Tang Li looked forward and saw a middle-aged man, very portly.
He was holding a large wad of pre-apocalypse cash and was red-faced, yelling at the rescue team distributing relief supplies.
The rescue team members remained calm and unhurried, completely ignoring the middle-aged man.
Without the rescue team needing to say anything, two people in police uniforms immediately stepped forward and took the middle-aged man away.
The movements were smooth and practiced, as if they had been rehearsed countless times.
As he was being held, the middle-aged man continued to shout, "Let me go! I'm using money to buy supplies, why are you arresting me?"
The rescue personnel ignored him and called out, "Next!"
Now, time was life.
The sooner the supplies were distributed, the sooner they could move to the next location for rescue, and the more lives could be saved.
As for the middle-aged man, the police would handle educating him.
Tang Li was not surprised that the police accompanied the rescue team this time.
This was because, as early as August 12th, shortly after the thunderstorm ended, City A had reported implementing martial law, with a city-wide curfew starting at 10 PM that night!
Tang Li knew this from her previous life, and she had also heard it on the radio in this life.
The reason for martial law was the large number of violent incidents, including home invasions and intentional homicides, that occurred during the thunderstorm.
Even some rescue teams stranded at supply distribution points due to the thunderstorm were attacked by criminals, resulting in casualties.
There were also people who frequently tried to snatch supplies when the rescue teams were distributing them.
Therefore, every rescue team was now accompanied by police to prevent such situations from happening again.
The distribution of supplies was also very fast this time.
The free relief supplies included, in addition to what was provided before, a boxed meal for each person, and they were to leave after receiving it.
Those who wanted to retrieve their stored grain from the rescue teams, or exchange grain for water and food, were only registered for now. They would undergo the unified exchange of other supplies after the free relief supplies were distributed.
Although many rescue teams transporting stored grain had encountered thunderstorms en route, and those transporting grain and the people transporting them were scattered in the floodwaters and did not reach safety, the authorities still acknowledged the grain stored by these depositors.
It just couldn't be returned in its original form.
This time, the rescue teams also canceled the storage service.
The rescue teams also distributed a gas canister, a gas stove, and a water purifier to each unit in every building, so that people could survive on their home-stored food and purify rainwater to drink, even if rescue was cut off.
This could only serve to appease the people.
Tang Li knew that soon after the thunderstorm ended, the heavy rain would gradually subside.
Afterward, as long as the rainfall upstream slowly drained into the sea, the floodwaters would recede.
There would be no more thunderstorm weather like before.
However, with gas stoves and water purifiers, the lives of the people in the buildings would indeed become more convenient.
Because gas stoves were distributed, this batch of relief supplies also included some ingredients like eggs, winter melon, potatoes, cured meat, and cured sausage, allowing people to cook some dishes themselves when they ate.
However, these ingredients were not distributed for free.
Like the boxed meals before, they needed to be exchanged for home-stored rice and flour, or for grain previously stored with the rescue teams.
The middle-aged man who had just wanted to buy with money was after these ingredients.
"These are relief supplies and can only be exchanged for other items that can serve as relief supplies. They are not commodities, and you can't buy them just because you have money!"
"If we were to consider money, there are many people richer than you. Why wouldn't we sell these supplies to those rich people instead of giving them to you for free?"
After being lectured by the police, the middle-aged man became much more subdued.
But he still said indignantly, "Then you can't talk properly? What do you mean by dragging me aside?"
The policeman pointed to the insignia on his arm and asked, "See these two words? Martial Law!"
"City A has already begun to implement martial law. During martial law, the procedures and duration of detention and arrest are not restricted by relevant regulations."
"You have already disrupted the distribution of relief supplies. If it were more serious, we would have the right to detain you."
"Pulling you aside before you made a bigger mistake was already protecting you."
Bang! Bang!
As if to confirm the policeman's words, just as he finished speaking, two gunshots rang out from a neighboring unit.