Chapter 160: Raft Shelter

Chapter 160: Raft Shelter

Shortly after Cheng Yu and Han Lan left, the Drift Island House set off, towing a string of rafts from the shore.

This water area was once part of the upper river section of Silver Sand. As the water level gradually rose and the river widened, it came to resemble the downstream area, submerging large parts of the eastern shore’s land, turning the peaks into islands within the lake.

Because of this, Shu Fu could leave without following the original river route, instead navigating through the 'islands' in the water to reach deeper areas.

Because of the continuing global rise in water levels, she could still easily tow the various rafts behind her, just as she had when she only had a small raft at the start.

Since the Drift Island House needed to tow Liu Shuang’s raft, it was now in a moored state.

Shu Fu passed by the hotel building and made her way to Liu Shuang’s raft. Compared to the uniquely styled structures on other towed rafts, the shelter house on Liu Shuang’s raft was quite plain.

It was a log cabin, single-story with a gabled roof. It was much larger than the original cabin, with clear lattice windows and a front door embedded with glass. The gabled roof likely served as an attic, with smaller lattice windows, half the size of those on the first floor.

The biggest change was that this log cabin was narrower, leaving more open space on the raft deck. People wanting to go to the rear deck could easily pass on either side. Probably because the deck was considered a passageway, there were over one-meter-high railings on both sides, giving the entire raft the appearance of a wooden ship.

Other than that, the cabin seemed quite ordinary. Shu Fu was puzzled—was this really the upgraded shelter house? It didn’t seem much different from before the upgrade. Was there something special on the inside?

As she stepped onto Liu Shuang’s raft and was about to knock, she heard Liu Shuang’s voice from behind the house. "Is that Xiao Fu? Come to the back of the house."

Shu Fu immediately turned around and walked around the cabin to the railed side deck at the rear.

Liu Shuang was standing at the edge of the rear deck. The rear of the raft should face the water, but there appeared to be a passage.

Was she imagining it?

Shu Fu took two steps toward the raft’s rear. Liu Shuang, standing there, took out a high-powered flashlight, turned it on, and shone it into the gap in the rear railing.

It wasn’t just her imagination. There really was a passage, similar to the ones connecting other rafts, about a meter wide, made of wooden planks and chains, solid and tightly built. Since this passage wasn’t connected to any rafts on either side, there were handrails for safety.

Liu Shuang shone the flashlight along the water passage to the rear, revealing a semi-spherical structure connected at the other end. The entire structure seemed larger than Liu Shuang’s raft, somewhat resembling early depictions of UFOs or an Eskimo igloo.

It appeared that this waterborne structure behind Liu Shuang’s raft was probably why Shu Fu couldn’t swap raft positions earlier on the function screen.

The two women exchanged glances and began walking along the water passage.

Although there were no fixed rafts on either side of the passage, it felt stable underfoot, with no wobbling despite being over water. The entire passage was about ten meters long and split into two at the end, extending along the sides of the semi-spherical structure.

Up close, it was a wooden exterior structure, shaped into a circular arc, like an overturned bowl on the water or a halved sphere.

Small independent windows were cut into the "bowl," smaller than portholes on a ship.

As they walked around the structure, they found the passage to be about two meters wide, also equipped with handrails. There were about a dozen small windows, making the structure look even more like an alien UFO.

This floating semi-spherical waterborne structure behind Liu Shuang’s raft was likely the real shelter house. But what were its specific functions, and where was the door?

After Shu Fu’s reminder, Liu Shuang quickly returned to her cabin, fetching her electronic screen to investigate.

**

This was a floating shelter house, connected to the rear of Liu Shuang’s raft but isolated on the water. Its unique nature kept it separate from the raft development area, and the owner of the shelter raft could independently control the opening and closing of its protective shield.

As the name suggests, the shelter house served as a refuge and was not open to raft residents.

In other words, companions from other rafts and official residents staying in the hotel could only see this floating shelter house from the rear end of Liu Shuang’s raft but could not set foot on the connecting water passage, which was a restricted area.

