Chapter 36

“Huh? What?” The people around, who had been mesmerized by the strange sight, turned toward Shu Fu with irritation.

Outside, the noise of the wind and rain was deafening, while inside, the chatter was chaotic. Those standing farther away didn’t hear Shu Fu’s words at all.

Zheng Feifei didn’t know exactly what the danger was, but Shu Fu’s solemn expression at that moment inexplicably reminded her of an afternoon at the office a few months ago when she almost rushed out of the building and was nearly hit by falling debris from a nearby high school.

She immediately grabbed the work badge hanging around her neck, which also had a fluorescent whistle attached. This was standard equipment for all property staff and neighborhood committee members distributing supplies. They would blow this whistle whenever they needed to enforce order in lines or to grab attention during emergencies.

Zheng Feifei blew the whistle hard. The sharp, piercing sound caught everyone’s attention. The crowd stopped their gasping and chatting, turning to look at Zheng Feifei.

“Danger! Stay away from the windows! Move back!” Zheng Feifei shouted loudly. As she yelled, she instinctively scanned the crowd for her mother.

Shu Fu tugged at her, intending to lead them to the back stairwell, away from the windows.

Everyone’s attention was on Zheng Feifei, so they didn’t notice Shu Fu at her side, nor did they realize the wind outside had suddenly grown wild and turbulent.

But Shu Fu noticed. She paused, halting her steps toward the stairwell entrance, and quickly pulled Zheng Feifei back toward the wall on the other side of the corridor. She pulled up the hood of her jacket, crouched down with her face turned inward, and called out, “Get down! Protect your head and face!”

Zheng Feifei only had time to loudly repeat Shu Fu’s words before everyone heard loud bangs from the open area outside, as if large, heavy objects were falling from great heights and scattering upon impact.

This rain of fish—was the work of a waterspout!

The unstable air pressure from the sudden shifts between cold and hot over the past few days, combined with strong winds over open waters, had created a special type of tornado—a waterspout!

To the east of the high walls lay vast water bodies, and just west of the hilly Jixing neighborhood flowed the wide Yun River. This area was completely surrounded by large bodies of water.

Fish were sucked into the waterspout and flung far away, causing the rain of fish.

But if fish could be sucked in, so could floating debris from buildings or even small boats.

Fish falling wouldn’t cause much damage, but the same couldn’t be said for building debris or boats.

Shu Fu hadn’t expected to be this unlucky. Judging by the sounds, the number of heavy objects falling wasn’t much less than the rain of fish earlier. The scattered debris clattered against the stainless steel safety nets with sharp, metallic noises.

Some heavy objects, as if hurled from a distance with great force, didn’t fall vertically but slammed directly into the safety nets.

With the screech of metal under impact, the building itself seemed to shudder with a deep, ominous groan. Everyone felt the glass in front of them suddenly shatter with a loud bang, and in the next second, the external force against the safety nets caused the glass to explode.

Countless shards of glass flew toward the people in the corridor. Many felt the pain before they could even react. In that instant, almost half of the corridor’s glass windows shattered.

Those standing near the windows were pierced by the shards, especially on exposed skin—faces, necks, and hands.

Those standing a little farther away were cut by the sharp glass edges. Only those who had instinctively retreated to the wall, prompted by Zheng Feifei’s whistle and urgent shouting, managed to avoid injury.

Zheng Feifei kept her eyes shut, hugging her head, feeling Shu Fu’s arm tightly wrapped around her.

When the wails around her rose, she trembled and opened her eyes, realizing she had, once again, narrowly escaped harm.

“Feifei!” came a middle-aged woman’s voice nearby. It was Zheng Feifei’s mother. Though she hadn’t understood why her daughter suddenly shouted earlier, she had instinctively stepped back at that moment. Now, only the back of her hand was slightly injured by a piece of glass.

She clutched her hand and ran over, and Zheng Feifei finally felt her anxiety ease.

Around them, those injured by the glass began to react, crying out in pain, the air now thick with the scent of blood.

Prompted by Shu Fu, Zheng Feifei shouted again, urging everyone to quickly leave the corridor and move to the stairwell near the elevators. That area was far from the glass windows and would prevent further injuries in case of another incident.

After shouting, she immediately led her mother, stepping carefully over the shattered glass, and left the corridor with Shu Fu.

Though Zheng Feifei’s mother had only a cut on the back of her hand, the wound was large, and blood was dripping steadily.

Feeling anxious, Zheng Feifei thought of the first aid kit at home and decided to take her mother back to Building 4 to treat her wound.

