Chapter 94 Acid Rain Rages

You Xi has always been cautious, because she knew that acid rain would come tonight. The movable nano-ceramic alloy plates in the windows that were not sealed in the whole villa have been pulled down, except for the space she is in now.

This space is her bedroom, with a bathroom, a cloakroom and a study, which is very large.

There are windows in the bathroom, bedroom and study, but fortunately they are not floor-to-ceiling windows, and the plates can be completely isolated from the outside.

The alloy plate of the study window was open, and through the safety strip, she saw traces of water crawling on the glass.

You Xi stood up, put on protective gloves, opened the glass window a little, and used a pH meter to dip some rainwater to measure.

At this moment, the pH value of rainwater is 5.3, which is slightly acid rain. According to the information she found on the Internet, this kind of slightly acid rain has fallen from time to time in cities all over the world in the past 20 years.

This level of acid rain is not harmful if it happens once in a while, but if it happens frequently, it will corrode the skin, cause hair loss and some respiratory diseases.

There are also many cities where the pH value of acid rain is occasionally lower than 4.0.

People panicked at first, but gradually got used to it over time. Now, for the people of Fancheng, such rain is normal. Some stubborn people don't even hold an umbrella. The more cautious people will avoid it, be careful not to let the rain touch their hair and skin, and wash their hands and faces with soapy water when they go home.

Because soap is alkaline, it can neutralize the acidic gas on the skin.

After that, she would measure the pH value of the rainwater every half an hour.

After several measurements, the pH value has been between 5.3 and 5.6, which is still within the range of slightly acidic rain.

There were several cars parked on the driveway in front of the villa next door. She could clearly hear the music from a distance. Feng Xu seemed to be having a party.

His parties were much crazier than hers. She knew that there was a glass house with a swimming pool in his villa. It was his special place for parties - swimsuit parties. At this moment, there were at least a dozen people gathered inside, drinking, chatting and enjoying delicious food.

There were also guests who came to the party and took a fancy to the friends brought by another guest. They flirted and made an appointment to come out of the villa, ignoring the rain, standing under the tree in the secluded part of the courtyard, chatting quietly.

Youxi's hearing is so good that she can even hear the other person's cheesy love words clearly. Since taking the third [Strong Anti-Sugar Pill], she found that she can gradually control some of her sensory abilities.

For example, hearing. If there are too many people around and it feels too noisy, she can appropriately suppress those sounds, or cover this strong hearing within a certain range.

Of course, she is not proficient in using this control now, just like learning to ride a bike, succeeding several times and failing several times, and now she is exploring better control methods bit by bit.

At nearly 11:30 in the evening, she measured the pH value of rainwater again. This time, the value suddenly dropped below 5 and jumped to 4.4.

The pH value of 4.4 is already in the range of severe acid rain, but it is still a long way from the pH value of ordinary sulfuric acid of 0-1.

Acid rain of this magnitude would only be considered "a little bit of caution" in this world, because it would not cause any immediate reaction when it landed on human skin.

She turned around and shouted "TV" to the wall, and the wall gradually showed colors and images. It was a transparent flat-panel voice-controlled TV. When it was turned off, it was as thin and transparent as a mobile phone, and could be almost ignored.

She used voice control to switch to the news channel. It happened to be late night news time. At this time, the news summary of the whole day was broadcast, and occasionally a few latest news would be inserted.

But until midnight, there was no news about acid rain. Instead, the scrolling subtitles at the bottom of the news screen showed a very stereotypical notice that there would be heavy acid rain in a certain area tonight, and the public was advised to take precautions and reduce going out.

In the world screen, such notices would appear once or twice a month. After all, it is a heavy industrial city, and factories emit a large amount of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen hydroxide into the air; there are many cars, and a large amount of exhaust gas also carries nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons.

Nitrogen oxides react with water to form strong acid, which is nitric acid type acid rain, and sulfur dioxide forms sulfuric acid type acid rain.

Therefore, the rain in Fancheng is always acidic.

Thirty years ago in this world, such things would still cause panic, and various rectifications and restrictions would be implemented to improve air quality. However, every time the air environment gets better, people who have forgotten the pain will repeat the same mistakes.

