Chapter 21

With Zhou Rui’s help, the man exerted his last bit of strength to drag the remaining two children back to the shore together.

“Wake up, Jiabao woke up!”

“My Tongyuan too! Thank heaven, thank Buddha’s blessing.”

On the shore, two women held their recently awakened children, crying and laughing. Nearby, another woman slapped her son’s backside as soon as he came ashore. “I told you not to swim, but you didn’t listen. This time, you almost lost your life.”

The son grimaced but dared not talk back. He knew the situation was serious; without enduring a few slaps and scoldings, he wouldn’t get through this.

At that moment, a woman rushed over upon hearing the news, pushing through the crowd and embracing one of the last two rescued children. “Qiang Qiang, what’s wrong with you? Wake up! Wake up!!”

However, no matter how she called out, the tallest child remained closed eyes.

The CPR efforts had already been given up, and those involved had withdrawn automatically, shaking their heads before leaving others behind. 

The other three children spoke up, “Fatty wasn’t lying. It was really Qiangge who insisted on swimming. He swam the farthest and was the first to get cramps.”

“If Qiangge had agreed to play something else back then…”

“If Qiangge had gotten cramps, we all would’ve gone ashore first and gone back to find adults for help. It wouldn’t have turned out like this.”

“Are you trying to shirk responsibility and deliberately blame Qiangqiang?” Qiangqiang’s mom became emotional. “You’re all liars! You’re all lying to me!”

Meanwhile, after more than ten minutes of CPR, the other child rescued with Qiangqiang also lost his breath.

The child’s mother went mad, rushing forward to grab Qiangqiang’s mom’s hair, crying loudly, “It’s all your fault! How did you teach your child? Why did you let Qiangqiang lead them into swimming? Your child doesn’t care about his life, why drag my child into this?!”

“It couldn’t have been Qiangqiang leading them, it’s impossible! You’re just trying to shift the blame.”

The two women cried and fought, ending up in a brawl.

Yun Xin received a notification.

\[Player successfully rescued a human (Little Fatty) in scenario #117781 – “Child Drowning Incident”. Clearance evaluation: “C”. Attribute point rewards: Agility +0.1, Stamina +0.1.\]

Others watched as the two women pulled each other’s hair, feeling helpless and afraid to intervene.

Fortunately, the police arrived in time and immediately separated the two, ending the scene.

Zhou Rui observed everything quietly and asked softly, “Will the man who rescued the children be okay?”

“What could happen to him?” Zhu Lin smirked. “There are so many witnesses here, and he was the only one who went into the water to save them. Not only did he successfully rescue his own son, but he also saved two other children. The police station wouldn’t let this go without giving him a commendation plaque.”

“Good to hear,” Zhou Rui nodded without further comment.

The surviving children nervously approached Yun Xin, lowering their heads and sincerely apologizing, “Sorry, big sister Yun Xin. We shouldn’t have disobeyed you and sneaked out.”

Yun Xin just patted Little Fatty’s head and advised him, “Be cautious in choosing your friends.”

Little Fatty clearly didn’t want to go, but because those “friends” egged him on and teased him, he reluctantly went along. It was fortunate that he was quick-witted enough to know to go home and seek help. If he had stayed put and tried to rescue the others on their own, it would have been like the story of the Calabash Brothers rescuing their grandfather, one by one. ← This work is uploaded and edited online by readers of the “Si Tu” reading network.

Little Fatty was somewhat confused and didn’t seem to fully understand.

The other three looked embarrassed, hanging their heads and promising, “We won’t dare to do it again.”

As the police tidied up the aftermath, Zhou Rui and Yun Xin took the opportunity to sign the lease contract for their new rental. Due to the drowning incident, several children’s parents caused a big fuss, pulling at each other. When things finally settled down, it was already late in the day. Zhou Rui didn’t want to spend the night in the previous rental, so he bought some basic necessities at the supermarket and managed to get through the night in the new place.

The next day, he took half a day off to pack his things and move.

Yun Xin went home first and planned to come back after packing her luggage.

A good night’s sleep.

Since the weather turned hot, Zhou Rui hadn’t slept so soundly in a long time. When he woke up the next day, he was energetic, completely different from his worn-out appearance before.

Even moving, which was so hard, he did it quickly and had everything packed in no time. Then he called a tricycle to transport his belongings to the new rental.

As he left, the landlady couldn’t bear to see him go and asked, “Why move? Isn’t it nice to live here?”

Zhou Rui remembered dirtying his hands while packing, and for a moment didn’t remember the water treatment plant…

Zhou Rui drank a can of beer, not getting drunk but feeling more courageous, saying whatever came to mind. “Before all this happened, I really didn’t expect Yun Xin’s intuition to be so spot on. She warned the kids not to swim, they didn’t listen, and then this happened.”

“Last time, I tried to stop Zhou Rui from scavenging trash at the supermarket, but couldn’t, and that also ended up in trouble, getting beaten up when he returned.”

“Yun Xin, how do you know everything?!” This was the first time Zhou Rui heard about Yun Xin trying to stop him before he got beaten up. He tried to recall, “Did that happen?”

“It did,” Yun Xin told him, “you ran too fast. I didn’t finish speaking, and you were already gone.”

Zhou Rui awkwardly chuckled, “I probably didn’t hear it, I don’t remember at all.”

“I want that sixth sense too,” Zhu Lin propped her chin, “I want to win the lottery.”

Zhou Rui: “…You’re already so rich, and you still want to win the lottery?”

Zhu Lin grumpily replied, “That’s not my money, it’s my parents’. There’s a difference when it’s my parents’ money, and when it’s mine. I hope I have money on my own, so I don’t have to ask my parents for it.”

Yun Xin helplessly added, “Even with a sixth sense, it won’t help me win the lottery. I’ve never won anything.”

“Not winning…” Zhu Lin sighed disappointedly.

As they chatted, sudden barking from a dog outside interrupted them.

Following the sound, Zhu Lin saw a small yellow dog looking frightened and anxious, barking and struggling against its leash, trying to escape.

“I used to want to have a dog,” Zhu Lin suddenly recalled, “but puppies bark too much and always growl at me. After that, I dared not say I wanted to keep one.”

Yun Xin gave Zhou Rui a glance: Is she drunk?

Zhou Rui hesitated slightly: Should we?

Yun Xin blinked: What do we do now?

Zhou Rui: …Let her talk?

Just as she was about to disclose more, Zhu Lin changed the topic, “Lately, I feel like I’m living in a disaster movie. Children suffocating in cars, death from dehydration in high temperatures, children drowning… So when I saw a dog barking wildly, my first thought was that animals sensed an earthquake early, so I panicked. Is this world going awry, or am I going crazy?”

Unable to find an answer, Zhu Lin opened another bottle of beer and drank deeply in frustration.