Ch22 Oh no, the Boat Hit a Corpse
"Who was it?"
After seeing the herbs disappear, the man realized that without any food left, he was bound to die. He slumped into despair in a corner, his mind lost.
At that moment, the sound of glass breaking suddenly echoed, causing him to jolt up in alarm.
His only flashlight emitted a faint light as the man stumbled over, his footsteps unsteady.
"What is this...?"
The man was shocked at what he saw on the ground and began searching frantically around the room.
After finding no one, he fell to his knees before the broken glass, bowing his head repeatedly.
"Benefactor, please save me!"
"Please, take me with you!"
"Please, I don't want food, I just want to leave here..."
"Save me!"
After begging for five or six minutes with no response, the man fell back onto the floor, defeated.
"What's the point of these? What good are they?"
His bloodshot eyes swung wildly, knocking over the two items in front of him.
After a while, he calmed down and gingerly set the items upright, then lowered his head and began to eat the things on the ground.
It turned out that when Meng Ci left, he had placed a warm tomato and egg rice dish and a box of instant noodles on the floor.
It wasn't out of kindness, but because Meng Ci felt it would be wrong to take away the man's only remaining source of survival without leaving anything behind.
Leaving him some food would make Meng Ci feel better about it.
As for whether the man could save himself or be rescued before the food ran out, that was no longer in Meng Ci's thoughts.
After knocking over the meal, the man awkwardly crouched to finish eating the food off the
floor.
The meal was still warm.
Could it be that the gods, seeing his plight, had sent food to save him?
The man knelt on the ground, bowing his head, muttering prayers.
"Jade Emperor, Queen Mother of the West, Taishang Laojun..."
All the deities who save those in suffering, please save me!
"I don't want to stay here anymore!"
Meng Ci had checked the factory for cameras, and since the man didn't see his face, he wasn't worried about being discovered.
After leaving the industrial park, Meng Ci switched to the assault boat and headed toward the building he lived in.
"Bang."
Halfway through, Meng Ci felt the boat bump into something.
When he stabilized the boat and looked back, he was so shocked that he nearly crashed into a fallen tree nearby.
"Damn."
Meng Ci quickly steadied himself, floored the gas pedal, and sped away.
But the image of what he had just seen kept playing in his mind.
A long-haired girl in a red dress was floating in the flood with her eyes closed, her face pale, and her body swollen.
Although Meng Ci knew that death in the apocalypse was a common occurrence, it still affected him deeply since this was the first time he had witnessed it.
Eventually, Meng Ci stopped the assault boat by the side, leaned over the edge of the boat, and vomited.
After a while, he felt better, took out a bottle of mineral water to rinse his mouth, and continued his journey back.
It's okay, it's fine, it's no big deal!
Just think of it as getting used to it. Who knows, I might see more dead bodies in the future.
He swapped the assault boat for the rubber boat, stored it away, strapped on his oxygen tank, and swam back to his building.
By now, it was after three in the morning. Due to the power outage, the residents had gone to bed early. Aside from the sound of rain, there was no other noise.
Back home, Meng Ci took a shower, set an alarm for eight o'clock, threw himself onto the bed, and quickly fell asleep.
However, the next morning, Meng Ci wasn't woken by the alarm. Instead, he was disturbed by the noisy voices of the residents downstairs.
"Why are you only giving me this little bit of food? Who's going to eat this!"
"Why are you only giving me this little food? Who's this enough for!"
"I want to file a complaint!"
"Quiet."
A powerful male voice came through the loudspeaker.
"If you think it's unfair, you don't have to take it. Feel free to file your complaints."
After the male voice sounded, the people grew even more unwilling.
"This is how you serve the people? Do you deserve to wear that uniform?"
"I want to complain, I want to expose you for your greediness!"
Meng Ci had just gotten up and stood by the window when he saw that the area downstairs was full of all kinds of boats, each boat having soldiers dressed in military uniforms standing on them!
What was going on here?
Meng Ci couldn't make sense of it.
The book clearly stated that after a month, due to the heavy rainfall, some volunteers would accidentally fall into the flood and even lose their lives. That's when the military took over the task of delivering supplies.
So what did this mean? Why had the military already taken over?
Had he entered the wrong book, or was his memory messed up?
"Bang!"
A gunshot caused everyone to Immediately fall silent.
"Splash."
Because the flood had already submerged the first floor halfway, the military had set up a ladder from the boats that reached the second-floor hallway window, through which they delivered food to the people.
A man, unhappy with the small amount of food, climbed up to the windowsill, intending to jump onto the ladder to snatch the food from the soldiers' hands.
But when the gunshot rang out, the man was startled and lost his balance, falling directly into the water.
Two soldiers immediately jumped into the water. One of them grabbed the man's arm and pulled him inside the building. Moments later, the two soldiers emerged from the water.
Once back on the boat, the two stood at attention, ignoring their drenched clothes.
"This is your first offence, so we can overlook it. But if it happens again, you won't be receiving any food anymore," one of the soldiers said.
At this, the man fell silent, and no one dared to speak out again.
"Continue."
This time, the food delivery went smoothly, and no one dared question it. They silently received their food.
Having been woken up by the noise, Meng Ci turned off his alarm, changed his clothes, and grabbed his ID before heading downstairs to get some food.
Although he had stocked up plenty of food in his space, some people on the seventeenth floor had already noticed his presence.
If he didn't go down to get food, they might think he had a lot of supplies, and he could end up being targeted by them.
"Are you going downstairs to get food?"
Just as Meng Ci closed his door, the door next door opened, and Shen Que's voice was heard.
"Mm."
Meng Ci nodded. Although he was a bit annoyed that this guy had caused unnecessary trouble by sending him food twice, which made others start to take an interest in him, he eventually calmed down. After all, the guy meant well.
"We'll go together." Shen Que
said.
"Okay."
Meng Ci suspected this guy had been waiting for him all along. How else could he have known exactly when he was about to leave?
The elevator was already out of order, so the two had to walk down the stairs, one after the other.
Shen Que, walking in front, wore a white short-sleeve shirt, his muscular arms clearly visible.
Meng Ci thought that it wasn't bad to go down with this guy. At least he could act as his backup and show others that they weren't easy to mess with.
"Did the person from 1701 come to find you yesterday?" Shen Que suddenly spoke.
There was a large surveillance camera outside Shen Que's door, so it wasn't surprising that he knew about the trouble Meng Ci had gotten into yesterday.
Of course, this was also the reason why Meng Ci had waited until after the power outage last night to sneak out and grab some zero-cost supplies.
"Mm." Meng Ci nodded, not denying it.
This issue was because of him, so Shen Que had a right to know.
Shen Que didn't hesitate and domineeringly said, "If they cause trouble for you again, just call me."
"After all, it started because of me, so I should take responsibility all the way."
Since he had already said it like that, Meng Ci didn't see any reason to refuse, so he agreed directly.