These lifeboats were all tied to the stern of the ship, and in truth they were rarely ever needed.

Yan Qing glanced down, then quickly ran to the bow of the ship. She picked up a dagger from the ground, and under the astonished gazes of the onlookers, she released the rope securing the lifeboat and shoved it overboard with all her strength. The lifeboat plummeted toward the water’s surface, rising and falling with the current of the river.

Yan Qing looked at the distance between herself and the water below, feeling a momentary dizziness in her head, but she had no time for fear. She gripped the ship’s railing with both hands and leapt over without a moment’s hesitation.

Several screams rang out from the ship behind her.

“Is that person out of their mind?”

“Jumping in to die?”

“The one who fell in just now was with that person — they must have gone to rescue them.”

“Rescue? That person was carried away by the current long ago. There are hidden reefs down there. They’ve probably already drawn their last breath. That person is truly foolish — why throw away their own life like that?”

Amid the crowd’s chatter, Yan Qing had already landed on the lifeboat. Her footing was unsteady, and she hastily threw herself flat against the vessel, barely managing not to tumble into the water as the river surged and churned around her.

Once she had steadied herself, Yan Qing pulled out the dagger and cut the rope connecting the lifeboat to the ship. The lifeboat, like a kite with its string severed, drifted forward along the current.

Yan Qing searched the lifeboat and found a grappling hook attached to a rope, a wooden oar, and a bottle filled with fresh water. After securing these items, she began scanning the river’s surface.

The moment Shi Ting had fallen from the ship, she had felt utterly crushed — as though all hope had been extinguished at once. For the briefest instant, she had nearly wanted to jump in after him. But she quickly suppressed that foolish impulse, because she believed he would not die. Shi Ting’s life was far too tenacious — how could he possibly perish in this murky river?

He still had great ambitions left unrealized. He still had a beloved wife to cherish. He and she still had no children together. He was so young — how could he die?

With these thoughts, the conviction in Yan Qing’s heart grew stronger and stronger, pressing down the fear and panic that ought to have been there.

The river surface was wide, the current swift, and those birds she had seen earlier soared and called out in low voices from time to time.

That’s right!

Yan Qing looked up at those birds. Shi Ting had said they were vultures — they fed specifically on food that floated up from the depths of the water. If she followed these birds, might she find Shi Ting?

With that thought, she immediately began rowing with the oar in her hands, working hard to paddle toward the direction where the birds had gathered.

In truth, she did not know how to row at all. She was not as capable as Shi Ting, and her rowing movements were no more than imitation without real skill. Fortunately, the current helped carry her along, and her small boat made steady progress.

The weather was scorching. Layers of sweat had formed on Yan Qing’s face, the blazing sun burning down on her skin like burning embers, both itchy and uncomfortable.

Yan Qing paid none of this any heed. She kept rowing while scanning the water’s surface. The birds sometimes descended and sometimes circled overhead, seemingly without purpose.

She did not know how long she had been rowing. The sun had already sunk below the mountain peaks, and the river was draped in a dim layer of dark orange, with the shadows of the mountains on both sides reflected in murky black against the water.

Yan Qing set down the oar to rest, allowing the lifeboat to drift freely forward on the water.

As the sky grew darker and darker, the small flame of hope within Yan Qing’s heart also grew weaker and weaker — like a guttering candle in the wind, liable to be extinguished at any moment.

When she had been doing her forensic medicine internship under her second uncle, the first time she had encountered a body retrieved from the river had also been in summer. Those corpses had been submerged in the water for far too long and had already decomposed. They floated up like bloated balloons, unrecognizable, reeking with a suffocating stench.

Having seen so many such cases, Yan Qing had long grown accustomed to it — yet now, to think that the bloated corpse that might surface could be the person she was closest to in the world, she found she could not be calm no matter how hard she tried.

“Nothing will happen to him.” Yan Qing, not knowing what thought had struck her, wiped the tears from her face forcefully and picked up the wooden oar once more. “Nothing will happen — nothing will, absolutely nothing.”

She rowed through the water, continuing to paddle forward. The river stretched on endlessly, as if it had no end.

A vulture overhead let out a sharp cry, so piercing and bleak that Yan Qing’s heart gave an involuntary shudder. Though the sound was still far away, it was suffused with a vast and boundless desolation.

More and more cries rang out. A large flock of vultures converged together, circling low overhead back and forth.

When vultures gather and circle like this, it means they have spotted food.

With that thought, Yan Qing immediately rowed the lifeboat toward where the birds had gathered.

These vultures were gathered not far from the shore — perhaps twenty or thirty of them, with more appearing by the moment.

Yan Qing glanced toward where they had clustered, and immediately covered her mouth with her hand as tears burst from her eyes.

There was clearly a person lying at the water’s edge. Half of this person’s body was submerged in the water while the upper half lay face-down on the bank. The vultures had not descended because they knew this person had not yet died — they were waiting for him to draw his final breath before feasting.

Yan Qing picked up the grappling hook rope and hurled it toward the shore with all her strength. There were two trees there, their trunks tilted out over the river’s surface.

