Chapter 569: The Hardship
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Supposedly, this was how life on Earth began, a goliath of a rainstorm. The only one that could compare was estimated to be the rain right after when the ancient Earth warmed up several billion years ago.
On Earth, when daily precipitation is over a hundred millimeters, it is classified as heavy rain. Anything beyond 250 millimeters was classified as violent rain but this time, the Earth's precipitation rate was over 10 times of that. With the heavy downpour of rain, as if it was spilled from the sky as the muffled sound of rain hitting the icy layers was heard around the world. As time passed, the intense rain showed no signs of weakening. It actually began increasing its intensity and showed no signs of stopping.
There was a depressing atmosphere throughout the cave. There were people whispering and there were those stupefied and remaining lying on their beds. There were also people shrunk at a corner with their ears adhered to the wall, listening closely to the weird movements outside.
The previous terrifying presence had caused restlessness in all of the people.
Ling Zhong-an was leaning onto the mud-wall and kept silent. The dim oil lamps subtly swaying and flickering with an unstable flare, causing his figure to alternate from dim to dark.
"How do I smell water vapor?" A woman sitting nearby the stairs suddenly sniffed around, asking in curiosity.
"I smelled it too, I was just wondering about it" An evolved human at her side said.
At first, their conversation had not aroused other people's attention, nobody was in the mood to think about it. Everyone had their own problems to sort, however, the water vapor had gradually become heavier and water began to drip down from the stairs.
The people suddenly noticed that they could not stay for long and gradually stood up.
"It won't rain will it?" An evolved human asked while staring at the dirty water flowing into the cave.
The group of people looked at each other with the expressions of disbelief. Ever since the Earth was frozen, there was no more rain. Even if it hailed or snowed, it was still a rare occurrence, happening only a few times a year. Even so, every time when it occurred, it only lasted half an hour at most. As for the rain, it was only a natural phenomenon that remained in everyone's memory.
"It can't be. Maybe there's a new hot spring that unearthed nearby?"
Everyone secretly agreed. Compared to rain, this explanation was much more feasible.
However just a moment later, more water had flowed into the cave at an increasing speed. It seemed as if it was going to fill up the entire cave.
Ling Zhong-an stood up and stared at it for a while. Suddenly, as if woken from a dream, he quickly ordered everyone, "We can no longer stay here. Everyone get ready to move!"
Before his voice died down, he swiftly dashed towards his resting area. He then curled up a stack of his thick animal pelts and then picked up the air-dried meat hanging above his head. The rest of the people had gradually reacted and quickly went to pack up their luggage, the scene was absolute chaos.
The water had gradually accumulated high enough to cover up their feet. A huge amount of water was following down the stairs, and flooding the cave. However, nobody gave it much attention and continued to pack their baggage.
There is a saying, "Breaking a family is worth ten thousand dollars." Even though it was only a few animal pelts and dried tubers that could barely fill one's stomach, those were still their basic survival items and equipment. Without those, as well as leaving the warm cave under such extreme cold conditions, most of them would not be able to last a day.
The water flow had gradually grown faster, becoming a spillway. The water level inside was rapidly rising, luckily everyone was an evolved human. Even the weakest amongst them had a body that surpassed a normal human's limit. Even if the cave was filled with water, at most they would just choke on a few mouthfuls of dirty water, there would be no life-threatening danger.
The cave's stairs were mainly composed of ice and thus were slippery. Under normal circumstances, it would not affect anybody's walking. However, as of now, there was a flood and under the huge impact force of the water flow, there was not much grip beneath their feet.
The group of men had been washed off by the water several times until the water level had thoroughly filled up the entire cave. The group of men then held their breath trying to float to the water surface.
The first to reach the surface was Ling Zhong-an. As he was struggling to stand up, he was just about to curse but then he saw the scenery in front of him, leaving his mouth wide open. His expression was one of total disbelief.
The original dark gray icy layer had become an ocean.
He stood silently under the rain, lost in reverie.
"Did you feel it? This rain is warm." An evolved human suddenly stated.
The group of people suddenly took notice. This rain was indeed unusual. In fact, it was not too warm, a dozen or so degree Celsius. To a normal human, the rain was still a bit cold and if they were drenched in rain of that temperature, they would fall sick.
However, to these humans who had stayed under the extremely cold weather for a long time, even if they stayed in a cave, the temperature throughout the year would remain around three to four degrees Celcius. To them, rain at this temperature was unusually warm.
Still, no one thought much about it. Ever since the apocalypse, many strange things had occurred on Earth making them accustomed to strange happenings. Not to mention, even if there were people with distorting thoughts thinking that the nuclear winter had disappeared, they would just assume that it was just within their imagination.
When Ling Zhong-an got a hold of himself, he wiped off the raindrops on him. His mind was in a daze. Not only was rain abnormal, the temperature was not normal either. The chill that lingered in the air was gone and within the rain, there actually was a warm feeling. Almost as if the smooth texture feeling of the icy layer beneath his feet was non-existent. He began to suspect whether he had crossed into another world and if the cave entrance had become a sort of dimensional doorway by some mysterious force.
"Luckily, this is still Earth." He determined by observing the surrounding areas.
He looked at his hand holding the meats and a bag of thick animal pelts, a sense of slight panic arose from his heart. However, when he thought of the situation right now, his heart sunk and his face looked grim, "I'm afraid we can only abandon this cave. When the rain stops, the entire place will be completely sealed off."
When he finished his words, the atmosphere became extremely quiet and everyone's faces looked grim.
An evolved human broke the silence and cried out, "How can this be good, this is forcing us into a dead end!"
"Now, where can we go? How will we make it through the night?"
An evolved human gave up and sat on the water, venting his frustration by hitting its surface. His facial expression also carried a hard to describe sort of despair and anger, "Damn the Gods, they just don't want us to settle comfortably."
The rest of the people kept quiet and their face was filled with sadness. The pain in their heart would not dissolve.
Right now, it was evening. There was not much time until the brutal cold night. Even if they were to hurry towards the closest hillside that was not flooded and dig out a new cave using all strength they had, they would still have to spend their night in an ice cave. Also, under this rainy weather, the tree branches had absorbed water and it would be delusional to think that you can use them to start a fire.
"Let's go!" Ling Zhong-an looked at the precious mechanical watch on his hand, waved his hand slightly, "There isn't much time left."
"Was life always filled with such hardships?" A female evolved human, unable to hold onto her sadness, asked.
Ling Zhong-an was stunned for a moment and subconsciously answered, "It always was, is, and will be!"