Chapter 300

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

Counting the living room, eight panes of glass in the rooms were cracked in total, four of them shattered and had to be replaced rather than endured.

It wasn't easy to replace glass; the authorities had long been prepared, and glass manufacturers could only increase production to serve the authorities and try to save more people.

Now that Shen Yao wanted to buy glass, the possibility of paying a high price was very great.

Fortunately Shen Yao had money; she called the renovation teams she had contact information for in advance, and on the premise that prices could be set arbitrarily, Shen Yao quickly replaced all the glass in the rooms.

After the glass was replaced, the temperature outside had already reached 35℃.

It really was cooler, visibly so; more people dared to leave their rooms, and all the big shots wanted to seize this rare opportunity to rush and buy supplies.

Shen Yao didn't join the excitement; her space and the supplies left in her room were enough, so there was no need to endure this kind of hardship.

Before it rained, Shen Yao spent effort plugging several drains in the room, leaving only the bathroom and kitchen for daily convenience.

Although doing this was troublesome, thinking that if the rain was too strong it would backflow and flood the room, Shen Yao felt she could endure it.

Rimu City was a major rear area; retreating further could only mean running to higher altitudes, but higher altitude meant less developed transportation, and how could Shen Yao bear to play on hard mode.

Busy and bustling, her hands never stopped moving; Shen Yao tidied up the inside and outside of the room, then she began to calm herself and wait for the rain.

The rainstorm progressed step by step, first falling on the outer periphery, almost submerging all coastal cities of Huaguo, and also destroying several island nations.

When Shen Yao had time she would go online to read the news; the international situation was grim, and many people were clamoring to charter planes back to the country, but unfortunately the authorities had no time at all.

Those who could listen to advice had already arranged a batch before and after the New Year; the remaining people were all stupid and bad and couldn't see the situation clearly. Rather than saying they wanted to return to the country at this time, it was better to say they were trying a desperate remedy; it was always better than despairing abroad.

But this plan was destined to disappoint them; the authorities no longer had the energy to manage these people. Given an opportunity and it was useless, so what else could be given?

Many flame wars were stirred up online; because the internet signal wasn't good, Shen Yao always watched a segment then stopped, and by the time she wanted to catch up later she couldn't find the topic.

But this kind of thing consumed many people's energy as much as possible; especially since they couldn't go to work or school now, idle people would cause trouble.

'Tsk tsk tsk, look, this is the consequence of not being controlled.'

A video was playing on the phone, a famous scene of smashing, looting, and burning abroad; although abroad was also chaotic under normal order, this natural disaster completely drove people abroad crazy.

Shen Yao felt it was bloody even through the phone, let alone the people experiencing it.

Hopeless cries filled the entire internet, and also stirred up the evil thoughts in many people's hearts.

Shen Yao discovered that in these days, petty theft occurred frequently; the residential area was unstable internally, and people going out to buy supplies were tight-lipped about the outside.

Shen Yao was originally a homebody; before buying the house, she didn't have many chances to live there, and when she came back to live permanently later, she wasn't on good terms with the families on the same floor.

This led to Shen Yao having only Wei Mingyu as a news source channel, besides a residential group on her phone.

The daily messages in the residential group were 99+; if you didn't read them continuously you wouldn't know what happened. Shen Yao occasionally missed a headless and tailless message and had to flip back several times to confirm the source.

This time was the same; someone said in the group that there was a gang outside specializing in robbing their supplies, and those targeted basically had no one escaping.

Several families in the residential area had been robbed; even calling the police was useless.

It wasn't that the police didn't act, but rather petty theft was too common; there were too few police to catch them all.

Wei Mingyu specially called Shen Yao to tell her it was fine to go out less, and even if she went out she should go in groups; now it was crazy outside, very much with the feeling that there would be no tomorrow after today.

Shen Yao agreed well with her mouth, and executed it properly in action.

Not going out was just right; she hid at home feeling the constantly dropping temperature and the blowing cold air, understanding that heavy rain would come soon.

The cumulus clouds in the sky were like a thick layer; looking up, it was pitch black.

Shen Yao estimated the time of rain in her heart, praying it wouldn't be like several coastal cities eroded by rainstorms. That kind of dense, lightless scene, with fist-sized hail hidden in the rain curtain; sigh, just thinking about it was terrifying.

The photos on the internet were shocking, and also made the people of Rimu City tremble with fear.

