Chapter 46

With a loud bang, Lin Tu jolted awake.

A thick, broken tree trunk flew past the window, slapping against the glass and leaving behind a few sticky, wet leaves.

Still half-asleep, Lin Tu snapped to attention and went to check the window.

Fortunately, the window was fine—probably thanks to the old house's reinforcement. The air conditioner's outdoor unit hadn't been blown away either. A television cable was inexplicably tangled around the unit, with half a TV blocking the window, though it didn't obstruct her view.

Outside, thick sheets of water vapor swept past in rapid bursts. Though it was daytime, the sky was as dark and gloomy as night. She could vaguely make out that the windows of the building across the way had shattered, the frames themselves even torn loose, revealing furniture and interiors within. The ground was covered in standing water, trees were tilted every which way, and debris from cars, houses, and all manner of things flew past in a chaotic mess.

Even Lin Tu, who had weathered two disasters already, was seeing a calamity of this scale—one that seemed to swallow heaven and earth—for the first time.

She couldn't help feeling a flash of panic, but at least she was inside the Shelter. No matter what, home was always safe.

Even though it was July, standing by the window, Lin Tu inexplicably felt a chill in the air. She'd even been woken by the cold during the night, stumbling half-asleep to pull an extra blanket over herself and the dog.

She rubbed her grumbling stomach, threw a jacket over her pajamas, and decided to cook herself a hot, hearty meal.

Lin Tu took out a free-range chicken that had been slaughtered less than twenty-four hours ago and slowly cleaned it.

Fresh chicken steamed was the tastiest. She placed a clay pot in the steamer, put the chicken inside, laid a few slices of ginger on top, and fired up the heat.

The chicken was small, so it was cooked through in just over twenty minutes.

While boiling water for noodles, Lin Tu took out the chicken and chopped it into pieces, setting aside a clean piece for Xiao Huang. She grabbed a handful of scallions from the shelf, heated up some oil, cut the scallions into sections, fried the white parts until fragrant, then added more scallion pieces and garlic and sautéed for a few more seconds. She poured the sizzling scallion oil over the steamed chicken and added a spoonful of steamed-fish soy sauce—scallion-oil chicken, done.

She set the scallion-oil chicken on the dining table, tossed two handfuls of greens into the nearly cooked noodles, waited a moment, then fished them out. She poured the remaining broth from the steamed chicken into the bowl, added enough noodle water to just cover the noodles, seasoned simply with salt, sugar, white pepper, and sesame oil, laid the greens on one side, and sprinkled a pinch of scallions on top. Chicken-soup noodles, done.

Outside, wind howled and rain lashed; inside, Lin Tu sat leisurely at the table, feeding the lean meat to Xiao Huang before digging in herself.

After finishing, she cleaned up and leaned against the dining chair, snacking on fruit while sketching and scribbling in her notebook. Once she'd digested enough, she started light exercise, warming up before ramping up the intensity.

It was then that she heard a commotion outside her door.

The noise grew closer, and soon it was right at Lin Tu's doorstep—

"Hey!" A knock sounded. "Anyone in there? Give us a hand!"

Lin Tu paused her workout and wiped off sweat, about to ask what was wrong, when the person outside continued.

"Our TV ended up on your windowsill—can you grab it for us? That's a brand-new TV worth over thirty thousand!"

Lin Tu turned to look at the TV still swaying in the wind and rain outside her window and felt a wave of speechlessness. Opening the window during a category-17 typhoon to fetch a TV? That was basically asking her to go die.

She went back to exercising, deciding to ignore them.

"Hey hey hey! Say something! Don't just ignore us! What's the big deal about helping out?" The knocking grew more frantic. "We don't want to bother you, but that TV was seriously expensive. We're neighbors, and we're not unreasonable people. You bring it in for us, we'll pay you—or open the door and we'll get it ourselves."

If they fetched it themselves, Lin Tu wouldn't have to risk anything. But she had a lot of stuff inside, and with the window open, the massive pressure differential could blow her belongings out. Who'd be responsible for that? Would they even compensate her? Even if they were willing, Lin Tu wouldn't agree. Her things were far more important than that TV, after all.

"Nobody there?" A woman's voice chimed in. "Or is she trying to keep it for herself?"

"Can't be." The two started discussing right outside Lin Tu's door.

"That TV's waterproof! It's definitely not broken yet. Thirty grand—who wouldn't be tempted? Heck, forget thirty grand—didn't someone already steal an electric scooter during the typhoon? Everyone thought it got blown away, but the truth was it got stolen! This person might be thinking the same thing—wait till we're not looking, grab it, then claim the wind took it!"

