Who would have thought that a single bottle of dirty water would completely knock him down?
Liu Yong visibly weakened by the hour, no longer even had the strength to get up and go to the bathroom.
The foul stench spread everywhere, making even his partner Li Yunqiang feel sick.
Liu Yong wasn't the only one who got dysentery from drinking the dirty water; the disgusting smell in the underground parking garage grew thicker and thicker.
Many people couldn't stand it anymore.
"Are we leaving or not?"
"Let's go. Staying here means waiting to die."
"The family next door left yesterday. If we'd left then, we'd already be at Auntie's place."
...
Many were planning to leave the city, including Li Yunqiang.
But Liu Yong was a problem—vomiting, diarrhea, and possibly heatstroke.
He suddenly transformed from a partner into dead weight.
Li Yunqiang couldn't bring such a burden with him.
That night, he quietly packed all the useful things and left alone, abandoning Liu Yong behind.
He couldn't stay in the city anymore and planned to head to an air-raid shelter in the mountains.
Today, twice as many people fled the city compared to yesterday.
Chu Yian and Lu Qingyuan again sat beneath a large tree, listening to the cars passing their door.
One after another, vehicles came and went quickly.
Just when Chu Yian thought no one would stop and was about to doze off, a car did stop on the road.
The sound was soft, but the slight noise of a door opening roused her.
"Honey, look, there's a house up ahead. Let's knock and borrow the bathroom."
Someone got out of the car, speaking in a family voice and needing to use the toilet.
Chu Yian's ears perked up instantly at the sound outside.
"Why bother borrowing a bathroom? Just do it by the roadside. Parking here isn't safe anyway."
A man's voice, tinged with impatience, said, "Hurry up. The night's short; we need to reach my parents before dawn."
He hurried the woman to move faster, and within minutes, the car restarted and drove away.
The car leaving lifted the immediate alarm, but Chu Yian still felt uneasy.
She opened her eyes and concentrated, alert to every sound outside.
Cars roared past the road one after another, and Chu Yian began marking each departing vehicle by drawing the Chinese tally "正" on paper.
This continued until 2 a.m. on Day 14 of the game.
Amid the noise of cars, a sudden footstep sounded out.
The person's steps were heavy and low, the soles scraping the ground noisily.
The footsteps grew closer, then suddenly stopped near the gate, followed by knocking.
"Is anyone there?"
"Excuse me, is anyone here?"
A real visitor!
Chu Yian stood up instantly, alarm bells ringing in her mind.
She and Lu Qingyuan both looked at the door but said nothing, hoping whoever it was would assume no one was home and leave.
But clearly, the person outside had other plans.
Seeing no response, he started trying to force the door open.
After pushing hard without success, a blade slipped through the door gap, slowly sliding the bolt outwards bit by bit.
"Who's outside?"
Lu Qingyuan spoke, his voice calm but alert.
The man outside was startled.
"Oh, someone's home! Sorry, I was just passing by and got so thirsty. I saw a house here and wanted to ask for a drink of water."
"There's no water here."
Lu Qingyuan coldly refused.
"I won't drink for free. I'll pay you."
The man quickly pleaded, then added pitifully, "There's no water in the city anymore. I'm trying to reach relatives. I'm really thirsty and desperate, so I came to ask."
Chu Yian and Lu Qingyuan had enough water for themselves.
Even if they gave him some, it wouldn't affect them.
But they feared goodwill without safety could invite wolves and tigers.
Apart from the well, their basement, generator, and food—
Any of these if seen by outsiders would cause envy.
"Sir, please look elsewhere. There really is no water here."
Chu Yian said through the door, "My aunt got dysentery from drinking dirty water yesterday. If she weren't sick, our whole family would have left already."
He invented an aunt to explain the lack of water.
But the man wasn't easily dismissed.
"Little miss, if there's no water, there's gotta be food. Can you spare a bit? I'm really thirsty and hungry."
If this had been a naive young girl, maybe she would have softened to his sob story.
But Chu Yian had been through several rounds of this game world.
Helping without endangering herself was one thing; safety was the iron bottom line.
"Sir, actually my whole family hasn't eaten in two days."
Competing in misery?
Chu Yian's family was worse off.
"We're all starving now. No water, no food, and worst of all, no medicine. Do you have any medicine? Even just some fever reducer? My aunt is close to collapse—we'll pay!"
"I don't have any medicine!"
The man sounded like he thought Chu Yian was crazy.
In this situation, water was more precious than food, and medicine was even rarer.
Money was almost worthless.
Soon the footsteps faded away, growing more distant.
Gone?
Chu Yian stood by the door listening a while longer.
When the silence persisted, she slowly returned to her chair.
No movement by the door, but then—scratching sounds came from the side wall after ten minutes.
She opened her eyes toward the noise—and suddenly locked eyes with a man's head on the wall.
"Fuck!"
Startled, Chu Yian jumped up and shouted, "Teacher Lu!"
The head belonged to the man who had begged outside moments ago.
He hadn't left but instead sneaked up the wall under cover of night.
He thought Chu Yian's strong voice meant they weren't lacking food or water.
Then he saw it—a water well!
Hearing Chu Yian's shout, he jumped down sharply, preparing to run outside and gather others to seize the yard.
Teacher Lu frowned.
"Stay inside and guard."
He opened the door and chased after the man who fell.
Chu Yian locked the door immediately and grabbed the nine-foot rake, guarding the entrance against any accomplices.
The high wall blocked sight, so they could only hear hurried footsteps outside, then two blood-curdling screams.
The screams were from the man, but Chu Yian clenched the hoe tight, worried Teacher Lu might be in danger.
After ten minutes, the yard gate was knocked again.
Teacher Lu's deep, cold voice sounded outside:
"Done. Open up."