Chapter 54 No Lou Yuncheng

Although the cave restaurant faces west and is away from the direction of the tsunami, it must have been flooded more than a week ago.

The restaurant's main door faced east and had long been washed away. Broken wood half-blocked the shattered door, and it was surrounded by half-rotten branches and mud. It looked like a place that had been abandoned for a long time.

Shu Fu turned on the protective shield again, took out the flashlight, strode in, quickly scanned the entire restaurant, and then turned off the protective shield.

She mainly wanted to confirm whether there were any human or animal corpses in there. The temperature was getting higher day by day. If there was a corpse left unattended anywhere in the restaurant, whether it was human or animal, it would rot, breed maggots, and stink over time, affecting her accommodation environment.

It was very dirty inside and the air was not very good. There was a lot of garbage, mud, and branches piled up, and even some dead fish, which must have been washed into the caves on the hill by the tsunami.

Later, the water receded, but the fish remained because the temperature had been low and they still had a fishy smell and had not yet rotted.

But fortunately, there were no human bodies inside.

This place is quite solid, and the whole hill should have been a scenic spot in the past, with many recreational activities, but the terrain is not suitable for building B&Bs.

In addition, a few months ago, huge waves began to hit Muzhou Province. Although the height here will not be affected by huge waves of dozens of meters high, the people who originally took temporary refuge here would be panicked and prepare for the future, and would definitely try to find a way to move.

Limited by the natural cave, the restaurant is a low, round shape that is open horizontally. The top and surrounding rock walls maintain the most original rock appearance. The whole restaurant is not large. Apart from the kitchen and warehouse, it is divided into a hall area and several private rooms, which are where guests dine.

Caves and sunsets are the selling points here, so these guest areas all have open caves where one can enjoy the scenery outside. The lobby area even has an outward-facing cave platform with an iron fence around the outer circle.

There used to be a cliff outside the fence, but now it has become an ocean. However, the water level is very low at the moment. Shu Fu looked down and felt that the distance from here to the water surface was conservatively estimated to be 120 to 150 meters.

There were stone steps carved out on the rock wall that could go straight up and down, and iron protective handrails were installed, but the stone steps did not lead to the bottom. There was a small platform near the water surface, and then it turned and went towards the inside of the hill.

She guessed that this was another way to get up to the restaurant. The stone steps were a little narrow but not too steep, and they were also equipped with anti-slip stone strips.

Shu Fu estimated the distance between the stone platform and the water surface, compared it with the length of the rope ladder in the survival equipment, and felt that he had found a shortcut to go up and down the cave restaurant.

The private rooms consist of several oddly shaped small caves, all with their entrances facing west. The small ones are fitted with glass, while the large ones are half-surrounded by wrought iron fences like balconies.

But now the glass has been broken by the water. The fence is still there, but it is covered with all kinds of garbage and rotten leaves.

Overall, Shu Fu was very satisfied with this place. It was some distance away from the water, so he could hide there for some time before the water level rose completely. The hall was large enough to place a raft. It was close to the water, so there was a shortcut to the surface.

There are certainly disadvantages, the most important of which is that it takes a lot of time to clean up.

She planned to focus on cleaning the lobby and a private room. Of course, all the fish carcasses in the restaurant had to be cleared out, but the branches and leaves in other areas were not a problem. The door could not be repaired, but the tall cabinets could be moved to block it to prevent the wind from blowing in when it was windy.

Shu Fu took off his raincoat and put it away, took out a multi-functional shovel and assembled it, put on rubber non-slip gloves, replaced his waterproof boots with old non-slip rain boots, and started working.

She found an unwanted thick empty cardboard box, shoveled all the dead fish from every corner into it, then dragged it to the fence of the cave platform and poured all the dead fish inside into the water under the rock wall.

After that, they started to clean up the garbage and branches in the hall and the selected boxes. There must have been survivors in the hall for a while, so the original tables and chairs were moved away and piled on one side, and there was also domestic garbage. After the huge waves hit, the pile of tables and chairs became even more messy, and there was garbage in the corners that could not be completely cleaned up.

Shu Fu picked and chose, leaving only the cleanest table, dragging away all the other unnecessary tables and chairs, completely clearing out the side of the hall near the box.

The box she chose was L-shaped, with the opening on the short side. It didn't have glass, but an iron fence. Probably to prevent people from falling in, a low stone wall was added outside the fence. On rainy days like now, she only needed to hide on the long side of the L shape and she wouldn't get wet at all.