It has happened over and over again, and now everyone has become desensitized.

Just like the shepherd boy, he cried wolf too many times, and when the wolf really came, no one believed him, and even... no one paid attention.

The pH value of the rain tonight did not stop at around 4.0 as in the past, but went down all the way. At 0:30, when she measured it again, the pH value had slipped to 3.0, close to acetic acid's 2.9.

You Xi had no intention of continuing to monitor. She pulled up the alloy plate of the study window, washed up, changed into a pure cotton short-sleeved home dress, and went to bed.

The invisible alarm device in the yard has been turned on, and the villa is tightly wrapped with nano-ceramic plates. She doesn't need to do anything for the time being. She needs to rest early to be refreshed so that she can cope with the city attacked by acid rain tomorrow.

**

The party next door is still going on. Someone suggested to move to a nearby hot pot restaurant for supper. In the end, everyone responded.

Because everyone's cars were parked in the driveway outside the villa, the distance was very close, and the rain was not too heavy, so most people didn't take rain gear. Everyone stepped out of the villa and walked quickly towards the car in the rain. The person walking in front suddenly wailed.

"It hurts! It hurts so much when the rain hits my body!" The man covered his exposed arm and then covered his face.

The person following him subconsciously raised his head towards the sky, and the next second he let out a miserable wail: "My eyes! My eyes..."

He felt that his eyes were not drenched by rain, but by boiling oil. It hurt and burned so much that he couldn't even open his eyes.

He reached out to pull the person standing next to him for help, but he used too much force and pulled the person directly onto himself.

The man already felt a stinging pain in his cheeks and scalp, and being pulled by someone made it even more painful. Both of them lost their balance and fell down at the same time, blocking the first person from turning around and returning to the villa.

The three people fell on the lawn, and when their palms, arms and cheeks touched the wet lawn, they cried out in pain again.

It felt like falling into a frying pan, or like being stoked by fire, with the entire body being surrounded and licked by the high temperature. No matter how they shook their hands and bodies to get rid of the rain, they could not get rid of the burning feeling.

The three of them were terrified and tried desperately to get up and get away from the lawn, but the ground, the surroundings, and their bodies were all covered with burning rain. The struggle to get up only exposed their skin to more rain.

The skin that was exposed to the rain turned red, and the surrounding grass gradually turned yellow and charred. There was a pungent smell in the air, which made people's throats uncomfortable, as if something was stuck.

The few people who went out later were frightened by the scene and took a few steps back. Finally, someone reacted and wanted to help, but as soon as he stepped onto the lawn, his body was exposed to the rain and he jumped up in pain.

The man reacted quickly, shaking his arm and retreating. He looked at his arm that was shaking in pain. The skin touched by the rain was red, as if it was burned by high temperature. The pain made his whole muscle jump.

"This rain is not strong enough!" The man looked at the few people lying on the grass outside the eaves and twitching. He stretched out his hand to stop the others who wanted to try to go out to save people. His face was full of horror. "This, this is not rain, this... This seems to be sulfuric acid!"

The word sulfuric acid successfully froze everyone's body. A group of people who were dizzy from drinking and listening to music not long ago seemed to be poured with a basin of ice water. One by one, they woke up and showed shocked expressions.

On the lawn outside the villa, the screams of the three people became more and more miserable. Their red skin gradually turned brown and black, and white smoke came out, as if they were burned...

"What should we do, the three of them... Will they die?"

"We can't just abandon them like this! We have to rescue them!" Someone began to think of ways, and at the same time checked what they could use in the house, "Get an umbrella! Get an umbrella quickly, block the rain and go out to save people!"

Everyone took a few umbrellas from the umbrella rack at the entrance of the villa and were about to rush out. Feng Xu, who rushed over from the glass house swimming pool at the back, stopped them: "Umbrellas won't work! They're too thin! Don't you see that their clothes are starting to be corroded? The acidity of the rain seems to be stronger than before!"

"What should we do?"

Feng Xu glanced at a thick carpet in the living room: "Use this, the carpet is thick enough, it should be fine in a short time, two people hold up the carpet, and two more people, use clothes to wrap their hands, and go to drag the person! Move quickly!"

