Chapter 165: The Flood Scatters
Standing on the edge, Ning Yuan held Zhuang Ai Yi tightly. The impact knocked him off balance, and the person in his arms was thrown out.
“Ai Yi—!” Ning Yuan watched helplessly as the wave, several people high, surged toward them. Zhuang Ai Yi looked back in terror, unable to even make a sound.
Without a second thought, Lu Xi leapt after him, grabbing Zhuang Ai Yi. Just before being swallowed by the flood, he only had time to shout, “Brother!”
“Xi Shi!” Xiong Jie’s roar rang out suddenly. The person he had been holding onto—Xi Shi—was gone, and all he was left with was a torn piece of fabric in his hand.
Liu Rui was half hanging off the roof, one hand gripping the falling Xu Sa. His arm bulged with tension. Gu Qingzhi used his mutated ivy to tie Gu Qingyue securely to himself while clutching the eaves with both hands, bracing against the crashing waves.
Wu Yue and Lin Yimu struggled to protect Zhuang Mingxu, who had fallen to the roof, preventing him from being washed away.
Antonio shielded Dean beneath him, positioning them in a corner of the roof to take the brunt of the wind, rain, and water.
Li Dongsheng and Bai Miao—both plant-type ability users—had no plants to command in that moment. Other than slightly better physiques, they were no different from ordinary people. They were swept several meters by the wave, tumbling until it passed, then struggled to their feet alongside Shen Xing, who had also been caught in the surge.
Meanwhile, Li Zhuang immediately used his powers to raise a half-person-high barrier around the edges of the rooftop to prevent anyone else from being swept off.
“Xiao Yi?” Once Zhuang Mingxu recovered from the dizziness of the impact, his first instinct was to look for Lu Weiyi. Scanning around and not seeing him, he struggled to prop himself up and hoarsely called, “Xiao Yi?”
“Mingxu…” Ning Yuan murmured. Staring at the churning water and floating debris, not seeing any familiar figures, he didn’t know how to respond to his friend.
“Brother Xiong, calm down, calm down!” Xu Sa, having been pulled up by Liu Rui and Gu Qingzhi, was now restraining Xiong Jie, who was trying to leap off the roof in search of Xi Shi.
“Let me go! Let me go—!” Xiong Jie roared, pouring his power into his fists and swinging wildly at those holding him back.
Li Zhuang, having reinforced the rooftop and confirmed the floodwaters wouldn’t rise any further, turned to see the out-of-control Xiong Jie. With one punch, enhanced by his ability, he struck Xiong Jie squarely in the stomach, knocking him to the ground. Glaring at him, he said, “Lu Weiyi went to save someone. If he can’t find them, jumping in now would just be suicide.”
“Everyone calm down,” Li Zhuang said, turning to the dazed Zhuang Mingxu. “Let’s wait.”
When Lu Weiyi heard Lu Xi call out “Brother,” he immediately launched a small green vine to catch them, wrapping it around both of them to pull them up. But just then, he also heard Xiong Jie shouting.
Ning Yuan and Zhuang Ai Yi had been standing at the rear of the villa, facing the flood head-on. Xiong Jie, on the other hand, had been at the front. One had fallen behind the villa, the other in front—completely opposite directions.
Lu Xi and Zhuang Ai Yi were already partially swept away when the green vine caught them. If he pulled them up first and then searched for Xi Shi, Xi Shi might already be gone. Lu Weiyi had no choice but to control the green vine to try saving both at the same time.
The impact of the floodwaters instantly carried the people who had fallen into the water far away. With the added weight of two people and the pull of the current, Lu Weiyi was already struggling to control the little green branch to keep track of Xi Shi. He didn’t immediately realize his own situation.
Just as he was about to reach Xi Shi, the green branch reached its limit. Lu Weiyi took a small step forward—and that one step pulled him into the water as well.
“I’m… going to save them!” he managed to shout toward Li Zhuang, the nearest person, though he wasn’t sure if Li Zhuang heard him before he was swept away.
The moment he hit the water, he quickly pulled Lu Xi and Zhuang Ai Yi toward him. The flood had swept through buildings, which both obstructed the water’s flow and slowed down Xi Shi’s drift. Lu Weiyi managed to grab hold of Xi Shi. Compared to Zhuang Ai Yi, who was well-protected, the two of them looked rather worse for wear—their faces visibly scratched and bleeding, not to mention the parts of their bodies hidden from view.
“Ai Yi, are you okay?” Lu Weiyi managed to intercept a water-damaged table floating by and used it as a makeshift raft to place Zhuang Ai Yi on.
Zhuang Ai Yi coughed up some dirty water. His face was smudged and full of fear. He clung silently to Lu Weiyi’s arm, too scared to speak.
He was likely traumatized.
Lu Weiyi gently touched his head and turned to ask the others, “How are you guys?”
“I’m okay,” Lu Xi said. He had been grabbed by Lu Weiyi the moment he fell in the water, so he only swallowed a bit of water and got knocked around a few times.
Xi Shi clung to the makeshift raft, coughing for a long while, and then dazedly nodded. “Still… still okay.”
They had missed the brunt of the flood surge. Though the water was still moving fast, it was starting to stabilize. The three of them were tied together by the little green branch, lying on a piece of wood and floating slowly.
All around them were people and debris that had been swept away. The air was filled with cries and screams, painting a picture of living hell.
