rush to call for help when they saw us, they accidentally let go and went under.

By now, it was dark, and the water was pitch-black, making it impossible to see how to save someone. Yet a living person’s life was at stake, and there was no way we couldn’t rescue them!

In the end, having no other choice, Song Lian turned on the underwater light he brought, and everyone dove down together, searching by that slight light.

A large group of people continuously dove and surfaced, making the water look like boiling dumplings churning in a pot!

Three minutes! They only had three minutes! If they couldn’t find the person within three minutes, the chance of survival would drastically decrease. At this moment, everyone was racing against time! Because they were battling with the Death God for life!

After countless dives, finally, a soldier found the submerged person and immediately pulled them onto the bamboo raft, followed by a series of emergency procedures. Fortunately, everyone’s efforts paid off; they rescued the person just in time, saving a life.

The disaster relief operation lasted a full half month before the disaster and its aftermath were finally managed and concluded.

During the first two days, Shuangshuang was busy rescuing people, which was the most exhausting. She almost stayed in the water continuously, so exhausted every day that her whole body trembled, but her sleep quality was as good as it had ever been. As long as there was time, she could fall asleep even standing up!

Later, experienced volunteer teams from civil organizations came to help. The search and rescue and diving tasks immediately became much easier.

Soon many volunteers came to offer their love and support. Though these volunteers lacked disaster relief experience and sufficient physical strength, having them look after sick victims, expand the water land pieced together with bamboo rafts, set up tents, and make food somewhat lightened everyone’s load.

Half a month later, after concluding this voluntary disaster relief effort, Shuangshuang, dragging her exhausted body, bid farewell to those she saved and who couldn’t stop thanking her. She was driven back to Red Dust along with her mother, Feng Jinyan, who had come later as a logistics volunteer, by a car Song Lian arranged.

Upon returning to Red Dust, Shuangshuang and Feng Jinyan slept through a full day and night. Feng Jinyan managed better; although logistics volunteers were tired, it was within the human body’s normal endurance range. Shuangshuang, however, had been almost daily overexerting her physical strength, now sleeping for a day and two nights straight!

When she woke up, Shuangshuang’s head was still groggy, feeling as though she’d slept herself silly, and her whole body ached due to muscle exhaustion. Shuangshuang decadently lay on the bed for another day; in two lifetimes, this was the first time she suffered like this!

For the past two days, Red Dust saw few visitors, allowing Shuangshuang and Feng Jinyan to close the door and rest thoroughly for a few days. When tourists returned to the area, Shuangshuang reopened Red Dust for business!

The first guest following Red Dust’s reopening turned out to be a familiar face, Li Qian, the provincial TV reporter who had interviewed Shuangshuang before.

This time, Li Qian came again to interview Shuangshuang, focusing on her volunteer work and her outstanding deeds on the front line of disaster rescue.

Being the only high school volunteer in disaster relief, working together with those soldiers on the front line of rescue, it was highly newsworthy, spreading pure positive energy!

However, before Li Qian could begin the interview with Shuangshuang, Red Dust welcomed two more groups of guests, among them Wan Yan and Feng Jing, who came to visit Shuangshuang along with Li Ming.