David Sullivan pointed toward the small dam: "The mayor and the brigade secretary are over there!"

The officer strode in that direction. David Sullivan caught his breath, pushed himself up, hoisted a sandbag onto his shoulder, and step by step made his way toward the river embankment.

Chapter 7 Soldier Brother

The two breaches on the east side of the bridge were successfully blocked and reinforced. Under the leadership of Brian Sullivan and the officer, the troops moved to support the west side.

The people on this side, temporarily too exhausted to fight on, slumped down to rest on and below the embankment.

Outside the embankment, some trees stretched over, casting a patch of shade. David Sullivan squeezed against a dry sandbag and caught a long leech that had crawled ashore.

Ryan Sullivan was chewing on a sausage: "Throwing the net in now, I don't even have the strength to pull it back. No snacks to go with drinks tonight."

"No telling what'll happen tonight." David Sullivan pressed a finger on the leech's back, coiling it up. It was a slippery thing, seven or eight centimeters long, and felt quite nice in the hand. "Seventh Uncle, if you drink too much and dive into the water, you won't make it back up!"

Someone chimed in, "You'll turn into a water ghost!"

Ryan Sullivan finished the sausage in a few bites: "I'll find myself a couple of pretty female water ghosts, much more fun!"

David Sullivan kept coiling the leech. "Seventh Aunt will smack you with her big spatula."

Seventh Uncle and Seventh Aunt fought all the time, sometimes even hitting each other with shovels.

The leech in David Sullivan's hand shrank and curled up, almost into a ball. David Sullivan found a flat spot and gave it a slap—it bounced with plenty of spring.

Two half-grown boys slipped up the riverbank and quietly came over to David Sullivan. They were the ones who had greeted him that morning.

One was called Linda Thompson, a nephew from David Sullivan's aunt's side, and the other was Kevin Sullivan.

They had both dropped out after middle school, had no proper jobs, and spent their days messing around.

Kevin Sullivan leaned in and whispered, "Brother Dong, Samuel King is hiring people in the county tomorrow to make a show of force—two yuan a head. Want to go?"

In recent years, the gangster craze had become popular, corrupting many, especially impressionable teenagers who loved to imitate.

David Sullivan shook his head. "Not going."

Linda Thompson grinned and said, "I told him, two yuan is too cheap! Wouldn't ten yuan be enough to get Brother Dong to go?"

Kevin Sullivan quickly added, "If Brother Dong goes, it definitely won't be for just two yuan. Samuel King wouldn't dare offer that little to Brother Dong."

"You two shouldn't go either!" David Sullivan pointed toward the river. "What are you thinking? The water's already up to our doorsteps! Stop watching those gangster movies."

Linda Thompson and Kevin Sullivan walked off, disgruntled.

David Sullivan kept bouncing the leech ball. The gangster craze had poisoned a whole generation; many young people, inspired by the movies, had gone down the wrong path.

……

"Mayor, want to change clothes?"

On top of the small dam, an aide suggested, "There's a short-sleeved shirt in the car."

William Young glanced down at his white shirt with a black collar. "No need, there might be more trouble soon." He pointed to the honest-looking teenager under the shade of the tree. "I'm going to have a chat with him."

Wiping the mud off his face, William Young walked toward David Sullivan.

The aide said to the publicity officer with the camera, "Follow along and take a few more shots."

The publicity officer understood and followed behind.

"David Sullivan, student."

William Young had already taken an interest in David Sullivan that morning. David Sullivan was never lacking in manners; he stood up and said, "Hello, Mayor Young."

"Sit, sit." William Young faced the Qingzhao River, sat down first on a sandbag, and looked at the writing on David Sullivan's school uniform. "You study at No. 1 High School?"

David Sullivan sat down, bouncing the biological ball as he replied, "Just graduated."

William Young nodded slightly. "Took the college entrance exam this year? How did it go?"

David Sullivan stopped bouncing the ball, thinking to himself, we're supposed to be on the same team, why make us rivals? He mumbled, "Not bad."

William Young thought David Sullivan was being modest. "Bachelor's degree?"

Does this guy know how to chat? Always poking at the sore spots! David Sullivan replied smoothly, "Can we not talk about school?"

"Alright." William Young wasn't about to argue with a teenager. He pointed at what David Sullivan was holding, curious: "What's that? A bouncy ball? Doesn't look like it."

David Sullivan looked toward the Qingzhao River. "A local specialty from the river."

William Young figured if there was a specialty, there was potential. He got interested. "Can I take a look?"

"Are you sure?" David Sullivan asked.

William Young reached out, and David Sullivan simply placed the leech ball in his hand.

The palm was met with a slippery, elastic sensation. William Young squeezed it a couple of times. "Fish eggs? Or some other aquatic creature?"

David Sullivan said, "Leech. The same kind I was burning this morning."

William Young immediately remembered the swollen, bloodsucking bugs on David Sullivan earlier. Instinctively, he wanted to throw it away, but seeing the publicity officer aiming the camera, he held back.

Boom—

Suddenly, a thunderous crash, like a house collapsing, came from across the river.

David Sullivan turned to look, blurting out his catchphrase: "Damn!"

Everyone on the embankment stood up without thinking.

"Where did it collapse?"

A chorus of shouts erupted below the embankment.

The sound struck a nerve in everyone.

"Don't panic!" The brigade accountant was on this side and shouted back, "It's the Ma family embankment across the river!"

Right where David Sullivan and the others were diagonally facing, the riverbank next to Ma Family Village on the north shore had collapsed for a full ten meters, with chunks of earth and debris constantly falling into the water.

After being soaked by high water levels for so long, that section of the embankment just couldn't hold out any longer.

Fortunately, no one fell in, and the embankment near the bridge was thick. Less than half had collapsed, and another layer still stood, so there was no immediate danger of a breach.