Chapter 94 Boundary Line

Thunder roared and dazzling arcs of electricity exploded from the sky above the waters, like a dense electric grid.

It was only one o'clock in the afternoon, but the sky outside was already as dark as ink.

Seeing that the weather had changed, Shu Fu slowly stood up from the lazy sofa, stretched her arms and legs, then returned to the house with the empty coffee cup, half of the kumquat, and plain potato chips on the table.

Now the house has been upgraded, the French windows have become larger, and the doors on both sides are inlaid with glass, so even if you stay in the house and close the door, you can still see a good view. This is the fourth day of her drifting in the whole water area. This is to the east of the old site of Suicheng, the easternmost of all the water areas she can reach so far.

The morning before yesterday, she had already arrived at the old site of Suicheng, which had completely turned into an ocean. The water city where she once wandered, the buildings that had sheltered her through every rainy night and given her a sense of security, had long been submerged in water.

Even the tallest building in Suicheng, the 66-story building, is only 200 meters high at most. Considering the current water depth in this area, even if her raft dives 100 meters underwater, she still cannot see the shadow of the building.

The sea level rose so fast that in less than a year, Hua State lost one-third of its land.

With such water levels, the European continent and the oceanic continent on this planet are almost gone, and the glaciers on the Antarctic continent should have all melted. The climate of the entire planet is disordered, and severe natural disasters are superimposed and affecting each other. The weather will only get worse in the future, especially in deep waters without high mountains as barriers.

She did not stay at the site of Suicheng for too long. She could not see any land or things on the vast water surface, and naturally could not see any humans. So she adjusted her direction and continued to drift eastward until she reached the boundary line of the water map.

She left the raft here. To her now, this was the end of the world. Even though there were wider waters and wider worlds outside, she couldn't go any further.

Thunderstorms, hurricanes and waterspouts are the norm in this area of ​​water. Each extreme weather event lasts for several hours, and in the intervals between extreme weather events, there are usually endless heavy rains.

During heavy rainstorms, she often couldn't tell whether she was in the water or on the water while staying in her small house on the drifting island. The pouring rain seemed like a never-ending waterfall. The raft deck without a protective cover appeared and disappeared in the rain, and every piece of the deck was washed clean.

Yesterday, the hurricane raged over the water for several hours and then turned into a waterspout. Sky-high water columns appeared one after another on the surrounding water surface, connecting the water surface with the thick dark clouds in the sky.

The water column roared and spun like a high-speed machine. Anything caught in it would be smashed to pieces.

The protective shield of the message in the bottle, which had remained motionless even in the face of a thunderstorm, suddenly opened automatically. Shu Fu was leaning on the sofa watching a TV show at the time. When she noticed the shield opening, she jumped up immediately. She went out through the back door and climbed up to the roof terrace via the wooden ladder.

The view here was better and clearer, and she saw the most extreme disaster she had ever seen. On the water surface on all sides of the raft, there appeared more than a dozen waterspouts of varying sizes, some close and some far away, covering every spot within sight, like a dozen high-speed rotating propellers, roaring together.

The water vapor produced by the rotating water column made the entire water surface misty, as if it was evaporating and boiling. Fish were constantly swept into the air and thrown out, and the protective shield of the raft was also hit by "fish rain" several times.

This time's "fish rain" was somewhat different from the one in Louyun City, because this was a deep water area that had long become a sea area. There were not only shallow water fish but also salt water fish in the water. Most of the deep-sea fish were large in size and were swept to the surface of the water by the vortex of the water flow, then swept into the air, and finally thrown far away.

Shu Fu saw several tuna and snappers over half a meter long falling towards the protective cover and being bounced off. She almost wanted to close the protective cover and catch the fish directly on the raft deck. On her first day in this area, she caught a tuna with the automatic water fishing rod. Because the fish was too big, there was only this one fish in the entire metal basket. After the "one-click disinfection", it became clean.

She then had the idea of ​​making tuna sashimi herself. Tuna would not die immediately after being taken out of the water, but would die after not swimming for a while. So she put the fish into the space and then took it out. When she came out, the tuna was no longer moving.

The fish was quite big, so she used a newly harvested electric saw, put on gloves, and removed the head, tail, guts, and internal organs directly on the deck, leaving only the fish body. Then she brought the fish body into the kitchen, washed it, blotted it dry, and then found a sashimi knife. On the cutting board, she carefully removed the bones, skin, fat, and scraps, and finally cut out the deep red pure fish meat and packed it in a rectangular kraft paper packaging box. She could take a piece whenever she wanted to eat it.

The fish pieces can be cut into small pieces and eaten directly as sashimi, or they can be fried in butter and eaten cooked. Tuna is called the Ferrari of the sea in peacetime. It is very expensive and few people can eat tuna fresh out of the water.