Not only will you not get wet by rain, you won’t even have to worry about hail or thunderstorms.

Unless there is another tsunami hundreds of meters high, flooding this place again...

Because this was where she would stay for four hours every day, she cleaned it up very carefully, clearing away all the garbage, mud, and branches in every corner. Finally, she took out the disinfectant spray and sprayed it everywhere, even the top of the rock wall.

Finally, she began to search the space and found a small desk that had been stored in the Suicheng office building earlier, and a foldable round recliner. She took them out and placed them in the right position to make sure they were the right size.

She changed her rain boots back into waterproof boots, then carried the boots and the multi-purpose shovel to the hall, found an iron bucket near the pile of tables and chairs, poured water into it, and then began to wash the rain boots and the multi-purpose shovel.

Because she had shoveled garbage and dead fish, she washed it very carefully and added disinfectant to the water. Finally, she rinsed and cleaned the rubber gloves and the table that had been left there on purpose. Then she put the washed shovel and other things on the table and let them dry automatically.

After finishing all his work, Shu Fu returned to the small box in the cave and sat back on the recliner, feeling completely exhausted.

She checked the four-hour countdown on her phone after she folded the raft and found that there were only 30 minutes left. That means three and a half hours have passed since she came ashore, and she didn't even notice the time.

It is indeed easy to get by when you only have to work 4 hours a day.

Shu Fu was very happy. She took out her folding water cup and filled it with water. She planned to play a single-player game for a while, and then "get off work" and go back to the Drifting Island House to have lunch.

**

The raft was placed on one side of the hall, with the front door facing the cave platform on the west. The angle was just right, and one could check the weather conditions outside by standing at the front of the raft. However, because the top of the cave was low, no matter whether it was a ship passing by outside or a helicopter in the sky, they would not notice the raft in the cave.

But even if you see it, it’s nothing. A wooden platform appearing in a place that used to be a restaurant is not strange.

The underwater bedroom is indeed a compressed space. From the outside, it seems to be only about 30 centimeters high. The glass wall is different from the glass windows of the drifting island house above. The glass wall is made of frosted glass, while the glass wall of the underwater bedroom looks like tempered metal from the outside. No matter how close you get, or whether there is light inside, you can't see anything from the outside looking in.

The entire underwater bedroom looks like the bottom of a raft, with an extra flat metal box attached to it, according to the size of the drifting island house.

The advantages of placing the raft indoors are obvious: you can safely store the four hours of shield time each day, and you don't have to go up and down the landing slope every day to stay for four hours.

The disadvantage is that it lacks 100L of purified water every day, and this is a raft after all. When it drifts on the water, she can come and go freely and see different scenery.

It’s a bit regrettable that we are now restricted to land.

She still needs to work hard to upgrade and increase the usage time to 24 hours as soon as possible, floating on the water every day, even if the area where she can move is limited, it will be much more comfortable and free than it is now.

That day, after Shu Fu returned to the Drifting Island House, she did not go out again to study the idea of ​​taking a shortcut into the water. She had already met the target amount of exercise for the day, and she had plenty of time anyway, so she could just take it slow and lazy.

The next day, there was a storm outside, mixed with hail. Shu Fu watched variety shows for four hours in the small box in the cave, and then went back to the cabin and lay down.

On the third day, there was heavy rain and thunder all day long, but the wind was weaker than yesterday, and no rain entered the cave hall.

Shu Fu found a large curtain cloth that she had used in her small apartment in Suicheng and spread it on the floor of the cave hall. Then she took out the manual rowing machine and placed it on the curtain cloth. She exercised for thirty minutes, and then lay on the folding sofa to watch a movie for three hours. Finally, she recalled the self-defense skills that Han Lan taught her and practiced them on her own for thirty minutes. Then she went back to the Drifting Island House after get off work.

On the fourth day, the rain began to subside in the morning and finally stopped near noon. Shu Fu seized the time, put on non-slip waterproof boots and non-slip hiking gloves, and slowly walked down the stone steps next to the cave platform.

Although the rain had stopped temporarily, it was still wet everywhere. She held on to the railing and took every step carefully.

When we got to the stone platform below, we found that the exit of the platform passage that turned to the inside of the hill was also a cave, and there was an iron door here. The iron door was made to match the size of the cave, completely separating the platform area from the passage inside the cave.

Shu Fu estimated that this passage should be open during the restaurant's business hours. It belongs to another cliff scenic trail. After the disaster, the restaurant closed and stopped operating, and this iron gate was also locked. Those who had come here to take refuge would only pry the door open, and would not study other trails.

