Fated Love With the Billionaire
Chapter 227 We Continue

Chapter 227: Chapter 227 We Continue

Fengtang Village’s dikes had breached, and the backflow of floodwater had already destroyed three power towers. The workers responsible for emergency repairs were still doing their best to restore the power facilities, but tonight’s torrential rain was not good news for them.

Chen Ningxi’s phone rang; she saw that the number belonged to Ma Yuhai, who was the head of the technical repair team responsible for the power towers at Fengtang Village.

"Manager Chen, where are you now?"

Chen Ningxi said, "Just past Xiangma Town."

Ma Yuhai calculated the time, realizing it would take at least forty minutes to get there.

Chen Ningxi asked, "To what extent have the repairs been completed?"

Ma Yuhai, holding an umbrella, had his voice accompanied by the sound of dense rain through the phone. "Just repaired one power tower, the other two are still under emergency repair, and we’re almost out of cables. Currently, cables are urgently needed, Manager Chen, we need cables."

Chen Ningxi heard the urgency in Mr. Ma’s voice. "We will get there as soon as possible."

Throughout the journey, Chen Ningxi’s phone had been buzzing like a hotline, depleting the battery from eighty-three percent to fifty percent.

The small road leading into Fengtang Village was blocked by two fallen trees, with trunks thicker than a child’s waist, which were extremely difficult to move. All but the driver got out of the car to join the crew clearing the roadblock. Liu Shaojun saw that Chen Ningxi also got out and shouted:

"Manager Chen, the rain is heavy. Don’t come out."

Chen Ningxi swiftly shut the car door and ran into the downpour with the crowd.

Including Chen Ningxi, there were a total of fifteen people. The crane and bulldozer had not caught up with the team, so everyone could only manually push the trees to the roadside. The fallen trunks were still attached to their roots, with the branches of two large trees crisscrossing each other, leaving only a small space after half a day’s work.

Chen Ningxi instructed Tian Quan to return to the car to fetch an axe. Clearing the trunks by removing them would be much easier and was the quickest method currently available.

Some used axes to chop thicker branches, while those without tools used their hands to break off thinner branches. They barely managed to clear one side of the road, and everyone hurried back to the car to continue their journey.

Everyone in the car was soaked through by the rain, including Chen Ningxi, with water dripping from her hair and her body shivering from the cold.

As they went from Fengtang Village toward the mountain’s base, the water level gradually rose, nearly submerging the construction vehicle’s tires.

Through the rain curtain, the busy crowds fighting to prevent flooding were seen on the distant dike. Under the dike, bulldozers and excavators operated nonstop. Fengtang Village’s situation became increasingly critical. Chen Ningxi called the rescue team, only to find that the rescue personnel, including speedboats, had already gone to another village where the situation was dire, with sudden floods requiring all rescue forces to support and rescue stranded people.

"We’ve arrived."

Before Chen Ningxi could hang up the phone, Liu Shaojun announced from the front.

Chen Ningxi put down her phone, her gaze fixed on a power tower that had been re-erected, with three power repair workers working in the rain at the top.

Seeing their arrival, Mr. Ma hurriedly ran over, drenched like a drowned rat, standing by the car to start directing the unloading of cables from the bulldozer.

The rain was so heavy and fierce, the thunder was deafening, originally Mr. Ma was holding an umbrella, but the strong wind had broken it, and it now lay in the puddle behind him.

Chen Ningxi got out of the car, covering her head with her hand to shield from the rain that blurred her vision. Mr. Ma ran over, saying: "Manager Chen, why did you come down? Quick, get back in the car."

She answered indirectly, "How many people do you have for repairs?"

Mr. Ma said, "Twelve people."

Compared to the daunting task, twelve people were obviously stretched too thinly.

Chen Ningxi said, "I brought fifteen people, you handle this. Where is the other power tower?"

Splitting into groups for the repair was the fastest way to restore power. Mr. Ma pointed in another direction, "Go around this cornfield, at the foot of the back mountain, in the river channel."

Chen Ningxi led the supporting construction vehicle to the next location, asking Tian Quan to notify the crane and bulldozer to meet at the new address.

