Chapter 71: North Plateau

Chapter 71: North Plateau

"Watch out, everyone!"

As the first strange fish jumped out of the storm drains, Shu Fu's voice rang out simultaneously, "The big fish's tail stinger is paralyzing! Watch out!" She raised her nail gun and fired three shots, nailing the second fish that leaped out of the storm drain.

Lu Zheng had already switched his short iron rod for a long blade, tucking it back into his backpack. He stepped forward, positioning himself in front of Shu Fu, and dispatched the first jumping fish.

From the other storm drain, several more fish jumped out, quickly taken care of by Xu Tingfeng and a few others.

Even Xu Jiechu managed to take down one of the strange fish. Initially, he was quite startled, mainly because the fish looked so ugly, especially its eyes and mouth. But now he found it quite easy to kill and became smug, "These fish aren't that tough to handle. Look at how nervous you two are—girls, after all, should leave this kind of work to the boys."

Xu Jiechu's words were cut short by another strange fish leaping toward his face. He screamed, quickly backing off and swinging his iron rod, but missed. Finally, Xu Tingfeng killed the fish.

Chen Fa, who had deliberately let the fish go, glanced back at him, "Nice scream, dude."

Xu Jiechu: "You—you—old hag!"

"Cut it out! Now’s not the time!" Xu Tingfeng scolded his brother, "They've dealt with these fish before, so they have more experience than us. If they're nervous, it must be because of some other reason!"

As if in response to Xu Tingfeng's words, the rain around them began to echo with the familiar pattering sound, growing denser. This time, the sound didn't just come from the storm drains but also from other streets nearby.

Pah—

A large strange fish bounced out from the left side of the street around the corner.

Pah-pah—

Followed by three or four smaller fish.

Pah-pah-pah-pah-pah—

From the street on the right, a group of strange fish also jumped out.

It seemed like they were just passing by, but when they noticed us fighting their kin on another street, they stopped and turned, propping up their grotesque large fish heads. Their protruding, inorganic fish eyes glared coldly at the group.

"Crap..." muttered the guy with the braids. While aggressive fish weren’t terrifying, the sudden appearance of a group of them pausing and watching was enough to send shivers down their spines.

It made one feel as though these strange fish possessed a certain level of intelligence, capable of analyzing the situation before attacking.

On the other side, one of the men who had previously sided with Xu Jiechu to block Shu Fu's group, a thin-faced man, was trembling with fear. He lost his footing and was bitten on the calf by a strange fish that had emerged from the storm drain.

Most of Lu Zheng's team wore only waterproof jackets, not raincoats. While convenient for movement, this clothing wasn't as tough as thick rubber raincoats, making them vulnerable to larger strange fish.

The thin-faced man screamed in pain, looking down to see a strange fish clamped tightly onto his calf. Fear overtook the pain as he stumbled backward, swinging his leg to shake off the fish while waving the cleaver in his hand to fend off the other fish.

The strange fish seemed to sense his injury, making him an easier target. Several fish abandoned their attacks on others and bounced toward him, their wide-open mouths aiming for his face.

His movements became increasingly erratic. Another strange fish bit his other leg, causing him to lose balance and fall backward. The surrounding strange fish immediately pounced on him.

At the critical moment, an indescribable stench of rotting flesh hit them. A girl from another team—someone who knew Lu Zheng—splashed something on his legs. The overwhelming stench of decay quickly spread. But miraculously, the strange fish that had been clamped onto his legs let go, hitting the ground before hopping away.

After spraying the red potion, Shu Fu dashed into the circle where Lu Zheng and Lu Ce stood, scattering the liquid like flower petals. She moved quickly, trying to cover as much area as possible.

But in her rush, she missed sometimes, accidentally splashing some on their faces, causing a chorus of dismay, "Whoa—what the heck! Ugh... this stinks!"

Xu Jiechu got it the worst—he got some in his nose and mouth, gagged a few times, then bent over and puked.

Xu Tingfeng turned to look at Shu Fu, thinking she had switched sides. Only when he saw the fish retreat from everyone she had sprayed did he realize his mistake and apologetically thanked Shu Fu.

"Thanks for what... ugh... she was just messing with me... ugh... did you see her put on a... ugh... mask first?" Xu Jiechu felt like he was about to throw up bile.

Shu Fu stuffed the unused bottle of liquid into Lu Ce's hand and handed three unopened bottles of red potion to Lu Zheng, speaking concisely, "There are more and more fish, and the storm drains here are interconnected. The entire Lucheng is probably compromised. It's impossible to leave without a vehicle! I'll try to get a car. Use this liquid to buy some time here! The strange fish are deterred by the smell, but the rain will dilute it, so don't use too much at once!"

Lu Zheng didn't ask her how she planned to get a car, where she was going, or how long it would take. He didn't ask why she wouldn't let him come along, or what they should do if they couldn't hold out.

