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墨書 Inktalez
The light flickered just ahead of us, swaying on the pavement not too far away. Both Buasong and I aimed our One-Eyed Beasts at that point of light, revealing it to be another Lao person holding a glow stick. He was precariously perched on a two-meter-long piece of wood, drifting dangerously close to a whirlpool.
Buasong and I both let out exclamations at the same time; judging by his tone, Buasong's was a curse. But he deserved it; we had both seen that large piece of wood before entering the water, and the target was already clear. I didn’t think he believed that the two-meter-long wood could float him to safety. If that were the case, he should at least have been working toward our common goal instead of climbing onto a piece of wood to meet his doom. His actions not only caused us unnecessary panic but also significantly increased the difficulty of our rescue.
Perhaps he was just panicking and acting without thinking. I could only self-soothe like this, setting aside my complaints and curses; figuring out how to save him was now the most pressing issue at hand.
The light from the One-Eyed Beast alerted him to our presence, and he immediately waved his glow stick in our direction, signaling for help. I couldn’t see his expression or hear his cries, but his frantic arm movements were enough for me to understand the fear he was feeling at that moment.
However, he wasn’t moving any slower than we were. None of us had the ability to speed up or slow down; in fact, he might very well be swept away by the current in a direction away from us, leaving us powerless. Our piece of wood primarily drifted along the straight path of the water flow; even large whirlpools struggled to change its direction. In contrast, the wood he was clinging to would shift with the currents. For instance, just passing through one whirlpool had slightly altered his course. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before he drifted further away from us, and we would end up reaching different points or crashing into Dam Hill on the opposite side.
I saw Buasong shouting anxiously as he quickly moved toward the front end of the wood. The sound of rushing water drowned out all other noises; his voice wouldn’t reach anyone but himself. Even at the front end of the wood, Buasong’s rope couldn’t reach the Lao person ahead. I had a longer rope here, but it was too long to swing effectively, and I wasn’t skilled at this sort of thing; all I could do was watch helplessly as the Lao person ahead struggled.
Our piece of wood soon crushed through the whirlpool that the Lao person had just passed through without changing direction at all, thankfully maintaining our speed. The pavement within the whirlpool sloped oddly; one side seemed above my head while the other appeared beneath my feet as we shot through this peculiar water wall into the water beyond the whirlpool. A massive wave crashed against me, nearly knocking me off the wood.
With my mouth clamped around One-Eyed Beast’s handle, water surged directly down my throat, filling my stomach with an icy sensation. Fortunately, I held my breath; otherwise, this would have been fatal.
I fought against a strong urge to vomit, worried that I might accidentally expel the One-Eyed Beast flashlight. Losing our strongest source of light in such a situation would not only extinguish any hope of rescuing another Lao person but also plunge us into despair ourselves. Illumination was crucial for us.
Though I feared that another wave would fill my stomach again and worried about suppressing my rising nausea, both hands clung desperately to the wood. Even then, I nearly fell into the water; there was no time to put away One-Eyed Beast. Moreover, seeing the distant Lao person required illumination from One-Eyed Beast—this truly was a maddening contradiction.
Buasong reached the front end of the wood and faced even greater waves crashing against him. Thankfully, he reacted quickly and wrapped both arms around it but still got pushed back toward me until his feet kicked my stomach hard enough to stop his retreat.
Buasong’s face turned pale as if he had swallowed a lot of water; when he sat up facing me, water continued to pour from his mouth. However, compared to his empty hands, these concerns were trivial. He had dropped the flashlight. His lips moved as if cursing something; then with an apologetic expression, he gestured that he had lost the flashlight and needed me to provide light while he attempted to rescue another Lao person.
I had no problem with that, but the issue was that we couldn't shorten the distance to the other Lao Person. My Flashlight wasn't able to help with that. Nevertheless, I followed Buasong to the front of the wooden structure.
In such a brief moment, the direction of the Lao Person ahead shifted slightly again. Fortunately, he had a Glow Stick in hand; otherwise, it would have taken us a long time to find him. The One-Eyed Beast's light shone on the Lao Person ahead, only increasing our anxiety as we couldn't even send a sound his way. Buasong fished out a stick from the water and sat at the front, paddling. His actions provided only a sense of comfort and did nothing to increase our speed.
Finally, I managed to get my hands on the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight. After biting down on it for so long, my jaw ached. However, I was also afraid of losing the Flashlight in an emergency like Buasong did, so I cut a piece of rope and tied the Flashlight around my waist, relieving my worries. My Flashlight kept shining on the Lao Person ahead, and after some time, I noticed something unusual: he was still lying on the wooden structure in front of us. When he waved at us earlier, he was also in that position. Perhaps his deviation from direction affected his speed; although our paths diverged, the straight-line distance was closing. I saw the Lao Person ahead paddling.
I was understandably incredulous, even doubting my own eyes. At first, I thought he was increasing resistance against the flow of wood by paddling backward, but after watching for a while, I realized he was indeed paddling forward. He used the Glow Sticks as oars, one in each hand, lying on the wood and alternating strokes like in freestyle swimming. It seemed that his frantic waving of the Glow Stick toward us earlier might not have been intentional; perhaps it was just how his paddling appeared from a distance. Now both Lao Persons were desperately paddling but achieving no tangible results. My One-Eyed Beast Flashlight illuminated the Lao Person ahead and the wooden structure he lay on, along with the Glow Sticks in his hands, making him the brightest point in the darkness. However, the Lao Person ahead did not turn back again; it was as if after initially seeing my Flashlight shine on him and glancing back once, he maintained that position without responding to us anymore.
He now gave me the impression that he was fleeing from us rather than calling for help.
My understanding of his behavior shifted from confusion to an inexplicable fear. He couldn't possibly be unaware of our presence; even if he couldn't see who was shining the Flashlight at him, he should have been able to guess. So why was he trying to escape from us?
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