Chapter 557: Chapter 557

September 30th was a Saturday. After finishing their exams, the school closed for the National Day holiday, which at that time was a three-day break, encompassing Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

Other students were very excited, but Zhou Yiyi didn’t feel much; however, like everyone else, she left school after the exams and wandered aimlessly through the streets. She found a busy vegetable market and then ducked into her space to make desserts. Later, in a deserted spot, she took out her bicycle and wares to sell pickles and desserts.

Having the space saved her the trouble of renting a room and spared her from spending money on accommodations. In this life, although she didn’t have the Golden Finger, the vast emptiness of the space provided her with tremendous convenience.

There were many markets in L city. She spent an afternoon cycling around and exploring various places, so after selling out that evening, she moved on to other areas the next morning. Typically, she would work until early morning around seven or eight o’clock, then find a place to enter her space to rest, do homework, and sleep. In the afternoons, she’d be busy making desserts again, and by around six o’clock, she would start setting up her stall.

Of course, sometimes after selling everything, she’d go to the library to read and pass the time—what else could she do with nowhere to go?

For convenience, she even got a library card. She could borrow two books at a time, exchange them when finished, and it cost only one hundred yuan for a whole year.

Whenever the Wan Family lanterns were lit, she would push her cart through the streets, watching people hustling past, urgency written all over their faces to get home. She would feel lonely and helpless. The image of her original parents had already begun to blur in her mind; all she could remember were her own parents. But even they, after so many lifetimes of grinding away, were starting to fade from her memory.

So, she couldn’t help but ask Spiritual Field, "This is already my fifth life. Just how many lifetimes do I have to transmigrate before I can achieve my rebirth?"

"A human body has 206 bones; you complete one lifetime for every twenty bones. You’ve likely finished growing 100 bones by now. Besides the bones, there are muscles, facial features, internal organs, hair... In short, your journey is still quite long. Once the bones are done growing, it won’t be by twenties anymore. It might be some other counting method. You might as well get through about twenty lifetimes; then you should be about there."

"My Sky? Twenty lifetimes? Are you kidding me? That’s just too harsh!"

"You think being a human is easy? It’s hard to create a body of flesh and blood, and what’s more, you’re not just giving birth but transforming a virtual character through tasks. Why not just think of it as reviving yourself? With that mindset, you’ll feel more energized."

Tangyuan’s smile was somewhat forced. After enduring so many lifetimes, her modern remains had probably long since turned to ash. Could they still wait for her return, to be revived?

This Liang Tian, always so good at deceiving people, huh!

Zhou Yiyi emerged from her space and glanced at the sky—it was already lit with evening lights. She wasn’t sleepy at all, so she strolled leisurely through the streets.

Suddenly, a loud ’thud’ startled her, making her heart thump erratically. Her pace halted as she looked around to identify the source of the noise, her spirits immediately tensing: "What was that sound just now?"

Then, she saw people rushing toward the lakeside. Upon getting closer, she could hear someone shouting.

"There’s been an accident! A car has knocked several people walking down into the river. Everyone, come and help rescue them, hurry, call 120, 119, 110, quick, quick!"

From a distance, Zhou Yiyi could see a few people floundering in the lake. Original content can be found at novel⚑fire.net

Many people were on the shore, some finding bamboo poles, others looking for ropes, jumping around anxiously—probably because they couldn’t swim—so no one went down.

She assessed the situation in the lake; there were at least three or four people. Using the cover of darkness, she slipped behind a tree and threw her backpack and jacket into her space, then started to warm up. It wasn’t the right time to dive in; doing so would mean certain death. She didn’t fancy being dragged down by several people in need of rescue. Timing was critical when saving lives.

As she was warming up, there were two splashes that sounded like someone had jumped in to rescue others. Five minutes later, after she finished warming up, she calmly made her way through the crowd and, amid exclamations of surprise, decisively leaped into the water.

The water in October was truly cold. The moment she hit the water, she felt as if her body was immediately frozen by the chilled liquid.

Swimming towards the target, she saw one of the rescuers being clung to by two individuals at the same time. Since they couldn’t swim, once someone came to rescue them, they clung to him desperately. "Save me, save me, glug glug..." "Save me first, please, I have two children, I can’t die!"

"Let go! If you do this, I can’t save anyone. Let go of me!"

The young male rescuer didn’t seem old but was being relentlessly held onto by adults. If this continued, things could turn fatal.

Initially, two people had jumped in. Since one was closer to an elderly person, they went to save them.

Zhou Yiyi was closer to a young woman, so naturally, she wouldn’t head to the center of the lake. When she reached the drowning woman, she was already exhausted, lacking even the strength to shout for help. "Don’t panic, relax. I’ll put my arm around your head; let your body float. Remember, don’t struggle."

The young woman no longer had the strength to respond to her, as the symptoms of drowning became apparent. Without wasting words, Zhou Yiyi wrapped her left arm around the woman’s neck and began swimming vigorously toward the shore with her right arm.

"Look, those three people have sunk in the middle! Oh no, that young man is being dragged down by those two! Look, they’re both clinging to him; he can’t struggle free. Now what? With so many people, isn’t there anyone who can swim?"

Zhou Yiyi was closer to the shore, and after she brought the young woman to the edge, she glanced back at the center of the lake to see the three had sunk. Pressing her lips together, she swiftly swam back towards the center of the lake.

At the same time, the person who had saved the elderly man didn’t hesitate to head toward the center of the lake as well.

At this moment, more people jumped in from the shore, one after another, all aiming for the site of the accident.

Zhou Yiyi had lived by the sea in one of her past lives and was an excellent swimmer. While others were still searching on the surface, she had already dived into the lake in search of the victims.

Fortunately, they had just gone under, and the lake water was relatively calm. She found the submerged persons before the other rescuer.

She didn’t even glance at the two adults. In her view, such selfish people, who dragged others down with them, weren’t worth saving. So she immediately lifted the unconscious young man’s head and surged upwards. He showed no reaction because he was unconscious by the time she reached him.

Zhou Yiyi knew she couldn’t afford any further delay; she had to be quick. She swam back roughly ten meters when the rescue team arrived by speedboat. They hauled the two of them aboard, and she, out of breath, urged, "Hurry, get him to shore fast. If we’re any later, it’ll be too late."