Chapter 49

"She's eighteen!"

A shrill voice rang out from below, and two heads poked out from the fourth-floor windowsill. A moment later, the dark-skinned man pulled his head back and enthusiastically invited Lin Tu: "Big shot, it's someone you know! Want to take a look?"

Lin Tu leaned over. There, on the rescue boat, was the woman from the third floor, shoving the young girl while shouting incessantly.

Before anyone could react, the woman's husband, who was still standing on the third-floor balcony, grabbed the girl by the arm and tried to drag her off the boat. "Let me on! The kid can't be without me!"

"Exactly! Our Little Bao is only eight! How can a mother take care of him alone? His dad has to come too!" The couple had somehow made up, speaking in tandem. "She really is over eighteen—just had her birthday a few days ago. Our Little Bao even had cake!"

Seeing the rescuers' expressions grow stern, the woman added fuel to the fire. "If you don't believe it, make her show her ID!"

The fact that she had just turned eighteen a few days ago wasn't really a big deal—everyone could tacitly overlook it. But saying it out loud changed everything. A rescue boat could only hold a few people, countable on two hands. If one case tipped the scales, another would surely cause an uproar.

The rescuer knew this well. He glanced at the sky, extremely unwilling to delay further. The water was dangerous—he, who had lost his comrades, knew all too well that any later would be even more perilous.

"I'm sorry, please show your ID," he said apologetically. "We must act according to regulations."

The man immediately waved his hand triumphantly. "Show it!"

The old woman shielded the girl and pleaded, "Please take my granddaughter. She's just barely an adult—she hasn't even finished her studies! How can she stay here?"

The facts were set; the rescuer sighed. "I'm sorry, but if she's over eighteen, she has to get off first. But don't worry, young lady—we'll send someone else to pick you up in a couple of days. You won't be separated from your grandmother for too long."

While the rescuer was still speaking gently, the man yanked the girl's arm again, cursing loudly, showing no intention of letting go. The little dog, which could fit in one arm, nearly fell to the floor from the tug.

"That's going too far..." A voice of indignation rose from below. Lin Tu looked down and saw Yu Liu's teammate, who had somehow squeezed onto a windowsill downstairs to watch the spectacle.

In the apocalypse, worse things happened all the time. Everyone around was muttering quietly, afraid of getting tangled up in it. No one spoke so loudly—all eyes turned to him.

Emboldened, or perhaps feeling that at least someone was on their side, the old woman grew resolute. "You must take my granddaughter. If she doesn't go, I won't either! I'm a sixty-three-year-old woman—I'm not afraid to die!"

"Then don't go, no one's stopping you!" The man was delighted by this, and reached out to grab the old woman's arm. With one less person on the boat, he'd have a better chance of getting on.

Those around him glared with fury, and finally someone couldn't hold back anymore. Tang Jie from across the hall and her daughter were also on the boat. She'd wanted to speak, but Liu Ge, who stayed in the residential building, shushed her, worried that the mad couple from the third floor would target the lone mother and daughter.

"How can you treat an old lady like that! Where's your decency, your sense of shame?" He shouted from the crowd, then disappeared back into it.

"You're fighting over a child's chance, too," another person chimed in. "Didn't your wife say the old should die first? She's far more deserving of life than you!"

"Exactly! Shameless and thick-skinned. Aren't you afraid your son will be ashamed of you?"

The man was red-faced with anger, but to survive, he clung to the old woman and the girl, nearly dragging the old woman to fall onto the deck.

"Don't bully my grandma! I'll let you have it!" The young girl, eyes welling with tears, stepped off the boat on her own.

The man seized the chance to scramble aboard, his smug, sneaky demeanor utterly revolting. "Heh, heh, I guess I'm riding on Little Bao's good fortune. Little Bao needs his dad to take care of him, right?"

His chubby little boy was pinched by his mother and burst into wails.

Although the rules said minors on board needed a guardian, there was no way anyone would so blatantly exploit this loophole—not when the others were children and the elderly. Who would fight them over these precious spots?

Everyone was fuming at the couple's behavior. The old woman also got off the boat to shield the girl. She was already a thin, dry little old lady, and now she seemed ready to collapse. "I really misjudged your whole family! A pack of beasts!"

The third-floor couple only smiled smugly at her, fueling everyone's anger.

"Hey, Brother Yu!" Yu Liu's teammate suddenly called out from below. "Can we take this grandmother and granddaughter along to Sa City?"

He shouted up with a booming voice, drawing everyone's attention.

Yu Liu glanced at Lin Tu, as if seeking her opinion.

"Sister!" The red-eyed girl called out in surprise when she spotted Lin Tu.

News that this rescue team only took the elderly and children, and that the next batch wouldn't arrive for two days, had many people worried the dam wouldn't hold. Unwilling to sit idle, they were discussing forming groups to head to the temporary shelter in Sa City on their own.

