Chapter 64

Shu Fu suddenly remembered that the small street she was attacked on last night had deep drainage ditches, and there were many depressions of various sizes nearby. Because of the rain, these areas had turned into small water bodies along the shore.

If these strange fish were nocturnal, then those places would be the perfect hiding spots for them during the day.

There were so many ponds like this in the town of Hexi, and the ditches too. The area north of the town was uninhabited, so they wouldn’t be disturbed during the day. At night, the fish would inexplicably jump ashore, and because of their slippery bodies, they made faint “plopping” sounds as they moved. After attacking, they would quickly disappear into the ditches, blending in with the environment. This is why none of them had noticed anything unusual.

What about the missing people?

She imagined what might have happened to those two people traveling alone at night. After being attacked and paralyzed, they lost consciousness, and with no one around to help, where did they end up?

Shu Fu then considered a possibility that made her skin crawl…

The people who escaped from the ship were all running in the opposite direction to her. Their goal was to get back to the town, not toward the mountain.

These strange fish seemed to hold a grudge. Perhaps the people had disturbed their “fish nests” while fishing, causing the normally nocturnal fish to go into a frenzy and attack them without letting up.

But oddly enough, unlike the situation with Chen Fa last night, the fish chasing these people seemed to only bite with their teeth, without using their tail spines to paralyze their prey.

It was as if there were exceptions even among a group. Like now, some of the fish chasing the people suddenly turned toward Shu Fu.

She heard the “plopping” sound behind her, knowing that the fish were chasing her. The sensation sent shivers down her spine.

She had never imagined that in her lifetime, she would be chased by fish on land.

She quickened her pace, soon leaving the woods behind. When she was sure that the people on the ship wouldn’t see her, she gently dropped the travel bag and boat pack, activated her personal protective shield, and took out the nail gun from her front backpack.

The fish were much smaller than humans and moved by jumping. They jumped around on the slippery mud, and after firing a round of nails, she hit one, but the other one, with its large mouth wide open, leapt toward her face with a high jump.

Even with the personal protective shield on, her heart skipped a beat as the bizarre fish came at her, and for a moment, she almost instinctively turned to run.

But she held herself back, quickly taking out an electric baton, setting it to maximum power, and when the fish collided with her shield, she slammed it into the fish’s large face.

There was a sizzling sound, and the fish froze, falling to the ground. It was still moving, struggling in the mud, opening and closing its large mouth, trying to jump again and attack.

This fish was vicious. Shu Fu pulled out a nail gun filled with nails, aimed at the fish on the ground, and fired a continuous stream of nails, turning it into a hedgehog fish.

She put away the weapons, took out her phone, and started filming the two dead fish. She took pictures and videos for later analysis.

As she got closer to film, the fish’s large head and bulging eyes looked familiar. Shu Fu quickly realized that she must have seen similar fish before!

It was when she was near the water around the rock cave restaurant. There had been schools of fish swimming by, and in one of the schools, she had seen fish with large heads and small tails like this.

At the time, they were in the water, and she hadn’t noticed the “legs” on their bellies—perhaps they hadn’t grown them yet, or they were hidden while swimming.

Thinking back even further, she recalled that the first night she spent in the underwater bedroom, she had felt something watching her in a half-sleep state. She vaguely heard the “popping” sound, which could have been the sound of these large-eyed fish flicking their tail spines against the outside wall of the underwater bedroom.

Even though the raft couldn’t be seen by the outside creatures without the protective shield, external forces could still touch the raft and the drifting island house.

It turned out there had been signs all along.

The mutation of aquatic creatures had already begun.

When she was putting her phone away, she heard loud noises from the shoreline of the woods. The last group of people still on the ship had also escaped. Some of them were wearing raincoats, with only their hands and faces exposed and injured.

Others weren’t wearing raincoats. Their clothes were torn from bites, and they were covered in blood, crying out in pain as they ran purely on survival instinct.

It seemed the strange fish had tasted blood, and now they were even more agitated, jumping faster and more aggressively.

Among them, some of the fish turned around mid-air and started heading in Shu Fu’s direction. She cursed under her breath, grabbed the travel bag and boat pack, and quickly ran toward the mountain.

This time, because the fish chasing her were farther away, she didn’t stop to fight. She kept speeding up, sprinting up the mountain path.

There was a particularly steep and slippery section of the mountain path. She had hoped to use it to shake off the fish, but the fish only chased her for a short distance before quickly turning back. Although they could get on land, they still preferred areas close to water, so when they couldn’t see their prey, they automatically returned.

