Chapter 29 Lou Yuncheng
Shu Fu first saw the news of the dam construction before Suicheng's Internet was cut off. At that time, she only saw it occasionally, and it was not officially released, so she didn't know whether it was true or not. But now, in just one or two months, several safe cities have built such dams.
The water-blocking dam of Louyun City was built in the eastern suburbs of the city, from north to east and then from east to south. Taking advantage of the unique geographical advantages of the hilly area, the first phase of construction was completed in a very short time.
This type of dam is different from a water station dam and does not require such complicated fortifications. It mainly serves to protect the city and block the water line - so the dam is also called a safety wall by the people here.
In the early stages of the dam's construction, Louyun City was still a long distance away from the flood-stricken cities to the east. When someone proposed this defensive construction, it was opposed by many people, but in the end the construction plan was approved.
Facts have proved that the construction of such a water-blocking dam is very necessary. As time goes by, the water level rises little by little, and now it has flooded the entire Sankou Province and reached Muzhou Province.
A large area of low altitude in the east of Muzhou Province has been submerged in water. About three or four days ago, the water line reached the eastern suburbs of Louyun City.
Standing on the dam on the east side, you can see the large area of water outside.
The inland city, which was originally built on the hills, now has the illusion of being a coastal city.
There are several other shelters outside this dam. Originally, there were not many people there, but as Muzhou Province was flooded and refugees from other surrounding towns were transferred here, these shelters became crowded again.
The authorities regard this place as a temporary transit station for refugees before they enter the security wall, and the victims trapped and rescued from nearby towns will also be resettled here first.
Some of the work of comforting, registering, sorting and allocating people will be completed in these shelters, and then the authorities will make unified arrangements for their destination after they are transferred into the city.
People from Louyuncheng who go to other places to work will be quickly arranged to enter the city as long as they show their ID and property proof.
Other refugees, those who have relatives or friends can go to them after verification; those who have the means can rent a house or pay to stay in a hotel; those who don't have enough money have several officially designated communities where they can share a room; those who have nothing need to follow the arrangements and stay in the official shelters within the safe wall.
The official shelters naturally have various inconveniences and are overcrowded, but the good thing is that the large dormitory beds are free and you can get free water once a day.
The free drinking water nowadays is not as abundant as that in the Suicheng shelter before. It is basically a bag of bread with 300ml of water, or a packet of instant noodles with 300ml of water and so on.
These shelters outside the dam are Shu Fu’s planned destination this time.
Method 1: When the raft is close to the eastern suburbs of Louyun City, find an uninhabited and remote flooded building in the waterway, use the building to fold up the raft, then dress yourself as a refugee, release the inflatable boat, and paddle to the shelter outside the wall by hand to complete the check-in.
Method 2: Use the same method to fold the raft, then call the rescue number on the spot, wait for the official speedboat to take her to the shelter outside the wall, and complete the check-in.
The disadvantage of the first method is that the inflatable boat may not be able to be put back in public, and there are many grooves without openings when paddling on the road.
The second method is safer and less labor-intensive when going to the shelter, but it definitely requires waiting, which may affect her clock-in time.
Shu Fu thought about it and quickly made a decision. She would implement method two first and set a latest waiting time. If rescue had not arrived within the planned time, she would release the inflatable boat and go to the shelter on her own. She couldn't keep wasting time.
The only thing to be thankful for was that the rain stopped today. She checked the past weather changes and found that the number of days without rain in Muzhou Province was indeed more than that in Suicheng, and the probability of heavy rain was not that high. She was still quite lucky today.
After deciding on a method, the next step was to find a suitable building to dock, which required her to compare the waterway map and electronic map.
Fortunately, we now have the Internet, which allows us to check the condition of a building in more detail, and we can even search the Internet for the original condition and current status of the building.
**
At 10:40 in the morning, Shu Fu's raft turned into a damaged hole in a water building and anchored intactly against another wall.
