Chapter 66

At this moment, no one questioned why Shu Fu had the red liquid. They all focused their attention on escaping from this fish-infested town, eager to leave as soon as possible.

The three of them grabbed their travel bags and boat bags, staying close to each other as they moved quickly downhill, soon turning a corner and heading straight for the small forest by the water.

Along the way, two large monster fish, unaffected by the smell, attacked them, but they were swiftly killed by the alert Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen.

Shu Fu mainly focused on replenishing the red liquid on the three of them and their bags, also using the liquid to clear a path when the small monster fish crowded in and wouldn’t retreat.

The three of them worked in perfect coordination, and despite the intense, nauseating smell of rotting fish making them gag repeatedly, they held their positions and responsibilities.

When they had only about a third of the path through the forest left, Shu Fu suddenly handed her boat bag to them and took three more bottles of the red liquid from her backpack, along with the two bottles she still had, stuffing them all into Chen Fa’s raincoat pockets.

“What are you doing?” Chen Fa asked warily, grabbing her arm.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to sacrifice anything. I’ve hidden some supplies nearby that will help us quickly escape the water area. You and Grandma hurry to the water’s edge and prepare to wait for me!” Shu Fu patted her arm. “Trust me, I’ll be back soon!”

Chen Fa let go of her hand, watching as Shu Fu took another bottle of red liquid from her backpack, opened it, and sprayed it everywhere to clear a path through the young monster fish. Then she ran towards the edge of the forest.

Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen used up another bottle of red liquid and finally reached the water’s edge. Chen Yuezhen quickly opened the boat bag as Shu Fu had previously taught her.

A small orange inflatable boat with a tent quickly unfolded on the shore. As the boat bag opened, Chen Fa continued to spray the red liquid around the boat to prevent any monster fish from hiding in the water and attacking the boat.

This inflatable boat was their only means of escape, and it couldn’t be damaged. There was no turning back, so it had to be safe.

Once the inflatable boat was set up, Chen Yuezhen quickly threw all three travel bags inside the tent and began assembling the paddles. Though the boat was easy to carry, it relied on manual paddling, which meant it couldn’t go fast. And since the waters near the town were dangerous, she had to save time.

Chen Fa continued to spray red liquid around the boat and the muddy ground while anxiously waiting. Shu Fu was alone, with limited weaponry, and she feared something might go wrong.

But fortunately, Shu Fu didn’t make them wait long. Just as Chen Fa sprayed the third bottle of red liquid, Shu Fu returned, holding a long object in one hand and spraying more red liquid with the other. She charged through the young monster fish and reached them.

“Get on the boat!” Before Chen Yuezhen could even speak a second time, both she and Chen Fa quickly lifted the inflatable boat and moved it to the shallow water. Chen Yuezhen boarded the boat, took the item from Shu Fu’s hand, and pulled her onto the boat.

Chen Fa pushed the boat away from the shore, using her strength to move it further out into the water, then quickly sat inside.

Shu Fu took two more bottles of red liquid from her front backpack and handed them to Chen Fa, instructing her to keep spraying around the boat. She then told Chen Yuezhen to use the paddles to move the boat away from the shallow area, as the motor couldn’t start in water that was too shallow.

“…How many bottles did you take?” Chen Fa asked, looking at the full red glass bottles in her hands.

Shu Fu had already climbed to the farthest side of the boat, where there was a zipper opening for rain protection. When opened, it allowed the boat’s motor propeller to extend and be fixed at the corner of the boat. Once fuel was added to the motor, it would start and propel the boat forward quickly.

She had studied the manual for the boat motor in her spare time at the cave restaurant and had even tested it. The fuel tank was already full, which saved her a lot of time and effort now.

She quickly fixed the motor, skillfully turned the throttle handle, and started the engine.

Luckily, on the second try, the engine started. She held the handle, adjusted the angle of the propeller in the water, and looked out through the transparent opening of the tent to check the situation outside.

Thanks to Chen Yuezhen’s efforts, the boat was already a distance from the shore. Now, with the motor’s thrust, it accelerated instantly and headed towards the open waters.

