CHAPTER 296: CHAPTER 296: THE RAIN STOPS (2)

While some people who came to borrow boats had pure intentions and just wanted a means to help them go out and look for supplies, others had ulterior motives.

Some thought that since the people in that building were soldiers, they were obligated to help other ordinary citizens and protect them.

It was saddening how some people still lived in an era where the government provides everything.

Even with the apocalypse having been ongoing for more than two months, some people still had such delusions.

Moreover, when borrowing the boats, they made it sound as if it was public property and they were entitled to it.

Gu Fan had put Yang Leo in charge of the task of lending out boats because he had realized that even though the young man was a physics professor, he had great social skills and could judge people better than the soldiers.

Therefore, with Yang Leo in charge, he didn’t have to worry about the boats being lent to people who would disappear with them just because they felt that they were entitled to a share.

Therefore, there were some quarrels several times a day outside the building with people who had been denied the right to borrow a boat causing trouble and shouting murder.

Unfortunately, at that time, many people just wanted to go out and find some food for themselves and their families.

Therefore, even though there were people who felt that refusing to give the boats to others was biassed, they didn’t dare to raise an opinion or rejection.

What would happen if they were classified as the same kind of people and also denied access to the boats?

However, those who understood the reason the soldiers didn’t give the boats to everyone were grateful.

This was because at least if they didn’t collect enough supplies today, they could come again to borrow the boats another day. But if the boats were given to unreliable people who either ruined them or ran away with them then they wouldn’t have anything to borrow the next time.

Hence, the scene outside the building where Chu Miao’s family lives was bustling with activity, unlike in the surrounding buildings where the most active activity witnessed were people busking in the sun on their balconies.

There were people laughing because they had obtained a boat and others cursing because they had been denied one. The scene was chaotic, yet lively.

It was a scene that had not been seen in a long time.

When Chu Miao and the others appeared in the living room of the Chu family apartment, they heard the lively voices outside and that was the first indication that the rain had stopped.

Before, it had become difficult to hear other people’s voices over the constant humming of the rain. However, now voices could be heard clearly.

Moreover, even though the curtains in the house were drawn, there was light penetrating the material of the curtains, something that had been impossible before.

"It looks like our prayers have been heard. The rain has stopped." Butler Cheng said while going to the window to draw back the curtains.

Bright light seeped into the living room, brightening the place even without the lights being switched on.

"Mmm...it looks like the flood water came up to the seventh floor. It’s a good thing that Chichi moved in advance, otherwise, she would have suffered a lot." Chu Miao said with a secret sigh.

She didn’t want any of her teammates to experience hardships like that.

"That’s true. But compared to the situation I heard you mention in those novels of how the houses of people flood even up to the tenth floor and people have to live in the corridor, turning the place into a slum of a kind I think our building was lucky." Chu Hao said as if celebrating the fact that their building had not turned into a slum with people living in the corridors and turning them into their sleeping quarters, living rooms, and even toilets.

What he didn’t know was that there were places that had experienced that situation and because of it, the cholera virus had spread quickly and claimed many lives.

They had been lucky because their community was fairly new and some of the housing units had not been sold yet. Thus, there were empty apartments in every building that the people affected by the floods could occupy and avoid the situation of sleeping in corridors.

In fact, some people lived in low-rise buildings or villas and drowned to death because they had no means to escape and find higher ground.

Some had tried to hold on, even pitching tents on their roofs but flood water had still caught up with them.

But some people with enough determination had survived. This was because human potential was stirred when a person was at their wit’s end.

Some people when they realized that their houses would flood and they would drown to death, they started dismantling furniture and making makeshift boats and rafts.

They then used some waterproof materials such as raincoats to cover the rafts, erected with some sticks or plastic poles before collecting any food and water they could fit in the raft and leaving their homes to look for higher ground.

Many people living in villas and low-rise buildings survived in this way. If they were lucky to come across a tall building with some supplies inside, they would turn that into their temporary home and camp there.

Now that the rain had stopped, many of them were leaving to look for better houses to live in. However, those who felt comfortable living in their current residence didn’t care about moving.

Especially those with kids. If the kids had survived the ordeal of braving the storm and rain to get to safety, they didn’t want to move them again.

Such a place symbolized their survival. They just had to go out and look for food if they didn’t have any.