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71.73% Solar Storm / Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Collapsing Cities

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Collapsing Cities

So they locked the door and asked Negen to go and take care of the house. Everyone gathered at Regus' house. Ike, Tom, and Regus dressed neatly walked out. Bringing their backpack, EDC emergency supplies, and weapons out of the house.

When they were going out, they met Lu Wei and his son Ralph. Ralph was wearing a duck tongue hat with two or three layers of transparent plastic bags inside.

 His expression was cold and stern, and he remained silent. Lu Wei's wife was wrapped in a transparent raincoat and had a slender figure. Lu Wei himself was holding an umbrella and putting several layers of plastic bags over his head to keep out the rain. He was wearing a pair of old blue slippers and rolled up his pants very high.

"A lot of people have gone, we need to hurry up, we'll be robbed if we're late," Ike said.

 Since Ike sent a thousand yuan to the Luwei family and shared some of the supplies found during each dive, Luwei has come closer to Ike's camp.

After contact, it was discovered that Lu Wei was actually a very measured person. No matter how many supplies are given to him, he never asks for more.

Give it to him and he will keep it. The gratitude overflowed on his surface, and occasionally he could catch fish. But I don't know where he caught it. There are freshwater fish and other fish, and he will bring them to Ike and his team.

Thanks to his blessing, Ike and his team had several meals of fresh fish.

"Okay, before we leave, let's talk about a few points," Regus said. "Our primary task is personal safety, followed by the search for supplies."

"Of course," Lu Wei nodded. Everyone closed the door and set off.

Negan and Nami, along with others, moved a marble dining table indoors and barricaded the entrance. This area had become increasingly disorderly, so they needed to exercise caution.

The streets overflowed with people, merging into the crowds on the road. The last time so many people had ventured onto the streets was during the government's distribution of rescue supplies.

 Both occasions involved going out, but their purposes were entirely different. There used to be hope, but now only a glimmer of hope remains, intertwined with despair, distorting everyone's mood.

There were other differences from the last time. Back then, the crowd was mostly scattered, lacking any organized formation, with occasional chatter and noise.

This time, small groups clung together, maintaining a cautious distance from each other. People remained silent, avoiding conversation, with only the sounds of rain, wind, and hurried footsteps filling the air.

Nearly all the food and beverage-related shops on both sides of the street had shut down. Even restaurants, fast-food joints, and milk tea shops had succumbed to the situation.

After all, for those on the brink of starvation, any frozen food left in restaurant fridges was a valuable resource to appease their hunger.

The crowd gathered at the nearest shopping center in the vicinity. As they approached, the tightly-knit groups rushed in, the urgency of their need apparent. Other small stores that should have been looted already had been, while many unlooted ones belonged to large chain stores.

The government had deployed armed forces to maintain order at shopping mall entrances, preventing such incidents.

 However, with a gunshot echoing in the early hours of the previous night, even these last remaining enforcers had faltered.

 It was unclear who fired the first shot, but for those currently rushing to secure supplies, it might have felt like a stroke of luck.

A group of five people entered the mall. This was a massive shopping complex with clothing stores, jewelry shops, decorations, toy stores, and more on the first floor.

The second floor housed a large affordable chain supermarket, while the third floor offered electrical and electronic products.

 The fourth floor hosted a cinema and video game arcade.

Ike and his group's current objective was the first floor, where they urgently needed clothing. If not for a piece of clothing that happened to dry today, they would have been forced to resort to women's clothing again.

As the crowd streamed into the mall through the shattered entrance, the ground was littered with glass shards, debris, mud, and stains—a testament to previous visits.

The dirty and chaotic environment inside suggested that this wasn't the first time the mall had been looted. Ike and Lu Wei had different goals this time. Ike's family lacked clothing but had an adequate food supply, while Lu Wei had enough food but was keen to stock up further.

Ike explained, "Let's meet back here after counting to 1000. Don't delay."

Lu Wei, who had never accompanied Ike's group before, was uncertain about the rules. Tom demonstrated the counting speed for them, showing how to count to 1000 within approximately 20 minutes, slightly slower than a watch's pace.

Finally understanding, Lu Wei decided to follow suit. "We should split up," he suggested.

Ike agreed, "We'll gather clothes on the first floor and leave promptly. Make sure to be quick and avoid causing any trouble."

"Alright," Lu Wei replied, grasping the plan. Ike and the three others didn't require more food, it seemed, as they weren't heading to the second-floor affordable shopping mall for supplies.

As Lu Wei separated from the group with his son Ralph, he swiftly made his way to the second floor of the mall.

As the middle-aged man, known for his "tortoise-speed," moved quickly through the crowd, his progress seemed reminiscent of a clumsy penguin.

Ike, Tom, and Regus, on the other hand, proceeded to the first floor. This level contained high-value items like gold jewelry, decorative accessories, cosmetics counters, and branded clothing stores, among others.

Upon entering, many people made a beeline for the gold jewelry counters, armed with tools such as hammers and large wrenches.

Their aggressive demeanor suggested premeditated intentions. Breaking the glass of the jewelry counters was no easy feat.

