August 14th, 341 AD, morning.
Tang Li finally heard the loudspeakers outside.
"All residents please proceed to the 10th floor and queue in an orderly fashion to receive relief supplies!"
After 20 days, the rescue team had finally arrived.
Upon hearing the news, Tang Li, just like last time, headed out.
For the past 20 days, the heavy rain had continued unabated.
This torrential downpour, caused by a typhoon and strong convective weather in the south, had swept across the entire country from south to north and east to west.
Upstream rainfall continuously flowed downstream.
Therefore, even though the rainfall in City A had significantly reduced in recent days, the floodwaters' levels remained slowly rising, fluctuating up and down.
At its highest, it had breached the 9th-floor slabs.
While waiting in line, Tang Li received a message from Tang Guo.
The thunderstorms had ceased on the 12th. The reason the rescue team didn't arrive until the 14th was due to prioritizing rescue efforts, first attending to areas they had only visited once.
Consequently, Tang Guo's message of safety was sent after the thunderstorms had passed, during the rescue team's second visit to her location, which was yesterday.
Just as Tang Li remembered, Tang Guo's home was not lacking in food, and she had successfully weathered the thunderstorm period.
Tang Guo also heeded Tang Li's advice, not lending her supplies to others and keeping her doors firmly shut.
Tang Guo also shared with Tang Li the events that had transpired in their neighborhood during the thunderstorms.
Which elderly person committed suicide due to insufficient food, which building experienced an indoor robbery, and whose household experienced conflict due to lending grain to others… and so forth.
These were all things Tang Li had heard about in her previous life.
However, now, listening to Tang Guo chatter about these trivial matters, Tang Li felt a sense of warmth.
Finally, Tang Guo inquired about Tang Li's well-being with concern, urging her to take good care of herself, and also encouraged Tang Li to move past the grief of her parents' passing and live on well for them.
Tang Li smiled upon reading this, knowing that Tang Guo feared she might take her own life like that elderly person.
In her previous life, at the very beginning of the apocalypse, she had indeed considered ending it all.
Later, it was the thought of living on for her parents that kept her going.
It was just a shame that, after enduring so much hardship, she still couldn't survive in the end.
If she had known the outcome would be like that, she might as well have taken her own life at the start of the apocalypse.
At least then, she would have died with some dignity.
Thinking this, Tang Li had already made up her mind about how to handle Tang Guo.
This decision might have been subconsciously made when she cleared out the supermarket's supplies to alter Tang Guo's fate of being swallowed by the flood.
If Tang Guo were to suffer immense hardship and die in the apocalypse, possibly even facing desecration after death, then Tang Li would have been better off not saving her at all, letting her perish in the flood and thus spare her further suffering.
As for the change in people after the apocalypse?
Tang Li could now ensure Tang Guo lived a life free from want during the apocalypse, preventing her from experiencing life-or-death moments, and from being so hungry that she'd contemplate consuming her own flesh and blood.
Furthermore, letting her witness the tragic lives of others during the apocalypse.
In contrast, it was evident that following Tang Li meant a good life, while not following her meant suffering like everyone else.
Tang Guo was a very clear-headed person, and Tang Li believed she knew how to choose.
Moreover, before the apocalypse, after the loss of their respective families, they had become each other's closest confidantes, sharing similar sorrows and relying on each other for support.
Although it was only Tang Guo's unilateral care for Tang Li, this was even more precious to Tang Li.
The only thing that gave Tang Li pause now was the fear that she might not be able to protect Tang Guo in the apocalypse.
After all, even Tang Li herself could only improve her chances of survival in the apocalypse, not guarantee her own survival.
Let alone someone like Tang Guo, an ordinary person who had not experienced the apocalypse and was physically frail.
But even so, it was still better than letting her fend for herself.
Even if she ultimately couldn't protect Tang Guo, she would ensure that Tang Guo lived as comfortably and peacefully as possible, and that she would be laid to rest properly after her death.
As Tang Li pondered, she typed on her phone.
She briefly shared her situation with Tang Guo.
Of course, Tang Guo wouldn't receive it immediately; she would only receive it the next time the rescue team went to her location.
Putting away her phone, Tang Li was about to queue up with peace of mind when she heard a commotion from the front of the line.
"This is national legal tender, why are you refusing it?"
"You are breaking the law! I'm going to report you!"