Chapter 19 Suicheng

The process of going to Suicheng University was smoother than Shu Fu had imagined, because the large-scale evacuation was still in progress, and speedboats, empty or full of people, could be seen on the water in the city from time to time.

Naturally, there are no tents on these speedboats to shelter from the heavy rain. Even if people sitting on them are wrapped in raincoats, their faces will be splashed with rain and they will look miserable. Occasionally, when the inflatable boats and speedboats pass by each other, the people on the boats will look at the inflatable boats with envy.

But the speedboats were equipped with marine engines, and their travel speed was several times faster than her inflatable boat, so no matter how envious she was, she could only take a few glances. After all, their destination was the official shelter, and the speedboats were fast, so with a little patience they could completely escape from this cold and humid environment.

At this moment, Shu Fu was somewhat glad that there was no marine motor installed on her inflatable boat. After all, with an awning and a motor, it would be too conspicuous and would be easier to be noticed.

The speedboats and rescue workers traveling on the city's waters have invisibly constrained order within the city, but in such a large-scale evacuation operation, there will always be undisciplined people scrambling to get on board, and chaos is inevitable.

At the beginning of the journey, when the inflatable boat passed through several narrow streets, we could clearly hear noisy noises coming from behind the buildings next to us, like disputes and conflicts, mixed with screams and crying.

Anyone with a discerning eye can tell that such a small inflatable boat cannot carry many people, but there are still people who suddenly open the window and shout in the direction of their inflatable boat, asking them where they are going, and expressing their willingness to pay and asking them to take them with them.

Shu Fu had been observing the reactions of the Lu Zheng brothers. She still remembered that when Lu Ce first met them, he said that his brother was very nosy. When the first floor of the community was flooded, it was Lu Zheng who took the lead in the group to accept a family into his home.

But compared to Lu Ce, who was helpless because of the screams, cries and prayers of others, Lu Zheng looked much calmer and more sober at this moment: "Don't be sad, the rescue is still going on, and everyone will be rescued. Help people to the best of your ability. You can't help anyone now, and focusing on the present is the most important thing..."

With Lu Zheng's comfort, Lu Ce regained his determination and put all his strength into the oars in his hands.

The inflatable boat moved quickly on the undulating water, turned out of the nearby streets and entered the wide main road.

The originally spacious main road became endless due to the surging water level, like a gray lake with surging waves. The commercial buildings on both sides of the road looked like aquatic buildings, standing silently in the water.

There were no cars or pedestrians around. The bustling streets and the bustling scenes of traffic in the past had disappeared. All the cars had become scrap metal sunk to the bottom of the water, and people were hiding in the tall buildings, waiting for the rescue boat to break through the rain and carry them away safely.

The main road continues forward to the end, which is the elevated bridge section of Suicheng. The height of the elevated bridge nearby is more than ten meters, and the overall terrain is higher than the section they passed before. Although the flood turned the viaduct into a "short-legged bridge", there is still about four meters of space between the viaduct and the water surface below, which is enough for ships to pass safely.

The rain flowed down through the gaps in the bridge deck, forming a waterfall-like curtain of water, falling on the water surface below, stirring up a huge mist. The water surface swayed like a turbulent stream in the mountains. They had never thought that one day they would see such a scene in the city.

The inflatable boat is very stable and will not capsize even if the water is shaking. When passing under the viaduct, just be careful not to enter the gap areas and you will not get wet in the rain.

During this period, Shu Fu wanted to replace Lu in planning the ship, but the two brothers took good care of her and directly refused.

"Sister Fufu, please don't be polite. Thanks to you, we were able to get to the SuiDa shelter smoothly. Once we get there, we can evacuate home smoothly!"

Lu Ce wiped the rain off his face, his eyes were almost blurred by the rain, but he still smiled at her optimistically, "You don't know, the rubber boat that originally said it could come to pick us up later had a new statement. They said that those who joined didn't agree to go the wrong way, but if we are willing to pay 3,000 yuan per person for the boat fare..."

Lu Ce felt that the other party's calculation was too clever. For the same trip, he could directly earn 9,000 yuan by picking up the three of them.

Although they had already agreed to take Shu Fu's inflatable boat, Lu Zheng felt that he had to keep a backup plan. In addition, they were also gathering people over there and there was no final decision, so he did not completely reject it.