Before leaving, Zheng Feifei turned back and hugged Shu Fu. “I knew you were my lucky star! I’m taking my mom home first. I’ll text you on WeChat later!”

“Okay.” Shu Fu was dialing the rescue team as she responded, nodding at her. At the same time, her fingers subtly touched the bracelet on her left wrist.

She and Zheng Feifei hadn’t just been lucky. The moment the glass shattered, Shu Fu had activated her Portable Drift Bottle Shield.

The others couldn’t see the shield, and she couldn’t either, but she could feel a thin layer of protection instantly unfolding, wrapping around her and Zheng Feifei, whom she was holding tightly with her arm.

This protective shield, just like the icon on her wristband, covered her completely from head to toe, offering 360-degree protection without any blind spots.

She could sense that this portable shield didn’t diminish the presence of the people inside it, unlike the raft’s shield, but the shield itself had an almost zero presence, making it completely undetectable.

She could also feel the impacts on the shield. Several shards of glass that struck it fell silently to the ground—the physical defense was top-notch.

A long press on the icon activated the shield, and another long press deactivated it.

The rescue team’s phone line was busy, and so was the hospital’s. She tried for ten minutes before finally getting through to the rescue team.

On the walkway, except for a few people who were severely injured and couldn’t move, everyone else—whether injured or not—supported each other and moved to the safer elevator area.

As they passed by, Shu Fu quickly slipped into the stairwell.

She wasn’t injured at all, and she had given a warning just moments before. Even though not many people had heard her shout, she stuck to her principle of staying cautious and low-key. After finishing the call and clearly stating the help needed and the situation on-site, she left directly from the stairwell.

---

Ten minutes later, Shu Fu, panting heavily after climbing nineteen floors, felt like she’d never need to work out again. Just going up and down the stairs a couple of times a day would make her a fitness pro in no time.

Outside her rental apartment, the wind roared, but fortunately, the windows upstairs were all double-layered tempered glass and remained intact.

She entered, locked the door, changed her shoes, and rushed to the living room balcony to check the situation outside. The sky was too dark, the heavy rain reduced visibility, and the dam was far away. She couldn’t see what was happening on the waters outside the dam and had no idea if more waterspouts were still raging over there.

Her phone’s weather app updated notifications about the waterspouts in real-time, stating that the extreme weather was nearing its end, though the strong winds and rain continued. The glass windows in high-rise buildings had all been reinforced, so there was no need for emergency evacuation yet. The public was only advised to stay indoors and block or stay away from weak doors and windows.

She sighed softly, drew the curtains, and summoned her drifting island house.

She was eager to check the countdown on the “Portable Drifting Bottle Shield” on the function screen. She had only used the shield for about ten seconds earlier before turning it off. She hoped it wasn’t a rip-off and that toggling it on and off didn’t count as fully consuming it.

Thankfully, the screen clearly displayed:

[Portable Drifting Bottle Shield Equipped (00:59:41). This is a limited-time trial feature. Within the time limit, you can activate the portable shield by long-pressing the ‘Shield’ icon.]

The usage time could indeed be paused and resumed!

Seeing the paused timer and recalling the shield’s defensive capabilities, she finally understood why this golden second-place prize only had an hour of usage.

In situations like earlier, just consuming a few seconds of time was enough to block all external harm! This feature, which could silently activate and provide her with protection at critical moments, was simply god-tier!

Her little raft and drifting island house were truly her one and only loves!

At this moment, Shu Fu was filled with curiosity about the portable shield. The incident just now had only shown its ability to resist physical damage. She wanted to explore this feature more and had all sorts of wild ideas popping into her head.

For example, what if she fell from a height, fell into deep water, encountered a fire, got struck by lightning, or faced an earthquake with buildings collapsing around her… For a moment, Shu Fu imagined all sorts of disaster scenarios.

But how unlucky would she have to be to experience all these disasters?!

Besides, most of these disasters couldn’t be easily tested. If the shield didn’t work, she’d be dead…

Shu Fu rubbed her temples, activated her wristband, and took out a black mini notebook.

[Task Complete: Checked in at Jixing Community and rented a house. Earned 10% progress toward Raft Level 3; additional bonus progress: 10%; earned Spin-the-Wheel draws: 2 times. (Raft Level 3 Progress: 45%)]

She hadn’t expected the bonus progress reward to be as much as 10%, especially since the wristband’s vibration indicating task completion had happened before the disaster struck.

Logically, she thought the task completion notice would have come after the disaster, making the 10% bonus progress seem more justified.

