Chapter 31

“Speed up! Full speed ahead!”

Cheng Yu’s near-roaring command echoed across the entire boat just as Shu Fu was retracting her other binoculars, looking for an opportunity to jump into the water.

Behind them, the massive wave was even closer than the one she had seen that morning.

Unlike the hurricane from that day, this time, there were no spiraling water columns or oppressive dark clouds—only an overcast sky and a colossal wall-like wave.

A tsunami?!

Although she knew that everything happening right now was undoubtedly a crucial turning point in their mission, her first instinct was to jump into the water and pull out her raft. In a life-or-death disaster like this, what mission could be more important than survival?

But in the very next second, her wrist was grabbed by Cheng Yu.

He yanked her back just as she was about to fall out of the boat, his expression still shaken. “Be careful!”

Shu Fu: …

At the front of the boat, Liu Shuang hadn’t yet seen the situation behind them, but she immediately followed the order, pushing past another rescue team member to take control of the helm, cranking the boat’s engine to full power.

Cheng Yu shoved the binoculars back into Shu Fu’s hands, gripping her with one hand while holding onto the boat’s roof with the other, struggling to move toward the front through the violently rocking boat.

“What’s going on?” Liu Shuang asked, splitting her focus between steering and glancing at them.

As if in response, a deafening air raid siren suddenly blared from the direction of the dam ahead.

It was the tsunami warning alarm!

Liu Shuang’s face went pale. “No way… This is inland—how can there be a tsunami?”

“It must have been caused by the hurricane. A few days ago, there was a hurricane over Sankou Province, but it came and went quickly, with a limited impact…”

Cheng Yu first secured Shu Fu in a seat behind Liu Shuang, gesturing for her to hold onto the railing before quickly taking command. “Forget the mountain route, there’s no time! Head for the dam!”

Liu Shuang immediately understood his reasoning. The hill route was farther away, and even if they made it to land, they’d still need to travel by car. The lower-altitude sections of the path might not be high enough to escape the tsunami.

But the dam was closer. And although Cheng Yu and Liu Shuang held the same rank in the rescue team, his official position was higher. He didn’t need to request access through the radio—he could use facial recognition to activate the elevator. In an emergency like this, they could go straight to the top of the dam.

However, speeding through such a violent storm was extremely dangerous. The boat’s bow collided with a towering wave, causing the vessel to lurch to one side and nearly capsize.

Screams erupted again as passengers turned pale, gripping the railings and handles for dear life, wishing they could weld themselves to the boat.

Liu Shuang and another team member struggled to regain control of the boat. Her instinct was to slow down, but Cheng Yu immediately stopped her.

“I’ll drive!” He took the helm and pushed the speed back to maximum.

The boat lurched violently as they neared the dam. By the time they reached the external docking platform and rushed toward the dam’s embedded elevators, Liu Shuang, who had paused at the safety railing to glance back, finally understood why Cheng Yu had risked everything to maintain speed.

Her hometown wasn’t by the sea, but after graduation, she had worked in coastal rescue for years.

Huagou was situated on a broad continental shelf, geologically unfavorable for tsunami formation, making tsunamis rare. In all her years of service, she had only personally encountered a handful.

Among them, the most destructive occurred just over two months ago—a typhoon-driven storm that slammed into the coastline with fifteen- to sixteen-meter-high waves, instantly toppling entire sections of coastal buildings.

It had been the largest recorded tsunami in the past 500 years of Huagou’s history.

But now, in her field of vision, the monstrous wave surging from the other side of the water far surpassed that height. From her vantage point on the dam, it looked like a black cloud swallowing the sky.

The gale whipped against her face. The waves had to be at least forty meters high—a towering wall of water, roaring toward them.

They were still outside the dam’s main wall—far too low to withstand such a wave.

If it hit, they would be no different from insects clinging to a wall, easily swatted away by the water.

“Get inside the elevator! To higher ground!” Liu Shuang spun around and yanked at a few refugees who were still hesitating, forcefully shoving them into the elevator.

Due to the dam’s special function, its embedded elevators were massive, capable of holding over twenty people at once—just enough to fit everyone from their boat.

However, unlike Shu Fu, who carried only a small backpack, most of the refugees had several large bags stuffed with food and supplies. The rescue efforts had become less stringent than at the beginning, allowing people to bring some belongings. Now, although they could all fit inside, their bags couldn’t.

“Leave the bags! Drop everything outside!” Another rescue team member quickly realized the issue and shouted.

But in a time of disaster, survival supplies were invaluable. Who would willingly abandon them?

Seeing a few refugees blocking the elevator entrance, still trying to shove their bags inside, Cheng Yu, already inside the elevator, wasted no time. He grabbed their bags and threw them out.

As the refugees cried out in alarm, several large bags were thrown out, freeing up just enough space for the remaining rescue team member and refugees to squeeze into the elevator.

But Liu Shuang was still outside, unable to get in. Inside the elevator, a burly refugee had taken up a corner, hunched over, stubbornly clutching his two large bags, refusing to let go.

Ignoring his bleeding wound, Cheng Yu threw a punch, but the man still wouldn’t let go. With cold eyes, Cheng Yu grabbed the man’s collar, yanked him to the elevator entrance, and kicked him out—bags and all.

Liu Shuang sidestepped just in time before being quickly pulled into the elevator by Cheng Yu.

“What the hell are you doing?!” The burly man, sprawled in the rain, glared at Cheng Yu with a vicious expression.

