The sound wasn’t a single person’s cry, but rather the clamor of hundreds, maybe thousands, of people shouting at once. It was a chaotic, jumbled mess.

"What’s that sound?!" Han Ning exclaimed, startled. He saw looks of alarm on everyone else’s faces as well.

"It doesn’t sound like the language of the Xia Country... Is it Russian?" Teacher Fang asked, frowning.

"Probably Russian. I’ve seen movies from the Mao Bear Country, and they pronounce things like that," someone spoke up.

No one paid any mind to what kind of movies this student watched. They all rushed to the windows in the direction of the sound and peered outside.

Several beams of brilliant light stood out starkly against the ink-black night.

It was the glow of headlights and taillights.

In the illuminated areas, Han Ning could faintly make out more than ten silver-gray, double-decker buses. They were being battered by the turbid, murky yellow water, washing toward the dormitory building and its surroundings from the distance.

The buses were mostly in a straight line, like a convoy, or as if they had been driving on a road and were suddenly teleported here. The line stretched into the distance, farther than Han Ning could see.

Some of the buses were completely overturned, with only their wheels visible above the water. In such a perilous situation, the passengers inside had surely perished.

Other buses, however, were right-side up. Behind the windows of their exposed upper decks, numerous blond-haired, blue-eyed people were frantically banging on the bus. They held phones with their flashlights on, waving them wildly toward the lights of the dormitory building while shouting syllables Han Ning couldn’t understand.

Mixed in with the chaotic shouting were a few heavily accented cries of "Help!"

"They’re too far away. I can only hear cries for help, I can’t make out what’s over there. Are those vehicles? Han Ning, your eyesight is good. Can you see what they are?" Teacher Fang asked, squinting as he struggled to see what was at the source of the lights.

But the distance was at least a hundred meters. All he could make out were faint cries for help and a few dim lights. The curtain of rain and thick fog were too heavy; without sufficient Spiritual Power, it was impossible to see clearly.

"They’re large buses," Han Ning told Teacher Fang. "There are people inside, and they’re calling to us for help."

Teacher Fang said, "We can be almost certain they’re from the Mao Bear Country. They must have been transported here just like us, but were unlucky enough to run into this massive flood."

"Should we save them?" Han Ning asked.

The floodwaters were moving quickly. Even as they spoke, a few of the buses were heading straight for the walls of the nearby dormitories.

"Let’s ask Dean Wu and the others for their opinion."

Teacher Fang pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt.

At almost the same moment, Dean Wu’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie. "Fang Ming, is Han Ning with you? Ask him what the situation is out there."

Teacher Fang quickly replied, "Dean, I was just about to tell you. An unknown number of buses from the Mao Bear Country have appeared outside. The survivors inside are crying for help. Should we save them?"

Dean Wu didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he asked, "Xiuning, are you on the line?"

"I’m here," came the voice of Teacher Lü Xiuning over the comms channel.

"Everyone, listen up. We now have some capacity to rescue people. If those buses crash into the walls of our dormitory, you may, if conditions permit, selectively carry out a rescue."

"Do you understand what ’selectively’ means? Whether you save them or not is up to you."

"Of course, this is all under the condition that you ensure your own safety first. If they’re too far away, don’t push it. Does everyone understand?"

"Yes, understood," Fang Ming and Lü Xiuning replied simultaneously.

"I’ll add one more thing. It’s best if the students whose Silver Lotus Wood has mutated three or more times handle the rescue. Their Silver Lotus Woods’ Vine Whips are long enough and have enough Power, so saving people won’t be a strain. If other students’ Silver Lotus Woods aren’t strong enough, do not take the risk."

"That’s all I have to say. It’s up to you whether you save them or not."

"Understood."

Teacher Fang switched off the comms button and said with a cold expression, "It’s up to us, then. To be blunt, even if we bring them up here—setting aside whether they’re good or bad people—they’ll consume a lot of food. I’m inclined not to save them."

Han Ning, who had been listening to their conversation, nodded in agreement. He was also inclined not to save them.

’If it weren’t for the flood, it might be worth saving them. The academy is short on people, and adding some new blood would be beneficial for its overall development.’

’But now, with this massive flood, food will become increasingly scarce if the downpour continues. There’s no point in taking these people in.’

’It’s cruel, but it’s the best choice for everyone.’

’He figured Dean Wu must have had the same concerns. Asking only the students with Silver Lotus Wood that had mutated three or more times to act was essentially a way to limit the number of people they could rescue.’

’At most, they wouldn’t rescue more than 30 people. Twenty to thirty strangers, regardless of their nature, would be a manageable number for the group.’

In reality, not many buses were carried by the current into the walls of the dormitory area.

Compared to the vast surrounding area, the dormitory complex was just a tiny speck.

Two buses, caught in the torrent, were swept past the dormitories and disappeared into the vast, dark night.

"AHHH!!"

"AHHH! NO!!" 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Amidst the roaring downpour, desperate screams echoed between the buildings.

Since the decision had been made not to intervene, Han Ning decided to stop watching the tragedy unfold and turned to go back to his room.

Just as he turned to leave...

A double-decker bus, about twelve meters long, was caught in the torrent and came hurtling crookedly toward their building, Building C.

But...

The expected crash against the wall never happened.

Instead, as it rushed forward, it was struck by something unseen, abruptly changing its course and veering off to the side.

Just as the bus scraped past the wall of Building C, two figures suddenly leaped from one of its windows.

One person fell straight into the floodwaters, managing to grab onto the edge of the building’s outer wall, desperately holding on to keep from being swept away.

The other person landed on the outer ledge of a third-floor windowsill. He clung desperately to the sill with both hands and shouted repeatedly in fluent English, "Save me! Save my family! I have important information for you!"

He was a middle-aged man with a bushy golden beard and a balding head.

Strapped to his back was a baby, bundled in layers of cotton cloth.

The infant, pelted by the rain, let out a piercing wail.

In the floodwaters below, a younger-looking woman was also screaming for help.

The moment he heard the man mention important information, Han Ning spoke. "Yin Yi, bring them up."

"LING!"

Yin Yi responded with a cry, braved the downpour, and floated out from the windowsill. It shot more than a dozen Vine Whips toward the man and woman, wrapping them securely and pulling them into the safety of the hallway.

The moment the bearded man was inside, he yelled in a terrified voice, "Quick, everyone hide! There are monsters outside! Monsters are killing people!"

——————

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