Chapter 67

Now, looking back, Hexi Town is closer to the water than the outskirts of Lucheng. With the daily rains and the arrival of spring, temperatures are rising, so it stands to reason that there shouldn’t be such a shortage of insects. Even before the disaster began, in a normal city, mosquitoes and crawling insects were everywhere.

“Creatures are naturally inclined to seek good fortune and avoid danger. The scarcity of insects here must have something to do with the strange fish that can come ashore,” Chen Yuezhen analyzed. “The fishing boats don’t venture too far out, so the male mutant fish that were accidentally caught probably reside in the waters near the town.”

From a different angle, since their “mates” have come ashore to lay eggs, and their offspring haven’t emerged yet, they wouldn’t swim to other waters.

Fish are opportunistic feeders; they consume a wide variety of things, including insect eggs and bugs. Since they can come ashore, it’s a simple matter for them to eliminate insects.

“So, the insects predicted that the environment in the town was unfavorable for their growth, so they moved to a safer place to thrive, right?” Shu Fu’s statement made both Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen laugh.

Looking back, their escape from the town was truly a stroke of luck. No one had expected that the red liquid they took from Tang Ping’s small building would unexpectedly suppress the mutant fish. They still didn’t know what was actually in it…

Thinking about Tang Ping led her to recall the other residents of the town.

Previously, they had been shocked by the swarming mutant fish and half-eaten corpses and had instinctively thought that no one had survived in the town. But now, thinking back, although the town’s buildings were not very sturdy, some people had sealed their windows for safety. As long as they kept the doors secure and waited for the mutant fish to leave, there might still be a chance for survival.

Additionally, the other large boat in Malaysia’s fleet could carry more than a hundred people. Its hull and bottom were made of steel, unlike the wooden boats rented to residents, which made it far sturdier. The boat’s higher hull meant the mutant fish couldn’t leap onto it, even if they were in the water.

As long as the team members and the town’s people managed to board the boat safely, they should be able to survive.

“But there’s one thing I don’t understand,” Chen Fa said. “When we left the town, why didn’t the small mutant fish come after us?”

Although Chen Fa had felt relieved at the time, she also found it strange.

The fish had been chasing them on land, but when it came to the water, they stopped. It seemed almost unbelievable.

“Ultimately, the most puzzling part is why the female mutant fish came ashore to lay eggs,” Shu Fu also reflected on the whole event. There was no doubt that the appearance of the mutant fish marked the beginning of a new disaster. Aquatic creatures had mutated, and many things could no longer be judged by the standards of the past.

“Actually, animals are simpler than humans. What we find terrifying and shocking might just be their way of surviving,” Chen Yuezhen pondered for a moment, then said slowly, “The disappearances of people at night started after two teams arrived in the town, right? What changes occurred in the town, or rather, in the nearby waters?”

Chen Fa, who was most familiar with the team, quickly thought of something. “Fishing?”

“Yes,” Chen Yuezhen nodded. “As the population in the town grew, so did the demand for food. Those mutant fish could even eat humans, so no fish would be too big for them. The other fish in the water likely became food for the mutant fish. As the fish in the nearby waters were heavily harvested, it affected the food supply for the mutant fish. The female fish, in order to successfully lay eggs and give their young enough nutrients to hatch, had to come ashore. After all, they’ve mutated and can already come ashore…”

What Chen Yuezhen suggested seemed very likely, so the fact that the small mutant fish didn’t enter the water could also be explained from the perspective of biological survival.

“They didn’t enter the water because they wouldn’t survive once they did?” Shu Fu thought for a moment. “If you reverse the thinking, adult mutant fish can live both in water and on land because they have lungs in addition to gills, which allows them to breathe on land. But these juvenile mutant fish… maybe they haven’t grown gills yet?”

“It’s also possible that their gills or tails haven’t fully developed yet, so they aren’t ready to enter the water,” Chen Fa added. “Like tadpoles, they can only live in the water during their early stages, and only as adults can they come ashore.”

The three of them felt that these speculations were probably not the full answer, but they were getting closer to the truth.

They wondered if similar mutant fish had appeared in other parts of Huaguo. These fish reproduce rapidly, and if they were allowed to grow, Huaguo might really face a fish disaster.

