Chapter 408 - 219: The River God Has Manifested
Chapter 408: Chapter 219: The River God Has Manifested
"Woof woof~"
[Female Two-legged Beasts really are a pain.]
Bai Wan nodded in response.
"Woof~"
[Why don’t you jump in the water and swim a couple laps? I guarantee she’ll get even more excited taking pictures.]
Leopard grinned.
"Meow~"
[You guys are so childish.]
Xiaojiu swished its tail.
Hu Zi: [...]
...
The tour boat moved slowly, rounding a small, reed-covered island in the middle of the river. The view ahead opened up.
In the distance, other tour boats could be seen, along with some people fishing or strolling along the banks.
Just as the boat reached the middle of the river bend, and Ye Haibing was suggesting they pull over to check out the small island—
"AHH—Help me!"
A woman’s terrified scream suddenly rang out from a tour boat not far ahead.
It shattered the tranquility of the river.
Yang Qi and the others snapped their heads up to look.
Less than twenty meters ahead, a tour boat was stopped on the water. A young woman was leaning over the side, crying out in panic toward the water, her finger pointing as her body trembled uncontrollably.
In the water where she was pointing, a small figure in an orange life vest was flailing and bobbing, splashing wildly.
Judging by the size, it was a child no older than four or five.
A man had already jumped into the water and was swimming desperately toward the child.
However, his swimming skills seemed mediocre. His movements were clumsy, and the child had fallen in a spot where the riverbed had a hidden drop-off or was deeper. After flailing a few times, not only had the man failed to reach the child, but he was starting to swallow water himself.
"Someone fell in the water!"
"Quick! Save them!"
"It looks like the man isn’t a good swimmer either..."
"..."
People on the other nearby tour boats had also noticed. Cries of alarm erupted as some tried to steer their boats closer and others searched for life preservers. It was chaos.
"Fuck!"
Gao Zhenyue’s expression changed, and he shot to his feet. "They’re not too far. My swimming is decent. I’m going in."
As he spoke, he started taking off his jacket and shoes.
Ye Haibing and Qian Yu also stood up nervously, ready to help.
Song Wan was so scared she covered her mouth, hugging Overlord tightly.
Yang Qi’s gaze sharpened as he scanned the spot where they fell in and the surrounding area.
The child and the man were both flailing, roughly seventeen or eighteen meters from their boat. The current seemed a bit strong, meaning Gao Zhenyue might not be able to rescue them immediately if he went in, and the conditions underwater were unknown.
In a flash, Yang Qi made his decision.
With a subtle flip of his right hand at his side, the Jade Water Calm Wave Pearl was quietly secured in his palm.
He channeled a sliver of Magical Power, and his mind connected instantly with the Magical Artifact.
’Control water!’
’Target: The water current in the area of the drowning child and struggling man.’
All of this happened in less than a second.
From the others’ perspective, Gao Zhenyue had just taken off one shoe, and Ye Haibing was about to throw a life preserver—
Suddenly, something bizarre happened.
Without any warning, the patch of water where the child and man were flailing abruptly bulged upward!
It was as if an underwater fountain had suddenly been switched on.
No, it wasn’t a fountain. It was more like a gentle yet immense force, lifting up from the riverbed!
"WHOOSH~!"
Like a giant, invisible hand, the clear river water formed a gentle column about a meter in diameter. It enveloped and lifted both the choking, struggling child and the nearly exhausted man beside him!
Then, as if it had a life of its own, the current traced a gentle arc, avoiding the nearby boats and surging toward the closest gravelly shore.
"SPLASH~"
"SPLASH!"
With a spray of water, the child and the man were "delivered" by the current to the shallows by the bank.
The child had swallowed some water and was coughing nonstop, but he was out of the deep.
The man staggered to his feet, grabbed the child, and collapsed into the knee-deep water, gasping for air, his face a mask of dazed relief after cheating death.
From the moment the child fell in to being delivered ashore by this "magical current," the entire process took no more than five or six seconds.
It happened so fast that no one had time to react.
The people on the surrounding tour boats, including the woman from the boat where it happened, were all completely stunned.
One by one, they gaped, staring at the father and son on the shore—soaked and disheveled, but safe and sound.
Then they looked back at the now-calm river, which seemed as if nothing had happened. They all looked like they’d seen a ghost.
Gao Zhenyue was frozen in place, stuck in a one-legged stance with one shoe off, his eyes wide as saucers.
The life preserver in Ye Haibing’s hands fell onto the deck of the boat.
Qian Yu stared, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape.
Cradling Overlord, Song Wan murmured, "That... that water just now... What was that?"
Yang Qi had already put the Jade Water Calm Wave Pearl away.
His expression was normal, even showing a perfectly calibrated hint of surprise and relief, as if he too had just snapped out of a daze.
"Looked like an undercurrent, maybe? Or something just happened to surge up from below?"
Yang Qi’s tone was uncertain as he looked at the still-shaken Gao Zhenyue. "Old Gao, you were saying you were going in? Looks like you don’t have to now."
Gao Zhenyue dazedly lowered his foot and said, stunned, "Huh? Oh, right, I don’t... What the hell was that?"
Ye Haibing also snapped out of it, clicking her tongue in amazement.
"How weird. That current was way too convenient, wasn’t it? Washing them right up on shore? It was like something out of a movie!"
Qian Yu was still a bit bewildered.
In the distance, the park staff on the shore and other tourists had reacted, running toward the father and son.
The sounds of the child’s crying and the mother’s shouts rang out again, but this time, they were tears of joy.
Yang Qi’s boat slowly drew closer, and along with the other boats, they confirmed that the father and son were just frightened and had swallowed a bit of water but were otherwise unharmed. Only then, at the direction of the staff, did they slowly motor away from the area.
However, the atmosphere on the boat was a little strange.
That magical scene from moments ago defied all common sense.
"You guys think it could have been a water spirit? Or the River God’s intervention?" Ye Haibing’s imagination was running wild.
"Nonsense. After the founding of the nation, spirits aren’t allowed to form."
Gao Zhenyue retorted, though he didn’t sound very convinced. "Maybe there’s a hot spring vent down there? Or some kind of geological phenomenon?"
Song Wan asked Yang Qi in a low voice, "Yang Qi, you know about animals, but do you know anything about these kinds of hydrological phenomena?"
"Not really."
Yang Qi shook his head, his face a picture of innocence. "Nature just has some hard-to-explain coincidences sometimes."
"In any case, the outcome was good."
Qian Yu finally spoke, her voice steady. "Perhaps it was some kind of hydrodynamic phenomenon we don’t understand, and the timing was just right."
"Meow meow~"
Just then, Overlord sidled up to Yang Qi and meowed mischievously.
[Two-legged Beast, was that your doing?]