That night, she took a piece of fish, cut it into small pieces, dipped it in mustard and soy sauce, and it tasted fresh and tender in her mouth. Probably because she prepared it herself, she always felt that it was especially delicious. As a result, when she saw "Tuna Rain" the next day, the only word in her mind was delicious.

Of course, she was just thinking about it. The protective shield was automatically opened because of the extreme disaster, and she couldn't close it even if she wanted to.

Yesterday's waterspout lasted for about two hours. When all the terrifying high-speed whirlpools disappeared, the sky and the earth were once again filled with heavy rain, and countless fish corpses appeared on the churning water surface.

Under extreme natural disasters, all living things on this planet are the same.

At this moment, the thunderstorm outside the house was continuing. She also saw for the first time dozens of blue or purple lightning bolts splitting the sky at the same time.

Shu Fu put the remaining snacks on the coffee table, opened the protective cover, climbed up the wooden ladder outside the back door to the glass balcony, took out her phone and started filming. She also filmed yesterday's waterspout, taking photos and videos from multiple angles to clearly record it.

The same is true for today's thunderstorm. I took all the photos and videos together and showed them to my friends the next time I met them. These places are dangerous areas that their rafts and human ships cannot reach at present.

Just like the Bermuda Triangle in the past, planes and ships passing through this sea area often encounter accidents. In fact, these are not mysterious events, but are caused by abnormal magnetic fields and bad weather. Frequent submarine volcanic earthquakes, water walls and seaspouts caused by hurricanes at sea are all reasons why human ships cannot easily set foot in it.

Therefore, the extreme weather phenomena that Shu Fu saw in this area of ​​water in the past few days are rarely seen by normal people in their lifetime. Apart from the hazards of these extreme weather phenomena, such extreme climates are usually accompanied by extreme beauty, which is stunning and shocking.

She took these photos now not only to show them to her friends, but also because of Lan Lan's existence, she could upload these photos and videos to the Internet without leaving any traces, marking the time and place of shooting. These extreme weather conditions are rare research materials for scientists.

After taking photos and videos, Shu Fu sat down directly on the lazy sofa in the glass balcony.

She had simply decorated the place. On the right side, at the right angle to the fence at the back, she placed an L-shaped long bar with a freshly ground coffee machine and a small desktop water dispenser on it. There were many cabinets and drawers under the bar, filled with some convenient foods that would not expire easily: cup noodles, instant vermicelli buckets, compressed biscuits, instant oatmeal, vacuum canned food, bagged milk tea powder, instant coffee bags, bottled water...

There are only a few of each type, two or three pieces, which makes these drawers and cabinets more practical.

In addition, there are two height-adjustable bar swivel chairs with backrests at the bar on the right, which makes it convenient to sit and drink drinks and chat, and also to take a look at the scenery outside the fence.

On the left side - in the direction of the wooden ladder and the sliding door, there is a low 8-shaped wooden table placed next to the fence. The 8-shape is composed of two round tables of different heights, which can hold a lot of things. On both sides are two equally low lazy sofas.

There aren't many things here. The main reason is that this is still a terrace, and there is no built-in defense function in the house on the drifting island. In disaster weather, as long as the sliding door is opened, wind and rain will enter. Furniture will easily get damp and moldy over time. So these furniture are not new, nor are they particularly important. It doesn't matter if they break.

But because of this, next time they meet Chen Fa and Lu Zheng, they can use this space freely.

The thunderstorm lasted for more than three hours. Shu Fu only stayed on the glass balcony for half an hour before returning to the house. After all, the current level of disaster would not automatically trigger the protective shield. She could turn off the protective shield after returning to the house to save the protective shield time.

At around four o'clock, the thunderstorm stopped. Without the lightning, the whole sky became completely dark, as dark as night. Shu Fu turned on the light, went down to the underwater bedroom to practice on the rowing machine, and then started to make his own dinner.

Tonight she had seafood vermicelli casserole. Extreme weather would not affect the use of automatic water fishing rods. In the past few days in deep waters, in addition to some gold jewelry from urban ruins and tools that would not be damaged, the most harvested thing was various seafood.

Mussels, scallops, abalone, tiger shrimps, mantis shrimps, oysters, squids, clams, razor clams... I don't know how the fishing rod works. The climate here is so bad, but all the seafood harvested in the metal basket is surprisingly fresh. After a one-click disinfection, all the mud, sand and dirt are gone. She doesn't need to wash them. She just needs a little processing and they can be cooked directly.

She first made the sauce in a frying pan, stir-fried the mashed garlic and chili peppers, then added various seasonings such as light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, chopped green onions, and stirred evenly.

