Chapter 8: Calm! Too Calm!

The continuous high heat scorched the earth; most of the people hiding had no time to prepare food and water.

Those who were not claimed by the high heat and fires soon fell into the predicament of hunger and dehydration.

The surface temperature of several hundred degrees Celsius made rescue by the military fundamentally impossible.

When people were pushed to their limits by hunger and thirst and could not wait for rescue, their bottom lines collapsed.

The residential complex where Luo Sanlin lived had a permanent population of several tens of thousands; although he had discussed maintaining order with the security team when the disaster began, friction remained constant.

By the third day, those who had not prepared supplies began to cause trouble, quickly banding together to occupy an entire floor of the garage.

The four-story garage was divided into two factions.

Luo Sanlin and his group had come down early and were originally on the second floor; as the temperature continued to rise, they had wanted to go down to the fourth floor, but that had already been occupied by the faction without supplies.

"It's cool down here, want to come down? One bottle of water, one jin of food per hour!"

A large crowd was blocked on the third floor, the noise deafening.

Luo Sanlin recognized several of the men blocking the parking barrier; the leader was the complex's notorious troublemaker and rascal, who usually spent his time harassing people and picking locks.

Now, encountering such a situation, his aggressive and combative side was fully revealed.

"This is a critical time, I hope we can talk!"

Luo Sanlin had a rubber baton he'd taken from a security guard tucked into the back of his waistband; he squeezed to the front, "You occupying public areas like this and not letting them seek refuge already constitutes a public hazard..."

"What? Public what? Officer Luo, we're uneducated and don't understand!"

The leading man was covered in rolls of fat that shook as he spoke; he put his hands on his hips and asked, "You police are so great, why don't you take out your own food and water to trade for a spot? You wouldn't be stingy yourself and only expect others to make contributions, would you?"

"Exactly, aren't you here to serve the people? If you don't sacrifice yourself now, when will you? A rare opportunity, Luo Sanlin!"

As a few thugs shouted, some of the people gathered at the entrance immediately pointed their fingers at Luo Sanlin, saying that since he was a policeman, he should take out his own things.

"Little Luo, I saw that your family has two backpacks of food and water; you can't just look after your own parents, my child hasn't had a drop of water all day."

"What are you saying? Your family clearly just drank water a moment ago. Officer Luo, if you ask me, you should give your things to us old folks; our children aren't around, and if it goes on like this, we won't survive..."

"I need to go to the fourth floor, my dad just fainted from the heat, let us down, it's getting hotter and hotter up here!"

The chaotic argument did not scare Luo Sanlin; he had spent years at the grassroots level dealing with all kinds of disputes and was long accustomed to such clamorous scenes.

"Stop! Everyone stop!"

Luo Sanlin raised his right hand and pressed it down, signaling them to stop talking, "Listen to me, we cannot be provoked by them. The underground parking lot is a public area, and we have the right to stay in a suitable place. We cannot be misled or coerced by them; causing division and not being united in the face of a natural disaster is a dead end!"

However, his speech had no effect at such a time and was quickly drowned out by voices of dissatisfaction.

Several thugs pointed at Luo Sanlin and laughed as if looking at a fool, "Damn it, I'm dying of laughter. Still spouting high-minded talk at a time like this; a little beat cop really thinks he's a leader!"

"Brother Zhu San," a thug whom Luo Sanlin had sent to detention not long ago squeezed up to the leading thug, "Why don't we take him down now? Damn it, with him here, those people definitely won't be willing to give us their things, it's affecting our 'business'!"

"Pah!" Zhu San spat out the cigarette butt in his mouth and looked at the thug in front of him, "Bean Sprout, even if it's hot outside, he's still wearing that uniform; you want us to beat him in front of so many people? You think I'm stupid enough to let you use me as a gun?"

As he spoke, he smashed a baton into the thug's back; Bean Sprout covered his head and begged for mercy, not daring to mention revenge against Luo Sanlin again.

However, some people did listen to Luo Sanlin's words, and several families stood out.

