HBWnovel Chapter 74 Conflict
Chapter 74 Conflict
The next morning, Xu Mo woke up on time. The first thing he did upon waking was to walk down a few steps and look towards the second floor.
The scene before him confirmed that his worries from the previous night were not unfounded—the murky yellow water had completely submerged the first floor, and the water level was even slightly higher than the second floor. More debris from the first floor and outside was floating on the surface of the water. The water was calm, but it carried a deathly oppressive feeling.
"Luckily, it was moved up last night." Xu Mo felt a surge of relief.
He walked up the stairs to the rooftop terrace. The air after the rain was chilly and had a strong, fishy smell. What unfolded before Xu Mo's eyes was a breathtaking expanse of ocean.
The streets, ruins, and single-story buildings of Qingsongling Town in the past have mostly disappeared, replaced by a boundless expanse of muddy yellow water.
The water was not calm; it was covered with a dense mass of all sorts of debris: broken tree branches, tattered household items, plastic waste of various colors, and large amounts of unidentifiable fragments.
These floating objects collided and accumulated with the slow-moving water, forming small "garbage islands" in some places. Some of the more sturdy two-story buildings had their upper parts exposed, like isolated islands in the water.
Further away, the original undulating terrain formed faint outlines on the water's surface. The whole world seemed to have regressed to a primordial, chaotic state, and the traces of humanity in the town were mercilessly erased by the flood.
Xu Mo stood in the center of the rooftop, facing east. The clouds were still thick, but the sun could be faintly felt behind them. He assumed his stance and began the "Qi Gathering" exercise of the Thirteen Bodyguards' Horizontal Training. Although the sunlight was weak, the vibrant energy of the rising sun could still be subtly stirred by his Qi and blood.
After finishing his Qi gathering, Xu Mo decided to continue his stance training and strength control practice on the relatively open rooftop. Surrounded by the ruins of the apocalypse on this isolated island in the vast ocean, he remained focused and dedicated to his self-cultivation, as if he were completely cut off from the outside world.
After finishing his morning workout, Xu Mo returned to the third-floor landing and turned on the radio. The voice of the Jiangcheng Shelter's announcer immediately came through, his tone serious: "According to the latest meteorological assessment, our area will be mainly cloudy with intermittent rainfall today. However, the atmospheric circulation pattern has not fundamentally changed. It is expected that from tonight until the next two days, we may experience another round of heavy rainfall, possibly no less intense than yesterday. Survivors in all areas are urged to make good use of this brief window of opportunity to reinforce their shelters, move to higher, safer locations, and check their supplies..."
Hearing the broadcast, Xu Mo looked up and gazed at the sky through the broken window. Sure enough, the sky was still overcast, with low-hanging, thick clouds, and it certainly didn't look like it would clear up anytime soon.
Xu Mo quickly assessed his current situation: the water had already flooded the second floor, and he was on the third-floor staircase platform leading to the roof, a high enough position; the ropes of the inflatable boat had ample slack, so even if the water level rose further, it wouldn't sink the boat or break the ropes. As long as the building itself didn't collapse, another wave of rain wouldn't pose much of a threat to him.
Just then, the broadcast abruptly changed, becoming more threatening: "Urgent Notice! We are issuing the highest level of warning again for survivors possibly located in or around the 'Falling Star Valley' area! Falling Star Valley is situated in a depression between two mountains, with a wide expanse of water upstream. According to reports from reconnaissance helicopters and hydrological models, with continuous heavy rainfall, the water level of the 'Jade Belt River,' flowing through the valley, will continue to rise rapidly, and the flood peak is expected to pass through the area within the next 24 to 48 hours. The possibility of the town of Falling Star Valley being completely submerged is extremely high! Furthermore, the soil in this area is loose, and under extreme saturation conditions, the risk of large-scale landslides and mudslides is extremely high! To reiterate, the risk is extremely high! Survivors still in the Falling Star Valley area, please immediately, at all costs, move to the tops of the mountains on either side! Life is only once; do not take any chances!"
The broadcaster's voice was authoritative, but shortly after the broadcast ended, a frantically excited, even hoarse, male voice suddenly blared from the public address system, clearly using a different radio: "Jiangcheng! Jiangcheng Shelter! Stop pretending! What kind of bullshit warning is this! You sent helicopters circling overhead several times! You clearly know our situation here! Why are you just standing by and watching us die?! Why can't you send helicopters to evacuate us?! Don't you have planes? Didn't Jiangcheng say you'd protect the people? It's all a lie! You're just watching us die!!"
This sudden accusation, filled with despair and anger, made Xu Mo raise an eyebrow. He took out a map and checked the location of Falling Star Valley; it wasn't close to him.
Immediately afterward, a calmer, yet suppressedly angry, official voice responded from the Jiangcheng Shelter's channel: "Fellow countrymen of Falling Star Valley, please remain calm! First, we are using light reconnaissance helicopters on this mission, which lack the capacity for large-scale personnel evacuation; their passenger capacity is extremely limited. Second, according to our prior information, there are at least several hundred survivors in the Falling Star Valley area, far exceeding the capacity of any single air rescue operation. Most importantly, regarding the geological and hydrological risks of Falling Star Valley, our shelter began repeatedly issuing warnings via broadcast at the end of the Eternal Night, reminding survivors in the area to evacuate as soon as possible! It is your own decision-makers who have been stubborn, underestimated the risks, and may even have blocked external information, leading to this predicament. Arguing about these things now is pointless; please immediately organize personnel to move to higher ground! This is the only way to survive!"
The male voice from Falling Star Valley immediately retorted excitedly, his voice broken due to the unstable signal: "Bullshit, you're just making excuses. What happened before is before... Now that you see danger, why aren't you helping? You have the ability but refuse to do your best..."
The following words were drowned out by a loud static noise, as if the two sides had started a more intense argument on the channel, or rather, it was a one-sided insult from Falling Star Valley and a restrained explanation and warning from Jiangcheng.
Xu Mo listened for a while, then shook his head helplessly and turned off the radio. He was speechless at the noisy "verbal battle".
The situation couldn't be clearer: the survivor leader of Falling Star Valley had made a fatal mistake, either underestimating the severity of the floods and geological disasters, or deliberately ignoring external warnings in order to maintain control of the settlement, or perhaps both.
Now that disaster is imminent, instead of thinking about how to seize the last opportunity to organize self-rescue, they are trying to shift the blame to Jiangcheng and accuse them of failing to help. This is tantamount to trying to get fish by climbing a tree.
"Instead of wasting time and energy arguing on the radio, we should immediately mobilize everyone to run up the mountain. Even if only one more person gets out, it's still a gain," Xu Mo thought to himself.
In the apocalypse, placing one's hopes for survival entirely on external aid is a high-risk behavior, especially when the other party has already issued a clear warning.
This dispute, transmitted via radio waves, serves as a mirror, reflecting the different choices and mindsets of various groups facing crisis in the apocalypse. There are lone wolves like Xu Mo, who rely on their own efforts and plan carefully; there are large organizations like Jiang Cheng, who attempt to establish order but have limited resources and must make difficult choices; and there are groups like Luoxing Valley, who made mistakes in the early stages and later blamed others for their predicament.
Xu Mo stopped paying attention to this pointless argument. The outside world was fraught with danger, and he needed to remain vigilant and focus on himself.