Danger on the River
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
Just as Xuan Tian Ming said “Don’t look,” and before his hand could cover Feng Yu Heng’s vision completely, a broken finger could be seen in the box.
Feng Yu Heng dove at the box as though she had gone crazy. Grabbing it, her arms shook so much that she needed Xuan Tian Ming’s help to ensure that the box did not fall to the ground.
A broken finger rested inside the box. It was a child’s finger. The fingernail was a bit longer, and there was a small mole that was very noticeable at the first knuckle.
Feng Yu Heng was quite decisive. Quickly calming down, she did not even think and removed the finger from the box, placing it inside her space’s operating room. Her complexion was pale and turning faintly green. Xuan Tian Ming knew that this was a complexion that someone who had been angered to the extreme would have. The enemy had actually dared to remove one of Zi Rui’s fingers. Not to mention Feng Yu Heng, even he would not allow them to continue living.
He turned his head and ordered: “The person that delivered this box is definitely still on board. Contact everyone and have them begin searching!”
Ban Zou nodded. Before he could turn around to leave, the boat began to sway wildly. This movement came suddenly, and it was quite large. Ban Zou lost his balance and also swayed before falling over. Fortunately, the swaying quickly stopped, but the boat no longer continued to advance steadily. Together with the wind and waves, the sounds of adults shrieking and children crying could faintly be heard.
“Young miss, your Highness!” Wang Chuan’s voice came from outside the door. Ban Zou quickly went over to open it. After Wang Chuan entered, she quickly said: “A strong wind has appeared on the river. The boatmen are working on it, but the boat has slowed drastically.”
Feng Yu Heng’s heart sank a little bit more. She was a little anxious. From the cut on the finger, she would see that it had been removed roughly two days prior. Although she had placed it inside her space, she did not know how Zi Rui’s injury was. If she was able to find that child immediately, she could try and fix it; however, if too much time passed, it would not be so simple.
She urgently asked Xuan Tian Ming: “Is there any possible way for us to chase faster?”
Xuan Tian Ming was truly powerless. They were currently on a river, and they needed to rely on a boat. But with such strong winds and waves, how could they move any faster?
Feng Yu Heng saw the troubled expression on his face and knew that this matter was very tricky. Just as she was thinking about whether or not there was something inside her space that could be used, the already swaying ship swayed once more. The scale of this swaying was even worse than before, as Wang Chuan was thrown into the air then dropped to the floor.
Ban Zou quickly went to support her. At this time, Huang Quan brought the young girl over to this side. Then it was the hidden guards from various areas that arrived. For a while, this room was very crowded; however, because it was crowded, people were not falling all over.
But the other cabins on the boat were different. Each time that the boat swayed, the guests were the ones to suffer. The sound of people crashing into the boat’s wooden walls could be heard from time to time, and their screams became louder and louder. The shouts of the boatmen also grew louder. The majority of these voices were telling everyone to return to their rooms and grab something firm. They absolutely must not go out onto the deck.
But the people that had already gone outside found it very difficult to return. The swaying of the boat became more and more violent. Feng Yu Heng’s feet were firmly planted on the floor, and she could faintly feel as though there was a cracking feeling coming from the bottom of the boat.
She was not the only one to feel this. Xuan Tian Ming and everyone else could also feel it.
At this time, the two hidden guards that had been living at the bottom level ran up and urgently said: “Someone did something to the bottom of the boat. The boat’s sails have also been completely ruined. They can last for at most two sticks of incense in time before this boat will sink.”
The first to feel horror was the little girl. Upon hearing that the boat was about to sink, her face turned pale with fear, as she trembled endlessly. Huang Quan asked her: “Do you know how to swim?”
The girl shook her head, “I don’t.”
Wang Chuan helplessly said: “She is so small. Even if she knew how to swim, it would be pointless. The wind on the river is strong. I fear that she would be washed away as soon as she hit the surface of the water.” While saying this, she looked at Xuan Tian Ming and said with concern: “Young miss also does not know how to swim.”
Indeed, Feng Yu Heng did not know how to swim. This was most troubling. Not only did Feng Yu Heng not know, but even Huang Quan’s abilities in the water were also lacking. She had fallen into the water with Feng Yu Heng the previous year. After that, although she had spent some time learning, the effectiveness was very low.
But the boat was suffering more and more damage. It did not provide them with much time to think. Before they could say another word, they suddenly heard a “crack” sound come from the boat. This pierced the hearts of all on board the boat.
With this thunderous sound, the entire boat split in two parts without any delay. With the two ends breaking apart, they quickly began to sink. Shrieks could be heard before quickly being muffled by the water.
Xuan Tian Ming’s group reacted quickly. He quickly grabbed Feng Yu Heng’s hand and did his best to bring her toward a high spot. Ban Zou grabbed Huang Quan, and Wang Chuan protected the young girl. The group of over ten fell into the river along with the other guests. The cold of late-Autumn entering Winter quickly arrived. Even Xuan Tian Ming shivered against his will.
Suddenly falling into the water, Feng Yu Heng was caught off-guard. Even with someone protecting her, she still ended up gulping down a large mouthful of river water due to her lack of affinity for water. Fortunately, Xuan Tian Ming immediately raised her up. At the same time, there were a number of hidden guards that came over and helped hold her up.