Then she took out an extra-large flat casserole, added salad oil, some of her favorite side vegetables, and spread the softened vermicelli on top. Then she put in all the cleaned seafood, and finally poured in the garlic sauce fried in the pan. Then she added some water, covered it with a lid and simmered it for more than ten minutes. When the seafood was fully cooked, she sprinkled it with chopped green onions and it was ready to eat.

This is a lazy method, but as long as the garlic sauce is well-seasoned and the seafood is fresh, the taste will be great.

She naturally couldn't finish such a big pot in one meal. Although she could put the leftovers directly into the space and take them out next time, five minutes after Shu Fu sat down at the table and started eating seafood, she suddenly remembered the time when she, Chen Fa, Lu Zheng and others were grilling around the table.

The freshly caught and cooked seafood was very delicious and she was very satisfied with the meal. However, she suddenly felt a little regretful that she couldn't share the delicious food with her friends.

Shu Fu took out a satellite phone and sent a message to Chen Fa and Lu Zheng respectively: It's dinner time. Today I'm having seafood vermicelli pot with scallops, abalone, tiger shrimps, oysters, squid and clams. How about you guys? Did you eat well?

The weather in this area of ​​water was so bad that even satellite phones would experience delays. About half an hour later, she received a series of messages. Although there were only two sender numbers, she could tell at a glance that the messages came from different people.

Chen Fa: Xiaofu, please tell me the truth, there is no need to show off. We are inland now, where can we get seafood...

Lu Zheng: Are you at the old site of Suicheng? It should have completely turned into an ocean, right? Be careful. The weather has been getting worse recently, and the weather at sea should be even worse. If it doesn't work, go back to inland waters. PS: I cooked instant noodles at night. Seeing that everyone had no appetite, Chen Fa took out a box of fried chicken, and I opened a box of Maoxuewang, which was gone in seconds:) I regret it now...

Lu Ce: Sister Fufu, I miss you. The house we live in now is very small, damp and leaky. Brother and Sister Chen Fa have no way to take out the raft. I miss the lake outside Youcheng, the days when we lived together, and the days when we had afternoon tea together. Woo…

Xu Jiechu: I finally got the phone! Hahaha! Ignore that guy Lu Ce, he just missed your milk tea and cake! I am the one who really misses you, I am Xu Jiechu! Actually, I am good-looking and very obedient, why don’t you consider me?

After a few minutes, the message came again.

Xu Tingfeng: Sorry, I am Xu Tingfeng. My brother is crazy every day. You don't need to pay attention to him. Satellite phone messages are more expensive. You don't need to reply to this one. Sorry again!

…

The satellite phone in Shu Fu's hand can only be used for calls and text messages, but calls are too expensive, and the signal problem sometimes causes lag and unclear hearing. It is not as convenient as sending texts, which can be edited and important information can be added before sending, which is much more efficient than making calls.

Moreover, the text can be saved and you can look it up again next time you want to read it.

Shu Fu read the message carefully, the corners of her lips rising unconsciously.

She is at the end of the world, alone, but she is not lonely and will soon be reunited with her friends again.

**

Half a month later, the water boundary line in the southwest corner of Muzhou Province.

The raft automatically drifted to the destination at a set speed of 40, and then stopped in front of the invisible barrier. Because the destination this time was inland waters, and considering the possibility of encountering ships and people, Shu Fu opened the protective shield before going to bed last night.

This is the border between Muzhou Province, Xiangzhou Province and the Southwestern Plateau.

To the southwest of the water area, the southwestern plateau is already visible in the distance. To the west, the shadows of hills can be vaguely seen. To the east, there are still some highlands and mountains that have not been completely submerged, but these highlands and mountains are no longer continuous. They are separated by rising water levels, like small clusters of isolated islands of land.

In the early morning, it rained heavily like a waterfall, and the rain hit the water, making a noisy sound.

Other boats can be seen from time to time in the nearby waters. Some are rescue boats, carrying people from several nearby counties to Guancheng County in Xiangzhou Province. Some are private boats, purely out to earn some money for supplies. It just so happens that there are many rescue team boats and troops nearby, so there is no need to worry about provocation.

They can transport people and goods, and can be carried by multiple people or by one person. As long as the supplies are in place and the land is within the range of the ship, they can be delivered. Some people carry too much luggage and do not want to board the rescue ship, so they will hire this kind of private boat.

Some people heard that the team scheduled to be transferred from Xiangzhou Province to Fengshang Plateau was overcrowded, and they didn't know how long they would have to stay in Xiangzhou Province, so they changed their route and rented a private boat, planning to go to the Southwest Plateau first, stay there temporarily or find a way to go directly from the Southwest Plateau to Fengshang Plateau by land. There are fewer cities in the Southwest Plateau, and unlike Xiangzhou Province which is overcrowded, there are more opportunities to go to Fengshang Plateau from there.