Did it assume she would rescue Zheng Feifei at the critical moment, or was the accident never life-threatening for Zheng Feifei in the first place?

The idea of digging deeper lingered in her mind for a moment before fading. Many things were simply beyond her understanding for now.

Shu Fu put away the notebook and took out the spinning wheel.

Before spinning, she muttered a little prayer to herself. Last time, she had drawn two good items out of four spins. She hoped the gods of fortune would still favor her this time.

Green Fourth Prize: One-week electricity card.

Blue Fifth Prize: Raft Fence ×1.

The raft fence automatically took effect upon claiming and was installed at the back end of the raft. It stood on the edge, over a meter high, slightly taller than the fences on the sides of the front and back door canopies. It was made of solid raw wood, looking very sturdy and reliable.

But the problem was that she had only drawn one fence, so the back end of the raft was only half-covered.

The raft itself wasn’t very wide, just two meters, but the fence didn’t even span that—it was only one meter wide. Now, standing there, it looked exactly like a half-finished, abandoned construction project…

Shu Fu: …

No need to explain the bad luck of a non-lucky person.

She sighed, stored the green one-week power card in her space, and consoled herself that at least she had gotten a power card with a decent duration. Still, her mood remained pretty average.

As expected, it’s easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go back. Ever since she had drawn the blue second prize, the green third prize, and the golden second prize, her once simple and low-key heart had started to feel restless.

She patted her own face, deciding to take a shower to clear her head. As for dinner, she planned to eat the stir-fried dishes she bought earlier today.

Most of them were spicy, perfect to jolt her mind and taste buds, keeping her alert.

After some thought, she finally, albeit with some difficulty, decided on enoki mushrooms with fatty beef, chopped chili fish head, mapo tofu, and dry pot cauliflower!

She was going to spice herself awake!

**

At eight o’clock the next morning, Shu Fu opened the faucet in the rental bathroom and, using the hose she had connected, started filling the foldable bathtub with water.

Besides storing water for daily use, she was planning to run an experiment with this foldable tub later.

She had been exhausted from the day before and went to bed early, but didn’t sleep well. At first, it was the sound of the wind outside that was frightening. Even though she was inside the drifting island house, she could still hear the banging of the window frames being rattled by the strong winds, along with the occasional thudding of heavy objects colliding from who knows where.

The building she was in sat atop a hill and was the tallest structure nearby. Broken branches from the storm, fallen shop signs, and scattered debris and metal fragments from various buildings kept crashing into the structure over and over due to the fierce wind.

Shu Fu could clearly feel the building shaking and swaying in the howling wind several times. It felt like those bent branches outside, ready to snap at any moment.

She even thought, if the building really couldn’t hold up, should she immediately activate the raft’s drift bottle shield, or should she quickly pack up the raft and turn on the portable shield from her bracelet?

Fortunately, the building merely swayed and eventually withstood the storm safely.

When the wind finally subsided a little, it was past midnight. The rain outside continued in waves, sometimes heavy, sometimes light, interspersed with the sounds of ambulances, and these noises lasted until dawn.

While Shu Fu was half-asleep, she felt her phone vibrating repeatedly. She subconsciously waved her hand, knocking the phone off her bedding onto the floor, where the buzzing grew several times louder.

She groped around to silence the phone, but not long after, it started buzzing again like a corpse twitching, short and sharp, buzzing like a fly.

When she got up, she found that the calls were from Cheng Yu, and there were messages from both Cheng Yu and Zheng Feifei.

Both had messaged her very early, before seven o’clock.

Zheng Feifei first sent a string of flattery, saying how smart and cool Shu Fu had been last night, especially when she stretched out her arms to protect her. She hadn’t realized it at the time, but thinking back on it today, her heart was still pounding.

The following messages were about the residents of the two buildings. People from Building 3 and 4 believed that they owed their safety to Zheng Feifei. It was her timely whistle-blowing and loud warnings that allowed some people to escape with minor injuries—or none at all. Even the most seriously injured person was now out of danger thanks to timely medical attention.

Many of those who had been by their windows last night reflected this morning: if it hadn’t been for Zheng Feifei, given how close they had been standing to the glass, they’d have either been disfigured or had their throats slit—there was no way they’d have been this lucky.

Since Zheng Feifei worked for the property management, everyone knew her and felt she had truly fulfilled her duties last night. So, they collectively suggested to the property management and the neighborhood committee that she deserved some kind of reward.

The property management reached out to her, asking what she needed, since, these days, nothing beats having practical supplies.