This building is located in the middle of the waterway. It used to be a farmhouse and was built next to a fish pond. The terrain is low and it looks like it has been flooded for a long time. There is no sign of any survivors.
The water nearby is about seven to eight meters deep. Most of the farmhouse was flooded, but there are still two taller buildings where people can stay temporarily.
Another reason why Shu Fu chose this place was that not far ahead was a small business district in the suburbs of Louyun City, where there were shopping malls, commercial buildings and low-rise residential buildings, and the overall floors were high.
The water is seven or eight meters deep, almost reaching the second floor of the shopping mall. Most of the buildings should be well preserved. In addition, there are supplies and backup power supplies in the shopping mall. There may be refugees there looking for supplies or resting during the transfer.
She called for help from a farmhouse near a small business district. She could have many excuses, such as her original destination was the business district, she wanted to find some food, passed by here on the way, and when she went ashore to use the toilet, her original inflatable boat disappeared. It might have been stolen, or it might have been not tied properly and drifted away with the current...
In short, this place is close to the crowd, yet at a distance from the crowd, which makes it convenient for her to get ashore safely, and her appearance will not appear abrupt.
The farmhouse is an antique-style building with a relatively high single floor. The one she is in is the tallest here, but it only has four floors plus a viewing platform with eaves on the top. Many of the window glasses have been broken. She went ashore from the third floor and finally chose a suite on the fourth floor to rest.
This should be a family suite, with a total area of more than 60 square meters. The balcony railing and floor-to-ceiling windows in the bedroom were all broken, but fortunately there were no floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room, and many wooden strips were nailed on the inside, so even if it rained, it would not have much impact on her.
The people here should not have evacuated in such a hurry. All the useful supplies that could be carried away in the building were taken away. The living room was very large, and the sofas, tables and chairs were moved away from the windows, and some garbage was scattered around.
Maybe it was because the rain had stopped for the whole morning and the temperature had risen, but she actually felt a little hot while standing in the building in her old cotton-padded jacket, and there was a musty smell in the air.
She quickly found the source of the smell, which was the bathroom in the room. She found something to block a few drains, closed the bathroom door, took out a broom, swept all the garbage scattered in the living room into the room, and finally closed the door of the room and opened the door of the suite to ventilate the living room.
While the suite's living room was being ventilated, she went outside and stacked some heavier cabinets and chairs at the stairwells on the fourth and third floors, just in case.
In case any other refugee suddenly had a brain attack and ran to this almost flooded building, there was only this one staircase to go up to the fourth floor. She would have to move the obstacles away and make a noise to give her some time to prepare.
After all, she is not a real refugee. When she is alone, she will not sit there miserably like a refugee.
When Shu Fu returned to the living room of the suite again, the unpleasant smell inside was indeed much lighter. She took out a single folding sofa from the space, took off her thick old home cotton coat, drank coconut milk, and started calling for help.
She tried for more than half an hour, but the helpline number published by the telecommunications company was always busy. Every time it was stuck waiting for manual transfer, and it would automatically hang up due to timeout.
The telecommunications company also published another emergency helpline, but her current situation did not match hers, so she did not dare to call that number. After checking online, she found another helpline.
But the situation is the same. I don’t know whether these two helpline numbers are outdated information or there are too many people calling and the lines are too busy.
Shu Fu looked at the time. After all this trouble, it was almost one o'clock. She decided to have lunch first and then make the call. If she still couldn't get through, she would have to try method one.
For lunch, she chose food with little smell - canned vegetables, which were ready-to-eat foods she had stockpiled in Suicheng.
At that time, we bought a total of 40 boxes, including two boxes of dehydrated vegetables. One box was a large package of 500 grams for family use, with 20 bags in a box, and the other box was a small package of 50 grams, with 200 bags in a box.
Of the remaining thirty-eight boxes, she bought twenty-five boxes of canned vegetables, covering all flavors, and the remaining thirteen boxes were for rice bowls, also of every flavor.
These are emergency rations that can be eaten right out of the can and can also be stored for a long time. They are foods that can be put out in the open.