The shelter house had two doors. One was at the end of the passage facing Liu Shuang’s raft, and the other was on the opposite side. Both were hidden wooden sliding doors that required the shelter house owner to scan their wristband to open, or a designated 'executive' chosen by the owner.

The term "executive" was found in the hiring section of the electronic screen and was akin to a job position relative to other rafts.

Only those who secure this role can come to this shelter area via the water channel.

As for Shu Fu, she discreetly tested—using the matte silver wristband on her left hand—and found that as before, she could open the main door without any issues.

After entering through the sliding door, the space inside is entirely slightly sunken. Inside the door, there are several steps leading down, followed by a walkway as wide as the door. Along both sides of the walkway, there are two vending machines, but these machines differ from those in the raft development area, as they do not require any materials for exchange.

In other words, as long as you register your biological information, you can receive a wristband for free. However, the wristband obtained from the shelter's vending machine is white and does not include any raft points.

Those without a white wristband can also enter the shelter hall to seek shelter from external disasters.

Those wearing a white wristband can not only take shelter in the hall but also receive a bed and food and water in the shelter, making them official evacuees who can reside there.

At the same time, this white wristband also serves as a restriction. The electronic screen in Liu Shuang's hand clearly states that evacuees with this type of wristband are not recognized as official residents of the raft and cannot access the water channel to enter the raft area on the other side. They can only remain in this floating shelter.

Even after the shelter's protective shield is opened, the protective shield in the front raft towing area will still block their view—as if there is a difference in level. They will not notice the special nature and existence of the front raft, even if they see it.

But as long as the evacuees remain inside the shelter, they can drift on the water with the front raft, passing through dangerous waters and transporting them to safe land before letting them leave.

This floating spherical house, while relying on the front raft, is independent externally of the raft area.

Unless one day, the evacuees are granted permission to obtain a dark brown wristband, these limitations will be removed.

Shu Fu quickly realized that although it is named a shelter, in comparison to a maritime refuge, it actually functions more as a maritime containment facility. It can shelter survivors while keeping hidden the appearance of the raft structures and its residents. This setup is perfect for Shu Fu.

The central hall, similar to its external structure, is a hemispherical hall. It is extremely large, and proportionally speaking, it is the largest compressed space among all functional rafts, with an area of about 300 square meters and a high top with several large skylights.

This is a public activity hall with a dining area and a food pickup window. The food pickup area is near the walkway entrances and somewhat resembles a standing vending machine, with a place to collect meal trays, a meal return slot, a meal tray collection area, and a drinking water outlet.

In addition to the dining area, there is a leisure activity area nearby, two bathrooms distributed at two locations, and two small rooms in the corners whose purpose is unknown.

The small rooms have no windows and only a wooden platform along the wall, resembling the rest benches in prisons that can also be used as beds.

Around the activity hall, there are neatly arranged doors of the same size on the curved wall, leading to individual rooms.

The rooms are not large and contain four bunk beds, accommodating eight people. The outer curved wall has a small window, which appears larger from the inside.

In addition to the four beds, there are two wardrobes near the entrance and a simple bathroom on the other side, which can only be used for using the toilet and washing hands. There is no shower, but above the sink, there is a cabinet with eight stainless steel cups neatly arranged.

The shower facilities are located in the public restroom outside.

In addition to basic food and water, rest, and activity areas, there are no more supplies provided here.

They counted a total of sixteen room doors, with the rooms arranged in two semicircles on either side of the two passages leading outside.

Liu Shuang briefly calculated: "If the functional buildings on the raft can all be upgraded, this place will become larger and better equipped in the future. Initially, it can accommodate 128 evacuees. According to the display here, the main function of the shelter, besides providing water area refuge, is to autonomously provide two meals a day and purified drinking water corresponding to the number of people, ensuring basic daily needs."

Of course, since the shelter raft currently has water but no electricity, all machines that require electricity cannot be turned on for trial. Therefore, they are unsure where the food ingredients for the two daily meals autonomously provided by the shelter come from.

Whether it is due to the special nature of the shelter or still requires supplies from other rafts remains unknown.