Even after all this time, seeing her again felt as if no time had passed. It was as if he would believe anything she said without a shred of doubt. This sense of trust seemed innate.

"Be careful!" Lu Zheng grabbed her, all his concerns distilled into this single phrase.

"My friends are in your care. Wait for me to come back!" She patted him, then dashed back to Chen Fa and Chen Yuezheng in a few steps. She had already sprayed them with the potion, and now they were standing back-to-back, hacking away at the weakened strange fish.

She took out three more bottles of liquid from her backpack and stuffed them into Chen Fa's hands, speaking even more briefly, "I'm going to get a car! Hold on!"

Chen Fa, looking at the three additional bottles of red potion in her hand, asked, "Do you need me to come with you?"

"No, I can handle it on my own." Shu Fu tossed the travel bag from her wrist beside them and quickly reloaded the nail gun for a lighter load. "Remember, if needed, ditch the supplies."

"Understood. Go, we'll wait for you to come back!" Chen Fa smacked away a fish that was eager to attack with a shovel and agreed briskly.

"Be careful, Shu!" Chen Yuezheng finished off the fish that Chen Fa had knocked down and nodded at Shu Fu.

The three of them had been through so much together that they had developed an unspoken understanding that others could hardly match. Unconditional trust was one aspect of that.

Without another word, Shu Fu turned and ran towards the other end of the street, the direction they had come from. The trading post wasn't far from here. Right now, it didn’t matter where the fuel came from, only that she had enough to trade for a car.

But she needed a large vehicle, and trading at the post would take time, so she had to hurry.

There were hardly any strange fish on the street leading to the trading post. It looked like the strange fish hadn’t fully taken over Lucheng yet. As Shu Fu reached the end of the street and turned the corner, she instinctively looked back.

She just wanted to check the scene, to confirm that the number of strange fish hadn't increased to an uncontrollable level before she shifted her gaze back.

But in that instant, as her eyes returned to the front, the corner of her eye caught the familiar flickering white light again. Those two thin streaks of white light seemed to move in sync with two people.

Two people?!

She whipped her head around but saw nothing.

What was going on?

Another illusion?

There was no time to waste, so Shu Fu pushed it out of her mind. Running through the rain, she stayed vigilant with the nail gun, occasionally spotting one or two strange fish jumping out from nearby broken storm drains. But they seemed more like fish that had wandered off from the main group.

**

Shu Fu didn't waste time dealing with these one or two fish unless they blocked her path. If more than three fish appeared nearby, she would temporarily activate her personal shield.

Running at full speed, as she reached another turning point, she suddenly stopped and ran back a few steps. She had passed by here before, an abandoned city bus station. Inside, near the wall, there were two buses that no one wanted.

From her vantage point, the bus closest to the outer edge had several broken side windows, probably due to nearby trees. During windy weather, broken branches would hit the windows.

Shu Fu wasn't sure why she had stopped, but in that instant, her mind thought that if these two buses could still run, they could fit everyone and all their luggage.

While her rational mind calculated the likelihood of this possibility, her feet had already carried her inside.

The parking lot was littered with mud and leaves. Every step splashed mud and debris, immediately covering her boots and rain pants in filth. But Shu Fu didn't care. All her attention was on the bus in front of her.

The first bus not only had four or five broken side windows, but the front windshield was also shattered.

The second bus was much smaller, a 25-seater. Perhaps due to protection from the outside, both the front and rear windshields were intact. The doors were closed, with only two windows on either side shattered, and the tires were mostly in good condition.

She tried to open the driver’s side door but couldn’t. She then went around to the right side of the bus. For this 25-seater, the passenger door wasn’t near the front, as the right side of the front was filled with seats. Instead, it was located slightly more toward the middle.

She pulled the passenger door hard, and it opened easily, likely because it hadn’t been properly closed.

It had only been a bit over two months since the incident in Lucheng. The disasters here weren’t as frequent or severe as they had been in the plains and hilly areas. Two months wouldn’t have completely ruined a vehicle’s ability to run.

If this bus had simply run out of fuel, all she needed to do was refuel it to get it running again. Refueling wouldn’t be hard—just use a rubber hose and the siphon method to draw fuel from a portable tank into the bus’s fuel tank.

She quickly got on the bus and searched through the storage compartments near the driver’s seat, looking for the most crucial item—the keys.

However, after searching the compartments, cup holders, and around the driver’s seat, she found nothing. Sighing, she realized she would still have to go to the trading post and exchange fuel for a vehicle.

As she was about to get off the bus, she noticed a glint of silver at the corner of the steps. She bent down immediately and reached into the gap in the steps.

With some effort, she pulled out what she had felt—a key. But she wasn’t sure if it was actually the bus key. She rushed to the driver’s seat and found the keyhole next to the steering wheel. The key slid in smoothly and twisted easily.

