Chapter 84: Survivors in the City Center

Jiang Yan piloted her inflatable speedboat, following the directions indicated by her compass and sextant, heading toward the city’s CBD.

She didn’t go too fast, though, worried she might accidentally crash into the tops of those fourteen- or fifteen-story buildings that were just barely submerged.

These high-rises, with their tops so close to the water’s surface, were like hidden reefs.

After half an hour, more and more tall buildings began to emerge above the waterline in her field of view.

She had no choice but to take out her rubber dinghy from her storage space again, and stow the speedboat away.

Everywhere she passed, it was just vast stretches of glistening water.

Looking at so many familiar street sights and her once-favorite little shops, now all submerged under forty or fifty meters of water, Jiang Yan, a native-born Anming resident, couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow.

To be safe, when she was about a kilometer away from the nearest high-rise, Jiang Yan took out a high-powered telescope from her space.

Peering through the lens, Jiang Yan’s breath caught.

Perhaps because the rain had finally stopped, she saw that in the cluster of high-rises near the city center, people—just like she had earlier—were tossing rubber dinghies out of their windows.

Some were even piloting speedboats.

Without exception, all the boats were packed with people.

In the city center, where every inch of land is precious, the people living in these high-rises were no less wealthy than those in the luxury villa districts on the outskirts. It wasn’t surprising that they had access to such equipment.

Of course, speedboats and dinghies aren’t exactly expensive, but people who, like Sun Jingtao and Su Dai, had the foresight to buy and keep them at home were still rare.

After all, for the occasional outdoor trip, it’s easier just to rent one nearby.

Keeping one at home just takes up space.

Some people had strapped on life rings, car tires, or were using children’s inflatable green crocodiles, yellow ducks, pink swans, or the floating boards adults use to learn to swim—anything that could float—as they all swam out together.

Most likely, they were swimming from their residential buildings to nearby office towers to search for usable supplies.

The water was cold, and most of them were only wearing swimsuits. Even if the distance wasn’t far, the discomfort was easy to imagine.

Beneath the water’s surface near those high-rises were sprawling malls, supermarkets of all sizes, snack shops—everything.

Though most food would have spoiled or become unusable after the heat and heavy rain, there would still be far more supplies there than in the office buildings.

But it was obviously unrealistic for them to dive underwater to search for supplies.

Because of water pressure and oxygen limits, the human free-diving record is only 113 meters, and even professional divers rarely go beyond 30 meters.

For ordinary people, anything over five meters is unbearable, not to mention having to salvage items from below.

Jiang Yan even saw some survivors desperately shouting and waving frantically in her direction.

Some had even straightened out metal clothes hangers and tied red clothing or colorful balloons to the ends, waving them out their windows.

They’d probably spotted her and her boat.

Jiang Yan frowned slightly.

In theory, the human eye can see tall buildings several kilometers away, but to make out a person’s face, you’d need to be within fifty or sixty meters.

So, chances are, those people also had binoculars or something similar.

After all, these days, plenty of parents buy toy or real telescopes for their kids.

Not to mention the astronomy enthusiasts.

These scenes were definitely beyond what she’d expected.

Right now, she felt like a classic introvert—especially averse to crowded situations.

It wasn’t that she was afraid; she just didn’t want her time wasted by irrelevant people or matters.

With that thought, she immediately turned her dinghy around and quickly paddled away.

Fortunately, there was a nearly submerged office building nearby that she could use for cover, so she stopped there for now.

It seemed her plan to go straight to the city’s most upscale shopping centers was clearly not going to work.

She’d have to enter from the submerged entrance to the pedestrian street instead, taking a “surround the city from the countryside” approach: collect the jewelry from the outer shops first, then head for those high-end malls from underwater.

There were a few jewelry stores on the pedestrian street, the kind that opened directly onto the street.

The buildings here were only four or five stories tall, surrounded by old neighborhoods and early-built residential areas.

At most, they were eleven or twelve stories high, and now all completely submerged.

In the past, it would have been easy to walk along the pedestrian street to get inside.

But now, with everything underwater, visibility was poor and there were all sorts of obstacles, making things much more difficult.

You could say the city center she once knew had become an underwater labyrinth.

Luckily, she’d already made her own “treasure map,” her vision had been enhanced, and all her gear was top-notch, so she didn’t have to worry about getting lost underwater.

As Jiang Yan thought about all this, she was already busy double-checking and swapping out her diving equipment.

She put on a diving headlamp and strapped a special underwater flashlight to her arm.

The man-eating flower, which had been itching to come out, was finally released.

Looking at the vast, ocean-like scene all around, Flower Baby was momentarily confused.

To avoid being spotted, it kept itself tiny—only about the size of a palm.

It looked just like a particularly cute, miniature piranha plant figurine.

“Jie jie jie?” Mama, are you going underwater?

It had studied human knowledge and quickly recognized Jiang Yan’s diving gear.

“Yes. Flower Baby, you’ll help me navigate in a bit.” As she spoke, Jiang Yan handed it a waterproofed map and a scuba diving compass.

Time to see how well her “child” had learned.

Jiang Yan wasn’t sure if it could actually read the map—she’d never thought to have it “digest” one before. The idea had just popped into her head.

She still had a sextant in her space, but that was heavy and bulky.

She was pretty familiar with this area anyway; as long as she knew the general direction, she could find her way.

Flower Tool-Baby wrapped its two leaves around the map and compass, its little eyes spinning:

“Jie jie jie?” Mama, the map is already in my mind—do I still need to hold it?

Jiang Yan was delighted: “!!!” What a genius baby!

“No need.” She smiled and took the map back.

“Shall we go underwater, Flower Baby?” Jiang Yan pointed at the water.

She remembered the man-eating flower could handle gold, wood, water, fire, earth, and air, so it shouldn’t be afraid of water.

“Jie jie jie—” Mama, I’m scared, unless you take me with you…

As it spoke, Flower Baby shot out a vine and wrapped it around her calf.

“…,” Jiang Yan couldn’t help but laugh, patting her left wrist. “Alright, I’ll take you with me, but can you not wrap around my leg?”"