In addition, all doors—including the main door and room doors—can be controlled by Liu Shuang with a single click on the electronic screen.

This means that if she wants, she can authorize evacuees to enter and exit freely or control and cancel their freedom to enter and exit with a single click.

Evacuees are completely strangers to the raft, unlike Shu Fu's companions, who have formed bonds, as well as their recognized family and comrades. It is impossible for all of them to have no issues with their character, and with up to 128 people here, disorder can easily arise, requiring a certain level of authoritarian control to maintain order.

The two windowless small rooms—Liu Shuang had roughly guessed their purposes—they were probably something like isolation cells for troublemakers, serving as a transitional observation area. If troublemakers continued to misbehave, she had the authority to expel them from the shelter.

At the same time, Liu Shuang could hire staff—executive officers. But unlike with other functional rafts, there were some restrictions on her hiring process. For example, after registering that person's details, their information would show up on Shu Fu's control screen, and only with Shu Fu's approval could she hire the 'executive officer.'

**

The two had thoroughly inspected the Drift Island House inside and out, and finally returned to Liu Shuang's raft via a water channel.

The first floor of this wooden house served as her and her family's living space, measuring about 80 square meters, slightly larger than the living spaces of the other companions because of the entryway.

It featured a double-door design. Inside the main door was a square entryway, with one side having a door leading to the living space and the other side a staircase leading to the upper attic.

At the top of the staircase, the triangular attic featured another door. Inside was a work control room with about ten screens of various sizes, operation panels, and other instruments. There were also four chairs, a table, some cabinets, and other basic amenities.

This appeared to be the primary workspace for the raft owner and the 'executive officer.'

Because there was no electricity, the machines couldn't be used. Helpless, Shu Fu eventually went back to the Drift Island House, swapping the 7th position's pool raft with a 'power supply' raft and selecting Liu Shuang's raft as one of the outputs.

By the time she returned to the attic, Liu Shuang had already successfully powered up all the machines. The screens immediately showed footage from surveillance cameras covering every part of the shelter, both inside and out.

These were night-vision cameras, allowing her to see everything clearly even in complete darkness.

Additionally, these screens allowed for more operations, such as monitoring evacuee behavior and reviewing past surveillance footage.

"It's starting to feel a bit like prison management..." Liu Shuang joked, but she also felt she had made the right choice. With her expertise, she was the most qualified among the companions on the towed rafts to manage the shelter.

For instance, she could monitor the food and water situation and set meal plans for the evacuees. The drinking water was purified. The shelter had a water tank that automatically refilled.

The shelter's default meal plan was basic, offering two meals a day. Breakfast was between 8 and 10 a.m., offering a choice of compressed biscuits, mashed potatoes, bread, or multigrain steamed buns, accompanied by 250ml of mixed fruit juice or 250ml of vegetable soup.

Dinner was between 3 and 6 p.m., offering a choice of compressed biscuits, mashed potatoes, bread, or multigrain steamed buns, along with a mixed fish cake and 250ml of mixed fruit juice or 250ml of vegetable soup.

These meals could keep an evacuee alive, but there were no options to choose from in terms of food types and portions. However, this was autonomously provided by the shelter, meaning there was no need for the raft or Shu Fu to provide anything extra.

But if the menu needed modification, such as changing the time, switching from two meals to three, or adding other types of rich foods like covered rice, meat buns, or sausage bread, it was also possible. As long as the food was in the system's available menu, the shelter could produce it, but adding richer foods would require the shelter owner to procure or solve the raw material issue.

Ingredient procurement was once a week, with the quantity calculated based on the number of evacuees currently in the shelter.

Alternatively, the shelter owner could initiate a charity donation event, asking raft residents to make charitable donations. In short, this shelter was like a real-world orphanage or poverty relief center, relying entirely on donations, and it was the only non-producing raft among all the towed rafts.

Or, it couldn't be said to have no output at all. The biggest feature of this shelter raft was its ability to "produce people." If the various functional facilities on the raft continued to upgrade, there would definitely be a shortage of staff.

