Chapter 24: Sui City

Chapter 24: Sui City

Half an hour later, buildings emerging from the water began to increase, resembling factories in the outskirts. More trees appeared, most of them only showing their crowns above the water, with some branches neatly arranged, seemingly planted along the roads for greenery.

Most of the factory gates and walls were submerged, leaving only the taller buildings still visible above the water. From her perspective, all she could see were dark grey structures, indistinguishable from one another.

Shu Fu sipped her grapefruit lemon tea, then checked the function screen to confirm the raft’s position on the water map before sitting back down on the lazy sofa.

About ten minutes later, Shu Fu heard the sound of an engine. She looked up to see a rescue boat appearing in the water ahead of the raft.

The sky hadn’t fully lightened, and everything was shrouded in a gray mist under the heavy rain. The rescue boat was moving slower than the raft, likely because of poor visibility, making the crew cautious to avoid floating debris.

Although Shu Fu had great confidence in the functions of the Drift Island House, sitting in front of it made her nervous. The rescue boat was getting closer, and soon they would be face to face, leaving her completely exposed to their view.

The waterway wasn’t wide, with tangled tree branches on both sides. As the rescue boat and the raft drew nearer, Shu Fu could clearly see every person on the opposite boat—exhausted rescue team members, disheveled people wrapped in raincoats, and half the boat covered with plastic-wrapped boxes. She couldn’t tell why they were evacuating at that time.

The people on the boat saw her too. Shu Fu could feel the gaze of the rescue team sweeping over her, but it was devoid of any emotion or curiosity, quickly moving back to their surroundings.

The civilians, looking disheveled and weary, barely glanced her way.

The two boats soon passed each other, continuing in their respective directions.

Throughout the encounter, Shu Fu and the raft were clearly visible, but there was no surprise, confusion, inquiry, or exploration—nothing. Just as described in the functions, to others, the raft and the people on it had no presence, no significance.

Shu Fu relaxed again. Half an hour later, she adjusted the direction on the water map to head “south.”

The raft had entered an area of the city she was familiar with. Tall buildings stood in rows. Although the lower buildings were submerged, many familiar tall buildings and landmarks helped her recognize the vicinity.

Since she couldn’t set the raft to automatically reach the destination, for the last part of the journey, Shu Fu stood at the half-open front door, checking the outside water area while quickly modifying the raft’s direction on the function screen.

Familiar shopping centers and commercial buildings appeared in front of Shu Fu. Sailing past the water area to the left of the shopping center would lead her to the residential area where her home was located.

The height of each floor of the shopping center was between four to five meters. Once known for its abundant supplies and backup generators, the supermarket had become a temporary shelter for nearby residents. Now, it had been flooded up to the third floor.

Shu Fu quickly calculated that the water level near her neighborhood had risen to almost ten meters, meaning the third floor of her residential building was mostly submerged.

Her home was on the fifth floor, and if she was lucky, she could hold out there for a few more days.

On her way back, she had seen not only rescue speedboats but also several civilian rubber boats, and even small manually rowed wooden boats. The people on those boats seemed to be moving and transferring supplies from the submerged buildings.

She figured this situation would last a few more days. There would always be people who, for various reasons, chose not to follow official instructions, deciding to act independently.

As the raft passed by the supermarket building, the “retrieve” button on the automatic water area fishing rod suddenly lit up. Shu Fu temporarily stopped the raft to retrieve the metal basket from underwater.

This time, the metal basket was filled to the brim: packaged dried scallops, packaged abalone, packaged cod, packaged oysters, packaged tiger prawns… and packaged—toilet paper?

There were over a dozen bags of seafood, mixed with a pack of toilet paper, a surprising haul.

Was it because of the nearby supermarket that the haul was so... unusual?

After the advanced ‘disinfection’ process ended, the metal box opened, and the well-stocked metal basket slid out.

The seafood bags were all vacuum-sealed. It was unclear whether they were originally frozen products or because the supermarket’s fresh food freezer section was on the second floor, which had been submerged later, and the cold weather had helped preserve them.

In any case, when she opened the seafood to check, everything was in good condition, and after the disinfection, all of it was safe to eat.

Shu Fu was quite pleased, feeling she had gained another way to obtain supplies. She stored the seafood in her inventory, while the toilet paper was placed in the kitchen area. She then continued to guide the raft toward Ping'an Neighborhood.

The plants on both sides of the small path were gone, the small shop buildings were gone, and the streetlights were gone. From the intersection to Ping'an Neighborhood, the path was wide open, allowing her to head straight toward the buildings in the water.

At 8:50 AM, Shu Fu returned here again, seven days after leaving home.

The wooden raft was docked outside the north corridor of the building. The water level had submerged the railing of the third-floor corridor, leaving about half a meter of gap between the water surface and the corridor ceiling. With some effort, she managed to pull herself up into the fourth-floor corridor.

Shu Fu put on her fleece clothing and waterproof jacket again, first canceling the drift bottle shield and storing the golden card with 20 hours remaining in her space. She then changed into waterproof boots at the door, pulled up the hood of her jacket, and reached for the railing of the fourth-floor corridor, pushing off its outer edge to climb up.

