Chapter 173

“Argh…”

The riverbank rang with cries and screams.

The sun set, and the garden was cool with a chilly breeze. Everyone was rigid with terror.

“What, what just happened?”

“Did I lose my mind?”

“Oh my God, forget about that! Save her, save her!”

Yet no one dared to go in anymore. The sight had been far too terrifying. If that blonde girl had really been a corpse… A corpse would have just dragged someone underwater. Who would dare go down there?

And if Blondie hadn’t been a corpse and a human being, that would mean intentional murder. She had waited for the woman to jump in… and then drag her underwater— absolutely no one was going to go down there!

Some of the people looked at Blake. Thank goodness he had stopped them, or they would have gotten into trouble along with the middle-aged man too.

Just then, the boat had just arrived.

The people on the boat could see better. One of the rescue team members, a young man, shouted, “We’ve found it! We found it…”

The team saw a struggling woman and what looked like a floating corpse, and prepared to go over and help.

A senior member called out, “Keep a close eye, Greg!”

The young rescue team member’s name was Greg. He was overwhelmed with emotion then, having finally found the dead girl’s body after searching for an entire day. The body was clad in clothes that matched the description of the girl who had drowned too…

The next second, he saw the corpse get up and drag the struggling lady underwater.!

“F*ck me!” Greg cried out in terror.

He could clearly see that it was a corpse floating. He had fished up a good number of dead bodies, and knew one when he saw one.

Corpses could drag people underwater?!

Just then, Greg felt as if his head was going to explode. Every hair on his body was upright.

“C-c-captain!” he cried out.

The captain walked over with a rope in his hands, moving quickly as he spoke. “Why are you acting as if you’ve seen a ghost? Get them!”

“Hey, where’d they go? I just turned around for a second!”

There was another kayak coming from the opposite direction. The tools needed to haul a dead body and a live one were different, and thus they changed the nets quickly, working together to pull both people up.

The female corpse and the middle-aged woman were fished out of the water. Everyone saw the dead body give a massive twitch, and thought they were seeing things.

Greg’s eyes widened. “C-c-c-captain!”

The captain was in shock, too. “I saw, I saw. Keep quiet!”

The woman was first pulled up, and the rescue team got to work at once.

She spat out a mouthful of water in no time, returning to her senses slowly.

Upon gaining consciousness, she began to scramble to her feet as she screamed, “Jane, my Jane…”

“Quick, save my daughter!”

The rescue team captain held her down. “Your daughter’s been pulled ashore. We understand how you’re feeling, please take your time to grieve!”

The woman was startled. “What… what do you mean?”

Did that mean that my daughter is dead?

No, no. The other two girls had been rescued, why had only her daughter died?

She refused to believe it!

The woman clutched the edge of the boat, mumbling to herself, “I don’t believe you! You’ve got the wrong body! I just saw my Jane, I’m going to get her myself… I’ll get her myself if you won’t help!”

She made a move to jump into the water as she spoke, listening to no one.

Everyone else did not know what to say, but this was not the first time they’d seen someone lose control like this.

They’d been working for a rescue team for years. Before seeing the body, family members would usually cling on to any last shred of hope that their loved ones were still alive.

After the body was finally pulled up, some family members would faint on the spot. Some would break down and refuse to believe it, some of them would even assault the team members and blame them for getting there too late…

The woman was held down forcefully, and she turned to look at the corpse covered in a blue tarp. The tarp was lifted, and sure enough, it was her daughter.

The woman fell to the ground, thrashing around and throwing kick after punch to Greg who happened to be closest to her!

“What’s the point of you working here? Why’d you only find my daughter now? Shouldn’t it be easy to fish out a dead body? You’re all bloody useless, scooping around for a whole day for this to happen!

You’re the reason my daughter’s dead!”

“You should be dead! All of you should be dead!”

She sobbed and screamed. Greg’s chest ached listening to her.

As a rescue team member, the joy of rescuing someone alive was barely enough to soothe over the heaviness that came from pulling up a dead body. It was enough that this one had been the latter, and now they were all getting cursed at by the deceased’s loved ones.

The passion he had in him when he first entered the rescue team was slowly fading, turning into a hopelessness in humanity…

Was there really a point to all of this?

The woman continued to scream and curse as they reached the shore.

Blake held Lilly as they waited by the riverbank. Rumor was it that they had pulled both people up, and a crowd was growing.

Lilly’s chest thumped uncomfortably as the woman continued to scream her head off. Lilly was only four, but was feeling a wave of annoyance.

“Stop yelling!” she cried out loud all of a sudden. “You’re the useless one! You’re the most useless! All you do is cause trouble, and you don’t listen when people tell you not to do something, then you scream and yell at others! You’re a coward!”

The kid was so mad that she had used a word she had learnt from television. “Coward”.

She truly felt like this lady was being a real pain. It was tragic that she had lost her daughter, but she shouldn’t be cursing other people out like this!

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

“Yes, that’s right. It’s not easy to be a rescue team member! They’re not making a cent off you doing this. What right do you have to be yelling like this…”

“Were they wrong for just helping?”

The more hot-tempered onlookers cursed some more. “I think you’re more at fault here, as the mother!

Couldn’t you have watched your own daughter? All you know to do is blame others!”

The more mild-tempered ones did their best to mediate. “Alright, alright, that’s enough. She’s having a hard time, she just lost her daughter…”

Blake pursed his lips, staring at the crowd before him coldly. He had long since gained an icy exterior from the bloodshed he had experienced himself, and did not feel much about this.

Yet Lilly wrangled out of his grasp, running to the young man silently packing up to the side.

Greg was packing up the ropes, the weight in his chest so heavy he could barely breathe. Work had finally ended for the day, and after being on his toes all day all he could feel was fatigue.

Extreme fatigue, to the point that he considered never coming back to work after this.

Just then, a tiny hand reached out and held his arm softly. Greg stopped short.

A little girl raised her head, speaking in a solemn tone. “Thank you for your hard work, Sir. You’ve done well!”

“You’re the best, Sir! You’re like a superhero!”

Staring into her wide, jet-black eyes and her sincere, solemn gaze, Greg felt a lump in his throat as his eyes began to water.

“Thank you…”

The little girl’s dad walked over, hoisting her into the air.

She waved goodbye, and Greg waved back hurriedly.

Who said being a hero was all about glory?

Greg smiled, rubbing his eyes and mumbling, “Thank you…”

This stranger of a little girl.

He suddenly felt like he had gained a burst of courage.

Next to him, the woman continued to scream her head off.

“Why are you yelling at me? Do you know how I feel right now? Have you lost your daughter before?

You know nothing!!”

“Did I say the wrong thing at all? My daughter wouldn’t have had to die if you had all been faster…”

“This is all your fault. My poor daughter, my Jane…”

The wind blew across the tarp covering the girl’s corpse, exposing her widened eyes and pale face.

No one saw her pupils give a violent twitch, before returning to normal.