They could have evacuated earlier, but their blind confidence convinced them otherwise. After all, that region was the most water-scarce in the world; it seemed impossible that it could flood. Yet, just a few days later, it did.
If other places had disappeared quietly without causing much of a stir, Africa was definitely a disaster zone. Now that everyone had just settled down again, with nothing much to do all day, they constantly refreshed news feeds and social media.
Every day, reports detailed how much various places had flooded. However, casualties in Huaxia were not severe. Except for some people who drowned on the day the floodwaters arrived, other losses were relatively minor.
The government hadn’t tallied how many people had disappeared. However, according to high-level big data analysis, about 2,000,000 people had vanished across Huaxia on that day. This included tens of thousands from Wu City, among them those who had been unwilling to evacuate from high-rise buildings at night.
Considering Huaxia’s baseline of 20,000 deaths daily and a newborn every two seconds on average, its mortality rate in such a massive disaster was relatively low. Japan suffered a 95% mortality rate, Africa around 60%, and other regions approximately 20%.
Of course, the birth rate had also significantly decreased. Among the tens of thousands of residents in the Banana District, there were only a few dozen pregnant women—a hundredfold decrease compared to before the apocalypse. This was linked to malnutrition, reduced sexual activity, and anxieties about successfully giving birth during the apocalypse.
Speaking of which, Zhang Bingbing was also about to give birth. It was uncertain if she could deliver safely under these apocalyptic conditions. Although the apocalyptic government provided maximum support to pregnant women—and they could still go to the hospital a short while ago—the hospital was now flooded. It would take at least a week for it to recover. One could only hope Zhang Bingbing could hold out until then.
The floods had only been raging for a little over a week, yet most people had already transitioned from panic to numb acceptance. One had to marvel at human adaptability.
Half of the news coverage was dedicated to how dire the situation in Africa was and how outdated their policies were. It also mentioned that Huaxia had evacuated over 3,000 volunteers from various parts of the world.
"In the face of national disaster, we must first defend our homeland. Secondly, the country must also safeguard its volunteers. Until the end of the apocalypse, Huaxia will no longer dispatch volunteers. However, for the sake of Friend Countries, Huaxia is willing to a limited amount of food."
This profoundly demonstrated that the lives of the Huaxia people were paramount, a sentiment enthusiastically applauded by the citizens.
The latter half of the news reported on organized and orderly post-disaster reconstruction efforts across various regions. To Jing Shu’s surprise, there was a segment featuring various peculiar rescue incidents.
Among them, a Douyin video clip of the Shark Submarine rescuing a thousand people was included. Although it was only a short ten-second segment, it was enough to thrill Jing Shu’s entire family.
"Amazing! My daughter made it onto the news!"
"She really did make it onto the news!"
"Isn’t that our family’s Shark Submarine?"
The news had the entire family excited and laughing. Jing Shu also smiled happily. This scene of the family gathered for a meal, living together in a warm, cozy villa, is truly wonderful.
Even in her classmate group chat on her phone, everyone was tagging Jing Shu, exclaiming how awesome she was.
But Jing Shu still told everyone, "You all need to keep this as secret as possible, otherwise, I’ll be in big trouble."
Still another day overflowing with troubles!
That evening, Jing Shu took out the hotpot ingredients from her space to make herself an extra meal. Initially, she only planned to eat some of her stockpiled food. But then she craved fresh vegetables, then some fish and shrimp, and finally, she yearned for grilled oysters and scallops with vermicelli. Alright, I’ll just make everything then, she decided. Consider it a reward for my troubled heart today.
Jing Shu didn’t idle. While eating, she tended to the two snakes in her space and discovered they were often engaged in some... amorous activities, almost twenty-four hours a day. COUGH, COUGH.
She also modified the bulletproof vest, helmet, and gas mask she had taken from the warehouse earlier that day. Her current solution was to wipe off the original logos and sew another layer of material over them.
By the time Jing Shu finished tending to the Domestic Poultry, fish, and shrimp in her space, and had inspected the condition of her fields, it was already 2:00 a.m.
Can I finally get a good night’s sleep tonight? Jing Shu thought blissfully.
Ugh, Jing Shu didn’t know what sins she had committed in a past life. She just wanted a good, undisturbed night’s sleep! Was that really so difficult?
At 4:00 a.m., Wu You’ai pushed the door open and came in. Just as Wu You’ai hesitated, wondering whether to wake Jing Shu, Jing Shu’s murderous eyes were already fixed on her.
Wu You’ai acquired: Death Glare x1.
Due to habits from her past life, Jing Shu would awaken at the slightest sound. This was even more true in this life after drinking the Spiritual Spring water; her hearing had become incredibly sharp.
She had heard someone approaching the door. Just as she was inwardly screaming, Don’t open it! Don’t come looking for me! Wu You’ai pushed the door open.
"Speak," Jing Shu said, sporting dark circles under her eyes. Damn it, I only got two hours of sleep!
"Zhang Bingbing’s water broke! It looks like she’s about to give birth! What do we do? There’s no Doctor around. And hey, why does your room smell so strongly of hotpot?" Wu You’ai was at a loss. Unbeknownst to her when it started, Jing Shu had become the pillar of their household; whenever something came up, they sought her out, confident she could handle it.
But childbirth... Jing Shu was truly inexperienced in that area. It was only a few hours ago that I was thinking about Zhang Bingbing’s delivery, and I didn’t expect her to go into labor so soon!
"That’s just you craving hotpot; we’ll have it tomorrow. We need to boil water, right? Get scissors?" Get full chapters from NoveI[F]ire.net
"Okay! Deep breath, exhale... Deep breath, exhale... That’s how it goes, right? I heard the cervix has to dilate one finger-width at a time, and she can only give birth after it’s ten finger-widths open?"
As Jing Shu carefully dressed, she said, "She probably won’t give birth for another day or two. Let’s go check on the situation first. If things look bad, I’ll find someone. After all, this will be the first baby born in our Banana District since the apocalypse began."
Jing Shu and Wu You’ai, wearing heavy clothes, left the house, taking scissors with them. On the way, they discussed how to handle the delivery and actively researched the topic.
They wouldn’t have known if they hadn’t looked, but one look shocked them. Giving birth is terrifying!
"If she can’t deliver, we’d have to... make an incision there? HISS! That’s horrifying!"
"Remember in ’The Walking Dead,’ when the main character’s wife gave birth? She’d been bitten by a zombie, so they had to cut the baby out directly. If the mother can’t be saved, should we do that too?" Wu You’ai’s imagination ran wild.
"A C-section, you mean? Zhang Bingbing’s situation isn’t that dire. We’ll give her some anesthesia and then take the baby out."
"Good idea! Everyone, make way, let me handle the dissection and baby extraction! Oh, right, should we gather some experienced mothers? We’re both just young, unmarried women, after all... COUGH, COUGH."
Wu You’ai always found it a bit strange, but the moment dissection was mentioned, especially extracting a baby, her interest piqued. "I heard that for every new baby, the pregnant woman receives 100 Virtual Coins, and the administrator gets 10 Virtual Coins. Those 10 Virtual Coins can be my surgery fee. What do you think?"