Madmen don't keep diaries

Chapter 467 466 Ants Sealing the Hole
While cracking sunflower seeds, Fang Youliu said casually, "Look at the captain's expression. Although he is all smiles and flattery, there is not a trace of worry between his brows. This means that they have probably received some news and know that the President's official letter is coming soon and the matter will soon come to an end. So no matter how much trouble these people cause, the police just treat it as a show."

A fierce glint appeared in Zhao Wazi's eyes: "Let them watch. If they're happy watching, they'll have their day of reckoning."

Feng Xiuhu looked up and saw that the sun was shining brightly overhead and there wasn't a cloud in the sky; there was no sign of rain.

"Dumb Jin has gone to the South Bank again."

Shunzi said, "If the official letter really does arrive before the flood season, and Dumb Jin takes the risk, even if he can blow up the bridge-building team's boat, it will be difficult to save Abbot's life."

Zhao Wazi thought for a moment and asked Feng Xiuhu, "You are all knowledgeable, tell me, if I intercepted the President's official letter on the way—is there any explanation for that?"

Fang Youliu sneered, "Ha, you've got quite the ambition. The President's official letter was escorted by the Great Xuan Army. If you're really capable of dealing with the Great Xuan Army, you might as well just go and kill your enemy in their own home. Maybe you'll die a more dignified death that way."

Zhao Wazi sullenly curled his lip and didn't bring it up again.

……

The next day, Feng Xiuhu and his group came here again.

The sky was still clear, but there were fewer people on the dock, indicating that more people had received word of the news.

The mute Jin still hadn't returned, and Zhao Wazi's anxiety deepened.

……

On the third day, Feng Xiuhu and his group returned to the same place.

It was still a bright, sunny day, with little change, except that there were fewer people making a fuss.

Zhao Wazi's facial injuries had healed somewhat, but blisters had formed on the corners of his mouth due to internal heat.

Even though no one asked him, he muttered to himself as if trying to comfort himself: "Chen Ajiang said he went to the embankment last night and checked. It'll be here soon."

……

By the fourth day, Feng Xiuhu was already getting tired of it.

Looking out the window of the hostel, there were a few clouds in the sky, but there was still no sign of rain.

Feng Xiuhu was already considering not going out today when the innkeeper suddenly rushed over.

His expression was a mixture of panic and seriousness as he spoke, "...The official letter has arrived."

Feng Xiuhu rolled over and got up.

……

That left me with no choice but to go.

The three arrived at the dock, still at the second-floor terrace, but Zhao Wazi was not there today.

He mingled among the crowd below.

Looking around, Feng Xiuhu saw that there were an unusually large number of people at the dock today, as if everyone in the entire Jindi City had crowded here.

The reason was simple—the official letter from the President had arrived. The government had been pretending to be deaf and dumb for so long, it was time to make its presence known. So the mayor decided to personally read the President's decree at the dock, putting an end to this farce.

Shunzi patted Feng Xiuhu, who was still searching for people, and told him to look into the distance.

A temporary platform was erected on the dock for the mayor to read the document.

Besides the mayor, all the officials from the government offices were present, as was the factory owner, Albert—a portly foreigner dressed in Western clothes and a top hat, leaning on a cane, with a thick beard and a monocle perched on his nose.

Abbott was clearly confident, standing tall and looking quite pleased with himself.

Right behind him, the mute Jin stood expressionless with his hands hanging down.

A short distance away from the officials, the police officers stood shoulder to shoulder in a semi-circle, keeping all the civilians out.

Feng Xiuhu spotted familiar faces in the crowd—the remnants of the boatmen's gang. Young tax officials like Zhao Wazi and Zhou Bailang waited for the signal with grim faces, and their respective subordinates were also mixed in with the crowd.

Feng Xiuhu became excited, craning his neck and staring intently down below. According to Dumb Jin's original plan, if the official letter were read aloud first, he would have pre-arranged people light fireworks to signal the bald turtles on the south bank to bomb the boat, directly escalating the situation and provoking the temple church to take action.

Judging from the current situation, it's almost at this stage.

Shunzi couldn't help but tense up, gripping the railing tightly with both hands.

At this moment, Fang Youliu raised his hand, rubbed his fingers together in mid-air, and said with a slight nasal twitch, "The air has become humid."

Feng Xiuhu sensed something and looked up at the sky—the sky, which had just been clear, suddenly gathered dark clouds, and the light of day darkened at a visible speed.

Heavy rain is coming.

But is it too late?
On the dock, the officials also noticed the change in the sky.

Seemingly intending to finish things before the heavy rain arrived, the mayor stood up with the official letter in his hand and walked towards the platform.

Dumb King's gaze followed the mayor closely, and just as the mayor stood atop the tower, he was about to make a gesture—

"Ants sealing the door—"

A familiar sound drifted on the wind.

"Ants seal the door—Ants seal the door!"

Feng Xiuhu and the others heard it too, and they all turned to look.

At the other end of the street, Chen Ajiang came running, shouting incessantly.

This was a pre-arranged code: ants sealing their holes on the dike meant the flood was imminent.

Many people in the crowd turned around to look, which made the mayor frown in displeasure—he was about to speak, who was so rash as to interrupt at this critical moment?

At this moment——

Suddenly, a deafening roar was heard!

Everyone was shocked and, in a panic, looked toward the source of the sound, only to see thick smoke rising from the western embankment.

Before the crowd could recover from the sudden change, someone nearby cried out in panic, "The ritual was not completed, and the gods are enraged! A great flood is coming, and the whole city will be submerged!"

Then more voices shouted.

"Lord Jiang Liu is furious!"

"The flood is coming! Everyone, run!"

This is no exaggeration. People could hear it clearly, and the rumbling sound in their ears was like muffled thunder. They could also feel it vividly, as if an earth dragon was passing by.

Living by the great river, how could the people of Jindi City not know what this meant?
The floodwaters have really come!

Feng Xiuhu, standing on higher ground, had a clearer view.

The railing beneath my hands trembled, and a muffled roar filled my ears, as if someone were beating war drums in the sky.

He smelled the humid, earthy odor in the air.

As the first drop of rain fell on the back of Feng Xiuhu's hand, he looked up and gazed at the upper reaches of the great river.

At first, it was a turbid, ever-expanding, brownish-yellow giant line on the horizon, swallowing the riverbed at an incredible speed, as if pushed by an invisible giant hand, carrying the wreckage of boats rushing down from upstream, as well as entire pieces of peeled-off earthen bank surface, all crashing in!

The water surface was no longer flat, but a boiling, churning, living thing filled with huge whirlpools and steep peaks. Turbid waves surged into the sky, and the water mist they stirred up shot straight into the clouds, intertwining with the low-hanging lead-gray rain clouds, making the world a chaotic mess.

The stone embankment, which had been as sturdy as the back of a giant beast for years, was now as fragile as a sandcastle built by a child in the face of the raging flood.

When the floodwaters crashed against the embankment with tremendous force, the sound was like a deafening roar, like thousands of war drums pounding simultaneously, shaking people to the point of shattering their livers and piercing their eardrums.

The long dike groaned in the waves, and huge rocks rolled down as if being gouged out by an invisible giant hand, only to be swallowed up by the roaring torrent in an instant.

(End of this chapter)