Reborn As A Doomsday Villainess
Chapter 214: The water brought cold

Chapter 214: The water brought cold

"I guess so. I wonder what the flood’s like for the rest of the people in the zone. We’re only this comfortable because of you."

Qingran didn’t answer immediately. Her hand traced the rim of her bowl. It was empty now, still stained with broth and oil.

A simple meal to eat with all the delicacies on the table.

"I didn’t do much..." she said at last.

Yu Song scoffed lightly. "You saved sixty people. If that’s not ’much’ I don’t know what is."

She tilted her head, eyes unfocused. "And how many won’t be saved?"

He stilled and placed his chopsticks down.

She could hear the water even now, miles off, churning through buildings, eating away lives. So she told him nothing more. Instead, she leaned back against the chair and closed her eyes, her fists tightening.

The world out this place, was like hell.

When the flood reached C-14, the west part of the zone, it came without warning.

A tremor in the ground. A humming beneath the soles of their feet. Then a gust of cold, wet wind slammed against the cracked windows of a sixth-floor apartment.

Inside, a man named Zhu Zheng had just finished boiling water for his daughter.

"Careful.." he said, handing over the tin cup. "Blow first..."

Ten-year-old Lili smiled at him, her hands wrapped around the metal. "It smells like rice!"

"It’s barley. Better for your stomach." He ruffled her hair and glanced at the small pot on the stove. Barely anything left. Two more meals if they stretched it.

A crash outside with full force.

He turned toward the window. And froze.

The street below, usually full of rubble and the occasional scavenger, was gone. In its place was a violent current of water, thick and brown.

Cars floated like trash. Trees bent sideways. And then, from far down the avenue, he saw it, a second wave, taller than the buildings, barreling through the zone like a demon.

"Get your shoes on," he said instantly, voice clipped. "Now."

Lili didn’t ask why. She could feel it too, the fear that grabbed your throat and refused to let go.

He ran to the next room, where his wife, Meilin, was tying up the emergency bag.

"I saw it..." she said before he spoke. "We need to go up."

"There’s no roof access here. The stairs are blocked, remember?"

She looked at him, eyes wide. "Then what, what do we do?"

"We’ll cross to the east wing. That building’s newer, the top floor might still have the stairs intact."

A rumble shook the floor.

"No time to argue. Get Lili."

They didn’t make it far before the flood reached their building.

A roar like thunder echoed through the stairwell as the first wave smashed through the lower floors.

Windows burst inward. Walls cracked like dry bones. The building trembled as the water broke in.

"Go, go!!" Zhu Zheng pushed Meilin and Lili forward as water surged behind them.

By the time they reached the fourth floor, the stairwell was already gone.

Swallowed up with water.

He turned back just in time to see the corpse of a neighbor float by, eyes wide, mouth open, one hand still clutching a soaked journal.

Lili screamed, feeling chills by the site.

"Don’t look.." Meilin whispered, pulling her close. "Don’t look, baby."

They slammed into the door of a random apartment.

It was locked.

"Step back..." Zhu Zheng raised his foot and kicked hard. Once. Twice. On the third try, the door snapped open, the frame breaking from the soaked hinges.

They stumbled inside.

The apartment was dark, half-packed, abandoned long ago. Mold lined along the walls.

They shut the door and jammed it with a chair. The water was already seeping in under the crack.

"There’s a balcony.." Meilin whispered, pointing.

Zhu Zheng led the way. They stepped outside into the storm, rain falling sideways, the wind shrieking like it was alive.

The city below was no longer a city. It was a lake, littered with broken furniture and twisted bodies.

"Oh God..." Meilin said. Her voice was so small.

"We have to climb.." Li Zheng said, pointing at the next balcony above. "If we can get to the top..."

She nodded. She didn’t ask how but she knew they had to climb.

Because the water was rising faster now.

He climbed first, barefoot on the slick railing, then pulled Lili up, her small fingers trembling in his grip.

"Don’t let go, sweetie. Papa’s got you."

Meilin came last, slipping once, her scream torn by the wind. He caught her arm just in time and hauled her over.

They climbed again. And again.

Three more floors. It took less than ten minutes, but the water was right behind them every step.

When they reached the rooftop, the wind nearly knocked them back. The door was rusted shut. Zhu Zheng used a crowbar from the emergency pack, wrenching and pounding until the hinges gave way.

They stumbled out into the open sky, and for one breathless second, there was silence.

Then came the screams. Distant, warbling.

Too far away but somehow close enough to hear.

Lili clung to her mother. "Is it over?"

Her voice was hoarse.

Zhu Zheng looked out across the city.

He saw them. On other rooftops, other survivors.

A woman holding an infant wrapped in plastic sheets. An old man on his knees, shouting something to the sky that no one could hear. A teen crying from a billboard where he had somehow climbed.

But no rescue boats. There was no hope.

Only the rain, and the steady rise of filthy water below.

Hours passed.

Lili cried until she fell asleep, face pressed into her mother’s chest.

Meilin stared at the sky.

Zhu Zheng stood at the edge of the roof, eyes scanning the horizon, searching for any sign of hope.

"I should’ve moved us..." he said quietly.

Meilin looked up.

"Weeks ago. When we heard about the flood risk. I should’ve found us a safer place. I thought we’d be okay."

"You didn’t know."

"I knew..." His hands clenched into fists. "I thought... I thought it would pass us by."

She didn’t argue. She only reached out and held his hand.

"It’s okay."

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