The torrential rain had returned, so Lin Chu couldn’t go out and could only stay cooped up in her shelter.

That morning, after breakfast, she stepped outside to patrol her garden.

The tomatoes and lettuce in the ground had regained their vitality and were beginning to grow again.

However, the few tomato plants in the pots hadn’t survived, even with repeated watering.

Since she didn’t urgently need to turn trash into treasure, Lin Chu decided to give it a try anyway. She placed her hand on one of the wilted tomato seedlings—treating a dead horse like a live one.

A flash of white light, and the withered tomato seedling disappeared from the pot.

Startled, Lin Chu widened her eyes and searched through the soil, eventually finding a seed on the surface.

[Item: Tomato Seed
Rarity: D
Description: An ordinary tomato seed.]

A system prompt popped up in her mind.

Most of the time, the “turn trash into treasure” ability just restored broken items back to usable condition.

Now the dead tomato seedling had turned back into a plantable seed…

Not bad, actually.

Lin Chu used up all three of her daily “turn trash into treasure” chances and obtained three new tomato seeds.

The next day, she used the skill again on the remaining two dead tomato seedlings.

She expected to get two more seeds, but to her surprise, one of them revived instead.

[Item: Advanced Tomato Seedling
Rarity: B
Description: An advanced tomato seedling. Discover its special properties yourself.]

Lin Chu read the item description with some confusion.

She carefully examined the seedling’s branches and leaves but found nothing out of the ordinary.

Still, she knew that anything the system told her to “explore on her own” wouldn’t yield answers if she asked directly.

So she didn’t worry too much and replanted the revived seedling in the pot.

The pot was large, and now only this one seedling remained. She had Xiao Er watch it and water it daily. As for what was special about it—that would have to be discovered later.

This round of heavy rain lasted for three more days.

The floodwaters once again submerged the doors of Lin Chu’s shelter.

She went back to the days of traveling in a wetsuit and wearing a diving mask.

But there was a silver lining: she could fish again.

All the survivors in the residential area had moved out. Even those who hadn’t yet transferred to Base No. 1 had already relocated to the nearby hillside. The area once again became Lin Chu’s personal domain.

However, she still had to watch out for that man-eating black fish, so she didn’t dare venture too far.

Once the rain stopped, Lin Chu began setting out to fish again.

She mostly placed nets in stairwells and indoors—places the big black fish couldn’t easily reach—and would check them regularly.

In this flooded world, the daily mission submission limit was 50 more than in the last world.

Lin Chu had already submitted 354 times, leaving her with 196 submissions.

The boat from Base No. 1 was taking its time.

People at the hillside base were staring longingly southward every day, waiting for it.

Finally, on the second day after the rain stopped, a large ship came into view.

As the hillside base cheered, Lin Chu happened to be harvesting 26 fish.

It was a large cruise ship, and Lin Chu estimated it could hold several thousand people.

There were already many people aboard. When they heard the ship docking, lots of heads popped out to watch.

They were likely survivors from other small bases along the way, all heading for Base No. 1.

As the cruise ship docked, the survivors from the hillside, who had been eagerly awaiting it, began boarding in an orderly fashion under the supervision of Mayor Li and the security team.

Between fishing rounds, Lin Chu would float to the surface inside her house and watch through the window as the survivors boarded.

Everything proceeded in an orderly manner.

Until finally, Mayor Li, supported by Wang Rui, brought up the rear.

The days of heavy rain had triggered his rheumatism, and walking was extremely painful.

Just before boarding, he suddenly stopped and looked back toward the residential area.

“Mayor Li, what’s wrong?” Wang Rui asked, holding his daughter with one hand and supporting the mayor with the other.

Hearing the question, Mayor Li turned back with a smile.

“Nothing. Let’s go.”

At last, everyone from the hillside base boarded the ship.

After watching them all leave, Lin Chu earned 46 points and returned to her shelter.

She had now survived 23 days in the flooded world.

Over the next seven days, aside from her regular fishing, Lin Chu took advantage of the clear weather to make a trip to the hillside base.

She still had her eye on that big pit of silt in the base.

The mission had a limit of 100 submissions, and she still had about 90 left.

The clean water and space water containers rewarded from the mission were valuable—she couldn’t let those go to waste.

Previously, with too many people around the base, she hadn’t dared dig there.

Now that everyone had left, she naturally wanted to max out the mission.

During her visit, she encountered Bai Wei and another unfamiliar mission taker who were also digging.

Seeing that she knew Bai Wei, the stranger didn’t dare act rashly.

The three of them each claimed a section of the pit and stayed out of each other’s way.

After the unfamiliar mission taker left, Lin Chu finished digging enough to reach her mission limit.

Just as she was leaving, Bai Wei called out to her.

“Lin Chu, I’m leaving tomorrow at noon.”

“I hope we both survive until then—so we can take down Lin Hongfu together.”

Lin Chu turned back to meet Bai Wei’s gaze.

“Do your best. I will survive until then.”

With that, she waved behind her and walked off.

Bai Wei stared at her retreating back, eyes gradually firming with determination.

She too had to survive until then.

On Day 30 in the flooded world, Lin Chu took a Body Strengthening Pill.

It melted in her mouth, and its effects were immediate.

She could clearly feel her strength increase noticeably after taking it.

She could now easily lift the solid wood bed in her attic that hadn’t yet been submerged by the flood.

Lin Chu estimated that she could now lift up to 250 kilograms without much effort.

She had one more Body Strengthening Pill left, which she decided to save.

Since her body had been enhanced, the results of her daily training had improved dramatically.

Every day she could feel herself getting stronger and more physically fit.

She would save the last pill for the next world.

After testing her strength outside, Lin Chu returned to her shelter.

The courtyard was a bit cramped now.

After the floodwaters rose, she had moved the four big pots of potatoes—originally placed on the terrace—back into the shelter.

With no space left on the ground, she used tools to install shelves on the outer wall and hung the potato pots on them.

Just as Lin Chu took off her wetsuit and was about to head inside, she suddenly noticed a tomato plant in the corner.

Its vines had wrapped themselves around one of the new potato shelves she’d put up a couple days ago.