Chapter 90 Boundary Line
[It is detected that the Qinghe-Yuncheng waterway is unblocked, please click to activate. 】
Does this mean that even without the temporary waterway, she can still leave the lower reaches of Qinghe River smoothly and return to the deep water area in the hilly area? No wonder the last mission took so long to come, it turned out that she was waiting for the waterway to be cleared.
[Complete the Yuncheng check-in task within 3 days and you will get a 5% progress bar for level 4 of the raft. (Current progress of level 4 of the raft: 95%)
Note: Failure to complete this task will deduct 40% of the progress bar. 】
Having experienced many strange tasks, Shu Fu was a little surprised that this time's task was so normal.
The overall altitude of Yuncheng is only 200-400 meters. As early as the end of May, when it rushed to the Beidi Plateau through the "Yuncheng-Qinghe Temporary Waterway", Yuncheng had been submerged by floods, leaving only some high-rise buildings and higher peaks in the suburbs.
As for now, even the remaining tall buildings should have been submerged in water, right?
However, after experiencing so many missions, Shu Fu can roughly make some guesses based on the missions.
40% of the progress bar is deducted for unfinished tasks, which means that this is a slightly urgent but not so urgent task. The check-in location, Yuncheng, is outside the Beidi Plateau, which means that all tasks on the Beidi Plateau have been completed and the waterway is open again. The situation here is gradually becoming bad, and she has to withdraw.
The fastest way to get from Youcheng to Yuncheng is definitely to take the Qinghe River along the way. The waterway terrain difference area outside Youcheng should have disappeared, so she can take a raft directly across the entire Beidi Plateau and drift all the way from Youcheng to Yuncheng.
She continued to click on the map panel to check and found that in addition to the widened Qinghe waterway, the temporary waterway that originally appeared for a limited time had also become a large area of water. There were many dark green marks dotted in the water, and outside this area of water, there was a larger area of water.
She continued to drag the screen and saw that from the original site of Yuncheng to the original site of Louyuncheng and then to the original site of Suicheng, the maps of water areas where they could move freely that had disappeared before had indeed reappeared!
According to the Qinghe waterway, it can be identified that the dotted dark green marks in the original temporary waterway area should be the hill where the raft was washed up by the huge waves.
During her stay on the Northland Plateau to carry out her mission, the water level gradually rose and now finally covered the entire area. The area with the lowest altitude in the southeast of the Northland Plateau has merged with the large area of water in the hilly area.
Although the water map in her hand still does not show much area, it can be seen from the water map that this planet is one step closer to becoming a complete water world.
There is currently no red dot representing the raft on the map because the raft is not on the Qinghe River map, and it is temporarily impossible to set a route from Youcheng to Yuncheng. She will now leave the southern suburbs of Youcheng, return to the city, and release the raft on the river.
Shu Fu quickly put on her warm fleece and lightweight waterproof jacket, then changed into high waterproof boots, and finally put on a traditional raincoat. She now had a car and didn't have to walk back to the city, so the raincoat was just a transition.
Everything was ready. She readjusted the direction of the raft, set the drifting speed to the highest 60, and headed towards the shore.
The lake had grown a lot larger, and the original shore had become a shallow water area. There was a part of the lake that was too shallow for the raft to pass through, so she could only try to get as close to the shore as possible, and then briefly activate the portable protective shield when she stepped into the shallow wetland area.
Sure enough, the waterproof boots sank into the shallow wetland as soon as they stepped into it. Under the water was soft mud, and my ankles were submerged in water.
Fortunately, she had a protective shield so her steps were not tripped by the mud under the water. She jogged quickly until she was far away from the lake shore and then removed the protective shield.
The heavy rain immediately surrounded her. She took out the SUV, started it and looked at the fuel gauge. She had only filled up a 30L barrel of fuel before using the car last time, and there was still two-thirds of fuel in the tank. She was afraid that if she needed to use the car for a long time and it would be inconvenient to refuel, she simply filled up the tank.
She got in the car, put her raincoat away, opened the map on her phone, set the destination navigation, then started the car and drove towards the foothills not far away.
Fortunately, the surrounding mountains are rich in vegetation, so the continuous heavy rains did not cause landslides on the nearby hillsides. However, near the foot of the mountain and near the hillside, there were many branches and leaves broken off due to the raging hail, and even smaller trees that were uprooted could be seen.
The rain was so heavy that the water on the ground did not have time to be absorbed by the land. The originally green grass was run over by the wheels, turning into dark brown mud.
Some slopes looked fine, but the tires would sink a little when passing by. Fortunately, the mud layer was not deep, otherwise the wheels would be stuck. Even if she could get out by folding and placing the car, it would still be very difficult to drive on this road.
About half an hour later, the car finally drove out of the woods and returned to the fork in the road.
