Chapter 37

Su Yue reached out and pulled her onto his overburdened "little boat".

"Make do with this, I'll take you with me. Wow—" He felt the wooden table suddenly sink, at least four or five centimeters in. "You're really... quite heavy, what have you been eating at home?"

Daisy was soaked to the bone and shivering slightly from the cold, but she still retorted, "You're still the same as ever, you haven't gotten any stronger. Is your family so poor that you can't even afford to eat? You're always hungry?"

Perhaps because of that unsuccessful first kiss, the two seemed to have formed some kind of "ill-fated relationship," and they would always make sarcastic remarks to each other whenever they met.

Seeing Daisy shivering, Su Yue wanted to give her a coat, but his own clothes were already soaked, so he had to give up.

He focused intently on rowing the "oar": "The city notified us during the day that there would be a flood in the evening, and everyone evacuated in advance. Why are you still at home?"

Daisy lowered her head in frustration: "My dad's away on a long-haul road trip. I was playing video games in the basement all by myself and didn't notice any announcements."

She grew up in a single-parent family; her father was often away on freight transport, sometimes not returning for four or five days at a time. Today, she was in a good mood and planned to play games all night, aiming for the final level, but as she played, the basement started to leak.

She returned to the first floor and found the apartment flooded. At first, she thought a pipe had burst and searched everywhere. But the water was rising rapidly, and by the time she realized something was wrong, the water was already waist-deep! She opened the door and saw that the outside was a vast expanse of water. With nowhere to go, she climbed onto the roof and called for help, but no matter how loudly she shouted, the entire neighborhood was eerily silent; there wasn't a soul in sight.

Daisy looked at Su Yue with a complicated expression: "...Why are you all alone too?"

Su Yue sighed: "I'm going home to get something important. I originally came by bike, but now... I have to take a boat instead."

Daisy pursed her lips: "Give me one."

Su Yue: "What?"

Daisy glanced at the two snow shovels in his hands: "'Paddles,' give me one, I'll help you."

Su Yue chuckled dryly, "No need, how much strength can a girl like you have... Hey, don't grab it! The boat's going to capsize!"

Daisy, unwilling to sit on the "boat" for nothing, tried to snatch it without explanation. Su Yue, fearing things would really capsize, had no choice but to let go and allow her to take it.

Thus, the two "experts" who only reigned supreme in the virtual world began to clumsily team up to "row" their way to safety in the real world.

Su Yue patiently guided her with his extra hour of "experience": "Daisy, to the left, a little to the left, a little more force... Oops, too much! Turn back a little to the right!... Do you even know how to paddle?"

Daisy's tone was also impatient: "I'm helping you and you're still being picky! You can't even talk properly, you probably don't have a girlfriend."

Single Su Yue was speechless, choked with sarcasm: "..."

Daisy asked, "Which way are you going?"

Su Yue pointed to the left: "At the highway exit, we still have to go through two more residential areas."

Daisy shook her head: "It's too far. With our technology... it's not realistic. Let's go to my high school instead, it's just past this neighborhood."

She pointed about four hundred meters ahead. In the dim light, the outline of a school stood out in the vast ocean. Most of the surrounding buildings were reduced to half or just a roof, but the school alone still stood intact, its two-story structure rising above the water.

Most importantly, it's right in front of you, tangible and attainable. Unlike Su Yue's goal, which is out of reach.

Su Yue: "...Okay."

Half an hour later, the two, whose arms were sore and numb and who were exhausted, finally rowed the "wooden boat" to the school's main building.

The two abandoned the "boat" and went ashore, stepping directly onto the second-floor corridor.

The river is still rising, and water has begun to seep into parts of the second floor.

"Let's go to the third floor!" The two made a quick decision and rushed towards the stairwell.

The school was deserted. Apart from the sounds of wind, rain, and water outside, only their own footsteps could be heard, the silence unsettling.

