Chapter 55

On the wristband, the flashing icon wasn’t the notebook but the map panel.

She remembered that before receiving the new progress bar task in Suicheng, she had also first gotten a prompt from the map panel.

She brought up the map panel, and a line of text appeared.

[Detected that the Lou Yuncheng—Yuncheng waterway is now open. Please click to activate.]

Shu Fu clicked on the map panel, and a light green trapezoid-shaped figure appeared first, representing the Lou Yuncheng waterway map. Then, in the upper right corner—in the one o’clock direction—a new waterway appeared.

The waterway stretched northward, passing through Muzhou Province, crossing the northern border area of Xiren Province, then turning northeast, eventually reaching near Yuncheng on the electronic map.

During this time, she had idly speculated many times about where the next city for the new task might be.

If the waterways opened based on rising water levels, then considering Lou Yuncheng’s overall land elevation had risen to about 270 meters after the tsunami, the next city was most likely in the western part of Muzhou Province—in a city within Xizhou Province.

The lowest elevation over there was around 400 to 500 meters. From the perspective of possible related individuals, Liu Shuang was in Xizhou Province, and Wu Shaoshan was there too.

So, it seemed highly likely that Xizhou Province would be the location of the next task.

But now, the waterway’s endpoint was Yuncheng, completely opposite to Xizhou Province.

It wasn’t even within any of the provinces Shu Fu had considered because Yuncheng’s province consisted mainly of hills and plains. Its lowest elevation was about the same as Muzhou Province, where Lou Yuncheng was located.

Simply put, Yuncheng’s situation was similar to Lou Yuncheng’s. The average elevation might be raised slightly by some higher mountains in the outskirts, but most of the land within the city still ranged between 200 to 400 meters.

With the current water level, could Yuncheng really still exist?

While studying the new waterway map, Shu Fu quickly noticed something else.

On the wristband, the “notebook” icon that indicated a task prompt wasn’t flashing.

Where was the new task?

A new waterway had appeared, so why hadn’t a raft level 4 progress bar task been released simultaneously?

---

The next morning, Shu Fu stepped out the front door, standing under the eaves, stretching her arms and legs toward the endless expanse of water.

There were some waves on the water today. The heavy rain fell at an angle onto the surface, creating loud, crackling sounds.

She had waited the entire night, but even now, the raft level 4 progress bar task had not appeared.

Shu Fu felt a bit of a headache. The new waterway had clearly opened, so why hadn’t the task shown up yet? She was now hesitant about whether she should head to the new waterway. The waterway she was currently on wasn’t connected to the new one. To get to the new waterway, she’d have to first return to Lou Yuncheng and reroute from its waters.

Logically, without a new task, there was no need for her to move. No task meant freedom—she could stay wherever she liked, and not going to the new waterway wouldn’t be a problem.

Perhaps the map panel’s prompt yesterday was merely a routine notification about the new waterway’s appearance?

Most importantly, there weren’t many dark green dot and block icons within the new waterway, and before reaching Yuncheng, she had no way to accurately judge the situation there or whether it would even be possible to go ashore.

If she couldn’t, and no new task appeared, she’d be stuck in the waterway, relying on the time from the delay card.

After considering it for a while, Shu Fu decided to wait a few more days. Since the new task hadn’t appeared yet, there was no need to rush. After all, finding a shelter like this cave, which protected against wind, rain, thunderstorms, hail, and hurricanes, was incredibly rare. The rock walls even had stone steps that went straight up and down. Aside from the annoyance of the bugs and concerns about other creatures, this was indeed a rare landing spot.

She planned to hole up here until she couldn’t anymore, and in the meantime, she could accumulate more shield time.

She had only used the shield previously on her way to the signal area. She’d accumulated a lot and used little. After some adding and subtracting, she had already saved up over 180 hours.

That sounded like a lot, but if used continuously for 24 hours a day, it would last less than eight days.

Whether she went to the new waterway or if a task showed up later requiring her to head to another land city, she’d need to activate the shield along the way. She wanted to store up as much time as possible, just in case.

With that decided, Shu Fu went on to wash up and have breakfast, then changed into her anti-bug gear for going ashore, ready to collect the raft and “go to work.”

She had left a lit mosquito coil when she left yesterday, but it hadn’t been very effective. The bugs showing up were getting bigger and bigger—lots of wriggling millipedes and some unknown black crawlers twisting together, giving her a headache.

