Chapter 26

After making up her mind, Shu Fu began preparing. First, she compared the map with the waterway map, setting her destination to the commercial district in the eastern part of Suicheng and marking out the route for her journey.

Along the way, she chose three or four tall buildings with more than 15 floors that had previously been well-stocked, using them as transit points. For example, those with large supermarkets, shopping streets, or even gas stations near them.

If the conditions allowed, she might spend a few nights in these tall buildings, taking advantage of the fact that Suicheng hadn’t yet been flooded to the point where only a few islands remained, and using an automatic fishing rod to gather as many supplies as possible.

These kinds of tall buildings were easy to find; many were hotels, or some floors had been converted into hotels, so there were usually shops downstairs where she could get supplies.

Once the route was planned, Shu Fu broke a piece of floor-to-ceiling glass outside the small meeting room in the large office area, just in case, leaving herself an escape route. She planned to spend the night inside and save the limited raft usage time for when she set off tomorrow.

At 8 PM, she released the raft on the 10th-floor office area, and as usual, activated the electric card.

The first 24-hour electric card had just been used up last night, and now she was using a one-week card. She didn’t need electricity every day for over an hour—washing clothes wasn’t necessary every day, and simple bathing plus cleaning her dishes took just over half an hour.

Sometimes, when her power banks, lights, phone, tablet, and electric heating pads were fully charged, she didn’t need to shower; she could just use the hot water from her wristband space for simple cleaning without activating the electric card.

She stayed in the drifting house until midnight, then returned to the office building.

It was dark and cold outside, with the night temperature between 0 and 3 degrees. Even though she was wearing thick cotton loungewear, she still felt a bit cold.

Using the dim light from her phone screen, she entered the small meeting room, locked the door, closed the blinds on the floor-to-ceiling windows, and took out a rechargeable, energy-saving desk lamp. She set it to the lowest brightness and placed it behind the desk to ensure no light leaked out.

Next, she took out an automatic camping tent, set it on the carpet, and let it open automatically. She laid down a moisture-proof mat and a warming mat, then pulled out a sleeping bag and an electric heating pad, crawling into it fully dressed.

Through the clothes, the heating pad emitted a gentle warmth that spread across her body, making her feel warm and cozy.

With the tent, sleeping bag, and heating pad, she had enough warmth for the night.

Lately, to manage the raft usage time, her routine had been more regular than ever before. She went to bed around 11 PM and woke up at 6 AM, giving her time to wash up and have breakfast in the drifting house.

She had initially thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep on the first night in an unfamiliar building, but in fact, as soon as her eyes closed, she quickly drifted off to sleep, lulled by the familiar sound of rain.

She slept soundly through the night and woke up to check her phone: it was 6:18 AM, her biological clock was spot on. Even though the alarm hadn’t gone off yet, her body had naturally woken up around the right time.

While her body had gotten used to it, her mind hadn’t.

She really didn’t want to wake up so early every day. She longed to sleep in without worrying about anything, truly relax, and let herself drift in the drifting island house on the water, floating freely with the waves, without having to calculate usage time hour by hour.

Now that she had the automatic fishing rod, she didn’t lack supplies. As long as the raft could be used 24/7, she could really just lie back and relax.

Shu Fu listened to the sound of the pouring rain outside, set her alarm for two hours later, and went back to sleep.

At 12:05 PM, after packing everything, Shu Fu put on shoe covers, stepped over the thin layer of water on the 9th floor, and climbed out of the broken window frame. She boarded the raft and started heading toward the first stop on her planned route—Hengyu Grand Hotel.

Thinking that she would spend the remaining twelve hours in the drifting island house, Shu Fu felt in a great mood.

Her plan for the day was to reach Hengyu Grand Hotel, confirm that the building was accessible, and that she could stay there.

Currently, the water level in Suicheng was between 22 and 24 meters. The water levels varied slightly depending on the different districts’ elevations. But at this height, trees, streetlights, small shops, and regular residential buildings were all submerged.

All that remained were mid-rise residential buildings, various commercial buildings, and iconic structures like TV towers.

As the water level rose, the color of the water gradually darkened from light gray to deep gray. When the wind picked up, the waves surged, making it feel completely like being out at sea.

Lately, as the number of buildings emerging from the water in Suicheng decreased, she noticed that the waterway map was also changing. The dense green dots and blocks that once filled the map were slowly disappearing.

Shu Fu quickly realized that these were the tall buildings represented by the deep green color, which had now submerged below the waterline. Each time a green dot or block disappeared, it meant that one more lifeline had been lost.

The Hengyu Grand Hotel had an external escape staircase on the side of the building. She didn’t need to break any glass; she simply climbed up to the 9th floor, but the safety door was locked, so she continued upwards, searching for another door. She finally entered the building from the 11th floor.

The building had 15 floors, and there were signs that evacuees had stayed there. The people had evacuated in a hurry, leaving many room doors open.

The hotel’s 12th floor and above housed the executive suites—one-bedroom, one-living-room units with luxurious interior decoration. The suites were equipped with a simple induction stove and a bar counter. The doors and windows were intact, and aside from the lack of water and electricity, everything else was perfect!

Shu Fu felt a bit regretful. If only the raft’s usage time could be paused and accumulated like the electric card, so that when she stayed temporarily in a relatively safe and comfortable building, she wouldn’t have to return to the drifting island house for the night. She could save as much raft time as possible for future use.

As for now, compared to spending the night alone in a dark and empty, unfamiliar building, her drifting island house with constant temperature was certainly safer, more comfortable, and warmer.