Lin Tu nodded slightly. "If you two are fine with it, I certainly am."

After all, she was only going as far as the library; the rest of the journey had nothing to do with her.

Seeing both of them nod, Yu Liu's teammate was overjoyed. Just as he was about to wave at the grandmother and granddaughter downstairs, he suddenly remembered something. "Brother Yu our boat is a four-seater! We can't fit that many!" He, Yu Liu, and Lin Tu already made three—at most, they could take one more.

On the boat, the third-floor couple overheard this and let out a snicker.

Yu Liu and his partner were players, sure, but in terms of supplies, they were just ordinary people with slightly better connections—otherwise, they wouldn't be making a special trip to gather supplies near the library. As for the locals in this building, despite living in a coastal city, technology was advanced; not everyone even knew how to swim. The fact that the first floor could scrape together a seaworthy boat was already impressive—that's why the third-floor couple was so desperate to get aboard.

"I have a boat," Lin Tu said, smiling at the smug couple.

The couple's expressions immediately soured. Having done what they did, they knew they were in the wrong, even wishing the grandmother and granddaughter would just die so this could all blow over.

"Having a boat doesn't mean you'll make it to Sa City! It's over sixty miles—hope you don't die halfway!" The third-floor man sneered.

This provoked the crowd's anger, since quite a few were planning to row over themselves.

"Why don't you worry about whether you deserve to stay on that boat! There are plenty more deserving than you out there!" Yu Liu's friend poked his head out to stir the pot. Seeing thoughtful expressions appear among the crowd, he grinned and ducked back in.

Since they'd made such a show of rowing to Sa City on their own, Lin Tu and Yu Liu no longer bothered to hide it. Yu Liu went behind the building to move his boat to the front, his teammate hauled the supplies, and Lin Tu crouched by the balcony, inflating her rubber boat. It was precisely because of this that she'd overheard the whole argument on the rescue boat.

The rescue boat now had two empty spots. A man who claimed to be over fifty-five was allowed aboard, but his son, a greedy rascal, insisted his father had diabetes and needed care—and that he had to board too, demanding the third-floor man be squeezed off.

Did the neighbors know whether his father actually had diabetes? No one said a word this time; in fact, they all chimed in that the old man did need looking after.

The third-floor couple had never been easy to deal with, and the two sides immediately erupted into a shouting match.

The rescuer had originally wanted to warn everyone before departing not to touch the water, to avoid attracting the black bugs and repeating the rescue team's earlier tragedy. But the argument completely derailed his plan—even leaving on time was now in question.

He had to play referee while wiping sweat, all while shouting for everyone not to touch the water. He was run ragged.

In a spot he couldn't see, the third-floor couple's little boy, out from under his parents' watch, was casually dipping his hand into the water, playfully scooping at things.

After Lin Tu finished inflating her boat, Liu Ge from across the hall came over, rubbing his hands together nervously. "Can I hitch a ride on your boat to the mall?"

Lin Tu looked up at him.

He explained: "I want to row over to Sa City myself. But there's only one boat in the building. The family's willing to take people to find rubber boats, but there's not enough hands—at best, we'd find two or three more. There are too many people in the building, and everyone's panicking."

"I was wondering if I could tag along on your boat. You can drop me off at any mall."

He relaxed when Lin Tu nodded, about to thank her, when she added: "My boat seats six. Besides the two of us, there's room for four more. You can round up a few people to search together. But be quick—we're leaving soon."

It was almost five o'clock now. The rescue team had originally said they'd stay for two and a half hours and leave at four, with Lin Tu's group eating dinner at four and setting out right after. But thanks to the drawn-out drama, they were already half an hour behind schedule.

Liu Ge nodded eagerly and ran off to find people.

Lin Tu and the others had clear goals and were seasoned players. In just five minutes, they'd handled everything, and Yu Liu's teammate even kindly helped carry the grandmother and granddaughter's luggage. The people Liu Ge knew were all long-time neighbors; they'd already agreed to search for rubber boats together, so they quickly gathered four people.

"I have only two requirements," Lin Tu said, adjusting her glasses. "First, don't touch the water—stay as far from it as possible. Second, if anyone else touches the water, stay as far from them as possible. Understood?"

The five of them nodded in unison, not a single dissenting voice.

While waiting for Yu Liu and the others, Liu Ge gripped his wife and daughter's hands in farewell. Thinking Lin Tu's words made sense, he carefully repeated his instructions to them.

At last, it was time to go. They settled onto the rubber boat one after another, and the rescue team still hadn't set off.

"That rescue guy's probably an honest sort—unlucky to run into them," a middle-aged man muttered after thanking Lin Tu as the boat began to glide away. "One couple double-teaming with nonsense, another a deadbeat who beat his wife away. Tch. Takes the police to handle those types."

Speaking of police—where would police even exist in this transformed world?

Liu Ge looked back anxiously, hoping only that he'd be reunited with his wife and daughter in Sa City.