On the shore, the young monster fish had likely moved out of the effective range of the red liquid. However, for some reason, they didn’t enter the water. Instead, they clustered on the shore, propping themselves up with their “legs” and staring at the trio with their menacing fish faces, standing upright in an organized fashion.

The sight was truly horrifying.

In the shallow water on the shore, large monster fish occasionally leaped and landed. At first, they had hesitated to approach due to the scent from the boat and the women, but now it seemed like they were guarding their young, so they didn’t continue chasing them.

The three of them had finally escaped the town safely.

Inside the inflatable boat, the three exhausted women found spots to lean against, breathing heavily in silence for a long time.

**

Two days later, in Lucheng.

Due to the geography of the northern plateau, Lucheng wasn’t large—about half the size of Lou Yuncheng—and it was considered a small third-tier city in the country.

Chen Fa had traveled between Lucheng and the river west town before the flood hit the suburbs, and had also made two trips by boat to exchange supplies. So she was very familiar with the route to Lucheng. According to her original plan, the three of them would have taken the hand-paddled inflatable boat, and with the water current resistance and rest stops, it would take them about a day to reach their destination.

But what she didn’t expect was that Shu Fu actually had a boat engine!

Thinking about it, it made sense—she was alone, and without the proper equipment, she wouldn’t be able to take the water route in such a situation.

The boat engine’s fuel tank was limited, and the fuel wasn’t enough to carry them all the way to land. For the final stretch of water, the three of them had to row for two hours before reaching shore. Even so, it reduced their time spent crossing the flooded area by more than half.

It was just past noon that the three of them on the inflatable boat saw a long stretch of land appearing to the northwest.

There was also a river on the southeastern outskirts of Lucheng, a tributary of the Qinghe River. After the water level rose, it submerged the surrounding area. The waterline here was very long, mainly due to it being along the tributary.

Along this long waterline, they could still see a few bridges that hadn’t been submerged. These bridges originally spanned the Qinghe River tributary, one end connected to Lucheng, while the other end had already been swallowed by the water due to the terrain.

On the side of the bridge closer to the outskirts of Lucheng, some sections of the bridge surface were still above the water. Some had been severely eroded by the floodwaters, with broken bridge columns, collapsed surfaces, and occasional falling chunks of concrete.

As they rowed past these areas, the three of them carefully avoided them, fearing that falling stones from the bridge might hit the boat or that splashing water might cause Malaysiange.

Shu Fu had initially worried that there might be patrols near the water-land interface, similar to the two patrol teams in Hexi Town. However, Chen Fa assured her that it was impossible.

Lucheng was much larger than Hexi Town. After the world-ending tsunami, most of the military personnel from Lucheng were sent to aid the tsunami-stricken areas. The remaining personnel were insufficient to guard the city, and eventually, the authorities lost control of the population. The city then went through its most chaotic period, and those who could escape had already left. The unlucky ones who couldn’t escape had perished.

Now, the only people left in the city were two types: those waiting to die, and those who didn’t care about life or death.

The first group had completely given up struggling. They were mostly the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled, too scared to leave. They survived day by day in this increasingly dilapidated city, knowing that one day they might die in their sleep from illness, hunger, or from drinking unclean water.

The second group had the ability to leave and had vehicles, equipment, weapons, and some even had firearms. But they didn’t want to leave. Some had blood on their hands; perhaps their actions were born out of necessity, but for them, it was impossible to live an orderly life in a city with law and order anymore.

There were others who simply enjoyed this reckless life, not needing to work nine to five, to flatter bosses for a paycheck, or to pinch pennies for mortgages and car loans.

In this place, there were many abandoned houses. Although shops, supermarkets, and malls had been looted multiple times, most of their supplies had been taken, but what remained was still enough for them to live comfortably. The elderly, weak, sick, and disabled didn’t dare to loot but appeared to beg.

In front of these people, they were the ones who controlled their bodies, freedom, dignity, and lives.

However, such a life came at a price.

