Chapter 48

This should have been a joyful moment, but the people downstairs were shouting as if at a funeral.

Lin Tu glanced down through the broken glass and saw a rescue boat with seven or eight seats approaching from afar. Two large flames rose from the boat, held by two standing people. Lying on the boat was another person wearing the same rescue suit, but covered in black insects. The two were using torches to drive off those black bugs.

"That black insect is what I think the mutated monster is."

A clear female voice came from beside him. Yu Liu turned to see that Lin Tu had already pulled out a telescope to observe, and couldn't help but facepalm—how was her gear so complete?

"Let me take a look?" He took the telescope, observed for a moment, then handed it to a team member beside him.

"It seems these bugs are afraid of fire." Meanwhile, Lin Tu had already begun analyzing. The bugs fell off with a hiss when they encountered fire, but they weren't completely dead; instead, they squirmed on the deck, full of vitality.

"Not particularly afraid." Yu Liu also noticed this. He said, "Wild beasts are all afraid of fire. An abnormal creature like this that isn't very afraid of fire is likely the mutated monster."

Amid panicked cries, the rescue personnel quickly drove off all the black bugs on that person, but the person lay motionless, clearly lifeless.

The rescue boat docked, close to the residential buildings.

Grieving, the rescuers closed their companion's eyes, then picked up a megaphone to stop the people who wanted to swim to the boat: "Don't have direct contact with the water—there are bugs in it!"

After speaking, he turned the boat toward the residential area. Another companion organized the supplies in the box. Most of the alcohol and bandages had been used to drive off the black bugs, but there was still plenty of food, water, and vitamins, all of which he laid out. After docking, he increased the megaphone volume and said—

"Attention, residents, important notice: the Hongxia Dam is likely to fail and burst. We are doing our best to organize sealing efforts and reinforce the second dike away from the breach. It can hold for at least seven or eight more days, but whether the flood will rush down after seven or eight days is still unknown..."

At this point, panic stirred in the crowd, because the Hongxia Dam was located upstream of Xihai City.

"Please stay calm. The government is sending personnel, and the next rescue team will arrive within two days. This time we will prioritize transferring children under eighteen and elderly over fifty-five. Qualified citizens, please come downstairs quickly. Our large ship is in deeper waters—we will take you there and bring you to the temporary shelter in Sa City!"

"Citizens who don't qualify but have difficulties can also come downstairs and queue up. We will distribute supplies. Don't fight, don't grab—each person can only take one share!"

As a healthy young adult of twenty-six, Lin Tu naturally didn't qualify for this transfer standard. Of course, she also had no intention of going to collect those supplies. What she was more concerned about right now was the Hongxia Dam bursting—

Her house was right here. She couldn't run away, so she could only move her house before the flood came. But where would she take her boat-house? Lin Tu had no idea.

Thinking of this, she looked at Yu Liu. Unexpectedly, he was looking at her too.

"Do you know about Noah's Ark?" Lin Tu asked.

"We're going to search for supplies. Do you want to come with us?" Yu Liu asked at the same time.

After a moment of silence, Yu Liu answered Lin Tu's question first: "Are you talking about the side quest? As for Noah's Ark... I have some clues."

Lin Tu listened attentively.

"Very old clues. It's said that a hundred years ago, a scientist discovered a phenomenon that seemed to be related to this current disaster. He convinced a wealthy foreigner to fund his Noah's Ark project, and near the North Pole of the world, he built a ship that would never sink."

Lin Tu nodded.

"It's just that the ship's position is constantly moving. Not to mention getting to the North Pole, even finding it would be very difficult," Yu Liu probed. "Are you going to complete this side quest?"

"Aren't you?" Lin Tu was a bit curious.

"Of course not," Yu Liu said. "Not everyone goes to complete side quests." For example, in the global zombie crisis, killing zombies—when you could barely survive, how many people would actually take that risk?

"Then you..."

"I plan to follow them to Sa City," Yu Liu said. "Surviving three months is my main mission. Everything else can wait."

It seemed their paths diverging from here. Lin Tu nodded and was about to decline his invitation to search for supplies together when Yu Liu spoke again—

"Did you find anything about Noah's Ark online?"

Lin Tu shook her head. "I did, but all of it was reports from decades ago." She had borrowed the neighbor's phone, but what she found was mostly the same as what Yu Liu had just said.

"I suddenly remembered something..." Yu Liu pondered for a moment. "When Noah's Ark was being built a hundred years ago, a meteorological station was built on Gular Mountain, north of Xihai City, specifically to collect various weather information for Noah's Ark. Later, when Noah's Ark disappeared, the station was also shut down, and all its materials were sent to the city library."

Lin Tu perked up, but she had some doubts. "How do you know that?"

"Just a special way of clearing the game—I know some things ordinary people don't," Yu Liu chuckled. "The place we're going to search for supplies happens to be not far from the library. After we find the supplies, we'll head to Sa City. Before that, I can point you in the right direction. Do you want to come with us?"

Lin Tu didn't hesitate. "Let's go."

Although she also had a map, the terrain had changed drastically after the tsunami, making it much harder to find the library. It was better to go with Yu Liu. Their cooperation during the zombie disaster had made her quite confident in his abilities.

The two decided to leave after the rescue boat departed, to avoid drawing too much attention.

After they parted ways, one of Yu Liu's team members asked curiously, "Why did you insist on bringing her along? And tell her such important information?"

"The road is dangerous," Yu Liu said. "Those black bugs aren't easy to deal with. Going with her gives us more security. Taking the library route is a detour, but for the first half of the water route, we can watch each other's backs. For the second half, we can climb up Gular Mountain and follow the mountain toward Sa City. Two-thirds of the journey becomes land route—safer."

"Am I not trustworthy?" The team member rolled his eyes. If anything, he, a 185-centimeter dark-skinned burly man, should be the one who looks more reassuring.

Yu Liu let out a "pfft" laugh. "Have you forgotten her name? She's called Lin Tu." After saying that, he ignored the puzzled team member and walked straight ahead.

"Lin Tu?" The team member racked his brain but couldn't think of anyone with that name. He scratched his head, tidied things up, and made dinner. It wasn't until evening that it suddenly hit him—

"Lin Tu City! That's the big shot who did what even you couldn't, Captain—the one who got a city named after her! How does she look so young!" He wailed, utterly remorseful. "Captain, why didn't you say so earlier?! I even rolled my eyes at the big shot!"

Yu Liu gave a faint chuckle and ignored him.

As dusk approached, the rescue team was about to leave.

On the boat were people ecstatic, about to escape their misery, some even in the mood to lie back and feel the sea breeze on their faces. Underneath the boat were the worried, middle-aged and young people, urging the rescuers to come back quickly while considering whether to risk rowing to Sa City themselves.

After a noisy day, the residential building, which should have quieted down, somehow became noisy again.

Behind the building, an inflatable boat had already been prepared. Waiting for the rescue boat to leave, Lin Tu, Yu Liu, and the others, who had just moved down their supplies, could only sit down where they were and wait.