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Chapter 97
Within five days, complete the clock-in task at the First Clinic of Wei to gain 20% progress toward Level 5 of the raft.
(Current progress for Level 5 Raft: 0%)
Note: Failure to complete this task will result in a 40% deduction from the progress bar.
Wei?
As Shu Fu opened the electronic map to check Wei’s location, she also picked up her satellite phone to search through past conversations with Chen Fa. She recalled that Chen Fa had mentioned Wei before.
She quickly found the record—back in mid-September, when Chen Fa and his team had just arrived in Pengcheng, they mentioned Wei. Apparently, due to road blockages caused by the disaster, Wu Shaoshan and her family had relocated from Zhicheng to Wei, planning to schedule their transfer to Xizhou Province from there.
The network signal in Wei was not as good as in Pengcheng and Zhicheng, and since Wu Shaoshan didn’t have a satellite phone, their communication had become less frequent after she arrived in Wei. Later, when Chen Fa’s group moved to Chamu County—where the signal was also poor—their contact became even more sporadic. Their last communication was in late October.
At that time, Wu Shaoshan was still in Wei. Since Wei was relatively far from the tsunami-affected area and had stationed military troops, the transfer to Xizhou Province was being managed by the military. Both she and Chen Fa believed the process should go smoothly.
Now, it was early December, and a new mission had appeared in Wei. Could it be that Wu Shaoshan hadn’t transferred yet? Was she the key figure in this mission?
Shu Fu speculated but didn’t jump to conclusions—her experience had taught her to be cautious.
She quickly confirmed Wei’s location on the electronic map. It was situated in the southwestern corner of Xiangzhou Province—on the southwestern outer edge of the mountainous region. To the south lay the Southwestern Plateau, while to the west, the Yinsha River formed a natural barrier separating it from Xizhou Province.
Originally, this was an inland area with a relatively high elevation—at least 1,400 meters at its lowest point. Logically, it should have been unaffected by rising water levels. However, the massive tsunami in mid-November changed everything.
With the new mission also came a newly accessible water route.
[Detected: Yuncheng – Wei water route is now navigable. Click to activate.]
Shu Fu tapped on the map panel and found that the newly navigable water route aligned with the Yinsha River’s path.
The Yinsha River originated in the northeastern part of Xizhou Province, flowing through the border between Xizhou and Xiangzhou Provinces. Upon reaching the Southwestern Plateau, it veered eastward, continuing along the boundary of the plateau and Xiangzhou before passing through Muzhou Province, Sankou Province… Suicheng, and eventually winding its way eastward into the ocean.
However, the Yinsha River had since disappeared at the border between Xiangzhou Province and the Southwestern Plateau. The tsunami in mid-November had turned the entire region into a flood zone—rivers and water bodies had merged, water levels had surged, and riverbanks had overflowed. The situation was even worse than in Qinghe.
The waterway map now showed that only the uninhabited western mountains of Xiangzhou Province and some high-altitude landmasses around the mountains remained. Shu Fu was currently at the border between Xiren Province and Xiangzhou Province, and the land near her in Xiangzhou had long since vanished beneath the water. Previously, she had been trapped by the boundary, unable to move westward.
Now that the barrier was open, she could drift along the Xiangzhou Province waters, take a direct route toward the mountainous region, then follow the southern edge of the mountains to enter the flooded Yinsha River zone and finally reach Wei.
She quickly set her destination on the map. Route information: [723/9:02:03]. Checking the time, she saw it was just past 7 a.m., meaning she would arrive at her first destination around 4 p.m.
Since she would be heading to land, she activated the protective shield. Lately, she had spent most of her time in uninhabited waters and had rarely used the shield, allowing her to accumulate a substantial reserve of time. Planning to take advantage of the remaining hours of her “long vacation,” she decided to go back to sleep.
Lying back down, she thought of Chen Fa and the others. After some consideration, she decided not to inquire about Wu Shaoshan’s current situation or inform them of her progress. Furthermore, starting today, she would reduce contact with Chen Fa’s group as much as possible and refrain from revealing her movements.
Since Wei was close to Xizhou Province, she worried that if Chen Fa found out she was there, he might come looking for her, potentially triggering a butterfly effect and disrupting the mission. She would stick to her usual approach—staying low-key and completing the Level 5 Raft mission smoothly to unlock the “Raft Towing” feature as soon as possible.
Pulling the curtains shut, Shu Fu wrapped herself in a thin blanket and went back to sleep.
Since she deliberately allowed herself to laze around, she didn’t wake up until nearly noon. After freshening up, she set up a table and chairs on the deck and enjoyed a steaming bowl of beef ramen, along with a few pieces of durian.
Once she left the raft, she wouldn’t be able to eat watery or strongly scented foods for a while. So today, she planned to indulge a little while also preparing her gear and backpack for the trip.
She selected a newly salvaged waterproof backpack with a frosted, aged look—very inconspicuous, yet larger than her usual one. More importantly, it could store or “retrieve” a lot of items as needed.
It was the rainy season, and the rain had barely stopped in days. She would need a two-piece raincoat over a waterproof tactical jacket. After lunch, she took advantage of a small exposed rock ledge nearby to briefly disable the protective shield and test the outside temperature.
