During the rainstorm
The noise below the rostrum gradually subsided as the rain subsided.
The torrential downpour, which seemed to engulf the entire world, finally gave up after raging for nearly an hour. Deafening thunder rolled into the distant sky, and the raindrops were no longer the tumbling of pebbles, but had become dense, continuous raindrops, hanging a gray curtain of water between the sky and the earth.
The students trapped under the eaves, after the initial panic and chaos, were now showing signs of fatigue. They leaned against the wall in groups of three or four, chatting quietly, waiting for the whistle that would symbolize their release.
Lu Yu was still half-squatting in front of time, like a silent sculpture.
The person in his arms was no longer shaking as violently as before. Lu Yu could feel that Shi Guang's body would only occasionally stiffen due to the thunder in the distance, but his breathing had become much more stable.
"Hey, are you feeling better?" Lu Yu asked in an almost inaudible voice through the gap in his coat.
A very faint reply came from beneath the coat.
Lu Yu breathed a sigh of relief.
At this moment, the chief instructor's roar echoed through the loudspeaker: "Enough! Enough! The rain has stopped! Get out of here! Platoon leaders, count the number of people and get them back to the dormitory safely! If anyone slips and breaks a leg on the road, don't come to me!"
"oh--!"
The long-awaited order to dismiss instantly filled the entire space with renewed energy. The students cheered and rushed into the rain, running towards the dormitories.
The crowd dispersed like a tide, and soon, only a handful of people were left under the originally crowded rostrum.
Lu Yu slowly took off the coat covering Guang Guang’s head.
Light poured in again, and Shi Guang subconsciously squinted his eyes before slowly adjusting. His face was still frighteningly pale, his lips bloodless, and his always clear eyes now seemed misted over, appearing somewhat empty.
"Can you... stand up?" Lu Yu's voice unconsciously softened a lot.
Shi Guang didn't answer. He just held onto the wall and struggled to stand up. But he overestimated himself. As soon as he exerted force, his legs became weak and his body began to slide down uncontrollably.
Lu Yu was quick-witted and quick-handed. He immediately stepped forward, stretched out his strong arm, and held his arm steadily, bearing half of his body weight on himself.
"Don't be so stubborn." Lu Yu bent down, put one of Shi Guang's arms on his shoulder, and put the other hand directly around Shi Guang's lower back, lifting him up from the ground in a posture that was almost a half-hug.
"Brother Lu, let us help!" Fat Jiang and Sun Rui also gathered over immediately.
"No need," Lu Yu shook his head, glanced at Shi Guang who was leaning almost all his weight on him, and said to the two of them, "You two go ahead and explore the road ahead to see which road has less water. Fatty, walk steadily and don't slip first."
Fat Jiang and Sun Rui nodded, asked no more questions, turned around and walked ahead.
The road from the stadium back to Zhixing Academy now became extremely long.
After the rain, the campus air was as fresh as if it had just been washed, but it was also a mess. Broken branches and fallen leaves covered the roads, and puddles of various sizes had gathered in the low-lying areas.
Lu Yu practically half-dragged, half-carried Shi Guang, walking step by step with remarkable composure. Shi Guang's head rested limply on his shoulder, his warm breath tickling the side of his neck. He was so light that Lu Yu could clearly feel his thin bones against him and could smell his scent, a mixture of rain and water.
This was the first time that the two of them had such close contact for such a long time without any gaps.
But at this moment, no one had the heart to feel the awkwardness or ambiguity. Lu Yu's entire mind was focused on the road beneath his feet and the fragile person in his arms, who seemed to break at the slightest touch.
Finally, the door of dormitory 602 appeared in front of us.
Lu Yu pushed the door open with his shoulder and helped Shi Guang sit down in his chair. Fatty Jiang had already boiled a pot of hot water, and Sun Rui handed him a clean towel.
"Drink some hot water first to warm your body." Lu Yu poured a cup of warm water and put it in Shi Guang's hand.
Shi Guang took it silently, held the cup, and drank it in small sips, his eyes always on the tip of his shoes, without saying a word.
“Ding ding ding—”
At this moment, Lu Yu, the class monitor, got a quick notification from his phone. He picked it up and saw it was an urgent notification from counselor Zhou Sisi in the class group, with @s for all members.
Emergency Notice: Dear students, due to the intensity of this rainfall exceeding expectations, large areas of campus are currently flooding, with some areas experiencing waterlogging. Water levels are rising rapidly, particularly on East Campus and along the Crescent River connecting the East and West Campuses. The university has canceled military training tomorrow. All students are requested to refrain from leaving the dormitories unless absolutely necessary. Please stock up on food and drinking water, and stay safe!
Attached to the notice were several photos, taken by an unknown author. In the photos, the usually beautiful Crescent Lake was nearly overflowing. Under the Student Bridge leading to the East Campus, muddy water surged and rolled. Fallen Street outside the West Gate had become a river of depravity, the water already calf-deep.
"Oh my god! Military training's canceled!" Fat Jiang was the first to cheer, but soon turned somber again. "But Fallen Street is flooded! My takeout! My barbecue!"
Sun Rui pushed his glasses and calmly analyzed, "This means that we will be trapped in this dormitory building for at least the next 24 hours."
Lu Yu did not participate in the discussion. After reading the notice, he just raised his head silently and looked out the window.
The rain seemed to be getting heavier.
