Day by day, time passed. The torrential rain had already submerged one third of the first floor, with the water level roughly reaching thigh height. During these days, the number of people coming to knock or pound on Dorm 806’s door only increased.
Dorm 806 simply played deaf and mute. If they encountered someone especially aggressive, they fought back. Overall, life had actually been fairly decent.
Without electricity or internet, nobody stayed up late unless it was their turn for night watch. Sleeping early and waking early, growing vegetables and raising chickens, if not for the Category 10 plus typhoon raging outside, it could practically be called an idyllic countryside life.
Huang Yiyi sat in a chair drinking QQ Star while painting Chen Siyu’s nails. They had gotten the nail polish during their raid on the package station before. There had been a whole giant box of it, every color imaginable.
On the other side, Zheng Wan crouched in front of the kimchi jar and carefully picked up a piece to taste. The instant it entered her mouth, the sweet and spicy flavors exploded across her tongue, while the cabbage remained wonderfully crisp.
Her first attempt at making kimchi had been such a success that Zheng Wan became overjoyed and immediately announced that dinner would be Korean bibimbap.
Cheng Zhi held two little chicks in her arms and played with them.
The two eggs laid by the hens had successfully hatched yesterday. But because the hens had not incubated them personally, they completely ignored the chicks and even tried pecking them.
As a result, the burden of raising them fell onto Cheng Zhi.
Fluffy, golden yellow little chicks, Cheng Zhi simply could not put them down.
Watching Cheng Zhi stroke the chicks over and over again, Huang Yiyi kindly reminded her:
“The kids are still young. If you keep petting them day and night, be careful you don’t rub their hairline bald. How are they supposed to survive in the chicken coop later? They’ll spend their whole lives unable to hold their heads up.”
“…”
Cheng Zhi was speechless.
“Wow, impressive. Since when does a receding chicken hairline mean they can’t hold their heads up? Your hairline’s receding too. Why are you still so cheerful every day?”
The words “receding hairline” struck Huang Yiyi directly in the heart.
She clutched her forehead with a pained expression.
“That’s a psychological assassination!”
Cheng Zhi burst into laughter twice, then noticed it was time to feed the chicks. She tucked them into her arms and entered the space.
Nearby, Xiao Feiran looked like a carpenter, sawing wood, polishing pieces, and doing all sorts of work. She was trying to build a crossbow and had already been working on it for three straight days.
With limited information and limited materials, she could only slowly figure things out herself. Who knew when it would finally succeed.
Originally everything had been peaceful.
Then suddenly, the entire dormitory building trembled slightly.
Before anyone could react, screams and cries erupted from downstairs one after another.
Amid the chaotic noise, Dorm 806 heard someone shouting two words:
“Flood! Flood!”
Everyone immediately dropped what they were doing and ran to the glass doors.
The water level that had originally only reached thigh height suddenly surged upward and instantly submerged the second floor.
Huang Yiyi and Zheng Wan’s faces showed no visible emotion.
In their previous lives, both of them had died because of the flood.
One had been swept away and drowned.
The other had been injured in the flood and later died from infection.
The flood had come so suddenly that even until death, neither of them had understood why.
Chen Siyu looked at them hesitantly from the side. After struggling with herself for a moment, she finally spoke:
“Do you want to know what caused this flood? If you want to hear it, I’ll tell you. If it makes you uncomfortable, then I’ll shut up.”
Both Huang Yiyi and Zheng Wan wanted to hear it.
Especially Huang Yiyi, who looked like she wanted to take out a notebook and start taking notes.
“Actually, this flood wasn’t exactly unexpected. The rain had been going on for so many days that the reservoir filled up. The workers didn’t have time to regulate it, so it overflowed directly. That’s why the water level suddenly rose so dramatically.”
As Chen Siyu recalled their previous life, she reached out and held both of their hands.
“This time, even if it kills us, we’re not going outside. You two will definitely be safe.”