At that moment, they all realized how inconvenient it was not to have access to the internet. If there was internet in Hexi Town, they could search for more information about the mutant fish.

Not every area of Lucheng had internet. The three major powers definitely had it because they had electricity, but other areas were a different story.

Chen Fa had heard from the team they traded with that the trading station did have internet access, like Wi-Fi, which they could use for free, though the speed was very slow and unreliable. But they could probably look up some information.

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On the third day, Shu Fu and Chen Fa packed up two backpacks and prepared to enter the city.

Originally, Shu Fu had planned to go alone. She wasn’t sure what exactly she needed to do there. If she went alone, she’d just wander around and find a place to use the internet.

But when she told Chen Fa not to come, Chen Fa didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she crossed her arms and tilted her head to look at Shu Fu. After she had cut her hair short, her expression was particularly fierce when she wasn’t speaking. Shu Fu lost the argument and nodded. “Fine, let’s go together.”

They had too many things: the boat bags, the hanging gear, and other travel bags filled with camping supplies, first aid kits, weapons, and a small amount of water. So, in the end, they decided that Chen Fa and Shu Fu would head into the city, while Chen Yuezhen would stay behind to guard their supplies.

There was no one nearby, but just to be safe, Shu Fu left her nail gun with her and taught her how to load it with nails and how to use it. In addition, she left a crowbar and a stun baton, though the stun baton was low on battery and could only be used two to three more times at most.

With melee and ranged tools available, the two felt a bit more reassured.

As for the intimidating fire axe and multi-purpose shovel, Shu Fu and Chen Fa took those with them.

“If the situation gets bad, run. These things can be abandoned. Staying alive is the most important thing. If you do get hurt, use the first aid kit, and don’t be stingy with the supplies inside!” Shu Fu wasn’t lacking in supplies, but she didn’t want to see Chen Fa’s grandmother risk her life over them, so she kept reminding her before they left.

“You’re worse than me at nagging,” Chen Fa sighed, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were my grandmother.”

Since they were going to the trading station, they naturally packed some items. Shu Fu packed a large medical kit that she had never directly opened in front of Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen, as she often had to “take out” some things from it when needed.

She also packed some light food—cookies and bread—and a collapsible water cup filled with half a bottle of mineral water.

After a few days of consumption, their food supply had decreased by half. If they found suitable food at the trading station, Shu Fu planned to trade some of their medicine for it.

Chen Fa had mentioned that, in current-day Lucheng, besides fuel, medicine was the most valuable commodity, sold by the individual pill.

For example, when she had privately asked someone from the trading team for medicine, they agreed to exchange an entire travel bag of canned food and water for three pills of cephalosporin and two pills of ibuprofen.

Although the other party likely raised the price, it still reflected how valuable medicine was now.

Their backpacks were not large, and this time, they wore them on the front of their bodies, with raincoats on the outside, both to prevent being seen and to avoid potential theft.

Walking into the city would take about two to three hours, depending on the road conditions and weather.

However, they planned to return before nightfall, not only because of Chen Yuezhen but also because the city was even more dangerous after dark.

Losing control of Lucheng was something beyond Shu Fu’s imagination. She had spent the past two months in a cave in a deserted area. The last time she came ashore, it was a small town with simple personnel, and this was her first time witnessing a decaying, abandoned city firsthand.

It resembled the post-bombarded cities she had seen in videos and photos back in her original world.

The streets were covered in dirty trash mixed with mud and water, broken tree branches from heavy rain, building fragments, torn clothes, and abandoned, ruined cars. The trash was scattered haphazardly, with new weeds growing over it.

Most of the buildings had shattered windows, leaving hollow gaps. In some collapsed corners of walls, human corpses could still be seen.

The bodies, soaked in rainwater for so long, had decomposed and were infested with insects. Every time they passed by, Chen Fa and Shu Fu would make sure to keep their distance.

Both of them wore masks, but the stench still managed to seep through the masks, though it was nothing compared to the nauseating, rotting smell they had endured before.

The two of them stayed vigilant, carefully choosing paths that were easier to walk. When they encountered collapsed ruins, they helped each other climb over. One would support the other as they went up, and the person above would pull the other up.

