Chapter 19 Natural Disaster 7

Chapter 19 Natural Disaster 7

On the 9th day, the system announced, "The wind has reached its strongest ever recorded. Players are advised to avoid going out."

"Due to damaged power lines, the island will experience an island-wide power outage starting today."

"Some areas have neglected water pipe maintenance, resulting in tap water severely exceeding safe levels of bacterial colonies. From today, tap water is undrinkable. (Forced consumption may easily trigger debuffs.)"

Su Han murmured to herself, "If memory serves, in the beginner's instance, water and power were cut off starting from the 12th day? It seems the difficulty of the instance has significantly increased."

However, none of this concerned her.

Su Han stayed cozily in her room, occasionally peering out the window. Pedestrians on the road grew fewer, and the scene looked quite desolate.

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

Learning from past experiences, Su Han first took out a dagger from her inventory and held it behind her back before opening the door.

Standing outside was Zhong Rui.

Su Han relaxed slightly, her expression easing, though the dagger remained hidden behind her back, "What's the matter?"

"To discuss loot distribution," Zhong Rui calmly replied.

There were four bandits, each armed. After the fight, all four weapons had fallen to the ground.

Su Han had her eye on the Tang sword. The Tang sword was suitable for attack, while the dagger was good for self-defense. Pairing a long and short weapon would significantly boost combat effectiveness. However, it was thanks to Zhong Rui's help that they managed to defeat the bandits smoothly; otherwise, the outcome could have been very different. She was deeply grateful.

"I only need the dagger; you can deal with the rest," Su Han said indifferently.

Zhong Rui was taken aback, "Among the brick, dagger, Tang sword, and kitchen knife, you only choose one?"

"Yes," Su Han nodded lightly and said, "If that's all, goodbye."

With a "snap," the door closed.

"An upright, moderately kind, and principled player?" Zhong Rui chuckled after a moment's thought, "As a companion, she is both reliable and no deadweight. Really good."

**

At 9 a.m. the next morning, the system's mechanical voice announced, "Day 10, the tornado has left, but smaller tornadoes continue to wreak havoc on the island."

"Due to the strong winds, those with low stamina may be blown away or injured. (Those with a satiety level >60 will be immune.)"

"The tornado's passage has caused widespread devastation, severely affecting the island's environment. Please do your best to clean up."

"Note: By 9 a.m. on the 11th day, if the cleanup completion rate is below 35%, a medium debuff will be triggered; if between 35%-70%, a low debuff will be triggered; if above 70%, no debuff will be triggered."

"This is a problem," Su Han quickly analyzed.

"Currently, there are already two debuffs—cleanliness below 60 may cause rhinitis, and satiety below 60 may result in being blown away. Not many players will be willing to go out and participate in the cleanup."

"Even worse, it's already the 10th day... If players just want to get by, they can leave the instance on the 11th day."

After much thought, Su Han chose to lower her expectations, "Do our best and leave the rest to chance, just don't trigger the medium debuff." The medium debuff sounded ominous.

After breakfast, she found clean cloth strips and wrapped her hands in layers of clean cloth—she had read about tornadoes before, and it was said that post-disaster cleanup not only easily caused injuries but also led to wound infections, so Su Han had to take precautions in advance.

Stepping out of the inn, a chaotic scene met her eyes. Small cars by the roadside had flipped over, wheels up, and several others were inexplicably missing; several large trees had fallen, blocking the road and causing traffic inconvenience; the flowers and plants in the flower beds looked as if they had been ravaged, very messy; trash bins had been blown over, and various kinds of garbage were scattered all over the ground.

Su Han thought, if no one cleaned this up, it wouldn't be surprising if it triggered a disease debuff.

At this moment, a person approached and introduced themselves, "Hello, I am the head of the Volunteer Association. The Volunteer Association plans to conduct a cleanup across the entire island, providing one lunch per day. Would you be willing to join?"

Su Han quickly reacted. Honestly, up until now, she had always thought that the cleanup might have to be done by a few who were well-off. But if the Volunteer Association stepped in and offered lunch, no doubt, more NPCs would be willing to join.

"I am willing to join," Su Han replied without hesitation.

"Great, please join a team of five first and clean up the garbage on the street," the head began to assign tasks.

She nodded in agreement. However, upon joining the so-called team of five, she found out that her teammates were Zhong Rui, Cai Cheng, and two strangers.

Among them, the unfamiliar woman was the first to introduce herself, "My name is Fan Wanyu, 27 years old, a school teacher."

The unfamiliar young boy then said, "My surname is Fang, just call me Xiao Fang. I'm a college student, out for a backpacking trip, but unexpectedly got stuck on the island."

Su Han paused for a moment. Backpacking trip? That reason sounded so familiar, a player, right?

Zhong Rui simply said, "Zhong Rui," and then nothing more, seeming a bit difficult to communicate with.

Cai Cheng said earnestly, "I think the mess everywhere really affects the city's appearance, it must be restored to cleanliness."

