Chapter 17 : The Water Rises

Ike looked at him and knew that this man must be the mastermind of the operation.

The robbers did not achieve their aim this time and will surely come again next time.

What happened to Tom's store is going to affect Ike's. Ike didn't like the idea of leaving it open.

The man left the convenience store.

The other two guys who smashed the store, the one with the thick lips got a black eye.

The scabbard in Ike's hand showed a crack, revealing the blade's silver awning.

Ike's cold and dark eyes matched each other and made people feel chills down their back. His eyes stared cold and hard at the men.

This is not a guy who cares about Jade!

The gangsters walked away and finally called out to Ike from a distance, "I will not let you go."

Then they all ran away.

They didn't get any money, but they did get a little food.

Ike had been staring at their departure until they completely disappeared into the door of the commercial house for a long time before withdrawing his eyes.

The house, it's a mess.

Rex checked the wound. It's just a few skin cuts and bruises, just a little iodine. No big deal.

But Linda looked quite a mess - her clothes were torn, her hair was messy, there was blood all over her body, and her face was red.

Those two women who robbed her were really cruel. "Fuck you!" Tom's eyes turned red as he cried out again.

Ike said, "Don't open the shop next. I'm afraid they'll come back and retaliate."

Although Ike deliberately threatened them, he also doesn't know whether this group of people will really be cautious or simply go out to find trouble again. In short, he is more inclined to believe that these kinds of people are not easy to stop.

So it's better to be safe. "HMM," Tom answered.

Negan and Linda are resting in their chairs. It's not quite time for Negan to thank Ike and Regus.

Then Ike and Regus helped put the smashed stuff back in its place. The large pile of items left in the convenience store are almost daily necessities, and food and snacks have been sold out since the power cut 26 days ago.

Naturally, Negan is not an idiot; there is a lot of hidden food in the house, but it's not for selling.

So what those guys took was just unsold snacks.

At this point, Negan and Linda finally took Ike's advice to heart. "Ike, I should have listened to you. Convenience stores shouldn't be open. I'm closing the convenience store from now on." The scratches on Linda's face were still dripping blood.

Ike replied, "It's not safe to close the convenience store. Maybe they're just testing the waters this time, and if there's a next time, they'll be even crazier."

"I told you not to open a shop and sell things, but you still don't believe me!" Tom said angrily.

Linda had already been beaten, and it hurt her to hear that from her son.

Linda, angry and aggrieved, cried loudly: "I didn't know this rain and hurricane would last so long. If the weather gets better later, how can the convenience store make money? Should we eat air?"

Ike has just arrived at the door, but his hands have not lifted. Yingli opens the door and drags Ike inside.

"Are you hurt?" Yingli asks, looking at Ike with a sigh of relief. She seems a little afraid and remorseful.

Nami comes over and says, "I don't think those people will stop. I will be more careful. I'll go back and see my father first."

...

After Nami leaves, Yingli closes the big iron door and locks it. The family of three sits on the sofa. Anna speaks first, saying,

"Originally we wanted to go downstairs to see, but Nami said that women had better not go out and show up. She said that you would take care of us in case of an accident. I think there is some truth to it, but it is good to worry. Now, nothing is good. What do those people want? A robbery?"

Anna says a lot at once.

Ike replies, "They took a few small things. They may come back later."

Yingli agrees with Nami's words, and after what just happened, she realizes that the days ahead could be worse.

"Nami is right. You are not allowed to go down in this situation until I call for your help. Stay home as much as possible," Yingli says.

"The further you go to the back, the messier it might get," Anna adds.

"Well, if everyone had no money, they would try to get things without using their hands," Ike thinks so too.

All three of them fall silent.

Although they know that the relevant departments are still working hard, they are aware that local chaos is sure to continue. Today it's Tom's convenience store, tomorrow it's the mall on the street.

As long as people run out of money and food, they will try to survive without help.

And the only way to do that is to plunder the visible resources. Two days ago, Ike and Rex went to buy two more cans of gas. Unfortunately, when Ike and Rex went to the market, they found that all the houses in the area were flooded.

There are two stores nearby selling canned gas. Now, the store's location is flooded, so they may have moved out.

I asked the neighbors, but I didn't know where they had moved. So, Ike has nowhere to go.

Ike also looks at the nearby water level and realizes that if the rain continues without a break, maybe in another month and a half, the water will reach them upstream.

Their location is not low. In lower places, less than a week after the power outage, everything was flooded.

That is to say, if it keeps raining, Ike's house will be flooded. The nights are getting scarier these days.

From time to time, the outside world screams and screams. Sometimes, it is not clear from which direction, but it sounds very chaotic.

And when you listen to it frequently, you can hear what's going on in different voices.

If it's a woman screaming and shouting, it's usually a home invasion.

The city was eerily quiet after the power went out, so even louder noises outside could be heard.

If the screams are accompanied by a beating, it's a home invasion and rape.

A case like this doesn't have to involve a stranger. It could be someone close to you.

Because Ike and their neighborhood is relatively small and a cheap rental area.

So, most of the people who live in this neighborhood are all kinds of migrant workers who live alone and share apartments.

Some beautiful women may have been noticed. But after the power failure, some people became desperate to leave, and gradually some people were attacked.

There is another typical night sound, that is called a "thunk." It is mostly people jumping.

Ike has heard this sound at least five times.

There was also the sound of a building explosion in a high-rise building nearly a kilometer straight from Ike's home.

One night, in the middle of the night, there was an explosion and then a big fire.

Although it was raining heavily, the water did not reach his house. In the center of that house, almost everyone in the neighborhood was in danger.

No fire engines, no ambulances, no rescue.

A few days later, I heard that four people had burned, including a family of four.

Two of the neighbors were also dead from smoke inhalation. There was no one to deal with the bodies, but the neighbors scraped together money to get the remains removed and moved to the police station.

However, there are rumors that the property owner casually dumped the bodies into a large pit filled with water outside the community.

From then on, anybody in the neighborhood that needs to be disposed of is dumped in the pit.

It just keeps piling up.

In a society ruled by law, the world that people see is covered with a filter, making it difficult to recognize even if vicious criminals are living around.

And in a collapsed society, even the guy who used to be like a piece of shit suddenly becomes powerless. The demons are out of the water. The filter is gone.

Some people leave the bodies of their loved ones there, not because they are indifferent.

But the bodies can't be placed at home or on a random street. It's better to throw them together and deal with them after the power outage.

At present, police stations and hospitals do not accept dead bodies, even if they are specifically transported there.

They put them in bags on the road, and since they are already left outside, why bother to move them?

Perhaps that is what most people think.