“Almost there! Almost there! Give it everything you’ve got!”
The deputy general’s voice had long since turned hoarse, rasping like a broken bellows. Every time she shouted, it grew a little rougher.
“Pull harder!”
She stood at the very front, her palms rubbed raw by the hemp rope. Bright red blood seeped between the rope’s strands, trickled down onto the blue whale’s back, and was immediately washed away by the torrential rain.
Behind her, the soldiers of the Northern Garrison and the villagers helping to pull the rope were in no better condition. Their bodies were bent like drawn bows, every joint straining with all its might.
“General Feng is a good person! She can’t die!”
Weeping and shouting, everyone pulled with all their strength as the coarse hemp rope scraped back and forth against their palms.
Some had already developed blood blisters. When the blisters burst, blood and flesh stuck to the rope, making them suck in sharp breaths from the pain.
But not a single person let go.
“The general’s almost up! Put your backs into it!”
The deputy general shouted with everything she had.
The rope inched back, bit by bit.
Feng Chunya’s figure drew closer and closer. The little girl was firmly tied against her chest, while the girl’s father was still clutched tightly in her hand. She had never once let go of him.
In truth, Feng Chunya had already exhausted herself in the water. Both arms felt as heavy as lead. The only reason she had managed to swim back was because of the people pulling from the blue whale’s back—and her own ironclad will.
The current battered her without pause. Every wave that struck dragged her several inches backward.
Yet she still gritted her teeth and used the last of her strength to swim toward the blue whale with one arm.
“General! Give me your hand!”
The deputy general leaned nearly halfway over the whale’s side, stretching one hand straight toward the water, fingers spread wide. Her fingertips were only a palm’s breadth from Feng Chunya’s pale face.
Her entire body was almost suspended over the edge of the whale’s back, while soldiers behind her held tightly onto her other arm.
Feng Chunya saw that outstretched hand. She also saw the deputy general’s palm, rubbed raw and bloody, and the grit packed beneath her fingernails.
Her eyes reddened as she reached for the deputy general’s hand.
Fingertips touched fingertips.
Only an inch remained.
Just one more stretch, and they would be holding on!
But at that very moment—
With a dull snap, the hemp rope broke.
The front section suddenly recoiled. Several people who had been pulling with all their might were caught off guard and went tumbling onto the blue whale’s back, crashing into one another in a heap.
In the water, Feng Chunya was dragged back two zhang by the current. The little girl in her arms let out a terrified wail, her tiny hands clutching desperately at the front of Feng Chunya’s clothes.
Feng Chunya lowered her eyes and glanced at the child.
In that brief instant, she made a decision.
She untied the rope securing the girl to her chest. The moment it came loose, she summoned every last ounce of strength and thrust the little body upward toward the blue whale.
“Catch her!”
Her voice broke completely.
The deputy general’s pupils contracted. Acting on instinct, she lunged forward and caught the small, drenched body in midair, pulling the child tightly into her arms.
The little girl struggled against her chest, then turned toward the water and cried out.
“Papa! Auntie General!”
The cry pierced everyone’s hearts like a knife.
Feng Chunya had already been swept away by the raging current. She still held the little girl’s father in her grasp and had not let go.
The two of them were carried into the distance by the muddy waves.
For one final moment, Feng Chunya’s face appeared above the water. Her lips were already white, devoid of color, yet as she looked at the child who had been safely caught on the whale’s back, the corners of her mouth curved faintly upward.
Then—
A wave crashed down and swallowed her whole.
“General!”
The deputy general knelt at the edge of the blue whale’s back, clutching the still-crying little girl as her entire body trembled.
Behind her, everyone broke into sobs.
Just as all of them believed that Feng Chunya and the girl’s father were surely doomed, a ray of light suddenly burst across the horizon.
The White-Robed Goddess descended from the heavens, stepping upon the light. Her silvery-white hair streamed loose in the wind, each strand gleaming with a faint golden radiance. Her robes drifted like clouds, and the snow-white hem brushed over the filthy water without picking up a single drop of mud.
Her face was concealed behind a thin veil embroidered with lily-of-the-valley flowers, revealing only a pair of cool, distant phoenix eyes.
Though they could not see her face clearly, the soldiers of the Northern Garrison recognized her at once.
She was their faith—their Goddess!
“It’s the Divine Lady!”
“Please, Divine Lady, save General Feng!”
“Divine Lady…”
Amid the chorus of desperate pleas, the Goddess lowered her eyes slightly and turned her wrist.
A long white ribbon flew from her sleeve like a spirit snake bursting from its lair, trailing a stream of light as it skimmed across the water.
In the blink of an eye, the ribbon wrapped around Feng Chunya’s waist—and around the man sinking beneath the water.
The next second, it hauled both of them out of the river.
Feng Chunya felt a sudden tightness around her waist. Then, an irresistible force lifted her up.
The wind swept past her ears. By the time she realized what was happening, she had already landed on the broad back of the blue whale.
Soaked from head to toe, she lay there coughing violently, coughing up nothing but filthy water and mud.
The little girl’s father was placed beside her. He was unconscious, but his chest was still rising and falling.
He was alive.
The deputy general stumbled over with the little girl in her arms and collapsed to her knees beside Feng Chunya. She reached out to support the general’s shoulder, but her fingers trembled so badly she could barely hold on.
Her lips quivered for a long while before she finally managed to speak.
“General… General, you’re alive… You’re still alive…”
The little girl wriggled free of the deputy general’s arms and crawled to her father’s side, sobbing as she clung to him.
“Papa… Papa, don’t die…”
Feng Chunya forced herself to sit up.
In a hurried voice, she said to the deputy general, “Xiaoyu, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. Go check on the child’s father first—he swallowed several mouthfuls of water just now!”
“All right.”
Xiaoyu knew some medical treatment, and she did not waste a moment. She immediately turned around to save the little girl’s father.
Feng Chunya, meanwhile, faced the Goddess in the sky and bowed three times.
“Thank you, Divine Lady, for saving my life.”
Yun Shu’s gaze swept over Feng Chunya on the blue whale’s back, then over everyone behind her. Her heart was filled with complicated emotions.
This sudden flood had once again shown her humanity’s courage—and the kindness that lay at its core.
Seeing that everyone was safe, Little Fox secretly let out a sigh of relief. With red-rimmed eyes, it sighed, “Who would’ve thought Little Blue, that silly fish, would actually become so clever? It even knows how to rescue people now.”
The blue whale also spotted Yun Shu and Little Fox. Delighted, it carried the group toward them.
“Pearl-Pearl, Lucky-Mud, I rescued so many, many two-legged creatures today! Hurry up and praise me!”
But the flood was still spreading toward Wuling City, and Yun Shu was anxious to get there and save more people. She had no time to deal with the blue whale.
She merely instructed Little Fox telepathically to take the blue whale and escort Feng Chunya and the others to safety, then turned and flew toward Wuling City.
“Lucky-Mud, why won’t Pearl-Pearl talk to me?”
The blue whale sounded a little aggrieved.
Little Fox watched Yun Shu’s retreating figure.
“Silly fish, my host is going to save people. Let’s not get in her way.”
