Chapter 402: Tumbled Far Away

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

“Your Majesty, there’s a message from the Jing Prefecture sent via eagle.”

Xiao Jin sprang up. He didn’t even wait for Zhang Shuming to step forward and walked quickly to take the message from the Imperial Guard.

He did not notice that his two hands were trembling when he opened the message.

There was only a short sentence on the note. “The Empress fell into the flood waters and her whereabouts are still unknown.”

“Ugh!”

Xiao Jin’s hands, which were holding the letter, gradually turned white, and a sickly sweet taste filled his throat.

Pfft! He opened his mouth and a mouthful of blood sprayed on the message, instantly dyeing the paper red.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!” Zhang Shuming was so frightened that his expression changed drastically. He went forward to support Xiao Jin as he shouted loudly, “Imperial Physician! Summon the Imperial Physician!”

Xiao Jin grabbed the Imperial Guard’s collar and his eyes were bloodshot. “Su Ying! Su Ying!”

Before he could finish speaking, everything turned black before his eyes and he lost consciousness.

Xiao Jin had a nightmare. He dreamed that Su Ying was trapped in an endless flood. She struggled desperately to swim to the shore, but no matter how hard she struggled, the flood waters would swallow her up in a short period of time until her figure completely disappeared into the water.

“Su Ying!”

Xiao Jin sat up from the bed abruptly.

When the Imperial Physicians heard the noise, they came forward one after another. “Your Majesty, you’re finally awake.”

Xiao Jin ignored the Imperial Physicians and straightaway got out of bed to walk to the outer hall.

“Your Majesty, your body hasn’t recovered yet. Where are you going?” Zhang Shuming shouted as he ran after Xiao Jin.

“Go. Prepare a powerful steed. I want to go to Jing Prefecture!” Xiao Jin said without turning his head.

“Your Majesty, your servant begs you to think twice!” Zhang Shuming cried and knelt in front of Xiao Jin.

“Your Majesty, think about it. The Young Princess and the Young Prince are still young. You can’t leave the capital at this time, Your Majesty…” After Zhang Shuming finished speaking, he kowtowed to the ground. Immediately, everyone in the hall knelt down.

Xiao Jin had just ascended the throne not long ago, and the situation in the Imperial Court had yet to stabilize. The Nan State was eyeing the Chu State for an opportunity. If something happened to Xiao Jin when he left the capital at this time, the consequences would be unimaginable.

“Your servant begs Your Majesty to reconsider. Your Majesty…”

Reason told Xiao Jin that he couldn’t go, but he couldn’t stay any longer when he thought that Su Ying’s fate was still unknown!

Xiao Jin clenched his fists as the veins on his forehead bulged vehemently. “No, I must go. She went to Jing Prefecture for me. She’s in danger now, yet I can’t show up in time. This is all my fault!”

“Your Majesty, the Empress went to Jing Prefecture for the sake of the commoners of the Chu State. You are the ruler of a state. If something goes wrong on this trip, what will happen to the Young Prince, the Young Princess, and the people of the Chu State?”

“Damn it!” Xiao Jin was so furious that he punched the stone pillar viciously. Blood instantly flowed from his hand.

“Send a message to Jing Prefecture. They must tell me everything that happened! Tell them to send more men. They must locate the Empress’s whereabouts no matter what it takes.”

“Yes, yes. 1 will send someone to deliver the message. I will go now.”

After Zhang Shuming ascertained that Xiao Jin did not insist on going to Jing Prefecture, he immediately got someone to send a message to Jing Prefecture.

Zhang Shuming had also seen the contents of the news when Xiao Jin fainted from anger. He had yet to recover from his shock too. The Empress had fallen into the raging flood waters!

This was flood waters they were talking about. Was it still possible to find the person after she fell into it?

Zhang Shuming didn’t dare to think too deeply. He was afraid that his abnormal emotions would affect Xiao Jin.

Outside Jing Prefecture, when everyone heard that the Empress had been washed away by the flood waters while trying to repair the dam and protect the people of Jing Prefecture, they all spontaneously ran to the lower reaches of Aquarius River to look for her.

They didn’t dare to hope that they would be able to find Su Ying alive. They only hoped that Su Ying’s corpse wouldn’t be gnawed clean by the fish in the river.

“My Lord, you haven’t slept for a few days. You should go and rest first.”

From the day the mountain flash flood erupted until now, Zhu Lin had been searching for Su Ying along the Aquarius River. When he was hungry, he would randomly eat a few mouthfuls of dry food . When he was tired, he would sit on the ground. No matter how others advised him, he was unwilling to take a rest.

“I am fine. Before I locate the Empress, I will not rest!”

When they saw Zhu Lin like this, his subordinates also felt awful. They were also very heartbroken about Su Ying’s demise.

The search for Su Ying continued, but no matter how hard they searched, they could not possibly find her.

After Su Ying was swept away by the flood waters, she immediately entered her interspatial store to hide. However, the location of the interspatial store was immovable, so she could only look for the round-shaped submersible ball and hide inside.

When she came out again, the submersible ball was rapidly swept away by the flood waters.

Su Ying was curled up in the submersible ball. As the ball tumbled with the flood waters, she didn’t know where she would be washed to.

However, she did not stay in the submersible ball all the time. After the submersible ball was swept away by the flood waters, she could not withstand the endless tumbling and returned to the interspatial store.

Although the interspatial store could not be moved, the submersible ball was moving. As long as she entered the interspatial store from the submersible ball, she would definitely still be in the submersible ball when she came out again.

Su Ying did not keep track of the time. She only felt the submersible ball tumbling in the water. When she was hungry, she ate the food she had hoarded in the interspatial store. When she was tired, she slept. When she was bored, she laid out the bisons in the interspatial store, skinned them, and then cut the meat into pieces.

When she had finished dealing with all the bison meat in her interspatial store and returned to the submersible ball, Su Ying could feel that the submersible ball had finally come to a stop.

She opened the observation cabin window, but it was pitch-black all around. She couldn’t see anything.

Su Ying could only turn on the flashlight, but the submersible ball was already damaged after undergoing continuous tumbling over the past few days. The lights had also been damaged. To get a clear picture of the situation outside, she could only go out and see for herself.

However, she was sure that she was still in the water.

Su Ying zipped back to the interspatial store to change into her diving equipment before returning to the submersible ball. She opened the door and swam out.

She turned on the flashlight in her hand and tried to locate the direction of the light, but it was pitch-black all around.

She did not know which obscure corner of the world she had been washed to.

Unable to find a source of light or direction, Su Ying could only observe her surroundings to determine where she was.

Just as she was feeling confused, a huge creature suddenly appeared and swam slowly over her head. Su Ying shone her flashlight at it.

Good heavens! It was actually a whale!

Su Ying had been washed to the mouth of the river and then swept into the deep sea by the ocean currents!

After finding out that she was in the sea, Su Ying didn’t want to stay any longer. Whether it was in the past or now, the thing she hated the most was going on missions along the coast.

During the apocalypse, many marine creatures mutated and evolved to the point where they could perfectly evade the strong attacks of chemical weapons. She was not afraid of zombies which she could tear apart with her hands, but she was afraid of the monsters in the sea.

Su Ying returned to the submersible ball. The engine of the submersible ball had been destroyed and the vehicle could no longer be used, so she could only abandon it.

She returned to her interspatial store and got a large piece of light-converging lens to probe the bottom of the sea. She went back and forth many times to confirm which direction was the sea surface before swimming in that direction.

However, Su Ying didn’t expect to be caught in a fishing net before she could even surface..