The tallest buildings around were like the one she was in—a five-story building with a garage. There were also some four-story buildings and five-story buildings without garages, most of which were now submerged.

The neighborhood was completely deserted. There were no supplies, the buildings weren’t high enough to attract newcomers, and no one would come here now. The surroundings were deathly quiet.

Shu Fu walked through the wet corridor and entered the stairwell, retrieving the wooden raft as she did so.

Everything was the same as the day she left, including the trash in the stairwell.

Shu Fu didn’t go home immediately. She put on a mask and disposable gloves, grabbed a broom left by other residents in the stairwell, and swept the garbage from the stairwell between the fifth and fourth floors down, then continued sweeping from the fourth-floor corridor in the direction opposite to her home, all the way to the external stairwell at the other end of the fourth floor.

Afterward, she returned to the fifth floor and cleaned the corridor the same way.

The garbage had been there for many days, and despite the cold weather, it emitted various unpleasant odors. Though she couldn’t dispose of it, she did her best to sweep it to the farthest point from her home.

Shu Fu left the mask, gloves, and broom in the stairwell and quickly went back home.

The house, with doors and windows tightly closed for many days, was damp and cold, with a somewhat unpleasant smell, likely from the sewer.

Shu Fu changed into a pair of clean cotton flat shoes and first tried the kitchen, only to find that water, electricity, and gas had been cut off.

Of course, the people had evacuated from Sui City, and even if the pipes weren’t damaged, there was no need to keep them running.

She opened the kitchen’s north-facing window, locked only the outer iron gate, and left the inner door half-open. She then went to the balcony, opening a gap to let air flow through the house from north to south.

As soon as the balcony window opened, the heavy rain poured in, so she placed a large plastic basin to catch the rain, planning to mop up any splashes later.

Afterward, she sprayed alcohol disinfectant around the rooms and lit a scented candle in both the room and the living room to deodorize.

Next, she found some foam boxes, old towels, and sealing putty from her space to block all the sewer outlets in the house, finally sealing the outermost layer with silicone gel for extra reinforcement.

If the water level submerged the fourth floor, the sewer on the fifth floor would back up. Sewer backflow into the house was more terrifying than hail breaking the glass and heavy rain flooding in. Although she might have moved elsewhere by then, it was better to prepare early.

After ventilating for a while, the air inside improved, so she poured the rainwater from the plastic basin onto the balcony, closed the windows and doors, and mopped the balcony floor dry.

Then she mopped the inside of the house as well, completing the cleaning work. She took off her waterproof jacket and pants and changed into cotton clothes for home.

These cotton clothes were winter garments, and in the past, wearing only thin undergarments would be enough to stay warm at home. Now, even with fleece clothing on, she still felt a chill.

Although she could use a generator to turn on the air conditioner, the outdoor unit would rotate when in use, and there were still people in the city. She didn’t want any trouble, so she drew all the blackout curtains and took out a kerosene stove, filling it with kerosene and lighting it.

The kerosene stove was more convenient than a diesel stove—portable and safe, without the need for ventilation ducts. It could be used indoors as long as there was air circulation.

Of course, the heating effect varied depending on the room size, and there was a special odor from the kerosene burning, but it could be gotten used to after some time.

Her living room, connected to the kitchen and corridor, was slightly larger. After about ten minutes of burning, the kerosene stove no longer increased the temperature, maintaining it between 16 to 18 degrees Celsius, about five degrees lower than using a small indoor tent.

But that was enough. The damp and cold inside the house had been completely dispelled, and she sat back on the sofa, feeling the warmth from the flickering flames.

It was almost noon, and since she had eaten breakfast early and been busy for a while, she felt hungry. Thinking of another use for the kerosene stove, she placed the top cover on it.

Then she took out a handled camping pot, a set of folding camping tables and chairs, a tablet downloaded with various dramas and variety shows, and finally, a hot pot mega pack she had won in a draw.

She fried the garlic paste with beef fat hot pot base, added mineral water, and set it on the kerosene stove’s top cover. She laid out the hot pot ingredients on the table: beef slices, lamb slices with cartilage, luncheon meat, tripe, baby octopus, chrysanthemum greens, vermicelli, rice cakes, kelp knots, and several seasonings and condiments that came with the gift pack.

The small camping pot quickly brought the hot pot broth to a bubbling boil. She put half a box of sliced fatty beef into the pot and opened her tablet to find a comedy movie, ready to enjoy her hot pot lunch.

The fatty beef was spicy and fragrant, the tripe salty and crispy, the baby cuttlefish tender and fresh, and the rice cakes soft and chewy. The rich, numbing, and spicy flavors made the meal exceptionally satisfying.

After the meal, she took out the trash bin, cleaned up the leftover hot pot dishes, and put them back on the storage shelf in her space. Then, along with the pots and bowls, she stored the folding table and chairs in her space, planning to deal with them later when she used the raft.

The raft had twelve hours of usage time each day, and she definitely wouldn’t waste it. Her planned usage was from 0:00 AM to 8:00 AM for eight hours, and from 8:00 PM to 12:00 AM for four hours.