Like this, Feng Yu Heng was raised up high. Although both of her legs were still in the water, her upper body was above. With this height, she was able to see what was happening. One after another, people were falling into the river. There were even some that desperately held onto the boat; however, the boat was sinking too quickly. In the blink of an eye, they disappeared completely under the river. Some people managed by grabbing onto a piece of the broken boat. Using that, they were able to support themselves and remain floating. Some of the men that were good at swimming struggled to try and bring their families back toward land.
But the Peng River was very wide. Feng Yu Heng calculated that from this point to land, there were at least 100 meters. The wind on the river was extremely strong. Even for someone good at swimming, getting there on their own was a great struggle. If they were to bring their family, how could they even manage.
However, in this world, disasters never came on their own. Just as the boat began to sink, rain began to fall from the sky. At the start, everyone believed that they were just splashes from the river, but they very quickly noticed in despair that the water falling on their heads was not water splashing up from the river. It was a torrential rain.
The people that still had a bit of strength left gradually gave up their struggle in this heavy rain. Some people sank into the river in exhaustion, and others let out a last scream in despair. There were even others that held onto the pieces of the boat while waiting for their natural deaths.
For a while, the surface of the river was like purgatory. Just watching it caused Feng Yu Heng’s eyes to become bright red.
“Xuan Tian Ming!” She shouted, “Save them! Quickly save them!”
The benevolent feelings of a medical practitioner, she had never been a vicious person. There was not a single person that hoped that the world would be at peace more than Feng Yu Heng.
But life insisted on arranging for her to live this sort of life. Not to mention the intense fights of the large courtyards, even when she sat in a boat now, so many people became implicated and lost their lives because of her. She was a doctor. If possible, she hoped that everyone could live peacefully. Unfortunately, things went contrary to her wishes. This scene of death appeared before her eyes, and the heartache that it caused nearly caused her eyes to bleed.
Xuan Tian Ming naturally knew what she was thinking. It was not just Feng Yu Heng that wanted to save these people. He also wanted to! These people were all citizens of Da Shun. They were his Xuan family’s citizens. After his Xuan family had taken this world, their purpose was to provide safety for the people of this world. But so many people were dying in front of him. They could not be saved, and he felt despair. If he had six arms, he would definitely spare five to save these people.
However, he was just one person. He was just the prince of the country, and it was impossible for him to do anything alone. Xuan Tian Ming held Feng Yu Heng with one hand and could only grab three people that had fallen into the water. Quite a few hidden guards had been sent out, but there was a limit to their numbers. There were at least 200 people on this boat, but how could they manage to save all of them based on their numbers?
There were also those that had sunk under the water. Feng Yu Heng desperately shouting: “If they can be brought up, there is a chance of saving them!” But after shouting just a little, she lost her confidence.
Everyone understood this reasoning, but… how could they save them? Could it be that they had to watch everyone on this boat die one by one?
This sort of question flashed through Xuan Tian Ming and Feng Yu Heng’s minds. The two glanced at each other, and Xuan Tian Ming asked her: “Can you save them?”
Feng Yu Heng practically instantly understood what he meant. Xuan Tian Ming was asking her if these people could be saved using the space. She thought about it. If she anesthetized everyone and shoved them into her space, it could work, but there was a limit to her space. Even there were two floors, there was not enough space. But it reminded her that there was something inside her space that could be used!
She reached into her sleeve and rushed her conscious mind into the operating room. How could she have forgotten. She had countless bags of oxygen inside her space. Using them to save lives would not be a problem. She rejoiced. This was something that her space had to begin with, thus the supply could not be exhausted. Right now, she did not have time to worry about her identity being suspected. She simply pulled out a bunch and threw them into the river. At the same time, Xuan Tian Ming shouted in the direction that the bags were being thrown: “Grab on!”
In the heavy rain, even when he used his internal strength, his voice could not be projected very far. Moreover, there were sounds of people screaming on the river. All of the voices were mixed together. The number of people that could hear his shout were very few.
But it was fine if there were few that could hear him. As long as one person could hear, that was good enough. They saw a young man carrying his young wife and child, and a bag of oxygen landed in front of the three. The man had heard Xuan Tian Ming and placed his hand on it in confusion. He then found that the strange bag had a strong buoyancy. He rejoiced and nodded toward Xuan Tian Ming to give thanks. He then pulled his child over and placed him on the bag.
When everyone saw this, they all began to look for these bags. Thus Feng Yu Heng began to bring these things out from her space. The hidden guards formed a circle around her, knowing that they had to make sure that as few people knew about her identity as possible. Xuan Tian Ming was also in the middle, making sure that she was held up, ensuring that she did not sink into the water. At the same time, the freed up hidden guards dove into the water to bring up those that had sunk.
Who knew how many bags Feng Yu Heng brought out. In summary, just looking around, although the people on the river still looked very miserable, they still had the strength to climb onto these bags. Although this would not prevent them from dying, the situation was under control. It was much better than before.
The hidden guards directed the people to do their best to swim toward the shore. Those that knew how to swim would provide help from the back. Although the speed was very slow, they finally found hope.
Just at this moment, Feng Yu Heng suddenly turned her head and found that there was a person on the other side of the sinking boat trying to swim in the other direction. His speed was very fast, and it was as though they were trying to escape.
Her gaze became frigid, as she reached out and pointed, loudly shouted: “Grab him!”