Chapter 237: Chapter 237: Blackout
"Ugh, why are our clothes here?" Kate complained as she and Anna walked out of the bathroom.
The two walked over to the bed, picked up the pajamas lying on the bed, and returned to the bathroom silently.
"Their size... It's just barely smaller than Leyan." Xiaoyun thought to himself as they were only wearing their bra and panties.
---
Just as the clock hits midnight, all six of them peacefully sleep on the bed as they surround Xiaoyun in the middle.
But Xiaoyun couldn't fall asleep as the sound of rain kept getting louder and louder through the window.
After laying on the bed for a while, Xiaoyun suddenly got a little worried as the rain continued to pour down.
"What if the whole street is flooded?" Xiaoyun thought to himself.
Xiaoyun eventually made the decision to get up from the bed and peeked out the window.
It was still pitch black outside, and the only thing he could see was the rain going down the window.
Xiaoyun grabbed his phone from the table and turned on the flashlight.
It barely lit up the outside, but it was enough for Xiaoyun to see the water level outside.
Fortunately, it was still extremely low, barely taller than the grass outside as it flowed down the storm drain, working as intended.
Seeing the storm drain working as intended, Xiaoyun went back to bed and eventually fell asleep.
---
When the morning arrived, and Xiaoyun woke up from the bed, he was the last one up.
The first thing he could hear was the constant sound of rain hitting the window.
"How the hell is it still raining?" Xiaoyun murmured in an irritated voice as he got up from the bed.
After entering the bathroom and getting dressed up, he walked downstairs to the kitchen.
"Good morning everyone." Xiaoyun waved as he walked into the kitchen.
"Good morning, honey."
Seeing that Leyan was the only one responding and everyone was silent, Xiaoyun got slightly concerned.
"What's wrong? Why does everyone look so sad?"
"Have you not noticed? All the electricity is gone." Nami finally pointed out.
"Oh. No wonder why the bathroom light wasn't working properly..."
As Xiaoyun sat in his seat and began eating breakfast, he suddenly got a little worried.
"Is the entire town having a power outage?" Xiaoyun asked.
"Not the entire town. I called Huayi earlier, and their house still has power." Leyan replied.
As everyone finished eating and moved to the living room, there was nothing to do as it was raining heavily outside.
"Yuqi, when is the power going to be restored?" Nami asked as she and Shuli played with the three babies on the floor.
"It's not going to be fixed until after the rain. It's just too dangerous to send someone to prepare it." Yuqi replied.
"Ugh, I want to watch a movie so bad..." Yueyue murmured as she rolled all over the sofa.
"Stop moving. Go read a book if you are bored." Leyan pushed Yueyue away as she rolled over to her knee.
"Hell no. I'd rather go to the gym... You know what, that's exactly what I'm going to do."
Yueyue headed past the kitchen and went inside the gym.
"Um, I'm going to get some exercise as well."
Shuli left the living room and followed Yueyue to the gym.
"What are you three doing?" Nami asked curiously as she walked over to Tianci's side.
"Just playing cards," Kate replied first.
"Yeah, we are just playing simplified Blackjack. The only rule is whoever hits the highest number without going over twenty-one." Anna replied as she passed out the card to Kate and Tianci.
"Can I join?" Nami pleaded.
"Sure, I don't see why not."
As Anna passed two cards to Nami, Xiaoyun became curious and decided to watch on the side.
Three minutes later...
"How the hell do you get so lucky every time?" Kate complained as Tianci managed to win three times in a row.
"I-I don't know... Maybe it's just luck?" Tianci replied as she looked back at Kate with a confused face.
"Whatever, you won't get lucky this time... Let me shuffle the cards."
As Kate grabbed the deck from Anna and began shuffling it, Xiaoyun's phone suddenly rang.
"Yezi, what's wrong? Uh-hum. Okay...Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes."
Xiaoyun's face shifted as the phone call continued.
