CH 4

In the end, Lin Wen finally got what he wanted and received the task of guarding the dike in Changshan County. He happily went back.

Sheriff Zhao even returned the 12 staff members borrowed from him earlier, but Lin Wen remained indifferent to this.

After the flood control meeting, all the village chiefs had left and only Sheriff Zhao Anping and his secretary Xiao Zhang remained in the meeting room.

In the dim light, Sheriff Zhao had been silently drinking tea without saying a word, and the meeting room was quiet.

After a while, Xiao Zhang couldn't help but say, "Sheriff, it's getting late. We should go back."

Sheriff Zhao nodded, but didn't move.

After a while, he put down his teacup and slowly said, "Xiao Zhang, do you remember how Lin Wen became the mayor of Changle Town?"

Xiao Zhang thought for a while and said, "I remember that Little Lin's father heroically sacrificed himself in a fight against human traffickers to rescue kidnapped children. He was later awarded the first-class medal of honor. His mother was swept away by a big wave while rescuing people trapped in a flood on a barge. Afterwards, it was counted that she had saved more than 1,200 lives alone, and was awarded the first-class medal of women's heroism. Later, the empire launched a call to not forget heroes, and according to the governor's office, Lin Wen was the descendant of an imperial hero and was directly promoted from a town official to the mayor. He even jumped four levels!"

Sheriff Zhao stared at his teacup as if he was in a trance. "Hmm, that was three years ago. I remember that Little Lin was too young at the time and caused a lot of controversy."

Xiao Zhang nodded. "Yes, but who dares to question the authority of the governor's office? Haha!"

Sheriff Zhao ignored Xiao Zhang's teasing and continued, "It's been three years now. Although Little Lin doesn't have much talent for being an official, he has always been diligent and never abused his power. It is said that he has been even more diligent recently, and the people of Changle Town all praise him."

Xiao Zhang bent down and whispered, "Sheriff, what do you want to say?"

Sheriff Zhao said flatly, "Do you think Little Lin has noticed this round of personnel planning?"

Xiao Zhang laughed. "That's impossible. The draft document is still in your safe, and no one else knows except you and a few people in the county government."

Sheriff Zhao sneered, but did not continue. Instead, he asked, "Why do you think Little Lin is so eager to defend the most dangerous area?"

"Isn't it just to gain credit?" Xiao Zhang yawned. "Don't be fooled by his rhetoric. At most, he'll just do some pre-work and repairs. If the flood really comes, he definitely won't go up to the dike."

Sheriff Zhao did not speak anymore. He sat quietly in the dim light for a moment before getting up and saying, "Let's go."

"Great, we can finally go back." Xiao Zhang smiled and picked up his briefcase, then hurried out.Zhao Anping looked back at where Lin Wen was sitting and silently left.

---

After returning to town, Lin Wen finished reading the flood prevention materials he brought back that night.

The next day, he took people directly to the embankment.

Although Changpai Village's embankment was called a "big embankment," it was actually just a small section of a dry embankment connecting the Qingfeng Mountain upstream and the Luanjungang downstream.

It was located west of Changle Town, a bit far away, but Lin Wen didn't want to ride the broken car and walked with 10 newly transferred staff members.

Two people were left to sit in the rear for Little Li.

In fact, if it weren't for the real split body technique, Lin Wen didn't want anyone else and would have done it all by himself.

As soon as they arrived at the embankment, they saw the rushing river water coming from the sky, with surging waves and terrifying water, the river surface was at least 2,000 meters wide, boundless. Across the river were towering and steep cliffs, with grayish-blue rock walls plunging straight into the sky from the bottom of the river, making people feel awe-inspiring.

People were so small here, like an ant next to a giant beast of heaven and earth.

And the only thing resisting such a powerful water flow was a long-unrepaired earthen embankment. Water was seeping from the slope of the embankment, proving that there were hidden caves under the water. Several places had collapsed, and the river water had invaded the foundation of the embankment.

The ten staff members who accompanied them all turned pale and trembled.

Lin Wen was delighted and had a good excuse. He waved his big hand and said, "It's dangerous on the embankment, all of you go down and prepare soil bags, tie them with woven bags, prepare some bamboo baskets filled with stones and tools for reinforcement, and put them all under the embankment. I'll come and get them myself. You don't need to worry about the rest."

The ten staff members looked at each other and one of them hesitated, "Mayor Lin, this isn't good..."

"No need to say more!" Lin Wen raised his face, "If the mayor doesn't do dangerous things, who will? Is the mayor's salary for nothing? What is the mayor's power for? The mayor eats and drinks well every day, but you can only eat dirt. Why? When encountering major and difficult matters, if the mayor doesn't lead the way, take risks, and sacrifice oneself, what use is the mayor? If the common people live uncomfortably and choose a lord to oppress them, what's the point?"

At this point, everyone didn't want to stay on the embankment for another moment. The fear of the waves hitting the shore made them flee down the embankment.

