72: Chapter 72 The Final Warning

The crowd was pushed back in unison. When some tried to resist, they were immediately pinned, their arms twisted behind their backs in one clean, swift motion, without any unnecessary movements or intentional roughness.

The man in the grey T-shirt who had started the trouble was pulled away from the officer. Two soldiers held him by the arms, but he struggled desperately, kicking his legs in the air. "Let me go, you bunch of XXX!"

He cursed incoherently, his face smeared with tears and snot.

The loudspeaker blared again, this time with a tone that left no room for negotiation—it was an order. "Attention all citizens, this is the final warning. Return to your respective residences immediately. The area lockdown has begun. Those who refuse to cooperate will be forcibly removed in accordance with the law."

Unit doors opened one by one as families were sent back inside. The voice-activated lights in the hallway flickered on and off, on and off.

The sounds of footsteps and crying mingled together, grating on the nerves.

A cameraman followed a soldier as he escorted a woman home. The moment the door closed, the woman's heart-wrenching wails erupted from inside, piercing through the door and echoing throughout the entire building.

The television screen suddenly turned blue. The signal was interrupted for a moment before cutting back to the studio.

The female host was gone, and a line of text scrolled across the screen: 'All citizens of the city, please stay at home immediately and await further notice.'

The television was silent, and everyone sitting on the sofa fell quiet as well.

At that moment, the entire city was suppressed, entering a state of waiting for the final verdict.

Lin Wanqiu held her daughter's hand. "Mom is a little scared."

Xu Wanning turned her hand over to hold hers. At this point, saying "don't be scared" was useless; only companionship mattered.

For the next full half hour, the news played the same message over and over.

To pass the time, they started cooking again, taking out rice, flour, and vegetables to make dumplings, steamed buns, meat pies, and fried rice.

Lu Chengyue went out to keep his brothers company on guard duty. They were on duty during the day, and they would switch with Police Captain Cheng Jingchuan and his team at night.

While Xu Wanning was waiting for Auntie Lan to knead the dough, her phone rang—Lin Ci had sent a video call request.

She answered. Lin Ci appeared on screen with heavy dark circles under his eyes, looking utterly exhausted. "What's wrong?"

Lin Ci rubbed his eyes. "My parents bought a house in the city, and they refuse to go back to the village no matter what I say.

"When I came back to stock up, my neighbor saw me. He rallied everyone in the building to come over and demand that I share my supplies with them, saying they'd pay me back after the lockdown ended. They've been pounding on my door whenever I don't open it. I haven't slept all night."

Wen Shuyang, Lu Zhiyu, and Song Yunqing heard his voice and crowded over.

Wen Shuyang frowned. "Since they already know your family has food, aren't you in great danger? They might not dare to pry the door open now, but if they discover The Apocalypse has arrived, your whole family will be in danger."

Lin Ci nodded. "Yeah. Xu Wanning, I'm calling because I want to ask if you can help me leave here and go back to the village."

"I'll ask The Great Leader, but I don't know." Xu Wanning didn't think she had that much pull.

Lin Ci nodded. "Thank you. Even if it doesn't work out, it's fine. You said I have a Supernatural ability; once it awakens, they won't dare touch me."

She didn't hang up the phone and sent a message directly to Uncle Zhang. The Great Leader was too busy; it was better to just go through Uncle Zhang.

[Uncle Zhang, a friend of mine stockpiled some supplies, but people in his building found out. They've been pounding on his door like crazy all night, demanding he share his supplies. Can you have the local military figure out a way to evacuate his family?]

A moment later, Uncle Zhang's message came back: [Send me the address, names, and number of people.]

She quickly told Lin Ci on camera, "It's done. Send me the address and your family members' names in a bit. Soldiers will come to pick you up later, so pack whatever you need to take."

"Thank you, thank you! I'll send it right now." Lin Ci sent the information over.

Xu Wanning forwarded it, and received an 'OK' gesture in response.

"I'm going to go pack. I'll contact you once I'm back in the village." Lin Ci waved and hung up the video call.

A while later, Uncle Zhang sent another message: [The soldiers are already on their way. If anything else comes up, just tell me directly. You are a great benefactor to our Huaxia; don't be afraid to bother us. The Great Leader said that we should do our best to fulfill all your requests.]

[Okay, thank you.] Xu Wanning smiled. She didn't want to be any "great benefactor"; she only hoped that Huaxia could survive and endure for a long, long time.

Over the next few days, none of them went out. Staff delivered supplies on time every day, and the residents stopped causing trouble.

However, through the residents' group chat, it was still evident that many people were not following the isolation policy. They were sleeping together, eating together, and even visiting neighbors upstairs and downstairs.

The staff couldn't catch everything immediately, and when they did discover and try to stop it, they would get scolded, which was incredibly frustrating.

Later, the higher-ups issued an order that there was no need to be polite to those who wouldn't listen—they were to be forcibly sent back using, if necessary, physical force. That finally quieted things down a bit.

On the night of June 24th, the news repeatedly broadcasted instructions for everyone to sleep separately. Staff also used loudspeakers to broadcast loudly downstairs. They had done everything they could; if people still didn't listen, there was nothing more to be done.

After dinner, Xu Wanning told everyone to hurry back to sleep. Even those sharing a room were to sleep separately—kitchen, balcony, anywhere with a door would do. Just put a bed down; it was only for one night, and it wasn't cold indoors.

After Xu Wanning showered and lay in bed, she couldn't fall asleep at all. The group chat was very lively; everyone was awake. It wasn't that they didn't want to sleep—they just couldn't.

"Did you guys see the weather forecast? It says there's rain tomorrow."

"If it really rains Acid Rain tomorrow, that means The Apocalypse has truly arrived."

"Sigh, I still hope it doesn't rain."

Messages flooded the group chat, scrolling so fast that Xu Wanning couldn't even finish reading them before they were pushed up.

"Go to sleep early. We'll know the result tomorrow."

According to her past life, the Acid Rain started at 8:00 AM, and within an hour of it falling, everyone would fall into a coma.

That meant there was less than an hour of reaction time. As soon as it was confirmed to be Acid Rain, the country could announce the arrival of The Apocalypse.

Lu Chengyue called via video. The two chatted about this and that, neither of them wanting to hang up.

"A-Yue, do you think this life will be different?" Xu Wanning stood by the bed, looking outside. In this life, she had changed the fate of many people; perhaps it really would be different.

"Don't worry, it certainly will be." The country had just issued a notice for all staff to return home immediately. The Meteorological Bureau had clearly calculated that it would rain, and the probability of it being Acid Rain was extremely high.

It might start earlier, and they couldn't let the staff risk being out there.

Before evacuating, the staff had already delivered enough rice, flour, gas canisters, water, vegetables, pickles, dried goods, and other long-lasting food to every household to last them a month.

Over the past few days, everyone should have gotten used to it. If they still didn't listen and went out wandering around while the staff were evacuating, they could only blame themselves for courting death.

"Maybe this time The Apocalypse will really be different. Even if some people mutate into zombies, it doesn't matter—everyone is isolating at home. As long as people clear them out house by house, it should be done in a month, right? Then The Apocalypse will be over."

Xu Wanning imagined the scene of The Apocalypse ending. Before The Apocalypse, people didn't want to go to work or school, but after it arrived, everyone would rather return to their lives of working and studying than live in fear every day.

Only those who possessed Supernatural abilities and those who were powerful felt that The Apocalypse had given them a different opportunity—a chance to change their lives.

Chatting away, Xu Wanning fell asleep. When she woke up again, it was already 7:50 AM...