“If you want to die, do it alone—don’t drag others down with you!” Cheng Yu threw out another bag. “Either drop your bags and get in, or stay behind and die. You have three seconds to decide. Three, two—”

The man had been transferred to the rescue boat two days ago along with Shu Fu, coming from a shopping mall shelter. His two bags were filled with food, water, and supplies he had secretly hoarded, along with valuables like phones and jewelry looted from stores. This was his livelihood for when he reached Lou Yuncheng—there was no way he’d just abandon it!

The tsunami alarm blared across the sky once more. The man got up, looking past the railing at the monstrous waves surging toward them. The wave had nearly reached the factory buildings where the shelter was located.

Against the backdrop of the towering wave, those sturdy structures that had housed countless refugees looked as fragile and helpless as toy blocks.

He knew he should abandon his supplies and rush into the elevator to save himself. But he refused to believe it!

He had survived all kinds of disasters on this journey, had seen blood, and fought through countless hardships—why should he give up now?

With a vicious glare at the people inside the elevator, he knew he couldn’t take them on alone. He spat in their direction, tightened his grip on his two large bags, and turned to run down the walkway.

He knew from online resources that this dam had more than one elevator. If they wanted to force him to abandon his supplies, he’d do the opposite.

He refused to believe he couldn’t outrun the waves!

The elevator doors shut. No one spoke to stop him.

The refugees, shaken by the violent waves and the terrifying tsunami alarm, were too frightened to care about anything else. Even if they didn’t understand why a tsunami was hitting an inland area, they had all seen the monstrous waves by now.

Neither Cheng Yu nor the other two rescue team members said a word either. They were rescuers, not saints. They had no obligation to save someone so selfish that he endangered others.

Shu Fu, even more so, wouldn’t speak up. She had no way out now. Whether inside the elevator or on the narrow walkway outside with its railing, there was simply no space to deploy her raft.

The only safe place now was the top of the dam.

This elevator was embedded in the exterior of the dam, with solid concrete walls on three sides. Only the side facing the water had reinforced glass, allowing a clear view of the outside.

Wanting to see the situation outside, Shu Fu moved closer to the glass door but kept most of her body tucked into the metal corner of the elevator, as if afraid that getting too close to the glass might send her tumbling out.

The elevator began to ascend rapidly, but the overwhelming pressure in her chest did not ease with the height.

On the contrary, as they rose, everything outside became even clearer.

When she saw the wave engulf the factory buildings, crushing them effortlessly and swallowing them—along with the people inside—her long-dormant sense of panic and suffocation surged to its peak.

In the face of nature’s raw fury, the structures humans relied on for survival were nothing more than fragile sandcastles.

The elevator fell into silence.

The outside world looked like a scene from a sci-fi disaster movie—except before, watching such images made their adrenaline spike with excitement.

But now that the CGI had become reality, there was no thrill—only terror. A deep, powerless terror that made them afraid to even breathe too loudly.

The tsunami surged closer. The people inside could already hear the sound of the churning waves.

With a loud ding, the elevator finally reached the top level of the dam.

This level was about 60 meters high. The elevator had doors on both sides—one leading to an external walkway with a safety railing facing the water, the other to the interior of the dam.

Beyond the interior door was a passage that led to the other side of the dam. By crossing it, they could reach Lou Yuncheng through another elevator.

“Hurry!” Cheng Yu opened the interior metal door, standing at the entrance, issuing a simple but urgent order.

Liu Shuang grabbed Shu Fu’s hand and ran, shouting as they moved, “Don’t scatter! This is a safe height, and we’re inside the dam—it should be strong enough! Find a spot against the wall and get down!”

She didn’t need to say it twice. Everyone obeyed immediately.

The moment Shu Fu crouched against the wall, she felt the entire structure tremble beneath her.

It was as if she were cargo in the bed of a rattling truck—shaking uncontrollably along with it.

When the giant waves surged toward human structures, the fragile ones, unable to withstand the immense water pressure, were instantly crushed and ground into debris. The sturdier buildings, on the other hand, let out thunderous roars as they resisted the impact.

In the end, the solid, twenty-meter-thick dam managed to hold back the raging waters.

A few minutes later, the unsettling tremors finally ceased. Cheng Yu, who had been crouching beside Shu Fu, stood up. He took another passage and returned to the walkway outside the dam, facing the water.

The others immediately followed.

The rain was still falling, and the wind continued to howl. But the massive, terrifying wave that had once towered over the water was now gone. The water had returned to its previous state—except when they looked down from the dam, they could clearly see that the water level had risen significantly.

The area where the shelter once stood was now exposed, revealing the wreckage of buildings destroyed by the wave. The water around it was littered with countless fragments of debris—along with people who had miraculously survived but were now helpless, confused, and drowning in despair.

Some were injured and crying out for help.
Some were screaming in terror.
Some were wailing in despair, searching for their lost loved ones…

The survivors atop the dam were filled with lingering fear. Just a little more—just a tiny bit more—and they would have been among those struggling in the water.

They were lucky. Lucky that the boats hadn’t returned to the shelter. Lucky that they had reached safety in time.

Cheng Yu slowly clenched his fingers. At this very moment, he should have been inside the shelter at the factory buildings, handing over responsibilities to Liu Shuang.

But when the giant wave struck, no amount of experience or survival training would have guaranteed their safety.

The feeling of barely escaping death wrapped around his throat, tightening like a vice. It left him breathless—along with another, eerily familiar sensation.

The last time he had felt this way was in Suicheng.

Beneath her raincoat, Shu Fu’s wristband gave a faint vibration.

Mission complete.