Only Lin Wen was left alone in the dim world, in the roar of the waves, he opened his arms and laughed, "I'm here! Immortals, gods, tremble!"

Perhaps out of inexplicable gratitude, the ten staff members brought over 200 bags of soil, more than 50 bamboo baskets filled with stones, about 20 anchoring piles, and a pile of tools in just one day.

And Mayor Lin did not leave the embankment all day, carrying soil bags and holding shovels and tools to reinforce the embankment alone.The dike in Changpai Village is over 200 meters long. In theory, it would be impossible for one person to complete the repairs and reinforcements. However, by evening, no one dared to say such a thing because Lin, the town mayor, had already carried over 100 bags of soil up the dike. With a shovel in each hand, he moved quickly like a mountaineer on the slippery and muddy dike. It seemed as if he was carrying a bag of cotton as he effortlessly transported the soil from below the dike to the top.

At this rate, they might be able to complete the dike repairs before the flood season arrives.

"Is this even possible?" One staff member couldn't believe his eyes.

"Is he made of iron?"

"Should we help him?" A small voice spoke up.

"If you want to go, go ahead."

"I can't handle looking at that river. It's like a monster that eats people."

"Who says that's possible?"

"Enough! This is Mayor Lin's order! If we don't transport the soil, is Mayor Lin going to come to the village to dig and carry it himself?"

"That's right. This is Mayor Lin's order. We must obey and not be lazy."

"Should we transport some more?"

"Let's go!"

By 9 pm, dark clouds had rolled in, and it started to rain heavily. Transporting the soil in the rain became too difficult, so the ten people decided to rest and return home.

As one person was leaving, he turned around and looked back at the dark dike. He couldn't see anything and muttered to himself, "Mayor Lin must have already gone back."

A bolt of lightning illuminated the river, and the raging water made people wonder if the thin dike, only as thick as paper, could withstand such a terrifying force on the 2,000-meter-wide river.

However, on top of the dike, in the pouring rain and under the lightning, there was still a figure carrying something and walking towards the slope of the dike.

The lightning disappeared in an instant, and everything returned to darkness.

A huge fear surged up as the person fell to the ground and shouted, "Someone is on the dike!"

The others turned around and asked, "What did you say?"

"You're blind. There's a ghost in the darkness!"

"Go back and take a hot shower. You're tired to death!"

Although he kept denying it rationally, the scene illuminated by the lightning was still imprinted in his mind and couldn't be erased.Contrary to what they thought, Lin Wen was still on the embankment and did not feel tired at all. He faced the terrifying power of nature in the storm without any fear, which made him feel like he had arrived in the immortal world early, a feeling of excitement and trembling that others could not understand, and completely immersed himself in it.

Of course, this was not a mental victory.

In the first few hours, Lin Wen did get tired to the point of vomiting blood. The road on the embankment was full of mud, which was soft and slippery to step on and tiring to pull out. A bag of soil weighed over a hundred kilograms and felt like a mountain on his back. If it weren't for his faith, he would have collapsed long ago.

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

It took him over half an hour to carry the first bag of soil up to the embankment and another half an hour to find the hidden hole. Fortunately, Lin Wen's mind was still sharp, and he remembered the search and blocking methods for the hidden holes from the flood control materials.

To prevent being washed away, Lin Wen specifically looked for a location with a slower water flow. The hidden hole was also very small, and one bag of soil was enough to fill it. It should only be a small breach.

After Lin Wen reinforced it with a shovel, he instantly gained one point of merit.

Lin Wen was shocked. In the past, he couldn't even earn one point of merit after working hard all day, but he earned one point in just over an hour now?

Although he had guessed that repairing the embankment was a great merit and should earn a lot of merit, he didn't expect to earn so much.

"Calm down! Calm down! There may not be that much. I worked hard for a long time before without earning any merit. Maybe I just missed it by a bit, and now I made it up?"

The verification method was also simple. He just needed to try again.

Although he had a powerful power boost, Lin Wen still took more than thirty minutes to carry a bag of soil due to his physical condition.

It took him almost an hour to find a particularly small hidden hole, and he instantly gained one point of merit after blocking it!

"Damn!"

Lin Wen stamped his feet and beat his chest, regretting that he didn't discover this road to riches earlier and wasted so much time.

Just as he was about to seize the time and work harder, he turned around and fell on the embankment. Lin Wen then realized that his whole shoulder was numb, his arms were uncontrollably shaking, his legs were as weak as cotton, and a huge soreness spread throughout his body.

"This won't do, how can I continue?"

The merit was right in front of him, but he couldn't reach it. Lin Wen was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

"Get up, get up, damn these legs, get up!"

While he was anxious and angry, a white mist flashed before his eyes, and the immortal panel appeared again. The biggest change from before was that the number behind the shining merit had become ten.

This was the ten merit points that Lin Wen had accumulated over many days of hard work.

"What am I doing looking at this now?"

The conversation was interrupted halfway because Lin Wen suddenly noticed that the seal pattern behind the "spells" column below had disappeared.