Shu Fu didn’t stop and continued charging upward, finally reaching safety in the mountain hollow, where she collapsed into the container house, gasping for air.

Chen Yuezhen turned around to close the door and quickly walked over to her. “What happened? Is someone chasing you?”

Inside, Chen Fa, hearing the commotion, struggled to sit up and tilted her head to look outside.

“It’s not a person…” Shu Fu collapsed on the floor, not caring about the dirt, just wanting to catch her breath. “It’s a fish!”

**

The video finished playing. Shu Fu had filmed from multiple angles up close, and both Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen had a clear view of the strange fish. Especially the tail spine, since it was suspected to be the cause of the attack on Chen Fa last night, Shu Fu had filmed it in great detail.

The strange fish had an overall body shape similar to a mudskipper. It had a dorsal fin, and its dull gray color made it hard to notice. From its head to the tip of its tail, it measured over thirty centimeters, with the head occupying nearly a third of its length. It resembled an oversized piranha, with large, protruding eyes that seemed to glare at you no matter which angle you viewed it from.

Two leg-like appendages grew beneath the head and body, and they seemed to be fins, but they looked somewhat like shorter frog legs. The angle was just right to allow them to support the fish’s hopping movements on land.

The sharp spines in the middle of the tail extended another seven or eight centimeters and appeared to help it balance and change direction while jumping.

The fish could stay on land for so long, so besides its gills, it must also have lungs that allow it to breathe out of water.

Its mouth was especially large, with two rows of particularly sharp teeth, and the teeth at the front, both upper and lower, were long and pointed. A single bite could tear off both flesh and skin.

No wonder the people on the boat had been screaming like that.

“These two aren’t as big as the one that attacked Chen Fa last night. With the size of their tail spines, they wouldn’t cause such large wounds. However, the shape of the tail spines and the marks on her foot match perfectly. This must have been done by the same kind of fish,” Chen Yuezhen said as she returned the phone to Shu Fu and asked her for more details about the tail spines.

The three of them discussed for a while and agreed that there was a 95% chance that these strange fish had attacked Chen Fa and were the culprits behind the disappearances in the town at night.

“But why didn’t the fish that came from the boat attack those people with their tail spines?” Or conversely, why didn’t the fish from last night directly tear into them? This was the one thing Shu Fu couldn’t figure out, and it was also the reason they couldn’t be 100% sure about their conclusions.

However, being attacked by an unknown creature was one thing, while being attacked by a fish they recognized was another matter entirely.

Chen Fa finally relaxed. As long as it wasn’t a soft-bodied creature like a leech, she would be okay. So, even though the numbness in her foot gradually wore off and intense pain followed, she was able to maintain a relaxed expression.

Shu Fu changed the dressing on her wound using the medical kit from her waterproof travel bag. This kit contained a more complete set of medications and first aid supplies, including professional bandages and gauze to better treat Chen Fa’s injuries.

Additionally, Chen Fa had already taken antibiotics. Given her constitution, there should be no issues, and with a couple of days of rest, the wound would heal.

The container house, though sturdy and concealed, lacked water and electricity, making life inconvenient. Shu Fu reorganized the items in her travel bag based on what Chen Fa had already prepared inside.

In addition to the large medical kit, she added bottled clean drinking water, vacuum-sealed meat snacks, which were more portable and less prone to spoilage than canned food.

There were also several self-heating hotpots and self-heating rice packs. Since Chen Fa had only one gas canister left for the portable stove, Shu Fu was worried it wouldn’t last long, so she added these self-heating meals to ensure they could eat hot food anytime.

Lastly, she packed a pair of high-top rain boots and some useful tools: a multi-purpose folding shovel, a fire axe, and a lock-picking rod.

The supplies were not abundant since this was originally her personal kit, and there was only one of each item, but it was enough for the three of them.

Chen Yuezhen picked up the fire axe and tested its weight, satisfied. The axe had a sharp point on one end and a cutting edge on the other, suitable for both chopping and stabbing. It seemed like it would be great for dealing with the strange fish.

Shu Fu, watching Chen Yuezhen practice with the axe, couldn’t help but clap and cheer. “Grandma, you’re so cool!”

“Cool my foot…” Chen Fa reached out to pinch her cheek and motioned for her to take out the map and pen from her bag. With the appearance of the strange fish, they needed to leave the town as soon as possible. They should finalize their route and destination soon. “The longer we stay, the more unpredictable things become. I’ll rest for one more night, and we’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning.”

No matter whether the strange fish were truly nocturnal, traveling during the day was safer.

“But what if there are more of these strange fish in the water? If they appear and attack during the day, the inflatable boat might not withstand their bites,” Chen Yuezhen raised a troubling point.

