Chapter 393: Chapter 393: Successful Levee Closure

The breach was successfully sealed; the flood, like a beast, was caged once more.

However, the heavy rain continued to pour down, the flood warning had not been lifted, and everyone remained on the dam, continuing to reinforce and raise it.

After a whole night of work, the sky brightened, and the dam reinforcement could pause temporarily. When the whistle blew, everyone almost immediately sat down or lay down where they were; they were too tired, but persisted because of the responsibility on their shoulders and the belief in their hearts.

Despite her exhaustion, Ling Chengyan still pushed herself, trudging through the mud and water to kick awake each team member on the ground, ordering coldly, "Go and rest in the tents."

It’s still raining; lying down in the rain might lead to hypothermia. If the core body temperature drops by just 3°C, it could cause hypothermic shock, leading further to death from hypothermia.

The tents were set up a bit further from the rescue site, approximately six to seven hundred meters away, and the team members were severely drained of energy, barely able to support themselves, hence resting on the spot carelessly.

But the deep imprint of obedience to orders in their minds made them stand and struggle when Ling Chengyan commanded, despite their exhaustion, with teammates helping to pull up those too weak to move.

In groups of threes and twos, they supported and held each other, dragging their heavy legs and bodies toward the tents.

There were more than a dozen large tents, some already used by local rescue workers, who were also exhausted, lying there haphazardly.

Two empty tents were reserved for them. After the team entered, Ling Chengyan issued another order: "Change into dry clothes, rest a bit, and get the hot water."

She then walked in another direction, where vehicles were parked farther away. The team members’ luggage was in the vehicles, containing their spare clothes. There were also dried ginger and medicine she had urgently brought, as large disasters often breed epidemics, especially floods which might contaminate drinking water sources, leading to disease outbreaks, particularly gastrointestinal diseases.

The torrential rain continued, and the riverbank threatened to breach or break again at any moment; should a major danger occur, getting hot water would be impossible, and their portable water purification tablets would be put to use.

Geng Wei and Nie Zhengguo were seated, watching Ling Chengyan lead Fu Qiang out, quickly rising to follow, bringing along two or three team members who seemed somewhat spirited, going back to the vehicle to fetch items, returning to the tent where the team members were already snoring loudly in sleep.

Some had removed their clothes, some hadn’t, and some were halfway through undressing before falling asleep.

Geng Wei took the lead, glanced at the youngsters sprawled inside the tent, and quickly lowered the tent flap again, awkwardly saying, "Captain, you should rest as well. We’ll take care of things here and ensure they change and take the medicine."

Ling Chengyan paid him no mind, directly lifting the tent flap to step inside.

She was of General’s family descent, having practiced equestrian and archery skills since childhood, as well as learning some traditional Chinese medicine skills. Although she wasn’t proficient in diagnosing and treating illnesses, she could at least ascertain if anyone was injured or sick.

After being drenched and exhausted all night, people were prone to catching cold and falling ill.

Ling Chengyan checked each person individually, assured that none had a fever, she finally felt relieved and instructed Geng Wei to keep watch before going to the adjacent tent.

They often trained outdoors, equipped relatively well for the field; rushing off meant they left many things behind, but they did take two diesel stoves, an aluminum pot, and a kettle.

Ling Chengyan and Fu Qiang changed into dry clothes, wiped the water off their hair, then set about lighting the stoves, using the kettle and pot to make ginger soup and boil water.

The ginger soup was brewed and given to the team members to drink, then the boiling water was proportionately mixed with glucose and salt, filling each team member’s water bottle.

These tasks weren’t tiring, and the two took turns to rest for a while.

The rain pattered noisily against the tent, but the people were too fatigued to pay attention to this, almost falling into a deep sleep as soon as they lay down.

Ling Chengyan slept for more than an hour, waking up to let Fu Qiang rest, while she kept watch over the stove and continued boiling water.

Meanwhile, she poured a cup of ginger soup and sipped it slowly.

Before sleeping, she hadn’t felt much, but waking up felt her nose was a bit stuffed, showing some symptoms of a cold.

After finishing the ginger soup, her stomach felt warm and her whole body heated up with tiny beads of sweat appearing on her forehead and nose.

She towel-wiped, got up to fill the water bottles with the freshly boiled water, sealed them tight, set them aside, and continued filling and boiling more bottles.

As she was busy, sudden urgent whistle sounds came from the dam, followed by hurried footsteps.

Ling Chengyan put on her military cap, grabbed a raincoat, and stepped out of the tent.

Many people rushed toward the vehicles; Ling Chengyan stopped a young man to ask about the situation, his face anxious but pausing to answer her inquiry, "There’s a breach emergency in Dali Town, assembling people to go for rescue..."

Before he finished speaking, the young man freed himself from Ling Chengyan’s grip and dashed through the rain to a large truck.

Ling Chengyan turned back to the tent to pack and follow, but saw their previous reception officer run over, wiping rain from his face and panting, "Captain Ling, I was asked to tell you that there’s a crisis in Dali Town, we’re reallocating two-thirds of the personnel for the rescue..."

Ling Chengyan nodded, about to propose following, but the officer added, "You’ve been strained; the top orders are for you to rest here, continue guarding the riverbank, and if the situation requires, you’ll be contacted to support."

Hearing this, Ling Chengyan did not insist, nodded in agreement, and watched as the officer turned into the rain again.

Ling Chengyan entered the tent, Fu Qiang was awake due to the outside commotion, sitting up.

"Captain?"

"No hurry, we’re assigned to guard the riverbank." Ling Chengyan said while filling water bottles, analyzing internally that the situation in Dali Town couldn’t be optimistic, otherwise they wouldn’t have reassigned personnel from the riverbank here.

Indeed, in less than an hour, news came from Dali Town that the riverbank had breached, flooding more than twenty villages.

Fortunately, as the flood from the riverbank here was anticipated, the villagers along the river in Dali Town had been evacuated, thus while the breach caused a flood, it basically didn’t lead to widespread casualties.

Yes, there weren’t widespread casualties, but in the face of natural disasters, human beings are small and vulnerable; mishaps could lead to harm just like the two people who fell into the water and were rescued last night and remain missing.