Chapter 65 Rescue Team

"Wait, look outside the community!" Several households on the higher floors saw something, and their excited voices drifted down from above.

Bai Xiao and the others looked curiously outside the residential area, but due to their floor level, they couldn't see anything within their range of vision except for the river-like current outside.

"It's a fleet of boats!"

"It looks like a rescue team!"

"That's right, it is a rescue team! There are over a dozen boats; we're saved!"

Excited voices continued to come from upstairs.

"Come over here! Over here! Save us!"

Now, not just the entire building but the people of the whole community were drawn out. They waved their hands and shouted loudly, their voices rising in waves.

Before long, the tips of orange and red boats appeared at the level of the 12th floor. On each boat sat two people wearing life jackets, with the words 'Disaster Relief Department' prominently displayed on them.

"It really is a rescue team! It really is!" The men and women on the 12th floor also cried out in excitement.

A few more minutes passed, and the dozen or so speedboats steered into two or three adjacent communities, passing through the gates and getting closer.

Meanwhile, the rescue personnel began broadcasting through megaphones.

"Attention all residents, we are the Yunzhou City Urban Rescue Department, currently conducting urban waterlogging rescue operations. Water levels are continuing to rise, and the department's manpower and equipment are limited. Residents on flooded floors, please bring your personal identification and proof of ownership for the flooded property. Each person may carry a small amount of luggage and wait for rescue in open areas such as balconies, windows, or corridors. Residents on high floors that are not yet flooded, please do not panic; remain temporarily in safe indoor areas. In the coming days, the Rescue Department will gradually transfer trapped personnel to the city's super high-rise building areas. Once rescue operations are complete, everyone will be gathered to wait for transfer out of the city."

"Attention all residents..."

...

After hearing the broadcast, the people in the building rejoiced as if seeing the first light of dawn, dancing and cheering with joy—especially the low-floor residents whose homes were submerged; they all wept with happiness.

After losing their homes, they had been looked down upon everywhere, bullied like rats crossing the street, living lives that were barely human. Now that their suffering was finally ending, they were actually the first to get the chance to be rescued; how could they not be excited?

They weren't the only ones excited; there were also high-floor residents who didn't want to wait and tried to pose as flooded low-floor residents. However, friction between the high and low floors had been constant lately, and they loathed each other. How could they not recognize who was truly a low-floor resident? Anyone who tried to fake it was reported.

The low-floor residents felt they had finally vented their grievances, while the high-floor residents posing as low-floor ones couldn't produce property certificates or other evidence, and without exception, they were rejected by the rescue team.

Of course, there were also scoundrels who tried to throw tantrums to force their way onto the boats. For a time, the various buildings in the community were in total chaos, and the rescue team's transfer progress was significantly slowed.

The familiar burning sensation came from her wrist. Bai Xiao inconspicuously pressed the black butterfly on her left wrist, and the familiar light screen that only she could see unfolded before her. It was still a twelve-hour countdown.

She closed the game control panel and looked at Shi Jun's equally happy family, as well as Zhao and Cheng. According to their agreement, they were supposed to move to the office building they had scouted before.

But now that the rescue team had arrived, Bai Xiao didn't know what they were thinking.

She also couldn't help but consider whether she still wanted to go to the office building, because she didn't know if the super high-rise buildings designated by the Disaster Relief Department were the ones in the business district. After all, a city's skyscrapers are most concentrated in the Central Business District.

Right now, the water level was about to completely submerge the tenth floor, and there were twelve hours left before entering the game. Judging by the current rate of the rising water, the water would submerge the eleventh floor by tomorrow morning. The twelfth floor might seep, might not, might flood a little, or might flood more, though that was less likely.

She thought it over and decided to swap the non-waterproof supplies in her house with those in her storage slots and just spend this game at home. The time flow ratio between the game and reality was right there; even if she spent thirty days in the game, only half an hour would pass in reality. It shouldn't reach the point where the entire twelfth floor was submerged.

Moreover, she didn't plan on going out to struggle anymore. If the area designated by the Disaster Relief Department was those buildings in the business district, she wouldn't have time to find a new safe place anyway.

The broadcast just said that once all rescues are completed in these few days, everyone will be moved out of the city.

She thought that after the next game ended, she would move directly from the community to Mian Mountain. This way, she could avoid the peak time when the large groups were leaving the city; she would leave before them.

Having made up her mind, she asked Zhao Fangzhe, Shi Jun, and the others, "What are your thoughts?"

Zhao Fangzhe said, "I don't know what the environment in the temporary resettlement area of the Rescue Department is like, but it's probably not as good as home. It's just that home will be submerged soon; we have to leave sooner or later."

Shi Jun exchanged a look with his wife and said, "Xiao Zhao is right. Whether we go with the rescue team or not, we can't stay here for long."

After saying that, he asked Bai Xiao again, "Sister, what do you think?"

Bai Xiao said frankly, "I don't plan to go to the office building today. I want to go directly to Mian Mountain tomorrow."

"Mian Mountain?"

Everyone lived in Yunzhou City; no one didn't know about Mian Mountain.

"How are you going to get there across such a long distance?"

Knowing she had an inflatable boat and still asking how she'd get there, Bai Xiao smiled patiently. "By boat, of course."

The others naturally knew she had a boat, but they felt that with forty-some kilometers and unknown conditions on the road, could she really row there?

"I want to go with the rescue team. The resources they can mobilize must be the best in the city; it's better than us fighting alone." Cheng Ru went against her previous timid nature, speaking with absolute determination.

Shi Jun glanced at his daughter, who had come out at some point and was now leaning against his thigh acting spoiled. A mysterious softness filled his heart; he struggled and hesitated internally, but in the end, concern for his daughter won out.

He looked at Bai Xiao apologetically. "If it were just me and my wife, we'd want to go with you. But Ningning is only six; she's too young. I can't let her take risks with me. I'm sorry, we might have to go with the main group."

Only Zhao Fangzhe said firmly to Bai Xiao, "I want to go with you."

After he said this, before Bai Xiao could react, Cheng Ru started crying first. "Azhe, are you going to abandon me alone?"

Seeing her cry, Zhao Fangzhe was a bit at a loss.

Seeing them treat the act of not going with her as something as serious as a betrayal, Bai Xiao thought it was really unnecessary. She had always been alone—in reality, and even more so in the game.

She wouldn't be happy because someone followed her, nor would she be sad because she had no company. Because in her heart, she knew very well that the path she was taking was a one-way street. Anyone she met was merely a passerby, even if they crossed paths occasionally.

She gave everyone a relaxed smile from the bottom of her heart. she could see that Cheng Ru and Zhao Fangzhe weren't boyfriend and girlfriend, as there was no intimacy between them; they were likely exes or old acquaintances.

Zhao Fangzhe was a soft-hearted and kind person. This was evident from how he spoke up for her before he even knew her, and how he took in his ex-girlfriend or former friend and provided her with precious food and care.

"Take good care of this 'cousin' of mine then." After saying that, she waved a hand casually at everyone.

She returned home in a few steps, her back showing not the slightest hint of loneliness, appearing completely free and easy.

As the crack of the door gradually closed before their eyes, and they could no longer see her figure, a sense of loss, as if they had lost something precious, welled up in their hearts.

At that time, they didn't realize that this would be the closest they would ever be to her from then on.

Close in every sense of the word.