Floodwaters showed no mercy.
As far as the eye could see, floodwaters ran rampant. By the water's edge, she saw an infant placed in a wooden basin, drifting downstream. Perhaps before the flood swallowed her, the child's mother had found this one and only path to survival for her baby, praying that someone would save the child.
Bai Yujun had been diverting the floodwaters for two days and one night straight. Every day, she transformed into the White Snake to guide the waters and clear silted river channels, never resting for even a moment. Yet her strength was limited. She could only watch helplessly as the floods swallowed fertile fields and valleys, turning flatlands into a vast ocean and mountain ranges into isolated islands. Even though she fought desperately to divert the waters, the effect was negligible. By one morning, exhausted, Bai Yujun rested atop a giant tree by the water in her half-human, half-snake form.
Through the haze, an infant's crying drifted over from the river.
She raised her eyes and looked at the baby, wailing hungrily and coldly for milk.
With a sigh, she closed her eyes.
Even a snake's strength had its limits. After receiving Yu Rong's letter, she had rushed overnight to the area worst hit by the Flood Disaster, transforming into the White Snake to divert the floodwaters. Along the way, she had witnessed too many tragedies. It was not only humans who suffered; many animals living in the wild had been unable to escape the floods either.
A thick floating log drifted down from upstream.
Two animals perched upon it: a fox and a wild rabbit, huddled together and trembling, yet leaving each other in peace.
She recalled how someone had once taken a photograph during spring, when melting ice and snow had caused