The moment they got the order, the team didn't dare slack off. Everyone immediately stood guard at the gate, fully armed and ready. Whether or not any mutant beasts showed up outside was another matter. What mattered was that it took Lao Gao and Huang Jinghe two whole days before they finally dragged themselves back to the shop.
Seeing how exhausted they looked, Lan Jin and Ling Jiang didn't feel like asking questions. But Lao Gao just couldn't keep anything in, so he spilled everything right there, like pouring beans out of a bamboo tube. By the time he finished recounting the entire ordeal, both women were left staring in shock, while the two men simply stumbled off to rest.
Right now, their faces didn't look good at all.
How should one even put it? Every time they thought they had a rough grasp on what was happening, something new cropped up to completely throw their understanding off balance. It wasn't just them either, even the base itself seemed baffled, like everyone had no idea what was really going on.
Still, things had already developed this far. There was no way they could just stop investigating. Who knew how many more disasters would pop up if they left it unchecked?
After a long silence, Lan Jin finally said, "Honestly, by now it's obvious there's a massive conspiracy behind all this. Someone's definitely trying to use the apocalypse to push their so-called 'ambition' or 'grand cause.' And people like us, ordinary folks, we're nothing but sacrifices. But one thing I'm certain about is that person probably never expected things to spiral so far out of control that even they can't rein it in. As for whether they'll make another move… I'm sure they will."
Sometimes, the messier things got, the more likely plans succeeded. But for her and Ling Jiang, the more they learned, the more confusing it all became. Lan Jin had made countless guesses before, but she'd never dug to the root of things.
That was why she genuinely felt that, as long as it didn't threaten their little group's lives, she could just let it go and not fuss over it. But were people as powerful as them really free from threats?
Sometimes being strong was a threat in itself. For someone with ambition, strength wasn't something to admire, it was something to covet. And if they couldn't have it, they'd rather destroy it. In that sense, some things were never truly under their control.
Still, no matter the ambition, things hadn't developed that far yet. Who knew what the future would bring.
…
The scorching heat hadn't just lingered, it had kept rising. What had started at eighty degrees was now hovering at eighty-three, holding steady for days. Earlier, people worried about flooding. Now the ground was cracked open from the relentless sun.
Lao Gao muttered, "What if this land turns into a desert from no rain and all this heat?"
Ling Jiang rolled her eyes. "You're kidding, right?"
Huang Jinghe countered, "But deserts used to be thriving cities too, long, long ago. So it's not impossible."
"Forget how long it'd take a whole city to turn into desert," Ling Jiang argued, "we're in the apocalypse. Extreme heat's gotta end eventually. And don't you think the air's been way too heavy lately? That suffocating, muggy kind of hot?" She didn't say it out loud, but it felt like the sky was on the verge of rain.
Funny enough, Lao Gao had actually heard something. "I ran into Captain Zhang yesterday. He said it's gonna rain soon, told us to be careful. I was just about to ask why rain needs caution when someone called him away. I tried messaging, but he didn't reply. So I figured I'd drop it. But now I'm thinking, if it really rains, is it gonna pour? Otherwise, why warn us? It's not like it could flood like Capital city. Conditions aren't the same here."
Lan Jin answered, "If it were another long downpour, the base would've been making preparations already. But seeing how calm they look, I doubt it'll last long."
…
Of course, the base hadn't prepared anything. From the intel they had, this rain was supposed to be nothing more than a brief shower that'd pass by quickly. Nobody had the faintest idea just how different this storm really was. When it finally rolled in days later, the entire base was thrown into chaos.
Because this wasn't ordinary rain. It was highly corrosive acid rain.
Back when they were in Capital city, Lan Jin and the others had already endured acid rain while holed up at home. That rain had eaten through walls. When they'd gone out scavenging, they'd seen plenty of old houses with roofs practically dissolved.
Huang Jinghe had lived on a top floor back then, but he'd reinforced his windows with cement. Otherwise, there's no way his place could've withstood the acid's onslaught.
But this rain was different. Calling it acid rain was generous. It was closer to concentrated acid, like sulfuric acid. It only fell for a short while before eating right through the protective shield the base had developed.
The shield had been tested before deployment, yet now the rain punched holes in it like it was nothing. Panic spread instantly. No one had expected this. The rain's corrosion was so strong that the excitement over finally seeing a storm turned into horror. Those caught beneath the drops screamed as their skin blistered and split on contact, the burns spreading outward until they were rolling on the ground in agony.
The base leaders were overwhelmed, torn between treating the injured and scrambling to deal with their melting defenses.
When large sections of the shield disintegrated, the roofs all around started getting eaten away too.
…
Lan Jin's rented place happened to be on the top floor. After just half an hour of rain, the roof was gone and all the furniture inside was ruined. Luckily, she and the others were still at the shop.
Even luckier, Lan Qiaoqiao's kindergarten wasn't on the first or top floor. Otherwise, Lan Jin wouldn't have been able to sit still. She'd have already bolted to the school.
She kept staring nervously outside, and Ling Jiang thought she was worried about Qiao Qiao. She said softly, "Don't worry, the kindergarten's fine. Those little ones are the future. With the birthrate so low, every child's treated like treasure. They'll be protected."
Lan Jin knew that already. "I know. And honestly, instead of worrying about Qiao Qiao, we should be worrying about ourselves."
Their shop was on the first floor. Losing a roof wasn't the issue, it was the thought of strong acid rain flooding inside. Where would they even hide then?
Ling Jiang suggested, "Should we shut the doors and head upstairs?"
Lan Jin nodded. "Yeah, better safe than sorry. Would be stupid to survive this long just to get done in by rain. Let's move upstairs before the roof caves in completely. I'll call Captain Zhang too, see what the plan is. As for our place… I don't think it's gonna make it."