However, accepting unfamiliar outsiders rashly would make them very uneasy.

But through the shelter's multiple layers of surveillance, observation, and screening, it might be possible to select a few evacuees with good character and abilities. After upgrading their wristbands, they could be incorporated into the category of formal residents.

Of course, if someone who became a formal resident started to harbor ill intentions, Shu Fu could simply delete that person's biological information from the exchange machine.

Yes, on the raft, only those with enough bond value, such as the owners of towed rafts and their families, could have the right to live on the raft without exchanging wristbands. This was because their rafts had already signed an "agreement" at the time of towing.

For other ordinary formal residents, Shu Fu had the power to delete their identity information with a single click. When the identity information of a raft resident was deleted, their wristband would become invalid and disappear, and the person would be instantly ejected from the raft due to the exclusionary effect of the protective shield.

After losing the right to live, the raft and everything on it would again become something they couldn't perceive.

…

Liu Shuang's raft had only just been upgraded today, and the two of them had only briefly studied it. Further matters would require more time to understand in detail.

Most importantly, the shelter had not been activated yet, and some specific processes would only be known after the shelter had its first residents.

**

Shufu, having spent much of the night with Liu Shuang researching the shelter, went past her usual bedtime, leaving her mind buzzing with excitement when she returned to her Drift Island house, causing her to suffer from insomnia.

She didn’t rush to sleep but instead took out a bowl of beef noodle soup from her storage space, enjoying a long-overdue late-night snack.

Then, from the vast inventory on her tablet, she found a reincarnation drama filled with melodrama and excitement, snuggled comfortably into the sofa, covered herself with a light blanket, and began binge-watching.

Watching such reincarnation dramas required no brainpower; it was all about the thrill, which was incredibly stress-relieving.

Initially, she thought that since her bed was just a half-floor away, she could go up and sleep when she felt tired. However, before she knew it, she had fallen asleep on the sofa.

The sofa was wide and soft, and the temperature-controlled Drift Island house was quiet and cozy. With the curtains of the floor-to-ceiling windows drawn before she started watching, she slept until noon the next day.

Outside, familiar rain sounds echoed, indicating that it had started raining again, and the sound suggested it was a heavy downpour.

Shufu got up from the sofa, moved to the soft cushion beside the floor-to-ceiling window, and pulled back the curtains. The weather outside was indeed gloomy, with dark clouds hanging low in the sky, and the waves outside the raft were high, making it seem like a completely different world from yesterday evening.

After washing up, Shufu sat under the eaves of the front door, listening to the rain outside the protective shield, and enjoyed a bowl of Huaqiong’s brand mini wontons. Without changing clothes, she slipped on her slippers and headed to the various rafts at the back for her daily inspection.

On the first row of rafts, the Lighthouse Milk Tea Shop had risen, likely due to her setting the raft’s drifting speed very slow before going to bed last night, a perfect pace for enjoying the view from above.

Outside the Glass Planting House, Huaqiong continued to set up her stall every day. Now that the raft’s production had increased, her menu had expanded to include dishes like vegetable salad, stir-fried green peppers with potato strips, shredded cabbage, and egg drop soup with greens.

Huaqiong didn’t stock many varieties of vegetables but often changed them, focusing on offering a private snack stall with a little surprise each day.

On the second row of rafts, where the hotel was located, Liu Shuang, who had just become a raft resident, was accompanying her parents and Han Lan’s parents, leaning against the railing on the outer side of the raft, gazing at the waters outside.

For them, every moment since they woke up this morning was new and astonishing.

The two retired team members, Tang Li and Zhang Jun, despite one missing an eye and the other having an injured hand, were restless people. They started helping clean the hotel building early in the morning and then followed Longsheng to the animal shelter, always looking for something to do.

The interior of the hotel had increased in size, and with it, more work had arisen. They could hire two additional employees. Although Tang Li and Zhang Jun were both injured and unfit for missions, they performed these regular tasks quickly and well.

However, Lu Zheng felt awkward about hiring them. They were retired team members who had brought enough supplies with them when they joined the raft, intending to live comfortably and retire on it.

