Chapter 51

The next morning, the drizzle from yesterday had completely stopped, but the weather had turned even colder. The radio said the felt temperature in Sa City had plunged to sixteen degrees. Lin Tu had already dressed in thermal underwear and a jacket, then gathered with Liu Ge and the others.

As someone from inland, she had no idea how to row a boat. The inflatable rubber boat she'd bought was originally meant for short-distance drifting; for a long trip like from Xihai City to Sa City, she'd take a motorized assault boat instead.

She'd initially planned to slip away in the assault boat under cover of night while the others slept. But after seeing Noah's Ark's Western Branch on the map, she abandoned that idea—Sa City was a mountain town with labyrinthine architecture, and without a local to guide her, she'd get lost.

The others were still hauling supplies. Lin Tu sat in her boat first, experimenting with the most effortless way to hold the oars. She wasn't actually worried about reaching her destination—with her strength, she could paddle with her hands for days and nights if needed—but that would be exhausting.

Spotting a man from yesterday's trip who rowed with great vigor, Lin Tu walked over to ask him for rowing tips.

The man was taken aback. "Miss Lin, you don't know how to row?!"

Because Lin Tu had brought out full sets of high-quality equipment, everyone had simply assumed she could row—just as someone who wasn't a painting enthusiast wouldn't buy Old Holland paints, or someone who wasn't a coffee lover wouldn't buy Jamaican Blue Mountain beans. Though she hadn't actually rowed during yesterday's outing, who would have guessed it was because she couldn't?

The trouble was that even in a coastal city, few people knew how to row. Liu Ge had managed to find four men, but only because those willing to row together to Sa City were naturally people who already knew how.

And those were the only four in the whole building who could row. To accommodate those who couldn't and those lacking strength, they'd split into groups, determined to bring along everyone who wanted to leave.

"Then what do we do!" the man shouted, looking around frantically, realizing there was no extra seat left for Lin Tu—

In fact, several others who wanted to leave had been forced to stay behind in the residential building. They didn't know how to row, and the spare rubber boat had been given to the neighboring building, whose people used it to scavenge supplies. They'd promised that if rescue hadn't arrived by tomorrow, they'd take those left behind when they rowed away.

But every extra day meant extra risk. If the dam were to collapse, who could accurately predict the day?

"Could I hitch a ride? This is my thanks," a frail-looking woman stepped forward, holding out a gold necklace. Behind her stood three others—one with a limp, two very thin—holding silver necklaces and paper bills respectively. They looked to be exactly the ones who'd wanted to leave but stayed behind in the residential building.

Lin Tu didn't take it. She shook her head. "I can't row either."

"Then you still want to go?" The few were surprised.

"There's nothing too dangerous along the way," Lin Tu said. "I think as long as you can move the boat, you'll get there eventually."

Her reasoning made some sense. As long as they could move the boat, if they all pooled their strength and rowed desperately, how could they not reach their destination?

With survival instincts burning bright, the few immediately climbed aboard, grabbed the oars under the seats, and tried to learn alongside Lin Tu from the man.

The dam's collapse was no small matter, and he didn't know if this was right or wrong. He let out a heavy sigh—but who didn't want to live? These people had voluntarily given up their spots earlier because there wasn't enough room. Now it was clear their will to survive was no weaker than anyone else's; they just hadn't wanted to burden others. How could he refuse to give them a hand?

He thought to himself that he'd just keep a close eye on them during the trip—if anything happened, he'd rush over to help.

The people on the other boats returned and saw this ragtag combination of the weak and infirm, and they had the same thought.

Some even volunteered to swap places, but the group refused. They all felt that risking their own lives was one thing—dragging others into danger was another. Lin Tu, meanwhile, was perfectly content with her own boat—it was an export model worth nearly twenty thousand yuan, after all.

When the time came, the boats set off one after another.

At first, the "weak-and-infirm" crew was slow, falling to the rear. The others kept glancing back, worried that Lin Tu's boat might vanish in the blink of an eye.

Soon enough, Lin Tu found her rhythm. She had a quick learning curve—watching the rowers ahead and recalling the man's tips, she was soon rowing with decent form. With her enhanced strength, even if her technique wasn't perfect, each stroke sent the boat flying meters forward. Before long, the "weak-and-infirm" caught up with the boats ahead.

"Nice!"

"Beautiful!"

"Go! Go!"

People on both sides cheered as they rowed. Someone started a work song from Xihai City, and the others joined in.

His voice was weathered and extraordinarily resonant, a sea shanty long sung along the coast—a tune about fishing and harvest. It wove through the morning air above the flooded city. It seemed to carry everyone back to a scene: thin straw hats, sun-darkened skin, streaming sweat, and fat fish coming ashore with the nets.

The hopeful, spirited image infected the crowd. Others followed the boatman's lead, shouting "hey yo!" at the end of each line.

Judging by speed alone, the boats were indeed getting faster.

They rowed like that for about two hours, covering roughly a third of the distance.

The group rested briefly and had something to eat. Just as they were about to get back on course, Lin Tu's sharp eyes caught something—shadows moved beneath the water, and a large dark shape swam past.

