Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 666 Flood
"Old Wu from the industrial park called me, saying that the water level in their river has risen sharply and is about to flood the riverside road and into the factory area! This rainstorm came suddenly, and in order to prevent flooding from entering the industrial park and causing damage, the higher authorities have required the local police stations to cooperate with the community, municipal and urban management departments to patrol and inspect the rivers and drainage networks within their jurisdiction. We are responsible for monitoring the waterways and will immediately notify the municipal authorities to carry out emergency repairs if any problems are found."

Yu Zhengwei had no time for pleasantries and decisively issued the order to act.

"Inspecting the river?"

The group paused for a moment, and Zhang Yong couldn't help but question, "Isn't this the municipal government's job? Why do we, the police station, need to do this for them? We only have a few people at our station, and we're already overwhelmed with all the police calls during this heavy rain."

"The municipal government is short-handed with able-bodied young people. You know, the people who used to maintain the river and pipelines were mostly elderly women or seniors, just enough to make a living. Now, with this flood, we can't rely on them. In short, our task here isn't too heavy. We'll send three or four people to the industrial park to monitor the river level. If we find the water level rising abnormally or rapidly, we'll immediately notify the municipal government. We'll also work with the Baimiao Police Station to keep an eye on the flood situation in the downstream rural areas. That's basically it. Don't complain to me now, the roads over the river are clear, patrolling in a police car is no big deal!"

Yu Zhengwei made a decision in a few words, indicating that under such special circumstances, they should not dwell on which department was responsible.

Seeing this, no one knew what to say.

Zheng Mingxing reassured everyone and then selected Hu Lijun and Xie Hua, along with Liu Shuangquan and Hu Zhengping, to primarily carry out patrol duties, leaving the younger officers at the police station to handle more complex police situations.

To be honest, with this reassignment, the police station, which had finally managed to have a decent number of staff, is once again facing a shortage of manpower.

But there’s nothing I can do!
The municipal government needs support, so how can the police station not step in? If a moment of negligence allows floodwaters to inundate the industrial park, not to mention the horrific damage that would result, just imagine what might happen if those hazardous chemicals caused some kind of trouble...

So despite the complaints, it's inevitable that all departments in the city will work together to prevent flooding. As a police officer at the local police station, not having to participate in flood control and rescue efforts, and only responsible for monitoring water levels, is already a very easy task.

In contrast, other problems within the jurisdiction...

"Since it's so easy, leave it to me!"

Zheng Mingxing had just finished calming everyone down when a familiar voice rang out. Everyone looked up and saw Nie Guoqiang limping in through the heavy rain.

"Old Nie?"

"Director Nie?"

"Boss Nie?"

Everyone stared wide-eyed, not expecting Nie Guoqiang to return to the police station at this time.

Wasn't he recuperating in the hospital?

What is he coming back for at this time? Or did he see that the heavy rain was about to cause flooding and he couldn't sit still in the hospital?

Everyone said hello.

“We don’t need so many people for patrols! Since it’s a job that’s done from inside a car, my leg won’t get in the way, so I’ll do it. Hmm… Huo Guangping will come with me, and Liu Shuangquan will take turns with him. That’s enough manpower.”

As soon as Nie Guoqiang entered, he seized command without hesitation. He took the city's order to conduct the inspections on his own shoulders and freed Hu Lijun and Xie Hua.

"Old Nie, you're still not fully recovered!"

Yu Zhengwei frowned and refused Nie Guoqiang's request.

After all, the patrol work is not as simple as Nie Guoqiang said. It is a 24-hour, non-stop operation, and no moment can be taken lightly! Two shifts are already hard enough, how can we let Nie Guoqiang take on the whole burden by himself?
“It’s alright, it’s just a matter of time, not physical labor. Besides, in this situation, the police station has to pay attention to more than just the river. The jurisdiction is so big, and there are so many things to do, where can we spare everyone? Sigh… Here’s what we’ll do! Give Mimi to me too. She can’t do much in this heavy rain. She just needs to stay with Liu Shuangquan for three or four hours a day to keep an eye on things, so I can take a nap, and that’ll be fine.”