She took out a can of chicken stewed with mushrooms, a can of duck soup, and found a box of packaged rice from the shelf in the space. Since it was not cold today, she did not heat it up, but opened the can and started eating.
She bought this brand of canned vegetables after trying them, and they tasted pretty good, but she tried them after they were heated.
Now that it’s not heated up, it’s not bad, but it’s not delicious either. I can only say that under extraordinary circumstances, this is definitely a good meal for refugees.
Shu Fu did not waste anything and finished both cans. There was still half a box of rice left, and she took back the space.
In the afternoon, she continued to call for help while using her mobile phone to search the Internet for disaster information and try to find other ways to call for help.
During this period, I also put my original phone card back into my original mobile phone. After all, two months had passed, and most importantly, this card was free for Internet access.
When Shu Fu found out a few days ago that he could leave Suicheng, he didn't realize that returning to a city that was still functioning normally also meant starting to spend money.
Every month's online repayments are automatically deducted on time, and the 5,000 yuan she had previously left on the card is estimated to have been deducted... If she wants to continue to pay with her mobile phone in the future, she will have to continue to add money to the card.
She had some cash, but prices were skyrocketing, and the rent in Lou Yuncheng was estimated to have doubled. If she wanted to have a completely private space in this city like before, she couldn't share a house with others. Renting a house alone was ridiculously expensive.
With this in mind, she would save as much as possible. After all, according to the information she had read, even the phone and internet fees had increased several times. The data package of her new phone was about to run out, and when it ran out, the money in her phone card would be deducted, so she would not be able to make calls any more...
As soon as the original mobile phone was turned on, it started to beep non-stop with various messages and missed call notifications pouring in. The noise was endless and Shu Fu was annoyed by it, so she turned off the silent mode and planned to check again after resolving the issue of the call for help.
Fortunately, there was no charge for calling for help, and she gave herself a deadline of tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow is the fifth day since she received the clock-in task. If she has not successfully called for rescue by tomorrow morning, she will row an inflatable boat and go to the shelter by herself.
She checked the map and found that the shelter was still more than ten kilometers away, so it was not impossible to get there manually.
Fortunately, she was still a little lucky. Near dusk, she finally got through the phone for help. The other party was very experienced. Before she opened her mouth, he apologized and explained in just two sentences why the rescue phone was busy today.
Because the weather has changed and it didn't rain today, it was very suitable for the evacuation of refugees, so not only were all large and small rescue ships dispatched, but even the rescue phone lines were flooded with calls.
Shu Fu first registered her name and phone number, explained the content of the request and the number of people seeking help, and finally, according to the other party's instructions, downloaded Lou Yuncheng's disaster information APP and uploaded her current location coordinates in a function column to facilitate rescue personnel to quickly and accurately find her location.
"Your location and request information have been registered and will be sent to the rescue team for rescue arrangements. Please pay attention to your mobile phone messages."
After hanging up the phone, Shu Fu thought she would have to wait for a long time, but in less than five minutes, the message came.
The message was similar to the reply confirmation message she received after booking a hotel or flight on the website. It contained her name, the content of the request and the number of people she had provided previously, as well as the number of the assigned rescue team and the arrival time of the other party's assault rescue boat.
Perhaps there are too many people who need to be evacuated and rescued today, so her evacuation time is scheduled for tomorrow morning, between 9:00 and 9:30, and the time may fluctuate.
At the same time, she was asked again to stay where she was and not move on her own, because she would be blacklisted if she missed the appointment twice or the information was inconsistent.
Shu Fu took out a power bank from the space to charge the mobile phone she used to ask for help. In order to keep the call open, she decided not to use the phone to surf the Internet before arriving at the shelter.
She took out her old phone, which was piled with hundreds of unread text messages. After logging into WeChat, a large number of unread messages also popped up.
The last time Zhang Tian and the other two chatted with her was a month and a half ago. Since she hadn't replied for a long time, there were many messages from them asking about her, hoping that she could let them know she was safe when she saw the messages.