She couldn't help but glance sideways, thinking to herself that this guy probably rushed out to help just to protect his inn business.

When it was Su Han's turn, she said, "Su Han, had a fight with my family, currently running away from home."

Zhong Rui glanced at her subtly, the meaning was clear—as a player, it must be hard to come up with a reliable background.

She stayed cool and collected, pretending not to notice.

Once they got to know each other, the five of them split up to work, some sweeping, some taking out the trash, some weeding.

Cai Cheng complained, "If we don't need to cooperate, then why did we just introduce ourselves?"

She had no time to respond, working efficiently. Getting paid by the day might lead to some people slacking off on the job. After all, whether you work more or less, you only get one meal, so why waste energy and work hard?

Unable to control others, Su Han decided to pick up the slack herself, trying to increase the cleanup progress.

Similarly, Zhong Rui had a similar thought, working quickly.

After they cleaned up the garbage in one area, the system notified them, "Cleanup progress +1%, current total progress 7.6%."

No sooner had they finished than the head appeared before them, continuing to issue instructions, "There's a tree blocking the road on xx street, please go and clean it up."

Upon reaching the destination, they stared at the tree blocking the road, then looked at each other.

Fan Wanyu frowned, "The tree is too big, how are we supposed to deal with this?"

Su Han said flatly, "So the head gave us axes, didn't he?"

Xiao Fang's face turned green, "You mean, chop the tree, lumber?" Chopping it into firewood would clear the road.

"If you understand, then hurry up and start," after saying this, Zhong Rui was the first to start chopping.

Su Han let out a deep sigh, raising her axe.

Cai Cheng gritted his teeth, the third one to start.

Fan Wanyu paused for a moment, then reluctantly followed. However, she was very cunning, deliberately taking her time.

Xiao Fang's face lit up, following suit, also starting to chop the tree slowly.

After an unknown period of time, the large tree was finally chopped into several pieces. The system prompted, "Cleanup progress +2%, current total progress 21.6%."

"What should we do with the logs?" Xiao Fang asked.

"The person in charge didn't specify; we can probably handle them however we like," Fan Wanyu replied, slightly out of breath. Right then, she started wondering if coming here to work just for a meal was worth it.

Zhong Rui suddenly asked, "Is there a warehouse in the guesthouse?"

Cai Cheng was slightly stunned, blinked several times before reacting, and quickly nodded, "Yes, there's a large warehouse."

"Let's use it for now."

"No problem," Cai Cheng readily agreed.

Zhong Rui looked around and asked, "If anyone wants the wood, we can split it evenly. Otherwise, I'll take it all."

Su Han didn't hesitate, "I want it."

But then, she changed her mind, "I also live in the guesthouse, so let's put it in the warehouse first."

Zhong Rui turned to look at the other three.

Cai Cheng hesitated for a moment, thinking that it would be foolish not to take advantage of such an opportunity, so he firmly replied, "I'm in."

Fan Wanyu waved her hands repeatedly, "You can have my share; I don't need it." Right then, all she wanted was to sit down and rest.

Xiao Fang frowned, couldn't figure out why these people wanted the wood. Sticking to the idea of not passing up a good deal, he said, "Then let's split it among the four of us."

"Come help move these," Zhong Rui called out.

Fan Wanyu didn't move. She had given up her share, so she didn't need to lift a finger.

As Xiao Fang reached out, his mouth twitched, and he gasped in pain. Everyone turned to see his finger pierced by a wood splinter, blood streaming down. It wasn't clear if it was infected or inflamed.

Xiao Fang was really annoyed. Why risk his life over some wood? Thinking this, he decisively changed his mind, "I don't want the wood anymore; you can do whatever you want with it."

"What about Cai Cheng?" Su Han turned to ask.

Cai Cheng took a step back and stated firmly, "Actually, I've decided to pass." After all, life's more important.

Su Han looked at Zhong Rui, only to find that he was also waiting for her response. She smiled helplessly, "Looks like you're not planning to give up?"

"Let's split it evenly," Zhong Rui said straightforwardly.

"Okay," Su Han agreed.

"Hold on," Zhong Rui first went back to the guesthouse alone, and when he returned, he was riding a tricycle, though no one knew where he'd gotten it.

Su Han started loading the wood onto the tricycle right away.

Xiao Fang was a bit suspicious, "Why aren't these two afraid of getting hurt?"

Fan Wanyu interjected, "Take a good look at their hands."

Xiao Fang was startled, "That's..."

"They've wrapped their fingers with cloth strips. It's a professional wrapping method, only exposing the fingertips. That way, they don't hurt their hands, and it doesn't slow them down."

Xiao Fang suddenly understood, "No wonder." But then he felt something was off, and he turned to ask, "Then why didn't you wrap your hands?"

Fan Wanyu was speechless for a moment, and said seriously, "Knowing about it and knowing how to do it are two different things."

"Besides," her tone became somewhat subtle, "with the lack of food and drink now, what would I do with some wood?"

Xiao Fang nodded deeply in agreement, "So it's better to pass and take a break."