The first catch from the automatic waterway fishing rod here was thirty bags of well-packaged snail rice noodles (luosifen), which are room-temperature food. After a quick “disinfection” with one click, she stored them in her space.

After gathering a large amount of snail rice noodles, Shu Fu thought the second and third casts would yield different kinds of supplies, as had happened in the previous supermarket area.

However, after casting twice over two days, she ended up with nearly 300 bags of snail rice noodles and potato noodles… it was rather absurd!

This convenient, easy-to-cook food—how had it not been bought out during the initial flooding?

Or perhaps, there had been a noodle shop on the street below the building, and the stock was simply left over because there was too much?

On the third day, Shu Fu had to move the raft to a new position before she started receiving other supplies. There were two days during which she pulled up a lot of golden bracelets, necklaces, rings, and other jewelry, followed by a day when she caught only medications—various boxed medicines, bottled health supplements, and canned protein powder…

Living alone without internet was initially a bit hard to adjust to, but gradually, it became easier.

Luckily, she had prepared well, downloading almost everything—TV shows, variety shows, novels, music, fitness videos, food resources, and disaster information. Whenever she was bored, it was easy to pass the time.

Her daily life had entered a stable routine, and time passed quickly. A month had gone by in no time.

Shu Fu had also successfully passed through several planned transfer buildings and reached her planned destination—a thirty-six-story office building.

Several hundred meters to the south of this building stood Suicheng’s tallest building—the sixty-six-story Mingyue Building.

This building was not just a commercial office tower, but a super-complex, with a garden, top-tier office spaces, a six-star hotel, sky apartments, an observation deck, and a city exhibition hall. It was a landmark structure in Suicheng.

Shu Fu planned to move there once the water reached the 30th floor because the 30th, 31st, and 32nd floors of Mingyue Building contained a vertical garden, with a large outdoor terrace providing direct access to the building’s interior.

Of course, the office building she was currently in wasn’t bad either. It had a commercial center, hotel-style apartments, and office areas.

It was mid-December, and in the past month, Suicheng had experienced heavy rain three times, each rain lasting no more than twelve hours. The weather was mostly moderate rain and heavy rain, with occasional storms.

Compared to before, the rainfall seemed to have decreased slightly, but the water level in Suicheng had slowly risen to the 20th floor.

Based on the current rate of water level rise, Mingyue Building, the tallest building in Suicheng, would likely be completely submerged in five months.

This timeline was much shorter than she had anticipated.

Meanwhile, the raft’s level 3 progress bar still showed no movement, and she even began to think that the new task might never come.

She had to start planning for her survival routine after the last building in Suicheng was submerged. Fortunately, she still had two inflatable boats, both automatic inflatable types with rain covers.

During the 12 hours when the raft couldn’t be used each day, she would rely on the inflatable boats to drift on the water.

She needed to plan a reasonable daily raft usage schedule. Suicheng still occasionally had thunderstorms, hail, and strong winds, so when such weather occurred, it was important to hide in the drifting island house for a peaceful night’s sleep. However, there was no need for the raft to be used for 12 hours continuously. She could shorten it to 8 hours, leaving the remaining 4 hours for use during the day.

If everything went smoothly during the day, the usage time would be exhausted that evening. However, if something unexpected happened, such as a stomach upset or bad weather, the remaining hours could be adjusted accordingly.

She thought that she would definitely survive, though her living space during the day would be compressed from a safe building to the confines of the inflatable boat, which would be quite inconvenient.

With her plan set, Shu Fu’s previously restless heart became calm once again.

That afternoon, while she was sweating away on the manual rowing machine in the hotel-style apartment suite, exhausted and out of breath, she suddenly felt a vibration on her left wrist.

This subtle, electric-shock-like sensation felt like a thunderclap, instantly making her stand up in surprise.

Had the level 3 raft progress bar task finally arrived?!

She activated the bracelet, intending to take out her black mini notebook, but instead, she noticed a new icon flashing beneath the fifth graphic of the “lottery wheel” section.

A new feature for the bracelet?

Shu Fu long-pressed the flashing icon, and instantly, a light, thin, semi-transparent panel appeared in her hand. The panel was about the size of a tablet and had almost no thickness. On it, a message appeared: 【Detected that the Suicheng–Lou Yuncheng waterway has been cleared. Please click to activate the waterway map.】

Lou Yuncheng?

Shu Fu, surprised, clicked on the semi-transparent panel, and the text on it changed: 【Waterway map activated. You can check your current location through the map panel at any time and set a destination using the map panel.】

She clicked on the panel again, and the text disappeared, replaced by a familiar waterway map—the same one she had seen on the wood cabin’s functional screen.

However, unlike the original map, this one had a gap on the left side, at the nine o’clock position, at the very edge of the map’s boundary.

It looked like a previously sealed shape had a new outward-facing break.

Shu Fu suppressed her excitement, gently moved the map, and sure enough, as she had guessed, the gap on the left side led to a winding waterway—just like a passage opening up in what had originally seemed like a stagnant lake surface.

The waterway connected to the outside world, extending hundreds of kilometers to the west of Suicheng.

Did this mean she could use this waterway to—leave Suicheng?!

While she was marveling at this possibility, the bracelet vibrated again. The newly lit-up icon was the “notebook.”

On the black mini notebook, the long-awaited text appeared:

【Within one week, check in at any shelter on the outskirts of Lou Yuncheng to receive a 15% progress boost for the level 3 raft. (Current level 3 raft progress: 0%)

Note: Failure to complete this task will result in a 15% penalty to the progress bar.】