Chapter 219: Super Flood 5
It was pitch dark below.
Under the flashlight’s beam, they could barely make out the murky floodwaters. The car they had driven yesterday afternoon was already half-submerged, and in the adjacent house, people were still moving to higher ground.
“Is everything you said true?”
Lu Qingyuan looked at her, suddenly asking.
“What?”
Chu Yian paused, not quite understanding what he meant.
Lu Qingyuan: “A massive flood, how severe would it roughly be?”
To be honest, Chu Yian didn’t really know how severe a massive flood could get. Her understanding of floods was limited to news she had seen in the past, coupled with depictions in films and TV shows.
“The floodwaters rise as high as a six-story building, submerging smaller houses and collapsing unstable tall buildings.”
Chu Yian described the massive flood as she understood it. Lu Qingyuan listened to her description, his brows furrowing tightly.
Just then, a commotion erupted in the building next door.
The two looked out the window and saw many residents in the neighboring building shining their phone flashlights downstairs. Following the light, they clearly saw a person floating in the water.
“Hey!”
“Can you still speak?”
“Wake up, can you climb up yourself?”
Chu Yian vaguely heard people discussing, then saw someone throwing a rope down, and others opening the door to wade through the water to rescue the person. However, the kind-hearted rescuer screamed in fright as soon as he got close.
He lingered near the drowning person for a long time, finally dragging him onto the still unsubmerged car roof.
The person went back up after doing all that.
Soon, voices were heard again, “What happened?”
“Why didn’t you bring him up?”
“He’s dead. Damn it, the sight scared me to death.”
“Did you call the police?”
… The person died.
Chu Yian opened the window, listening to their conversation. Cold wind and rain drifted in from the window, whipping against her face. Lightning flashed across the sky, making the corpse on the car roof flicker between light and shadow.
Her phone constantly received text messages, all S City heavy rain and flood notifications:
S City. Local areas have accumulated large amounts of water. Firefighters and police are currently conducting rescues.
Current rescue areas are XXX and XXX locations in Chengnan and Chengdong districts. For other areas with less severe conditions, please evacuate to higher ground on your own and wait patiently for rescue.
The internet was already in an uproar.
[Damn, trapped in a tunnel. Now abandoning the car and fleeing.]
[Is the whole city out of power? I’ve been trapped in an elevator for two hours already. Help, someone please help me!]
[The flood in the subway station is so bad. The person next to me has fainted. I don’t know how much longer I can hold on. So desperate.]
Chu Yian quickly scanned the messages above, then looked up to see Lu Qingyuan also frowning at his phone.
[Urgent warning, run for your lives!]
[The heavy rain will not stop. It is expected that the entire S City will be completely submerged. Not only S City, but most areas across the country and even globally are experiencing this situation. It is said that the polar ice caps are melting, and global sea levels are rising. Within a week, most of the world’s land will become ocean.]
[High-level leaders are already evacuating to aircraft carriers and arks.]
[What good is knowing? Although we are considered wealthy, it’s far from enough to qualify for refuge on aircraft carriers, arks, or submarines.]
[Damn, my mom is already ready to take me on a long voyage. Thanks to my birthday last year, I insisted my mom buy a yacht.]
Teacher Lu’s friends’ group was also discussing the flood.
Looking at the discussion, it seemed to be the same content, but on closer inspection, it also seemed different.
People with money and power always know about changes earlier than the general public. While ordinary people were waiting for rescue, those people already knew the news in advance and were preparing to escape.
Lu Qingyuan frowned at these messages, then started making a phone call.
The other end picked up quickly, but was evasive about Lu Qingyuan’s questions.
“Old Lu, there are some things I can’t say.”
“The current situation… is very delicate. Everyone is fending for themselves. The higher-ups don’t allow us to disclose too much. My current call is already being monitored in real-time.”
Chu Yian pricked up her ears, listening to the voice on the phone. The upper echelons had known about the massive flood for a long time.
Unfortunately, Teacher Lu’s connections weren’t strong enough this time, and they wouldn’t tell him.
Although the person wouldn’t explicitly say, he still quietly hinted from the side.
“The third-floor location is temporarily fine. The water shouldn’t rise that fast within a day. Don’t go out today and tomorrow, especially at night, absolutely don’t go out. Also, H City has been designated as a temporary shelter. If you’re okay in two days, go directly there.”
The other end of the phone quickly gave a few instructions and then hung up.
But an hour later, a strong wind began to blow outside.
The gale howled, making the windows creak strangely, as if the building itself was swaying in the wind and rain. The sound of the wind, accompanied by rain and thunder, made Chu Yian unable to sleep. She was worried the windows would shatter from the strong wind, and lightning mixed with thunder would strike her.
A super violent gust of wind swept through, followed by the sound of glass shattering.
The fragile windows finally couldn’t withstand the onslaught of the strong wind and shattered.
Bad news: The sound of glass shattering rang three times, at least three windows were broken.
Good news: The sound came from next door.
Lu Qingyuan’s antique shop glass was quite sturdy, and there were no problems for the time being. But being able to hold on for so long didn’t mean it could hold on indefinitely.
Chu Yian couldn’t sleep. She found tape and applied it to the window glass in an X-shape.
Would this make the glass stronger?
No.
It only reduced the chance of glass scattering and injuring people when it shattered in strong winds. This was a small life hack from people living in typhoon-prone areas. Chu Yian felt that watching some documentaries occasionally was very prescient of her.
Of course, she couldn’t do the work alone. She knocked on the door and called for Lu Qingyuan, who was wearing black silk… black pajamas.
This detached three-story house was actually quite manageable. With two people working, the windows were quickly taped up. But after being woken up three times, neither of them felt sleepy anymore.
Chu Yian then remembered that there was still some meat and vegetables in the refrigerator that hadn’t been processed yet. “Teacher Lu, want a late-night snack?”
Lu Qingyuan checked the time. “A late-night snack at four in the morning?”
Chu Yian looked at him:… Ten minutes later
Chu Yian had already found a gas stove.
Lu Qingyuan entered the kitchen, turning on the light and washing vegetables inside.
Hanging tenderloin, chuck flap, three-flower tendon, five-flower tendon… these cuts of beef were sliced extremely thin for hotpot. The rich aroma of spices filled the house. Besides premium beef, there were also lamb slices and black fish slices, all devoured with gusto.
Outside, rain poured down, while inside, the two were already sweating from eating, finally savoring a sip of hot tea that was bitter at first but left a sweet aftertaste.
Chu Yian felt that if she could maintain this standard of living, being trapped in the building every day wouldn’t be so bad after all.