As Ike and his group entered and began counting to 1000, the crowd continued their attempts to breach the counters.

 However, even by the time Lu Wei's group had emptied their contents and departed, the counters remained unbroken.

The first floor's clothing stores mainly catered to women, but in the current situation, practicality trumped fashion. Ike's attire was dirty and malodorous, making women's clothing a better option than damp and foul-smelling clothes.

As long as they focused on selecting pants, T-shirts, coats, and other items, and avoided the likes of ultra-short skirts and strapless dresses, they would blend in with minimal discord.

 The mall was packed with people, and as long as they didn't compete aggressively, the crowd's attention was firmly fixed on acquiring necessities, ensuring a relatively safe environment without major obstacles.

Time passed, yet Lu Wei's group had not returned. "Why are they taking so long?" Regus wondered aloud.

"Perhaps they're counting too slowly," Tom speculated. However, their conversation was abruptly interrupted by a deafening gunshot that resounded from within the mall.

Instantaneously, a chaotic mass of people surged outward, fleeing in every direction.

Without needing to guess, it was clear that something had gone terribly wrong inside the mall. Last night's gunshot had shattered the "calm" that had lingered since the power outage, and this new shot extinguished any lingering hope the city held. Collapse seemed imminent.

From the expressions of panic, and confusion, and the way people looked around, Ike deduced that many of them had run out due to crowd inertia and had no idea what had happened inside the mall.

Since the power outage, Ike had been working on improving his survival skills, which included remaining calm in the face of chaos and trying to gather useful information from the outside world. By observing people's facial expressions and body language, Ike quickly identified someone who seemed to be an eyewitness.

With a soothing tone, he asked, "What's going on inside?" This approach was designed to encourage the person to open up and share information willingly.

"Killing... they are killing people!" The man, out of breath from running, struggled to articulate what he had witnessed.

"Who's killing people?" Ike asked gently, trying to extract more details.

"It's a group of men in black uniforms... they have guns, and they're killing anyone they see. The mall is covered in blood."

 The man's words were fragmented, but Ike managed to piece together the information.

It appeared that a group of armed men in black had gone on a killing spree in the discount shopping mall on the second floor.

 The leader of this group was the same man who had fired a gunshot the previous night. The rest of the group, while lacking firearms, were armed with various weapons, such as knives, iron bars, hammers, and kitchen knives, which they used to terrorize the trapped shoppers inside the mall.

Realizing the dire situation, the man speaking to Ike had managed to escape, but many others remained trapped.

 Ike couldn't help but worry about Lu wei and his son. Were they among those who were trapped inside the mall?


Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Paradise for Chaotic Criminals

Deciding they needed to take action, Ike and his companions positioned themselves in a higher location, watching the faces of people emerging from the mall's exit, hoping to spot Lu wei and his son. They anxiously scanned the crowd, hoping for a reassuring sight.

But as the crowd dispersed, they saw no sign of Lu wei or his son. Tom began to wonder if they had already returned home, possibly missing the chaos.

Suddenly, gunshots rang out from within the mall, and panic erupted as people rushed to escape. Ike and his companions watched in horror as the chaos unfolded. They realized they couldn't wait any longer – they had to take action to find Lu wei and his son.

Ike asked the others, "What should we do?"

Tom was at a loss for words, not knowing what to do next.

Ike hadn't spoken yet when Regus interrupted, saying, "We can't leave them behind."

Though it sounded more like a statement than a suggestion, it conveyed Regus's determination. Ike understood that Regus believed they had a moral obligation to rescue Lu Wei and his son, no matter the risks.

Their ideas differed, but each was firm in their own conviction. For now, they decided to investigate the situation inside the mall and assess the circumstances before making any decisions.

Moving quickly toward the shopping mall, they sneaked into the large discount supermarket on the second floor, hoping to find any trace of Lu wei and his son.

As they approached the mall entrance, they spotted two men in black uniforms with machetes guarding it vigilantly. The mall had at least one entrance and one exit, but both were now guarded.

They couldn't determine what was happening inside.

Ike whispered, "This type of supermarket usually has an employee entrance. Let's try to find it."

Finding an employee entrance would be a challenge, as none of them had experience of such situations. Nevertheless, luck seemed to be on their side. They reached the back of the mall and discovered a fire escape near a freight elevator.

 Using the fire escape, they accessed a small entrance that led to the supermarket's warehouse – a place not guarded by the men in black.

Emerging from the warehouse, they found themselves on the supermarket's first floor. From there, they hoped to locate another entrance to the supermarket's second floor, where Lu wei and his son might be.

However, the warehouse was unique in that it formed a barrier encircling the supermarket. The warehouse had a connecting door, but it was wrapped around the supermarket, making it difficult to access the second floor.

Through a vent above the warehouse, Ike managed to catch a glimpse of the scene inside the supermarket. They saw empty shelves and a small platform where approximately fifty people were trapped.

Around them stood more than twenty men in black with various weapons, inclding knives, wearing black t-shirts. It was a dire situation.

Maybe Lu wei and Ralph were among the trapped individuals. In front of them, several lifeless bodies lay on the floor, victims of the violence.