Nie Guoqiang did not give Yu Zhengwei or others a chance to object, and made a final decision directly and decisively.

This guy didn't even ask Lin Ge if he was willing to do the job before making the decision for him, leaving Lin Ge rolling his eyes in disbelief.

Seeing Nie Guoqiang's attitude, Yu Zhengwei and Zheng Mingxing had nothing more to say.

The police station is short-staffed; the more people are transferred away, the greater the workload and pressure on the remaining staff—this is an undeniable fact. If Lao Nie could help free up two people, it would indeed make the station's operations run more smoothly.

As for having Mimi help with the patrol, no one had any objections.

Although Lingo was just a cat, everyone at the police station had complete faith in him. Besides, he was accompanied by an auxiliary police officer; it was just a patrol duty, and nothing bad was likely to happen.

Only the Zhanghe Police Station would do something like using a cat and a patient to make up for a manpower shortage.

In this urgent situation, everyone acted swiftly and stopped arguing.

According to the weather forecast, this heavy rain will last for another seven or eight days. We all have a long way to go, so let's not waste any more time here.

Nie Guoqiang told Liu Shuangquan to go back and rest now, to take care of his personal matters and prepare for at least ten consecutive days of 12-hour shifts in the open rainstorm. Then he had Huo Guangping drive him and Lin Ge to the downstream industrial park a few kilometers away.

“Mimi! I’ll take you through the patrol route first, and you can remember it. The river water coming down from the Third Main Canal splits into two channels at Chemical Industry Second Road, then flows downstream into the countryside and eventually into the Han River. So this river fork on Chemical Industry Second Road is the most prone to flooding. When the water flow is too fast and the flow exceeds the carrying capacity, it may overflow the dam and turn the factory area below Chemical Industry Second Road into a vast expanse of water.”

Huo Guangping parked the police car at the bridgehead of Huagong Erlu along the river. Nie Guoqiang pointed to the surging river water under the bridge and explained to Lin Ge the serious problems that the river could cause if it overflowed.

Lin Ge leaned out the car window and looked out. Sure enough, the lower edge of the bridge stretched as far as the eye could see, forming a vast industrial park.

Although he couldn't see very far through the rain, Lin Ge could see that the rapidly flowing river was already quite turbulent, and the murky water was like a disaster, with only two or three meters of water remaining above the edge of the bridge.

This height may seem quite safe now, but keep in mind that it's only been raining for four days. There are still about seven or eight more days of torrential rain ahead, and who knows how high the rainfall will raise the river levels.

Zhangzhou is a hilly city with a drop of over 100 meters between its highest and lowest points. Rainfall almost equivalent to that falling across the entire city will eventually flow downstream. This is a simple mathematical problem—calculating the flood discharge capacity of a river by adding the city's area to the rainfall—and it poses a severe challenge to Zhangzhou's few rivers. Whether in the city or downstream rural areas, flooding would be a catastrophic disaster.

Faced with the immense power of nature, there was little Nie Guoqiang and Lin Ge could do. Monitoring the river, keeping a close eye on the water level, and promptly notifying downstream factories and villages to evacuate when it was about to overflow were the only things they could do.

As for why the people downstream weren't evacuated in advance...

These words might be just a few words to a leader, but for the people downstream, they cause panic and chaos. Besides, the river hasn't reached its discharge warning level yet, and if the rain weakens in the next few days, Zhangzhou City can weather this storm safely.

River crises like this caused by torrential rains occur in Zhangzhou every few years. However, since 1998, it has never truly become a major disaster.

So for now, all we need to do is keep a close eye on it; there's no need to make a big fuss.

"Phew... It's good that it didn't flood! Don't scare the cat like that, I really thought the downstream area would turn into a vast ocean!"

Lin Ge breathed a sigh of relief and glared at Nie Guoqiang with displeasure.

"But who can guarantee that we can hold out this time? If we don't keep an eye on things, what if it floods or the downstream areas don't get a warning? Do you know how terrible the disaster could be? So even if all our hard work these past few days is in vain, we can't let our guard down."

