Chapter 192

Old Zhang's broken iron bucket had just dipped into the old well when it was pulled by an unusual resistance—

He quickly lifted the bucket, but the water inside was no longer the clear, shimmering water it had been yesterday. Instead, it was covered with a layer of yellowish-green oily scum, and faint green smoke was rising from the parts of the bucket that were in contact with the water. It had a more pungent, acidic smell than acid rain, like vinegar mixed with rust.

"Don't drink it! This water has been contaminated by acid rain!"

In a panic, Old Zhang threw the bucket to the ground, spilling water into the mud. With a "sizzle," small pits were eroded into the ground, and the originally wet mud instantly became dry and hard, turning an abnormal grayish-white color.

The group of refugees clutching empty bowls around them froze. One of them, a young man in a tattered acid-resistant coat, swallowed hard and said in a hoarse voice, "Uncle Zhang, this is the last well. If we don't drink from it... we won't make it through today!"

The young man's name was Awei. His sister, whose lips were cracked from thirst, was huddled in a tattered sack next to him, her eyes fixed on the water stains on the ground.

Old Zhang's heart clenched, but he still pressed Ah Wei's bowl down: "Drinking this will only make you die faster! Yesterday, Xiao Li's brother drank this kind of water and died in less than half an hour!"

He had barely finished speaking when he heard a heart-wrenching cry from not far away—it was Xiao Li, who was holding his younger brother's stiff body under the rain shelter. The child's mouth was still covered with yellowish-green vomit, and his fingers were curled up, clearly caused by convulsions during the poisoning.

Ah Wei's sister suddenly started crying, her voice weak: "Brother, I'm thirsty..."

Ah Wei gritted his teeth, got up, and ran deeper into the ruins: "I'll go see if there's any water that hasn't seeped in!"

Old Zhang tried to stop him, but couldn't—after two days of acid rain, the water on the ground had already seeped in, so where was there any clean water left? Sure enough, less than ten minutes later, Awei came back with his head down, his bowl empty, and his face covered in mud: "There's acid water everywhere, even the water on the leaves has a strange smell."

The atmosphere inside the rain shelter instantly turned somber. Aunt Wang held her grandson in her arms; the child's lips had turned purple. She took out half a bottle of acid-resistant repair liquid that she had previously snatched from the "Number One Store in the World," intending to moisten the child's lips, but was stopped by the older woman next to her: "Don't waste it! Repair liquid is for treating acid burns, it can't quench thirst, and drinking it won't help!"

Aunt Wang's hand froze in mid-air, tears falling onto the child's face, but the child had no strength to wipe them away, only weakly humming "thirsty".

"How about... we try 'Number One Shop Under Heaven'?" Someone suddenly pulled out a communicator, opened the "I Am the God of Wealth" online store page, but immediately frowned.

"Clean water stock is zero! Emergency water kits are all gone! The last restock was just two hours ago, and we can't even get any!"

The system chat area on the communicator had exploded with messages pleading for water: "@IamGodofWealth, please send clean water! My elderly relative is dying of thirst!"

"All the wells in the west of the city are broken. Is anyone willing to share some water? I'll trade demon cores for it!" "I still have half a bottle here. Does anyone have any fragments of acid-resistant clothing? Want to trade?"

Old Zhang also took out his communicator and refreshed it again and again, but the "Drinking Water Section" in the online store still showed "Insufficient Stock." He sighed and put the communicator back in his pocket.

Yesterday, he used a first-tier demon core to steal two 500ml bottles of clean water and gave them all to his sick wife. Now he himself is almost too thirsty to go on.

He looked at the old well outside the shed. There was more and more scum in the water, and bubbles were rising from the bottom of the well. He didn't know if it was acid rain still seeping in or something else.

"Someone's drinking!" someone suddenly shouted at the entrance of the shed. Old Zhang looked up and saw a stranger, a refugee, squatting by the well, scooping water into his mouth with his hands. He was obviously desperately thirsty.

"Don't drink!" Old Zhang rushed over to pull him away, but it was too late—the man had only taken two sips when he suddenly clutched his throat, his face turning bright red, and then with a "whoosh," he vomited a large mouthful of yellowish-green liquid mixed with blood.

He collapsed to the ground, his body convulsing, his fingers digging into the mud. He stopped moving after less than half a minute, his eyes wide open, filled with pain.

The people around were so frightened that they backed away, and no one dared to approach the well. Suddenly, Aunt Wang's grandson started coughing, his breathing growing weaker and weaker. Aunt Wang, holding the child, knelt on the ground and cried, "Does anyone have clean water? Please, I beg you, give me some, I'll trade you manganese crystal fragments!"

She took out a small piece of manganese crystal from her pocket. She had found it when she was picking up the weapons. She had originally intended to replace the acid-resistant coating, but now she could only use it to exchange for a sip of water.

But no one responded—whoever has clean water has to keep it for themselves or their family, how could they bear to give it to others?

Seeing this scene, Old Zhang felt a tightness in his chest. He got up and walked deeper into the ruins, trying to find any water that hadn't been affected by the acid rain, even just rainwater from under the eaves.

He hadn't walked more than a few steps when he suddenly stepped on something soft. Looking down, he saw a tiny insect, about the size of a fingernail, with a pale green shell. Where it crawled, it left a shallow, acidic mark on the muddy ground.

"Where did this bug come from?" Old Zhang frowned, stomped the bug to death, but didn't care—his mind was full of water, who would care about a little bug?

But he didn't see that where he had stepped on the insect, there were many more of the same insects wriggling under the soil. Their shells were getting harder and harder, gleaming with an acidic sheen, and they were crawling along the cracks in the soil where the acid rain had seeped in, toward places with plenty of water.

Not far away, by the old well, Awei was staring blankly at the bubbles at the bottom of the well. He felt that something was moving in the water, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He only felt that the sour smell was getting stronger and stronger, so strong that it made him feel nauseous.

Inside the rain shelter, Aunt Wang's grandson finally stopped breathing. Aunt Wang held the child's body and cried until she had no strength left.

On the communicator, someone sent a message saying that "Number One Store Under Heaven" might not be able to restock for another two hours. Someone else said that a fight broke out at the eastern outpost over water, and three people died.

Old Zhang sat on the ground, looking at the gray rain curtain in the distance. His throat was so dry it felt like it was about to burst into flames. He suddenly remembered the insect he had just stepped on and felt a strange sense of panic. This acid rain had not only polluted the water sources, but it seemed to have also forced things out of the soil. He wondered what other disasters awaited them next.