ryethenovel Chapter 59 New Intelligence
Chapter 59 New Intelligence
"boom!"
Suddenly, a loud bang rang out above everyone's heads.
A sudden gust of cold wind blew in from outside the bridge arch, and the sky darkened instantly.
"Shit!"
Chris suddenly swore, glancing up at the sky.
"Is it really going to rain?"
Riley patted Chris on the shoulder: "Ready to drink your foot bath water?"
Chris's face turned pale, and he stubbornly insisted that it was impossible, but his eyes were fixed on the dark clouds in the sky.
But after waiting for several minutes, apart from the initial thunder, not a single drop of rain fell. The rumbling gradually weakened, and finally only a faint muffled sound remained.
Chris instantly breathed a sigh of relief, flexing his chest muscles and laughing, "See? It's just thunder, there's no rain at all!"
Riley and Gloria pouted in disappointment, and Jerome shrugged.
Even Lin Ximeng was somewhat surprised: if such a heavy rain could be held back, how much rainfall would it unleash later?
Just then, Jeff walked in carrying a box of pizza.
"Hey guys, we've got some good food for dinner tonight."
Jeff put the pizza on the table. "I went to the beach today to take a group photo, and a generous tourist asked me to bring this back with him."
Everyone immediately crowded around, and Gloria was the first to tear open the box, releasing a burst of cheese and the aroma of meat.
Everyone grabbed their pizzas and devoured them, making quite a racket for a while.
After finishing the pizza, it was already late at night, and everyone returned to their tents and drifted off to sleep.
At three or four in the morning, a thunderclap even louder than before suddenly rang out, waking Lin Ximeng from his sleep.
He rubbed his heavy eyelids, got up, and looked up. The dark clouds in the sky were thicker and more viscous than at dusk.
Just then, a semi-transparent system panel appeared.
Today's intelligence information has been updated.
[Daily News: At 17 PM today, due to continuous torrential rain, flooding has caused road inlets and disruptions to the transport of goods in the harbor community on the west side of Long Beach Port. Many families in the community will face food shortages and hunger, with dockworkers' families being the most severely affected.]
Lin Ximeng stroked his chin, analyzing the situation, when suddenly it dawned on him: Wasn't this the community where the burly worker Tony and the recycling old man Jeremy lived?
Especially Tony, who just lost his job and is now facing a food shortage, is he really going to end up becoming a homeless person?
[Daily News: Before 10 a.m. today, a batch of decommissioned machinery parts and hardware accessories were left in the abandoned United Machinery Factory in the old industrial area of Nancheng District. Due to a sudden fire last week, the factory stopped production and closed down. These parts were abandoned in the west warehouse as scrap and were left unattended.]
Additional information: Camp mate Jerome, a retired technical officer, has extensive experience in mechanical repair and modification, and can modify these parts, for example, into self-defense weapons.
Lin Simon's eyes lit up. His camp had recently been in conflict with the Black Penguin group, and these parts would come in handy.
[Daily Intelligence: Tonight at 20 PM, the leader of the Black Penguin gang will meet with Pims in an abandoned container area in Long Beach Harbor. To secure cooperation, the Black Penguin gang will be preparing a healthy male corpse (suspected) as a gift.]
Upon seeing the intelligence, Lin Ximeng's face darkened: Black Penguin was moving so quickly; it seemed he had to strike hard.
Just as Lin Ximeng made up his mind, another deafening clap of thunder exploded, waking everyone in the bridge arch one after another.
Chris reacted the most violently, abruptly throwing off the blanket and rushing out. Standing at the edge of the bridge arch, he looked up at the sky and said in a somewhat panicked manner, "Is it really going to rain?"
He had barely finished speaking when another clap of thunder ripped through the night sky, followed by a torrential downpour:
Large raindrops poured down in a dense downpour, pounding against the stone walls of the bridge arch with a crackling sound. The wind carried the rain in, quickly wetting the ground, and the distant scenery was blurred by the rain curtain.
"Fxxxker!"
Chris cursed under his breath and quickly retreated into the underpass, half of his body already soaked.
Jeff wiped the water droplets from his face and looked at Simon Lin: "Dude, your divination is incredibly accurate, much more reliable than those lousy weather forecasts."
Gloria clapped her hands and laughed, then leaned closer to Chris and teased, "Hey, when are you going to keep your promise, you loser?"
Chris's face turned bright red. This time the blockage was too great. He didn't want to drink Gloria's foot bath water at all. If he were to drink it, it would have to be Isidora's.
"How could that be? The weather forecast clearly said it would be sunny!"
As Chris spoke, he subconsciously moved towards a dry spot, afraid that his lower body would also get soaked.
Seeing this, Lin Ximeng quickly instructed everyone on the most important matter: "We can talk about washing our feet later. The priority is to set up the campsite. With such heavy rain, we need to make some preparations for protection against the cold and damp."
Everyone immediately sprang into action. Jerome and Simon Lin laid waterproof tarpaulins on the ground of the camp, adding several layers for rest stops to prevent the ground from becoming too damp.
Gloria pulled out the cotton coat she had brought back from the shelter and laid it on the damp ground as a mat, muttering to Chris, "You have to admit defeat when you make a bet. Don't try to cheat when the rain stops."
Riley and Jeff moved everyone's backpacks and belongings to the innermost high part of the bridge arch.
Chris looked dejected, but he still reached out to help pull the tarpaulin, muttering to himself, "This awful weather."
Amidst the busyness, someone took out their phone to check messages:
Social media and news apps were flooded with news about the torrential rain. Local weather authorities issued an emergency warning: rainfall in some parts of Los Angeles has exceeded 300 millimeters, the heaviest in nearly 10 years. Some low-lying areas will be flooded with more than half a meter of water, which may cause flooding and secondary disasters. Officials stated that "the disaster may cause casualties, so please do not go out unless necessary."
Riley clutched his cotton coat and whispered, "Luckily, Simon reminded us in advance and even prepared waterproof cloths, otherwise our underpass wouldn't have been able to block the light at all."
Everyone nodded, a wave of lingering fear washing over them.
Lin Ximeng also lamented that the lives of the homeless were the most vulnerable in the face of this torrential rain.
Ordinary people at least have the protection of their houses, but homeless people are lucky if their tents aren't blown away by strong winds; they can't rely on them at all.
Everyone was busy protecting themselves from the cold and damp, while the wind and rain outside grew increasingly violent, with the gale whipping up raindrops that pounded against the cloth with a loud "whoosh."
Suddenly, Gloria abruptly stopped what she was doing, squinted at the rain outside the cave, and said in a tense voice, "Wait, look outside—is there a figure?"
Riley looked in the direction she was pointing, but the rain was so dense it resembled a wall, obscuring the view of darkness. He immediately shook his head: "No, the wind and rain are too strong. You must be seeing things."
Gloria, however, clutched her coat tightly and refused to budge: "Absolutely! It's right there under that tree."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a pale white bolt of lightning ripped through the night sky, instantly illuminating the rainy night as if it were daytime.
Everyone looked out and saw a slender woman standing under a withered tree not far away. Her long, wet hair was draped over her shoulders, covering most of her face. Her thin clothes clung to her body and swayed slightly in the wind, making her look strange and sinister.
"ah--!"
Riley and Gloria screamed at the same time and instinctively covered each other.
Gloria's voice trembled: "What the hell, what is that thing?"
Riley's face also turned pale: "Is she moving this way?"