"Okay... Yeah, I know. Don't worry about it. You can stay home. I'll go check it out."
As he put his phone back down, Leyan immediately spoke up.
"Is there something wrong?" Leyan asked with a concerned look.
"Apparently, a group of people is outside the town right now. And Yezi accidentally pulled his muscle at home, so I must check it out." Xiaoyun replied as he put his shoes back on.
"In this weather? Really?" Kate asked in surprise.
"Yeah, I don't know why they are out there either. Anyway, I'll get going now. You two can stay home."
Xiaoyun grabbed the raincoat from the hanger and left the house before they could reply.
---
It was still raining as Xiaoyun walked on the slightly flooded street.
Although the rain started to weaken, the wind was so strong that Xiaoyun almost fell to his back.
As he continued walking toward the entrance of the town, he noticed several utility poles fell onto the ground, pulling the cable along with it.
Fortunately, none of the houses and cabins he had walked past were destroyed.
When he finally arrived up at the wall, several soldiers had already drawn their guns and pointed at the people outside.
"What business do you guys have here?" Xiaoyun yelled as loud as he could as the rain sound was still stifling it.
"We mean no harm. We are just looking for a place to stay for the day... We are also willing to pay and work."
Xiaoyun could hear their response, but he couldn't see the exact person who said it out loud as the visibility was low, with most of the people outside in a car.
"How many people do you guys have?" Xiaoyun asked.
"One hundred! We are just a small group of travelers that met each other." The same person yelled back.
Xiaoyun could finally locate the person replying to his question. It was a middle-aged man whose voice sounded firm.
"We can let you in, but we need to confiscate all your weapons until you guys are leaving." Xiaoyun gave his demand.
A long silence ensued as the other side seemed to fall into an argument, but eventually, they responded.
"Yes, we are fine with that." The person yelled back again.
Xiaoyun signaled a few soldiers to stay put as he walked over to the side and pulled out his phone.
After a short phone call and waiting for another five minutes in the rain, reinforcement finally arrived.
"Commander Xiaoyun, I was able to call up my regiment." Han Bang saluted as soldiers began filling up the wall and the entrance.
"Good. You two, you can open the gates now."
"Han Bang, can you disarm them and send them to the temporary shelter?' Xiaoyun asked as he looked outside again.
"Yes, sir."
Han Bang walk back down to the ground floor as Xiaoyun stared at the outside.
"I wonder how other settlements are dealing with this weather... Are the zombies immune to it?"
Xiaoyun couldn't come up with any answer as the rain started pouring down again.
"Good job everyone. Everyone here will be paid overtime working in this weather." Xiaoyun announced it as he noticed many soldiers standing in the rain, looking extremely unhappy.
Immediately, the soldiers looked much happier as food stamps were getting more difficult to get by. And most of them were new soldiers who still had little money.
After the announcement, Xiaoyun left to the wall and headed toward the temporary shelter.
When he arrived there, it was almost full to the brim as he could barely walk inside.
"Why are they all staying in this shelter rather than moving them into multiple ones?" Xiaoyun asked as he approached Han Bang.
"They told me they didn't want to separate..."
"I see... Oh, I almost forgot. Where did you put all their weapons?"
"We put them in the other room with guards inside... Also, we parked their car on the field since we had no space elsewhere."
"Okay, that's fine... I'll talk to them now."
As Xiaoyun left Han Bang to direct the other soldiers, he slowly approached the middle-aged man who responded to him earlier.
The man didn't notice Xiaoyun as he stood right behind him. Only when Xiaoyun tapped him on the shoulder did the man turn around.
"You are?" The man looked confused at Xiaoyun as he noticed Xiaoyun wasn't wearing a military uniform like all the other soldiers standing inside the warehouse.
"I'm the mayor of the town. You can call me Xiaoyun..."
As Xiaoyun introduced himself, the middle-aged man's face was in complete shock.