It was only around 2 to 3 degrees Celsius, so cold that she shivered.
She needed to add the inner lining to her jacket and wear warm fleece clothing underneath. A breathable, sweat-wicking base layer was also essential—otherwise, she would struggle to adapt once she left the raft.
In early September, after her raft officially upgraded to Level 4 and unlocked the personal protective shield, Shu Fu hadn’t left the raft, so she hadn’t used the shield again. As a result, the shield’s available time had increased by a full 880 minutes. Adding the remaining 54 minutes from before, she now had a total of 934 minutes—enough for 15 consecutive hours of use, which gave her a great sense of security.
However, even with this duration, the shield couldn’t be used as a portable air conditioner to insulate against the cold—it wouldn’t even last a full day.
At 4:00 PM, as the raft approached the end of the waterway, it came to a stop. Floating on the water’s surface were various fragments of buildings and plants, seemingly carried here by ocean currents. These were debris from the city destroyed by the tsunami, and the entire bay near the mountainous land was densely packed with it.
Because of the sheer amount of floating debris, as well as the shallow waters, even diving wouldn’t allow her to navigate past it all. This prevented the raft from reaching its designated destination, forcing it to stop prematurely.
But Shu Fu had set this as her first stop not to go ashore—it was still over 900 kilometers away from Wei. Instead, she wanted to test if she could get a signal on her phone or radio.
There should still be an undamaged base station in the nearby mountainous region. After turning on her phone and waiting a moment, it finally connected to the internet. Though the signal was weak, this was the first time she had gotten online since leaving Lucheng, which made her quite excited.
Large platforms in Huagou were still operational, but when she opened them, all she saw were disaster-related news and discussions—especially about the massive tsunami from over half a month ago that had destroyed half of Xiangzhou Province.
However, that wasn’t what she was looking for. Instead, she searched for specific keywords: raft, space, awakened individuals, and weapons.
Sure enough, there were quite a few posts. Most of them were exaggerated speculation from people who had only heard rumors, but they still indicated that awareness of this phenomenon had grown significantly compared to two months ago. This suggested that more people had encountered or seen awakened individuals.
Most of the posts about awakened individuals also mentioned rafts. While there were no direct descriptions of spatial abilities, some posts inferred their existence from the fact that people could summon rafts out of thin air—something impossible without some form of spatial storage. Moreover, the rafts were quite large, with cabins capable of storing a lot of items, making them functionally similar to a non-preservative spatial inventory.
There were also posts discussing mysterious individuals selling purified water and fish—likely awakened individuals as well.
However, no posts mentioned weapons like Chen Fa’s gun, which was clearly beyond modern technological limits. It was unclear whether such weapons existed but were being kept hidden or if they didn’t exist at all. Shu Fu leaned toward the latter. Given human nature, it was nearly impossible for all awakened individuals to unanimously and rationally conceal any information about weapons.
Based on what she had gathered, she could confirm a few things:
However, the ability to preserve food in an inventory-like backpack and the presence of unique weapons varied among individuals.
Some of these posts had been online for over a month without being deleted. Perhaps this was because the posts weren’t universally praising awakened individuals—many included warnings as well.
Some posts advised ordinary people to steer clear of awakened individuals, warning that they could be tricked and robbed of all their supplies. After all, outsiders couldn’t enter a raft’s cabin, and on the water, ordinary people had no chance against a raft owner.
Because the posts contained both praise and caution, they had been allowed to remain online.
From this, Shu Fu keenly sensed the government’s stance: there was no official announcement, but unlike the early bans on doomsday theory videos, the authorities seemed to be taking a more open and observational approach.
The internet was chaotic, full of all kinds of information. The most restricted content was footage of disaster-stricken areas—any videos or images deemed too gruesome or horrifying were directly suppressed and couldn’t be opened.
The most popular posts were calls for help and community-compiled safe migration routes, guiding westbound evacuees on which paths to take, where to find rescue stations, and which roads were completely blocked due to collapse.
Of course, for every genuine help post, there were also fake ones. Some people deliberately posted misleading information to lure evacuees into traps.
Those who lost their supplies but survived were considered lucky. Many others disappeared without a trace, their fate unknown until the military later discovered and dismantled the trap locations. Only then did some people realize why their missing loved ones never returned…
Aside from these, there were also numerous positive posts from safe zones, showcasing the government’s intensified efforts in rebuilding. These posts, often accompanied by images, depicted newly constructed resettlement housing in Fengshang Plateau City. The buildings ranged from one-bedroom to three-bedroom units, all fully furnished with basic appliances, ready for immediate occupancy. The housing conditions were quite good, offering hope and motivation to evacuees still on the move.
Afterward, Shu Fu focused on researching the situation in Wei.
Although Wei County is close to the Yinsha River, it is actually located on the mountains beside the river. Even the lowest altitude within the county is more than 200 meters higher than the riverbank. While the water level has certainly risen, Wei is not in immediate danger of flooding.
