Soon, they arrived in front of the residential building.

On one of the speedboats, a man stood up, holding a megaphone and shouting towards the boats behind him:

“Everyone, gather here.”

One by one, the small boats stopped in front of the residential building and lined up.

At that moment, Lin Chu heard a faint sound of movement underwater.

She raised an eyebrow, looked up, and saw, under the murky water, a large black figure quickly swimming towards the boats.

The big black fish had already caught the scent of fresh prey and couldn’t resist.

Just as the big black fish was about to reach the speedboat at the front, the cries of the two brothers finally sounded.

“Mayor Li, be careful!”

Lin Chu smirked and gave a light laugh.

At the same time, the big black fish emerged from the water, leaping up to bite the man holding the megaphone, pulling him off the boat.

“Assistant Wu!”

A cry of alarm came from the crowd.

“Where is the security team? Hurry up!”

Soon, two men steering speedboats stood up, each holding a spear about two and a half meters long.

Lin Chu could tell from their movements that they were no strangers to underwater battles.

The spear soon struck the big black fish’s back.

The fish, dragging black-red blood, retreated.

Assistant Wu was pulled out of the water. His body was covered in wounds from the big black fish’s bites, his gold-rimmed glasses shattered, his clothes torn in several places, and one of his shoes was missing. He looked disheveled.

A well-dressed man nearby stood up and moved aside to give his seat. Assistant Wu was helped by two members of the security team and laid on the seat.

The crowd was whispering in fear, and Lin Chu heard some people talking about going back to the small hill, feeling that this place was too unsafe.

“Everyone, don’t panic. The security team has driven off the black fish. It is safe now.”

The well-dressed man took the megaphone that Assistant Wu had been holding earlier.

The megaphone, which had fallen on the boat before Assistant Wu fell into the water, was still intact, and the voice remained loud and clear.

“Mayor Li, this is not up to you. That big black fish was so aggressive; we all saw it.”

“Yes, yes! The fish bit Assistant Wu. Look, he still hasn’t woken up.”

“The security team only injured the fish, they didn’t kill it. Who knows if it will come back in a few days when it’s healed.”

“Yeah, Mayor, why don’t you let us go back? If you could free up a few villas, we’d all be happy to move in.”

…

The crowd spoke in a cacophony.

Mayor Li, with his back to Lin Chu, remained silent for a moment before speaking.

“If you want to go back, you can…”

Before he finished his sentence, someone in the crowd was already delighted.

He paused, waiting for the laughter to stop, then continued, “But you’ll only be able to go back to your original tents. If anyone tells me they don’t want to stay in tents, I won’t make any more arrangements for them.”

“Opportunity, only this once.”

“Stay or leave, it’s up to you.”

Those who had been eager to leave became silent.

In the end, only two boats left.

The rest of the people didn’t want to go back to living in tents, where they would be exposed to the elements every time it rained heavily.

They still wanted to return to the buildings, even though the buildings were messy and dirty and the big black fish might still be lurking outside. But that was still better than living in tents.

Since Assistant Wu was injured, Mayor Li took charge and began assigning rooms to everyone.

Lin Chu stood behind the window, watching him and the security team members escorting the survivors to their respective apartments.

It seemed that the survivors were sharing rooms.

In a three-bedroom apartment with an attic, up to six people could live there.

Lin Chu carefully observed. For individuals, the rooms were divided so that each person stayed in their own room, and the attic could accommodate two people.

Sometimes, a child would be added to the mix.

If a family had more than four members, they would be given their own apartment.

This was the most enviable situation.

After all, no one wanted to share a room with strangers.

But there was no choice. Since the flood had erupted, many people had lost contact with their families.

Most of the people here were孤家寡人 (lone souls).

Since Lin Chu’s apartment was located in the rear section of the residential building, she waited for over two hours before her building was reached.

Just as the security team was about to open her window, Lin Chu preemptively pulled it open.

“Hello, what is it?”

Her calm demeanor stunned the security team member who was about to open the window.

He pulled his hand back and stared wide-eyed at the woman who had suddenly appeared at the window.

Though her clothes weren’t new, they were neat, and her short hair fell over her shoulders, giving her a professional, capable air.

She didn’t look like one of the survivors from their base.

The people waiting to enter behind him were also startled.

“What’s going on here? How is there someone here?”

“Who are you? I’ve never seen you before. Where did you come from?”

“Shut up!”

The leader of the security team snapped at them.

The others reluctantly fell silent.

“Hello, I’m Wang Rui from the security team of the Qishan Survivor Base.”

“Hello, Lin Chu.”

Upon hearing Lin Chu introduce herself, Wang Rui’s impression of her improved. He patiently explained:

“We’re currently resettling the survivors from our base. As you can see, the water level has receded, and the sixth floor is now habitable. We can’t fit all the survivors on the small hill.”

“To improve everyone’s living conditions, we are moving them into these apartments.”

Lin Chu nodded and then looked at him as if asking: What next?

Then…

Then came the part where Lin Chu was asked to vacate the apartment.

But Wang Rui couldn’t bring himself to say it.

From the gap in Lin Chu’s mind, he had already seen what was behind her.

This apartment was nothing like the others he had helped resettle people into, which were full of mud and filth.

This apartment, except for the walls being yellowed and unable to be cleaned due to the water, had been thoroughly cleaned.

Clearly, this woman had cleaned the place.

Now, asking her to vacate it, wasn’t that…

A bit like robbery?

Wang Rui, who had always worked with the mayor, had never done such a thing. He hesitated, not knowing what to do, and decided to call Mayor Li over.

Mayor Li soon arrived by speedboat.

When he saw Lin Chu, he was momentarily stunned but quickly smiled.

“Madam, may I ask your name?”

“Lin Chu.”

“When did you arrive here?”

“Before the heavy rain the night before yesterday.”

Before the heavy rain the night before yesterday, the water level had already dropped to the current level, so it was indeed very possible that she had arrived then.

Mayor Li nodded, then asked, “This place is unoccupied, but our survivor base is nearby. Why didn’t you go there to settle?”

Lin Chu raised an eyebrow, looking at him in confusion.

“If there are habitable places here, why should I go live in your tents?”

This question stumped Mayor Li.