Chapter 90

[Detected: Qinghe–Yuncheng Waterway is now open. Please click to activate.]

Did this mean that even without a temporary waterway, she could now leave smoothly from the lower reaches of Qinghe and return to the deep-water areas of the hilly region? No wonder the final mission had taken so long to arrive—it had been waiting for the waterway to clear.

**[Complete the Yuncheng checkpoint mission within three days to gain 5% progress on Raft Level 4. (Current progress: 95%)

Note: Failure to complete this mission will result in a 40% progress deduction.]**

Having experienced plenty of bizarre missions before, Shu Fu found it almost surprising how straightforward this one seemed.

Yuncheng’s elevation ranged only between 200 and 400 meters. Back in late May, when she had ridden the “Yuncheng–Qinghe Temporary Waterway” up to the northern plateau, Yuncheng had already been submerged by floods, leaving only a few high-rise buildings and the peaks of some taller mountains in the outskirts above water.

By now, even those last few standing buildings had probably been swallowed by the water.

Still, after completing so many missions, Shu Fu could make some educated guesses about their nature.

A penalty of 40% progress loss indicated that this was an urgent mission, but not a critical one. The fact that the checkpoint was in Yuncheng—outside the northern plateau—meant that she had completed all tasks in the plateau region. With the waterway now reopened and the situation deteriorating, it was time for her to leave.

Traveling from Youcheng to Yuncheng, following Qinghe would undoubtedly be the fastest route. The elevation drop in the outskirts of Youcheng had likely disappeared, meaning she could now raft directly through the northern plateau, drifting all the way from Youcheng to Yuncheng.

She opened the map panel to check. The widened Qinghe waterway was clearly visible, and the areas where the temporary waterway had once appeared had now turned into vast expanses of water. Dotted throughout these waters were numerous dark green markers, with even larger water bodies connected beyond them.

Dragging the screen further, she saw that the previously vanished navigable water zones around Yuncheng, Lou Yuncheng, and Suicheng had all reappeared!

Using Qinghe as a reference, she recognized that the scattered dark green markers in the former temporary waterway zone were the very hills where her raft had been thrown ashore by giant waves.

During her stay in the northern plateau, the water level had been steadily rising, and now it had finally engulfed the area. The lowest-elevation southeastern section of the plateau had merged entirely with the vast water regions of the hilly terrain.

Though her current water map still displayed only a limited area, it was clear that this planet was inching ever closer to becoming a complete water world.

At the moment, there was no red dot indicating the raft’s location because it wasn’t yet in the Qinghe river system. She also couldn’t set a direct sailing route from Youcheng to Yuncheng just yet. First, she needed to leave the southern outskirts of Youcheng, return to the city, and launch the raft onto the river.

Shu Fu moved swiftly. In just a few moments, she had donned a warm fleece sweater, a lightweight waterproof jacket, and a pair of high-top waterproof boots. Finally, she threw on a traditional raincoat. Now that she had a vehicle, she wouldn’t have to walk back into the city—the raincoat was just a temporary precaution.

Once everything was ready, she adjusted the raft’s direction, set the drifting speed to the highest level of 60, and headed for the shore.

The lake had expanded significantly, with its former shores now submerged in shallow water. Some areas were too shallow for the raft to pass through, so she maneuvered as close to the shore as possible before activating her personal protective shield to step onto the wetland.

Sure enough, the moment her waterproof boots touched the shallow wetland, they sank into the soft mud. The ground beneath was waterlogged and spongy, swallowing her feet up to the ankles.

Fortunately, with the protective shield in place, she wasn’t slowed down by the thick sludge. She sprinted quickly away from the lakeshore before deactivating the shield.

Instantly, the downpour engulfed her.

She retrieved her off-road vehicle, started the engine, and checked the fuel gauge. Last time, she had filled it with a 30L canister, and two-thirds of the tank remained. Since she didn’t know when she’d next get a chance to refuel, she topped off the tank.

Climbing into the driver’s seat, she stowed her raincoat in her inventory, opened her phone’s map, set the navigation destination, and started the vehicle, heading toward the mountain slopes ahead.

Luckily, the mountains around her were densely forested, preventing landslides despite the relentless storms. However, the hailstorms had left their mark—branches were scattered everywhere, and even a few smaller trees had been uprooted entirely.

The rain was so heavy that the ground couldn’t absorb the water fast enough. Grasslands that had once been lush green now revealed dark brown sludge wherever her tires rolled over them.

Some slopes appeared stable, but when her tires passed over them, they would sink slightly into the softened earth. Thankfully, the mud layer wasn’t too deep. If the wheels had sunk too far, she would’ve had to rely on lifting and repositioning the vehicle to get unstuck—a hassle she preferred to avoid.

After about thirty minutes, the vehicle finally emerged from the forest, arriving at a three-way intersection.