One man in a tank top with a muscular build asked Luo Sanlin, "Brother Sanlin, what do you say we do? Should we just charge over? We have more people anyway!"

Once this was said, it immediately received a response from more people, "Charge over, it's not their place anyway; we are all owners of the complex, why should we listen to them?"

Chaos was on the verge of breaking out; the few thugs, hearing them say this, were not afraid but instead became even more arrogant.

"Come on then, I'll kill one for every one that comes, damn it, watch out or I'll sneak into your homes..."

"Who are you going to sneak into?" Luo Sanlin finally drew his rubber baton and pointed it at the tip of Zhu San's nose, "I can arrest you right now for disturbing public order!"

"Who are you trying to scare? We didn't make the first move!"

Zhu San held a brand-new piece of Steel Pipe in his hand and swatted away Luo Sanlin's rubber baton, "What, the police are so great that you can just hit people?"

Luo Sanlin had originally wanted to negotiate to let the elderly and children go down first, but seeing their arrogant demeanor, he knew that his status as a policeman was of little use at this moment.

Of course, he was not afraid of dealing with them.

Just as everyone thought Luo Sanlin would choose to back down out of concern for his status, they saw his rubber baton flip, his body moving with the baton, and in the blink of an eye, he had pinned the leader, Zhu San, to the ground.

He pulled the handcuffs from the belt behind him and cuffed the man!

For a moment, everyone fell silent; the thugs looked at each other, not daring to step forward.

"In the face of a natural disaster, Zhu San has occupied public property and endangered public safety; he is temporarily detained. After the disaster passes, he will be imprisoned!"

Luo Sanlin spoke clearly, his eyes sharp as he swept over the remaining thugs opposite him, "Who else among you wants to join him?"

Zhu San had not expected this kid to be so ruthless today; just as he wanted to say a few more words, he was kicked in the chest, coughing for a long time without being able to say a single word.

Seeing this, the influence of a society ruled by law still made the thugs fearful; they threw down their 'weapons' one after another, claiming they had just been momentarily confused and dared not commit a crime!

Zhu San, having been backstabbed by his brothers, had no choice; when it came to the aftermath of the disaster, he also lost his nerve and dared not do anything to destroy 'unity' again.

Luo Sanlin demanded that the few thugs clear away the debris they had deliberately placed on the stairs, and he arranged for the elderly, the young, and the injured to go down first.

In the crowd, seeing his parents being helped down by the little girl next door, Luo Sanlin did not stop them. He could sacrifice himself and be fearless, but that did not mean he had to let his own family suffer.

Zhu San was being held beside him and noticed this scene, mocking him in a shrill voice, "Officer Luo, so you aren't such a public servant after all; what's the matter, your parents can't endure it, they have to fight for a spot with everyone else?"

Luo Sanlin's expression did not change, his hand still gripping the rubber baton, "My father is over sixty this year, and my mother takes medicine all year round; do you think they aren't qualified?"

For some reason, Zhu San felt that if he argued two more times, this policeman would definitely drag him to a place where no one was around and beat him up.

And so, he shut his mouth.

During the process, there were also people who were dissatisfied, especially several young and strong men who wanted to go down; after being blocked by the security guards helping Luo Sanlin maintain order, they caused a scene on the spot.

Luo Sanlin said just one sentence, and they had nothing more to say, "When we can go down, you can too. Who among you has as many injuries as we do?"

Besides him, the few security guards all had some degree of burns, not to mention that there were two grandfathers in the security team who were already over fifty.

Luo Sanlin's attitude was tough throughout; it wasn't that he had lost his usual habit of putting on airs, but mainly because of the message he had received from Liu Mu earlier.

It was too strange; where did she get the news?

Thinking about it now, the fact that the other party suddenly stopped getting married and started a major Modification of the scrap yard was quite suspicious; Liu Mu was not the type to risk her family's fortune on something.

If it were in the past, if she had encountered such a natural disaster just after starting a big project, it would be strange if she didn't go around looking for people to cry to and borrow money from.

Calm! Too calm!