They were practically shouting, as if afraid Lin Tu couldn't hear them.

Lin Tu: "..."

"Isn't there some invisibility voucher? Something that keeps idiots like these from finding me?" Lin Tu complained to the Butler as she picked up her knife, walked to the door, and peered outside.

The corridor glass had long since shattered. The two were a young couple, clinging to the railing just to avoid being blown away. Their clothes billowed out like tents in the wind, and even so, they'd braved the weather just to demand their TV back. Truly, money over life.

Lin Tu had wanted to step out, but seeing the situation, she dropped the idea.

"I'll give you the thirty thousand. Just stop making a fuss." After saying this, Lin Tu decided to ignore them entirely. Her door was reinforced; unless they had a diamond drill, there was no way they were getting in.

Hearing this, the two immediately started mocking her: "Oh, you'll give us thirty grand? Looks like you're the one after the money."

"Open up! We just want to use your window for a second!"

"..."

They kept shouting, and when they got no response, they started banging on the door.

Lin Tu couldn't be bothered, but one of the neighbors couldn't stand it any longer.

The door across the hall cracked open a sliver, then a strong gust tore it wide with a loud "bang"—

"Are you people crazy?! Get back inside! Stop harassing them! If you don't care about your lives, at least think about others!"

Lin Tu peeked through the peephole and saw a middle-aged man in his forties. He stood at his wide-open door, the warm interior behind him visible—cozy, though a bit messy.

Just as Lin Tu was about to look more closely, she suddenly caught sight of something outside the window. At the edge of the dark sky, where the sea met the horizon, a glow was rising.

A chill ran down Lin Tu's spine. Almost without thinking, she walked toward the window, her expression turning serious as she stared, transfixed, for a moment. Then a primal fear surged through her, and she suddenly realized what it was—

She hurried to the door. The middle-aged man was still standing at his doorway, and behind him, a little girl had somehow run out and was clinging to his leg.

"Get back inside! Close the door!" The moment Lin Tu opened her door, she felt a massive gust of wind trying to carry her away.

Strong as she was, she couldn't hold onto the door as it flew open with a deafening "bang."

The young man among the couple outside lit up and tried to dart into Lin Tu's home. Without an ounce of patience, she kicked him, slammed the door shut with all her might, and locked him outside—

"Storm surge is coming! Get home now!" she shouted through the door.

The middle-aged man seemed to snap out of it. He turned and looked down the shattered corridor toward the end, where the horizon line was just visible over the sea. Every day, whether heading to work in the morning or coming home at dusk, he'd see that distant line—usually a clear blue, sometimes gilded by morning light, sometimes painted orange by the sunset.

But today, under the dim, heavy sky, that line was glowing like a lightbulb. And the glow was rapidly expanding, rising, drawing closer.

A few seconds stretched like an eternity. Only after staring hard did he realize it wasn't light—the sky was just so dark that the rising sea surface looked bright by contrast.

The man felt his heart start to pound, nearly leaping out of his throat—

"Tsunami!" he screamed involuntarily. Lin Tu's guess wasn't quite right; people who lived on the coast knew tsunamis all too well. This was definitely a tsunami far more devastating than a storm surge—or perhaps a combination of both. Because this tsunami, rising half as tall as the sky itself, was something he'd never seen in his entire life.

"Get inside! Get inside!" He shoved his daughter back through the door, and his wife, startled by his shout, rushed to help. One pulled the little girl, the other slammed the door shut, and within seconds it was closed.

At the same moment, the ground began to shake. People couldn't even stand steady. Items in Lin Tu's home rattled and fell, scattering across the floor. A shelf nearly toppled, but Lin Tu was quick enough to catch it.

The ground shook for a while before the young couple finally realized what was happening.

They were stunned by the sight of the wave. By the time they reacted, the wall of water—towering over ten stories high—had already reached the shore. The sky vanished, replaced by an overwhelming mass of seawater.

"Holy crap!" Lin Tu only heard a terrified shout from the doorway, and then nothing else.

A colossal roar and vibration came from every direction. The tsunami's wave slammed in with brutal force, water carrying cars and broken timber crashing hard against her walls. Lin Tu could feel her front door shuddering, as if water was surging through the corridor.

She clung to the wall by the window, watching the scene outside.