Zheng Wan placed her other hand on top of Chen Siyu’s, just about to create an emotional moment.
Then Huang Yiyi suddenly pulled her hand away and confidently flipped her hair.
“Of course. Before sleeping these past few days, I’ve been practicing swimming. My skills can practically be called master level by now.”
“…”
That one sentence instantly fried the CPUs of the other three.
Xiao Feiran stared at her with a confused expression.
“Before sleeping? Practicing swimming? For several days?”
“Am I blind? I don’t remember our dorm having a swimming pool.”
Zheng Wan looked equally confused.
“This is where you don’t understand!”
Huang Yiyi pointed at her tiny upper bunk, which was barely four feet long.
“Practicing on the bed still counts as practice!”
After hearing that, Chen Siyu’s face filled with disgust.
She helplessly shook her head, patted Huang Yiyi on the shoulder, and spoke earnestly:
“When you’re outside in the future, never tell people we’re from the same dorm. I can’t possibly be worthy of sharing a dorm with a genius like you.”
When Cheng Zhi came back out, the four had already returned to their seats.
Xiao Feiran briefly explained what had happened.
Cheng Zhi, who had been smiling moments ago, immediately changed expression. Her brows knitted tightly.
“Someone’s definitely going to rob dorms today. We need to stay alert.”
Chen Siyu turned around in her chair and leaned over the backrest.
“The flood came so suddenly. There probably aren’t many survivors left on the first floor. It shouldn’t be too bad, right?”
Cheng Zhi shook her head.
Walking over to the dorm door, she secured the two extra latches Xiao Feiran had installed.
“Forget the first floor. In a way, the second floor has basically become the new first floor. If another flood comes, the second floor gets hit next. If you lived on the second floor, wouldn’t you be scared? Wouldn’t you want to move higher?”
After hearing that explanation, Chen Siyu immediately understood.
With the flood arriving so suddenly, everyone on the lower floors would panic. And second floor residents had witnessed the flood’s speed and ferocity more directly than anyone except the first floor.
Their fear would be the strongest.
Which meant they were highly likely to move upstairs early to avoid danger.
Everyone’s worries immediately increased again.
Xiao Feiran took out the daggers they had bought before from the space and handed them out. Her expression was ice cold.
“From now on, if anyone dares fight us, we go all out. Don’t show mercy.”
The apocalypse was a world where the strong devoured the weak. Whether for taking from others or protecting oneself, everyone had to fight like beasts.
Cheng Zhi and Chen Siyu naturally understood that.
After surviving ten months in their previous lives, saying they had never killed anyone would have been impossible.
But Huang Yiyi and Zheng Wan had died near the beginning of the apocalypse.
They had never killed anyone before and feared that showing even a moment of hesitation would get them killed instead.
Standing across from them, Cheng Zhi immediately noticed their unease.
She walked over, took away their daggers, and replaced them with electric batons.
“I know you can’t get over that mental hurdle yet. If I hand you knives now, you might even end up hurting yourselves. For now, use these instead. Just make sure they can’t move. I’ll handle the rest.”
Holding her dagger, Chen Siyu suddenly thrust several times into the air in rapid succession.
She muttered:
“Stun them, then finish them off. Perfect combo.”
Seeing how quickly Chen Siyu stabbed, to the point where only afterimages remained, Zheng Wan and Huang Yiyi both let out synchronized gasps.
“Wooow.”
Chen Siyu tossed her head and flashed them a grin shaped like the Nike logo.
“Girls, you’ve been charmed by your bro, huh?”
Zheng Wan: “…”
What was wrong with this child? Where had this whole “girls, your bro” style come from?
Cheng Zhi happily stirred up even more trouble.
“Oh no, the greasiness has become contagious. Wan, be careful. You might be next.”
“…”
As the original source of all the greasy behavior, Huang Yiyi found herself completely unable to argue back.