As for the small compartments in the cave, she didn’t even want to go in there anymore. There were too many tiny corners, with huge mosquitoes clinging to the rock walls and spider webs spun in every nook. If she wasn’t careful, spiders would drop onto her head and body.

Even wearing a hat didn’t help—the spiders would land on her silently and crawl right into her clothes.

Fortunately, the floating island house had a full owner mode: disaster-resistant, temperature-controlled, and exclusionary.

She had always thought “exclusionary” just meant keeping other humans out, but now she realized it also repelled other living creatures.

No matter how many mosquitoes bred on the water due to the rising temperatures, even if they stayed around the front of the raft, from the eaves area onward, these annoying bugs, just like the rain, couldn’t enter at all.

Several times, when she stepped back under the eaves and looked around, she noticed a few spiders had fallen onto the raft outside the eaves. Once, a large black bug fell—she didn’t know what species it was, but it had long antennae and spikes, looking extremely creepy.

The thought that this bug had fallen off her own body made her feel utterly disturbed.

After that incident, she never returned to the small alcove in the cave. She also stopped wearing loose clothing with pockets, always tied her hair tightly, and wore a hat, goggles, and a mask, along with thin gloves, wrapping herself up like a mummy.

With insecticide, mosquito repellent, mosquito coils, and her mummy-like gear, she managed to endure another five days in the cave.

Until one day, near noon as she was about to “clock out,” she discovered two slender, faintly glowing tails intertwined in the leafy corner of the cave—the dense gray scales made her skin crawl.

She instinctively lightened her steps and retreated, quickly fleeing back to the raft.

Alright, now that snakes had appeared, she was completely done with the cave.

---

It would take about seven hours for the raft to return from the cave’s waters to Lou Yuncheng. From there, traveling east across the Lou Yuncheng water map to the northeastern corner would take another 50 minutes to an hour. Leaving from the new waterway entrance towards Yuncheng would take another dozen or so hours at her current drifting speed.

With 30 minutes left before the raft’s next rest period, she decided to use a time-delay card to fill the gap and set off immediately, ensuring she could reach Yuncheng within the raft’s active hours tomorrow.

Once there, she might have a chance to go ashore.

She set the destination on the map panel, and a black route line appeared, winding through the Lousui waterway, passing Lou Yuncheng, and finally reaching Yuncheng.

The total distance was 1,418 kilometers, requiring 23 hours and 38 minutes.

She didn’t plan to drift directly to Yuncheng but wanted to use this method to check the total length of the waterway and the time required. Once the raft began drifting, she manually activated the raft’s protective shield and pulled out her electronic map for comparison and research.

She selected three large dark green icons in the new waterway, planning to pause at each one.

These large, blocky green icons likely represented significant land masses. While she wasn’t necessarily looking for a place to land—she planned to reach Yuncheng first—she paused along the way to check the exposed land conditions and search for signal areas.

She had been offline for a long time and was eager to know the current situation in the outside world.

Larger block icons likely indicated higher hills, which were more likely to have communication towers.

After setting the three pause points, she changed the destination to the first stop within the new waterway. The black route refreshed, and the navigation data updated: 770 km / 12:49:54.

It was just before 11 a.m., meaning she would reach the first stop around midnight.

With all her plans in place, Shu Fu stepped outside to cast her first fishing line of the day. She looked at the second floor of the wooden house, half-enclosed by the raft’s railing, wondering if the protective shield mode covered it, making it part of the owner’s mode—disaster-proof, temperature-controlled, and exclusive.

She found an A-frame folding ladder in her storage space, placed it by the front door under the eaves, and carefully climbed up.

The moment she stepped onto the eaves, she realized that once she crossed the railing and stood on the upper level of the house, it was indeed confirmed. Although the roof was an exterior space and normally unprotected, when the raft’s protective shield was activated, it became a safe, enclosed area, impervious to wind and rain. The space was about two meters high, enough for her to stand upright.

Holding onto the raft’s front railing, feeling the raft drifting at 60 km/h, she suddenly thought that in protective mode, she could set up tables, chairs, or even a sofa on the roof. As long as she didn’t encounter a massive hundred-meter tsunami, no one outside would notice her sitting on the roof while the raft drifted steadily.

And from here, she would have the best view to observe her surroundings.