Some private boats were full of people sharing the boat, and friction was inevitable during the journey, with constant quarrels and arguments. However, all these noisy movements did not affect Shu Fu who was still sleeping soundly in the house on the drifting island.

Firstly, the drifting island house has a certain sound insulation effect. Secondly, she has stayed in deep waters where extreme weather occurs frequently for nearly half a month. At present, heavy rain of this degree will not have any effect on her.

She stayed up late yesterday to finish watching a zombie web drama, and it was already three in the morning when she went to bed. She rarely stayed up late like this since she came to this world, especially when she was in the house on the drifting island.

In the past, the usage time of the raft was limited, but now, because the usage time is equivalent to complete freedom, she cannot stay up late every day, otherwise the irregular life and rest for a long time will affect her health.

Of course, it's okay once or twice occasionally.

At around ten in the morning, she finally woke up, turned over in her comfortable bed, and soon felt the noise outside. She turned over to the French window, opened the curtains and looked outside, and then saw the most lively scene in several months.

In the rainstorm, several speedboats carrying people were sailing on the undulating water and passing through the waters around the raft. The raft had no mooring and was still in a small-scale autonomous drifting state after reaching its destination. Because the protective cover was open, in the eyes of others, the raft was just a meaningless floating object on the water.

Boats would go around the raft when passing by it, but others would not pay much attention to this "floating object". Because of this, she was able to blend into the surrounding environment so closely.

The nearest speedboat passed by her raft only one or two meters away. She could even see clearly the color of raincoats the people on the other boat were wearing and the expressions on their faces under their rain hats.

This feeling was amazing, she had never experienced it before.

Whether it was the waters of Suicheng where she drifted before or the waters of Louyuncheng destroyed by the tsunami, there was no one around, and she would choose to stay away from crowded places as much as possible in order to save the time of the protective shield.

But now, she has plenty of time to use her protective shield, plenty of time to use her delay card, and has accumulated quite a bit of usage time for her portable protective shield. With the three protections in place, she is not afraid of anything and feels like she can live a more comfortable life.

Shu Fu got up quickly and stood under the eaves with a toothbrush in her hand. While brushing her teeth, she took out her mobile phone to check the network signal. At the same time, she looked at the status of the people on the passing ships. There were some ships that were very close, and she could even hear the people talking and arguing.

Unfortunately, perhaps this area of ​​water is still some distance away from the land, and her phone still has no network, so she still can't access WeChat. Fortunately, she has a satellite phone that can keep in touch with Chen Fa and others.

They are still in Pengcheng, still waiting in line for transfer, but they don't take the initiative to cause trouble and always adhere to the principle of keeping a low profile, so it is estimated that they can wait for another seven or eight days before a transfer vehicle can be arranged.

She also sat under the eaves for breakfast, eating chicken soup and dried shrimp wontons, which were stockpiled at Suicheng Food City last year. This flavor of wonton is also a specialty snack in Suicheng. Because the stockpiled quantity is limited, she always counted the number of portions and would not easily take them out unless she really wanted to eat them.

In fact, she wanted to eat Yaoji Bubble Wontons more, which were more delicious, but she had already eaten them because they were delicious. She didn't know whether Yao Ruoyun had successfully arrived in Xizhou Province after leaving Pincheng. Lu Zheng had not contacted her since he cut off contact with her. She didn't know which city she and her family were in now. After her life became stable, would her mother still run the bubble wonton business...

After breakfast, Shu Fu went up to the terrace, leaned against the fence in front, took out the map panel, and began to adjust the drifting direction of the raft. The westernmost and southernmost ends of the water map were both in this area of ​​water. It looked small on the map, but it was actually very large. She wanted to test the location of the boundary line.

The results came out very quickly. At present, she can only watch from Xiangzhou Province and the Southwestern Plateau and cannot go ashore. The border line is closer to Guancheng County in Xiangzhou Province, about one to two kilometers by water. The land of the Southwestern Plateau can only be seen from afar and is even farther away.

However, the half-flooded towns and villages in Muzhou Province were within her range of activities.

So in the next few days, she would turn on the protective shield during the day and stay in this water area where several provinces meet for five to six hours. The rest of the time she would return to Muzhou Province, find an uninhabited water area close to the hills, and turn off the protective shield.

This way, she would not consume too much of her previously accumulated shield time, and could keep the shield time at a "balanced" state every day. She also did not have to stay in the deserted waters all the time, and could blend into the crowd from time to time, listen to the voices of others, and occasionally learn some news from the people passing by nearby.

But she didn't expect to see familiar faces on these ships so soon.