It was only their second day on the raft. Their eagerness to help didn’t mean he could justifiably hire them as employees. Even if they helped out only once in a while, he couldn’t accept it so easily. He had already asked Lu Ce to prepare some fresh fruits and vegetables to send over once they returned.

The pet house remained its usual lively self. Even just passing by, you could faintly hear the various animal sounds from inside the pet house. Fortunately, Zheng Feifei and her mother’s living space was well soundproofed; otherwise, they would have been disturbed during their rest.

On the third raft, the tree house library was open. Shu Fu went inside and saw Liu Zhen standing on a movable staircase searching for a book. Her expression was focused and pleasant.

On the fourth raft, she saw several companions who were resting today standing at the stern of Liu Shuang’s raft, curiously observing the floating shelter behind it on the water surface.

However, since they were neither employees of the shelter nor evacuees, they couldn’t access the waterway to go to the back. They could only stand on Liu Shuang’s raft and satisfy their curiosity from afar.

They had probably already learned about the general situation of the shelter from Liu Shuang and were aware of the special position of "executive." They were clearly very interested and were currently discussing, "If we switch jobs on the raft and don’t get selected, would it be embarrassing to go back to our original raft to work?"

Liu Shuang’s raft was the first among all the towed rafts to choose the “purified water” shared function. The shared functions of “purified water” and “power supply” had to follow the time settings of the Drift Island House.

Currently, the purified water in Shu Fu’s Drift Island House could be used for six hours daily, and the time period could be freely adjusted. During the set time, there was no limit to the amount of water used. Shu Fu had never adjusted this time period because her house had a 5000L compressed water tank that automatically refilled during the daily purified water usage period, so she had never lacked water.

But Liu Shuang’s raft was different. Although there was a water tank in the shelter, the small house with the triangular attic where she lived and worked did not have a water storage tank and could not automatically store water. So after towing her raft, Shu Fu had readjusted the water usage time, trying to spread it out more reasonably over the six hours.

The power supply raft next to it was switched back to a swimming pool raft by Shu Fu because Liu Shuang mentioned that the shelter hadn’t been activated yet. Her parents, as well as Han Lan’s parents, liked the environment of the hotel, so although her raft was towed, only she would return to this living area to sleep at night during this time.

It seemed unnecessary to tow the power supply raft just for one person, and she was quite interested in trying out this sea pool, so she had Shu Fu switch it back and would change it again when needed.

The people standing on Liu Shuang’s raft had come over to swim. After looking at the shelter from the railing for a while, they came over to the swimming pool raft. Seeing Shu Fu there, they all smiled at her.

Shu Fu returned their smile and then turned to walk along the passage between the rafts towards the frontmost Drift Island House.

After finishing her daily inspection, she was ready to go back to her cabin and chill out.

Luckily, she had various building toys delivered by Cheng Yu yesterday, and today she could binge-watch shows, snack, and build with the toys all at the same time.

**

A day later, Yao Ruoyun's raft hit the 100-day towing mark, allowing her to add a shared function. She finally went with "one-click dust removal."

After all, the areas that needed cleaning were far greater than the trash that needed to be handled daily in her home.

Six days later, Lu Zheng's raft also completed 100 days of towing, and of course, the new shared function he chose for the hotel was "waste disposal." This feature was better than he had imagined. In addition to the multi-functional kitchen sink, the public bathroom and the toilets in each room were also upgraded. From now on, guests at the hotel would no longer need to sort and pack garbage themselves.

The raft carried new guests, heading eastward, taking them to even broader waters.

The autumn ocean was much calmer than summer, and although stormy waves were inevitable, the high temperatures had gradually receded. When the waters were calm, the rafts could temporarily deactivate the shields for sea fishing, replenishing seafood supplies.

If the catch was abundant, a seafood barbecue would be held that evening.

Another ten days passed, and there were only a few days left until Shu Fu's next ten-draw streak.

On that day, while she was uploading some new oceanic life data using a satellite network card, she saw a message on one of the few currently operational websites about the North Plateau about to be completely submerged.