But her technique with the hook was poor, and it took her several tries before she finally managed to catch on a branch. Only after the lifeboat had come to a stop did she pull on the rope to bring the vessel close to shore.

Yan Qing secured the small boat simply and leapt out.

The vultures overhead, seeing someone approaching, immediately scattered to one side, though they were unwilling to abandon the meal that was almost within reach and continued to circle without leaving.

“Shi Ting, Shi Ting.” Yan Qing called his name as she scrambled and half-crawled toward him.

She recognized the gray cloth garment Shi Ting was wearing, and by his build alone she would not have been mistaken — that person was Shi Ting.

“Shi Ting.” Yan Qing fell to her knees at his side and pulled him out of the water with all her strength.

Shi Ting was completely soaked through. His clothes had been torn in multiple places by the rocks, and his body was covered with wounds of varying sizes. His eyes were tightly shut, his face pale as paper, and no matter how she called out to him he gave no response. Yet fortunately, there was still a faint, faint breath still present.

Yan Qing laid his body flat, placed both hands on his chest, and began compressions. She alternated between compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, going back and forth for nearly half an hour — until finally Shi Ting’s body stirred slightly, and he opened his mouth and expelled a large mouthful of murky, filthy water.

“Coughing the water out is good.” Yan Qing was both overjoyed and shaken. She wiped her tears. “Shi Ting, once you’ve coughed it up, everything will be fine.”

Now was not the time to cry — she needed to wake him up as quickly as possible.

“Shi Ting, Shi Ting — can you hear me?” Yan Qing repeated his name over and over, yet Shi Ting still gave her no response, looking as though he had simply fallen asleep.

Yan Qing tried for a long while but could not rouse him, and doubts began to grow in her mind. By rights, he had not swallowed very much water; now that it had been expelled, his pulse and heartbeat were both quite stable — he should not have remained unconscious like this.

She hastily examined his injuries. Though the wounds were of various sizes and had turned pale from soaking in water, none of them were serious.

When she checked his head, Yan Qing’s heart seized. Hidden beneath the dense strands of his hair was a savage wound — although it had stopped bleeding, it was long and deep.

Had he struck his head on something while in the river?

Yan Qing felt a chill run through her, every limb going numb. She was a forensic examiner — she knew how precious and vulnerable the head was. Looking at the location of the wound, which was not far from his temple, she felt her hands and feet go cold.

But she had no time for dwelling on it. Instead, she tore strips of cloth from her own clothing and wrapped them around his forehead.

With the bandaging done, Yan Qing looked around. There was nothing here but river and trees; at this hour it was impossible for any boats to be passing, and during the day the hidden reefs were dangerous enough — at night, no one would be out on the water at all.

But Shi Ting’s injuries could not be delayed any further. She needed to find somewhere to treat him properly.

Yan Qing ran into the tree line and looked outward — and to her surprise, she caught sight of some paddy fields. Where there were paddy fields, there would surely be people, and if she could find people, she might be able to find a way to tend to his wounds.

But Shi Ting’s height and weight were clearly beyond what her slight, frail frame could manage. She could not carry him on her back — she would have to find a way.

Yan Qing’s eyes swept around, and they landed on the lifeboat. She immediately ran over and, with great effort, dragged it up out of the water onto the bank. After setting the boat in place, she went back to support Shi Ting. An unconscious person cannot help bear their own weight, so he was particularly heavy. She spent an enormous amount of effort before finally managing to get him onto the boat.

Yan Qing sat to the side gasping for a long while. At last she gritted her teeth, stepped forward, and took hold of the rope attached to the boat.

The bank was all grass, and the underside of the boat was quite smooth. Though it was not as convenient as a wheeled cart, dragging the boat across the grass was still far less strenuous than carrying him.

Even so, Yan Qing was after all a frail young woman. After dragging the skin boat along for a stretch of the way, she was already drenched in sweat, her back aching and her waist sore.

But she was not one to give up. Even when both her hands had worn open blisters and her shoulder was rubbed raw, she still clenched her teeth and pressed on.

She did not know how far she walked. All she knew was that by the time a faint glimmer of light finally appeared ahead — however tiny and dim — Yan Qing collapsed with a thud onto the ground and wept aloud.

She did not know how long she had been walking. She only knew that all four of her limbs had gone numb, beyond sensation — she could feel neither pain nor exhaustion. In her heart there was only one thought: she would not let Shi Ting die. No matter what price she had to pay, she would save him.

With that thought carrying her forward, Yan Qing rose to her feet — but just as she took the very first step, the ground suddenly gave way beneath her, and she tumbled down a hillside together with the boat.

In her dazed and muddled state, she seemed to hear a dog barking. Her ears were ringing, and her body ached as though it had come apart at the joints — yet upon hearing that sound, she still managed to pull herself up off the ground.

“Shi Ting.” The first thing she did upon coming to her senses was search for Shi Ting. Seeing that the boat had not overturned and Shi Ting was still lying steadily within it, she let out a quiet, inward sigh of relief.

“Who’s there?” The barking grew closer. Someone was approaching with a kerosene lamp.

Yan Qing wanted to call out, but found she was too overcome with emotion to form words. She forced out a hard cough and then called out in a feeble voice: “Help.”