Shu Fu took out a flashlight and shone it inside, and found that the so-called cave was only about five or six meters deep. Five or six meters beyond was another cave entrance. That cave entrance had no iron door. The light was good today, and she could vaguely see the green branches and leaves on the other side.

Is there a forest over there? According to the location and altitude, if we go through here, it might be very close to the path she took to climb the mountain yesterday.

Shu Fu put away the flashlight and planned to study the iron door again later.

She took out a rope ladder from the space, fixed it to the iron railing, then pulled it hard to test its bearing capacity. After making sure there was no problem, she threw the other end of the rope ladder out of the railing. The height did not reach the water surface, but it was enough for her.

She controlled the bracelet and placed the raft toward the water below. The raft was now placed 50 meters away. She could place it anywhere she wanted within 50 meters.

She climbed over the railing and held on to the rope ladder. The physical advantages brought by long-term practice on the manual rowing machine were reflected at this moment. Her arm strength and core strength were far better than before.

A rope ladder like this with no support was difficult to climb, but now she felt that her arms could easily bear her weight and hold her firmly on the ladder.

The 20-meter distance was soon reached the bottom, and her feet stepped on the top of the drifting island house. This small top was half surrounded by the raft fence, and it looked like a second-floor terrace.

She took off her boots, stepped over the eaves of the back door, climbed down, and successfully entered the cabin from there.

Shu Fu manually drained the water from the waste tank, and then found that there was nothing to do.

When the raft is on the water, the remaining purified water will be automatically stored in the water tank every day, but today has not yet passed, so this function has not yet taken effect.

She was now on the water, and the four hours of "work" she needed to do today were over. She could let the raft drift to an area where there was a signal before, stay there for the night, check the Internet for news outside, and come back tomorrow, but -

Shu Fu walked out of the eaves and looked up at the rope ladder hanging from the top. Didn't it clearly tell others that there were people living in the cave above?

Although the possibility of a ship passing nearby was low, she couldn't be 100% sure that there were no ships.

She had a portable protective shield and a nail gun, which could be used to protect herself and fight against enemies, but she really didn't want anyone to break into the temporary residence that she had cleaned with great difficulty and mess it up again!

Cleaning is tiring...

Shu Fu hesitated for a moment, then climbed back up to the wooden house, put on his waterproof boots, and climbed up the rope ladder again.

Climbing up was more difficult than climbing down. Shu Fu took twice as long to climb back to the platform. He found himself sweating. The temperature today was at least over 20 degrees Celsius, and he felt hot when he moved a little.

She retrieved the raft, untied the ladder and stowed it away, then found a crowbar.

This was the harvest from the automatic water fishing rod in Suicheng. She thought it would be good for hitting people and it didn’t take up much space, so she put it away.

She used a pickaxe to pry open the lock of the iron gate, took out a flashlight, carefully stepped into the cave, and soon reached the other end.

The cave was very damp inside and outside. Outside the cave was a path in the woods. She looked at the fallen trees on the side and remembered where she was. If she turned a corner and walked down a distance, she would reach the col where she had moored the raft before.

She took out her cell phone to check the electronic map and found that she was right.

After turning the corner, walk down the stairs for two or three minutes and you will reach the col.

It seems that this road is the real shortcut to the mountain. In the future, even when it rains, she can always use this road to go directly up and down the cave restaurant.

Shu Fu returned to the iron gate, found a thick iron chain and a matching large lock from the space, and locked the iron gate with the stone steps again. These were also the harvest in Suicheng. After the automatic water fishing rod was "disinfected" with one button, it looked like new, so she put them away and put them to use now.

In this way, no one else can take the shortcut to the cave restaurant, and she has blocked the main door above with a cabinet, so it is like a relatively safe home that belongs to her alone.

When she goes out on the raft to surf, she doesn't have to worry about anyone accidentally breaking in.

Shu Fu returned to the col, released the raft, and happily jumped back into the arms of her "little cutie".

She set the destination, manually opened the protective shield, equipped the power card, then went into the bathroom and filled a bucket of hot bath water, ready for a "water drifting scented bubble bath."

She also found a bathtub shelf in the space. After sitting in the water, she placed the shelf on the bathtub, and then placed a tablet, a cup of oolong bubble milk tea, and a serving of octopus balls on it.