“Drink some water,” Lu Weiyi said. He wasn’t in the mood to worry about anything else. He took out two bottles of water from his space, gave them to the others, and helped Zhuang Ai Yi drink a little. Then he looked around. “We need to get to land, fast. We don’t know if there are zombies in the water.”
That was the most terrifying thing about a flood in the apocalypse. After all, what was swept away wasn’t just people and belongings. In this situation, even a single unnoticed bite could be fatal.
“That over there is the Greenfield Community. Let’s head there,” Xi Shi said, pointing toward a nearby area. But based on the direction of the current, it didn’t seem like they’d naturally drift that way. “How do we get over there…”
Lu Weiyi rummaged through his space. His eyes lit up, and with a flick of his hand, a motorboat appeared. It was the one they had taken from Dongshan County when rescuing Zhuang Mingxu and had conveniently stashed away.
Turns out hoarding everything had its uses after all.
“Bro, this…” Lu Xi, initially surprised, quickly turned delighted.
“You get on first,” Lu Weiyi said. The two of them worked together to help Lu Xi climb aboard, and then he helped lift Zhuang Ai Yi up.
Once all four of them were on, Lu Weiyi started the boat and turned it around, intending to go back to the villa. But seeing the chaotic mess of debris on the water, he had no choice but to redirect toward the Greenfield Community.
“Bro, we’ve still got supplies in Greenfield. I hope they weren’t swept away. We can collect them once we’re there,” Lu Xi said. Now that everyone was safe, he was already thinking about salvaging things. “Ugh, Brother Xi just made a whole table of good food—such a waste.”
“It’s fine. We’ll cook again later. As long as everyone’s okay, we’re blessed,” Xi Shi, older and in poor health to begin with, was sore all over and struggling to speak.
“I already stored them in my space. We’ll just take them back out later,” Lu Weiyi said.
“Bro, you’re just…” Lu Xi couldn’t find the words, so he just gave a thumbs up and turned to sit at the back of the boat, taking care of Xi Shi.
*
Amid the floating debris, the lone motorboat stood out prominently.
On the rooftops that remained above water, and among the people on floating wreckage, anyone who saw them—near or far—shouted at the top of their lungs, hoping to grasp a thread of survival.
But the torrential rain soon drowned out all their cries.
Greenfield Community had six buildings, all owned by Only Team. Five had been lent to the military, and the last housed some of their hired staff. At this point, all six buildings still stood, and every floor above the fourth was packed with people.
Although Lu Weiyi didn’t visit often, everyone knew who he was. As the boat neared, someone recognized him and Lu Xi, shouting a greeting.
Lu Weiyi steered the boat toward the nearest building, stopping right at the third floor, just under the fourth. Someone inside—someone Lu Xi knew—was there.
“Brother Liu, we fell into the water. Can we stay here for a bit?” Lu Xi called out.
“The whole building belongs to your team—of course you can. Come closer, I’ll pull you up,” a middle-aged man replied, reaching out to Lu Xi.
Using the man’s help, Lu Xi leapt in through a broken window, then turned to help Xi Shi inside and reached back to take Zhuang Ai Yi. “Ai Yi, want your little uncle to carry you over?”
Still clinging to Lu Weiyi’s neck, Zhuang Ai Yi buried his face there like an ostrich. Hearing Lu Xi’s voice, his little body tensed, and his grip on Lu Weiyi only tightened.
“Move back a bit. I’ll jump over,” Lu Weiyi said.
Lu Xi nodded and stepped aside. Lu Weiyi used the little green branch to hook the window frame and climbed in. Just as he turned to put the boat away, Liu Yang—whom Lu Xi had called Brother Liu—spoke up.
“Master Lu, could we borrow your boat? We want to go check on the commander and maybe rescue some people along the way.”
“Sure,” Lu Weiyi said. He wasn’t going to go back out in this downpour himself, but he wouldn’t stop others from trying. He took out the other three boats he had in his space. “Take them all. The fuel tanks aren’t full, so they won’t last long.”
“Thanks,” Liu Yang said. He turned toward the stairwell and shouted, “Anyone want to come with me to rescue people? I need eight or nine volunteers.”
“I’ll go!”
“Me!”
“I’m in!”
*
The military’s housing was tight, with multiple people in each unit. It didn’t take long for seven or eight volunteers to come together. Liu Yang quickly got the group assembled and climbed out the window onto the building’s exterior.
He delegated tasks and even left someone behind to take care of Lu Weiyi’s group.
“Hello, Young Master Lu, I’m Lin Mo,” a young man with a bright smile and gleaming white teeth greeted them. He glanced at Xi Shi, who was being supported by Lu Xi, and said, “This big brother doesn’t look very well. Why don’t you come with me and get some rest?”
“Alright, thank you,” Lu Weiyi replied. They were all drenched from falling into the water and getting rained on. After he spoke, he turned to Liu Yang. “If you happen to pass by Longmen Villa, please let Zhuang Mingxu know that we’re all safe.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely let him know. Now hurry and get the child changed, don’t let him catch a cold,” Liu Yang replied.
Lin Mo led them up to the sixth floor, which appeared to be one of the few rooms where the window glass hadn’t been shattered. “It’s relatively dry here. Do you need dry clothes? There might not be any that fit the child.”
“No need, thank you. We just need a bit of rest,” Lu Xi said as he helped Xi Shi sit on a stool by the bed.
“Alright. The people outside are all from our team. If you need anything, just call out,” Lin Mo said, then left the room and thoughtfully closed the door behind him.
