Chapter 94: Submerged, A Family

Chapter 94: Chapter 94: Submerged, A Family

The next morning, Seraphina Sullivan didn’t wake up naturally. Instead, she was jolted awake by a wave of raucous noise from outside her window, growing louder by the second.

’What’s happening now...?’ she wondered, rubbing her drowsy eyes, her mind still foggy.

Inside the instances, she had to remain constantly vigilant. Her sleep was always light; the slightest disturbance would wake her instantly.

But back in the relative safety of the real world, she had Flora and Sean Chandler as her two "bodyguards."

She had unconsciously relaxed completely, falling into an unusually deep sleep.

Coupled with the continuous drumming of the rain outside, which acted like white noise, she had no desire to get up at all.

However, the sound reaching her ears now was no longer the monotonous rain. It was a chaotic mix of human voices—panicked, anxious, and shouting. It seemed as if the entire building, perhaps even the whole neighborhood, was in an uproar.

Seraphina Sullivan frowned. She struggled out of bed and padded barefoot to the window, pulling aside a corner of the curtain to peer outside.

The sight before her eyes jolted her wide awake!

The roads within the complex had completely vanished, submerged beneath murky, yellow water that had already swallowed the flowerbeds and was creeping up past the first-floor windows.

The water level appeared to be rising slowly but steadily.

A few smaller cars were almost completely submerged, with only their roofs visible above the water.

From the windows of the building across the way, residents leaned out, shouting to one another. Their voices sounded distorted and desperate against the backdrop of the rain:

"We’re done for! We’re done for! The water’s already past the first floor! There’s no way out!"

"Oh my god! When is this rain ever going to stop?! The whole building’s going to be flooded if this keeps up! I thought it would only last a few days, so I barely stockpiled any food! What are we going to do?!"

"I’ve called the emergency line several times for help! But the operator said the entire city is flooding and there aren’t nearly enough rescue teams. They told us to move to the highest floors possible and wait to be rescued!"

"Does anyone have any food to spare? Can you share a little? My kids are about to run out!"

"Why is the power out again?! Does anyone have a power bank? My phone’s about to die!"

These desperate, panicked conversations filled the space between the buildings.

A tide of panic was spreading, rising as swiftly as the floodwaters.

Seraphina Sullivan suddenly remembered her phone. She’d set it to Do Not Disturb last night.

She picked it up and saw the screen was crammed with countless push messages and app notifications. The "Apocalypse Survival Chat Group" in particular had exploded with 99+ messages.

She opened the group chat and quickly scrolled through the messages:

[HELP! Our neighborhood is flooded! The entire first floor is underwater!]

[The power’s out! We’ve lost power over here! My phone is almost dead!]

[Anyone in the XX District? I heard rescue boats are headed that way!]

[Dammit! I knew I should have bought more supplies a few days ago! But everything is rationed now, what are we supposed to do?!]

[Does anyone have a kayak or an inflatable raft? I’ll pay top dollar!]

[It’s over. This is really the end of the world...]

[@everyone, the authorities just issued a notice! They’re telling all residents to move to the rooftops of tall buildings and wait for rescue!]

[Rescue teams? How many are there? Can they really save us all?]

Message after message scrolled past, each one radiating sheer panic and the prelude to chaos.

Seraphina Sullivan put down her phone. She looked out at her neighborhood, now an endless expanse of water, and at her frantic neighbors, her feelings a complex mixture.

She glanced into her Space. It was stuffed with supplies and all kinds of meat she had brought back from the instances—enough to last her a very long time.

The cataclysm in the real world had arrived, it seemed, with an unexpected speed and in an unforeseen way.

Just then, a frantic knocking sounded at her door again.

BANG BANG BANG! BANG BANG BANG!

The sound was far louder and more violent than Keith Griffith’s knocking the previous night. It carried an insistent urgency, as if someone was trying to break the door down.

Like the most vigilant of guards, Sean Chandler instantly rose from his corner in the living room, silently approaching the door to peer through the peephole.

"It’s a man—the same one who came over last night," Sean Chandler said in a hushed, rapid voice. "But he’s not alone. There’s a whole group of people behind him. Men, women, and a kid."

Seraphina Sullivan’s brow furrowed tightly.

’What on earth is that Keith Griffith up to?!’ A wave of intense displeasure washed over her.

His over-the-top "friendliness" last night had already felt off, and now he had the gall to show up with a whole group of people in tow? Especially during a time like this?

The pounding on the door continued, interspersed with voices.

A burly man’s voice, sounding somewhat simple and honest, drifted through. "Keith, are... are you sure they’ll really agree to let so many of us stay? This... this doesn’t feel right..."

It was immediately followed by Keith Griffith’s voice, dripping with feigned enthusiasm that was clearly meant to manipulate. "Oh, don’t you worry, Old Wright! The girl in this apartment lives all by herself. The place isn’t huge, but we can make some room if we squeeze in. In times like these, shouldn’t neighbors help each other out? She’s just a young woman; I’m sure she’ll be willing to help. Your place is flooded and you’ve got your elderly mother and child with nowhere to go. She’ll definitely understand!"

The burly man, referred to as Old Wright, seemed convinced. He said gratefully, "Then... then thank you so much, Keith! I’ll be sure to thank you properly once this water goes down!"

Listening from inside, Seraphina was absolutely fuming.

’Unbelievable! Where does that Keith Griffith get the nerve?’

’Promising strangers shelter on my behalf without even asking me?’

’And now he’s trying to guilt-trip me?’

’And from the sounds of it, it wasn’t just the burly man. There was an elderly person and a child, too?’

’Are they planning on turning my apartment into a public shelter?’

She flung the door halfway open, her icy gaze sweeping over the people outside.

Just as she’d thought, Keith Griffith was standing right at the front. Behind him stood a burly man with a worried and embarrassed expression, followed by a rather heavyset woman.

And finally, an elderly woman who looked to be in her sixties, holding the hand of a child with shifty, darting eyes.

It was the entire family, young and old!

The group outside hadn’t expected the door to swing open so suddenly and were all momentarily stunned.

Keith Griffith immediately plastered a phony smile on his face. "Ms. Sullivan, you’re awake! Here’s the situation. This is Mr. Webb from apartment 101. Their place on the first floor is completely flooded, and with an elderly mother and a child, they really have nowhere to go. I was wondering if you could..."

Before he could finish, the little boy with the shaved head—about five or six years old, held by the old woman—saw the open doorway. Without a word, he ducked down like a slippery eel and tried to dart through the gap Seraphina had left!

He moved with a startling, practiced ease.

Seraphina’s reaction was lightning-fast. On pure reflex, her arm shot out and clamped down precisely on the scruff of the little brat’s neck.

She lifted him up as if he were a kitten, stopping him from taking a single step inside.

The brat froze for a second, then began flailing his legs in mid-air, screaming at the top of his lungs, "Grandma! Grandma! She grabbed me! She’s hitting me! WAAAAAH!! Hit her! Get Dad to hit her!"