Though he tried to reassure his wife, Old Man Zhang’s expression was grim under the dim light.
Originally, his family was within the evacuation zone. At first, the Zhang family had planned to follow the evacuation order. But unexpectedly, someone approached Old Man Zhang and his wife…
Soon after, rumors began to spread—rumors about Dr. Gu Jianing, a physician who neglected her duty to treat patients and instead misled people with baseless predictions of a devastating typhoon. To set an “example,” Old Man Zhang and his wife chose not to evacuate. Their son, daughter-in-law, and several grandchildren also stayed behind.
Earlier, military personnel had come to persuade them. They warned that the Zhang family’s house was not structurally sound and could be dangerous if a severe typhoon hit. Even if they didn’t evacuate, they should at least reinforce the house. But Old Man Zhang did neither.
He thought, If I reinforce the house, wouldn’t that mean I also believe a typhoon is coming? That would be contradictory. So, he did nothing.
Besides, the person who had approached him claimed that the military’s meteorological department had only detected a tropical depression. Old Man Zhang had experienced many tropical depressions before—he didn’t take them seriously at all.
But now…
Listening to the howling wind outside, growing louder and fiercer, Old Man Zhang began to feel uneasy. Could that person have lied to me?
No, impossible!
Yet, he was starting to regret it. He regretted accepting that person’s money and vouchers and choosing not to evacuate. What if something really happened—
Before he could finish the thought, a deafening BANG erupted from outside, startling both him and his wife. From the adjacent room, the terrified wails of his grandchildren pierced the air.
His son rushed over and knocked on their door.
“Mom, Dad! What was that noise outside? And why is the wind so strong? Could there really be a typhoon coming?”
The gale hurled rain into his face, and the roaring wind nearly drowned out his voice, making his words sound muffled. “That loud noise just now—it scared the kids so badly they started crying!”
Old Man Zhang, who had opened the door, had no idea what was happening outside either. It was pitch black—not even a sliver of moonlight was visible tonight.
“Let’s go take a look.”
Holding a kerosene lamp, Old Man Zhang and his son cautiously stepped outside to investigate. As the lamplight illuminated the scene, they were shocked to discover that a large section of their courtyard wall had collapsed.
Before the father and son could process this, the wind began slamming the courtyard gate violently. Then, they watched in horror as the gate—previously shut—suddenly loosened, tore free, and was hurled into the air by the wind.
With the gate gone, the wind rushed in unimpeded, whipping up everything in the courtyard. Debris—including the gate itself—narrowly missed the two men as they barely dodged in time.
But—
“Dad! This wind is way too strong! This is definitely not just a tropical depression!”
Though young, he had seen tropical depressions before.
This wind before their eyes was absolutely not.
Old Man Zhang was now filled with deep regret. As a lifelong resident of Huansha Island, how could he not recognize the signs? The wind was now so strong that the frail old man was nearly swept off his feet. If he hadn’t been hiding behind the wall, clinging desperately to something, he would have already been flung into the sky like that gate.
But just then—
“Dad… do you hear that sound?” his son asked, his face pale.
“What sound?” Old Man Zhang’s voice trembled slightly.
“It sounds like… like waves!”
The moment he said it, father and son turned their gaze beyond the now-destroyed gate of the courtyard—and in the distance, they faintly saw towering waves rising.
“It’s over… it’s over! The typhoon is here! It’s churning up massive waves!”
“Dad, we have to run! If we don’t, our whole family will die!”
…
Dawn had barely broken, the first light of day streaking across the sky, when the typhoon arrived in full force.
Yes, after less than a night of intensification, what had been a tropical storm had strengthened into a full-blown typhoon. Like an ancient, monstrous beast, it bared its fangs and claws as it bore down on Huansha Island, as if intent on devouring everything in its path.
With its arrival came towering waves, each one higher than the last. The rain, which had started as a drizzle, had now turned into pelting, bean-sized droplets that stung sharply against skin.
“This is a typhoon… no doubt about it,” muttered the soldiers stationed at the defensive line, who had stayed awake all night. Even without official confirmation, they could feel it—this was no ordinary storm. Neither a tropical depression nor a typical typhoon could unleash such fury.
Now, standing behind the towering sandbag barriers, they could barely move forward. Sheng Zexi was among them.
The gale-force winds hurled raindrops like bullets. Visibility was near zero. Despite their raincoats, every soldier on the front line—including Sheng Zexi—was drenched to the bone.
Yet, amid the torrential downpour that felt like an endless deluge from the heavens, Sheng Zexi found himself faring slightly better. His fingers brushed against his neck, where a Water-Repelling Pearl and a Fire-Warding Pearl hung—gifts from his wife.
The Fire-Warding Pearl was useless now, but the Water-Repelling Pearl was proving invaluable. Normally, in such heavy rain, the sheer volume of water would thin the surrounding air, making it hard to breathe. But thanks to the pearl, Sheng Zexi felt no discomfort at all.
As more sandbags were frantically stacked, Sheng Zexi stared at the monstrous waves in the distance, a sense of foreboding gnawing at him. He feared those waves might breach the barriers and flood the island.
And then there was…
His thoughts turned to Gu Jianing, back at the county hospital.
How is Ningning doing now?
Her due date was just around this time. He could only hope she was safe…
…
Meanwhile, at the county hospital…
Gu Jianing stood by the tightly shut window, her heavily pregnant belly prominent. The window had been reinforced from the outside with wooden planks, but even so, the wind battered against it relentlessly. Each impact sounded like a hammer strike, terrifying in its force.
The rain, too, lashed against the glass with a fury that seemed determined to shatter its way inside.
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