Lucheng was a chaotic place, with many groups occupying large shopping malls, supermarkets, shopping streets, hospitals, water stations, power plants, and more. These places all had solid buildings, large internal spaces, and still contained supplies.

Apart from three large groups, other smaller groups fought and looted every few days to gain control of these territories.

In this environment, people could be killed on the street at any moment or even be killed in their sleep by intruders.

This was the price they had to pay.

So even though there were still many people in Lucheng, they were all walking on the edge of life and death. They fought daily over territory and supplies, and they couldn’t afford to focus on guarding or managing the city like the authorities once did.

However, most of the fighting was between small and medium-sized groups. The three largest groups had already passed their fighting phase and had temporarily called a ceasefire to maintain a balance of power. This was similar to the situation in Hexi Town, where the Yang Can team and the Malaysia group maintained relative peace.

Lucheng currently had three trading stations, each set up by one of the three large groups. The initial purpose was to consolidate and allocate resources. Some groups needed medicine, others needed electricity, water, or fuel.

So, these three groups created trading stations as safe places for resource exchanges.

Eventually, these stations evolved into private barter exchanges, and later, they started to open to the outside world at fixed times every week. Besides the refugees in Lucheng, people from surrounding towns also came after collecting enough supplies to trade for things they needed more.

Since these stations were on the territories of the three large groups, there were a certain number of weapons among them. So, very few people dared to cause trouble or looting here. However, don’t expect too much order—fair and reasonable exchanges were impossible. It was all about willingness to trade, depending on personal needs and strength.

Trading Station No. 3, which appeared in Shu Fu’s mission, was one of these. It was opened twice a week, with the next two openings on the third and fifth day after she received her new mission.

Shu Fu didn’t know how many times she would need to check in before the task was considered complete, so she had to go both times naturally.

“The original purpose of Trading Station No. 3 was as a museum. Most of the important exhibits were taken when the authorities evacuated, and the interior isn’t very large, with three floors. Since it was an empty building and the structure was solid and simple, one of the groups chose it as a place for resource exchange.

To make management easier, they only opened the first floor as the trading area. The fixed stalls are all run by people from the group. There is no fixed price for exchange; people entering have to offer some food supplies, which acts as a filter for refugees who might be trying to steal or take advantage.

But anyone bold enough to set up a stall for exchange is powerful. Anyone attempting to steal or loot could expect to have their limbs broken in public, or worse, dragged outside and killed. After all, in this situation, supplies are more valuable than human lives…”

Shu Fu had gathered a lot of information from Chen Fa, information that would have taken her a long time to obtain on her own if she were to enter the city alone.

In the process of gathering this information, it would have been easy for her to get targeted.

Now, all she had to do was stay safely indoors and listen as Chen Fa provided her with all the important details.

After the flood separated the outskirts of Lucheng and Hexi Town, Chen Fa had gone twice with the group to exchange goods but never entered the city itself. Zhou Feng, a very cautious person, would anchor the boats but never venture too far. The other group would bring supplies to the waterfront for direct exchange with him.

These supplies were likely traded by the other group, and they would be more expensive than if they entered the city themselves, but the city was too unstable. Their group had too many people and too many supplies, and it was possible they could be ambushed and robbed. So, they preferred to conduct transactions by the water.

This way, the other group could earn a bit of profit, while Zhou Feng’s Yang Can team could ensure a safe arrival and departure, being able to quickly board the boat and leave at the first sign of trouble.

The establishment of trading stations by the three main factions had begun when Chen Fa evacuated Lucheng, so she knew about many things.

---

That day, after landing, the three of them didn’t rush to enter the city. Instead, they followed Chen Yuezhen’s suggestion and found a small residential area on the edge of the city—an unfinished development, commonly referred to as a “half-built” area, where they decided to rest.

The unfinished complex was located next to a hill, with buildings facing south. From there, they could see the flood zone to the southeast. Because it was so close to the flood zone and lacked nearby stores or facilities, there were basically no people around.

This area was originally planned to be a villa district, with detached houses and townhouses, but most of them were without windows or doors, and some were even just cement structures.

