Chapter 164: The Flood Approaches
Once full, thoughts turn to pleasure.
Antonio was the first to ask Lu Weiyi if they had any contraceptives.
“What do you want?” Lu Weiyi, admiring the rain from the floor-to-ceiling windows, looked over, surprised by how straightforward he was—he thought he misheard.
“Condoms. Lubricant?” Antonio scratched the back of his head and glanced toward the group organizing supplies in the living room. “That’s what you guys call it in your country too, right?”
“Yep, pronunciation’s spot on.” Xu Sa, hands still grimy, gave him a thumbs-up.
The newly-adult members blushed, trying to act unaffected. The more experienced ones just laughed knowingly. The other party involved, Dean, didn’t even show a hint of embarrassment—instead, he leaned over, full of anticipation.
The cultural difference between East and West instantly stood out.
“…Do we have any?” Lu Weiyi asked Zhuang Mingxu, who was organizing medical supplies with Gu Qingyue.
“Living area, second row, fourth shelf.” Zhuang Mingxu, ever the indispensable part of daily life, replied without even the slightest hesitation.
“Hey, Lu Xiaoyi, why don’t you take out more and leave them in the hallway? People can just grab what they need. It’s annoying having to ask you every time…” Xu Sa noticed Xiong Jie getting restless, and seeing how even Xi Shi’s face had gone red to his neck, he stepped in to help out.
Thinking about the situation, Lu Weiyi neatly moved the entire shelf over to them.
“Tut tut tut, are you really that innocent?” Xu Sa asked incredulously. He remembered Lu Weiyi had gotten together with Zhuang Mingxu when he was sixteen—after seven or eight years, he should be a veteran by now.
Most Chinese people were reserved. No matter what, Lu Weiyi wasn’t the type to talk openly about this kind of thing, especially with minors around. He gave Xu Sa a blank look, turned his gaze to the window, and said indifferently, “Take a look at the kids around you and shut your mouth.”
Laughter broke out around the room, and everyone got back to what they were doing.
That night, after showering, Lu Weiyi came out to find Zhuang Mingxu already in bed. Unlike usual, he wasn’t frowning and taking notes, but casually flipping through a notebook.
Just like so many nights before, he held a book in hand, waiting for the other to finish showering. As soon as he came out, Zhuang Mingxu would put the book aside with a helpless smile, go grab the hair dryer, and indulgently complain, “Still not drying your hair?”
Those seemingly forgotten, peaceful times from before the apocalypse could be stirred back to life by just one familiar scene.
Zhuang Mingxu picked up the towel by the bed and waved Lu Weiyi over. Lu Weiyi approached and sat down with his back to him.
Too familiar with each other, they didn’t say a word—everything moved in perfect sync.
Once his hair was half-dry, Lu Weiyi got up to take off his bathrobe and change clothes. In these turbulent days, even at night, everyone slept in their clothes.
Just then, his arm was grabbed. Lu Weiyi turned his head to look.
Zhuang Mingxu seemed to hesitate for a second, then yanked hard, pulling back the blanket and revealing his completely bare body.
The two pressed against each other, skin to skin. Before Lu Weiyi could even ask, Zhuang Mingxu, as if cradling a child, wrapped both arms tightly around him and pulled him onto his lap—kissing him over and over without pause.
*
For three days straight, the entire villa was filled with a sticky, unspoken atmosphere.
The rain hadn’t let up. Wu Yue, already dressed in thermal underwear, looked worried. “How long is this rain going to last?”
Antonio, refreshed and in a good mood, came out of the storeroom with some packs of peanuts, sunflower seeds, and vacuum-packed spicy duck, tossing them to the bored group on the couch. He opened a bag of chips and handed them to Dean, wrapping an arm possessively around his waist, saying, “Who knows.”
“Good thing we worked day and night to stockpile supplies. Otherwise, we’d be starving like the rest of them now,” Xu Sa said as he cracked open sunflower seeds and directed Liu Rui to get a few decks of cards to pass the time.
“If you’ve got nothing to do, why not upgrade your abilities?” said Lu Weiyi, who was curled up half-asleep nearby, looking drained. “Wu Yue and Bai Miao—is it your time to upgrade?”
Both of them nodded.
Gu Qingji and Li Dongsheng had already said their powers were ready to level up a while ago. With these two added, that made four. Lu Weiyi pulled 2,000 crystal cores from his space, handing out 500 each. “Just upgrade here in the living room—everyone else, clear some space.”
“M–Mine too?” Li Dongsheng held the crystal cores, dumbfounded.
“You’re part of the team too. Why wouldn’t you get some?” Wu Yue nudged his shoulder and said, “Let’s upgrade together.”
“Thank you, Young Master Lu,” Li Dongsheng gripped the 500 crystal cores tightly, overwhelmed with emotion. Becoming stronger was every man’s dream. But on his own, who knew how many years it would’ve taken to gather 500 cores. “I’ll devote myself to the team—give everything, even my life!”
Everyone in the room paused. Wu Yue facepalmed helplessly. “Just shut up and do the work.”
Laughter filled the room again. The four each found a corner and began absorbing their crystal cores.
No one else left—they just moved to the doorway area, nibbling on snacks while watching the four. Lu Weiyi, the closest to them, monitored their absorption speed from time to time.
