The torrential rain fell all night, not stopping until four in the morning. After this night's baptism, the water levels in all bodies of water rose significantly. By dawn, some territories too close to the river were already surrounded by water.

The Tianju Stronghold was one of them. Chu Cheng had originally thought that while the atmosphere in the stronghold had improved, it was still far inferior to the main territory. He wanted to observe the new model for a while before deciding whether to relocate everyone. But when he woke up, he found that the water had blocked the front door, and he had to wade through it to get out.

If it rained again that night, one could imagine what tomorrow would be like. Following the logic of the game, Chu Cheng had no doubt that if the territory was surrounded by floodwaters, the protective shield would gradually break down. So, he immediately led everyone out, leaving no one behind in the entire stronghold.

After Ye Miao got up, the first thing she saw was the message from Chu Cheng telling her that everyone had set off. After a simple reply, she scrolled down and saw that a group that had been dormant before was pushed to the top.

【City-level lord exchange group】

Ye Miao was added to the group the day he became rich overnight and upgraded to a city. Later, when Tiaodeng Town was upgraded to Tiaodeng City, An Ruoying was also added. However, neither of them had spoken much in the group, and other lords were rarely seen speaking in the group. It was always quiet.

A group that usually has no one talking will be particularly conspicuous when it suddenly pops up. Ye Miao immediately clicked on it and found that the group had already chatted for several pages.

[S City, Wuxia City, Lord Hua Yao] Urgent Notice!!! Territories with rivers, quickly build dams! Our river is overflowing! Thankfully, there are no buildings near the river, otherwise we'd have to relocate the victims!!!

[City Z, Sweet Zongzi City, Lord Li Weiwei] Huh? We have a river here too. I checked it out today, and it's fine. I thought the waters within our territory wouldn't flood.

[S City, Wuxia City, Lord Hua Yao] What? It's not raining where you are?

[Z City·Sweet Zongzi City·Lord·Li Weiwei] It rained all night long, and it was really heavy.

[H City, Linhe City, Lord Fang Yuan] Do you have any special buffs? If so, please share!

[City Z, Sweet Zongzi City, Lord Li Weiwei] No...at least I'm not aware of such a thing. Are there differences between maps, and aren't they all the same?

Everyone then began to discuss, analyzing from various perspectives why some territories with rivers experienced flooding while others felt nothing at all. During this time, more and more lords joined the discussion, enthusiastically sharing information about their own territories and expressing their own thoughts, making the conversation lively.

Until someone discovered some blind spots:

[E City·Electronic Pet City·Lord·Liu Mosi] Is it possible that this has little to do with the game settings, and is just because some territories are low-lying and some territories are high-lying?

“…” A large number of ellipsis appeared in the group.

[S City·Wuxia City·Lord·Hua Yao]...Now that you mention it...Hahahahaha, it's true, our entire S City is very low-lying!

[Z City·Sweet Zongzi City·Lord·Li Weiwei] That makes sense. My territory is built on the hillside. It may be because water flows to lower places that it does not flood.

Ye Miao was speechless when he saw this. There were also many complaints in the group, and everyone was making fun of themselves for having a low IQ.

After that, everyone started talking about their own things. Although they were all in the same group, the chat topics were unconsciously divided into several groups. Some were discussing how to resist floods, and some were analyzing whether there would be other dangers in this model.

Ye Miao glanced through it quickly without having too many thoughts, but considering that she could open a waterway for trading in the future, she still wanted to make some familiar faces.

[T City, Overnight Rich City, Lord, Ye Miao] Excuse me for interrupting. I think cities with rivers within territories are generally fine, as they're right under your noses, so any problems can be addressed promptly. But if there's a river very close to the territory, be careful; being surrounded by floodwaters can be very dangerous.

[City Z, Sweet Zongzi City, Lord Li Weiwei]...? It's okay outside the territory, right? There's a protective shield anyway?

[E City·Electronic Pet City·Lord·Liu Mosi] I think what the lord said makes sense. The protective shield will lose blood when it encounters an attack, so why doesn't it lose blood when it encounters a flood?

[S City · Wuxia City · Lord · Hua Yao] Oh my god, no! Not only is the terrain here low, but there's a river right outside. If that happens, I'll be in trouble both internally and externally! What should I do?

[J City·Good Morning City·Lord·Guo Li] A discovery, I don’t know if it’s useful or not. The terrain here is not high, but the river channel has not risen. It is reasonable to suspect that it is because it is close to the sea, and the water flows directly into the sea and is discharged.

Guo Li's message didn't attract much attention, as several lords like Hua Yao were already in dire straits, and everyone was offering advice and trying to help them overcome their difficulties. Ye Miao chatted with them intermittently for a while, until Tianju's large migration group arrived near noon. She was forced to shut down her interface and go out to greet them. She then spent most of the day busy settling the new members.

Since many merchants were transferred from the main territory to lower prices and replenish resources, the members who moved to the stronghold were not as excited as Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden. However, some of them showed envy when they saw facilities that the stronghold did not have.