Now she just hoped to draw a blue prize next time—she really needed more raft railings and ladders, especially railings.

If she had enough railings, she could enclose both the front and back eaves, expanding the entire upper platform area, making climbing and moving around much safer.

Shu Fu never expected that the raft railings she once complained about would now become her most coveted items.

“Life is unpredictable…” Shu Fu sighed as she looked at the endless rain and waves outside the protective shield. Since the railings weren’t complete and moving around wasn’t convenient, she finished her inspection and carefully climbed back down the folding ladder.

It was lunchtime. What should she eat today?

Maybe she could make a pot of soup, set it on the portable stove, and have a fresh bone broth hotpot under the front eaves? She could keep the sides simple—some baby bok choy, enoki mushrooms, and fresh-cut beef slices. Then she could bring out a box of golden fried chicken feet and crispy squid tentacles to savor slowly.

Shu Fu nodded. There was no need to have a big feast with a yin-yang pot every time. A simple clear broth hotpot was great now and then, focusing on nourishment and enjoying the soup.

After lunch, she lounged on the cushion by the floor-to-ceiling window, listening to music and reading a book. This time, it was an actual paperback—a book about the mass extinction of species on this planet hundreds of millions of years ago.

Half Science, Half Fiction

The book was a mix of scientific facts and creative fiction. The factual sections were based on geological magma codes and fossil remains left on the planet, while the rest was purely imaginative.

The book detailed an era before the dinosaurs, when life on the planet was nearly wiped out due to a rainstorm that lasted millions of years. Many historical details on this planet bore striking similarities to her original world, and the disaster described in the book reminded her of the “Carnian Pluvial Event” from Earth.

The catastrophe began with massive volcanic eruptions that caused a sharp rise in the planet’s temperature. Since the continents were still connected hundreds of millions of years ago, it resulted in a prolonged period where the land remained submerged.

It didn’t rain every single day, but the humid period lasted between 1 to 2 million years—some even claimed it was longer—leading to a mass extinction event.

However, shortly after the extinction, countless new species emerged on the planet, replacing the old ones. Extinction and rebirth were simply inevitable cycles of history…

She initially picked up the book to expand her knowledge, but the heavy academic jargon wore her down. Despite her best efforts to push through, her eyelids began to droop, and eventually, she fell asleep with her head tilted to the side.

She had woken up early to “go to work” that morning and spent several stifling, hot, and humid hours in a bug-infested cave. Now, nestled in the clean, safe interior of the drifting cabin and with a full belly, she completely relaxed and slept soundly until evening.

Shu Fu stretched lazily on the cushion by the floor-to-ceiling window, rolling over with a content sigh. Unlike the last time she was trapped in Suicheng, she knew she’d eventually move on to a new city for tasks. She wouldn’t be spending the rest of her days in these flooded waters, so there was no sense of urgency.

But perhaps she was too certain of this. Aside from those four hours of daily activity, she spent her days eating and sleeping, feeling lazier than ever.

Checking the time, she estimated she was nearing the old site of Lou Yuncheng. She got up, drank a glass of water, and headed to the underwater bedroom.

The lighting conditions today weren’t great, and with the water levels having risen significantly, she knew it was a long shot—but she wanted to see if she could still catch a glimpse of Lou Yuncheng’s submerged dam through the underwater bedroom’s glass.

As expected, it was futile. Occasionally, she could spot fish swimming past the raft, but any trace of human civilization had vanished from sight.

The endless expanse of water had buried all remnants of civilization.

---

Midnight

At midnight, the raft came to a stop at the first pause point. Shu Fu sat on the sofa, fiddling with her phone and tablet, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t connect to the internet.

Standing under the eaves, she peered through night-vision binoculars. The hills ahead weren’t particularly tall—more like a series of undulating highlands than actual mountains. Though vast in area, only a few meters peeked above the water’s surface.

She suspected these highlands had likely been completely submerged during a super tsunami, which explained why no buildings or communication towers had survived. Though a bit disappointed, she had mentally prepared for this, so it wasn’t too disheartening.

She pulled up the map panel and set the second pause point.

The distance displayed: [445 km / 07:24:58].

This meant she’d arrive around 7:30 in the morning. She didn’t plan to set an alarm—after all, the raft would stay put once it arrived. However, she had turned up the ringer on her phone quite a bit.

