The City Drowned

Chapter 12: The City is Submerged

Returning home, I took off my raincoat and took a shower before changing my clothes.

At this moment, as the apocalypse truly loomed, I wasn't surprised by my rebirth.

Jiang You sat on the sofa, took a fruit candy from my spatial storage, and popped it into my mouth. I stared blankly at the torrential rain outside the balcony.

The rain grew heavier, but the thunder had stopped.

Late into the night, the resident group chat buzzed.

When I was renting, the security office had me scan a QR code to join the group for future notifications.

So, I was in the group. It consisted of owners and a large number of tenants.

For instance, I knew that the four apartments on the eighth floor were all converted into multi-occupancy units by the landlord, with over thirty people crammed into each one.

I only found out about this when I saw complaints in the group chat.

This building had four units per floor. On my floor, besides my apartment, one unit was still in its raw state, and two others had been bought by the same person and were undergoing renovation.

They had knocked down the walls, and the developer-provided doors and windows had been removed, not yet replaced with new ones.

Therefore, in reality, only I was living here.

Jiang You stared at the messages in the resident group chat.

[Chen Da Ming in the group: Such heavy rain, the community is flooding! The sewage pipes in my kitchen and bathroom are like fountains, backing up sewage! Property management, come deal with this!]

[Peng Yu Yan from Building 3: Our place is flooding too! I just renovated and installed solid wood flooring, and it's all soaked! Smells awful!! Where is the property management!! They're so eager to collect money, but useless when it matters!]

[Happy Nut: You guys are lucky. We're in Building 1. Building 1 is lower, and our place is uninhabitable. We're staying at a friend's place on the second floor! It's all water!]

[Don't Provoke Me: Damn it, the underground garage is flooding too. I just bought my car, and before I even finished paying off the loan, it's a waterlogged wreck. Screw them!]

[Happy Family: The community's design is flawed. They should just rename the underground garage the "reservoir"! My several Ferraris!]

[Gou Dan: I really pity you guys who park in the underground garage. Unlike me, I always park my car on the first floor. The ground level is fine!]

[Don't Provoke Me @ Gou Dan: With your little electric scooter, you can only park by the entrance of the building!]

[Twinkle Twinkle Not Shining: I've always heard that toilets on the first floor spray feces, but I didn't believe it and still bought a first-floor unit. If I had another chance, I'd rather live under a flyover than buy a first-floor apartment!]

[Chen Da Chui from Ward 3: It's over, it's over! The water level is still rising, and the first floor will be completely submerged!]

[...]

This community had a total of four buildings and over a dozen small detached houses. All owners and tenants were in the group chat, which was now in an uproar.

Jiang You turned on the TV. On the screen, a charismatic female anchor in a raincoat stood in front of the camera, her slender body swaying precariously in the wind and rain, but her tone was firm.

"The meteorological department predicts this heavy rain will last for more than thirty-six hours. The city has urgently activated flood control measures... Residents in low-lying areas, please rest assured. Personnel have been arranged to assist with evacuation. Natural disasters are heartless, but people are warm. Together, we will overcome all difficulties."

Jiang You switched channels, and every local station was broadcasting urgent news about the heavy rain.

In some places, landslides had occurred, crushing the towns below.

In other places, the city had turned into a vast puddle, with netizens jokingly calling it the "ocean viewing mode" on their social media.

This was why Jiang You hadn't found a secluded mountain or countryside to hide in after stocking up on supplies.

Because perhaps under the heavy rain, a mountain that was once safe could suddenly experience a landslide, taking your house with it in a mudslide.

Although the city would flood, as long as you were in a high-lying area, the problem wouldn't be too severe.

The water level in inland cities rose steadily, unlike coastal cities.

Jiang You vaguely recalled that in her previous life, many coastal cities had been hit by tsunamis.

After this rainstorm, which lasted for three days and three nights, the bodies floating in the water, along with many patients with persistent high fevers, would turn into zombies.

It wasn't that she hadn't considered leaving anonymous messages online to warn people about the apocalypse.

But who would believe such a thing if she said it?

Moreover, if the rainstorm she predicted actually happened, she would be interrogated and dissected the next second.

Don't underestimate the power of the state. Even if you leave a few words online anonymously, if they want to find you, it's as easy as pie.

You think you're well hidden, but in the face of true power, your hiding skills are nothing but the emperor's new clothes.

So, the best approach was to not attract any attention.

Jiang You was selfish and unwilling to gamble her life on whether others would show her kindness.

She was just an ordinary person whose only wish was to survive.

She didn't have the noble sentiment to put herself in danger to save others.

In her past life, Jiang You had suffered enough for her kindness, so this time, she no longer believed in human nature.

Call her selfish, call her cold-blooded, but this time, she would live only for herself.

As the water level continued to rise, the community group chat had already descended into chaos.

The forums were also filled with angry comments, and even pleas for help.

Video platforms were flooded with information about the flood.

In one video, several people stood on a large rock in the water.

"Help! We were camping by the *** River, and the water level rose suddenly. We're trapped on an island in the middle of the lake! Come rescue us quickly! Our phone number is..."

Another video showed a middle-aged man, who had just escaped danger, yelling at the rescue team.

"I have over a dozen pigs in the pen at home! If you can transfer people out, why can't you save my pigs! These rescue teams are just slacking off! Shouldn't you be doing your best to protect the property of ordinary citizens!!!"

Jiang You flipped through the videos. In the face of danger, the brilliance of human nature shone brightly, while at the same time, the ugliness of humanity was fully exposed.

Some people shoved the exhausted rescue workers, demanding they jump into the dangerous deep water to retrieve their belongings or find their beloved pets.

Others, however, faced the danger head-on, extending a helping hand to strangers in peril.

Even more people, in a desperate bid for survival, pushed their friends into the abyss of death.

Insignificant kindness was simply not enough to mend the gaping wound of ugliness in this broken world.

As the night deepened, the heavy rain continued outside, but many lights could be seen moving through the darkness – rescue personnel in small boats.

As dawn broke, the water level had already submerged the second floor. All residents in the community below the second floor were evacuated upwards.

Looking out, the former streets were now a vast ocean. In the morning, many rescue boats were still coming and going on the water.

Cries of anguish filled the air, some mourning their losses, others weeping for injured or deceased loved ones.

In reality, the water was rising slowly at this point. As long as people evacuated in time, the chance of death was very low. This was unless there were elderly or sick individuals at home with mobility issues.

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