People who had already stockpiled supplies almost enough felt they weren't thorough enough, and rushed out again to buy supplies. Although private prices outside were skyrocketing, money was still money; in an era where money could be spent, things couldn't be chaotic.

But with more people buying things, the number of petty thefts climbed steadily; although hidden under massive data and not very noticeable, it was still a headache for everyone it fell upon.

The complaints in the group never ended; Shen Yao no longer paid attention to these, putting most of her energy on herself, with only a small part left for daily life and communication with the outside world.

After the photos on the internet fermented for several days, a bolt of lightning split the sky of Rimu City.

At this time the air temperature was only 20℃; the wind blowing over carried a chill, and people dressed thinly couldn't help shivering.

Shen Yao changed into a thick coat, stood by the window opening it, and gazed into the distance.

The thunder that had just struck was like a signal; next came one bolt of thunder after another, purple lightning as thick as a wrist flashing dazzlingly; those with small guts all wanted to pull the curtains and hide.

Shen Yao didn't do that; she was excitedly appreciating this changeable sky.

The cool breeze brushed her cheek, and also took away the uneasy emotions.

After closing the windows, Shen Yao went to the kitchen to simply stir-fry some dishes, paired with stewed white rice, eating with a face full of satisfaction.

Rumble—

Bean-sized raindrops fell down; even through a thick layer of glass, Shen Yao still heard it clearly.

Fortunately she had replaced her windows quickly without delay; otherwise she absolutely couldn't withstand such a windstorm and rainstorm.

Shen Yao's side slept extremely peacefully because of the thick glass and sturdy gate, but other families didn't have Shen Yao's good luck.

Some families had a luck-seeking mentality; their glass was ordinary glass and absolutely couldn't withstand the wind and rain outside.

Although Rimu City didn't have fist-sized hail like other cities, it was useless; ordinary glass absolutely wasn't durable, it should shatter and still shattered. Not only did it make water enter the room, wet everywhere, but also made most people unable to rest or sleep well.

When Shen Yao woke up from a sleep, got up and ate, the residential group was extremely lively.

Several families were complaining that their windows were broken, water entered their homes and they couldn't live there; they wanted to find other families to pay to stay overnight.

Unfortunately those who agreed were few and far between; most people remained silent. After all, at this time who dared to take in strangers? Better safe than sorry.

Shen Yao was also @ed here. To be honest, Shen Yao's presence wasn't high; those who could find her were all people who understood the inside story. They thought Shen Yao, a young girl, would be embarrassed to refuse, but who would have thought Shen Yao refused crisply and neatly, not giving any face at all.

Of course, besides communicating in the residential group, some people also came to the door personally to persuade, using both soft and hard tactics to want to move in to rest.

Are Shen Yao's two doors mere decoration? Without some skill, you can't get in at all.

After a busy day, Shen Yao refused several households—some were children, some elderly, all putting on a thick face.

Sigh.

Shen Yao turned around and stewed a pot of soup for herself to nourish her body; she was truly exhausted.

Eating and drinking, Shen Yao basically didn't go out, because it was raining outside, the rain was heavy, and someone in the community couldn't resist going out to look, then was frightened and ran back in a hurry, saying the rain was problematic.

Problematic?

The group chat said with great conviction that rainwater touching the body would generate heat.

You have to know the outside temperature has already dropped to over ten degrees, no longer the scorching heat of before; people sleeping at night with little clothing and no blanket could freeze awake—how could it generate heat?

Shen Yao subconsciously put on rubber gloves to test it, and indeed, that rain was truly strange.

However, the official side hadn't announced the situation; it should be that it doesn't affect the body much.

Shen Yao's guess was correct to some extent; the official side had long known the rainwater was problematic, and hadn't announced it because the high rainwater temperature wouldn't affect humans themselves—the recent drought-caused scorching heat was what made this rain fall with warmth.

The dense rain curtain fell for a full seven days without letting up, and Shen Yao could visibly see water accumulating outside the community.

The standing water wasn't deep, just a shallow layer, but the room air became damp; even with Shen Yao running the air conditioner to dehumidify all day, it was useless.

This was the situation in Rimu City; elsewhere, like Huaguo's coastal areas, many places had already been flooded by the heavy rain, people were forced to relocate, and daily migration was truly full of hardships.