The instinct that had saved her many times kicked in. In the next second, she drew the knife from her back and stared warily at the seemingly calm water.

"What's wrong?" Her motion startled the person beside her.

"Careful—there's something in the water!" Lin Tu crept silently around to the other side of the boat, gestured for the other boats to be quiet, then pointed at the water below.

"What is it?" someone whispered, leaning over to look, only to be grabbed by the person next to him—

"Don't!"

The man's lips trembled. He appeared to be the fisherman who'd been singing—in his fifties, but with eyes that could clearly see beneath the water. "Damn it... could a shark have gotten in here?"

They'd said there was something big, but no one knew the scale. Once someone said shark, everyone started trembling too. One ram from that thing and they'd all be in the water.

"Get to shore first," Lin Tu said calmly.

A mercy in misfortune: they hadn't left their resting spot yet. They'd just set out, and the boats were still linked in a line. All they had to do was step back across each rubber boat to return to the rooftop of the derelict building where they'd rested.

Lin Tu's boat was wedged in the middle of the six boats. She crouched quickly and tied the straps of the boats in front and behind together, so this fragile "bridge" wouldn't break. The others immediately understood her intent and tied their own boats to their neighbors as well.

Then Lin Tu called to the people on the boat closest to the rooftop: "You go first. Be careful, move slowly."

The four on that boat were only a step away from the roof. One by one, they crept back onto it, then it was the second boat's turn.

The rubber boat's side rails were thick, and with two boats pressed together, a single step couldn't cross the gap. The rounded rails provided no foothold either, and one misstep could send them plunging into the water.

So the people on the second boat had to lie flat on the rails and crawl across with effort. At that moment, someone who'd already made it ashore tiptoed back onto the boat and grabbed the crawler's arm to help him up.

"Thanks!" the man said gratefully.

"No problem. You go on up, I've got this here."

This boat had only four seats total, and two people standing side by side made it cramped. Realizing he was blocking the way, the man quickly climbed onto the roof.

Then the next person, then the next. After three had boarded from the second boat, the last one stayed. She waved to the people on the third boat, signaling them to come forward—she'd help steady them.

Lin Tu was on the fourth boat. As the others made their way back to the roof one by one, she dug her (Single-Use Backpack) out and pulled a wetsuit from it. She peeled off her jacket, leaving only her thermal underlayer, then pulled on the wetsuit—material like a swimsuit but covering her entire body—and strapped on an oxygen tank and a headlamp with other gear.

Then she put on a waterproof waist pack and, when no one was looking, tucked her [Emergency Ambulance] and [Zombie Nightmare] into it, just in case.

Honestly, putting on the wetsuit was also just a precaution. With everything unknown, she didn't want to confront the mysterious creature in the water right now. But she also didn't want to be caught unprepared, a lamb to the slaughter.

"Go ahead, I'll keep an eye on it," Lin Tu said, pulling on her mask.

The others, who'd been watching the water and moving between boats, turned around to see a pitch-black figure standing there. If not for the familiar knife in her hand, they'd have been startled again—thinking that black thing from the water had come ashore.

Still, being coastal city folk, they quickly recognized it as a wetsuit. Though the style was old-fashioned, Lin Tu was fully kitted out, head to toe—everything they could name, she had. Whether that was pure professionalism or, like the rubber boat, just from hoarding too much stuff, they couldn't tell.

"Be careful. Don't act rashly," Liu Ge, who'd stayed on the third boat close to Lin Tu, warned.

Lin Tu nodded in acknowledgment.

Luckily, her boat was a six-seater, so there was room for her to move around without crowding the others. She roamed the boat, watching for the black creature's movements.

What made her deeply uneasy was that the creature kept circling beneath the boat, refusing to leave.

The fourth boat was down to just Lin Tu and another girl. It was the fifth boat's turn now.

An overweight man, with the Fish Butcher's help, climbed onto the rubber boat's side rail. Under the pressure, the two boats squeezed together, sinking... sinking, until half-submerged. "Sorry..." He knew the girl couldn't pull him up, and he apologized as he struggled to climb himself.

"Hurry up and help him over!" Lin Tu sensed the boat tilting, saw the scene, and cried out.

Before she could finish speaking, a loud "ripping" sound—the strap connecting the fourth and fifth boats snapped under the strain. The two linked boats immediately separated. The man's feet scrabbled behind him, his hands grabbed the front, and his belly plunged into the water.

"Shit!" Lin Tu rushed over, about to pull him up, when she felt a violent tremor under her feet.

She didn't have time to grab the man's hand. A mouth burst from the water—round, nearly a meter in diameter. Teeth ringed the entire mouth, razor-sharp, with several smaller layers of teeth inside.

Black skin covered the teeth, slick with mucus and looking rock-hard, continuing down over the creature's bulging belly...

Lin Tu raised her knife, moving close, and brought it down hard on the creature's body. A shrill cry like a baby's wail pierced the air as she severed its tail. Only when the creature slipped back into the water did she see its full form—it was a leech!

More precisely, it was the same black thread-worms that wriggled in the water, except those were too small and thin, not yet grown into the form of these giant leeches.