Chapter Twenty-Three: The Milk Tea Shop 7 (When you're out and about, you should at least be a little cautious.)

“Generally speaking, the government will organize rescue efforts immediately. They will also make time to accommodate survivors who cannot return home temporarily, providing them with food and water,” Yun Xin comforted her. “The most important thing is that everyone is safe. As for the rest… well, let’s wait and see. There will be an explanation eventually.”

Zhou Rui said, "Communication equipment was destroyed, and many buildings collapsed. Even if no one was hurt, how many years will it take to rebuild and restore the area to its pre-earthquake state?"

Zhu Lin is a local, born and raised here, and has a deep affection for the city. Upon hearing this, she stubbornly replied, "Whether it takes three or five years, it will eventually be restored to its original state!"

As an outsider, Zhou Rui considered the issue more rationally: "The economy will definitely be affected in the next three to five years. For locals, if their houses haven't collapsed, they're fine; they only need to worry about food, clothing, and daily necessities. But for locals, if their houses and office buildings collapse, they suddenly lose their homes and jobs. How are they going to get through the next three to five years?"

Zhu Lin was speechless.

"Besides," Zhou Rui said, looking at the mess, "after the earthquake, would you still dare to live here? What if there's another earthquake in a few years?"

Zhu Lin, “…”

Despite her feelings for the city, she was also afraid to continue living there.

"Let's talk about it later," Zhu Lin sighed. "I'll discuss it with my parents when I get home."

An hour has passed.

Finally, someone led them to a temporary resettlement site.

It was a large hall, filled with the rich aroma of instant noodles, with a few people sitting sparsely in the corner.

Staff were distributing bottled water and instant noodles. Some survivors were wolfing down the instant noodles, looking extremely hungry.

"We'll be spending the night here." The person who brought them here looked apologetic. "The situation is unusual, so please make do."

Yunxin went to collect bottled water and biscuits, then sat down against the wall.

Zhu Lin quickly did as instructed.

Zhou Rui followed, "Why did you choose this place?"

Yunxin said, "I like to sleep with my back against the wall."

Zhou Rui didn't say anything more.

Yun Xin looked at Zhu Lin and said, "If you're tired, take a nap. Tonight will be quite a commotion, and the sleeping environment won't be great, so try to get some sleep whenever you can."

Zhu Lin nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

Perhaps it was because of the alcohol, or perhaps because of the terrifying experience, but a sense of relief washed over her after learning that she was safe. She closed her eyes and fell asleep soon after.

At the same time, Yun Xin closed her eyes, intending to take a nap. However, a gaze was so intense that she couldn't pretend not to notice it.

Yun Xin had no choice but to open her eyes. "What's wrong?"

The person in the gaze was Zhou Rui. At this moment, he showed no embarrassment at being caught, but instead said frankly, "I think it's amazing."

"What's so magical about it?" Yunxin asked again.

"When I first met you, I thought you were a recent graduate, introverted, and someone who needed to be taken care of. But everything changed after the disaster." Zhou Rui said with mixed feelings, "You've been taking care of us all along."

"Isn't it good to be taken care of?" Yun Xin retorted.

"Okay. As long as I can survive, anything is fine." Zhou Rui said with a self-deprecating laugh. "I just originally thought I would be the one protecting others, but I didn't expect to be the one being protected. It feels a little strange?"

Yun Xin said decisively, "Then you should get used to it quickly."

Zhou Rui laughed, "Are you not hiding anything at all now?"

Yun Xin thought to herself that she also wanted to live an ordinary life, but with disasters becoming more and more frequent, she couldn't keep a low profile even if she wanted to.

So in the end, I decided... whatever makes me happy!

"You've been busy all day, aren't you tired? How can you still be thinking about these things?" Yunxin asked curiously. "If you're not tired, you can take over the night watch, just to look after the two girls."

As she spoke, she closed her eyes to rest, refusing to continue the conversation.