The tsunami didn't stop. Several aftershocks of waves continued to scour the land. A massive ship was driven by the current into a tall coastal building—half the ship's hull shattered, and the all-glass skyscraper, over thirty stories tall, couldn't take it either, collapsing halfway.

At that moment, Lin Tu felt immense relief that the building she'd chosen was a traditional-style residence—shorter, better able to withstand the force, and at least it wouldn't collapse outright.

The entire tsunami lasted a full ten minutes, fear and panic spreading across the world. In those ten minutes, countless souls were lost. The world had become a vast ocean; nearly everything below the second floor was submerged.

After the tsunami, a light rain began to fall. For some unexplained meteorological reason, the rain was mixed with snow, soaking everyone to the bone with cold.

Lin Tu had already put on a jacket, but she was still shivering. She swapped her shorts for thick cotton pants, and only then did she feel warmer.

Plenty of things in her home had fallen to the floor from the shaking, so she tidied up and put everything back in place. Good thing she'd bought the [Waterproof Exterior Wall]—otherwise, with water flooding in, it wouldn't just be a pain to clean up; she'd have wasted a lot of supplies.

Lin Tu turned on the radio to listen for broadcasts. Her phone had no local number and no local apps, so she couldn't check the internet. It seemed the disaster had just happened, since the radio was only looping disaster warnings and nothing else.

Outside the window, it was a vast expanse of water. Car fragments, boat debris, rooftops of ruined houses, broken tree canopies—countless things floated on the surface. Occasionally, she could spot a motionless body drifting among the wreckage. The shorter houses were completely submerged; some people huddled on rooftops, arms wrapped around themselves, shivering, while others tried to swim to different spots—

Lin Tu looked down and saw several people swimming toward her building, climbing into the stairwell.

"Thank you!" A knock came at the door, and through the peephole, she saw the middle-aged man and his wife. "Is your place okay? We just got done cleaning up and thought maybe you needed help, so we came to check. Let me introduce myself—my surname's Xu, and this is my wife, Tang."

Lin Tu thought for a moment, then opened the door as well. "Hello, my surname is Lin. My place is fine for now, thank you for checking."

"Don't mention it. Those two young people... ah, they're probably in trouble now. And thank you for the warning—otherwise, we'd have had no idea."

"I should be the one thanking you."

After exchanging pleasantries, Lin Tu got straight to the point. "Has the government issued any notices? I haven't received any updates."

"Who knows," the man replied with a grimace. "The internet's awful right now—you can't find anything online. But my brother-in-law works at the police station, and apparently there's a plan. We just have to wait."

"Don't worry, miss. The moment I hear anything, I'll let you know right away."

Lin Tu smiled and nodded. Noticing the little girl peeking out from their doorway, she grabbed a handful of chocolate candies and waved at her.

The girl scampered over happily. Her mother tried to stop her, but Lin Tu pressed the candies into her hands.

"Say thank you!" The woman quickly urged her daughter.

"No worries. By the way..." Lin Tu said casually as she handed over the candy, "Can we get to Noah's Ark?"

"Noah's Ark? What's that?" To her surprise, the couple had no reaction to the term—as if they'd never heard of it. The man laughed. "If there really were a Noah's Ark, that'd be great. But we're probably evacuating further west. Hopefully Sa City—we've got a few acquaintances there."

Lin Tu nodded in agreement. They chatted a bit more, agreed to alert her the moment they got news, and then each went home.

Not long after, noise came from the stairwell. A few men and women came up, apparently their houses had been flooded and they were looking for a place to stay. But starting from the third floor of the building, no one was willing to take them in.

When they knocked on Lin Tu's door, she pretended not to hear. When they knocked on the Xus' door, the man answered—

"Go try the house next door. That was a young couple... ah, they had an accident. Go see if their door's open."

The group was delighted and quickly thanked him. "My name's Yu—just call me Xiao Yu!"

Lin Tu curled up in her chair, sketching and pondering two questions—where was Noah's Ark? And what was the C-rank mutant creature?

Noah's Ark definitely existed, but the neighbors knew nothing about it. There were two possibilities: either it was a classified project by some organization, or it simply hadn't been built yet.

Unfortunately, such key information couldn't be bought with points, or Lin Tu wouldn't be so frustrated right now.

The only option was to wait. No matter what, if it existed, rumors would eventually surface.

Lin Tu quietly sketched in her recliner, completely unaware that after the tsunami, several hair-thin black threadworms left in the water were clinging to her window, slowly writhing.