Chapter 49: Torrential Rain

Lu Zhifeng jumped onto the lifeboat, which was already packed to capacity.

The others, seeing that Jiang Si ignored their pleas, began throwing rocks at them in frustration. Some even tossed pieces of alligator gar meat into the water, luring more gars to attack the lifeboat.

Lu Zhifeng and Grandpa rowed while Jiang Si and Qin Shen took the lead in killing the attacking gars.

The lifeboat surged forward with the swift current.

Meanwhile, at the rescue site, a soldier asked Jiao Songwei,

“Deputy Commander, should we retreat?”

It was dark, and visibility was poor. If they delayed too long and Longquan Village completely collapsed, none of them would make it out alive.

Better safe than sorry.

The original reason they’d set up in Longquan Village was the nearby forest with its water source and giant mushrooms that offered shelter from solar radiation.

But now, with the extreme solar flare event over, the village’s remote location and risk of collapse made it unsustainable. Song Yao was missing, and Kuang Jiaying had gone to the Nancheng refugee center, leaving Jiao Songwei in charge of the camp.

Jiao narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction of Jiang Si’s lifeboat.

“Prepare for evacuation. Have Ren Jinshan intercept them. That’s our lifeboat—we need it to save more people!”

“Yes, sir!”

The lifeboat approached a steep slope where the floodwater no longer pooled, leaving no support for the boat.

Spotting a team of special forces ahead, Jiang Si quickly instructed,

“Mom, Grandma—pack up our things!”

She wasn’t worried about losing the lifeboat. Inside her space, she still had a luxury yacht, which the lifeboat had merely come with. Besides that, she had several assault boats and inflatable rafts—more than enough to guarantee water safety.

The alligator gars, bullies that they were, began to back off once they realized Jiang Si and the others weren’t easy targets.

Seizing the moment, Jiang Si slipped into the boat and discreetly reached into Lu Zhifeng’s weapons crate.

She stored the weapons in her space—just in case they were stopped for inspection. If they weren’t searched, she could always return the firearms later.

Soon, the lifeboat broke through the flooded entrance of Longquan Village. It shot forward several dozen meters before slowing to a stop.

Ren Jinshan and his special ops team approached.

“We need the lifeboat to rescue more people,” he said to Jiang Si.

Jiang Si had anticipated this. Without resistance, she led everyone off the boat.

Their luggage ranged from rolling suitcases to woven sacks. Shen Baoying had even tied her woven bag with two thick hemp ropes to carry it on her back.

Ren Jinshan’s gaze landed on Lu Zhifeng’s weapons crate. Sensing something off, he was about to order an inspection when—

CRASHHH—

A torrential downpour suddenly hammered down, blinding everyone.

The village’s drainage couldn’t keep up with the deluge.

Ren Jinshan frowned, abandoning his inspection as he urgently directed his team to continue widening the drainage outlet.

The moment Ren’s eyes fell on the crate, Lu Zhifeng had turned pale.

Fortunately, the box wasn’t opened.

As he moved to carry it again, Jiang Si quickly said,

“The rain’s too heavy, Uncle Lu—carry Niuniu instead. Let my dad take the box.”

Lu Zhifeng trusted them deeply. He had always planned to share the weapons with Jiang Si’s family anyway. He nodded,

“Thank you all.”

Jiang Linhai, already tipped off by Jiang Si, hoisted the crate onto his shoulder and pretended it was incredibly heavy, huffing and puffing like an Oscar-worthy performance.

The path ahead was all muddy and slippery.

Even without carrying luggage, walking was nearly impossible—let alone with bags.

Under the pounding rain, they trudged on, covered in mud. By dawn, they reached the base of the mountain—now completely submerged in water.

Everyone turned to Jiang Si,

“Si Si, where do we go now?”

Jiang Si already had a plan:

“We’ll descend and find a safe house where we can shelter.”

Everyone agreed.

After another two hours of hiking, the water had reached Jiang Si’s calves.

They were attacked by gars a few more times along the way, but thanks to their firearms—and Jiang Si and Qin Shen’s agility—no one was hurt.

They followed the road for a while, when suddenly—

RUMBLE—

The ground shook violently.

Turning back, they saw a massive mudslide tearing through the mountainside where Longquan Village once stood.

The road behind them had split clean in two. The torrent that had once been floodwater now turned into a sheer waterfall, like a scene from a myth.

Magnificent—yet terrifying.

Had they left even a little later, they might’ve been buried alive.

Everyone fell silent, struck by the mercilessness of nature. Zhang Qingzhi sighed,

“Let’s hope Longquan Village didn’t collapse completely. May the survivors still have a chance.”

The rain kept pouring. With nowhere for the water to go, the further they went, the deeper the flood became.

Luckily, Jiang Si spotted a patch of high ground, with a house still standing above water.

They rushed in.

On the first floor, several swollen corpses floated in the water. Upstairs, some human skeletons lay scattered—gnawed by rats.

Niuniu, having already seen the gars rip prey apart through the window for days, had grown numb to it all.

She quietly lay on Lu Zhifeng’s shoulder.

Lu Zhifeng wanted to comfort her, but she beat him to it with a small smile:

“I’m fine, Daddy. They’re not scary.”

Such a pure sentence—and yet so heart-wrenchingly cruel.

Everyone fell silent, then hurried to change into dry clothes from the box and start a fire to boil water and eat some dry biscuits.

The hot water and dry biscuits—simple as they were—felt like the most luxurious meal in hell.

Re-energized, Lu Zhifeng noticed the water outside was still rising. Worried they couldn’t stay there long, he looked around the house and said,

“How about we tear down the doors and build a wooden boat, just in case?”

Jiang Si had planned to sneak out the luxury yacht from her space when the time was right. But she couldn’t deny his idea now.

She nodded,

“Good thinking. I know a method to quickly lash together a stable sailboat. Here’s how…”

In the apocalypse, survival meant knowing a bit of everything. Jiang Si had become an outdoor survival expert—boat building included.

Her instructions were clear and easy to follow. Soon, everyone was working together, scavenging materials from around the house.

As they busied themselves, Jiang Si kept looking for the right moment to retrieve the yacht from her space.

Even if the sailboat wasn’t used, they could always burn it for fuel.

With so many hands helping, the rough outline of the sailboat quickly took shape.

By nightfall, everyone was exhausted.

Jiang Si suggested,

“Dad and I will take the first night watch. Everyone else, get some rest.”

Lu Zhifeng tried to object, but Jiang Si insisted:

“Uncle Lu, rest first. In three hours, Qin Shen and you can switch with us.”

With her tone set, Lu Zhifeng followed her arrangement.

The room soon fell quiet.

Even Dahei and Xiaohei curled up in their mother’s sleeping bag.

Jiang Si scanned the room, especially keeping an eye on Qin Shen. Only after confirming he wouldn’t wake up did she pull the luxury yacht from her space.

Suddenly, she shouted—

“Everyone, look! Quick!!”