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墨書 Inktalez
"Hey, Pudding! Where did you come from?!" I paused my work and straightened up to ask. Pudding circled around before landing on a rooftop, croaking twice. Just then, I heard the sound of a motorboat nearby. Oh, is that Squad Leader and the others arriving?
"Hey, did you bring them?" I looked up at Pudding, who croaked again and surprisingly curled up, closing its eyes to rest!
What a character for a crow! I couldn't help but sigh. At that moment, I heard Squad Leader calling out from behind, "Hey, Company Commander! Company Commander!"
"I'm here! Hurry over, everyone except the driver!" I shouted back.
Before long, I saw Squad Leader rushing over from the shore with some people. "What's going on, Company Commander!"
"Not much, just need to evacuate the civilians and their belongings. I'm worried we might not have enough manpower or boats. You guys should split up and check each household, tally up what they have, and distribute the boats. If needed, we can make two trips!" I instructed carefully.
Squad Leader took the order and left. I grabbed a few soldiers. "Come on, you guys, help the old lady move!" I clapped my hands and looked around for a dry spot near where Old Lady was sitting to take a break.
Watching the soldiers moving things back and forth outside made me feel quite bored. After resting for a while, I called out, "Old Lady, why don't you get on the boat first?"
"@￥……" I couldn't understand what she was mumbling about. Fine, if she didn't want to leave yet, that was okay. At worst, she'd leave with me later. I had already decided that I'd be the last to leave; I wanted to look around and see if anyone was left behind.
At this time, families began sorting their belongings and loading them onto the boats. There were indeed quite a few large bags; with seven or eight households on this island, it seemed like we would need at least two trips!
I stood up, ready to look around. Exiting the old lady's yard, I walked toward the center of the island where several households were sparsely distributed. In front of each door were piles of belongings. I strolled through a few houses and saw everyone busy at work, so I didn't interfere.
The island wasn't very large; if it weren't for the rising water, it would actually feel quite spacious. There were plenty of trees and flowers around, giving it a bit of a paradise vibe. No wonder many people liked coming to this Farm Stay.
After wandering for a while, I found Liu Accountant sitting under a tree at one household. "Hey, Liu Accountant, hurry up and count how many people there are! We can't afford to miss anyone!"
Liu Accountant hurriedly stood up, saying, "No, no, I know, there are only eleven people in the village in total!"
"Well, as long as nothing is missing!"
Liu Accountant glanced in my direction and said, "Leader, the boats are coming back. It looks like they've moved most of the stuff. Should I head back too?"
I gave him a look. "Are you that scared here?"
Liu Accountant chuckled a few times. "Alright then, you take the others back to settle down. Remember to count everyone!"
"I got it, I got it!" Liu Accountant ran off toward the shore without looking back.
The soldiers moved quickly; before long, several Speedboats and Assault Boats had departed. I looked around and saw that only this one family at the entrance remained. The older sister had already left with an Assault Boat, leaving only the Old Lady sitting at the door mumbling something. I counted the people; aside from the older sister's family, there were only two who were unaccounted for. Everything else matched up. I wandered around this paradise once more and thought to myself: Farewell to such a wonderful place; who knows when I’ll be able to visit again.
At this moment, only Jinghe's Speedboat was waiting for me, along with Xuanhua and Sheng Xiong. The same crew was present, but now there was an added old woman. We struggled to help her onto the Speedboat, and Pudding flew over with a swoosh.
"Alright, let's set sail!" I said as I watched Xuanhua put a life jacket on the old woman and patted the chubby guy.
The engine roared to life, and suddenly I heard the old woman shout with great effort, "Cat!"
That's right—cat! What cat? I was puzzled; I hadn't seen any cats on the island just moments ago.
I looked at her in confusion, only to see her eyes fixed on the water. "Go ahead, go ahead!" I urged again.
The speedboat roared as it began to turn around, slowly preparing to leave in the direction it had come from. At that moment, Pudding, standing at the bow of the boat, suddenly shook its wings and started quacking loudly at the surface of the water.
"Do you want to eat fish?" Xuanhua asked foolishly.
Before I could scold him, Pudding flapped its wings and soared into the air, circling above while quacking loudly.
"What’s going on?!" Sheng Xiong looked up at Pudding and asked.
Jinghe was also drawn in by the commotion, and everyone turned their eyes to Pudding. Just then, the boat suddenly lurched violently with a loud thud; something had collided with the hull beneath the water. We all lost our balance and grabbed onto the sides of the boat.
Before we could steady ourselves, there was another thud, this time with even greater force coming from one side of the boat. The speedboat shook more violently than before! Jinghe lost control of the steering wheel, and the speedboat roared past a tree that was leaning over the water. It barely moved a few meters before coming to a halt. Even when Jinghe increased the throttle, it remained completely still!
