Fire, all fire.

Qiao Qingqing swam under the sea of ​​fire. The flowing water brought heat waves from the sky. She felt like she was soaking in hot spring water. All kinds of sounds became dull and distant when they reached her ears through the water. Qiao Qingqing ignored the noises and focused on identifying the direction. She wanted to take her mother to meet up with Sheng An and the others.

She was holding her mother's hand, and her heart was beating fast.

When she came near the passenger ship, she surfaced to determine the direction, but saw her mother and mother-in-law jumping off the boat. At that moment, her breathing almost stopped.

But she finally grabbed her mother's hand.

He held his mother's hand again.

Qiao Qingqing held Qiao Songzhi's hand tightly. The two of them were like frogs in a boiling pot of water, wanting to swim back to their hometown before the water temperature completely confined their hands and feet.

There was a person approaching from the front, it was Shao Shengan.

He gestured, then held Qiao Qingqing with one hand and Qiao Songzhi with the other. A few minutes later, Shao Shengan signaled them to float to the surface.

"Sister Zhi!" Shao's mother shouted excitedly while holding the wooden barrel.

"Hey Axia! I'm glad you're okay!" Qiao Songzhi breathed a sigh of relief. She had just looked around but couldn't find anyone. She was really scared.

Qiao Qingqing took off her breathing mask, wiped her face and asked, "Are you injured?"

"No, no! We all went into the water!" Shao's father said hurriedly.

As they were talking, a bigger fire broke out, and Qiao Qingqing and the others immediately went back into the water. She gestured to Shao's father, pointing to the bag he was carrying in front of him. That was the bag she left for them. There were two sets of diving equipment in it, just in case she couldn't come back in time, or if other unexpected situations occurred, Shao's father and Shao Shengfei and his son would have a way out.

Shao's father tightly shut his mouth and waved his hand at her, meaning that it was not necessary for the time being. He and Shao Shengfei both wore wooden barrels on their heads, and when they could no longer breathe, they supported themselves on the barrels and floated to the surface of the water, taking a deep breath of the scorching air before diving back in, repeating this process over and over again.

Song Sanhe and others nearby did the same.

Qiao Qingqing was suspended in the water, looking up at the sky——

If this was a scene from a movie, it would certainly be spectacular and magnificent, but in reality it is just a synonym for death, without any beauty, filled with screams, burning stench, destruction and... despair.

The red fire was reflected through the water in her eyes. Even though she couldn't see the situation on the water, she could imagine that there must be many people on both large and small ships jumping into the water like dumplings.

Qiao Qingqing's mood was very complicated. She died in the earthquake and had no idea that the natural disaster after the earthquake would be like this. It was as if the heaven and earth were collapsing!

At this point, Qiao Qingqing had an idea for the first time.

Can this world survive?

This is no longer about humans.

She thought that maybe all humans would go extinct, and maybe thousands of years later, the laws of biological evolution would restart and humans would reappear. But she never thought that this world would be completely destroyed and disappear!

Suddenly, she had a strong desire to go up and see the world.

The last look at this world.

Qiao Qingqing began to swim upstream, and Shao Shengan hurried to catch up with her, removing a wooden basin tied to his own wooden boat and getting out of the water one step later than her.

After leaving the water, all kinds of desperate cries and screams pierced into Qiao Qingqing's ears like needles. She felt that her soul was being pulled into the abyss of hell with each cry. She took a deep breath, and the pain in her eyes disappeared.

She looked around without blinking. At this time, Shao Shengan came up and placed the wooden basin over her and his head, with the two of them standing next to each other.

The whole world was engulfed in fire and smoke. The water surface was very hot. The fire went out after entering the water, and the smoke it generated was very thick, curling up and blurring the vision. Qiao Qingqing could only see the scattered ships of the Tangzhou fleet in the distance. All the ships were on fire. There was no trace of people on the ships, probably hiding under the water. She could see the survivors poking their heads out from underwater from time to time, taking a breath of air and then quickly diving back in. The next moment, a cluster of fire would fall down, leaving a puff of white smoke.

The sky was so bright and dazzling that Qiao Qingqing suspected that there was a huge and boundless volcano hidden in the sky. It was out of control, unrestrained, and unsuppressed, and wanted to wantonly erupt the anger that had accumulated for thousands and tens of thousands of years, making the world tremble and burn under it.

The wooden basin began to get hot, so Shao Shengan pulled Qiao Qingqing into the water and floated up after the basin cooled down.

Shao's father and Shao Shengfei also floated up, daring only to show their noses. Shao Shengfei frowned and said, "Dabao is gone, Dabao ran away again."

"Dabao went out to play. He will come back when he has had enough fun." Shao's father said, staring into the distance and muttering, "It's scary. How can the sky fall? How can people live like this?"

Qiao Qingqing didn't say anything, and two people appeared beside her. They were Qiao Songzhi and Shao's mother.

Qiao Songzhi reached out and held her hand. As the warm water flowed, Qiao Qingqing felt her mother's cold fingers and palms.

Qiao Songzhi looked into her eyes and said, "If we die like this, it doesn't seem so scary. Our whole family is together. When you close your eyes, Mom can hold you. Mom gave birth to you, and when you die, Mom will hold you too. Look, it's raining fire from the sky. We are just like the protagonists in the movies. When we die, there will be fire and light, and it will be lively and not lonely at all."