As a result, before daybreak, they changed their statement.

"Stop complaining. The ship belongs to someone else. It's their freedom to make an offer, and it's your freedom to accept or not. Don't talk too much about things you are not involved in. Remember what I told you, in the face of a disaster, everyone's emotions are unstable, so you have to be careful with what you say and do." Lu Zheng spoke again, giving Shu Fu a new understanding of him.

He is not the "silent and honest man" as she thought at first, nor is he the "upright guy who likes to help others". He is willing to help others, but will also consider whether it is within his ability; he speaks little because he is cautious and wants to avoid trouble.

Although he is still in college, he has to take care of his younger brother and earn his own tuition. He has already entered this society and seen what the world is really like.

He is not lacking in enthusiasm, but he is also cautious in what he says and does within his ability. This is his way of survival.

**

After leaving the elevated road, there was more garbage floating on the water. The 3D map showed that this area was originally an old building area with low old houses of about two floors. The streets were narrow and the houses were very old. They were rented by various migrant workers to live in or open shops.

The Yao Ji Wonton Shop where Shu Fu had checked in before was also in this area. Unexpectedly, when she came back again, everything had changed completely.

The construction area has disappeared, and the water surface is covered with various building debris, wooden door panels and window frame remains, and garbage bags of various colors. The original buildings are basically submerged under the gray water.

Looking out, there were only telephone poles and a few old landlords about five or six stories high standing here and there, like isolated islands in the water.

The power system in this area is old and was shut down once during the hailstorm. After the hailstorm stopped, the power was restored briefly but was shut down again due to safety concerns. Also, because there are not many high-rise buildings around, the residents in this area evacuated very early, and some went to the nearby Suicheng University.

As the inflatable boat approached the west campus of SuiDa, more speedboats appeared nearby, carrying people evacuated from other places.

The boats were all heading in the same direction, heading north, apparently to bypass the South Gate and go through the East Gate. Some of the speedboats were towing several unpowered rubber boats with ropes.

Although Lu Ce was young, he was very smart. When he approached a speedboat, he shouted "Uncle rescue team" and asked the other party about the direction of the shelter.

The rescuer was sitting at the rear of the speedboat, one hand on the boat engine, slowing down to adjust the direction, and looked at Lu Ce when he heard the words. The other party was very young, with a rain hat half covering his eyebrows and eyes, revealing a straight and white nose. Probably because of being in the rain for a long time, his cheeks and lips looked particularly pale.

After seeing the other person, Lu Ce immediately changed his words and called him "Brother Rescue Captain".

Perhaps it was this quick and flattering change of words that caused a hint of smile to cross the other person's eyes: "No, we won't go to the East Gate. The current water level has flooded the walls. It doesn't matter whether we go through the main gate or not."

The other party's voice was very hoarse. It was unclear whether it was due to fatigue or a cold. But he spoke in detail and did not perfunctorily answer Lu Ce because he was busy. "... However, the West Campus is high in terrain and the water level is quite high. There are large tracts of green trees in the area to the south and southeast, with branches sticking out of the water. If we go there, the boats are likely to run aground and get scratched. So now we all take a detour and enter from the east. There are more open areas there, so it is safer."

Then he pointed to the nearby water and said, "There is an orange buoy there, which is the warning line. Please follow the buoy to the right. After entering the campus, there are buoys on both sides of the navigable waterway. Just follow the buoys to the middle."

"Thank you, rescue team leader brother!" In order to express his gratitude, Lu Ce stretched his head forward a little and was drenched in the face by the heavy rain. He wiped his face casually and paddled hard again.

When the other party was explaining the situation of the West Campus, Shu Fu also stuck his head out and observed the surrounding situation.

On the interface of the mobile phone in the waterproof bag was an enlarged map of the West Campus. Even though she had studied here for four years, now floating on the water in an inflatable boat, she could no longer recognize the surrounding road conditions and could only rely on the map and navigation.

She was looking at the map to find the location of the library and then told Lu Zheng where to go next.

"Go to the library?" The rescue team members on the speedboat in front looked back again.

"Yeah!" Lu Ce nodded, looking at the other person with bright eyes, "Brother, rescue captain, is your ship also going to the library?"