When night falls completely, the world outside the window is swallowed up by thick darkness and the incessant sound of rain.
Shi Guang hadn't moved since he sat down. Like a fine statue, he simply held the glass of long-cold water, staring blankly at a point on the table, completely unresponsive to the outside world.
Lu Yu didn't bother him, but his entire attention was fixed on Shi Guang, like iron filings drawn to a magnet. His worry and confusion far outweighed his initial surprise. He realized that Shi Guang's reaction wasn't simply a shock from the thunder; it was a deep-seated fear.
"It's over, it's over, it's completely over!"
The silence was broken by Jiang Xiaopang's desperate wail. He clutched his phone, a doomsday expression on his face. "Guys, I just painted the walls of the school, and now we can go boating on Fallen Street! The owner of a barbecue restaurant I really like has lost their freezer!"
As he spoke, he showed everyone his phone screen. The forum was flooded with posts about the flooding. There was Zhao Teng's vlog of his Jiangda adventures, set to a poignant background music; there were photos taken by students on East Campus of watching the Jiangda sea as Crescent Lake flooded onto the lawn; and there were also emergency mutual aid posts posted by student union members, gathering supplies from each dormitory.
The entire Jiangcheng University was plunged into an unprecedented carnival and chaos because of this sudden rainstorm.
"According to the latest notice issued by the university's student union, the main areas affected by this flooding are the lower-lying East Campus and West Gate Commercial District. Our Zhixing Academy is located on higher ground and is currently not at risk."
Sun Rui calmly extracted the key intelligence from the pile of information. He turned his gaze to Jiang Xiaopang's face, which looked hopeless, and continued, "But this also means that we won't be able to obtain any external food supplies for at least the next two days. I suggest that we immediately conduct a comprehensive inventory and planning of our dormitory's existing food reserves."
This proposal instantly shifted Jiang Xiaopang's attention from mental pain to the real crisis.
"Yes, yes, yes! Take inventory of supplies!" He immediately jumped up from his chair, rushed to his cabinet, and like a hamster preparing for winter, took out all his snack reserves.
Potato chips, biscuits, instant noodles, self-heating hot pots, drinks of various flavors... Soon, a small mountain was piled up in the open space in the center of the dormitory.
Sun Rui took out a pen and paper and began to classify and register in an orderly manner.
"Five bags of puffed food, estimated to provide 3200 kcal. Three boxes of biscuits, approximately 1800 kcal. Twelve packets of instant noodles..." He counted and recorded as he went, his expression as focused as if he were conducting a rigorous scientific experiment. "Based on the daily basal metabolic needs of the four of us, if we divide them evenly, our current reserves should last us through the 72-hour lockdown."
"Only three days?" Fatty Jiang's face fell again. He touched the bag of spicy strips reluctantly. "This is my spiritual food. Can you keep it for me?"
"In the face of a survival crisis, spiritual needs must give way to physical needs." Sun Rui blankly registered the bag of spicy noodles, then looked up and announced, "From now on, all food will be managed and distributed by me. To ensure maximum resource utilization, I will develop a detailed daily ration plan."
"No!" Fat Jiang let out a heart-wrenching scream.
Watching the two clowns' doomsday survival farce before him, Lu Yu didn't relax at all. He just glanced at them casually, and his eyes returned to Shi Guang in the corner.
He remained in that position, motionless, as if transported to another time and space. The noise in the dormitory seemed to have nothing to do with him.
Lu Yu stood up, walked over, and took the glass of ice-cold water from Shi Guang's hand. Then, he brought over the bowl of instant noodles that Jiang Xiaopang had just prepared for a midnight snack and placed it in front of Shi Guang.
The rich, warm aroma finally brought a little focus to Shi Guang's scattered pupils. He slowly raised his head and looked at Lu Yu.
"Eat something." Lu Yu's voice was very soft, but it carried a kind of insistence that could not be refused. "You didn't eat much for dinner. If you don't eat something, you really won't be able to get up tomorrow."
Shi Guang looked at the bowl of noodles, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he said nothing.
"Go change your wet clothes," Lu Yu didn't give him a chance to refuse and directly issued a second order, "Then come here and eat the noodles. Be obedient."
He spoke the last two words very softly, with a soothing tone that he himself was not aware of.
Perhaps Lu Yu's tone was too persuasive, or perhaps his body's instinct had finally overwhelmed his mental resistance. Shi Guang was silent for a few seconds, but eventually he stood up, took out clean clothes from the closet, and quietly walked into the bathroom.
Only after watching him walk into the bathroom did Lu Yu secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
"Brother Lu, you know what, you looked like an old father just now." Fat Jiang, who was watching this scene, muttered softly.
Lu Yu rolled his eyes at him unhappily, but his mood became a little complicated because of this sentence. He simply felt that this was what he should do. Seeing Shi Guang's expression, he couldn't just sit back and watch.
After a while, Shi Guang came out of the bathroom. He had changed into a set of dry cotton pajamas, and the faint scent of shower gel was on his body. His pale face had a hint of color from the hot water.
He walked to the desk, pulled out a chair, sat down, and then silently picked up the chopsticks.
He ate very slowly. Lu Yu stopped staring at him and sat back down, pretending to play with his phone, but his ears were always paying attention to the noises over there. He could hear the subtle chewing sounds of Shi Guang and the occasional crisp sound of chopsticks hitting the bowl wall.
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