The first to complete the upgrade was Li Dongsheng. His powers had probably been ready for a while. After holding it back, the foundation was solid, and with just over 300 cores, he completed the process.
Next were Wu Yue and Bai Miao. Surprisingly, Gu Qingji, who usually absorbed the most and the fastest, was the last to finish.
“I think my mutated ivy upgraded too,” Gu Qingji said as he touched the green plant wrapped around his wrist.
“It was already B-level. You just didn’t have the level to tame it, so I injured it. Now that you’ve leveled up, it’s recovered by association,” Lu Weiyi explained, though he looked distressed. “You used more than 800 cores.”
Seeing Lu Weiyi’s pained expression, Gu Qingji smiled gently. “We’ll earn it back later.” In just a few months, he’d gone from being a sulky kid upset with his brother to a man with real backbone, hardened through countless life-and-death situations.
“We’ve got nine B-level ability users in our team now. Even if we steal supplies, who’s going to dare say anything?” Wu Yue said excitedly.
“Once the weather clears, we make our move. Do we have the targets scoped out?” Antonio asked, thrilled.
“All prepared,” said Zhuang Mingxu, the logistics master, who had every detail under control.
“Time to celebrate!” Xu Sa grabbed a case of beer from the storeroom and shouted cheerfully.
“Come on, come on!”
*
Shi Xi had just finished setting up a banquet, but before the group could sit down, a subtle tremor ran through the floor—barely noticeable, but impossible to ignore.
“Is it…” Xu Sa looked around nervously.
“Earthquake—” Wu Yue shouted. “Everyone out!” He and Ning Yuan instantly ran toward Zhuang Mingxu—one carried him, the other grabbed Zhuang Ai Yi.
All of them had been through earthquakes before. The dozen or so people sprinted out of the house immediately. Only Lu Weiyi remained frozen in place. The familiar vibration stunned him.
“Lu Weiyi!” Xu Sa, already outside, saw him standing dazed at the bedroom door through the window and shouted, “Get out of there!”
“Xiao Yi, hurry—!” shouted Zhuang Mingxu, who had already been carried out by Wu Yue, turning his head to look back at him.
“Damn it!” Lu Weiyi, who had never cursed in either of his two lives, was truly at a loss for words at that moment.
This kind of tremor—he had experienced it in his past life, in the exact same place. The only difference was, in his memory, it had happened in early spring after the New Year. But now, it was happening several months earlier.
This wasn’t an earthquake—it was a flood…
The apocalyptic earthquake had reshaped the earth’s crust, turning Qingyuan City into a low-lying area. Coincidentally, the Qingyuan Base was located at the lowest part. After days of continuous rainfall, the upstream floodwaters broke through, surging from top to bottom. Not a single base in between was spared.
In his previous life, it was this flood that forced them to abandon their home and begin their exile.
The sudden flood caught them completely off guard. Everything Zhuang Mingxu had built in Qingyuan—his stockpile of supplies and influence—was wiped out. Left with no other option, they had been forced to head toward the capital.
Lu Weiyi had already planned this life out: as soon as spring approached and the weather turned ominous, they would leave immediately. He hadn’t expected it to arrive so early.
There was no avoiding it now—another desperate escape was upon them…
As his thoughts raced, Lu Weiyi activated his powers, sweeping up everything in the villa—including all the supplies in the basement—into his space. While running out, he summoned a truck from his space and shouted, “Get in!”
Soaked in the rain, the others in the courtyard quickly climbed into the truck. Lu Weiyi got into the driver’s seat and sped toward the gate.
Li Zhuang, bold and fearless, climbed from the cargo hold to the passenger seat. After slamming the door shut, he asked, “What’s going on?”
“Seems like a flood,” Lu Weiyi said, a bit flustered himself. His eyes darted around as he looked at their surroundings. “We need to get to higher ground—where should we go?”
He kept driving, unsure of where to head.
“Back to the villa,” Li Zhuang decided instantly.
Lu Weiyi glanced over at him.
“If it is a flood, we won’t be able to escape now anyway. The Longmen Villa is the sturdiest structure in the whole base. If even it can’t withstand the flood, nowhere else will either,” Li Zhuang explained quickly. “The third floor is six meters high. If that’s not enough, we’ll climb onto the roof. No way the flood’s going over ten meters.”
Li Zhuang’s calm and decisiveness helped Lu Weiyi steady his nerves. He quickly turned the truck around and drove back to the villa. Thanks to their earlier impact, the villa’s gate had been broken down, so getting back in was surprisingly easy.
As soon as the truck stopped, Li Zhuang jumped out. He didn’t need to say a word—the dozen or so people in the back had already seen the floodwaters sweeping over the base walls and surging toward them.
“Get to the roof!” Wu Yue shouted. Though his voice was drowned out by the torrential rain, it didn’t slow anyone down. There was no time to run upstairs—Li Zhuang raised the ground beneath them with his power, instantly lifting everyone to the roof.
“Hurry! I can’t hold this much longer!” Li Zhuang shouted.
Just as the group reached the roof, the floodwaters hit. The violent impact made the villa’s walls shudder with a boom, and the wave, forced to stop, surged upward, slamming against the roof with water splashing as high as a person.