Shu Fu replied to the three of them one by one.
As for Zheng Feifei, the last message in their chat box was sent by her in the library two months ago.
Because Zheng Feifei's family did not evacuate in time, she and her family had to move temporarily to other residents' homes upstairs after the water level rose.
Because Shu Fu had reminded them, they had negotiated the conditions for temporary stay with the other party early in the morning, and were able to move upstairs with their home's food, water and supplies smoothly.
Later, when Shu Fu decided to go to the library, she heard Zheng Feifei complaining that a few more people had moved in with her, making the living space smaller and smaller and becoming more inconvenient.
She regretted not moving her parents immediately when Shu Fu gave her advice. But she also said that fortunately the evacuation had begun. Although her family's evacuation date was later due to the high floor, at least there was hope.
After this chat, Zheng Feifei never sent any messages again. I don’t know if her phone was completely out of battery or if something else happened.
Shu Fu sent an inquiry message to Zheng Feifei again. The message was sent successfully, but there was no response from the other end.
Shu Fu shook her head and sighed, then returned to the contacts interface. Looking at the several unread messages on Yao Ruoyun and Lu Zheng's names, she felt like laughing again. She wondered if the two people on the other side of the screen were also looking at the chat box on their phones to which she had no reaction, and shaking their heads and sighing?
As she was thinking, the screen on her phone suddenly changed and a call came in.
She had saved this number, and the name displayed was: Ruoyun’s uncle.
The person who called was Cheng Yu.
She didn't quite understand. She had been a missing person for two months. Why did he call her again?
Moreover, she had turned off the phone and removed the card for two months. How did he know that she turned it on today?
Shu Fu didn't answer the call, nor did she hang up the phone. She had already turned on the mute mode, so she just let it continue.
However, thinking of the other party's rescue team leader's identity, her thoughts began to diverge for a while - there was a little unrealistic guess, but she felt that it couldn't be such a coincidence.
But if it was such a coincidence, then it was telling her one thing in disguise: who the approximate target of this check-in task was.
**
The next day, at 9:20 am.
Shu Fu held his somewhat worn backpack and sat quietly in the corner of the speedboat.
This is a large assault boat with a driving area in the front, an additional roof and a zipper awning to block wind and rain, and about 30 people can sit on the boat at one time.
But now, most of the seats are empty.
At one side, a young woman in a camouflage waterproof jacket stood there holding the edge of the added roof, confirming with her teammates the direction of the speedboat's movement.
She guessed wrong. The captain of the rescue team who came to pick her up was not Cheng Yu, but a strange woman with a healthy complexion and a fit body. She said her surname was Liu and she was the captain in charge of today's transfer mission.
Perhaps he noticed her gaze, Captain Liu turned to her after talking to his team members, reached out and took out a bottle of mineral water from a cardboard box beside him and handed it to her: "Don't worry, we'll go to the shelter when the boat is full. Have some water first."
Shu Fu took it and said thank you to the other party.
The other person smiled at her and looked at her gently, probably because she looked really miserable at the moment. In order to be more in line with the appearance of a refugee, Shu Fu put a lot of effort into herself.
Her hair was very greasy, and you could tell at a glance that it hadn't been washed in a long time. Strands of hair stuck together, and there was fine dandruff mixed in the hairline, making it look dirty.
Her face and hands were very dirty, especially the gaps between her nails, which were covered with black dust.
There has been no rain in this area from yesterday to today. After the sun came out today, the temperature has soared to over 20 degrees. The rescue team members felt a little stuffy wearing waterproof clothing, but Shu Fu was still wearing her dirty thick home coat and a pair of old rain boots on her feet, probably because she really couldn't find any other clothes to change into.
She was very quiet, unlike other disaster victims who, upon seeing the rescue team, would ask for water and food, or pull the rescue team members to ask various questions and build relationships, wanting to know more about the situation in the shelter and Louyun City.