Of course, it was also possible that this hypothesis was completely wrong. After all, people had been disappearing from the town at night for quite some time. Even though people from the Malaysia team had been fishing every day since then, nothing had happened.

Not to mention, Shu Fu had only been in the town for a little over ten days, and she had passed through the waters safely herself, hadn’t she?

So, the fishing boat of the Malaysia team was attacked today, and it’s likely that they accidentally caught a nest of strange fish while fishing. These fish were probably resting during the day, but after being caught, they woke up and launched their attack.

“Yeah, that seems to be it. Little Fu said those fish first attacked people on the boat and then jumped into the water. The water in that area is shallow and not suitable for the boat to dock, so they were probably attacked by the awakened fish on their way back, panicked, and tried to get ashore, which is why they ended up where they did.”

Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen analyzed the situation, and in the end, they agreed that they could leave during the day, but they needed to move quickly. After all, with more strange fish coming ashore, they didn’t know whether the fish would return to the water or stay in a pond in the town. The longer they waited, the less safe it would be.

As for their destination, both of them had their sights set on Pincheng.

First, Pincheng was not an open city like Lucheng. It was a small town with many mountains, a small urban area, and few people. During the global chaos caused by the super tsunami, the situation there would definitely be better than in Lucheng.

Second, Shu Fu had mentioned before that her original plan was to go to Pincheng, and she was just passing through the town of Hexi. She would still head in that direction after this, and it would be safer for the three of them to travel together.

“However, Pincheng is located in the northwest of the town. To get there, we need to go around Lucheng, and the area to the east of Lucheng is all mountainous, with difficult roads,” Chen Fa pointed to the map.

“Right.” Chen Yuezhen nodded, then pointed to the west side of Lucheng. “There are two small towns here; we can go west to bypass it.”

“The journey will be long.”

“This town is close to Qinghe, and right now, the water level is probably close to the doorstep. We can pass through the flooded area and head straight there.”

“We’ll have to row for a long time…”

“Try to row as much as you can. If it doesn’t work, we can land here and here—both areas have villages. Maybe we can find a car or fuel…”

“Actually, if we can find bicycles or something like that, it would work too. They’re lightweight and can handle any kind of road.”

“Alright, then that’s the plan.”

Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen seemed to have a lot of experience with evacuation plans. After discussing the details, they realized that Shu Fu had been silent the whole time. They turned to ask for her opinion.

At the table, Shu Fu, after wiping her face with wet wipes and her hands with disinfecting wipes, was busy with two self-heating hotpots and a self-heating rice pack.

She had only eaten some bread and biscuits for breakfast. After coming down from the mountain and running back, she was already very hungry. Also, since she hadn’t decided how to disappear from Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen’s side tomorrow, she had automatically lowered her presence.

Suddenly being asked for her input, she could only nod and agree, saying that their plan was good and that she approved.

The self-heating hotpot quickly began to heat up, and the enticing aroma filled the container house. Both Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen felt their stomachs growl.

“Let’s eat first. We need energy to evacuate,” Shu Fu opened one of the hotpots and told Chen Fa that, since she was injured and couldn’t eat spicy food for now, she had prepared a mild one, and the self-heating rice was also non-spicy. Both of them could eat it.

In addition, she took out a vacuum-sealed pack of beef jerky and duck, saying that since they were leaving tomorrow, they should eat a little more today to lighten their load for tomorrow.

Then, she took out a pack of dried vegetables for the side dishes, a can of chocolate as a dessert, and a bottle of vitamin C effervescent tablets, saying that they could each drink some vitamin C water later to cool down.

Chen Fa: …

No wonder she was in such a hurry to get her travel bag back. Now Chen Fa totally understood.

**

That night, the town of Hexi was far from peaceful.

After the group of people rushed back to the town in a panic at noon, they were still being followed by the strange fish, which jumped along behind them. Some of the fish suddenly changed direction and disappeared somewhere else.

But a portion of the fish continued to follow them, waiting for an opportunity to jump up and bite, then following the people back to the town amidst their screams.

Even though it was raining outside, there were still quite a few people in the town who went out with the doors open at noon. Some went to the local shops to buy supplies, others were patrolling the town, and some had already adapted to this life and went next door to visit people to see if they could get a meal.

In everyone’s minds, although the situation outside was unstable and it wasn’t safe to go out at night, the small town during the day still felt safe. As long as you didn’t wander into deserted alleys, even if someone in the town with hunger issues had bad intentions, they couldn’t do too much harm.