Zhou Rui smiled wryly and obediently kept watch.

The night was far from peaceful.

Survivors were continuously led into the hall.

Men, women, old, young... the voices and rustling sounds never stopped.

midnight.

Zhou Rui wanted to go to the toilet.

Before leaving, he planned to wake Yunxin and warn her to be careful. After all, there were many people in the hall, and no one could guarantee that there weren't any bad people inside.

As soon as he reached out his hand, before he could even touch anyone, Yun Xin suddenly opened her eyes and stared at him sharply.

Zhou Rui, “…”

Come on, he's worrying for nothing.

Zhou Rui withdrew his hand. "I'm going out for a bit."

"Go ahead," Yun Xin approved.

Beside her, Zhu Lin was sleeping soundly like a little pig, right next to Yun Xin, showing no signs of waking up.

Zhou Rui lamented that if Yun Xin had harbored malicious intentions, Zhu Lin wouldn't even know how she was sold.

Why is there such a huge difference between people?

When you're out and about, you should at least be a little cautious.

Zhou Rui shook his head and went out.

Nothing happened that night.

The next day, when it was fully light, Zhu Lin woke up yawning after a good night's sleep.

The scenes from last night flashed through her mind, and she froze.

Being a chatterbox, slow to react, and a burden is one thing, but why is she crying so much?!

"Awake?" Zhou Rui was eating a cup of instant noodles when he saw Zhu Lin wake up, so he greeted her. "You slept so soundly. There were people coming and going and talking all around, but you weren't woken up at all."

Zhu Lin: "...That's because I drank alcohol!"

She explained very earnestly, but Zhou Rui didn't care at all, and lowered his head to slurp up large mouthfuls of noodles.

"Where is Yunxin?" After last night, Zhu Lin developed a strange condition called "Yunxin dependency".

Specifically, she would feel inexplicably uneasy if Yunxin was not in her sight.

"Here it is." Yun Xin appeared from behind Zhu Lin, holding a cup of freshly prepared instant noodles.

Zhu Lin's tense nerves relaxed. "I'm going to make instant noodles."

“Okay.” Yunxin told her, “There are a lot of people in the hall, and you haven’t woken up yet, so Zhou Rui and I take turns making instant noodles while one of us stays to watch over you.”

Zhu Lin: "...Drinking leads to trouble, I'll never drink again!!"

Zhou Rui looked up briefly, "Stop chatting for now, let's go get the instant noodles. You probably don't want to eat mushroom and chicken noodles, right?"

Zhu Lin: ? ! !

She turned around and ran to join the queue.

Although the conditions at the temporary resettlement site are quite poor, in the current situation, being able to drink a sip of hot water and eat a bowl of hot noodles is already quite good.

Moreover, if we stay here, the staff will inform everyone as soon as they receive a message.

"This 8.6 magnitude earthquake is extremely rare in history. Fortunately, the government evacuated people in time, which prevented too many casualties. However, half of the houses collapsed and public infrastructure was severely damaged, and the losses are incalculable."

"The earthquake caused a natural gas pipeline to rupture, which then exploded and triggered a fire. According to statistics, 24 people died and 7 were injured."

"Due to the extreme heat, some elderly people and children suffered from heatstroke during the escape. The extreme heat has now caused 31 deaths."

"Latest news: The fire has been extinguished. The government is clearing the roads and sending ambulances to transfer the injured for treatment."

"Some people went home to pack their belongings and retrieve important items such as ID cards, property certificates, bank cards, and gold jewelry, but were unable to move them in time and were buried in the rubble after the earthquake. The government is sending people to rescue them, and 56 people have been rescued so far."

As time goes on, the data is constantly updated.

Amidst the announcement, Yunxin received the notification.

[The player, thanks to their exceptional perception and early warning, indirectly saved 131,973 people in instance 117912—"Earthquake Disaster," earning an "SSS" rating and the following attribute points: Strength +1, Agility +1, Constitution +1, Spirit +1.]