The three of them chose a building that appeared relatively intact, so it wouldn’t collapse suddenly while they slept.

They had camping equipment, so they picked a room without windows—like a dining area or hallway—and cleaned it up a bit to set up camp.

In order to survive and escape the town, they had been thorough when sprinkling the red liquid, so the smell had soaked into their clothes. Even after landing and being drenched in rain, the stench still wouldn’t wash off.

They could endure in urgent situations, but now the smell was unbearable, practically suffocating them.

So, in addition to resting, they chose this location to clean up as soon as possible.

They had to clean their raincoats, rain pants, and rain boots, as well as the inflatable boat, which now stank because of their use, and all their bags and travel gear. They would also change their clothes and take a thorough wash.

Fortunately, Chen Fa’s camping gear was well-stocked. She took out a folding bucket and used the gap in the window to collect rainwater, planning to have everyone wash up with cold rainwater and change into clean clothes. Even without shampoo or shower gel, just washing with clean water multiple times would still be effective.

But when the time came, Shu Fu reached into her backpack and pulled out two items: sulfur soap and effervescent water purification tablets—also known as water purifiers.

The sulfur soap was still new, sealed in plastic, and the water purification tablets were in a bottle of 120 pieces. The concentration couldn’t be too strong when purifying drinking water—one tablet could purify 50L of water. For cleaning and disinfecting, the water amount needed to be reduced accordingly.

Chen Fa’s folding bucket held about 20 liters, and putting one or two tablets in it would purify the rainwater, making it just right for cleaning and disinfecting their stinky selves.

As for the sulfur soap, although it didn’t smell very pleasant, it could create foam for washing hair and body, helping them get thoroughly clean.

After months of flooding, the water purification tablets had become a hot commodity. Back in Hexi Town, the team had used them regularly, filtering rainwater and then purifying it with the tablets.

Some less particular people would just boil the purified water and drink it directly.

Chen Fa also had water purification tablets, but not the same kind. They were in boxes, individually wrapped doses, meant for drinking water only, not for cleaning or disinfecting. She only had four tablets left, kept for emergencies.

So when it came time to bathe with the rainwater, she hadn’t thought to use them, not expecting Shu Fu to pull out a whole bottle.

The three of them each took some water and went to the unrenovated bathroom in the building to clean up, also washing their clothes and boots while they were at it.

Two hours later, the three of them, who had finally washed off the stench, were sitting barefoot on the camping mats they had laid out, wearing clean clothes and smelling of chemicals. They began to divide up tasks.

They applied medicine and bandaged Chen Fa’s bite, which had only been treated urgently before, and changed the dressing on the wound on her foot. They cooked a self-heating hot pot and rice, set up a camping stove with a small pot, and poured bottled drinking water into it to make vegetable soup. They lit mosquito coils around them and applied essential oil balm to their bodies…

The vegetable soup contained dehydrated vegetables brought by Shu Fu. Although it was only one bag, it weighed 500 grams, and a small amount was enough to make a large pot of soup. They also added seasoning from instant noodles to enhance the flavor.

On this rainy evening, after narrowly escaping death, sitting safely inside and quietly drinking a steaming bowl of vegetable soup with fragrant rice and hot pot beside them, felt like a fortunate thing for the three of them.

Chen Fa also brought out some bread, and the three of them dipped the bread into the hot pot broth, eating it together. It filled their stomachs and was delicious.

From the other side of the house, looking out the window in the living room that wasn’t sealed, they could see the tall tree tops battered by the heavy rain, scattered and broken.

The area here had likely been abandoned for more than two months, and it was very likely that construction had been paused since the heavy rains last year. As a result, plants had grown wildly inside, and there were branches and leaves scattered everywhere. Many mosquitoes were hiding among the foliage.

Shu Fu had noticed that since they landed on the outskirts of Lucheng, the air was full of flying mosquitoes in the surrounding shrubs and grass. The ground, littered with broken branches, debris, and garbage, was also crawling with various insects.

Although it wasn’t as extreme as the cave restaurant, compared to Hexi Town, this place felt particularly abnormal.