There are many sturdy and tall buildings in the West Campus. In addition to the library, the dormitory area and teaching buildings have also been turned into official shelters for temporary accommodation of evacuated people.

The other party seemed to have heard the implication of Lu Ce's words and stretched out his hand to Lu Ce: "Is there a rope on the inflatable boat? Throw it over and I'll take you for a ride."

**

The library of SuiDa West Campus is located in the central location of the entire campus. This is the old campus and the buildings have been uniformly renovated.

The original library was relatively small, so a famous architectural design was invited to renovate it, and it was made into a T-shaped building. In addition to the central main building, there are two wings on the left and right. Part of the exterior wall adopts a curved design. Because there are many glass walls, double-layer tempered glass is used for all of them, which is extremely sturdy.

The entire building stands on a tall platform. The base of the platform is about six meters high. In addition, the campus is located at a high location, so the platform where the entire library is located has basically not been affected by floods. At this moment, it looks like a huge ship standing in the water.

The main building in the center of the library is twelve stories high, and the left and right wings are ten stories high. The height of each floor from the first to the third floor exceeds four meters. Now everyone's shelters are above the third floor. Even if the flood really floods into the library, it will not have much impact on the refugees.

With such a reassuring height, it’s no wonder that someone uploaded videos and pictures before.

The platform is very large, and the other speedboats avoided the steps leading to the platform and sailed directly from the flood area to the platform. After docking, they quickly unloaded the refugees on the boats and then quickly left to continue to carry out evacuation missions in the next area.

Shu Fu's inflatable boat was small and had a shallow draft. After arriving on the speedboat's "downwind boat", the three of them thanked each other and rowed directly forward in the direction of the steps. When they ran aground, there were only two steps left to the platform.

The three people quickly got off the boat, picked up their bags, disassembled the oars and threw them into the tent. Shu Fu picked up the tabby cat along with the towel and stuffed it into Lu Ce's arms, then opened the air valve of the inflatable boat and let the boat deflate by itself.

She and Lu Zheng each dragged a corner of the inflatable boat, stepped directly over the underwater steps in the heavy rain, and rushed onto the platform.

It was still raining heavily outside, so the registration entrance for refugees was placed in the lobby on the first floor of the library. There were a lot of people here, and it was noisy, with voices of people talking, asking questions, children crying, and people sorting out rain gear and clothes... It was a little chaotic.

As agreed before, the three people did not rush to check in and collect supplies. Instead, they avoided the crowd and found an empty area in the side corridor, where they first dealt with the more eye-catching inflatable boat.

Both valves of the inflatable boat are untied, but deflation is different from inflation. Without the powerful inflation of a gas cylinder, the deflation speed is very slow, and external force is needed to press to expel all the air in the inflatable boat. Only in this way can it be folded according to the instructions and put back into the boat bag.

However, in order to reduce the weight, the gas cylinder of this inflatable boat is very small and it is useless after one use. If you want to use the instant automatic inflation function next time, you have to replace it with a new gas cylinder.

Shu Fu naturally had replacement gas cylinders, but they were a little heavy and she didn't want to carry them with her.

Brother Lu Zheng didn't think she would carry a gas cylinder when evacuating. After all, the backpack had limited space, and even the boat bag was a bit conspicuous. If she left it at the shelter, it would be easy for someone to take it away. She couldn't carry it everywhere, right? That would be too troublesome.

But surrounded by water, such a useful inflatable boat cannot be abandoned simply.

"Hide it. There's a storage room over there." This was what Shu Fu had thought of early in the morning. She mainly wanted to find a place to temporarily hide the boat bag, so that she could find a chance to come alone later and put the boat bag back into the space.

Brother Lu Zheng will evacuate on official boats later, so there is no need for inflatable boats. She will have to continue floating in this water city, so the more spare inflatable boats the better.

The utility room was used to store old tables and chairs, broken sports and entertainment equipment, and some unimportant paper newspapers and magazines. There were a lot of things in it and they were messy. Shu Fu had been at the school for four years and was a good student who spent all year in the library, so he was naturally very familiar with this place.

After Lu Zheng confirmed that the area near the utility room was a blind spot for surveillance, he and Lu Ce stood guard outside while she went into the utility room alone carrying the boat bag.