Hearing Feng Xu start to arrange to rescue people, some people cooperated and stepped forward, and a few people silently retreated to the corner of the villa, away from the door and window, curled up themselves, hoping that others would not discover their existence. Feng Xu had

noticed the actions of those people out of the corner of his eyes, they were all strangers, he didn't know them. It's unknown which of his friends invited this greedy and cowardly guy to eat and drink for free. It would be fine at ordinary times, he has money and doesn't care about these things, and it's lively when there are many people.

But at this critical moment of life and death, a guy who only cares about his own family is simply not a man. He silently memorized their faces and prepared to drag the friend who brought them here into the blacklist.

Five or six people were already ready, holding up the thick carpet, and were going to rush out from the door. Feng Xu wrapped his hands in thick towels and stood in the middle, ready to go out to save people.

The people under the carpet were very scared. There was a pungent smell in the air. As soon as they stepped out of the eaves, they were choked by the smell and the white smoke around them and couldn't open their eyes.

The person who was holding the carpet in front was splashed with a few drops of flying acid rain. The pain made his hands tremble and the carpet almost slipped off.

"Hold on!" Feng Xu in the middle shouted, "Hold on!"

But the carpet can only protect the top of the head. No matter how heavy the rain is, there will be flying rain splashing in from time to time. Everyone gritted their teeth and endured it. The distance of three or four meters was soon reached. The three people on the ground were motionless. It was unknown whether they fainted or died.

Feng Xu squatted down to check: "They are still alive! Help them up!" There

are three people, just enough for one person to save one, but imagination and implementation are two different things.

After a normal adult falls into a coma, it is impossible to help them up by one person alone, especially when they are covered with acid rain. The people who rescue them are also afraid and can't let go of their hands and feet, let alone dare not directly carry them up.

Someone accidentally opened the clothes wrapped around his hands, and the skin immediately trembled in pain when it touched the other person's body. The person who was half lifted up with great difficulty fell to the ground again.

"Master Feng, this is not possible! We can't save them all at once, let's save one first!"

Feng Xu was gritting his teeth and enduring the pain to help one of them up: "No! Save them all at once! If they stay any longer, they will probably die!"

The two looked at each other and didn't do what he said this time. They both helped one person at the same time.

"What are you doing! Help one person each!" Feng Xu shouted angrily.

But it was useless. Both of them were splashed with a lot of acid rain, and their palms were burned because of helping others. They had already given up. The courage they had to save people before had long been overshadowed by the desire to give up.

In the few seconds of stalemate, Feng Xu had already understood that he was not a good-tempered person. He scolded them for being timid and not being a man, and told them to do it directly, otherwise he would break off the friendship in the future!

Under normal circumstances, if Master Feng spoke, many people would follow suit. But at this moment, the abnormal acid rain and severe pain magnified their fear infinitely.

How many people who grew up in peacetime are truly brave and fearless and willing to sacrifice themselves for others?

The two looked at each other, and suddenly, in unison, loosened their hands and threw the person they were halfway supporting back to the ground.

Feng Xu's face darkened completely, and just as he was about to speak again, someone came over quickly with an umbrella, bent down, stretched out his hand, and picked up an unconscious person from under the carpet they were holding up. Then he walked quickly into the villa and placed the person on the floor.

The whole process was as smooth as flowing water, clean and neat, as if the weight of the unconscious person was not felt at all.

After that, the other party rushed out again, picked up the second person, and put him in a safe room again. Finally, he returned again and rushed directly to the stunned Feng Xu, snatched the third person from his hands, and rescued him back to the villa.

The feeling of snatching people gave Feng Xu an illusion, as if the person he was holding was something important...

Seeing that the three people were rescued into the house, the five people under the carpet moved, rushed into the villa with the carpet on their heads, and threw the carpet, which was covered with acid rain and had begun to corrode, under the eaves outside.

The lights in the villa were bright, and Feng Xu finally saw the other party's appearance clearly.