After about two hours, they finally reached the heart of the city.

This area had once been a bustling commercial district, filled with shops and malls. Now, it had turned into a series of supply points occupied by different teams.

People began to appear around them—survivors like them, hurriedly walking in raincoats, as well as others fighting over some unknown resource. Some sat motionless in the rain on the streets, looking like refugees.

Some were sick, with no medicine to cure them, draped in tattered rain gear or plastic sheeting, their faces numb as they sat on the street corners. Others hid inside collapsed stores where supplies had already been exhausted. Some were alone, while others huddled together, mostly elderly people, women, and women with children.

There were also some thin men, some of whom were half-collapsed, unmoving under the rain, appearing as though they were dead, while others crouched in sheltered places, casting dark, calculating looks at passing survivors, seemingly on the lookout for a target.

Both Shu Fu and Chen Fa wore black masks, their rain hoods partially obscuring their eyes. However, their figures still made it clear that they were two young women. The fire axes and serrated shovels they carried were hard to ignore, with what appeared to be suspicious bloodstains on them, giving off a faint, foul smell.

This was Chen Fa’s idea—to leave the weapons unwashed, with traces of monster fish and entrails that had long solidified. Without proper cleaning tools, the stains wouldn’t come off.

They both knew that the stains came from killing the fish, but others wouldn’t know that. They would only assume they had used the weapons to kill people, and would likely hesitate before attacking, unsure whether they were capable of handling them.

What’s more, these days, anyone traveling in Lucheng, apart from the refugees, is usually part of a team. Even those coming from suburban towns to trade are no exception.

Refugees who have endured the apocalypse are careful when deciding who to target; they observe and act according to their abilities.

The closer they got to Trading Station No. 3, the more refugees they saw sitting in front of ruined buildings along the streets. However, compared to those they had seen earlier, the refugees here looked noticeably different—they had more energy in their eyes.

They remained silent, some would suddenly kneel and beg for alms when survivors on their way to trade passed by, while others intently stared at everyone coming from the direction of the trading station. They were waiting for any signs of conflict or fighting to break out. As soon as there was any commotion, they would rush in, hoping to take advantage of the situation.

Two streets nearby seemed to have been through a fire, with all the houses collapsed, leaving only a dark, charred mess. Chen Fa had never been inside Trading Station No. 3, only passing by it once. Coming back now, she found that she didn’t recognize the streets around here.

But Shu Fu had a nationwide map downloaded on her phone, and in her account, it was not surprising that she had used the map during her long journey north with others. Although it was a pre-disaster map, knowing that their destination was the museum made it easy to recognize the route.

They changed direction to avoid the fire-damaged area and soon arrived at a large bus station.

This was a city rest stop with a vast parking lot. There were two buses parked there, their windows shattered and the bodies rusted, likely left behind because they were no longer operational.

Once the windows of such vehicles break, they can’t offer shelter from wind and rain, and during a storm, it would feel like being caught in a river. Even the refugees wouldn’t bother with such buses, preferring to choose buildings with broken doors and windows—at least inside the buildings, they could find some corners to shelter from the weather.

Shu Fu couldn’t help but take a few more looks as they passed by. They had already left the flood zone, and from now on, it would be land travel. Whether they would eventually get stuck was uncertain, but if they could get a vehicle now, their journey ahead would be much easier.

Having a vehicle would allow them to carry more supplies and avoid getting soaked in the rain constantly, making travel far more convenient.

It seemed that Chen Fa had guessed her thoughts, and spoke up, “Having a vehicle would indeed be nice, but even if these two buses weren’t broken, the fuel tanks would have been drained. Without fuel, even if the vehicle could run, it would just be scrap metal.”

During the most chaotic times in Lucheng, many people died, leaving behind plenty of cars. However, those who escaped couldn’t take these cars with them, not because they didn’t want to, but because most of the fuel had already been siphoned out.

Teams with foresight had long gone around collecting the functional cars with intact windows and draining the fuel from those that were damaged or had too small a capacity.

After turning the corner from the bus station, they walked for another ten minutes and finally saw the museum that housed Trading Station No. 3.