Chapter 265: I’ll Come With You

Shichen had just put down his pen when a deep crack came from outside.

He looked toward the rain-streaked windows, waiting for the thunder to follow, but the sound seemed to continue beneath their very feet.

His spoon trembled against his bowl, and across the table, and Jingwei caught the back of Zhiyi’s chair as she started to stand.

The crash that followed drowned out whatever Zeyu said. Shichen felt it through his feet again before something struck the outside of the tower hard enough to rattle the dishes in the cupboard.

"Come away from the windows," Jingwei told them, already moving with Zhiyi toward the inner wall.

Hanchuan followed on her other side while Qinghe set his cup down and caught the serving dish before Zeyu’s elbow tipped it.

Shichen reached the monitor near the kitchen first. Rain blurred the street view, but he could still see the building opposite Jinhai. Its roof had dropped below the edge of the screen.

He changed cameras, his wet thumb slipping against the controls.

The building’s corner was folding into the flood, balconies breaking apart as the floors above came down through them.

For a moment, pale curtains hung in the open rooms. Then the outer wall disappeared beneath a cloud of dust and spray.

"That’s the building across the narrow street," Shichen said, stepping aside so the others could see. "The corner facing us has come down."

Water surged between the buildings, carrying pieces of railing and a section of roof toward Jinhai.

A moored boat rose sharply before its rope pulled tight. The front of the boat swung into the wall, throwing one of the people aboard over the side.

Shichen lost sight of the person as the first wave hit the tower.

The camera went white with spray.

Beside him, Zhiyi gripped the counter, and he heard a heavier impact somewhere below them. He looked toward the ceiling, then down the corridor. The lights stayed on, and nothing had shifted.

"Was that ours?" Zeyu asked, watching him rather than the screen. "Something gave way."

"I don’t know yet," Shichen admitted as he opened the lower-floor views. "Stay away from the outside walls until I’ve checked."

One feed had stopped working.

Another showed water pouring through a public corridor where bedding had been spread beneath the windows. A mattress struck a doorway sideways and stayed there while chairs and bags washed around it.

Beyond the doorway, people crowded onto the stairs.

A woman was trying to climb with a child against her chest, but a man carrying two sacks kept pushing past her.

Someone above reached down for the child. She lifted him toward the waiting hands and lost her footing as another person shoved into her back.

Qinghe leaned closer, his hand resting against the counter.

The woman caught the railing before the water reached her waist, and he stayed watching until she pulled herself onto the next step.

"Jingwei, check both stairwells," Hanchuan said beside him. "I want to know how far up they’re coming."

Jingwei brought up the approaches to their private floors. The empty landings appeared one after another, each door still closed.

Shichen left him to it and opened the building readings while Zeyu checked the vehicle bay.

Their mobile base stood where they had secured it, with the boats and covered equipment beside it.

Nothing had fallen from the shelves. Zeyu watched the image long enough to check the floor around the doors before letting out a breath.

"Everything’s dry up there," Zeyu reported. "I’ll check it in person once we know we’re safe to move around."

Shichen nodded, though he was still listening beneath the rain and the voices. The vibration had stopped. He checked the next set of readings, then returned to the exterior camera.

The spray was clearing.

Where the neighboring building’s corner had stood, broken floors hung above the water.

A cupboard slid out of an exposed room and struck the wreckage below. Shichen could see people farther inside, keeping close to a wall that had lost most of the floor in front of it.

"The tower’s readings haven’t changed," Shichen told the others. "I’ll check the service corridors, but I’m not seeing damage to our floors."

Zhiyi came beside him and rested her hand on the counter.

"Can you keep that view open?" she asked, pointing at the water beneath the broken building. "I want to see what happens when it starts draining back."

Shichen left the camera where it was.

They had watched a surge pass through the streets before, but this time there was concrete piled across a channel that had been open when they sat down to breakfast.

Behind them, Jingwei turned from his screen.

"They’re filling the next public floor," he said. "Both approaches to ours are still empty."

Hanchuan studied the stairs while Jingwei moved closer to Zhiyi. He touched her back, and she leaned against his hand without looking away from the water.

Shichen saw Jingwei glance down at her face before returning to the monitor.

At the neighboring building, a man had reached an open window with a bedsheet tied around his waist.

Someone behind him held the other end. He lowered himself toward a balcony that was no longer there, felt for it with one foot, then hurriedly pulled himself back inside.

Shichen could do nothing for him from here. He turned to the tower’s plans and checked which service corridor would give him the safest view of the damage below.

"I’ll come with you," Zeyu said, taking his radio from beside his abandoned plate. "We can check the bay on the way back."

Zhiyi reached across before Shichen closed the exterior feed. "Wait a moment," she said. "Look at that window."

She pointed to a narrow window across the street. When the spray cleared, its lower half had been above water. Now only a strip of glass remained.

Shichen checked the time on the feed, then looked at the water moving around the wreckage. Loose boards were collecting against the broken concrete instead of floating away.

"The wave should have passed by now," Zeyu said, coming back to the counter.

"It has," Zhiyi replied. She moved her finger along the blocked street while Shichen watched the last strip of glass disappear. "But the water coming from that direction still needs somewhere to go."

On the stairwell camera, people who had just put down their bags began picking them up again.

Shichen reached for his radio as the woman with the child turned toward the next flight, carrying him higher into their building.