This way, if she passed near any land overnight and suddenly regained signal, all her accumulated messages would flood in at once. The noise from the incoming notifications would be enough to wake her, allowing her to pause the raft and linger in the signal area.

As the raft resumed its drift, the night deepened. Shu Fu slid open the floor hatch, planning to try out the underwater bedroom tonight.

The room didn’t have a power card installed, but she had redecorated the space. Aside from a pile of non-perishable supply boxes in the corner by the spiral staircase and a manual rowing machine near the glass wall, she had placed a small, glass-topped iron table next to the large round bed, with a rechargeable, dimmable table lamp sitting on top.

This lamp was by far the prettiest one in her collection, and its battery capacity was massive. One full charge on the dimmest setting could last several days. Given that the room was underwater, shrouded in darkness and the shifting shadows of water at night, she worried she might find it unsettling to sleep here without some light.

The large round bed was set with two pillows, two cushions, and a thin summer blanket, all carefully selected from her prettiest stock to complement the dreamy, underwater palace vibe of the bedroom.

She had also laid the softest, long-fiber carpet over the glass floor surrounding the round bed. It wasn’t just for comfort—it was because she didn’t want to feel like she was stepping into an endless abyss every time she got out of bed.

The warm, milky-tea-colored carpet softened the unsettling transparency of the glass floor.

Though the carpet was cozy, its long fibers and light color made it prone to getting dirty and difficult to clean, which was why she hadn’t used it before. But now, with the raft’s one-click dust removal feature, things were different.

She used this cleaning function daily, so she walked barefoot throughout the cabin—except in the kitchen and bathroom—since the floors were spotless enough to roll around on anytime.

The floor from the round bed to the chaise lounge was also covered in the same carpet, creating a space where she could sit, lie down, or roll around freely.

Shu Fu shrugged off her thin house jacket and flopped onto the large round bed, rolling over once for good measure. In all her years across two worlds, this was her first time sleeping on a round bed—and she felt like she had instantly been upgraded to royalty.

After rolling over twice, she reached out to dim the light to its lowest setting, placed her phone on the round table, and slipped under the summer blanket. Hugging a fragrant, soft cushion, she gazed at the dim, shifting light outside the glass wall, slowly closing her eyes.

Sleeping underwater for the first time felt more novel than comfortable. Since the walls and floor were made entirely of transparent glass, she kept half-dreaming, half-awake, feeling as if some creature’s eyes were staring at her.

That sensation stirred her consciousness slightly, and she half-opened her eyes to glance around, only to see a gray fish tail swaying in the murky water.

It’s just a fish after all… she reminded herself. She recalled that the underwater bedroom was designed so that nothing outside could see in. Plus, with the protective shield activated, even if there were people in the water, they wouldn’t notice the raft.

Comforted by these thoughts, her mind slowly drifted again. But after an unknown amount of time, the same unsettling feeling of being watched crept back. In her half-asleep state, she thought she heard a strange tapping sound. Her awareness sharpened, and she repeated the same routine as before…

This cycle of light sleep and waking continued until, before the raft even reached the second pause point, she was fully awake.

Outside the glass bedroom, light danced gently across the water. It seemed like the weather was good today. But Shu Fu, having not slept well, felt a headache creeping in. She pulled the thin blanket over her head, trying to drift back to sleep, but no matter how hard she tried, it wasn’t happening.

Letting out a groan, she finally got out of bed.

Because of the poor sleep, she felt sluggish the entire morning.

After breakfast, she set up a folding lounge chair under the front porch, sipping coffee as she lazily drifted past the second and third pause points, eventually reaching the end of this new waterway.

Along the way, she saw no boats, no people, and found no signal zones.

It seemed the plains and hills of Huagou had completely become uninhabited territory. Just ahead of the raft lay Yuncheng.

Or rather, the submerged Yuncheng.

As expected, even though Yuncheng’s elevation was slightly higher than Lou Yuncheng’s, it still couldn’t escape the fate of being flooded at the current water level.

From her position, she could see tall buildings of Yuncheng still standing in the water, and distant mountain peaks faintly visible.

Most of Yuncheng’s land had vanished beneath the water. Normally, in this situation, the raft should have been able to sail smoothly into the city. But now, it was forcibly stopped by an invisible barrier.