She turned right at the three-way intersection and headed north along the main road in the southern suburbs. No one knew what had happened on this road, and it was even more dilapidated than it was two months ago. Most of the trees on the side of the road had fallen to the ground, and the road was littered with all kinds of broken branches and rotten leaves, as well as some garbage and crushed rotten food.
Fortunately, the off-road vehicle had a high chassis and sufficient power, so she was able to pass this section safely.
**
We walked here, from the waterfront commercial street to the three-way intersection in the southern suburbs, which took us four hours. It took us about an hour to drive back. It could have been faster, but due to the bad road conditions, we were forced to slow down.
After two months, weeds and shrubs grew wildly in every corner of the city. Not only did they spread to every place, they also grew out from the damaged walls of various buildings. The city seemed to be built in the woods.
If she had left a month or two later, the number and area of plants here would have far exceeded the city's buildings.
Youcheng is slowly disappearing in a way different from Suicheng and Louyuncheng.
Near some buildings in the city, she also saw living patients with ichthyosis. The reason why she could tell that they were alive was that some of the patients, whose bodies were covered with light gray stratum corneum, were squatting in the heavy rain by the roadside, gnawing on something in their hands with their heads down.
Shu Fu thought of the message Chen Fa and Lu Zheng brought her. Although the troops had abandoned these patients, they could not bear to see them die of hunger, so every time they returned to the city to search for supplies, they would leave some food in the buildings in the area where the ichthyosis patients were active.
These patients eat both raw food, cooked food and spoiled food. Just as their sense of taste has deteriorated, their demand for food is not as intensive as before. They usually start to look for food on their own after being hungry for two or three days, and they eat both meat and vegetarian food.
When Shu Fu drove by, he saw a patient with ichthyosis sitting against the wall, eating the weeds growing on the wall with his head tilted and a numb expression.
After such a long time, their clothes had basically fallen off, their hair was gone, the whites of their eyes were still bloodshot, and their entire bodies, even their fingertips, were covered with patches of light gray stratum corneum. They would react when they saw her car passing by, but the reaction was very slow, and their eyes would pass by the car and slowly move away.
This look and reaction reminded Shu Fu of a stray dog gnawing at garbage on the roadside. In short, it didn't look like a human being, especially in its current appearance, which looked more like a fish without a tail...
Shu Fu looked at it for a moment, then looked away. Seeing the former human being turned into what he is now because of ichthyosis, anyone would feel uncomfortable and unbearable. This is the emotion of the same race, a kind of sadness of sympathy for one's own kind.
The car had not driven far when she soon saw the figure of the Hexi strange fish. It still had that ugly appearance, swinging its tail with tail thorns, lying in a puddle in a low place. When it saw the car, it jumped over with a click.
But before one of the strange fish in Hexi jumped far, a hand covered with light gray stratum corneum reached out from the side. The strange fish, which should have been quick to react, did not jump away immediately, but squatted there as if it was stunned.
A patient with ichthyosis grabbed the fish. The fish began to struggle and bit the patient's hand, but it failed to draw blood. The stratum corneum that had fallen off several times seemed to have become like a hard shell, capable of withstanding the sharp fish teeth.
The other strange fish nearby did not attack the patient, but quickly jumped away, just like their reaction when they sensed the red liquid before.
The caught strange fish swung its tail spine, which became more powerful and successfully pierced the patient's arm. However, the paralyzing effect did not take effect. Instead, the patient grabbed the tail spine and pulled it off the fish's tail.
He lowered his head and took a bite of the still twisting fish.
The belly of this strange fish was the softest, and the patient bit it directly. The fish struggled and bit frantically, but it did not affect the patient who held it tightly. He began to eat slowly, and a little fish blood oozed out from the corner of his mouth...
Seeing this scene, Shu Fu's scalp tingled and he almost felt like vomiting.
She knew how smelly the internal organs of the Hexi strange fish were, but the patient with ichthyosis seemed to be completely unable to feel it. She thought of the scene when the patient was catching the fish just now, and then thought of the red liquid.
According to official statements, the red liquid that repels fish seems to be made by extracting glands produced by drugs in patients with ichthyosis. Later, they used the patients' cells, pus and blood to simulate a liquid with the same effect. This also means that what the strange fish are afraid of is actually the ichthyosis patients themselves.
Just like in nature, no matter how powerful a species is, it will always have natural enemies.
The Hexi strange fish and the people with ichthyosis appeared on the banks of the Qing River in the Beidi Plateau at about the same time. Does this mean that the strange fish is afraid of that smell because people with ichthyosis are their natural enemies?
Various speculations flashed through Shu Fu's mind, but the car did not slow down. After passing through the area where the mermaid food chain coexisted, he drove forward for another ten minutes, and finally had to stop.
The city road ahead was no longer filled with puddles, but a gray, yellow, dirty expanse of water with all kinds of garbage floating on it.