So when these people, originally part of the Malaysia team and used to being arrogant, suddenly rushed through the streets of the town with bloodstains and in a state of panic, the people in the nearby homes were all shocked.

Some, afraid of trouble, immediately locked their doors and peeked out cautiously through the curtains.

Others, not understanding what was going on but feeling strong and bold, assumed it was the work of the Yang Can squad and rushed out to confront them.

Most people didn’t notice the gray, slippery strange fish following them at first, but when they finally saw the creatures jumping through the rain toward them, it was too late. The strange fish seemed to have endless energy. When they saw people, they lunged at them, biting off chunks of flesh in the process.

In an instant, the streets of the town were filled with screams. Some people were bitten on the face, and before they could react, the creature bit down, tearing flesh and causing it to fall to the ground. Then, it sprang up and lunged toward the next target.

The bitten victims couldn’t even make out what the creature was. They only felt intense pain on their face, hands, and bodies, with blood pouring from the wounds. The town’s stone-paved roads were stained with blood, a result of the creatures’ biting, falling, and jumping.

These bloodstains were quickly diluted and spread out by the rain, leaving the air thick with the scent of blood.

“Quick! Kill them!” The people who had just returned from the boat, now with the distraction of the new arrivals, managed to break free and called on others to help.

The scales of the creatures weren’t particularly hard, and even Shu Fu’s nail gun could pierce them. As long as they aimed well, sticks or iron rods could knock the creatures out or crush them.

The problem was that these people had never seen such creatures before. They had assumed that this was another big catch, never expecting the fish they had caught would suddenly jump out of the fish barrels and start attacking.

Patrolling members of the Malaysia team also arrived, each holding weapons—some with knives, others with sticks, and some with axes. They began beating the creatures that were hopping around in the rain.

Some were quick to react and wore thick raincoats, escaping without being bitten. Others, although they killed a couple of creatures, ended up with chunks of flesh bitten off their hands, cursing in pain and yelling for the nearby people to fetch a medical kit for disinfecting the wounds.

The grayish creatures were all killed on the stone-paved roads. Their large eyes stared up, their mouths full of sharp teeth. The beaten bellies split open, revealing their foul-smelling, rancid insides. Besides the smell of blood, the air was now filled with an indescribable, fishy stench.

Some people couldn’t help but cover their mouths and noses: “It smells so bad! The fish’s insides are awful!”

Others recalled a rumor that had circulated among the fishermen and immediately shouted, “Is this the strange fish someone saw earlier? So it really exists! Oh my!”

But more people were anxiously observing the dead creatures. These fish had especially sharp teeth, and with their ability to land on land, they would attack anyone they saw. They had injured a large number of people, and their attack power was comparable to that of wild wolves.

Some, while bandaging their wounds, suddenly remembered that some of the creatures had jumped into nearby ponds on their way back. They didn’t know where they had gone or when they would suddenly appear to attack again.

Leaving these creatures unchecked in the town was far too dangerous. So, the Malaysia team held an emergency meeting and sent some people to find members of the Yang Can team.

Yang Can team’s captain, Zhou Feng, was too preoccupied to deal with this situation. His girlfriend had been sick for a long time and hadn’t recovered, and her condition had worsened last night. Today, he was waiting anxiously for Tang Ping to deliver medicine, but Tang Ping hadn’t shown up.

He sent people to look for him and soon discovered that, in addition to Tang Ping, some members of his team were also missing. Some who should have been on patrol duty today were also absent.

Suppressing his anger, he asked around, and soon someone came forward and said they had seen one of his team members taking his wife to the Malaysia team’s area in the morning, carrying something in hand.

The person had greeted him politely, and he assumed they were just exchanging goods, so he hadn’t questioned it.

This kind of situation had happened before. Some team members would exchange saved rations or other supplies with the Malaysia team, depending on the needs of their families.

This private trade couldn’t be made public, as there were set dates and rules for trading between the two teams. But everyone understood, and as long as it wasn’t too obvious, the Yang Can team usually turned a blind eye.

However, now several hours had passed, and the team member who went to exchange supplies hadn’t returned, which felt off.

Soon, other members reported that they had seen others head toward the Malaysia team’s area as well. Things were starting to seem suspicious.

Some couldn’t help but whisper to each other, speculating that perhaps those people had gone to join the Malaysia team. After all, the Malaysia team was the only one with two boats, and the larger one could hold over a hundred people.

They used to rely on vehicles, but now they had to rely on boats.

Many people didn’t want to leave, but if they truly decided to go, the only chance was to join the Malaysia team.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Feng’s face darkened even further, and he ordered that the others be left alone for now. The priority was to find Tang Ping.

