Chapter 162: She Did It—She Really Saved a Thousand People

Jing Shu didn’t bother to count exactly how many shaved heads there were—she could only see a dense crowd. In her mind, she was rapidly calculating something; all those years of practicing with a Rubik’s Cube were finally paying off, and her mental math skills had improved exponentially.

Shi Jiujiu kept recording with her phone. “Oh my god, this girl says she’s going to evacuate us. How on earth is she going to move over a thousand of us?”

Even Jing Lai was startled. “Jing Shu, don’t talk nonsense. How could you possibly evacuate so many people? We should call Officer Li and have him send some people over!”

“Exactly, we really appreciate your help, but there are just so many of us…”

Jing Shu shouted, “Enough with the chatter! Only half the people from the Petroleum Community have been evacuated, and it’ll take at least two hours for them to get here. The city is flooded, and everyone’s busy escaping to higher ground—there’s no way the police can spare anyone for this remote supermarket! If you don’t want to die, do exactly as I say!”

Jing Shu pulled out ten climbing ropes from the back seat of her Shark (the name of her speedboat/submarine). These ropes were top quality—impossible to cut, extremely strong. She’d originally prepared them for crossing snowy mountains during migration, but never expected to use them so soon.

She called Jing Lai over to gather all the wooden boards and anything else that could float—thankfully, they’d collected a batch during the earlier evacuation.

Then, Jing Shu tied the people together with the climbing ropes, just like prisoners were chained together in ancient times, and attached a wooden board or a big basin to each rope, making sure everyone had enough buoyancy to stay afloat.

Soon, five long strings of people were tied to the tail of the Shark, each person clutching a basin or a wooden board.

Being at the front was the most dangerous, but everyone knew the further back you were, the riskier it got, so plenty of people who could swim volunteered to try this method.

“Can your little Shark really pull so many people?”

“Look at this flood—the current’s strong enough to sweep people away.”

Jing Shu tossed the rest of the ropes to Jing Lai. “Aunt, you take over from here—get everyone tied up. I’ll be back for the next group soon.”

Jing Lai was still in disbelief, nodding dazedly. “Oh, okay!”

Shi Jiujiu captured this miraculous scene on camera. “I can’t believe this girl came up with such a plan—and she just happened to have so many ropes on her... But can she really pull sixty or seventy people at once?”

As soon as she finished speaking, the roar of an engine cut through the air—the sound of someone flooring the accelerator.

“Everyone, hold on tight! This is going to be a wild ride, but just bear with it—we’ll be there soon! Let’s go!”

Vroom... vroom~

The Shark kicked up a four-meter-high spray, drenching the people behind, then shot forward like a rocket, dragging the whole line of people with it amid a chorus of screams.

In the blink of an eye, the Shark and its human cargo disappeared from view...

A 280-horsepower tractor can pull 60 tons of cargo, let alone a 280-horsepower Shark submarine. On the water, it could reach speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour. Its specialty was raw power—it could leap four meters into the air and glide.

And right now, Jing Shu was going with the current!

Thank heavens she’d been reborn and had plenty of experience with this year’s floods—otherwise, she’d never have dared make such a bold promise. She was heading downstream, but at an angle, which, though a bit roundabout, was actually faster.

If she went straight downstream, they’d end up in the city center.

The supermarket was basically in the middle of the river. Jing Shu’s job was to get everyone to the shore, where there was a resettlement point—Li Yuetian had said people were stationed there.

Jing Shu floored the accelerator, and with the current’s help, she sped along at 60 km/h for four kilometers. The whole trip took only four minutes. Luckily, the water was deep now, and this area was remote, with no tall buildings or even utility poles—just a vast expanse of water. She smoothly brought everyone to the shallows and hurried back.

As soon as they arrived, people started coughing and choking on water; some even fainted, and many had purple marks from the ropes. But compared to life and death, these were nothing.

“Thank you, young lady!”

“Thank you so much—I can’t believe it actually worked! Let’s hurry and untie ourselves so she can go save the next group.”

The return trip took three minutes, since it was against the current.

Back at the supermarket, the Shark speedboat’s incredible speed gave everyone hope. No matter how she was doing it, at this rate, she really could evacuate all of them!

The second group was even more eager.

Shi Jiujiu, holding her waterproof phone: “Look, I’m in the second group—we’re all tied up and just waiting for the Shark speedboat to come get us. Oh, look, it’s here! My god, it only took a few minutes—this is insane!”

As soon as the Shark arrived, Jing Lai quickly swapped out the ropes, and Jing Shu personally tied the next string of people to the boat’s tail. Once everyone had a board or floating object, she took off without another word.

Shi Jiujiu tied her phone to herself. “Oh my god, glug glug... this is... glug glug... wild, it’s like—ugh, ptooey, glug glug...”

For the first time, Shi Jiujiu realized how much it hurt to be slapped by water. The waves hitting her face stung like her mother’s childhood spankings, and there were even red threadworms mixed in...

The speed was so intense that keeping her mouth shut was a struggle—if she opened it, wind and rain would rush in, and her throat just kept swallowing. In just a few minutes, she’d swallowed several pounds of water—her stomach was bloated.

To make matters worse, inertia kept slamming her into the auntie next to her, who actually looked like she was enjoying it...

With a perfect turn, they were flung onto the shore, everyone dizzy and vomiting.

Shi Jiujiu filmed the Shark’s tail:

“Cough, cough—this big sister is all action, few words, and amazing skills. She’s off to save more people. If all goes well, all thousand of us will be rescued. I really hope I get to meet her and thank her in person. That’s it for today’s recording—someone’s coming to pick us up. I’ll record more once we’re settled.”

...

Jing Shu raced against time, and finally, before the floodwaters covered the rooftops, she tied the last big group—over a hundred people—to the Shark’s tail. Everyone was terrified but grateful they’d made it in time!

Jing Lai, sitting in the Shark, was worried—it felt like a sled dog trying to pull a dozen people through the flood, the engine humming with effort.

Jing Shu secretly refueled the Shark with diesel—thank goodness she always kept supplies on hand.

Li Yuetian, in military uniform, waited anxiously in the pouring rain. “It’s been ten minutes—why isn’t she here yet? Didn’t she say five minutes?”

Just as he spoke, a shark fin appeared in the distance, struggling forward through the wind and rain."