Suddenly, a sharp squeaking sound rang out from not far away. The two stopped in their tracks at the same time, their hair standing on end.

Su Yue subconsciously gripped the snow shovel in his hand—perhaps because he had been "fighting" alongside this "oar" for nearly two hours, he was somewhat reluctant to part with it when he got off the "boat" earlier. Thinking that it wasn't too heavy and might even be useful for self-defense, he had kept it with him. At this moment, his palms were sweating with nervousness.

The two held their breath, their eyes gradually adjusting to the dim corridor, when they saw seven mice of all sizes darting towards them from the corner!

It was a nest of rats!

Weiming Town has always been clean and tidy, and rats would never dare to swagger around like this under normal circumstances. But this flood forced them to flee their burrows and desperately seek refuge in higher places.

The mouse family and Su Yue and Daisy unexpectedly met on a narrow path, blocking each other's way.

Hearing the squeaking sound, Su Yue already had a bad feeling. Now that he saw it clearly, he was even more frightened, his palms turning cold. He instinctively threw his "weapon," the snow shovel, forward—a very off-target throw, landing in the open space between the two sides, without even touching a single mouse hair!

With a clang, Daisy screamed in fright and huddled together with Su Yue, desperately pressing themselves against the wall, wishing they could embed themselves into it and become a mural!

Without a word, the two instantly reached a perfect understanding: let the mouse go first!

As expected, the mouse family did not disappoint. Although they scattered and retreated in fright at the sound, they found that there was no real threat, and the flood behind them was far more terrifying than the shovel. They quickly regrouped, keeping a wary eye on the two "giants" as they scurried past them.

A minute later, Daisy buried her head in Su Yue's shoulder and asked in a trembling voice, "...Are you gone?"

Su Yue was also scared, her legs trembling slightly. She mustered her courage and glanced around. Seeing that the rat had already disappeared, she breathed a sigh of relief: "It's gone."

The two looked up, their noses brushing together unintentionally.

The next second, Daisy suddenly pushed Su Yue away: "Don't kiss me! Don't be a pervert!"

Su Yue: "Damn it! You hugged me first!" Besides, they had already tried it in junior high school, and he didn't have any feelings for her at all.

Once the crisis was over, Daisy quickly regained her composure and retorted seriously, "Wait a minute! You were holding a shovel just now, why didn't you use it to kill the mouse?! Ha, I didn't expect a grown man like you to be afraid of mice?"

"Who says boys can't be afraid of mice?" Su Yue muttered sullenly. "A good man doesn't argue with a woman. Alright, save your energy, let's go up to the third floor."

They thought the third floor was the safest, but after waiting there for an hour, they saw that the second floor was flooded and the third floor was starting to leak!

"What should we do?" Daisy asked anxiously.

Su Yue was already a little tired, and leaned back on a desk: "At worst... I'll just swim there."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a torrent surged forth from nowhere, and the water level rose by nearly a meter in an instant, becoming even more turbulent.

Daisy's face turned pale.

Su Yue couldn't help but tease her: "You can't swim? Heh, be nicer, beg me a little, maybe I can give you a ride."

Daisy scoffed, "Who says I can't swim? I was a key member of the school swimming team in my first year of high school."

Just then, two beavers were swept into the third-floor corridor by the raging torrent. They struggled desperately in the water, trying to swim upstream, but ultimately their strength failed them. They were swept away by the merciless current and disappeared instantly into the whirlpool in the stairwell.

Su Yue and Daisy exchanged a glance. The two people who claimed to be able to swim turned pale and dared not boast anymore.

But we must leave here.

Daisy said that one side of the school's main building connects to an artificial hill, behind which are real mountains. Although the hill is steep, it is high enough that even if the water level rises another hundred meters, it will not be flooded.

She suggested that, before the water level rose to a desperate point, the two of them climb over the roof of the main building and go up the mountain to take refuge.

Seeing the increasingly turbulent waters, Su Yue had no choice but to agree.