IP address changed. Firewall bypassed successfully…
The interface converted Country H’s text into Country R’s script. Shen Ruoran navigated to the most popular social media app used by Country H’s citizens to view daily life updates, clicking in to check the latest posts from Country R’s netizens.
The most recent entries were from noon the previous day; it wasn’t hard to guess that Country R’s network and communication systems had completely collapsed today.
[I Love Sashimi]: I live on the fifth floor in the city center. Today, the water coming out of the tap is completely black and smells horrific. I want to vomit. It feels like needles stinging and burning when it touches my skin. I don’t dare drink it. Argh! Can any kind soul send me some pure water? I’ve been thirsty for half a day.
[Three Punches Kill]: The Prime Minister said it’s just a lighting issue because of the rain. The water is normal. He said our noses are malfunctioning because it’s been raining too long. Drink with confidence! The Prime Minister even livestreamed himself drinking it—what are we afraid of?
[Harakiri]: My neighbor was so thirsty they couldn’t take it and took a sip. Not five minutes later, their stomach rotted right through. I seriously doubt the Prime Minister was drinking the same liquid…
[2D-Lolita]: Why haven’t we asked for help from our allies?? My house only has three floors, and the water has reached the third now. If it keeps coming down like this, I’m going to drown in my own home. There are enough ghosts in the water already; I don’t want to lie in this black, rotting filth!
Shen Ruoran silently changed her IP address back. She opened her browser, found her search history, and looked up “nuclear wastewater” again.
Then she searched for “nuclear radiation.”
She remained silent for a long time.
The news on the television screen happened to switch back to Country H, where the original host of her body lived. In the footage, police and soldiers were fighting to rescue trapped citizens. Even among the ordinary public, some risked their own lives to swim into turbulent rivers just to save one more victim.
What a stark contrast.
For some reason, Shen Ruoran felt a swelling sensation in her chest; it was painful.
The motherland she once lived in was just like Country H—they relied on a national spirit to twist themselves into a powerful force of patriotic unity. Whether it was natural disasters or man-made calamities, the glorious people’s soldiers were always the first to charge to the front.
As long as they were there, the country would always move forward.
When exactly had she forgotten these things?
The cruel rules of survival where only one could live, the countless claws of zombies, the bloodthirsty fangs of mutated beasts, and the poisoned blades aimed at your back by your own companions in the shadows.
In such an environment, kindness and greatness only served as catalysts for death.
Through a hundred fast-travel missions, hovering on the edge of life and death, Shen Ruoran had fought day and night, all while navigating the intrigues and deceptions of her own kind. One wrong step meant death.
The fact that she could still interact normally with people now was quite an achievement.
Touched by the images on screen, Shen Ruoran made an impulsive decision. Perhaps this choice had been hidden deep in her heart all along, but today, she finally faced her inner self: she wanted to use this building to preserve the final embers of human hope.
[Building Master’s intent to expand territory detected. Automatically initiating Character Identification…]
A virtual city map unfurled. Dozens of previously highlighted buildings merged into the flat environment, and new highlights appeared over specific individuals. Their professions and recruitment rewards were listed beside them.
If anyone else saw these names, they would be stunned; these were all “celebrities” one could find on Baidu Encyclopedia.
Shen Ruoran swiped through the list casually. When she reached Qing University, she stopped and zoomed in on that area.
A small icon of a person carried a reward of 500 Wealth points.
This was the highest amount on the entire map.
The description of the recruitment reward shook Shen Ruoran even more. The 500 Wealth points were her reward, and it seemed to imply that the building could be upgraded as long as she accumulated enough Wealth points.
For instance, the 0.8 Wealth points Zhou Qing spent in the supermarket had entered the building’s account.
In that case… if her income was fixed, and she lowered costs, wouldn’t the building be able to upgrade very quickly?
Shen Ruoran had a sudden flash of inspiration and tried to adjust the settings.
Operation failed. Prices are already at the minimum and cannot be changed.
Her gaze returned to the little icon on the map.
Lu Chuan, Professor at Qing University. A “Triple-Qing” PhD. His undergraduate major was Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety. Since his junior year, he had been secretly groomed by the state, recommended for graduate school, and fast-tracked through his Master’s and Doctorate.
His resume on Baidu Encyclopedia was extraordinary. He had skipped two grades in elementary school. When he took the college entrance exam in his second year of high school, his score was already high enough for top-tier universities. In his third year, he claimed the title of the top science student in City B. He had won countless university competition awards, and his research projects were vital to national security.
Shen Ruoran closed her phone. She was very satisfied with this “favorite of the heavens” and decided to extend an olive branch to him.
The navigation showed that the distance from Xinju Garden to Qing University was 28 kilometers. A round trip would take over an hour.
Going now was the perfect timing.
The first-floor doors opened outward against the pressure of the water, and a mini-submarine surged out stylishly, leaving a wildly spinning vortex in its wake.
Bo Zhiya stared blankly at the massive flood outside the door. He pointed at the door Shen Ruoran hadn’t closed and asked, “Auntie, should we help the Building Owner close the door?”
Zhou Qing stopped him. “The Building Owner didn’t say to close it. We just need to do the tasks she assigned to us.”
Bo Zhiya nodded, stared out into the distance for a few seconds, and turned to leave.
Shen Ruoran’s hand on the navigation stick felt cold, and her heart was exceptionally heavy. She had never felt that a journey could be so long; it felt as if she were crossing half a century.
Through the transparent glass of the submarine, she could easily see that the surroundings were already littered with corpses.
These were citizens who had lost their lives to the natural disaster, as well as innocent animals.
The humans who had stopped breathing were cold and stiff, lying forever in the endless flood.
Cats and dogs, in their final moments, might have wondered why the water was forcing its way into their bodies so desperately this time.
They had all drowned.
On the Qing University campus, the flood lashed against the brick buildings mercilessly along with the wild winds. Willow trees and greenery, torn from their roots, floated haphazardly on the water’s surface.
Outside the door of a 7th-floor laboratory, a top-tier national security boat was squeezed into a tiny patch of space.
Several men who looked like military officers stood in a rigid formation. The rain splashing in from the sides beat heavily against their faces, but their expressions remained dark as they constantly monitored the storm.
They were under orders from above to escort Professor Lu Chuan to a national base designed to resist various natural disasters.
Li Fei had a cigarette in his mouth, but his lighter refused to spark. He wanted to enter the lab to use the windless environment to light up, but the Captain stopped him.
“No open flames in the laboratory.”
Li Fei ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Damn it, how long is that guy going to stay in there? Why won’t he come out?
Grapevine news from the Meteorological Bureau said that this rain wouldn’t stop for at least ten days to two weeks. The predicted limit for the flood’s height was around 28 meters—roughly the height of the 8th floor of an average residential building. And that was the best-case scenario based on current surveys.