"We hit something!" "The propeller is tangled!" Xuanhua and Jinghe shouted simultaneously.
Jinghe turned off the engine and brought the speedboat to a stop. Everyone looked at me.
I glanced up; Pudding was still circling above the speedboat but had stopped quacking. I leaned over the back of the boat to take a look. The water was filled with large patches of aquatic plants both above and below, obscuring my view. It seemed that the propeller had indeed gotten tangled in the weeds, which meant we couldn’t leave quickly. We would have to clear away the plants before we could depart.
This was a disaster! "We really are stuck! We need to get into the water to clear the weeds," Jinghe said as he came over to take a look. Before I could respond, Xuanhua shouted, "I can swim; I'll go!" He quickly stripped down to his training gear and jumped into the water from the back of the boat.
"Xuanhua, be careful!" I managed to shout just as Xuanhua stood up in the water. "It's fine, Company Commander; it's only up to my chest!"
I let out a sigh of relief; it seemed that this area used to be along the shore and wasn’t very deep. "Hurry up and clear it out so you can come back." For some reason, I couldn’t shake off an uneasy feeling.
Behind Xuanhua was the Crooked Neck Tree, its trunk slanting towards the sky, splitting into two large branches resembling a Y-shape. It appeared to be half-submerged, perhaps due to the many underwater branches that had caught a lot of water plants. The still water of the reservoir caused more and more plants to accumulate, eventually entangling the propeller of the Speedboat.
"Yes!" Xuanhua said without much elaboration, starting to pull at the underwater vegetation at the back of the Speedboat with all his strength. "There are so many water plants." He tugged at the plants on the surface and tossed them overboard, creating ripples that spread across the water.
At that moment, Pudding, who had somehow landed on the highest point of the Speedboat, took off into the air, circling low and squawking loudly as if trying to alert everyone to something.
Everyone's attention was drawn to Pudding, who spun around in the air while calling out and then flew towards the reservoir. After a short distance, it suddenly dropped in altitude and began circling above a Water Area, squawking loudly.
"What is that?" Sheng Xiong asked, pointing in that direction.
As everyone focused their gaze there, they noticed two ripples rapidly expanding in that area. In between them, something seemed to be moving towards them at a fast speed. The ripples became more pronounced; although they couldn't see what it was, it felt like it was quite large.
"There's something underwater!" Jinghe shouted.
"Xuanhua, be careful! Get up here!" Sheng Xiong called out.
"Xuanhua, come up first!" In the chaos, I glanced at the old lady, fearing she might fall into the water. But she leaned against the Speedboat's edge, muttering those two words "Cat! Cat!" louder and louder. Had she gone mad? I couldn't afford to worry about her now.
I turned my attention back to the water surface. I knew there was something down there too, but I wondered what kind of creature it could be!
Could it have been what bumped into our boat earlier? If it was a fish, how big would it have to be to make the Speedboat sway?! But what if it wasn't a fish? What could it be? Why would it bump into our Speedboat? And did Pudding see something? The unknown was terrifying; the more I thought about it, the more uneasy I felt, sending a shiver down my spine.
"Is it a big fish? What’s there to be afraid of? There are no sharks in this reservoir! I'm almost done here; I don't want to go back down!" Xuanhua said nonchalantly as he continued pulling at the water plants while walking towards Crooked Neck Tree. "These water plants are really long!"
"Not good! Xuanhua, get up here!" I glanced over and saw that the creature underwater had quickened its pace, heading straight for Xuanhua. The surface of the water was violently disturbed, making a splashing sound, and Pudding's voice grew more urgent as it circled low above the creature.
No matter what, I felt a sense of urgency. At that moment, Xuanhua turned to look back, likely stunned by what he saw. "What the hell is that?!" By the time Xuanhua reacted, the creature was already less than five or six meters away from him.
"Climb the tree!" I shouted as I realized there was no time left.
Instinctively, Xuanhua waded a couple of steps through the water, grabbed onto the Crooked Neck Tree with both hands, and with all his strength, he pulled himself out of the water. He managed to scramble up onto the trunk and took a few steps higher, anxiously looking down.
Just as Xuanhua climbed onto the tree, the ripples in the water beneath him suddenly vanished, and the surface returned to a calm state as if nothing had happened. Only Xuanhua remained staring blankly below.
The creature was still five or six meters away from us, and I couldn't see what it was underwater; my heart raced with anxiety.
"Did you see what it was?!" I called out to Xuanhua, who was still dazedly looking down.
"A fish, a really big fish!" Xuanhua blurted out suddenly without thinking.
(To be continued; more exciting developments tomorrow!)
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