She found a few abandoned cabinets behind a pile of tables and chairs, and wanted to hide in the bottom door of the cabinet, but after putting the boat bag in, she took a look at the dark storage room with no windows and no surveillance, and changed her mind.

She used the tables, chairs and cabinet doors to hide the boat bag in the space.

There's no need to look for another opportunity later, as that would only cause confusion. There are so many things here, and they're so messy. No matter she's hiding or not, Lu Zheng and the others won't be able to find her or confirm it for a while.

If they really need to use the boat, she can come in alone to "get the boat bag".

When Shu Fu walked out of the utility room, Lu Zheng was the only one in the corridor. He had taken off his life jacket and raincoat. He shook off the water on the raincoat and was folding it neatly and putting it into the raincoat bag.

He heard the voice and turned to look at her: "I asked Xiao Ce to hold the cat and go to the queue first. How about you? Do you want to change your clothes?"

The other party asked this question because Shu Fu was only wearing a life jacket and no raincoat.

"It's okay. The jacket is waterproof and we weren't exposed to the rain for long, so there's no need to change it." She pulled down the hood of her jacket, took off her long shoe covers, took off her life jacket, patted her clothes, put the waterproof backpack back on after shaking off the water droplets, and gently brushed the wet hair that stuck to her cheeks. That was the end of her tidying up.

The rain also got on her face, and her skin turned a little pale from the cold rain, which made her lips look even redder.

Lu Zheng withdrew his gaze from her lips. It was not good to stare at a girl's lips so directly.

He picked up the backpack on the ground, buckled the life jacket and raincoat bag on the backpack strap, and said to her, "Let's go."

**

The registration queue took longer than they had imagined. The whole city was evacuated, and even though the authorities had opened hundreds of official shelters in the western suburbs of Suicheng from north to south, the number of people allocated to each shelter was still very, very large.

Fortunately, it is a progressive evacuation. A large number of new refugees arrive every day, but a large number of previous refugees also leave every day. At the same time, the number of refugees will not be saturated.

However, due to the large flow of people, confusion is inevitable.

The vast majority of refugees came here on the rescue team's speedboats, but there was also a small group of people, like Shu Fu and his friends, who came on their own for various reasons and because they had access to transportation.

After arriving, the refugees will register and only after they are registered can they go to collect supplies. In addition to basic items such as water, the supply package also includes a disposable toiletry kit, a single-size moisture-proof mat, an emergency thermal blanket, a blanket, and a raincoat.

Most official shelters, like the SuiDa Library, have no accommodation facilities, so people usually sleep on the floor.

After registration, the refugees will collect their belongings and go to the third floor, where volunteers from the rescue team will arrange sleeping spaces for everyone to rest.

The numbered sleeping spots on the floor, along with moisture-proof mats and blankets, form a simple rest area. This is the result of discussions between officials and the rescue team. After all, these shelters are temporary and only serve a purpose during this large-scale evacuation phase.

The real destination for evacuation is cities at higher altitudes that have not been hit by floods. These shelters will be abandoned after all the people leave, so there is no need to waste resources.

Moisture-proof mats, blankets and emergency thermal blankets are all essential items for camping. During the progressive evacuation process, refugees may have to rotate through three or four temporary official shelters.

Instead of preparing these supplies for public use in every place, it is better to distribute them at the first official shelter, making them private supplies that each person can carry with them. There is no need for the rescue team to assign staff to manage and organize them, and it can also avoid conflicts caused by people trying to grab public supplies.

However, Suicheng is not the only city that is currently undergoing a large-scale evacuation. The number of people evacuating is extremely large, which also means that the demand for such supply packages has reached an astronomical figure.

Therefore, all cities in the non-disaster-stricken areas across the country are now providing assistance and fundraising. Factories in cities outside the southeastern region of China are working overtime to produce such material packages, packing them in truckloads, and then transporting them to the disaster-stricken cities without stopping.

Shu Fu originally thought that cats could not be brought into the shelter privately, but the registration staff just glanced at the kitten lying obediently in Lu Ce's arms and said, "Take good care of your pets," and did not impose any mandatory requirements.

Lu Ce looked down at the tabby cat, which had struggled hard in his arms not long ago and seemed not to want to be held by him, and now looked obedient and quiet. He praised in a low voice: "Lan Lan is really smart..."