The internet signal outside had already been cut off; there weren't many places that could receive news—who let this rain still be a global disaster that no one could escape?

Wei Mingyu called again, saying they were recently busy resettling the relocated people, and told Shen Yao to be especially careful and watch herself.

Also, the official side would soon launch a specific app selling some useful high-tech products and daily necessities, and told Shen Yao to pay attention.

"Outside, how's the situation?" Shen Yao gazed at the gray sky, not seeing a trace of the rain clearing up.

"Not good; even with preparations, there will still be omissions." This wasn't the official side failing to act; these were all foreseeable difficulties.

There were too many people, and relocation was a huge project, so all preparations were somewhat rushed.

Wei Mingyu was always busy; he understood the difficulties the official side faced even more clearly.

Now they could only hope this rain would end as soon as possible; working in the rain, no healthy body could endure it.

Shen Yao felt heartache for Wei Mingyu's situation, but it wasn't something she could solve; she hung up the phone and asked the system about when this rain would end.

The system was a bachelor: "It'll be at least two months; rest assured, this rain will get smaller and smaller; by the end, there'll be no difference between raining and not raining."

"Two months, that's the end of September"; a cold wave would follow close behind.

Touching her chin, Shen Yao ran to the study, took out her laptop, clattered out an email, and had the system send it to the official institution.

System:...

"Host, is this useful?" It wasn't that no emails had been sent before; they just stopped sending after the natural disaster struck.

"Give it a try; describe the situation behind this, and let the official side prepare in advance."

Shen Yao had said before that, as it turned out, it still had some effect; now the system's news on this side could be more accurate, and selling a favor to the official side wasn't bad.

The system looked at the already-written email, moved its nonexistent fingers, and together with the disappearing merit, sent it to the official mailbox without gods or ghosts knowing.

As for whether it would work, that depended on how the official people weighed it.

Shen Yao didn't bother with these matters; what she could do was try her best to inform them.

"Host, it will most likely proceed step by step"; and some things, even if known, couldn't necessarily be done—just like the cold wave after the rainy season, which would definitely require warm-keeping supplies.

The official side had stockpiled warm-keeping supplies before, but they were all consumables; now, in this weather, factories couldn't open, so what was to be done?

"Already tried hard; the result doesn't matter"; Shen Yao had been to many worlds and knew the importance of the final result even more.

Not everything would have a result; Shen Yao understood the meaning of being powerless.

Rubbing her forehead, feeling that she had gotten up too early today and her head was swollen and her feet light, she let the system go play by itself, and Shen Yao fell headfirst into sleep.

This sleep was rather long; when she opened her eyes again, the sky was already dark.

Outside, it was still raining, drizzling without stopping.

Shen Yao just glanced at it, then turned her gaze elsewhere.

Eating her fill, she went to the study to finish her own business, then Shen Yao leaned against the soft pillow behind her, expressionless, closing her eyes to rest.

During this time, the phone rang, and notification sounds came one after another.

Opening the group chat, what Shen Yao paid attention to was the water and power outage issue.

The official side issued a notice that starting tomorrow, water and power would be cut at fixed times, without explaining the specific reason, causing various speculation to fly everywhere.

For Shen Yao, water and power outages weren't a problem; until now, the rain outside was getting smaller and smaller, and the standing water issue wasn't as troublesome as imagined, which let Shen Yao, who worried her home might one day be flooded, breathe a sigh of relief.

As long as home was safe, just endure it slowly; after this chaotic period passed, life would gradually get better.

Shen Yao lived by plan; the outside commotion had nothing to do with her.

But as the rain kept falling endlessly, Shen Yao's plan to stay indoors and not go out was declared a failure.

The community issued an announcement; it was a notice from the official side, requiring each community to be responsible for passage in its own area, including sewer blockage issues.

Shen Yao's community naturally couldn't escape; the management personnel used the community group's ability, and two people, according to building numbers, were divided into several groups; each group had several people, and the schedule for when to go out and work was clear.

Shen Yao was placed in the fifth group, scheduled for the afternoon two days later; the work was to clean up the community's hygiene and clear the sundries blocking the sewers.

Shen Yao:...

On the day Shen Yao went out, she put on a protective suit, wore a thick raincoat, and wrapped herself up tightly.

"Little Shen, you all go to the south side; there are several sewer wells there; just pick one and pry it open."

There wasn't much standing water in the south, and few people went there, so it counted as an easy job.