341 AD, July 24th, 22:50.
Distant thunder rumbled.
Tang Li, who hadn't been sleeping soundly, immediately got up and went to the window.
The sky was filled with rolling thunderclouds, and lightning flashed in the distance.
Tang Li sighed, "The thunderstorm has finally begun!"
Rumble—
Suddenly, a deafening roar came from directly overhead.
Crack—
A bolt of lightning struck the surface of the floodwaters in front of Tang Li's apartment building.
Illuminated by the electric light, Tang Li clearly saw a spray of water erupt as the lightning hit the flooded surface!
At the same time, not just where Tang Li was, the entire city of A began to experience lightning and thunder.
Across the sky, lightning spread everywhere, accompanied by rumbling thunder, as if the celestial palaces were holding a ball or ancient gods and demons were battling.
One lightning strike after another hit the water's surface, creating bursts of spray.
Everyone who had been asleep was awakened by the sudden thunderstorm.
Fortunately, Tang Li's building was a high-rise equipped with lightning rods, so it was not afraid of being struck by lightning.
But Tang Li knew that places without lightning rods would be riddled with holes by this thunderstorm.
Moreover, floodwaters were conductive!
Now, due to the floods, many buildings below the eighth floor were submerged.
The lightning rods on these buildings not only failed to provide protection but also attracted lightning strikes to the water surface.
In areas without tall buildings with lightning rods, the water below would be severely damaged by this lightning.
Tang Li took a radio from her spatial storage and turned on the official broadcast station of the A City Emergency Rescue Command.
Soon, she heard the announcer's voice:
[...The duration of thunderstorms usually does not exceed 2 hours. We urge citizens not to stay on the water surface, near the water, or on high-rise platforms. Please enter buildings equipped with lightning rods as soon as possible to avoid the thunderstorm...]
Listening to the voice on the radio, Tang Li shook her head.
"It seems the authorities' understanding of the catastrophe is not deep enough!"
Tang Li knew that this thunderstorm would not end in just two hours.
On the contrary, it would last for half a month!
This was also one of the differences between the natural disasters after the catastrophe and those before.
There were no patterns to follow, and they did not play by the rules.
Data and experience accumulated before the catastrophe became completely useless after it!
The authorities and experts were using pre-apocalypse data to assess natural disasters.
This was also the reason for the authorities' and experts' several misjudgments of natural disasters before.
By May of the following year, after the solar storm began, the authorities officially confirmed the arrival of the apocalypse and named it "Catastrophe."
Afterward, the authorities would prepare for every subsequent natural disaster in advance.
It was just a pity that by then, many preparations were already too late.
Tang Li pulled the curtains shut, blocking out the lightning from outside.
She then took earplugs from her spatial storage, put them on, and blocked out the thunder from the outside.
Soon, Tang Li fell back into a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, outside, the rescue teams suffered heavy losses due to the sudden thunderstorm.
The rescue teams distributing supplies in the buildings were relatively fortunate, being merely trapped where they were distributing, unable to leave.
However, many rescue teams operating on the water, transferring and transporting supplies, were struck by lightning, resulting in the annihilation of entire teams.
City A had many tall buildings, but few were above eight stories.
And there was still some distance from the supply depots to the buildings above eight stories.
That vast expanse of water, at this moment, was an insurmountable sea of death!
It was certain that the rescue teams would not be able to provide aid for some time to come.
As expected, on July 27th, the rescue teams did not arrive in time.
By then, many people who had exchanged for water and food that would only last three days, and those who had entrusted their food to the rescue teams, had run out of supplies.
Those who had water and food naturally did not dare to lend their remaining supplies at this time.
A few more days passed, and the rescue teams still did not arrive.
More and more people ran out of water and food.
Those who couldn't borrow water and food began to find various ways.
Some drank rainwater directly and ate raw rice...
The result was naturally diarrhea.
Fortunately, there was no shortage of medicine in the buildings, so their lives were ultimately saved.
Unable to eat raw food, people began to find ways to cook.
Although the natural gas was cut off, most of the furniture in their homes was made of wood.
Therefore, some people began to chop up furniture, burn wood, boil rainwater to drink, and cook food...