As one of the designated western relocation points, Wei has always had a military presence. Previously, when the roads in Zhicheng were blocked, many people relocated to Wei, overcrowding the small mountain county. Supplies became scarce, especially medical resources, and the crisis was only resolved thanks to airdrops from Xizhou Province.
The journey from Wei to the safe resettlement cities in Xizhou Province is not only separated by the Yinsha River but also vast uninhabited mountains, requiring a detour. Before the tsunami, many people had decided to temporarily settle in Wei. However, when half of Xiangzhou Province’s land was lost, those who had intended to take a break began relocating once again.
At present, about 80-90% of the people there have already left, and most of the stationed troops have also withdrawn. Those who remain are not unwilling to leave but are simply waiting for transportation. With only a limited number of vehicles available each day, delays are inevitable.
After gathering this information, Shu Fu decided to reset her destination and head toward Wei.
However, after exiting the website on her phone, she couldn’t resist opening WeChat.
This time, there weren’t as many unread messages, and most of them were from early November or earlier. Some were from Wu Shaoshan and Zhang Tian. They knew she had been on the Northern Plateau with Chen Fa and had mistakenly assumed she had continued traveling with him. Most of their messages were casual conversations sent in their dorm group chat, some of which overlapped with what Chen Fa had already told her.
The person who sent her the most messages was Zheng Feifei. Like Liu Shuang and Cheng Yu, Zheng Feifei had last received a message from her in June, after which she lost contact.
Her messages were different from those of Liu Shuang and Cheng Yu. It seemed like she had grown accustomed to the lack of response, almost as if she were talking to herself. She acknowledged that Shu Fu couldn’t reply at the moment, but she firmly believed she would safely reach Xizhou Province and was waiting for her message.
Shu Fu sent them all a message letting them know she was safe.
Liu Shuang had also replied to her twice after June, expressing amazement that she was still alive and urging her to relocate as soon as possible. She told her to contact her once she reached an area with an internet connection, as she was still in Xizhou Province.
Han Lan had also sent her a message in July, at the same time Cheng Yu had first replied to her. Shu Fu guessed this was right after they had completed their border mission.
As for Cheng Yu’s chat window, the last message was from October. It contained just four words:
“Was it you?”
Shu Fu was stunned for a moment. Then, as she saw the exact date of the message and recalled what had happened that day, her mind buzzed as if something had silently exploded.
That was the day of the hailstorm—the day she had unexpectedly saved him.
“Was it you?”
He was asking if she was the one who had remained unseen in the small raft house. The one who had saved them. The one who had thrown the lifebuoy.
Shu Fu instinctively tossed her phone onto the couch.
He hadn’t asked because he was sure—more likely, it was just a fleeting intuition, a passing guess.
But his instincts were terrifyingly sharp. The moment she saw that message, she had the eerie feeling that he was right there on the other side of the screen, looking directly at her through the phone.
Just like that day on the raft. Even though the door of the floating island cabin separated them, making it impossible for him to see her inside, there was a fleeting moment when she felt as if their eyes had met.
Shu Fu had originally intended to reply, but now, she wasn’t sure what to say. Since she hadn’t responded to Liu Shuang or Han Lan yet either, she decided to maintain radio silence for now.
She pulled up her map panel and reset her destination. The raft turned south, navigating around floating debris in the bay, heading toward the original course along the Yinsha River. There were still over 900 kilometers to go—about an 11-hour journey. She would arrive around 3 a.m.
She planned to rest early today and land before dawn tomorrow.
There used to be several small villages at the foot of the Wei mountains, but they were too close to the Yinsha River and had been submerged months ago. The residents had long since evacuated, many having already been relocated to Xizhou Province through scheduled transfers. The villages had uneven terrain—some buildings were entirely underwater, while the rooftops and portions of walls of others remained visible.
This was the landing site Shu Fu had chosen for herself. The presence of buildings and vegetation provided her with the cover she needed to come ashore unnoticed.
Years ago, the mountains here were largely barren due to persistent drought, leaving behind vast stretches of barren, rocky land with only sparse, short shrubs. It was only through human intervention that greenery had gradually emerged in inhabited areas. Even now, the mountain cliffs and uninhabited zones remained a dusty yellow.
As before, she kept the raft’s protective shield activated and turned on her personal shield. She landed from a now-wet slope, her military-green split raincoat blending almost perfectly with the surrounding vegetation. Wading through knee-deep water and mud, she retracted the raft as she walked and quickly entered the forested area above.
She followed a small path through the village forest until she reached the main mountain road. Under the relentless downpour, she walked for over ten minutes, debating whether to continue on foot all the way to Wei or take out a vehicle to drive there.
According to the digital map, she was still about 6 kilometers away from Wei. By car, it would take only 10 to 20 minutes, possibly a bit longer if the mountain roads were difficult to navigate. However, on foot, especially in this weather, it would take approximately an hour and a half.
If she drove up the mountain, retrieving the vehicle into her storage cabinet afterward would be difficult under so many watchful eyes. But choosing to walk in the rain when she had a car felt unnecessarily foolish.
Just as Shu Fu was caught in indecision, the sound of an engine came from below the mountain road—someone was approaching in a vehicle.
when will chapters be unlocked? 🙏🙏