Nie Guoqiang plucked a handful from Lin Ge's head.

Lin Ge remained silent.

Prevention is indeed something that should and must be done. It only takes a few people working tirelessly 24 hours a day to allow downstream residents to wait peacefully for the flood to pass without having to make a big fuss. It is worth it no matter how you look at it.

"Anyway, it's just a matter of keeping an eye on the river level from inside the car, and checking the river, especially the bends, for any signs of surging, right? So, you take care of it during the day, and I'll take care of it at night. It's settled then." With things having come to this, Lin Ge didn't back down. He jumped from the storage compartment to the back seat, sat up, closed his eyes, and took a quick nap.

He hadn't forgotten that Nie Guoqiang was still operating while ill! He walked with a limp, and his back injury hadn't healed. Sitting in the police car all day was torture for him too.

Even a normal person would die from sitting still for ten or twenty hours, let alone Nie Guoqiang.
Moreover, this matter cannot be resolved in a day or two. According to the weather forecast, we will have to stay here for at least a week!

Terrible!

Lin Ge yawned, telling himself to get some sleep first.

As the rain pounded against the car roof, Lin Ge tilted his head to the side and kicked his back twice in the air before quickly falling asleep.

When I woke up again, I heard Liu Shuangquan's voice.

When Lin Ge opened his eyes, he saw that Liu Shuangquan had already come to relieve him. He was trying to persuade Nie Guoqiang and Huo Guangping to go back and rest, saying that he could handle things here alone tonight, but Nie Guoqiang shook his head and refused.

"Old Nie, the rain has subsided, nothing will happen tonight, so you should go back and get some rest! I'll call you again if anything happens, okay? You're not made of iron, who can stay up for 24 hours straight?"

As Liu Shuangquan spoke, his mood worsened, and he began to curse and rage.

He and Hu Zhengping were both veterans at the police station, though they were only auxiliary police officers because they couldn't pass the exam. They treated Nie Guoqiang with respect in public, but in private, they said whatever they wanted.
"It's nothing, I just took a nap... hiss..."

Before he could finish speaking, Nie Guoqiang suddenly gasped. He felt a sharp pain in his back and turned around to find that Lin Ge had stabbed him with his claws.

"Get out of here! It's my turn to be on duty!"

Lin Ge glared fiercely at Nie Guoqiang, implying that if he dared to be stubborn again, he would resort to violent expulsion.

"Look, even Mimi dislikes you."

Liu Shuangquan couldn't help but laugh.

Seeing Nie Guoqiang's speechless expression, Liu Shuangquan reached out to Lin Ge and said, "Come on, Mimi, go back to sleep in my police car. If Lao Nie doesn't want to get out, he doesn't have to. Lao Huo can take him back anyway. With his limp, Lao Huo will have to drive him back tomorrow, won't he?"

"..."

Nie Guoqiang was speechless, while Huo Guangping in the driver's seat laughed gleefully.

Lin Ge looked up outside; it was indeed completely dark. However, the sound of rain hitting the car roof was much quieter than during the day. It seemed that Mother Nature wasn't so cruel after all, finally giving the river a chance to rest.

After being helped into another police car parked next to him by Liu Shuangquan, Lin Ge shook off the rain splashed on his body and then jumped onto the trunk to look outside.

The river was still turbulent; the brief respite given by nature was not enough to lower the water level. After all, it was rainfall collected from the entire Zhangzhou city, so it was normal that it wouldn't all flow away in a short time.

But at least another day passed peacefully, and Lin Ge breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking at the riverbank under the lamplight in the rain, I noticed that the water level seemed to have risen considerably. During the day, it looked to be about three meters high, but now it was only a little over two meters, and even the algae on both sides were completely submerged.

As for the vegetable patches planted by the elderly residents in the nearby area during the dry season, there's no trace of them left now. I wonder if those vegetables will survive once the water level drops; they've probably been washed away.
Lin Ge's mind wandered aimlessly, unsure of what to do that night.

