Chapter 177
The thermometer in the control room was still dropping, the red pointer sliding from 35°C in the early morning to 30°C, a stark contrast to the high temperatures that had often exceeded 60°C in the past three years.
The torrential rain outside the window had been pouring down for two whole days. The water gushed down the villa's exterior walls, forming muddy puddles on the ground. The double-layered awning, previously erected to protect against the heat, was now slightly deformed from being soaked by the rain.
The metal supports at the corner of the shed were rusty—this was the first downpour to break the high-temperature cycle after three years of extreme heat, but it brought no respite.
"Su Jing! The air is thick with the smell of dampness! It's so strong, ten times denser than the moisture from a mountain stream!"
Little Jin squatted beside the communicator, its little paws gripping the edge of the screen, its dark eyes filled with unease. The voice in its mind was urgent, "The 'earthy' smell from down the mountain is mixed with moisture, and it seems to be rising—I can smell the flooded farmland, and someone is shouting 'The water is in the yard!'"
Just as Su Jing turned off the distress message from the cooperative base on her communicator, a glaring red system notification suddenly popped up on the screen, accompanied by a high-frequency beeping sound: [Emergency Disaster Warning: The global extreme heat period has ended, and extreme precipitation has triggered tsunamis and floods, which are expected to last for 1 year. Low-lying areas will be submerged within 72 hours. The current water level in the area is rising at a rate of 0.5 meters per hour. Please immediately move to a safe area with an elevation of more than 50 meters.]
She immediately stood up and activated her flight ability—a pale blue energy stream swirled beneath her feet, and she lightly lifted her body, floating to the floor-to-ceiling window of the control room.
The sight outside the window made her pupils shrink: the farmland at the foot of the mountain, which had previously been used to grow spiritual herbs, was now completely covered by murky water, with only a few withered yellow crop stalks showing.
The road leading to the ruined city turned into a wide ribbon of water, with broken metal frames and discarded plastic floating on it;
Further away in the low-lying area, several makeshift shacks for survivors were flooded up to the roof. Someone stood on the roof waving for help, but the sound was swallowed by the torrential rain, and only the swaying figure could be vaguely seen.
"Number 1, check the villa's current elevation and distance from the floodwaters!"
Su Jing landed and pressed her fingertip on the terrain detection function of the communicator. The robotic arm of Robot No. 1 popped out a detector, and the screen instantly displayed: "The villa is currently at an altitude of 32 meters and is 1.2 meters away from the current waterline. At a rising rate of 0.5 meters per hour, the water will reach the first-floor entrance of the villa in 2.4 hours and submerge the second floor in 24 hours."
The communicator's system chat area was exploding with messages scrolling by: "China - City West Smallholder: Water's in my house! The whole first floor's flooded! Where do I run? Does anyone know where's on higher ground?"
“US-Lily: Our temporary base is by the river, and the water is already waist-deep! When is the tsunami coming? 'God of Wealth', save us!” “Northern Base: @IamGod of Wealth, our base is at an altitude of 45 meters, temporarily safe, but the water is still rising. How are things on your end? Do you need support?”
Su Jing quickly replied to the northern base: "My location is at an altitude of 32 meters. It will be flooded in 24 hours. Prepare to evacuate. You guys reinforce the base's flood defenses, collect as many dry supplies as possible, and don't go out before the tsunami hits."
She didn't look at any other requests for help—moving to the villa was the top priority right now. The space could hold all the equipment and supplies. Only by finding a new base as soon as possible could she help others later.
"Number 2, inspect all core equipment in the villa: furnace, energy storage battery, third-tier armor-piercing cannon, tracking laser gun, to ensure that they can be quickly disassembled and stored in the space;
Number 3, clean up the supplies in the operating room, sort and pack spirit herb seeds, heat-resistant potions, and demon cores, and prioritize high-value items;
Number 4, remove the manganese crystal strips from the protective netting. Don't waste them; they can be used to rebuild defenses at the new base.
Su Jing gave continuous orders into the communicator, while she walked to the constant temperature platform and put the previously unabsorbed mutated Crimson Flame Ant Queen Demon Core and the Tier 3 Giant Rock Beast Demon Core into her space one by one. She ran her fingertips over the residual energy of the heat-resistant fragments on the platform to confirm that all the items related to superpowers had been put back in place.
Little Jin followed behind her, using its tiny paws to gather the scattered fragments of the mining blade together. The voice in her mind gradually stabilized: "Su Jing, I smell a new 'earthy' scent! It's to the north, it smells like it's coming from the mountaintop—much higher than the villa, there's no smell of moisture climbing up, so it should be safe!"
It jumped onto Su Jing's shoulder and pointed north towards the surveillance camera, "That's the mountaintop with the signal tower! You checked it before using your flying ability, remember?"
Su Jing nodded—the mountaintop was about 80 meters above sea level. Three years ago, during the extreme heat, she had used her flying ability to survey it. The terrain was flat, with no tall buildings to obstruct the view, and the signal tower could still receive a weak signal. It was indeed an ideal new base.
"After we finish dismantling the core components of the villa, I'll go over there to check the terrain. For now, let's focus on packing up."
She patted Xiao Jin's head, her gaze falling on the mineral mecha arm in the corner of the control room—this mecha arm was crucial and had to be removed and stored in the space first, as it would be needed to build a new defense later.
The torrential rain was still pouring down, and water had begun to seep into the entrance of the villa's ground floor, forming a thin layer of water on the ground.
Robot No. 2 is using its robotic arm to disassemble the fixing screws of the furnace. The light blue manganese crystal furnace wall is carefully removed and stored into the space one by one.
Robot No. 3 loaded the heat-resistant agent into insulated boxes, 20 bottles per box, and stacked them neatly.
Robot No. 4 has already dismantled the protective netting on the east side. The manganese crystal strips are bundled together without any damage.
Su Jing walked to the central control room of the villa and pressed the "Equipment Hibernation" button—all robots, monitoring, and cooling systems shut down instantly to prevent water ingress and short circuits.
She looked at the empty control room, then glanced at the last energy storage battery being dismantled in the operating room, and knew in her heart: this villa where she had lived for three years was about to become a pile of components in the space, and the new survival challenge had just begun.
"Su Jing! The water's reached the doorway!" Xiao Jin suddenly shouted, her voice filled with anxiety.
Su Jing walked to the door and, sure enough, saw that the murky water had overflowed the threshold and was seeping into the control room. She immediately ordered, "All robots, stop disassembling! Prioritize storing the already disassembled equipment into the storage space! The remaining non-core components can be disassembled later; ensure the safety of critical materials first!"
The robotic arm whirred faster as the last bundle of manganese crystal strips, the last box of heat-resistant agents, and the last energy storage battery disappeared into the space transmission port.
Su Jing activated her flight ability and floated to the window again. Looking at the increasingly wide waters below the mountain, the system notification on her communicator flashed again: [The tsunami is expected to arrive in the current area in 48 hours. The rate of water rise will increase to 1 meter per hour. Please speed up your evacuation.]
She landed, put Xiao Jin into her backpack, and gave the order into the communicator: "All robots, enter the space and stand by. I'm going to the top of the mountain to the north to check the terrain. I'll be back in one hour to continue dismantling the main structure of the villa."
Pale blue air currents swirled beneath her feet once more. This time, her goal was no longer a brief reconnaissance, but to find a new, secure foothold for the coming year's flood season.
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