Of course, the biggest reason is still years of neglect and disrepair.

David Sullivan pulled up Emily Thompson, quickly retreating to the sturdy triangular dam, and said, “Emily, go find Third Grandpa!” Third Grandpa was a high-ranking village official. “Tell him to come over and take a look right away!”

Emily Thompson looked at his childhood friend, who seemed like a different person, made sure he wasn’t just messing around, and immediately ran down the riverbank, sprinting southeast.

Once, this stretch of riverbank had swallowed Emily Thompson’s life, but now he was finally out of danger.

After Emily Thompson disappeared into the night, David Sullivan took off the bronze gong hanging around his neck. With his left hand holding the gong and his right hand gripping the heel of his worn-out cloth shoe, he swung his arm hard, slapping the sole against the gong.

Clang—

Countless black fragments flew up, falling into the river, onto the riverbank, and onto David Sullivan himself.

Clang—

Even more black fragments flew up, and the smell hidden within them was so pungent it made one’s mind race!

David Sullivan had sounded the emergency gong!

Chapter 2 Backbone

The piercing sound of the gong carried far into the night, waking the sleeping village. Countless lights flickered on—Lü Family Village was awake, alive!

Clang—clang—

David Sullivan kept striking the gong with his worn shoe, all the while thinking about what to do next.

“Who’s banging the gong!” A shout came from the southeast: “Who’s banging the gong!”

Lü Family Village was right by the river, and those on duty at the north end and on the river had already come running.

Among them was Uncle Carter.

“Dave, why are you banging the gong!” Uncle Carter came along the river embankment. “This isn’t something to joke about!”

Seeing more and more people arriving, David Sullivan shouted with all his might, “The north side of the dam is losing concrete! Emily and I saw it with our own eyes!”

He hadn’t had time to check the time before, so David Sullivan specifically asked a relative walking in front, and learned it was not yet half past ten. He breathed a little easier, remembering the dam had collapsed at 3:30 a.m.

Twenty or thirty farm men quickly gathered, some still bleary-eyed, some not yet clear on what was happening. The dam was a bit chaotic.

At this moment, Emily Thompson’s shout came: “Third Grandpa is here! Dave, Third Grandpa is here!”

Everyone immediately found their backbone, and all the flashlight beams and eyes turned that way.

Emily Thompson was closely following a short-haired old man, jogging along. The old man was sturdy, his straight back filling out his crisp shirt, running with steady strength.

His most striking feature was his thick, sword-like eyebrows, flecked with white but still dense. Every time David Sullivan saw him, he couldn’t help but think of the “Ninth Uncle” from the movies.

The old man strode up the embankment, and everyone greeted him.

“Third Uncle!”

“Third Elder!”

David Sullivan also called out, “Third Grandpa.”

“Mm.”

This was Lü Family Village’s high official, Brian Sullivan, third among his generation of cousins, who had helped David Sullivan’s family greatly since he could remember.

“What’s going on?” As soon as Brian Sullivan spoke, everyone else fell silent.

This was not the time for more words, so David Sullivan quickly replied, “About twenty meters on the north side of the dam, there’s a section of embankment where the concrete kept falling just now.” He emphasized, “Emily saw it too.”

Brian Sullivan turned his gaze to the side, and Emily Thompson quickly added, “Dave and I saw it with our own eyes.”

The atmosphere around them instantly became tense.

David Sullivan was no longer the impulsive eighteen-year-old; he wouldn’t mind that people trusted his childhood friend’s word more.

After all, he’d spent the first eighteen years fighting and causing trouble in all sorts of unreliable ways.

None of those present, not even the oldest Brian Sullivan, had any real experience fighting floods, but Brian Sullivan had to keep everyone calm: “Those on night duty, return to your posts and keep watch! Keep your eyes wide open!”

No one objected, including Stingy Carter, and they all hurried back to their positions.

David Sullivan whispered, “Should we have Uncle Carter stay? His chicken farm is close by and he has lots of tools.”

Brian Sullivan glanced at David Sullivan, a little surprised, but didn’t argue. He said directly, “Chad, you stay!”

Emily Thompson looked at David Sullivan—had he changed? In the past, it would’ve been a miracle if he didn’t cause trouble!

Brian Sullivan continued, “The rest of you, wait. Emily, give me your flashlight. Dave, Chad, Chris, you three come with me.”

David Sullivan handed the gong to Emily Thompson, taking the lead at the front.

When they reached the spot from before, David Sullivan shone his flashlight downward, reminding everyone, “Spread out, don’t cluster together!”

Brian Sullivan stopped a meter away from David Sullivan, looking down as he said, “Listen to Dave.”

Stingy Carter sped up, getting two meters ahead of David Sullivan, while Chris Sullivan lagged behind.

In the flashlight’s beam, the section of riverbank near the water’s edge had a scattering of concrete fragments, falling into the river like a sparse, intermittent drizzle.

“Doesn’t look too bad,” Chris Sullivan muttered from the back.

David Sullivan quickly retorted, “Debris falling from above means the underwater part is already soaked through.”

Of course, he was just guessing based on memory.

Stingy Carter’s chicken farm was nearby. “We can’t take that risk.”

Brian Sullivan didn’t know much about waterworks—the last time the river was repaired was in the 1950s, far too long ago.

This time, when he went to a meeting in town, they only said the upper reaches would release water and each village should take flood prevention seriously. But how to take it seriously, how to prevent it—people who hadn’t experienced a flood in decades simply didn’t know.

“We have to check thoroughly!” Brian Sullivan said. “The whole village—over a thousand people, young and old…”