Chapter 530 - 419: Is There a Whirlpool?

"How deep is this water?"

Fang Huai had no time for noodles, nor the leisure to watch the old man performing rituals by the riverbank.

He had been to Wanfeng Lake before, but that was a trip to admire the mountains, the beautiful forest of Wanfeng, and to enjoy a bowl of fried rice. He had been discharged from service then; who could have guessed he’d be back here fishing for a body.

He knew nothing about the lake, only that Wanfeng Lake was quite long.

Cao Yi looked at the water and also felt helpless.

"The entire Wanfeng Lake has an average depth of more than 170 meters, and if you go to the downstream area at its deepest, it’s 280 meters.

Fortunately, the spot where the person fell is on a tributary. En route, there are several stair-like waterfalls where the water is relatively shallow, just a few meters deep, and the current isn’t too strong. It’s easy for someone to get trapped in those spots."

Soon after the incident, the Southwest Guizhou Detachment set up nets in several places.

But the experts brought in said that those places were prone to forming whirlpools.

So I didn’t dare let them go down there, especially at night. It’s too dangerous,"

As he spoke, Cao Yi scratched his head with an anxious smile and said:

"I came full of confidence, saying I’d earn our Squadron some merit. But once I got here and saw the situation, I realized it’s too extreme. What’s the difference between this and fishing a person out of the Yellow River or the Yangtze River? Once someone gets swept into the lake below, it’s like searching for a needle in the ocean; we can only wait for them to surface on their own."

Fang Huai reached up to scratch his head and looked down below.

Below the highway was a treacherous riverbank where a big gang of firefighters had set up a large net, creating a barrier spanning twenty to thirty meters long, completely blocking both sides. The net holes were wide, but not enough for a person to pass through. Weight must have been tied beneath the net, as the flow of water wasn’t very strong. If a person were to drift past, the net would create resistance, and they should be detectable.

Nearby, several people dressed in tax-service uniforms were also helping with the net. Coordination wasn’t their strong suit, but they persisted in cooperating, which was commendable.

"Are those people down there from their workplace?" Fang Huai pointed to the figures below.

"Yeah."

"Did you set up nets along several waterlines on the way here?"

"Yeah."

"What about the place where they fell in? How deep is it?"

"That area isn’t shallow. Below... we’ve heard, there are places as deep as forty or fifty meters. But the person entered the water from the riverbank, and people have gone down around it to search already. The flow is directed downward, so they probably wouldn’t drift to the deeper areas, right?

They’d most likely just follow the current downstream.

We just walked over here with the Southwest Guizhou Detachment. The spot where the person fell into the water is close to the first barrier, just tens of meters away. Actually, we all feel that the flow isn’t that swift. The person probably didn’t make it this far down, and there’s a high probability they are just below the first barrier.

But the victim’s mother..."

Cao Yi gestured at the old woman: "When she woke up today, she said her son appeared in her dream, telling her he was still alive and had drifted downstream, asking us to search the downstream part of Wanfeng Lake. We had no choice but to search nearby first, and then we set up another barrier here. This spot is very close to the confluence. If they got past here, they would’ve entered the larger lake below, and there’s nothing more we could do."

"How far is this place from where they fell in?"

"Walk forward, it’s a little over two kilometers."

Fang Huai was at a loss for words.

"What nonsense... never mind, just give me a bowl of noodles."

Maybe the old lady had been watching too many period dramas. A person who fell unconscious upstream is discovered in a village a hundred miles away, and still alive?

What sort of current would it take to sweep a person a hundred miles? Never mind an unconscious person, even if he went down with a scuba tank, he couldn’t guarantee survival for more than half an hour.

The water in this tributary was far from being that dramatic.

Moreover, judging by the situation, he firmly believed that simply dragging the net upstream would ensure that the person couldn’t have come this far.

It was just going to be very hard to find.

He figured they would still need to dive. With depths of several tens of meters, diving on an empty stomach was out of the question; he needed to eat a little, but not too much.

After gulping down most of the bowl of noodles, Fang Huai urged, "Let’s go, take me upstream to have a look."

Hao Chengbin grumbled, "I haven’t finished eating yet!"

"Instructor Cao is driving; you rest up!"

...

minutes later.

By the gently flowing river, there was a diagonal earth slope at least six or seven meters tall from the water’s surface, surrounded by trees.

"Did the person enter the water here?"

"Not sure."

"How can you be not sure?"

Cao Yi shook his head: "The few who accompanied us could only give a rough location.

After eating at the mountain villa up there, they said they’d come down for a walk, went near this place. The victim was drunk and said he needed to pee, so he walked over here by himself; they didn’t think to follow him.

It was only after a long time, when he didn’t return, that they felt something was wrong and came looking for him."

"How is that possible? No signs?"

"What signs? The police also complained to us. Those guys were so panicked, they called 110, 119, 120; they searched everywhere around here, shouting and even climbed down to look, messing up the scene completely."

Fang Huai raised an eyebrow, looking at the dense tree branches. It was hard to see the river below clearly at night. Definitely, when a person has to pee, they would look for some cover. One misstep, and it’s truly possible to fall down.

What a story.

This could be a cautionary tale.

Improper urination in a scenic area cost him his life.

And it was in the middle of the night. They had come all this way, only to encounter several groups of people. Not far behind, two trucks carrying sleeping firefighters were parked. This incident had worn everyone out.