On the ninth day, the rain finally stopped. The sun came out.

In October, autumn had already arrived in the north, but the weather in Hui Province was still very hot, especially after the sun came out on a clear day. It seemed as if the sun suddenly released all the heat it had long suppressed, mercilessly scorching the earth and the people on it.

The rain stopped, but the river’s water level not only failed to drop, it even rose again due to the overload of upstream rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, leading to increased water levels in the main and tributary channels downstream, subjecting the river levee to unprecedented tests.

Ling Chengyan and her special training team had moved through four or five battlefields and once again returned to the river levee where they had first arrived.

The river levee here, aside from the initial threat of overtopping, had surprisingly withstood nine days of heavy rain without any major incidents occurring.

Of course, the situation was not optimistic. When Ling Chengyan and her team returned, they saw that the river levee had been raised and reinforced several times, with the water level nearly on par with the levee.

Fan Gong was still stationed on the levee. Seeing Ling Chengyan’s team return, he hurried forward to greet them, while briefing Ling Chengyan on the situation: "... The levee’s load has reached its limit. If an accident happens at the current water level, then we are... sigh!"

Even without a professional explanation, Ling Chengyan and her team understood, upon seeing the river, the enormous challenge awaiting them in the coming days. The river’s surface was already more than ten meters above ground, essentially turning into a suspended river.

In this situation, if a breach occurred, the floodwaters, more than ten meters above ground, would become a rampant beast unleashed, spreading out in a torrent and turning tens of thousands of acres of fertile land and dozens of villages into a flooded expanse in the blink of an eye.

Ling Chengyan paused for a moment and asked, "Have the people been evacuated?"

Fan Gong, who hadn’t rested in who knows how long, had bloodshot eyes.

He blinked hard, squinted slightly at the river water, and spoke in a low voice, "If a breach occurs, there will be nowhere for the people to escape."

They were located on a levee with the county town less than twenty miles behind them. Previously, when the river overflowed, the water only washed over about a dozen villages along the riverbank, and after the levee was reinforced and heightened, the overflow subsided quite a bit. Some villagers, worried about their homes, sneaked back to gather belongings, trying to salvage undamaged food and supplies.

That was their home, a place they had relied on for tens or even dozens of years. With the rain stopped, they couldn’t help but think of home. The staff tried their best, but couldn’t stop the residents from returning to check on their houses.

If the river levee broke, not only would the villagers returning to gather food and supplies be in danger, but the county town, with a population of over a hundred thousand, would also face the risk of flooding.

A middle-aged man nearby said in a deep voice, "That’s why the levee beneath our feet must not fail!"

Fan Gong didn’t look at him. Ling Chengyan glanced over, seeing the man in a white shirt and navy blue suit pants. Although not particularly luxurious, the crisp white shirt and neatly pressed trousers seemed somewhat out of place among the muddy and exhausted crowd on the levee.

"Fan Gong, you’ve been in water management for thirty years, a recognized expert by the provincial and municipal governments. You must gather your wisdom to preserve this section of the levee..."

Before Ling Chengyan could speak, Fan Gong ignored the man’s verbose words and said to Ling Chengyan, "Come, I’ll take you to inspect the levee."

Ling Chengyan quietly followed, both moving down the levee in tacit agreement, leaving the man in the white shirt standing on the levee.

Fan Gong pointed to the seepage reinforcement sites, saying, "Thanks to your earlier discovery of that seep, over the past few days, we’ve identified more than a dozen small and large seep sites and have reinforced and addressed them in time..."

He paused slightly, then continued, "This levee has been standing for over thirty years and has never faced such extreme flooding before. The structure has aged; while the levee’s exterior has been continually repaired, the foundational layer is possibly hollowed out, forming a series of conduits. Although we’ve made our best efforts to identify numerous seep sites, there are certainly undiscovered risks.

Moreover, we’ve only reinforced the outer seep sites on the levee, but the seepage points inside the levee haven’t been addressed. This means there’s a significant chance that tunnels have been hollowed out beneath the levee. If the water pressure exceeds its limit, it could break through a small seep hole, causing the levee to collapse and the floodwater to rush out unbounded."

Ling Chengyan listened silently as Fan Gong expressed both the challenges and his belief in overcoming them.

He mentioned, "We’re in the process of deploying a dive team from out of town. Once they arrive, they’ll start sealing the seepage on the river’s interior side. The seep issue is particularly bothersome because of its concealed nature. Underwater work at such high water levels is very difficult..."

Ling Chengyan didn’t know much about water management, but she regarded the flood response as a battle. The enemy was strong, but they must have faith in victory.

She nodded to show she understood, then said, "Fan Gong, I believe in your experience, coupled with everyone’s determination, we can win this decisive battle against the flood."

Fan Gong offered a slight smile, though it was somewhat bitter and strained.

He had been in the profession for thirty years, and while this flood might not be a once-in-a-century event, it was at least a dozen years since such magnitude was last seen.

The last time there was a flood of this scale, it resulted in hundreds of miles inundated, and tens of thousands displaced.

Looking at the resolute-faced female officer before him, Fan Gong stayed silent for a while before speaking, "If danger arises... sigh!"

His words trailed off, replaced by a sigh. Shaking his head, he returned to his tasks.

Ling Chengyan and her team set up tents on the outer fringe.

A few team members previously suffering from acclimatization-related diarrhea had recovered, though others had been injured or fallen ill, and were replaced to work as cooks, handling logistics support for the team.

Among them, Li Ming had injured his foot during a rescue, his left foot’s sole nearly pierced by a nail underwater. After cleaning and bandaging the wound, he refused to stay hospitalized and returned to the team, so Ling Chengyan appointed him as the temporary leader of the cooking unit.

Before the tents were even set up, Li Ming, with five or six injured members, started a fire to boil water.

The floods had severely polluted the water supply.

Thanks to comprehensive and advanced epidemic prevention measures and effective education among the disaster victims, only a few cases of diarrhea occurred after the flood, avoiding large-scale outbreaks.

Even this small victory made Ling Chengyan appreciate the improved management in today’s society and nation.

Leaving a few to aid the cooking unit with setting up tents and organizing logistics, Ling Chengyan led the rest of the team to their new task.

The higher-ups coordinated and allocated a batch of flood relief materials that needed transport.

The special training team’s three trucks were offered unconditionally, with Zhang Wanxiang taking three members of the drivers’ squad to haul the supplies, while the others joined in filling and transporting sandbags.

The sandbags prepared in the early stages had already been used up during the first levee reinforcement. They gathered more woven sacks, filled a few batches, and reinforced the levee earlier. With the river’s water level precariously high, following discussions among Fan Gong and several provincial and municipal experts, it was decided to quickly prepare another batch of sandbags to raise the levee while also strengthening the slopes on the levee’s outer edge to enhance its stability.

On the river levee, with no shade and the sun blazing overhead, coupled with the reflection from the water, those engaged in strenuous labor quickly began sweating profusely and soon felt dizzy and faint.