Apocalypse: After Being Reborn, I Stocked Up on All Supplies-Chapter 83 - "Casting Nets Everywhere

Chapter 83: Chapter 83 “Casting Nets Everywhere

Ye Qing, after pinpointing where to strike, stretched out a hand to shield her face and raised the hammer in her hand to shatter the glass swiftly, accurately, and ruthlessly.

The glass shattered to the ground with a cacophony of cracks and snaps.

“Boom!”

A gust of cold wind laden with rain, the stench of dead fish, and rotten shrimp furiously blew into the hallway.

Jiang Yan and Su Dai simultaneously turned and put on the hoods of their windbreakers.

With the glass cleared, Sun Jingtao stepped forward and joined Ye Qing in hammering away at the metal frame with a barrage of loud clangs.

...

It was only in their apartment complex that the hallway spacing was relatively wide.

In other traditional neighborhoods, one might have needed to knock down part of the wall to make enough space for the rubber raft to get through.

On the other side, Su Dai pulled disposable raincoats, previously bought from Taobao, out of her backpack, and handed two to Jiang Yan:

“Jiang Yan, these raincoats are a bit thin, but they should do the job for now.”

Jiang Yan thanked her and took them.

“In a while you—” She glanced at the rubber raft behind her and hesitated.

Jiang Yan knew what she was likely to say and declared, “I won’t be taking the same route as you guys.”

“Why?” Su Dai was puzzled.

It’d be easier to stick together as a group, wouldn’t it?

With the world outside submerged, it was uncertain whether the rain would intensify.

It’d be better to be able to look out for each other in case something happened.

“Think about it, we’re going out to look for food. After the high temperatures and downpour, there’s already little to find, and if everyone clusters together, the chance of coming up empty-handed is high. And even if we find something, if we share, wouldn’t our portions be even less?

But if we spread out, wouldn’t the chances be greater? After all, from the perspective of avoiding the risk of coming up empty, you can’t put all your eggs in one basket, right?”

Jiang Yan spoke with her eyes wide open, essentially telling a white lie, but it wasn’t without reason.

After hearing this, Su Dai felt a bit down but she quickly convinced herself:

“That makes sense, cast the net wide to catch more fish! Then, Jiang Yan, do be careful on your own.”

Jiang Yan’s lips curved into a slight smile under her mask, and she hummed in acknowledgment.

Sun Jingtao and Ye Qing worked quickly; the exterior frame of the window had already been broken by both of them.

Their actions were actually quite dangerous.

After all, to smash the upper frame, they needed to stand on the thin ledge without any protective gear.

Now, looking down it was all water, but in fact, both stood atop the 16th floor.

Luckily, both seemed to be good swimmers and took the risks in stride.

Only now, the water teemed with all sorts of decaying corpses, dead rats, and garbage.

If they were to actually fall in, it would be quite a mess for them.

“All done. Jiang Yan, should I throw down your rubber raft first?”

Sun Jingtao was the first to jump off the window sill, putting away the hammers from both himself and Ye Qing into his backpack, and then walked towards Jiang Yan and Su Dai.

Jiang Yan arched her eyebrows and said, “Yeah, thank you for the trouble.”

“Don’t mention it,” Sun Jingtao replied, hoisting Jiang Yan’s rubber raft on his shoulder and then passing it up to Ye Qing on the ledge.

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Ye Qing, standing on the ledge, looked at the water surface and said, “Jiang Yan, you dare to jump down from this height, right?”

At the moment, the water level had risen level with the 16th floor, merely about a meter and a half from the edge of the window sill he stood on.

Not too high.

However, since the rubber raft was simply floating on the water without a stable support to land on, jumping down and steadying oneself still required some skill.

Jiang Yan nodded, “Don’t worry.”

The rubber raft was lifted single-handedly by Ye Qing, nearly skimming off the edge of the window sill as it went down.

His movement was both slow and skillful and yet it still caused a loud splash.

This noise drew people from the above floors, who opened their windows and stuck their heads out to investigate.

Some had already taken notice when he and Sun Jingtao were smashing the wall.

And it wasn’t just the opposite building; heads were peeking out from the remaining buildings in the complex as well.

“Mom, mom, there’s a boat down there!”

“Goodness! A rubber raft! We actually have one of those in our complex, hidden dragons and crouching tigers, eh!”

“Wow, it really is, my God, whose is it? Can they take us with them?”

“Hello, we’ll give you money, can you take us with you?!” someone called out, waving their hands vigorously.

“Quick, Laoliu, go downstairs, stop them!”

Jiang Yan ignored the plethora of heads and chattering that emerged, steadied herself against the wall, and with a fluid motion, stepped up onto the window sill. Then, under Su Dai’s astonished gaze, she easily leaped down, her feet landing steadily on the raft.

“Whoa! Jiang Yan, your core strength is so stable!” Su Dai exclaimed, her praise professional like that of a fitness coach.

Ye Qing looked at her, “Jiang Yan, you sure you don’t want to wait for us?”

“No need, I’m heading in a different direction.”

With that said, Jiang Yan grabbed the paddle, waved to the three of them, and said, “I’ll go ahead then. You guys be careful too.”

The three could only respond:

“Yeah, you too, be careful.”

“Safe journey.”

“See you later.”

After bidding farewell, Jiang Yan put her back into rowing.

With a cluster of eyes watching her from all around, it wasn’t a good time to take out her compass and map.

But there was no immediate need anyway.

Nearby, a few familiar high-rise buildings remained above water, which could serve as basic navigational guides.

And she’d better get away from the Shallow Bay area first.

Building A’s staircase window was not far from the complex’s perimeter wall; Jiang Yan didn’t need to row much to leave the confines of the neighborhood.

Once she was some distance away, Ye Qing finally dropped their rubber raft for the three of them.

When the trio put on their disposable raincoats, settled in the raft, and were ready to row away, Jiang Yan and her raft were but a tiny black dot in the eyes of the onlookers.

The rain continued to drizzle down.

The cold wind whistled through the air.

Fortunately for Jiang Yan, not only were her clothes wind-proof, water-resistant, and warm, but her body, enhanced by the Space, didn’t feel much of the chill.

She was heading downtown on her first treasure-hunting stop for the day.

The area was full of high-rises, crowded and bustling. It was home to a concentration of malls and jewelry stores.

It was the kind of place where, if you could set up shop, you’d be set for three years, making it her first choice for the trip.

Apparently, she had set out early, and not many others in the city had rubber rafts.

Along the way, she didn’t encounter many living souls.

But there were plenty of corpses.

Men, women, children—all of them.

There was even a baby floating with a piece of umbilical cord attached.

But all were so bloated and disfigured from soaking in the water that none were recognizable.

Their decaying bodies were crawling with swarms of plankton, wriggling maggots, and those glossy black Mutated Leeches, creating a sight that was deeply unsettling.

Since she had to deliberately avoid areas with tall buildings, Jiang Yan ended up detouring a bit.

Once the high-rises were out of sight, she brought out an assault boat from her Space.

This boat wasn’t much different in color or style from the rubber raft she was currently in, except this one had a motor.

She knew she was going to spend the whole day underwater on a “free shopping spree,” and it would require a significant amount of energy.

Paddling by hand was also too slow, so the assault boat with its motor would be faster.

However, the motor was loud and easily attracted attention.

She had to continue avoiding areas densely packed with high-rises until she was nearing downtown before she switched back to the more discreet rubber raft.