Liu Shuangquan drove the police car back to the upper reaches of the Third Main Canal, then slowly drove down to patrol the area before parking the car in a spacious spot at the bridgehead. He then took out his phone and happily started reading a novel.

Lin Ge leaned over for a quick look, found the subject matter rather boring, and then turned his attention back to it.

Suddenly, the torrential rain started pouring down again. The car roof rattled and pounded, and the front and rear windshields were completely covered in water, making the interior feel strangely cramped.

Liu Shuangquan turned the windshield wipers to their lowest setting, only wiping them occasionally, but his vision was quickly obscured by the rain again. The car's air conditioning was running, so there was no fogging, but the coolness made Lin Ge feel a little uncomfortable and cold.

Seeing this, Liu Shuangquan turned the air conditioning down a bit, but this made the car fog up easily with each breath, so he opened the passenger window a crack to allow the air to circulate more smoothly.

Lin Ge looked up at the middle-aged man and suddenly realized that this auxiliary police officer, who was not very noticeable in the police station, was actually quite thoughtful.

He usually only stays in the detention room keeping an eye on the suspects who have been arrested, or in the mediation room helping to persuade both parties involved. He rarely goes out on duty or responds to calls. After all, he's getting old and his energy is becoming a problem, so the number of times Lin Ge has gone on operations with him can be counted on one hand.

Moreover, this guy wasn't talkative and didn't have much to talk about with the younger officers. His attitude towards the arrival of a police cat at the police station was neither as skeptical as Hu Zhengping's, nor as welcoming as the younger officers'; he seemed somewhat indifferent. It was only because Lin Ge's contributions to the police station over the past year were undeniable that Liu Shuangquan's attitude improved considerably. But even so, as a traditional policeman, he still preferred Bei Bei a little, a fact Lin Ge was well aware of.

"So...it's so boring! When I yell at Zhang Ke and Sun Chang, they at least understand what I mean and respond, but this guy only cares about himself."

Lin Ge yawned, experiencing the feeling of being ignored for the first time.

Perhaps in Liu Shuangquan's view, he was just an accomplice? Auxiliary police officers need a regular officer to accompany them when they do things, so having a regular officer cat as a mascot is enough; he doesn't expect it to do anything.

Lin Ge guessed that way.

'Didi didi...'

Liu Shuangquan's phone alarm suddenly went off; it was time for his patrol every two hours.

So he put away his phone, glanced at the police cat in the back seat that looked moldy, smiled faintly, released the handbrake, and once again rushed into the rain and darkness to head towards the middle reaches of the Third Main Canal.

"Tsk! Things are getting a little bad!"

Upon reaching the shallowest and narrowest point of the Third Main Canal, Liu Shuangquan got out of the car, holding an umbrella. He noticed that the water flow was faster here, and occasionally waves would even crash onto the bank before flowing into the underground pipe network through the roadside sewers.

Lin Ge looked up and realized that the situation here was indeed more serious than at the downstream branch point.

The water level is only a little over a meter away from the riverbank, and the upstream water is still rushing in wave after wave, making it seem like it could be submerged at any moment.

However, I heard that the drainage valve leading to the Fourth Main Canal was opened at the entrance of the Third Main Canal upstream, which diverted some of the pressure towards Phoenix Lake, so it shouldn't flood for the time being.

Of course, if the weather continues to cooperate and the rainfall completely exceeds the waterway capacity of Zhangzhou City, then discharging floodwaters in any direction will be meaningless.

Lin Ge sighed, and seeing that Liu Shuangquan had already informed the municipal government about the situation before turning back, he obediently returned to his seat in the back.

In just a short while, he was completely soaked.

Besides protecting hair, the umbrella also serves as a cover for cell phones and police equipment worn on the chest; it serves no other purpose.

Liu Shuangquan, still wearing his waterlogged shoes, got into the driver's seat and continued his patrol downstream.

Fortunately, the water levels in other areas remained safe, and along the way, we encountered several other groups of government personnel conducting similar inspections. We exchanged greetings with our lights flashing before continuing our work in the pouring rain.

Thank you to Dark Night Chant for the 100-coin reward!

(End of this chapter)