As Wang Siyuan and Gao Hong were moving into their wooden house with their child, they passed by the Central Primary School. A combat drill was underway in the small playground in front of the school building. Gao Hong took a look and couldn't help but complain, "Look how nice this school is! I told you we had to move here so your child could attend, and you kept saying it was a waste of money!"

Wang Siyuan had actually been drawn to the school earlier, but now he stubbornly said, "Why isn't it an IQ tax just because it looks presentable? What IQ tax product doesn't look presentable? Think about it, it's the end of the world, you can go out and fight, why do you need combat training classes? If this isn't an IQ tax, what is it?"

Gao Hong: "It's obviously safe to practice in school! How can it be the same to fight monsters face to face outside?"

"Tsk." Wang Siyuan curled his lips. "I can't argue with you. Go and ask about the price. If you can afford it, go ahead. I have no objection, but it definitely won't be cheap!"

"Let's go." Gao Hong was too lazy to argue with him anymore. She put down her luggage at the wooden house and turned around to go out and inquire about the tuition at the school.

Principal Liu informed us, "Our semester lasts three months, and the tuition is 1,000 gold coins. If you want to eat at school, you'll have to pay an additional 30 gold coins a day."

"!!!" Gao Hong was not only shocked but also refreshed when she heard the price. She immediately went home and complained to Wang Siyuan, "1,000 gold for three months, you call that an IQ tax? 30 gold a day for food, you call that an IQ tax? Even lower than that, it can still catch up with compulsory education!"

After hearing the price, Wang Siyuan lowered his head guiltily.

This price wouldn't be considered low in other territories, as saving money was a struggle, and a few hundred gold extra per month was no joke. But after Sweet Orange City became a hotbed of overnight wealth, they'd all realized how easy it was to earn and save money here. With only 1,000 gold in tuition for three months, it was no pressure for most members.

Wang Siyuan immediately slid down and admitted his mistake: "I was wrong, I was wrong. You can take your child to register tomorrow, okay?"

In the blink of an eye, the second day of the new mode passed, and at 9:30 pm, the rain started again.

The rain today was as heavy as last night. There were still many people outside at this time yesterday, but today everyone was prepared and went home early.

At 0:30, in S City, the river near Ye Ling Village surged and rose violently. Due to the close distance, the river water quickly approached Ye Ling Village.

In fact, last night, there was already some water accumulation in some places outside Ye Ling Village, but the area was not large, so no one took it seriously.

But this time, after just one hour, starting at 0:30, the village was surrounded by water on three sides. Another hour later, the last side, which was on slightly higher ground, was also completely surrounded by water.

The entire territory is no longer connected to the land, and is only separated by a layer of protective cover from the accumulated water, like a balloon pressed into the water.

Then, the health value of the protective shield began to decrease, and the numbers jumped every second: [-1] [-1] [-1] [-1].

Although the protective shield has a total of 10,000 health points, it can only last for more than two hours if no one repairs it.

At around four in the morning, the protective shield suddenly shattered, and the floodwaters that had been kept out surged into the territory, easily destroying houses and engulfing everything. The sleeping members had no time to even react, let alone call for help, before they were engulfed by the floodwaters, their health depleted in seconds.

A few lucky people were rushed out of the houses and managed to find something to hold on to, barely saving their lives, but everywhere they looked was devastated.

The once prosperous territory was destroyed, and the bodies of some friends who had chatted at dinner floated on the water, disappeared after a few seconds, and their equipment surfaced.

That night, the floods hadn't destroyed just one territory. The next morning, Ye Miao woke up to see a lively chatter in the City Lords' Exchange Group. Many lords were complaining that many of their territories hadn't survived the night. Subconsciously, Ye Miao opened the map of City T and saw that several of its territories had also been lost.

She frowned, feeling strange in her heart.

She had never seen flood mode before when playing games, but generally speaking, there should be a solution for any mode.

For example, the Frost Giants and the Hive are essentially about increasing a territory's combat and defense capabilities. If you can both attack and defend, you'll survive. Later, there are countermeasures for most extreme weather conditions. If you don't proactively prepare, even a resource-rich territory can still survive. The Swamp Mode tests your resource reserves while challenging your humanity. If your humanity isn't crushed, this mode won't be too difficult.

In general, there was no previous mode that made the territory completely unable to fight back. Although many small territories found it difficult to survive and many did not survive, this was different from directly killing people.

But the current flood seems to be a complete gamble with life?

Those with good terrain can rest easy, while those with poor terrain can see the flood approaching step by step. Even if dams are built, they may not always be effective. As long as they are surrounded by floods, they will be wiped out sooner or later?

This doesn't make sense. According to the game's logic, there's no reason to design a level that the player can't beat at all. There must be a way to beat this mode.

The author has something to say:

I can't get 6 sun out today, I will definitely make it tomorrow, wiping my tears

I'll give out red envelopes to 50 random comments on this chapter.