After she got on the boat, she said thank you to them and sat quietly in the corner, hugging her bag tightly, looking at the little one. She didn't know what she had experienced before, where her family was, and how she ended up being left alone in this building that was about to be submerged.
Liu Shuang shook his head and sighed silently.
She herself knew that in this world, being able to reach a safe city alive was already a very lucky thing. But every time she saw this kind of girl who was alone and almost silent, she couldn't help it, because she also had a sister of about the same age.
Moreover, she always felt that the girl in front of her looked familiar, as if she had seen her somewhere.
Shu Fu seemed lonely, quiet and dull, but was actually dying of heat: ...
The effect of my appearance seems to be a little too good, but it’s better not to doubt it.
Finally, she wanted to thank the unscented hair oil, unscented toner, unscented BRUNETTE foundation, and the lead of the 8B pencil...
The rescue boat first went to the small business district that Shu Fu knew was located in the suburbs of Louyun City, and picked up a group of disaster victims who took refuge in the shopping mall. Only when the boat was full did it head west towards Louyun City.
The speedboat suddenly became crowded.
The new group of people on board actually did not suffer much. After all, Muzhou Province had just suffered a flood. They were transferred early from Guanyu County and several other towns in the east because Louyun City was the nearest safe city with a dam.
When they made their way to the small shopping district, there was water nearby, but only in some places, and most of the time it was only calf-deep.
At that time, there were still many residents in the residential area of this small business district. They wanted to find a place to rest for the night and also wanted to replenish supplies. Since they couldn't enter the residential building, they went to the shopping mall.
I have been here until now. At first, the food and water supplies in the shopping malls and supermarkets still had to be purchased with money. Later, everyone inside evacuated and the supermarkets were closed. There were lightning and thunder outside, and the water level slowly rose. The people who were still hiding inside gradually lost their scruples, smashed the glass to grab supplies, formed gangs, and all kinds of conflicts occurred frequently...
If the situation inside wasn't becoming increasingly chaotic and supplies weren't becoming increasingly scarce, these people wouldn't have chosen to move.
After all, everyone knows the situation in Louyun City. The shelter is called a refugee camp. The meals distributed there are pitifully small and prices are soaring. These outsiders have no property and no relatives to rely on. Every step costs money, so they might as well stay in the shopping mall.
Although we took the initiative to call for help and evacuate this time, we were still in a bad mood when we thought about the situation in the shelter. The people on the boat were not from the same group, and we started quarreling over a trivial matter not long after the boat started sailing.
The man sitting next to Shu Fu was extremely excited, and he and several people in his team tried to join in the verbal fight. Because he was too excited, his butt moved all the time, and he squeezed Shu Fu several times.
"What are you making a fuss about! We are on a boat! If you want to quarrel, go find a place to quarrel!" Liu Shuang has seen this kind of thing many times. It is a disaster year and people are restless and will not listen to anything. As long as it does not affect the mission of their rescue team and does not escalate into bloodshed, they generally will not care about small-scale conflicts because they simply cannot handle it.
She scolded a few words, walked over, patted the person sitting next to Shu Fu, asked him to change to her seat, and sat next to Shu Fu herself, separating her from the others who were still glaring at each other.
Shu Fu was a little surprised. She turned her head to look at Liu Shuang and thanked her again.
Liu Shuang hummed, and after a moment, asked again: "Have we met somewhere before?"
Shu Fu was surprised and looked at Liu Shuang again. She was sure that she didn't know the other person, but it was obvious that Liu Shuang would not say this for no reason.
She suddenly had another guess, but before she had time to think further, she heard various exclamations of surprise from other people on the boat.
Shu Fu raised his head and looked forward, only to see a huge high wall at the end of the water.
The wall is as high as dozens of stories. It is dark gray with a smooth surface. It stands between the hills at the end of the water. With its natural geographical advantages, it is like a giant, separating the rising flood outside and guarding the city inside the wall.