Zheng Feifei felt the credit didn’t belong to her but to Shu Fu. So, before responding, she reached out to Shu Fu to ask what kind of reward she’d like, saying she’d explain everything to the property management and the neighborhood committee.

Upon seeing the message, Shu Fu immediately replied, saying she didn’t want to be in the spotlight. After all, she lived alone, preferred to avoid trouble, and didn’t want to socialize. Besides, Zheng Feifei truly had done most of the work last night—without her whistle, no matter how loudly Shu Fu had shouted, it wouldn’t have helped. So, she encouraged Feifei to accept the reward herself.

Zheng Feifei must have been holding her phone because almost as soon as Shu Fu sent her reply, Feifei called her with a voice message. She started with another round of flattery before insisting that if Shu Fu didn’t want to show up in person, she could just tell her what she needed, and she’d collect the reward on her behalf.

But Shu Fu had spent over an hour sorting her storage space before bed and had managed to free up another three to four cubic meters. She wasn’t short on supplies, so why would she want Zheng Feifei’s reward?

“You really don’t have to give me anything. Actually, I’m a local here in Lou Yuncheng, and I’ve got relatives here who take good care of me. I just don’t want to bother them by staying at their place.”

This was half-true. “Shu Fu” did have relatives in Suicheng, but they weren’t exactly the most considerate people. Otherwise, the original Shu Fu wouldn’t have decisively sold her parents’ house and moved to Suicheng, where her university was located, taking all her belongings with her.

“So, you’re from Lou Yuncheng? I never heard you mention that before,” Zheng Feifei said, surprised. She had only known that Shu Fu’s parents had passed away, which was why she had moved to the city where she studied. But now, realizing this, she connected the dots. “So, this time coming to Lou Yuncheng wasn’t by accident—it was you returning to your hometown! What about from now on? Are you planning to settle down here for good?”

That was a tough question to answer since Shu Fu knew it wasn’t really up to her—it depended on her little “cutie” at home.

“I’m not sure yet. It depends on the situation. Just like back then, none of us expected the entire city of Suicheng would have to evacuate.”

And that evacuation had become permanent. By now, Suicheng was likely almost entirely swallowed by hurricanes and giant waves…

Suicheng was where Zheng Feifei had grown up, filled with many beautiful childhood memories. Even though her last days there had been rough and she’d wanted to escape, it was still her hometown.

Hearing Shu Fu mention Suicheng now stirred a lot of emotions in her, but in the end, what remained was determination.

She had missed many opportunities before because of hesitation, but not this time.

This time, she wouldn’t waver. No matter how much her parents objected, she was going to Shacheng!

“Shacheng?” Shu Fu was a bit surprised. Back in Suicheng, she had mentioned Shacheng to Zheng Feifei, just as she had to Zhang Tian, Yao Ruoyun, Lu Zheng, and the others. She’d brought it up several times, within the limits of what she could share.

But back then, Zheng Feifei’s reaction was no different from Zhang Tian’s or Yao Ruoyun’s. Even during the mass evacuation, everyone thought it was just a temporary move—they’d leave for a few days, wait for the rain to stop and the water to recede, and then return home.

So, why go to Shacheng? Abandoning a city you’ve lived in for years, leaving behind work and friends, and moving the whole family to a distant plateau city—it sounded impossible.

But now, things were different.

“Yeah, I don’t think Lou Yuncheng is safe enough. Did you see that doomsday video online?” Zheng Feifei asked. “It’s probably been scrubbed from the internet by now.”

By that time, she had already settled in Lou Yuncheng. Not only had she seen the video, but she’d saved it to her phone.

She pulled up the video in WeChat and sent it to Shu Fu, adding, “Make sure you save it quickly. The person who made and posted this video is right. Neither Muzhou Province, where Lou Yuncheng is, nor Xiren Province or Xizhou Province, are safe. Sooner or later, the water will rise above the dam and swallow all the cities here. The only way to be truly safe, once and for all, is to go to a plateau city at least 3,000 meters above sea level. There aren’t too many people there yet, so the earlier you go, the better your chances of survival.”

That had all happened over a month ago, and since then, the video had vanished from the internet.

Shu Fu knew about it and also knew how it had divided the public into two camps: those who wanted to move west and those who wanted to stay put. This had led to traffic restrictions and the introduction of entry permits for cities.

Clearly, Zheng Feifei believed in the doomsday scenario. But moving to Shacheng now wasn’t going to be easy.

“Shu Fu, I don’t want to hesitate anymore, just letting fate push me around. I’m taking my parents to Shacheng. What about you? Your parents are gone… do you want to come with me?”