The raft automatically avoided various floating objects in the water and headed towards its destination. Behind the floor-to-ceiling window in the bathroom, Shu Fu was taking a bath, watching variety shows and eating lunch.

Indeed, a raft is most soulful when it is drifting in the water.

Shu Fu finished eating the snow top with a spoon, took a sip of milk tea with pearls with a straw, and felt that this was the peak of her life.

**

Shu Fu stayed in the signal area waters for one night and returned to the cave restaurant in the afternoon of the next day.

According to the weather forecast displayed in the signal area, there will be a severe thunderstorm tonight. She took advantage of the light rain in the afternoon to return the raft to the col, walked through the woods path to the shortcut to the cave, unlocked the platform and locked it again, then returned to the cave restaurant along the stone steps.

After spending a day and a night in the water outside, she felt that she could stay in the cave for a few days with peace of mind.

In the days that followed, she repeated this life.

When the weather was bad, she would squat in the cave and not come out.

For four hours every day, they can read books, watch variety shows and movies, listen to music in the cave box, or cover the cave hall with curtains, practice self-defense or exercise on the manual rowing machine. Sometimes they even set up a traditional charcoal grill in the cave and make themselves a barbecue.

When the weather was better, without strong winds or thunderstorms, and the rain was a little lighter, she would take the stone steps shortcut through the cave, reach the col, release the raft, and spend a day or two in the signal area waters.

Fortunately, the aftermath of the super tsunami seemed to have completely passed. Afterwards, there were two hurricanes and huge waves in the nearby waters, but the highest peak of the waves was only thirty or forty meters, not even half the distance between the water surface and the cave.

In addition, the huge waves came from the east, so Shu Fu stood in the west-facing cave and didn't even have to hide in the drifting island house. He could still watch the surging waves below and feel the dull buzzing sound when the entire mountain was hit by the huge waves.

But unfortunately, after the huge waves, the water level rose significantly. When the weather improved and she went down to the col again, she found that the part of a rock wall near the col that was originally exposed above the water had disappeared below the water line.

She felt that after a while, she would no longer have to take the shortcut of the platform cave to reach the col and then release the raft. She could release it directly from the stone platform and only need to climb over the fence to land on the raft.

In early April, three weeks had passed since Lou Yuncheng disappeared. Shu Fu learned from the Internet that the victims were being rescued one by one. He felt that the hurdle in his heart was finally overcome, so while the raft was drifting on the water, he re-started the automatic water fishing three times a day.

This is the suburbs, and the most common harvest is various fish and aquatic products, all of which are normal freshwater fish, and occasionally there are shrimps and crabs.

The number of fish harvested at a single time was not as large as before, but the sizes of all the fish were the same as before, and they were all species she knew. They were all lively and seemed to be fine.

In fact, she had also seen some fish species she didn’t recognize underwater, but the automatic water fishing rod had been in the water so many times - twice out of curiosity, she even cast the rod in waters where unfamiliar fish appeared, but the rod had never caught such fish. It was as if the rod would automatically exclude some species, giving a feeling of “better less than worse”.

In addition, she also speculated that the decrease in the number of freshwater fish harvested might be related to the larger size of some fish in the waters today. Now that she has an underwater bedroom, sometimes after using the rowing machine to exercise, she will also take some time to check the situation under the water.

The frequency of freshwater fish over half a meter long has increased, but the metal basket of the automatic water fishing rod is limited in size, and fish that are too large cannot be caught at all...

However, she has never seen such a huge fish as the one that appeared on the night of extreme weather. She doesn't know if it is because she has been hiding in caves most of the time recently and has spent less time drifting on the water.

She even thought that the super-large fish that she saw at that time, which were over six meters in size, were most likely marine fish that came from the ocean area with the tsunami. Giant fish like that have now either died because they are not adapted to fresh water, or have found a way to return to the ocean area.

She felt strangely reassured by the automatic water fishing rod's selection. In addition, the fish she caught sometimes looked really fresh, so the obstacles in her heart gradually faded...

Of course, part of the reason is that there is more and more fresh seafood, and she is afraid that there will not be enough space to store it.

So sometimes she would cook some fresh seafood on the spot.

For example, shrimps and crabs are the easiest to cook. River shrimps and crabs can be boiled with scallions and ginger and eaten directly with soy sauce, or they can be stir-fried with hot pot seasonings, celery, potatoes, and made into dry-pot spicy shrimps.

River crabs can also be steamed. Prepare a bowl of ginger and sweet and sour sauce and steam them together. You can enjoy the freshest delicacy in half an hour.

