Reborn As A Doomsday Villainess
Chapter 215: Peace to the fallen

Chapter 215: Peace to the fallen

The water kept rising.

Beyond the rooftops, the zone had become an endless sea of destruction.

Zhu Zheng’s rooftop was now an island surrounded by a merciless flood.

The sky churned, thunder growling in the distance.

Below, the once-bustling streets were gone, swallowed by the muddy tide.

Every few minutes, a new wave slammed into the building’s edges, spraying cold, filthy water up like a curse.

Meilin whispered to Lili, "Stay close, don’t move."

Lili’s small hands gripped her mother’s shirt. Her eyes were wide with exhaustion and fear.

The three of them huddled near a rusted vent, cold seeping through the thin clothes they had left.

At some point, Zhu Zheng noticed the emergency radio had drowned under a pile of soaked debris.

"No signal," he muttered. He fiddled with the cracked device, but only static hissed back.

"Papa?" Lili’s voice broke the silence. "Will they come for us?"

Zhu Zheng swallowed hard.

"I don’t know, sweetheart."

The sun began to dip below the horizon, turning the floodwaters into a vast mirror of bruised purple and sickly orange.

Lili shivered.

"Can we go down? The water won’t hurt us, right?"

Meilin shook her head.

"We can’t go back. The stairwell’s collapsed."

Her voice cracked.

"Papa says the water’s too dangerous."

"But I don’t want to stay here!" Lili sobbed.

Zhu Zheng sat beside her.

He pulled her into his lap.

"I promise, I’m going to protect you. No matter what."

But the water wasn’t done.

A sudden tremor shook the building.

Cracks snaked along the rooftop floor.

Dust and pebbles rained down from the crumbling facade.

Meilin gasped.

"We need to get to the other side! The old water tank, maybe it’s still safe!"

Zhu Zheng nodded, already moving, but the floodwaters lashed harder, waves crashing and spraying bitter spray.

They slipped and stumbled, water licking their ankles.

Lili cried out as Meilin slipped, claws of floodwater grabbing her like icy fingers.

Zhu Zheng caught her, but a powerful wave smashed into him from behind, forcing all three to stagger.

The building groaned.

Walls shuddered and shifted.

A massive crack split the rooftop from one end to the other.

The water poured through the fissure like a breaking dam.

They had seconds.

Zhu Zheng grabbed his family’s hands.

"Hold tight! We jump!"

They leapt toward the water tank structure,the only refuge on the rooftop,but the flood’s force caught them midair.

Meilin’s scream was torn away.

Zhu Zheng hit the water first.

Cold, dirty, relentless.

He struggled to reach the tank but the current whipped him away.

Lili’s terrified cries echoed in the chaos.

He saw Meilin dragged under the water.

He tried to grab her but the flood slammed him against the rooftop edge.

The last thing Zhu Zheng saw was Lili’s small hand slipping from his grasp, reaching for him as the water swallowed them whole.

The flood rushed in like a living nightmare, pulling at them with furious strength.

Zhu Zheng’s heart pounded, not with fear, but with a desperate, burning need to protect his family.

"I should have moved us earlier... I failed you," he thought, choking on the cold water that filled his lungs.

"But I won’t let go. I’ll hold on to you both... no matter what."

He saw Meilin slip, saw Lili’s hand reach for him, so small, trembling.

"Lili, don’t let go, please..."

His fingers grasped at empty space as the current yanked her away.

"Stay alive. Somehow, stay alive..." freēwēbnovel.com

Meilin struggled to breathe, the water closing in fast.

Her mind spun with flashes of laughter from better days, birthdays, quiet nights, the sound of Lili’s giggle.

"I have to be strong. For them."

She fought the flood with every ounce of strength, her fingers clutching at Zhu Zheng’s arm.

"Don’t leave me... Please."

But the water’s grip tightened.

In that moment, she thought of Lili’s face, so small, so scared.

"My sweet girl... I’m sorry."

A sob caught in her throat as she sank deeper.

Lili’s wide eyes filled with terror.

The sky was a blur above, the world turned upside down by water and chaos.

"Papa! Mama!" she screamed, her voice swallowed by the roaring flood.

Her tiny hands reached, grasped, but the current was stronger than her.

Her last thought was a wish, to be safe again.

A single tear slipped from her closed eyes as the water pulled her under.

Lingquan’s voice was barely above a whisper as he stood beside Qingran, his eyes scanning the flickering screen that tracked the zones.

"Two thousand eight hundred and seventy-three souls lost in the flood across C-zone alone.." he said slowly, each number sinking like a stone in the silence.

Qingran’s knees touched the cold concrete floor without a sound. The gesture was ancient, humble, a raw offering of respect. She bowed deeply, her forehead touching the ground.

The others nearby paused, watching her. Then one by one, quietly, respectfully, they too lowered themselves to the earth.

The room fell into reverent stillness.

Lingquan began to speak again, his voice steady, clear, echoing the gravity of loss.

"To those who clung to hope while the floodwaters rose"

"To the hands that reached for safety but found only cold"

"To the hearts that beat their last in a world drowning in loss"

"To the souls who slipped beneath the waves before we could save them."

"We mourn you."

"We hold your memory tenderly, a fragile flame against the darkness."

"Though the flood took you from us, you are not forgotten."

"May you find peace beyond the storm"

"Where the waters calm and the sun shines gently on your rest."

A soft, collective exhale passed through the group. Tears glistened, unspoken prayers hung heavy in the air.

Qingran rose slowly, voice steady but filled with aching hope.

"We carry your stories with us. In every breath, in every step forward."

"We honor you."

"And we vow to live, so your sacrifices were not in vain."

Qingran sighed, the lives that were taken, what was the point of this whole this apocalypse?

Was it a scheme to regulate census?

How cruel...

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