On the map panel, the waterway ended here. The entire range of her movement was limited to water, and the city of Yuncheng, less than a few hundred meters away, was clearly beyond her map’s boundaries.

What’s going on?

Is this new waterway really ending here?

And what about the task? Why hasn’t the progress task for the level 4 raft appeared yet?

Shu Fu pulled out the folding ladder and climbed onto the roof of the floating house again, using her binoculars to survey the surrounding environment.

The final stretch of the waterway, as shown on the map, ran from the southwest to the northeast, with Yuncheng directly ahead in the northeast direction. At this moment, starting from the northeast of the raft and sweeping clockwise for more than half a circle, there was nothing but endless water. Even if there were bits of land peeking above the surface, they were just scattered little hills.

In her field of view, the only piece of substantial land was to the northwest of the raft.

There was a stretch of higher hills, extending to the sides. She couldn’t see what lay behind those hills, nor could she land there, as it was outside the mapped waterway.

Shu Fu hesitated a bit. Her original plan was to come here to check things out, and if the new task still didn’t appear, she’d retrace her route and find a suitable hill to land on midway, saving the protective shield and delay cards.

But now that she was here, the thought of turning back immediately left her feeling a little reluctant.

After some thought, she decided to stay in the area for another day or two. If no task appeared by then, she’d return to the third pause point within the waterway and explore if there were any structures on land that could offer shelter from the wind and rain.

Due to its proximity to Yuncheng, this water area had quite a bit of floating debris from buildings. Shu Fu steered the raft closer, deactivated the protective shield, and switched to automatic mode.

When stationary and without the protective shield, the raft resembled floating debris from the sky and afar. She just needed to be careful not to step outside the house while the shield was off.

She stayed in this water area until the next day. From yesterday until now, the weather had been good—no rain, no wind. The sun even peeked out briefly yesterday afternoon, and in the evening, she witnessed a beautiful sunset she hadn’t seen in a while.

The sun, half-hidden behind the clouds, slowly dipped below the western hills, painting the sky with a gorgeous purplish-red hue. The shimmering, boundless water beneath the hills made for a stunning sight.

Shu Fu sat by the floor-to-ceiling window, listening to music as she enjoyed her dinner, watching the entire sunset.

It was incredibly beautiful, calm, and harmonious. But she knew that every period of clear weather meant bigger storms were coming.

Sure enough, by noon today, the sunlight had faded, and by afternoon, the sky was covered in thick, heavy clouds. As a crack of thunder split through the sky, the weather in this water area took a complete turn.

The storm came suddenly. While Shu Fu was sweating away on the manual rowing machine in the underwater bedroom, she heard the noisy patter of rain on the water’s surface outside. The rain poured down in torrents, and the once tranquil and beautiful water area was now roiled with waves.

Today’s waves were especially fierce. Moments later, Shu Fu noticed the icon representing the raft’s protective shield lighting up on her wristband—meaning the shield had activated automatically.

She got up, went to the upper level, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window to check. Sure enough, she saw a massive, roaring wall of water surging from the east, about seventy to eighty meters high, rushing towards the area of Yuncheng where the raft was located.

Shu Fu didn’t even frown. After witnessing an apocalyptic tsunami nearly four hundred meters high, this level of waves meant nothing to her. Even back in Lou Yuncheng, waves of this magnitude would occasionally appear.

Perhaps due to the giant waves, the waters around the raft became agitated and restless once again, as if boiling. This time, even without going to the underwater bedroom, she could see schools of fish swimming past on both sides of the raft.

The fish were still densely packed, and perhaps because of the overcrowding, some would leap out of the water from time to time, only to quickly fall back in and continue heading northwest.

Could they be fleeing from something?

But the northwest is land. If they keep swimming, they’ll eventually get stranded.

She deactivated the raft’s anchoring mode and then went to the bathroom to change out of her sweat-soaked clothes.

Waves crashed against the raft, pushing it westward. It wasn’t long before the raft collided with the transparent barrier of the waterway. The roaring waves surged ahead, rushing towards the mountain hills in the northwest, while the raft was repeatedly slammed against the invisible barrier, forced to stop again and again.

Inside the drifting island house, Shu Fu felt like she was on a bumper car ride at an amusement park. The noises were loud, but apart from the shaking, there was no real damage. She even managed to keep showering calmly, holding onto the wall for balance.

However, before she finished showering, her wristband vibrated.