The damage to the third power tower was better than Chen Ningxi had anticipated. Although it was in the river channel, judging from the riverbed, it seemed the waterway had been altered, and the current water level was not high, so the repair work was not too difficult.

Chen Ningxi began to organize the emergency repair in an orderly manner, taking nearly three hours to approach completion.

Back in the car, she called Mr. Ma. Once his end was done, power could be restored.

Upon asking about the progress, Mr. Ma brought bad news, stating that the second power tower had a secondary accident and was still under repairs.

The roaring thunder drew Chen Ningxi’s eyes outside, the gloomy sky and the pouring rain further reducing visibility, unknowingly increasing the difficulty for the repair workers.

"Mr. Ma, speed up, there will be torrential rain tonight."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Ma on the phone was silent for two seconds, then anxiously replied: "...I’ll do my best."

Another hour passed, the repairs on the third power tower were successful, and Mr. Ma’s call came in.

"Manager Chen, the river water is backflowing, we need reinforcements here."

Chen Ningxi quickly called out to those beneath the tower, "Tian Quan, Tian Quan..."

The rain was too loud, drowning out her voice, so Chen Ningxi waded through the small river to Tian Quan’s side, "Tian Quan, take Liu and others over to Mr. Ma’s place."

Tian Quan nodded, "Understood."

He quickly gathered Liu and others, driving to the second power tower location, while Chen Ningxi was about to leave, she noticed the concrete foundation at the tower’s base was odd.

"Liu Shaojun," Chen Ningxi shouted. Hearing the call, Liu Shaojun turned back to see Chen Ningxi waving her over, "Come here."

Liu Shaojun took large strides toward her, Chen Ningxi pointed at her feet, "When we arrived earlier, the water here was clear, now the upstream water is muddy, indicating backflow. I felt the soil under the tower, if the floodwaters continue to erode it, we might not be able to protect this tower, we need to reinforce it."

Liu Shaojun bent down, picked up a handful of silt from beneath the concrete block, and squeezed it in his palm; the black mud slipped through his fingers.

He frowned, speaking seriously, "The riverbed here has definitely been dug up, the load-bearing sand and gravel are gone, only the silt beneath the riverbed remains. If we don’t reinforce it quickly, it’ll collapse. By then, not only will we be unable to restore power to the North District, but building this tower again will also take a month."

Yet the disaster victims in the North District were anxiously waiting for power restoration, and the rescue operations also needed electrical support, so reinforcing the tower was urgent.

Liu Shaojun’s words aligned with Chen Ningxi’s thoughts. She shouted, "Everyone left, quickly reinforce the tower!"

Tian Quan took ten people with him, leaving five, including Chen Ningxi, to start reinforcing.

At this point, the long hours of working in the rain had taken their toll on everyone, their physical strength faltering, slowing down their actions and lowering the reinforcement efficiency.

Suddenly, the unexpected happened, a mountain flood erupted, and the surge of floodwater rushed over like a roaring beast.

The power tower was at the central riverbed, and before they could reach the shore, they were caught up in the flood’s wave.

Chen Ningxi shouted, "The flood is coming, get up the tower—"

Ding Peng, beside Liu Shaojun, was startled by the flood, losing his balance and falling to the side. Quick-witted, he grabbed hold of him and pulled him onto the tower.

The five climbed swiftly, the murky floodwater sweeping over the riverbed like quicksand.

Chen Ningxi stared at the increasingly turbulent mountain flood beneath her, dialing the rescue line.

"Hello..."

As word of Chen Ningxi’s danger reached the city, Chen Weichuan was still commanding operations in disaster-stricken Xifeng Village. Someone advised him to dispatch a rescue team to the scene, but in front of him were more than three hundred households waiting for his rescue efforts.

Chen Weichuan gritted his teeth, his face heavy with resolve, "A rescue team will come. We continue."

At that moment, the sky darkened suddenly, and torrential rain attacked. Chen Ningxi clung tightly to the power tower, the only sounds in her ears being the rain and the turbulent flood below.

Cheng Qiaobei was in his office, suddenly feeling uneasy as he looked out the window, picking up his phone to dial Chen Ningxi’s number.