SWDnovel Chapter 79 Flood Peak 2
Chapter 79 Flood Peak 2
Xu Mo stood on the wet floor of the third floor, the beam of his flashlight sweeping across the scene of devastation. The murky floodwaters had receded, leaving behind a layer of silt and some unrecognizable debris, and a strange, earthy smell filled the air.
He didn't let his guard down. Although the roar of the floodwaters had subsided, it hadn't completely disappeared; the muffled, continuous rumble of the water still echoed in the distance. Xu Mo knew that floods rarely passed in a single wave; the massive volume of water upstream could very well create several consecutive flood peaks.
"This is just the first wave that's passed..." Xu Mo muttered to himself.
He walked to the window and shone his flashlight outside. Although the water level had dropped somewhat from the peak of the flood, it still submerged most of the second floor. The entire town of Qingsongling seemed to have become a murky ocean, with only the rooftops of a few high-rise buildings and the canopies of tenacious trees still above the water, like desolate islands.
Just now, when the flood peak passed by, Xu Mo clearly felt the three-story building tremble under the impact of the flood. Although the main structure withstood the first wave of impact, no one could guarantee how long it could hold out in the face of potentially stronger flood peaks later on.
You must prepare for the worst.
Xu Mo took a deep breath, his eyes sharpening again.
He climbed the stairs to the rooftop. Xu Mo walked to the edge of the roof and carefully examined the building's exterior walls and structural columns, but found no obvious cracks or deformations.
"It's safe for now, but we can't stay here for long." Xu Mo made the judgment that if the subsequent flood peak is powerful, it may even directly impact the upper part of the building.
Back on the staircase platform between the third floor and the rooftop, Xu Mo sat down against the wall and closed his eyes to rest, but his ears remained perked up, capturing every sound from the outside world: the sound of flowing water, the sound of wind, the occasional sound of collapsing building debris in the distance, and a faint, seemingly growing, rumbling.
Several more hours passed, and as dawn broke, the deep, rumbling sound, like the pulse of the earth, became clear again.
Xu Mo suddenly opened his eyes, stood up, and went back to the rooftop.
Through the morning light, Xu Mo could see the water in the distance advancing towards them at a visible speed, the sound of the water growing louder as it approached.
The second wave of flooding has arrived, and it seems to be even more ferocious than the first wave!
In almost a few breaths, the floodwaters rose again.
The murky water violently pounded against the town's buildings, and the stairwells that had been exposed when the water receded were instantly swallowed up again by the muddy water.
The main body of the second flood peak finally reached the town, and Xu Mo heard distant buildings groaning as if they were about to fall apart. It wasn't just the sound of flowing water, but more like the mournful cry of the building's skeleton under immense pressure.
Boom—!
A deep, thunderous roar, drowning out the howling floodwaters, came from not far away. Xu Mo looked up sharply and saw that about a hundred meters away, another four-story building, which was already teetering on the brink of collapse, was being ravaged by the floodwaters, as if its spine had been removed, and it collapsed with a crash. The massive walls shattered, sending up sprays of water and mud that filled the sky.
The collapse of this building seemed to instantly deplete some of the violent energy at the forefront of the flood. The water, which had been pushing forward like a wall, clearly became disordered and slowed down, as if a ferocious beast had been tripped up.
Boom! Boom!
As if in a chain reaction, several more muffled thuds were heard from various parts of the town, indicating that other houses with already fragile structures had followed suit under the continuous ravages of the flood.
"Damn it!" Xu Mo cursed inwardly, a chill running down his spine.
Given this situation, how long can this three-story building under my feet hold up? Although it looks more solid than those that have collapsed, who can guarantee that it won't be the next one to fall?
Xu Mo clenched his fists, the power of the Bullhide Realm surging within him, yet he felt a stifling sense of powerlessness. Faced with such overwhelming power, individual strength seemed so insignificant. He stared intently at the stairwell, watching the murky water steadily rise, level by level, swallowing the steps.
Level 7, Level 6, Level 5 – the water was already approaching the staircase platform where he had been resting.
Level 4!
The water surface stopped just four steps away from the platform!
Xu Mo held his breath.
The water level, which had been steadily rising, suddenly stopped and then began to fall back.
It didn't recede slowly, but rather, like the receding tide, it retreated rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The steps reappeared, one after another, covered in wet mud. The water that had rushed into the third-floor hallway lost its momentum and began to backflow down the stairs.
The water level is dropping rapidly.
Upon seeing this scene, Xu Mo's tense nerves suddenly relaxed. The clothes on his back, which had been soaked with cold sweat, clung to his skin, bringing a chilling sensation.
He knew that he, or the house, had survived once again.
The second wave of floodwaters ultimately failed to breach the building's last line of defense. The collapse of buildings in the distance may have, to some extent, dispersed and weakened the impact of the flood, giving him a glimmer of hope.
Xu Mo walked to the rooftop, looking at the still vast expanse of water, which had clearly lost its destructive power, his eyes filled with complex emotions. The crisis was temporarily averted, but the floodwaters had not receded, and the town remained a waterlogged landscape. No one knew whether a third or fourth wave of floods would follow.
A long-awaited, warm, golden-red ray of light pierced through the clouds in the east.
The sun has risen.
The anticipated third flood peak did not arrive.
Xu Mo stood on the rooftop. The morning light from the CD player dispelled the chill of the night and temporarily relieved the heavy sense of oppression in his heart. The water was much calmer now. Although it still submerged the second floor, the roaring and surging momentum had disappeared, leaving only a stagnant, slowly flowing murky yellow.
"Is the flood brewing an even greater impact? Or has the most dangerous phase passed?" Xu Mo couldn't be sure. The power of nature is unfathomable.
Xu Mo turned on the radio and tuned it to the broadcast frequency of the Jiangcheng Shelter.
"Sizzle... sizzle... splash..."
However, all that responded to Xu Mo was a chaotic electrical noise and intermittent signal pops. He tried several known active frequencies, but without exception, all of them resulted in complete silence; even the previous sporadic and chaotic distress signals had disappeared.
"The signal is lost..." Xu Mo frowned and put down the radio. This was not unexpected; a flood of this scale could very well have destroyed the shelter's signal relay station, or severe weather changes could have seriously interfered with the propagation of radio waves.
Since we cannot obtain information from the outside, we can only rely on our own observation.
Xu Mo walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked into the distance.
In the morning light, Qingsongling Town was a scene of devastation, resembling a muddy, yellowish ocean. Floating on the water were a large amount of debris: broken furniture, tangled branches and leaves, and even several half-submerged sealed plastic buckets, drifting slowly with the gentle current.
The wreckage of the buildings that collapsed last night was particularly glaring. The nearest four-story building was now just a pile of bricks, tiles and twisted steel bars submerged in water, with the highest point barely protruding above the water, resembling an ugly reef.
Further away, at several other collapse sites, the only clues to where buildings once stood were the remains protruding above the water. These ruins acted as massive obstacles, altering the local water flow and creating small eddies.
Some buildings that were originally in good condition have developed new, jagged cracks in their walls after being soaked and impacted by the flood, making them look precarious.
Occasionally, dark shadows can be seen swimming swiftly beneath the surface; these are aquatic mutants adapted to the flood environment, seemingly treating this overflowing water as a new hunting ground.
The entire town exudes an atmosphere of decay and danger. Human traces are being mercilessly erased by this great flood, and the savagery of nature and the cruelty of the apocalypse are on full display here.