She turned right, following the main road northward toward the city’s southern outskirts. This road had deteriorated even further compared to two months ago. Most of the trees lining it had fallen, branches and leaves littered the surface, and the ground was strewn with debris, discarded supplies, and crushed, rotting food.

Thankfully, her off-road vehicle had a high chassis and powerful traction, allowing her to navigate the rough terrain without issue.

---

On her way here, she had traveled on foot—it had taken four hours to walk from the waterfront commercial district to the three-way intersection. Driving back, however, only took about an hour. It could have been even faster, but the poor road conditions forced her to slow down.

After two months, wild grass and shrubs had grown wildly in every corner of the city, not only spreading everywhere but also emerging from the walls of various damaged buildings. The city now seemed as if it were built within a forest.

If she had left a month or two later, the sheer number and coverage of plants would have far surpassed the city’s buildings.

Youcheng was slowly disappearing in a way different from Suicheng and Lou Yuncheng.

Near some buildings in the city, she also saw figures of still-living ichthyosis patients. She could tell they were alive because some of them, their entire bodies covered in a layer of pale gray keratin, were crouching by the roadside in the heavy rain, lowering their heads as they gnawed at something in their hands.

Shu Fu recalled the information brought to her by Chen Fa and Lu Zheng. The military had abandoned these patients, but since they couldn’t bear to watch them starve to death, they would leave some food in buildings within the areas where the ichthyosis patients roamed whenever they returned to the city to search for supplies.

These patients ate everything—raw, cooked, even spoiled food—as if their sense of taste had deteriorated. Their need for food was no longer as frequent as before; usually, they only started looking for something to eat after going hungry for two or three days. They ate both meat and plants.

As Shu Fu drove past, she saw an ichthyosis patient leaning against a wall, expressionlessly chewing on the wild grass growing from it.

After so much time, their clothes had mostly fallen apart, their body hair was completely gone, and the whites of their eyes were still veined with blood. Their entire bodies, including their fingertips, were covered in flaky, pale gray keratin. They reacted to her passing car, but very slowly—their gaze drifted over the vehicle before gradually moving away.

Their appearance and reactions reminded Shu Fu of stray dogs scavenging for scraps on the roadside. They no longer seemed human—especially their current form, which looked more like a tailless fish.

She observed for a moment before withdrawing her gaze. Seeing people transformed into such beings due to ichthyosis was hard for anyone to bear. It was a sorrow born of a shared species—a deep, instinctive grief for one’s own kind.

She hadn’t driven far before she spotted the Hexi mutant fish, still as grotesque as ever. They lay in shallow water-filled depressions, flicking their barbed tails. Upon seeing her car, they flopped toward her with wet, slapping movements.

But before one of the mutant fish could jump far, a pale gray, keratin-covered hand reached out. The fish, which should have reacted quickly, didn’t leap away immediately. Instead, it seemed momentarily stunned, crouching motionless in place.

An ichthyosis patient grabbed the fish. The creature struggled, snapping its jaws at the patient’s hand, but it failed to draw blood. The keratin layer, which had peeled and regrown multiple times, had seemingly hardened into an impenetrable shell, blocking the fish’s sharp teeth.

The other mutant fish nearby did not attack the patient. Instead, they quickly leaped away in all directions, behaving just as they had when exposed to the red liquid in the past.

The captured fish thrashed its tail spine, the force greater than before, successfully stabbing into the patient’s arm. However, the paralyzing effect didn’t take hold. Instead, the patient simply grabbed the tail spine and yanked it clean off the fish’s body.

He lowered his head and sank his teeth into the still-writhing fish.

The softest part of the fish—the belly—was torn open with a single bite. The fish thrashed and bit back in a frenzy, but it had no effect on the patient, who held it tightly and began eating at a slow, deliberate pace. A small trickle of fish blood oozed from the corner of his mouth.

The sight sent chills down Shu Fu’s spine, making her stomach churn.

She knew just how foul the Hexi mutant fish’s innards were, yet the ichthyosis patient seemed entirely unfazed. The scene of him catching the fish reminded her of the red liquid.

According to official reports, the fish-repelling red liquid was derived from glandular secretions artificially induced in ichthyosis patients through medication. Later, they managed to replicate the liquid’s effects using patient cells, pus, and blood. This meant that what truly repelled the mutant fish was, in fact, the ichthyosis patients themselves.

Just as in nature, where every powerful species inevitably has a natural enemy.

The Hexi mutant fish and the ichthyosis patients had both emerged around the same time along the Qinghe River in the northern plateau. Could it be that the fish feared the scent of the red liquid because ichthyosis patients were originally their natural predators?

Various speculations crossed Shu Fu’s mind, but she didn’t slow down. After passing through this region where the two species coexisted in the food chain, she drove on for another ten minutes before being forced to stop.

Ahead, the city streets were no longer scattered with puddles. Instead, they had become a vast, murky expanse of grayish-yellow water, littered with floating debris.

The city center of Youcheng had the lowest elevation, and the car could go no further. Ahead was nothing but water, growing deeper toward the river.