Liu Shuang's voice came from my ear, with a hint of pride and pride: "This is Dam No. 1, the earliest safety wall built in Louyun City. It is also the tallest of the six dams around Louyun City. It is currently 71 meters high and is still under construction."
Following her words, Shu Fu raised his eyes and looked towards the top of Dam No. 1, and sure enough, he saw the construction work still in full swing at the very top.
Liu Shuang looked back at her and smiled at her: "Welcome to the safest city in Muzhou Province - Louyun City!"
**
Shu Fu stood in front of the window of the factory warehouse, his eyes slowly moving upwards. From this close distance, the Dam No. 1 in front of him looked even more magnificent and huge.
The tall dark grey walls did not completely block the Louyun City behind. This was a city built on hills. The altitudes within the city varied greatly, and many buildings were built on the hillsides. The high-rise buildings were stacked one on top of the other, like trees of varying heights growing on the hillsides.
In this dark rainy night, the lights on the dam are like a beacon in the darkness, and the flickering lights on the buildings in the city are like a safe and warm haven, waiting for wandering travelers to return home.
This was the second night since Shu Fu entered the shelter. The rain had stopped for nearly three days. The temperature today was higher than yesterday, with the highest temperature during the day reaching 27 degrees Celsius, which was a somewhat abrupt temperature in winter near the end of December.
Although the rain had stopped in Louyun City before, it only lasted for about a day each time.
Some people even started to speculate online whether the heavy rain that had lasted for several months was finally coming to an end. Rather than saying this was speculation, it was more like everyone's wish.
But unfortunately, it started raining again near dusk today. Although it wasn’t heavy, it was drizzling and it hasn’t stopped since dusk.
Although Shu Fu successfully entered the shelter yesterday, the bracelet on her wrist has remained silent so far, and there has been no prompt indicating that the task has been completed.
Shu Fu has become somewhat accustomed to it. After all, she has arrived at the shelter within 7 days, and no events have been triggered yet.
Every time during this stage, she is most alert, always afraid that uncontrollable events may occur at any time.
During the period when the rain stopped, the number of people in several shelters outside the dam that served as transit points increased dramatically. With so many people, the speed of registering, sorting and allocating the victims' destinations would slow down.
The "Shu Fu" in this world was originally from Louyun City. It was a pity that she sold her only property when she left. Now that she has moved to the city, if she doesn't want to live in a shelter, she can only choose to go to her relatives and friends or rent a house.
People who choose to rent a house either have sufficient money in their cards or carry a lot of valuables with them. Shu Fu is alone and a girl, so she doesn't want to attract attention in the shelter, so she registered her accommodation after entering the city as staying with relatives and friends.
Her ID card showed that she was from Louyun City, so she didn't need any other proof. She was arranged to enter the city shortly after registration.
However, there were too many people transferred in the past two days, so she needed to spend two nights in the shelter and was scheduled to go into the city at noon on the third day - which was tomorrow.
Liu Shuang also spent the night in the shelter these two days. The rain-free period was too precious, and the rescue team tried to seize every opportunity to rescue. She went in and out every day, and the same was true at night. She didn't have much rest, let alone go back to the city.
After noticing her registration information and knowing that she was from Louyuncheng, Liu Shuang was a little surprised and asked her why she didn't live at home.
"My parents are gone, and the house has been sold." Shu Fu answered straightforwardly. After all, this was just the past of the "original body" in Shu Fu's memory and had nothing to do with her.
Liu Shuang said sorry and looked at her twice. It was unknown what he was thinking about, but his eyes softened again.
I don’t know if it was because of this accident, but in the two nights before entering the city, Liu Shuang deliberately arranged her overnight stay in an area close to the rescue team’s resting area. The refugees in this area were relatively honest and less likely to cause trouble.
After all, there are troops nearby, and supplies are distributed here as well. Even if there are conflicts, they will temporarily endure it and go to other places to resolve them.
The two nights passed quickly, and the drizzle before nightfall turned into heavy rain just before dawn.
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