It was indeed the bus key!

Feeling reinvigorated, Shu Fu stashed her backpack back into her storage space and began trying to start the bus.

Usually, if a bus had been sitting for a while, it could still start as long as the battery had some juice. Additionally, even if someone had siphoned out the fuel, as long as there was a little left for the fuel pump, it could still start.

In short, theoretically, everything was possible, and technically, there were no issues. It was all up to luck now.

Once, twice, three times... on the fifth try, she finally heard the roar of the engine.

The battery still had power!

The dashboard lit up, and the fuel indicator light came on, showing that the tank was empty and needed refueling.

But as long as the bus could start, fuel wasn’t a problem.

She turned off the engine and, using the bus for cover, took two portable fuel tanks from her storage space. She got off the bus and went to the fuel tank, inserting one end of the hose into the portable tank and the other end into her mouth. As soon as she saw the fuel flowing through the tube, she pinched the end she had been sucking on and quickly inserted it into the fuel tank opening. The fuel automatically flowed from the portable tank into the bus’s tank.

She repeated the process twice, adding 60L of fuel. Buses like this had large fuel tanks, and the capacity of a 25-seater could range from 100 to 200L. She didn’t have time to fill it completely, but 60L was enough to get them out of Lucheng and to the salt lake.

Shu Fu tightly closed the fuel tank cap, got back on the bus, and put the portable tanks back into her storage space. At the same time, she took out some unwanted hard cardboard and transparent waterproof plastic sheets from her storage, messing them up and covering them with the dirt and rainwater inside the bus. She then stuffed them haphazardly under the back seats, disguising the bus as having been abandoned for a long time.

These materials were intended for later use in repairing the broken windows.

She tried to close the doors using the control button but found that the doors were completely broken. She had to manually pull them shut, but they didn’t close tightly. However, it wasn’t a big issue.

After manually closing the doors, she sat back in the driver’s seat and started the bus.

Perhaps because it had started successfully once before, the bus started right away this time.

Shu Fu let out a long breath, took her backpack out of her storage space, placed it by her feet next to the seat, and tried to calm herself down. She had never driven a bus before, but she had learned manual driving. They were all vehicles, after all, and as long as she didn’t panic, she could drive it smoothly.

After scraping the side of the neighboring bus and bumping the rear into a tree trunk twice, she successfully backed out of the parking spot, with the front of the bus now facing the parking lot entrance.

By now, Shu Fu felt completely calm. She shifted gears, stepped on the accelerator, and drove the bus out.

**

Out on the streets, the number of strange fish was growing.

Chen Fa and Lu Zheng, carrying supplies, were fighting their way backward. They had already fallen back from one end of the street to the other.

But soon, they realized there were strange fish appearing at the turning point in their retreat direction as well. Their numbers were swelling, and they were gradually spreading through Lucheng via the storm drains.

The group endured the nauseating smell, repeatedly sprinkling the red liquid on themselves, but the rain continued to fall. With no buildings on either side of the street, they had no shelter. The liquid they sprinkled was quickly washed away, and not all of the strange fish were deterred by the smell.

Xu Jiechu's hand was ambushed by a giant leaping strange fish. Its tail spike stabbed him hard, but to his surprise, he didn’t feel much pain, though his hand instantly went numb. Within seconds, his entire arm lost strength, and he could barely stand. He was immediately supported by the lanky man next to him.

The lanky man had both legs bitten and was already struggling to walk. Now, with Xu Jiechu's weight pressing on him, he was even less able to defend himself.

Two of their fighters were incapacitated almost simultaneously, and the others were still carrying supply packages. Xu Tingfeng was distracted and was attacked by another strange fish, which bit his calf. He quickly killed the fish, but before it died, it clamped down hard through his pants, tearing off a chunk of flesh.

Blood gushed out instantly, overwhelming the foul smell of the red liquid, and the strange fish that had been cornering them became restless, seemingly attracted by the scent of blood.

The situation became dire. The lanky man, now struggling to defend with just one hand, shouted, “What are we waiting for! Why not go to the station up ahead? Maybe we’d already be on the bus by now if we tried!”

Lu Zheng killed a fish that was about to leap at them and sprayed more red liquid on Xu Tingfeng’s wounded leg before throwing away the empty glass bottle. “There are still three blocks to go. You won’t make it.”

“Even if we can't make it, we should still try!” the lanky man said. “What’s going on here? Where’s your friend? She told us to wait. Are we supposed to just wait here to die while the strange fish keep coming?”

“You can leave,” Chen Fa interjected sharply.

“What do you mean by that?” The man flared up, glaring at Xu Tingfeng. “Xu, say something! Are we really risking everyone’s life for that girl?”