Shu Fu didn’t get out of the car. She first activated the raft shield from her wrist device, then placed the raft beside her vehicle. After that, she pulled up the map interface to check her location. The red dot representing her raft appeared beside the Qinghe waterway. According to the map, she was still technically on land, but she wasn’t far from the waterway.

This waterway wasn’t the original river channel, but it was recognized on the map as a navigable route for rafts. She was still slightly short of reaching it.

Shu Fu stowed away the raft and map interface, restarted the car, and this time, drove much slower. Soon, the tires rolled into the layer of accumulated water, inching forward toward the deeper flood ahead.

She needed to get as close to the waterway as possible within the limits of where her off-road vehicle could drive, place the raft, and then set the navigation route immediately.

However, the standing water in the city was too murky for her to see what lay beneath. No matter how slowly she drove, the wheels still ran over submerged debris multiple times, making for a rough and jarring ride.

She continued forward, passing an intersection, but by then, most of the vehicle’s wheels were submerged. Shu Fu knew she couldn’t drive any farther.

She stopped the car, turned off the engine, and, without putting on a raincoat, activated her personal protective shield before stepping out.

The water was too deep in this area for her waterproof boots to be effective, and since the water was so murky, she couldn’t see if any Hexi mutant fish were lurking nearby. There was no telling when one might suddenly leap out to take a bite at her, so she couldn’t afford to skimp on the shield even for a short time.

After shutting the car door, she activated her “Compression Storage Cabinet” to stow away the off-road vehicle. Then she summoned the map panel and the raft once more, only to find that the red dot representing the raft was still outside the designated waterway zone. Putting the raft away again, she continued on foot toward the deeper waters.

On the map, the distance looked like just a small gap, but in reality, it was quite far. To conserve her shield time, she ran.

The protective shield worked exceptionally well, creating an invisible barrier that separated her from everything outside—filthy water, the relentless downpour, floating debris, drifting corpses, and the occasional mutant fish leaping from the water…

After about thirty seconds of jogging, the water level suddenly shallowed, revealing the road beneath. A wide stretch of exposed pavement extended horizontally across the area—this was likely one of the city’s higher-altitude sections. No wonder the raft’s red dot had still shown as being outside the waterway when she had tried deploying it earlier in the flooded zone.

Past this elevated area, Shu Fu once again placed the raft. This time, the red dot finally aligned with the waterway zone. Climbing aboard, she entered the raft’s protective shield before immediately deactivating her personal shield, exhaling deeply in relief.

She had finally reached the designated waterway. Now, all she had to do was set the direction toward Yuncheng, and the raft would drift automatically, allowing her to completely relax.

Moments later, navigation details appeared on the map panel: [1822/30: 21:05]

Since this was a water route rather than a straight path, the total journey would take over thirty hours. Fortunately, she had accumulated ample shield time, and she hadn’t yet activated her latest weekly delay card. This meant she could float along undisturbed for the entire thirty-hour journey, completely invisible to others.

Compared to her previous journeys between Suicheng and Lou Yuncheng—where she had to repeatedly find places to go ashore and spend the night—being able to simply set a destination and let the raft do the work was a massive improvement.

—

Curious about the situation on the northern bank of Youcheng, she manually adjusted the raft’s course after setting off. Instead of heading directly east through the flooded southern part of the city, she first steered north, crossing the entire southern district to reach the river channel. She then maneuvered as close to the northern bank as possible before resuming her eastward drift along the shoreline.

With the raft’s shield activated the entire time, she wasn’t worried about being spotted. She skimmed past the northern shoreline’s buildings and saw the street where they had been ambushed from the south that night. The street was now almost entirely submerged. Climbing onto the rooftop terrace, she took out her high-powered binoculars and began scanning the area.

At the street’s far end, she spotted towering barricades—likely erected to prevent ichthyosis patients from plunging into the water. Nearby, stationed atop a building, was an armed sentry. This was the first time she had seen a living person in Youcheng who wasn’t an ichthyosis patient. The sentry was heavily equipped and frequently used a sniper rifle’s scope to scan the surroundings.

As the raft continued eastward, the barricades extended down every street, with sentries stationed nearby. The buildings near the river had turned into flood zones, and the original river fences were long gone. If not for the denser concentration of buildings along the northern shore compared to the south, she wouldn’t have been able to distinguish the original riverbank at all.

The raft moved swiftly with the current, soon leaving the urban area behind and entering the eastern outskirts.

Stowing away her binoculars, Shu Fu was about to descend from the rooftop when a massive explosion erupted from the northern bank behind her.

The ladder faced directly north, so she instinctively raised her binoculars. In the northern part of Youcheng, thick black smoke billowed into the sky, and a fast-moving aircraft streaked overhead. Moments later, another explosion, accompanied by flames, erupted along its path.

However, the heavy rain quickly smothered the fire, leaving only towering columns of black smoke rising into the stormy sky.