"Lanlan?" Shu Fu was surprised.

"I just named it that." Lu Ce replied proudly in a low voice, "It sounds nice, doesn't it?"

Shu Fu: ...

After the three people showed their ID cards and completed the registration, they put down their backpacks at the other party's request, passed the security inspection equipment, and then received a wristband.

The strap is made of green silicone, slightly elastic, and has an adjustable buckle strap like a watch and a slightly larger dial. There is only one word on the dial: Sui.

Before distributing the notes, the registration staff had to scan them on a device next to the computer, apparently to enter personal information.

Afterwards, the other party told them to remember to wear the wristband with them and not lose it. They would need to scan the wristband when collecting supplies, queuing up to board the evacuation ship, and entering the next shelter.

After receiving the initial supply package, you can collect water supplies every two days, and you still need to wash your hands.

"This is quite convenient." Lu Ce looked at the bracelet left and right, and at Lu Zheng's urging, he quickly put it on his left wrist.

This bracelet reminded Shu Fu of the key to the clothing box she received when she went to the bathroom to take a bath. Once she entered the bathroom, she had to carry it with her wherever she went, and she had to swipe it to open the box or make additional purchases.

Because she had a silver bracelet on her left wrist that no one else could see, she put it on her right wrist. The three of them didn't stay on the first floor for long, and went straight up the spiral staircase on the left side of the center of the hall to the second floor.

The supplies were all collected on the second floor. There were obviously more rescue workers here than on the first floor. Probably because the rescue supplies were concentrated here, more people were needed to guard, manage and distribute them.

You still need to queue up to receive the supply packages, but after going through the registration process on the first floor, everyone's emotions have obviously stabilized a lot. In addition, the supply packages are right in front of you, so the queue order is much better than on the first floor.

They waited in line for more than half an hour before they received the supply package. The whole time, Lu Ce was playing with the cat, calling it Lanlan, Lanlan, and he was in a very good mood.

The tabby cat huddled in Lu Ce's arms, looking listless. It tried to meow at Shu Fu, as if it wanted her to hold it, but Shu Fu pretended not to hear it, so it meowed a few times and gave up.

"The official shelter currently has normal water and electricity supplies, but not all toilets are open. After you go up to the third floor, someone will arrange a rest area. Some details of daily life are posted on signboards." Because someone was asking at a table next to them where people were receiving supply packages, the person handing out the supply packages answered, and the three of them also listened in.

There is no spiral staircase that goes directly from the second floor to the third floor. You can either take the elevator or go to the safety stairwell and take the stairs.

In order to facilitate the management of the second-floor material area, currently only the stairwell in the outer area of ​​the upward staircase is open.

However, this stairwell is a landscape staircase. The outward wall is made of tempered glass, and there is a layer of hollow metal landscaping outside. The stairwell is also much more spacious than ordinary safety stairs and can accommodate many people going up and down the stairs at the same time.

Coming out of the third-floor stairwell, the first thing I saw was two rows of makeshift tables. Behind them were a few young boys and girls with rescue team signs hanging on them. They were not wearing rescue team uniforms, and looked more like students of this school than members of the rescue team.

Before Shu Fu could finish her thoughts, she heard a surprised voice from behind the table: "Lu Zheng!"

**

Lu Zheng is a student at SuiDa. Before coming here, Lu Ce said that he would take refuge here and he should be able to meet other classmates, but they didn't expect it to happen so soon.

The person who called out Lu Zheng's name was a young girl with short hair. She had a cute round face, a rescue team volunteer tag on her chest, a clipboard and a pen in her hands, and rushed to Lu Zheng with a happy look on her face.

She was Lu Zheng's classmate, named Yao Ruoyun. Because her home was very close to Sui University and lived in a low-rise residential building, she evacuated to the school's temporary resettlement site with her parents shortly after the thunderstorm.

Afterwards, this place became an official shelter. Because she arrived early and was a student of the school, she had been helping the understaffed rescue team with logistics work, so she had not left yet.

Yao Ruoyun was obviously very surprised to see Lu Zheng this time. While leading them to the other rest areas upstairs, she leaned over to ask him about his situation. She asked why he hadn't told the classmates that he was coming over before? She also asked how he got here. It was obvious that she knew that his home was far away from here and the evacuation direction was not here.