[The player, thanks to their exceptional perception and early warning, successfully saved six humans in instance 117915 – "Natural Gas Pipeline Leak and Explosion Accident," earning a "B" rating and the following attribute points as a reward: Strength +0.1, Agility +0.1, Constitution +0.2.]

Looking at the text on the transparent panel, Yun Xin suddenly remembered that the city she lived in had a resident population of 880,000. That meant that, apart from those who would have been safe in the first place, 130,000 people were saved because of her.

After the disaster, countless supplies were sent to the disaster area, and many volunteers rushed to the site to contribute their time and effort.

When things improved slightly, Zhu Lin went home. There, she was devastated to discover that her self-built house had collapsed. Thankfully, her parents were unharmed.

Zhou Rui looked sadly at the pile of ruins, "I just moved here, all my belongings are inside..."

Yunxin made an excuse to go home and visit her family. However, the large villa was not spared and collapsed as well.

Then it's just a matter of waiting for news.

After more than a month of arduous rescue efforts, some of the survivors who were buried underground were successfully rescued.

The troops brought bricks and timber and began building makeshift houses for the disaster victims who had lost their homes to spend the winter.

Just then, the boss, who had been out of contact for a long time, found Yunxin and the other two.

After not seeing him for a while, the boss's once spirited face was now filled with the marks of time. "The house I bought was right in the disaster area. After the earthquake, the house collapsed and my car was smashed. The government promised to help with reconstruction, but I don't know how many years it will take. Right now, they can only provide some subsidies."

“I visited the branch before, and the shop was severely damaged. The interior decoration and equipment were also mostly destroyed.”

"I've thought about it for a long time and I'm not going to keep the shop open. You'd better find your own way out!"

"Boss..." Zhu Lin didn't know what to say.

She was also very sad when she first learned that her building had collapsed. But compared to her boss, it didn't seem like such a big deal.

After all, the building was built by the family themselves, so the cost was limited. Over the years, the rent they've collected has already recouped several times the initial construction expenses.

Her father said that all the rent they had received over the years was in the bank. Although her family had also suffered from the earthquake, the losses were limited, and they would have no difficulty making a comeback in the future.

Even if I move to another city, starting over is no problem.

The boss is different.

He came from the countryside to work, saved money for several years to start his own business, and finally made his business thrive. He bought a house, a car, and started a family. Just when he was about to become a winner in life, disaster struck and destroyed all the hard work he had put in over ten years in one night.

Such a huge difference is hard for most people to accept.

The boss said no more. He settled the salary, gave the employee an extra month's wages, waved goodbye, and quickly left.

His back view was desolate, exuding an indescribable loneliness.

Zhu Lin felt distressed and wanted to return the money to the boss.

Zhou Rui replied, "Keep it. If the boss didn't really want to give it to you, he wouldn't have made this special trip."

"It's precisely because my boss is so kind that I feel even worse," Zhu Lin said bitterly. "Why does my peaceful and smooth life have to be ruined like this!"

Earthquakes are natural disasters. When natural disasters strike, there's no reasoning to them.

Looking at Zhu Lin, Zhou Rui thought the girl might have gone mad with anger.

He turned to look at Yun Xin, "What are your plans for the future?"

Yunxin replied, "To other cities."

The last thing she could do for this weathered city was to get away from it.

Zhu Lin wanted to persuade him to stay, but didn't know how to bring it up.

“What a coincidence, I was also planning to try my luck in other cities,” Zhou Rui said. “The economy here won’t recover for at least three years. Once it’s back to normal, I’ll come back if there’s an opportunity.”

"Why are you all leaving?" Zhu Lin felt extremely disappointed.

Yunxin told her, "All good things must come to an end."

"Then... at least let's exchange phone numbers?" Zhu Lin conceded.

"No thanks." Yun Xin said goodbye to them and then left gracefully.

Zhu Lin stared blankly, feeling an indescribable melancholy.

(End of this chapter)