The man in black who led the group was dancing, wielding a gun in one hand and an axe in the other.

Action Art, as he seemed to be called, was orchestrating a macabre performance. The scene was surreal, as if imitating a martial arts master, but the bloodshed was all too real.

Action Art appeared to take pleasure in tormenting his victims.

Ike suspected that this situation might have been orchestrated by Action Art himself. He had a feeling that the violence inside the mall was part of a plan to lure people inside and then trap them.

The situation inside the mall grew increasingly chaotic. The trapped individuals made an attempt to break free, but the men in black fought back viciously. In the midst of the chaos, gunshots rang out, marking the city's first incident of armed violence.

Ike, Tom, and Regus, hidden in the warehouse, waited anxiously. They realized that they had entered a cruel and lawless era, one that was not recorded in history.

As the violence continued outside, they overheard Action Art engaging in a sinister game with one of the trapped individuals.

 The man was subjected to gruesome torture as he attempted to answer Action Art's bizarre questions about fruit preferences.

Gunshots and chaos ensued outside, and Ike, realizing that they could not stay hidden forever, decided they needed to leave and search for Lu wei and his son.

Stepping out of the warehouse, they found themselves in a city still drenched by heavy rain. Amid the gloom, they passed by an intersection and spotted Ralph sitting alone on the steps. Ike's heart sank as he wondered if something had happened to Lu wei .

Ike and three others hurriedly approached, and Regus hesitated before asking, "Where is your father?" Ralph, wearing a black cap, sat on the steps beside a waterfall, staring ahead with an emotionless expression that immediately weighed down the mood of the three.

"Go back for now," Ralph said. The three sighed in relief.

But what was he doing sitting here alone?

Water sprayed, drenching Ralph's clothes. Ike noticed Ralph's raincoat, stained with uncleaned blood, and turned to Regus .

"Go back and put everything down, then come back out. We should grab some supplies before things get messier today. They might not be available in a day or two."

Ike handed them his backpack.

Regus didn't hesitate; he considered Ike a thoughtful and composed person, believing that Ike had valid reasons for his actions.

Tom glanced hesitantly at Ike and Ralph before leaving with Regus.

After watching them disappear into the rain, Ike followed the water's path on the ground, tracing it back to its source. In a narrow alleyway, at a corner, a twisted figure lay there.

The figure, the scratched hands, and the bruised face brought back forgotten memories for Ike. He and Ralph had been very young then.

They had gone to Lu Wei's house across the street to play games, the same house now rented by Regus's family.

He remembered that once, in the middle of a game, he couldn't find Ralph. Lu Wei's house was like a palace to a young boy, with many rooms. He opened one door after another, searching in vain for Ralph.

Later, he heard Ralph crying, but it sounded more like a struggle.

He approached the door and listened. Just as he caught a hint of what was happening, the door suddenly swung open, and Lu Wei appeared, smiling.

"Uncle Lu Wei! What are you doing here?" Young Ike always admired older people who were generous, kind, and funny.

"We're playing a game. Want to join?" Lu Wei asked. "What kind of game?" Young Ike inquired.

Young Ike was about to enter when he heard Ralph's voice from outside. "Ike."

Ralph, wearing a white T-shirt and holding a bag of potato chips, had red and swollen eyes as if he'd been crying.

Ike was instantly drawn to Ralph.

After Lu Wei gave Ike a bag of potato chips, Ike left the room. Later, he remembered that he had forgotten to say goodbye, and he felt rude for several days. Perhaps Uncle Lu Wei wouldn't like him anymore.

He couldn't recall what happened afterward. Several years later, Lu Wei moved away, and the house remained vacant for years until it was rented to Regus's family.

Lu Wei didn't open a convenience store until they moved to Negan. Next door, Negan had a son named Tom, about the same age as Ike. Gradually, Ike drifted away from Ralph, who was becoming more and more distant.

Many years later, he overheard that things had gotten messy back then, and Lu Wei had lost his job and moved away from the area.

In hindsight, Ike realized that there were dark secrets hidden beneath his seemingly happy childhood. Yet, his relationship with Ralph had grown distant, making it impossible for either of them to turn back time.

Returning to the present, Ike sat on the steps outside Grace's door. No one spoke, only the sound of raindrops falling on the wet earth filled the air.

A gust of wind carried rain, splashing into a muddy puddle. It flowed down the river, deeper into the fields, where debris swirled in the murky water, disappearing into an unknown abyss, never to see the light of day again.

All were innocent. The heavy rain had created this vast puddle, and the debris, devoid of eyes, hands, or feet, had no choice but to follow the water's inertia.

In this puddle, they were all equal, irrespective of their nobility or lowliness.

Inequality disappeared here, and all shared the same fate—swept away by the current, heading for an abyss from which there was no return.

Regus and Tom returned with empty backpacks. As Ike had predicted, once the established social order broke down, notions of law and morality held no sway. People rushed to claim all visible resources in the city, grabbing what they could before others could react.

 Ike and his group weren't short on food, as they had found plenty submerged in the water.


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