This way, the twelve hours from night to morning would be used continuously, allowing her to sleep peacefully.

There were still three hours left that day, and she planned to take out the raft at 9:00 PM.

With no job and nothing urgent to do, she took out a thin blanket and a tablet stand, lying down on the sofa to watch a movie. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep.

**

She didn’t know how long she had been asleep when the noise outside the window woke her up.

It was thundering again outside. The window frames buzzed, and the howling wind mixed with lightning and thunder. While not as intense as the last storm, the rumbling thunder was still enough to make her uneasy.

Shu Fu took out a lamp and placed it on the bar table near the kitchen. Then she went to the balcony and carefully lifted the blackout curtain a little. Outside, the water surface was churning with waves whipped up by the strong wind, carrying floating construction debris, constantly battering the buildings in the water.

Around 4:00 PM, the sky looked completely dark. The howling wind was mixed with hail beating against the glass, a combination of nature's roars that felt like the end of the world.

Shu Fu felt a bit silly; wasn’t this the end of the world?

Given the current situation, it was her personal apocalypse. The stormy Sui City was slowly sinking beneath the water.

At 9:00 PM, Shu Fu put away the kerosene stove and opened all the south-facing curtains in the living room. Then she released her warm little home: the Drift Island House.

After changing shoes and entering, Shu Fu immediately equipped her electricity card.

She had just drawn a "one-week electricity card," adding to her existing card, giving her a total of 192 hours of electricity over eight days! Although she couldn’t keep the Drift Island House powered 24/7, she could still make full use of the available time.

She already knew exactly what to do. After equipping the electricity card, she quickly laid out various rechargeable appliances on the living room floor, including power banks with low battery.

Lamps, phones, tablets, power banks, electric heating pads—a variety of devices were scattered across the floor, all charging up.

Then she went into the bathroom and took out a new top-loader washing machine from her space. This was a newly purchased machine, placed next to the one already in the bathroom. One machine would be used for washing outdoor clothes, and the other for washing personal indoor clothes.

She then took out a dryer and lined it up next to the existing dryer. After sorting the clothes she had worn at the library, she threw them into the two washing machines for cleaning.

With electricity, she could now use hot water directly, so she didn’t need to rely on the stored water from her space. She quickly took a shower and changed into clean cotton loungewear. The clothes she changed out of were worn that day and could be worn again tomorrow.

Carrying the clothes, she left the bathroom and found that the living room still lacked a place to hang them. So she took out a portable clothes rack from her space, originally used for drying clothes on the balcony. Now, it was conveniently placed next to the water cooler for easy access to daily wear.

Afterward, it was time to clean the dishes. With only a few dishes from her meal, it took just ten minutes to finish, and she also brought the trash inside for disposal.

Once everything was done and the appliances were fully charged, the two washing machines in the bathroom had also finished.

The peak electricity usage period was over, taking only a little over an hour, shorter than she expected. She took out the electricity card, put the clothes into the two dryers, and then started the generator to power the dryers during the low electricity usage period.

She turned on the Bluetooth speaker, curled up barefoot on the sofa, and sipped her hot milk. She took out her notebook where she had listed survival plans and started jotting down what she needed to do over the next few days.

First, she needed to measure the water level every day, preferably directly from the fourth-floor corridor to get an accurate reading of the rising waterline.

Second, the automatic fishing rod in the water could obtain supplies, and she shouldn’t waste the three daily chances. The supplies seemed to vary depending on the location.

The supermarket at the intersection was a good spot to cast the rod, but there were still people in the city. Going there would require using time from the Drift Bottle Protection. At this stage, supplies weren’t as precious as the protection time, so if she used it, she could only try it in her neighborhood for now.

Lastly, by comparing the water map and the Sui City map, she needed to figure out the locations of the selected tall buildings that could be used as shelters on the water map and prepare for migration.

After finishing her notes, Shu Fu thought for a moment and decided that the twelve hours of using the raft at night could also be spent on the water outside the building. Since it was dark at night, keeping the raft stationary next to the building within the residential area would help avoid drawing attention.

The advantage of doing this was that it wouldn’t waste the automatic fishing rod’s three daily chances. Additionally, she could use Purified water, and if the water level were to rise suddenly while she was sleeping, she wouldn’t be caught off guard if water started flooding the room.

Although the raft wouldn’t sink, that was only outdoors. Inside the room, there was a ceiling overhead. If the water rose high enough to flood the entire room, she could still get trapped.

Of course, there were also drawbacks to using the raft outside the building. For example, she couldn’t risk oversleeping. She’d need to set multiple alarms and must return to the building before the usage time ended, otherwise she’d end up falling into the water.

After much thought, the Drift Island House’s 12-hour daily usage time provided some safety, but it wasn’t completely secure. She would feel truly safe once the usage time could be extended to 24 hours a day.

But—Shu Fu looked up and glanced at the function screen on the wall behind the door. She had already noticed that the progress bar for upgrading the raft to level 3 hadn’t shown up yet. She remembered that when the raft was first activated, the level 2 progress bar and its tasks appeared right away.

Did something need to happen to unlock the next upgrade?