Chapter 15: The First Signs of the Apocalypse

The kindness shared between women is often heartfelt. When caught unprepared during their period, many women will instinctively ask others for a sanitary pad, and if someone has one, it’s usually given without hesitation.

But some people exploit that kindness to harm others.

Just after Zhou Qiuyang passed on the situation to Sun Qing and her roommates, Qin Yali showed up at their door.

Same story, same excuse.

Sun Qing didn’t agree to let her in, but as a fellow woman, she couldn’t bear the thought of Qin Yali bleeding through her clothes. So she slid a few sanitary pads through the crack under the door.

The moment they were passed through, the front door was violently rammed. Someone was trying to force it open. Sun Qing and Ye Xiaojie quickly dragged the sofa and a table over to brace it shut.

Sun Qing was furious. That kind of manipulation was impossible to guard against.

…

In the second half of the night, Xia Xiaoman didn’t dare sleep, nor did she do any intense physical training to drain her energy.

With how fast the floodwaters were rising, it wouldn’t be long before the 6th-floor residents would come rushing upstairs.

The 8th floor had installed a metal gate at the stairway, meaning everyone would flood into the 7th-floor hallway.

At that point, residents would either try to force their way into 7th-floor apartments or break down the barrier to the 8th floor.

Either way, Xia Xiaoman did stretches and prepared herself physically, so she could react quickly in case of an emergency.

Outside, the wind howled, the glass windows on the balcony shook violently, and the escape window in the security grille creaked so much it felt like the entire building was trembling.

BANG—

A loud crash startled Xia Xiaoman.

It came from the balcony. As she moved to check, another loud BANG followed.

In the darkness, something slammed into the balcony. One of the window panes shattered, shards of glass scattered everywhere, and a strong gust blew in through the hole, whipping Xia Xiaoman’s hair into the air.

She stood frozen for a moment, then cautiously approached the balcony.

The outermost security grille had a massive dent. One of the glass windows was completely broken, and rain was pouring in through the opening.

Looking at the fragile window barely holding on, she paused for two seconds, then smashed the rest of the windows herself.

Better to break them now than risk being cut by glass later.

Suddenly, a light turned on in an apartment across the street.

Xia Xiaoman wondered who had enough supplies to be turning on lights at a time like this—until she noticed something strange.

Three short flashes, three long, three short—SOS, the international distress signal.

She squinted, trying to see what was happening across the street, but the darkness and heavy rain created a curtain she couldn’t see through.

She dug through her space and pulled out a binocular.

It wasn’t professional-grade—just something she found in an outdoor supply store—but good enough to see what was going on in the building opposite.

The person signaling had a flashlight but stood in the shadows, so she couldn’t make out their face.

Suddenly, the person jerked their head around, seemingly startled by something behind them, and then violently swung their flashlight at someone.

Through the binoculars, Xia Xiaoman saw two figures struggling. Soon, one was overpowered and thrown out the window, vanishing instantly into the flood below.

The attacker shined the flashlight around briefly, then quickly shut the window and turned off the lights.

Xia Xiaoman had just witnessed a murder.

Her sense of alertness shot up. She camped by her own door, on high alert, listening for any activity outside that might signal danger.

…

Time slowly passed. The pitch-black sky began to fade into a pale grey, though wind and rain still lashed the world, occasionally punctuated by terrifying thunder.

Xia Xiaoman had never seen this much rain. She couldn’t help thinking of the students she’d seen online last week, cheering about school being canceled. Were they still cheering now?

“Ahhh! Murder! He killed someone!!”

A scream of terror pierced through the walls. Xia Xiaoman quickly pulled the heavy furniture from the door and pressed her eye to the peephole.

“You bitch, shut up! Keep screaming and I’ll kill you next!”

In the dim hallway, a burly man grabbed a woman by her collar and slapped her hard across the face.

The others in the corridor shrank back, too scared to speak up.

Another man, bald, was dragging a corpse toward the far end of the hallway—just out of Xia Xiaoman’s view. She guessed he was planning to dump the body out the window.

When the bald man came back for a second body, Xia Xiaoman realized the dead were actually rescue workers—the same ones who had distributed supplies just two days ago.

Once the bodies were taken care of, the burly man and his accomplice split the hoarded supplies between them.

The brute tore open a packet of instant noodles, bit off a chunk of the dry block, and scanned the hallway full of people.

“Hey, you guys wanna live?”

The people exchanged nervous glances, not sure how to respond.

The brute continued, “The water’s already halfway up the fifth floor. I’m guessing it’ll reach the seventh floor by tomorrow or the next day.”

“We’re trapped here. If we don’t find a way out, we’re all gonna drown.”

“If you don’t wanna die, then help me break through that metal gate on the 8th floor. We’ll take shelter up there together.”

“But if you don’t help…” he added, his tone chilling, “I’ll send you to hell right now.”

His eyes swept over them with threatening intensity.

A few timid folks who had wanted to say “let’s wait” swallowed their words.

Xia Xiaoman, ear pressed to the door, heard every word clearly.

Just as she let out a breath—

A male voice rang out, “Bro, what about the three apartments here on the 7th floor?”

“701 and 704 have college girls—my girlfriend’s classmates. Pretty, sweet, clean types. Plus they’ve got a kayak and tons of food…”

Xia Xiaoman shifted angles to get a better view and finally saw the speaker—Qin Yali’s boyfriend.

He whispered to the brute for a long time, while Qin Yali chimed in. The brute’s expression slowly twisted into greed.

Xia Xiaoman cursed them both a thousand times in her mind.

She pulled every heavy object from her space to reinforce her door, then ran to the balcony and began beating on 703’s security grille with a stick.

Zhou Qiuyang appeared. Xia Xiaoman shouted urgently, telling him to warn Sun Qing and the others to guard their door—now.

Back inside, a thunderous banging started.

The furniture at her door was slowly being pushed back with each blow.

Xia Xiaoman grabbed her watermelon knife, crouched beside the door, and waited patiently.

This time was different. They were determined to get in. They kept slamming for five or six minutes straight.

Clack—the lock started to loosen.

Xia Xiaoman shifted to the wall, watching intently.

Bang! The door cracked open, leaving a gap about the width of a thumb.

She counted silently. As the next blow landed, she sliced her knife through the gap.

“AAAHH!! MY HAND!!”

Blood sprayed the door. The man who had led the charge had a huge chunk of flesh sliced off his left arm.

The people behind him were horrified and stumbled backward in panic.