In addition to fish, fishing rods will occasionally catch some shiny things, including various gold jewelry, diamond jewelry, crystal ornaments... Although the number is scarce, all of them are intact. After "one-click disinfection", they are all clean, brand new and exquisite, shining with a sparkling luster.

In addition, we also found a small number of useful tools, such as sturdy ropes, new knives with outer packaging... I don't know if they were left behind in the homestay area.

As time went by, the Internet speed in the area with signal gradually became worse. The video was so stuck that it was completely unwatchable and pictures often failed to load. Fortunately, she just wanted to learn about the situation outside through online news, and guess the next city she might go to based on the flood conditions in various provinces, regions and cities.

Two weeks later, after a particularly severe hailstorm, the only signal was gone. She tried to stay in various places in the nearby waters, but could not connect to the Internet again.

Shu Fu lost his internet connection again and had to start his solo career.

Soon after, the stone steps platform was also submerged by water, and it was now easier for her to release the raft. She only had to walk to a certain point on the stone steps fence, release the raft and then flip it over.

So now she spends the rest of her time on the water launching rafts, in addition to her four hours a day.

In early May, spring has not yet been felt, but the temperature has been rising continuously, with the daytime temperature fixed at over 30 degrees Celsius, as if we have fully entered summer.

She noticed that there seemed to be more mosquitoes around, and all kinds of crawling insects appeared in the corners of the cave floor. Flies, mosquitoes, centipedes, cockroaches, caterpillars and other small flying insects that she couldn't name were increasing day by day. In some places, they were clustered together and could not be driven away at all.

The hills and woods were originally the world of insects, but now it rains every day and the temperature is high, and there is wet mud and rotten branches and trunks everywhere, providing a large and luxurious breeding ground for insects.

Shu Fu always felt that as the temperature continued to rise, there would be more mosquitoes and reptiles nearby.

This cave remains cool and refreshing at over 20 degrees when the outside temperature is over 30 degrees Celsius. Coupled with the damp and dark corners, it will soon become a paradise for not only bugs but also snakes, insects, rats and ants.

Although she only needs to stay outside for four hours a day, she is afraid of all of these creatures.

She felt that she would soon not be able to continue living here.

Because there were more mosquitoes, she couldn't spend the four hours in the cave as leisurely as before. No matter how hot it was, she insisted on wearing long-sleeved sun-protective clothing, and used ice sleeves inside for double protection. She also sprayed mosquito repellent and wind oil, and wore a mask and transparent goggles on her face to prevent mosquito bites.

She had been bitten once before, and a huge swelling formed at the site of the mosquito bite, which took several days to go away.

Sometimes, when she stepped into the cave from the stone platform, she found a bunch of bugs gathered on the ground that she had just cleaned the day before. She had no choice but to take out the insecticide, spray them to kill them, and then clean up a clean ground again.

As the day was getting dark, the raft was quietly moored in the waters outside the stone railings as usual. Inside the Drifting Island House, Shu Fu began to re-study the water map and electronic map, preparing to find several backup landing locations for himself.

As she was repeatedly checking the dark green icon on the water map to see what kind of land it was on the electronic map, she suddenly felt the surrounding waters churning.

It was raining outside, but not a heavy downpour. There was no hurricane today, let alone hail or thunderstorms. So how could the surrounding waters make such a noise?

Shu Fu reacted, opened the sliding door, and went down the spiral staircase to the underwater bedroom.

She went downstairs with her eyes closed the whole time, allowing her eyes to better adapt to the darkness.

It was not completely dark yet. After opening her eyes, she saw in the dim light of the evening water that countless fish were scrambling to swim past in the water outside the glass walls and glass floors.

It's a school of fish!

And there is more than one group!

They were basically schools of gray and brown freshwater fish, but each school had different sizes and appearances. She had never seen some of the species before, with big heads and small tails, and looked particularly strange.

I don’t know which group of fish stirred up the water in the first place, but now it seems that all kinds of different kinds of fish are being moved together.

They accurately avoided the underwater bedroom, passed around the raft, and headed towards the other end of the water.

The fish were so densely packed that people with trypophobia could not bear to watch such a scene. The number of fish was so large and the noise was so loud that the entire water area was shaking, and the entire underwater world seemed to be boiling.

This was the first time in Shu Fu's life that he saw such a wonderful sight.

She stood there in shock, watching the schools of fish come and go, passing through her whole world. Suddenly, the bracelet, which had been silent for nearly two months, vibrated slightly.