The center of Youcheng has the lowest altitude. Cars can no longer pass through. There is water all in front, and the water gets deeper as you go towards the river.
Shu Fu did not get out of the car. He first opened the raft protective cover on the bracelet, then placed the raft next to the car, and then took out the map panel to check the current location of the raft. The red dot representing the raft appeared next to the Qinghe waterway. From the map, it was still on the shore, but not far from the waterway.
This waterway was not the original river channel, but an area of water recognized by the map where rafts could be placed for drifting. She was still a little short of that distance.
Shu Fu put away the raft and the map panel, and restarted the car, this time at a much slower speed. The wheels quickly rolled into the water layer, and moved little by little towards the deeper water ahead.
She had to stay within the limits of the off-road vehicle's drivability, get as close to the waterway as possible, place the raft and directly set the route to the destination.
But the accumulated water in the city was so turbid that she couldn't see clearly what was beneath the water surface. Even though she drove slowly, her wheels accidentally ran over things under the water several times, causing the car to shake and sway.
They continued driving forward and passed another intersection. Most of the wheels were already submerged in water, and Shu Fu knew that he could not drive any further.
She stopped the car, turned off the engine, opened her protective shield without wearing a raincoat, and got out of the car.
The water nearby is too deep, and her waterproof boots are useless. Moreover, the water is too thick, and she can't see clearly whether there are any strange fish around. She might suddenly jump out of the water and bite her, so she can't save this little bit of time for the protective shield.
She closed the car door, activated the "Compressed Display Case" to fold up the off-road vehicle, then re-summoned the map panel and the raft, and found that the red dot representing the raft was still outside the waterway area. She folded the raft and continued walking towards the deep water area.
The distance looked only a short distance on the map, but it was actually very far when walked. In order to save the time of the protective shield, she ran.
The protective shield was very effective, and the invisible isolation layer separated everything from the outside world: dirty water, rain all over the sky, garbage in the water, floating corpses, and strange fish that jumped out from time to time...
After jogging for half a minute, the water layer suddenly became shallower, and the road surface was exposed again. Moreover, a large horizontal area nearby was all road surface. This area should be a place with higher terrain in the city. No wonder she had just placed a raft in the water layer in front, and the red dot representing the raft was still displayed outside the waterway area.
After passing this high-lying area, Shu Fu took out the raft again and placed it. This time, the red dot finally stuck on the waterway area line. She climbed onto the raft and entered the raft protective cover before immediately closing the portable protective cover and letting out a long breath.
Finally they arrived at the waterway area on the map. After that, as long as she set the direction of Yuncheng, the raft would drift automatically and she could lie flat completely.
After a moment, the route information appeared on the map panel: [1822/30: 21:05]
Because it is a water route, not a straight line, the entire route will take more than thirty hours. Fortunately, her shield time has accumulated enough time and the new weekly delay card has not yet been used, so during these thirty hours, she can drift to her heart's content without being detected by anyone.
Compared with the previous journey from Suicheng to Louyuncheng, where one had to find a place to go ashore and stay overnight several times, now one can just lie back and relax after setting the destination, which is really very, very good.
**
Because she was curious about the situation on the north bank of Youcheng, she manually intervened after the raft began to drift. Instead of going directly east from the flooded urban area on the south bank, she went north first, crossed the entire south of the city, entered the river channel, and stayed as close to the north as possible. Then she let the raft continue to move east along the northern coastline.
The raft had been shielded from the beginning, so she was not worried about being discovered, and she was almost walking along the edge of the building on the north bank. She saw the street where they were sniped when they came from the south that night, and the road surface of this street was almost submerged in water. She took out a high-powered telescope, climbed up to the roof terrace, and began to check.
She saw a very high roadblock at the end of the street, which should be a guardrail to prevent ichthyosis patients from jumping directly into the water. She also saw a figure standing guard on the top of a building near the guardrail. This was the first time she saw a living person other than ichthyosis patients in Youcheng. The man was fully equipped with weapons and equipment, and from time to time he would use the scope on his sniper rifle to scan the surrounding area.
The raft headed eastward. Tall roadblocks and guardrails stood at the end of every street. There were sentries nearby. The building areas near the river became flood areas. The river fences had long been invisible. If there were not more buildings on the river bank than on the south bank, she would not have been able to tell where the original river bank was.
The raft was moving very fast and as it was drifting downstream, it soon left the area with many buildings and entered the eastern suburbs.
Shu Fu put away the telescope and was about to walk down the terrace when he heard a huge explosion coming from the direction of the north bank of Youcheng behind the raft.
The wooden ladder was facing the direction of the north bank. She immediately raised the telescope to check and saw huge black smoke rising from the north of Youcheng. In the sky, there was an airplane flying by at a very high speed. Wherever it passed, there were explosions accompanied by flames.
Afterwards, the flames of the explosion were quickly extinguished by heavy rain, and black smoke rose into the sky from the explosion site.
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