Blake whipped his head around. The voice was loud and shrill, but he did not see anyone around him who could have said the words.
But because of the sound, many people crowded over at once.
"Quick, someone's drowning!"
"Help them… quick, someone help them! Does anyone know how to swim? Save them!"
"Get the people on the boats over here…"
The people shouted loudly in a fit of panic. Soon enough, seven to eight people had crowded by the originally empty riverbank. Almost half of them were holding streaming equipment.
The riverbank broke out into chatter.
"Oh my God! Guys, someone's drowning! Why can't I swim… oh, help them!" This was a panicked cry.
"Guys, someone's drowning. Oh my God, what is with this river and people drowning in it all the time…" This was a voice of shock and confusion.
"I can't swim, sorry… Oh, thank you for the tip, Bro! Oh my, we've got a mega tipper here! Well, uh… I'm going to do it! I'm going to give it a try! Please pray for me, guys!" This was someone who had clearly lost their mind just for a tip…
Amidst the chatter, a middle-aged man had taken off his shirt and was getting ready to jump.
The livestreamers panned their cameras over to him at once.
Lilly ran forwards, tugging at the man's trousers. "You shouldn't go, Sir!"
The man thought that Lilly was worried for him, and said, "Don't you worry. I can swim!"
Lilly was in a fit of panic. "No, there's danger out there in the water…"
Lilly refused to let go. Her red bracelet glowed lightly, and the man could not shake her off no matter how hard he tried.
Someone from the side called out, "Hey, what's wrong with you, kid? Why are you getting in the way? Where are your parents, whose kid is this!"
A few grown-ups crowded over, trying to pull Lilly away.
Blake had just come back up from the mud. Seeing this, he growled, "How dare you touch my daughter!"
The ferocity of his tone scared a few people, and they withdrew their hands.
He cast a look around him. "No one fell into the water. I checked."
Everyone else took in the sight of him, his clothes soaking wet. They stopped short.
The guy hurried to ask, "Did you go down there?"
Blake nodded. "I went. No one drowned."
Everyone found this incredibly strange, nothing but confused.
Yes, Blake had promised Lilly that he would not go into the water before going to the banyan tree, and Lilly had given him an amulet as well.
He had lied. He hadn't gone into the water, and was going to pull her ashore before she got too far away when he realized that something was very off and came back at once.
So, he lied. He did not go into the water, but was going to call for the bots to come over instead of having average people jump in.
Yet just then, a middle-aged woman parted the crowd with a bewildered expression as she shouted, "That's my daughter, that's my daughter…"
She ran towards the river as she screamed, jumping in without hesitation as she continued to shriek, "Jane, Jane!"
"Jane, Mommy's here! Jane…"
"Come back!" Blake cried out coldly.
Yet the woman paid him no mind, swimming deeper into the river.
All of this happened out of nowhere, and no one knew where the woman had even come from.
Yet she had jumped into the river, the water level coming up to her chest before she was knocked over, beginning to struggle.
"Ahh.. help…" she shouted instinctively.
Everyone did not know what to do. "She can't swim! What was she thinking, my God!"
The man was about to jump in again, when Blake held up a hand to stop him as he was on the phone. "I'll get the boats to come over."
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