“Without her, you'd have been dead by now. It's her medicine that's keeping us alive right now,” Lu Zheng said, uncapping a third bottle of red liquid and quickly sprinkling it around the group, pausing in front of the complaining man. “So, do you need it or not?”

“Exactly. If you’ve taken someone’s help, you should see it through. Even if you don’t want to persist, you should say you’re leaving instead of badmouthing a girl behind her back!” The pigtail guy said, pulling open his jacket and tearing off a strip of cloth from the hem of his T-shirt. He tightly bound Xu Tingfeng’s wounded calf to stop the bleeding. “Lanky, I didn’t realize you were this scared?”

The lanky man hesitated, reluctant to ask for the liquid, fearing it would make his earlier words seem insincere.

While he hesitated, Xu Jiechu, whom he was supporting, struggled to move his mouth, forcing out words from his throat. “Potion… sprinkle… stink… sprinkle…” His meaning was clear: whether the lanky man wanted it or not, he desperately needed the potion. Don’t forget to sprinkle it on him.

Lu Zheng didn’t laugh, but Lu Ce couldn’t help but chuckle.

As the foul smell spread, the lanky man, despite his reluctance, felt a slight increase in his sense of security. But thinking that the potion was provided by the girl, his face flushed with embarrassment. He muttered a barely audible “thank you” to Lu Zheng.

With three wounded members in the group and the strange fish showing no sign of decreasing, Xu Tingfeng knew the situation was dire. He was about to suggest they drop all the supply packages to lighten their load and retreat to a building behind them to avoid the rain when he heard the sound of a horn from the street behind them.

It was the urgent honking of a vehicle, as if signaling something.

“Wow, did that girl really get a bus? What did she trade for it?” The pigtail guy wanted to rush to the street corner but was blocked by the strange fish and had to keep fighting.

“She can only drive one bus. Even if it can fit all of us, it can’t take the supply packages. Big guy, Monkey, drop all the supplies and help the wounded onto the bus,” he said, then looked at Chen Fa and the others. “You too. The supply packages can’t come with us.”

Without needing further instructions, Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen dropped their travel bags to the ground.

It was a pity to abandon the supplies, but luckily, their backpacks contained some food and water, and most importantly, the essential medicines. As long as they stayed alive, they could find more supplies later.

At this critical moment, everyone was cooperating. After all, they had all been through tough times, and in such moments, even if emotions ran high, they knew what needed to be done.

At the street corner, the anxious pigtail guy and another big guy had already killed a few blocking strange fish and reached the street. They saw the bus speeding toward them from the other side.

The bus tires ran over a few jumping strange fish and screeched to a halt just in front of them.

The two men looked at the massive front of the bus and said the same thing: “Damn! That’s impressive!”

The others rushed over, looking at the bus in disbelief. They craned their necks to see if the driver was real, half-expecting the bus wasn’t actually there to pick them up.

Until Shu Fu’s face appeared from the broken window. “Hurry up! Get on the bus! Bring everything!” She yanked the door open manually, and without needing a second call, everyone turned back, fighting off the strange fish while grabbing their supply packages. There was no way they were leaving anything behind—this bus was massive, it could easily fit ten more people, let alone their supplies!

More strange fish were emerging from the storm drains. Lu Zheng and Chen Fa had run out of red liquid. The rain had washed away the scent on their bodies and the supply packages, and the strange fish resumed their attacks. Everyone fought desperately, cooperating, grabbing every travel bag they saw and throwing them onto the bus, regardless of who they belonged to.

Shu Fu was also busy. She was spraying red liquid on the damaged areas around the two broken windows to prevent the strange fish from jumping into the bus. The liquid worked much better inside the bus than outside, since it wouldn’t be directly washed away by rain, and the enclosed space made the smell linger longer.

After loading all the supply packages onto the bus, everyone started boarding. The last person to get on was Lu Zheng. As he boarded, he kicked a strange fish that lunged at the bus and then forcefully pulled the door shut.

However, the door was already malfunctioning, and in the heat of the moment, he couldn’t get it to close. Outside the bus, more strange fish were coming, and three or four of them managed to leap inside.

"Hold on tight!" Shu Fu didn’t hesitate and slammed her foot on the accelerator.

Lu Zheng tightly gripped the handrail to steady himself. Outside the bus, more and more strange fish were leaping and chasing after the bus, their fish heads slamming against the vehicle with a "thud-thud" sound.

Occasionally, one or two fish would leap particularly high and land near the broken window. Their ugly fish heads, upon seeing the people inside, would open their mouths wide, revealing sharp teeth, startling those near the window, who quickly bashed the fish away with their weapons.

Inside the bus, the strange fish that had entered through the door were frantically jumping around because of the repellent smell inside. They rushed toward the back of the bus where the smell was less intense, but the passengers weren’t about to let them get away with it and launched attacks.

One slippery fish made a mid-air turn and lunged straight at Shu Fu, who was in the driver’s seat.