In fact, most people weren’t pleased with this order. Tang Ping was lazy and never did any heavy lifting. Every time supplies were distributed, he always took the highest rations, acting superior and condescending, with a mysterious and sinister attitude. And yet, the captain valued him so much…

Everyone couldn’t help but complain in private, but they still had to go look for him.

Just then, there was a commotion outside. Soon, members of the Malaysia team arrived, meeting the search party. One side insisted that they were too busy looking for people and wouldn’t settle the score now, warning them not to push their luck.

The other side retorted, “The fish are on land, the sky is falling, and you’re still looking for someone? Hurry up and join us to find the remaining creatures and kill them all!”

The Yang Can team members were confused, thinking they were just looking for trouble. “Looking for fish? Killing fish?”

“This is all nonsense! I think you’re just asking for a fight!”

“You bunch of idiots!” someone cursed angrily.

Others had already taken action, carrying a dead creature and tossing it directly into the opposing team’s group.

The person instinctively dodged, but the creature landed on the back of another person, its rancid insides splattering all over him. That person was about to curse, but suddenly fell silent. He stared at the now lifeless creature on the ground, his eyes wide, nearly popping out like the creature’s own eyes.

“Th-this fish… has legs?!”

For the rest of the day, the two teams in the town searched the nearby ditches and small puddles at street corners, and indeed, they found a few creatures.

Among them, there was one particularly large creature, especially its belly, which was three to four times larger than the others. It was about forty centimeters long from head to tail, and its tail spike was especially long. Besides biting, it also swung its tail to stab at people.

However, because there were many people nearby, they were all frightened by the creature, and before it could stab anyone, they quickly killed it.

The town was littered with the bodies of these creatures, and a strong fishy stench filled the air. But they couldn’t spare the time to clean up the dead creatures. After killing one, they quickly moved on to search elsewhere or assist teammates who were screaming for help.

As a result, those who killed the large creature didn’t see that its belly had split open, revealing fish eggs the size of ping pong balls, densely stacked together, still wriggling…

By three or four in the afternoon, the rain intensified, with small hail mixed in. Those searching for creatures returned to buildings to take shelter.

Fortunately, by then, they had already found and killed many creatures. After some counting, they determined that most of the fish that had jumped off the boat earlier had been killed. A few might have slipped through, but due to their small numbers, they wouldn’t cause the same group attacks as before.

They warned the townspeople to be careful and not hesitate to kill any creatures they saw.

The residents of the town were scared and very cautious. As night fell, they closed their windows and stayed indoors, avoiding going outside.

Some people went to bed early, but in a half-sleep, they heard faint “thud—thud—thud” sounds coming from their windows and doors. The sounds were subtle but incessant, like many things piling up together, constantly knocking at their doors and windows.

Some thought it was just more hail outside and rolled over to go back to sleep.

Others, disturbed by the constant, subtle noises, couldn’t fall asleep at all. One person, feeling irritated, got up and walked to the window, lifting the curtain to check outside. As soon as the curtain was lifted, the person was stunned into silence, seeing the dark shapes outside repeatedly slamming against the glass.

They were all the same strange fish from earlier, but most of them had heads only the size of a fist. Their bodies were much smaller than those they had seen during the day, but the visual shock they gave was no less intense.

When these fish saw the person inside, they opened their mouths wide, showing sharp, thin teeth, like starving baby birds begging for food. Their entire heads seemed to be nothing but wide-open mouths.

The person looked outside, and under the dim light from a nearby street lamp, they saw that the street was filled with these smaller version of the creatures, jumping everywhere—at the windows, at the doorways—everywhere. There were so many that it made their scalp tingle, and their bodies felt physically uneasy.

“Oh my god!” The person’s hairs stood on end, instinctively stepping back.

At that moment, there was a loud crack, and the window, which had been reinforced with wooden planks, was struck from the outside, creating a gap.

An enormous creature, three to four times the size of a normal one, leapt up again, its hard head slamming into the crack.

Once, twice, three times… The person wanted to move, to do something to stop this, but their legs wouldn’t obey. The window was reinforced, but it was still just ordinary glass. The wooden planks were enough to withstand the mild hail and occasional storms in the area.

But the person never imagined that one day, they would regret not sealing the window completely, like some of the residents who used wood or steel to completely cover their windows.

The giant creature jumped up once more and slammed into the glass, making a series of cracking noises. The glass finally shattered.

The creature was too large to get through, but the smaller ones easily slipped through the gaps between the wooden planks.

They jumped in one after another, their mouths wide open, pouncing on the person…