The flashing icon was the “map panel.” Slightly puzzled, she summoned the transparent panel, and a line of text appeared: [Yuncheng—Qinghe Waterway detected, temporarily open. Click to activate.]

A temporary waterway?

Shu Fu turned off the shower and tapped the transparent panel.

With her action, a new waterway suddenly appeared to the left of the previously closed route. The new waterway extended from the southeast to the northwest, like a small branch off her current path, heading towards the mountain hills in the northwest.

This temporary waterway was different from the others—it was a lighter shade of green and more than half as narrow as the normal routes. Shu Fu watched it gradually appear on the map, extending northwestward, slowly illuminating the map, eventually cutting through a vast dark green area, like a tunnel through the mountains.

[Activated Yuncheng—Qinghe Temporary Waterway. This temporary waterway will remain open for: 01:59:53.]

So, Yuncheng wasn’t the endpoint of this route after all—the true destination was Qinghe!?

A limited-time waterway that only opened for two hours. Without time to think further, Shu Fu immediately set Qinghe, on the other side of the hills, as her destination on the map panel. A new route appeared, totaling 88 kilometers, with an estimated travel time of 1 hour and 28 minutes.

The raft began to move, battling against the waves to reach the entrance of the temporary waterway. Then, with the next surge of giant waves, it was instantly swept into the route, like a small boat in a log flume ride, being pushed rapidly toward the mountain hills.

---

Over an hour later, the raft, forced to speed up, shot down the mountain hills and merged with the broad Qinghe River alongside the waves.

After passing the barrier of the sprawling hills, the once ferocious waves calmed significantly. The rain still poured down, and the flowing Qinghe waters churned from the continuous influx of floodwater.

These sprawling hills should have been highlands, part of the northern edge of Huagou’s four major plateaus—the Northern Plateau. The entire plateau’s elevation ranges from 400 to 2000 meters. The hills—or rather highlands—the raft just crossed with the waves should have had an elevation of several hundred meters.

Shu Fu judged this area to be highlands because of the stark difference in elevation on either side of the mountains.

On the Yuncheng side, it had already become an ocean with hundreds of meters of water depth. But on this side, except for Qinghe, the other areas were still normal land.

Qinghe is the largest river in Huagou. Coming from Lou Yuncheng, even though the previous land routes had turned into waterways, it would have been impossible to reach here directly because the sprawling hills and highlands to the northwest would block the way.

So, to pass through the hills near Yuncheng and reach Qinghe, one had to wait for extreme weather to occur. Only the massive waves formed by extreme conditions could temporarily open a new waterway.

It was like the principle of tides. As the tide rises and falls, waves surge towards the shore. Many amphibious creatures are easily washed onto higher beaches during high tide.

And now, the raft was one of those creatures in the tide.

But Shu Fu had forgotten that some creatures washed ashore during high tide could also become completely stranded due to geographical constraints.

That’s called being stranded.

The map panel in her hand changed as the raft entered the Qinghe River channel. The Shuicheng water map, the Shuicheng to Lou Yuncheng waterway, the Lou Yuncheng water map, and the Lou Yuncheng to Yuncheng waterway all disappeared.

On the semi-transparent panel, a new winding waterway appeared—part of Qinghe’s river route. Her active area now started from the current river channel, stretching upstream to the mid-upper reaches of Qinghe.

This section of Qinghe’s waterway was treacherous, with elevations along both banks ranging from 500 to 1000 meters. Given Huagou’s current disaster situation, most of this area was relatively safe land.

Could it be that every city along this river is within her navigable range?

Though she knew it was wishful thinking, it didn’t hurt to dream a little.

Shu Fu quickly finished her shower while entertaining those dreams, but as she was drying her hair and comparing the river route on the map panel with the electronic map, she gloomily realized that she could no longer find the waterways and regions she previously had free access to on the map panel.

Shu Fu: …

Could it be that now that she’s come here, there’s no way back?

That’s just absurd!

Half an hour later, after thoroughly checking the function screen and map panel, Shu Fu slumped on the sofa in defeat.

She really couldn’t go back.

She couldn’t set any destination outside of the Qinghe River route. Even if she tried to manually steer the raft back the way she came, it would be blocked by invisible barriers along the riverbanks.

The countdown for the temporary waterway on the map panel had long since ended and disappeared.

It seemed like… she was trapped on this highland.