Chapter 279: Beyond the Glass Walls

Zhiyi had been holding her spoon for some time before Hanchuan touched her wrist and lowered it toward her bowl.

"Eat a little, sweetheart," Hanchuan said, leaning close enough to kiss her temple. "You can go back to bed afterward if you’re tired."

She looked down at her breakfast, then toward Jingwei, who had just taken the seat on her other side.

He smiled when he caught her looking, and she quickly put a spoonful into her mouth. That only made his smile widen.

Beneath the table, his knee rested against hers, and she found herself thinking about waking beside him instead of whatever Zeyu was saying across from them.

Hanchuan brushed her hair behind her shoulder before returning to his own food. She leaned against him for a moment, comfortable enough to let the conversation continue without her.

There was nowhere she needed to be this morning. Yesterday’s chairs still needed putting back, but Shichen had told her to leave them alone, and someone had already covered the remaining cake.

"I’m keeping that last piece," Zeyu said, pointing his spoon toward Qinghe. "You can’t tell me you don’t want any and then eat half of mine."

"I asked for a bite," Qinghe replied, smiling as he reached for his cup. "You handed me the plate."

Zhiyi glanced toward the counter, wondering whether she could have cake after breakfast. Jingwei must have followed her eyes because he bent toward her and quietly promised to get her some.

She was about to tell him she only wanted a small piece when a heavy knock came from the windows.

Shichen turned first. Zhiyi looked past him, but rain obscured the glass, and whatever had struck it was already gone.

Things had been hitting the building throughout the Flood, and this didn’t really seem to be anything different. She returned to her bowl while Jingwei watched the window a little longer.

The next impact made the spoon tremble against her teeth.

"That wasn’t a branch," Zeyu said, setting his bowl down. He twisted in his chair as a broad gray shape passed outside, close enough to block the light along the bottom of the window.

Zhiyi leaned sideways to see around him. A pale belly turned toward the glass, followed by a fin and the sweep of a tail.

The animal disappeared beneath the surface, leaving her staring at water where there should have been a view of the building across from them.

"Was that yet another shark?" Zhiyi asked, looking toward Jingwei.

"It looked like one," Jingwei replied. He moved his chair back and reached for the tablet on the sideboard. "Stay there. I want to check the outside cameras."

Hanchuan’s hand settled over hers when she started to rise for a better look. She sat back without thinking about it, watching another wave wash across the lower panes.

The noise was much louder than she remembered from the night before, although she hadn’t paid much attention to the rain then.

Shichen walked toward the end of the table, keeping several feet between himself and the windows. He looked down through the glass before glancing at Hanchuan.

"The water’s come up again," Shichen said. "Those waves are reaching above the sill."

Hanchuan stood beside Zhiyi’s chair, his attention moving from the windows to Jingwei’s screen. "How much of a rise since the last check?"

"I’m bringing it up," Jingwei answered, turning the tablet so they could both see. "The east camera’s underwater. The one above it is still working."

Zhiyi could see only part of the image from where she sat.

Brown water moved through it, crowded with pieces of wood and things she couldn’t recognize. Jingwei changed views, and a stretch of open water appeared beyond the neighboring building, rough enough that white foam blew from the tops of the waves.

Qinghe had stopped drinking. His cup remained between his hands while he watched something dark move beneath the surface outside. It brushed the window, turned sharply, and struck again with its tail.

"There’s more than one," Qinghe said. He pushed his chair back as another shape passed behind the first. "They’re being knocked against the wall."

Zhiyi finally put her spoon down.

She had seen fish in the lower rooms on the cameras, but those images had been small and easy to turn away from.

Here, the water kept climbing in front of her, briefly making the dining room feel as though it were beneath the sea.

Shichen crouched near the end of the table.

A thin stream had appeared beneath the corner window, running down the painted wall and gathering along the baseboard. He watched it for a moment, then straightened.

"Hanchuan, we’ve got water coming through the frame," Shichen said. "Move her back from here."

Hanchuan was already drawing out her chair. Zhiyi stood when he took her hand, leaving her breakfast unfinished as he guided her toward the kitchen. Jingwei followed with the tablet while Qinghe moved around the other side of the table.

Zeyu stayed long enough to look at the leak. "Can we close the shutters?"

"From the kitchen panel," Shichen replied, backing toward him. "Don’t go any closer. I want to see whether—"

A sharp crack interrupted Shichen before he finished. Zhiyi stopped in the doorway and looked back.

A white line had appeared near the bottom corner of the glass. As she watched, it lengthened toward the center, branching beneath another wash of water.

Hanchuan drew her behind him.

"Keep moving, sweetheart," Hanchuan said. His voice was still steady, but his hand had tightened around hers. "Go through to the corridor."

She obeyed, though she kept looking over her shoulder. Zeyu had reached the shutter controls, and she heard the motor start somewhere above the windows. The metal covering began descending, hiding the upper edge of the gray morning.

Then a horn sounded beyond the rain.

Jingwei looked up from the tablet. Zeyu’s hand stopped against the controls, and Shichen turned toward the uncovered portion of the windows as a dark shape emerged between the buildings.

Zhiyi couldn’t understand what she was seeing. It was too tall to be one of the boats, and it kept growing wider as it came toward them. For a moment, she thought an entire wall had broken loose.

Then she saw the containers stacked behind it.

"Get into the back corridor," Jingwei shouted, abandoning the tablet on the counter as he reached for Qinghe. "There’s a ship coming straight at us!"

Hanchuan pulled Zhiyi around the corner, his arm closing around her waist when she stumbled. She heard Zeyu and Shichen behind them, their footsteps almost lost beneath the horn and the noise of water striking the building.

The window frames gave way before the shutters finished closing.

Zhiyi saw the dining table driven across the floor through the open kitchen doorway. Water carried the chairs with it, and the cup Hanchuan had filled for her struck the counter and broke. Jingwei caught Shichen by the shoulder, pulling him clear as the hanging shutter bent inward.

The ship’s bow came through behind it.

Hanchuan pushed Zhiyi down and covered her as the impact threw them against the corridor wall.

She caught his shirt with both hands, unable to hear her own cry over the crash of concrete.

Beyond his shoulder, dark steel crushed the kitchen cabinets and kept coming, tearing through the place where all six of them had been eating breakfast.

The lights went out while Hanchuan was trying to get her back onto her feet.

Zhiyi felt him brace against the wall, but the floor kept shifting beneath them, carrying them toward the sound of rushing water.