Lu Zheng rarely lives on campus because he has to work and take care of his younger brother. In addition, he is financially constrained and has only been enrolled for a year. He rarely hangs out with other classmates. He did not specifically mention his visit to SuiDa in the group.

However, Yao Ruoyun obviously had a good impression of him before, and when she saw him suddenly, she was surprised and her personality made her very enthusiastic even though he was as quiet as usual, and she talked a lot about the situation.

For example, many students who live on campus and whose families are not in the local area are basically taking shelter in the dormitory area. They don’t know many classmates here in the library, and most of them are from the local area. After knowing that the terrain here is high and the conditions are better, many people have moved here with their families.

In the past few days, the progressive evacuation has begun, and some students have left Suicheng with their families. But some are still there, such as her, who temporarily joined the rescue team as a volunteer and did logistics work.

"If it weren't for this, we wouldn't have met this time!"

"Which floor are we going to?" Seeing Yao Ruoyun leading them upwards, Lu Zheng couldn't help but ask.

"Sixth floor." Yao Ruoyun said, looking around, pulling his sleeve closer and speaking in a low voice, "There are several lounges there, which are a little benefit for those of us who stay as volunteers. My parents, other classmates and their families are all there. There are sofas and a water bar in the lounge, and you can charge your phone. The conditions are not much worse than the dormitory area. If you come here, of course you have to live with us, and then we can evacuate together."

"Thank you." Lu Zheng seemed to be not used to the other party's sudden approach. After listening, he thanked him and quickly distanced himself from the other party. After that, he turned around and looked at Shu Fu who was following behind him, and asked, "Can we live with my other classmates?"

Hearing this, Lu Ce, who was walking in front, also turned around and looked at Shu Fu.

Yao Ruoyun also turned her head. Because Shu Fu didn't say a word the whole time, she had always thought that she just happened to be a fellow traveler with Lu Zheng on the same boat. She didn't expect that Lu Zheng would actually ask for her opinion first, and used the word "we".

Although Yao Ruoyun is carefree, she is a girl after all. When she heard the word "we", she felt an unusual sense of closeness.

Lu Zheng is very handsome, with clear eyes. He is the kind of handsome who is very gentle and does not look aggressive.

He has good grades and, unlike other boys of the same age, he doesn't hang out with other guys. He doesn't have the arrogant or attention-seeking tendencies. This kind of introverted and steady personality is actually very attractive.

Yao Ruoyun liked him very much, but he didn't live on campus, so she couldn't find a chance to interact with him. Now she suddenly saw him being close to a strange girl, and she felt a little uncomfortable.

When Shu Fu heard Lu Zheng calling out Yao Ruoyun's name, she felt inexplicably familiar with it, but she couldn't remember why she felt familiar.

At the moment, she was thinking about the mission. When she saw Lu Zheng turning around and asking her, she nodded directly.

She has been in the library for such a long time, and there is no movement from the broken notebook. It is estimated that this mission is not that simple. She must stay, and she cannot join the subsequent evacuation team too quickly.

After she nodded, she looked at Yao Ruoyun again, wanting to look at her again, trying to recall the reason why she felt familiar, but the latter turned her head back at this time, and her expression did not look very happy.

Eh, the little girl is a little repulsed by her?

After all, Shu Fu was an adult with rich experience in interpersonal communication. Although the other party was controlling her and it was not obvious, she still noticed it.

Shu Fu looked at Lu Zheng's back again. Is it because of him?

Because of this, when Yao Ruoyun opened the door of a lounge in the corridor on the sixth floor and told them that this room and the other two next door were available, Shu Fu wondered whether she should live separately from them?

After all, she is here to complete a mission, so she can live anywhere.

But before she could say this thought, Yao Ruoyun's attitude towards her changed 180 degrees.

At lunch time, Yao Ruoyun's mother, who came out of another lounge to boil water for instant noodles, saw her daughter leading people over, and hurried over to greet them. Her eyes fell on Shu Fu and she paused for a while, then suddenly grabbed her in surprise.

Shu Fu looked at the other person and finally understood why she felt Yao Ruoyun's name sounded familiar.