Shao Shengan didn't say anything. He supported the wooden basin with one hand and held her other hand.

Death is not something to be afraid of or panic about. Over the years, Qiao Qingqing has never been afraid of death.

Looking back on her life experiences over the past ten years, she and her family have worked hard, labored, reaped rewards, been separated, and finally reunited.

Qiao Qingqing's eyes turned red and she nodded slightly.

Fortunately, there is water to provide shelter. After the despair of the end of the world, Qiao Qingqing calmed down and began to change her mind. Although natural disasters and apocalypse come one after another, there are often some wonderful coincidences. The most obvious one is the thick fog and acid rain. If these two come at the same time, the insects that harm the human body in the thick fog will not be able to survive. If the acid rain lasts longer, the crow vulture disaster that breaks out later can also be greatly alleviated...

Or let's go back to the initial rainstorm and extreme cold. Humans were first locked in their homes by the rainstorm and floods. Then the world froze, freezing all the floods, allowing humans to go out again and explore the outside world. But the extreme cold was obviously not a good solution, so the temperature began to rise again, melting all the ice, freeing the ground that had been imprisoned for a long time, and allowing humans to regain the land...

And now, if the continent had not collapsed and the sea had not covered everywhere, such a terrifying rain of fire from the sky would have completely set the whole world on fire. But now the boundless waters blocked the rain of fire, and the survivors were able to hide underwater to save their lives. Otherwise, how could those who lived on land and did not escape to the seaside survive?

Good and bad are interdependent.

Qiao Qingqing didn’t know how long this rain of fire would last, but before the inevitable death came, she had to keep struggling a few more times to grab a glimmer of hope.

This devastating fire lasted for a full forty-nine hours.

Qiao Qingqing's family did not rely too much on diving equipment to stay in the water all the time, but like everyone else, they often surfaced to breathe fresh air. However, Qiao Songzhi and Shao's mother soon ran out of energy, so Qiao Qingqing asked them to wear breathing masks and hide underwater holding the wooden barrel. The oxygen cylinders were mainly for them.

During these forty-nine hours, there was no darkness and it was bright all night long.

They took advantage of every opportunity to eat something to replenish their energy every time they came out of the water.

fish!

Shao Shengfei opened his eyes wide, reached out to grab the fish, and caught a fish as thick as his arm. His eyes were full of surprise and he was so excited that his breathing was stuttering and bubbles came out of his mouth. Shao Shengan was so scared that he quickly pulled him ashore to breathe.

From then on, the number of fish underwater began to increase, and gradually schools of fish appeared.

They seemed to like the warm water above and were not afraid of people at all. They swam up from the dark depths of the water in groups, which provided a lot of food for the survivors and dispelled the haze of doom.

Liu Zhen poked the fish with a wooden stick, carefully floated to the surface, and took the fish out, attempting to grill it.

This would definitely not work. Although the fire was dense, it was not able to burn for a long time because it was naturally resistant to water. Song Sanhe signaled him to try the burning wooden boat not far away, but before it was cooked, the wooden boat sank completely. Liu Zhen took a bite of the half-cooked fish and enjoyed himself, thinking it was delicious.

More people eat raw fish. The fish are not slaughtered or scaled. People use human teeth to breathe hard at the moment when the fish sticks its head out to breathe, while taking a bite of the fish, and then dive back underwater to chew it.

I can bite anything and eat anything.

As long as I can survive.

Qiao Qingqing's family's backpacks were filled with compressed biscuits. They had no shortage of food and only had one meal of raw fish. The fish they caught were stuffed into bamboo baskets and wooden barrels. Shao Shengan and others took off their coats to block the mouths of the barrels.

The wooden boat was constantly dragged into the water by them, soaking it, and trying hard not to be completely burned, barely becoming a safe haven for them and the chicks and ducklings. The chicks and ducklings had been released by Shao Shengfei, and they surrounded the wooden boat, clinging tightly to it. When the fire came down, they dived into the water without any instruction, and their survival instinct was more acute than that of humans.

The bamboo baskets and wooden barrels were soon filled with fish, but Qiao Qingqing was nervous. She remembered the fishing grounds that attracted sharks.

If a group of sharks appear now, it will be adding insult to injury and a real disaster!

Not sure if it was luck that blessed her, but Qiao Qingqing was always on guard against underwater dangers, but time passed by, one hour later, two hours later... day after day, there were no sharks.

Forty-nine hours later, the sky darkened without warning and the rain of fire stopped.

"Is it over?"

"It's so dark. I'm not used to it being so dark all of a sudden."

"Cough, cough, cough! It smells so burnt!"

The survivors stuck their heads out and saw that after the extreme brightness, there was deep darkness and the brightness of the sky came to an abrupt end. Fortunately, some ships nearby had not yet burned out and provided some light for the survivors.

Qiao Qingqing greedily breathed in the pungent air filled with burning embers, then coughed until tears came out of her eyes. Her eyes became red, stinging and itchy due to lack of rest and soaking in water for a long time. She stared at the sky with such a pair of tired red eyes, and then showed a stiff smile.

Survived! Survived!

There were cries coming from somewhere else, one after another.

Qiao Qingqing closed her eyes and leaned her wet face on Qiao Songzhi's arm.