The man was wearing a thick one-piece protective suit with a hood. The lower half of his face was covered with a strange silver-gray mask, and the upper half of his face was covered with protective goggles. He was so tightly protected from top to bottom that not even a strand of hair was exposed. He couldn't even tell whether the other person was a man or a woman.

The umbrella in the other person's hand was even stranger. The umbrella surface looked like it was made of metal.

The strange man put down the umbrella and moved the three unconscious people to the bathroom door. He was directing the other people in the villa to carry out emergency rescue measures for the three unconscious people.

"First, use a dry cloth or a dry towel to absorb the acid rain, then rinse with water for a longer time! Finally, use some soapy water to rinse the wound... If you can't squeeze into the bathroom, don't squeeze, call an ambulance immediately!"

This was a female voice, and the voice was a little unclear through a layer of silver-gray mask.

She didn't seem to plan to stay for long. After giving the instructions, she was ready to leave.

Feng Xu endured the pain in his body and chased after her to express his gratitude.

For some reason, his sincere and grateful look seemed to make her stunned for a moment. She picked up the umbrella, and the voice came from the silver-gray mask again, still a little unclear: "No need to thank you, the same for you guys, first absorb the acid rain, then rinse with water, and wash the injured area with soapy water several times to neutralize the acid."

After speaking, she opened the umbrella, walked away quickly without looking back, and soon disappeared in the rain.

Feng Xu stared at her back for a long time, and then he realized that he didn't even ask her name.

**

[Random task progress: Save 3 people on the lawn of the left villa who are about to die (number of people saved: 3), task completed, 30 star coins obtained, number of star coins: 408]

Youxi listened to the pleasant reminder sound, and her mood became extremely happy.

The grumpiness of waking up due to the random task refresh completely disappeared. This was only the second day in the apocalyptic world, and she had already earned 50 star coins. How could she not be in a good mood?

She took advantage of the night and quickly walked around in a circle, jumped from the green plants behind her villa into the courtyard, and then entered the indoor swimming pool connected to the villa, and went directly into the pool shower room with an umbrella, turning on the water to rinse her whole body.

After a while, until the clean water washed away the acid rain on the umbrella and protective suit, You Xi took off the protective goggles, and then the [Moisturizing Breathing Mask].

Because it was only used for half an hour, the mask still looked moist, just like new.

She had already asked the system that this mask can be used repeatedly within the validity period, and there is no need to record the time herself. Anyway, as the validity period becomes shorter, the moisture on the mask will also decrease, and finally it will lose its automatic adsorption function and automatically fall off her face. At this time, she will have to change to a new one again.

The alloy umbrella can completely block the falling acid rain, the chemical protective suit prevents being splashed by the scattered rain, the [Moisturizing Breathing Mask] prevents the inhalation of acidic gases, and the protective goggles protect the eyes.

With such protective gear, she had no problem walking through the acid rain.

Of course, it was only the current level of acid rain.

She had measured it before when she stepped out of the villa. The acidity of the acid rain was about 1.8. It had not yet reached the value of ordinary sulfuric acid, but it was already very corrosive.

At four o'clock in the morning, the rain stopped.

From two o'clock in the morning, the sound of ambulances began to be heard in Fancheng, and it lasted until dawn.

According to the morning news, the acidity of this acid rain was almost close to 0.8 at its highest value. Although the acid rain did not last long at this value, and it was still late at night, Fancheng's nightlife is very rich. In those five minutes, people all over the city were seriously injured by acid rain.

Many patients with minor injuries rushed to the hospital after the rain stopped. Some had unbearable sore throats due to inhaling excessive acidic gases. The medical system barely maintained operation and tried its best to treat the injured.

The vehicles and houses in Fancheng were corroded to varying degrees. Large tracts of farmland, orchards and breeding areas in the suburbs were still damaged despite the installation of protective covers - no one expected that such acid rain would fall directly from the sky.

People could only watch the various agricultural products that were about to be harvested disappear in this acid rain.

Also last night, 70% of all cities in Huaguo were hit by acid rain. The severity of the acid rain varied. Some heavily industrialized cities that were already hit by acid rain were almost devastated. It was said that the acidity value reached -1, which is the level of concentrated sulfuric acid.