True Apocalypse Game

’The Cordillera Island Chain?’

Shen Feng raised an eyebrow. He had heard of the Cordilleran Mountain Range before.

The Cordilleran Mountain Range spans both North and South America and is arguably the longest mountain range on the planet.

It seemed the Cordilleran Mountain Range had sunk completely into the sea, with only some of its peaks remaining above the water, forming an archipelago.

The Cordilleran Mountain Range is essentially the highest geological formation in the Americas, with an average elevation of over two thousand meters and its highest peaks exceeding four thousand.

The fact that the range’s highest peaks were still above water allowed Shen Feng to roughly deduce the extent of the sea-level rise.

About two thousand meters.

In other words, the sea had inexplicably deepened by over two thousand meters, meaning basically the entirety of America was completely submerged.

The San Francisco he had been in before, which was over fifty meters above sea level, was now two to three thousand meters deep on the ocean floor.

’This is fucking terrifying...’

The rise in sea level far exceeded Shen Feng’s previous estimates. He had originally assumed a rise of tens, or at most a hundred, meters would be the limit, but now it was clear he was far off the mark.

’But does Earth even have this much water?’

’Where on earth did all this water come from?’

He instantly recalled a line from the pirates’ funeral dirge:

"The ship that holds the world has sprung a leak."

’Could all this extra water have come from the Space Wormholes on the seabed?’

But if that were the case, it didn’t quite add up.

After all, when he had looked through the Space Wormhole before, there were no signs of water in the star system where Shield UY was located.

He then turned to the old sailor and asked again:

"What about the Space Wormholes on the seabed? Where are those Exotic Giant Beasts? Are they roaming the ocean floor?"

The old sailor was taken aback at first, seemingly not understanding what Shen Feng meant. Then, a look of sudden realization crossed his face, and he said:

"You mean the entrance to Hell and the World Beasts? No one knows where the entrance to Hell is; it’s just a legend. As for the World Beasts..."

The old sailor gave a wry smile and continued:

"If we’d ever seen a World Beast, we’d have been eaten long ago... Legend says the World Beasts destroyed the once-mighty ancient world, drowning it in water. If a human encounters a World Beast, they are taken to the entrance to Hell, never to return."

Shen Feng nodded slightly. He wasn’t too surprised by this answer.

After all, compared to those mountain-sized, super-giant Exotic Giant Beasts, humanity was simply too insignificant.

From beginning to end, perhaps those Exotic Giant Beasts were merely trying to escape the impending destruction of the Supergiant Star Shield UY. They probably never gave a single thought to the survival of human civilization.

I will destroy you, but that has nothing to do with you.

The name "World Beast," then, was quite fitting.

After all, in terms of size, a single beast was practically a small world in itself.

The old sailor looked at the new captain before him, his heart filled with doubt.

Information about the entrance to Hell and the World Beasts should be common knowledge. This new captain seemed very intelligent, yet he didn’t even know these things.

Moreover, he had appeared out of nowhere, wielded powerful firearms, and was found drifting on a one-man inflatable raft. His clothes were far more refined than any ordinary person’s. It was as if he had materialized out of the sea; it was all too strange.

With this in mind, the old sailor spoke cautiously.

"Captain, if I may be so bold... are you... are you from the Sea Race?"

Shen Feng was taken aback. "What’s the Sea Race?"

’Have humans in this world undergone genetic mutations, giving rise to a subspecies that can survive underwater?’

’How many years must have passed for that to happen?’

The old sailor went on to explain:

"The so-called Sea Race is a people who possess a Magic called ’technology,’ allowing them to build cities under the sea and live within them. It’s said they rarely surface, live in seclusion, and possess great power. Because your appearance... is so extraordinary, I mistakenly thought you were of the Sea Race. Please forgive me."

Shen Feng nodded slightly.

When the entire globe was submerged, the last struggling remnants of human civilization would surely use every means at their disposal, composing one magnificent, tragic epic after another.

Choosing to eke out an existence on the remaining land or drifting on the sea were both options. The other path was to live directly on the seabed.

Of course, this would require an extremely high level of technology, essentially maxing out the "diving" and "pressure resistance" skills on the tech tree. He wondered who had ultimately succeeded.

But in the face of the invincible World Beasts, no matter which method of survival they chose, humanity had been reduced to nothing more than a swarm of ants, barely clinging to life.

"How long has it been since the Great Flood began?" Shen Feng asked again.

The old sailor cautiously corrected him.

"Captain, it wasn’t a great flood, it was a great tsunami... I’ve been drifting on the sea since the day I was born, listening to legends of the great tsunami and ancient human civilization. As for how long it’s been, I’ve never really known... But someone at the Floating Island Market should know the exact time. If not, there are always the fabled distant islands."

Shen Feng nodded.

"Set a course for the nearest Floating Island Market immediately."

At the new captain’s command, the small, ramshackle yet sturdy pirate ship immediately raised its sails to full, turned its bow, and cut through the waves, heading northeast.

Shen Feng placed the Quantum Backpack at his feet. He rested one hand on his rifle and the other on the armrest of his chair, gazing out at the surrounding sea.

These pirate sailors had clearly spent their entire lives at sea. Although the small boat swayed constantly, they walked its deck as if on solid ground and expertly handled the sails and oars.

’A good crew of sailors.’

As they sailed on, Shen Feng made small talk with the old sailor.

By now, he had learned the old sailor’s nickname was "Shoelace Bill." He was a man in his forties and had been on this pirate ship, the Swordfish, for a good seven or eight years.

Bill himself had been born on a pirate ship. His parents were also pirates, but their ship had sunk in a storm when he was a teenager. He had served on six or seven different ships since then, making him a veteran pirate.

As for being a "pirate ship," raiding was actually just a side hustle. Their main business was fishing and scavenging the floating wreckage of ancient civilization to sell.

In Bill’s words, humans were like cockroaches—even if all they could do was float on the sea, they would find a way to survive.

After so many apocalyptic missions, Shen Feng couldn’t agree more.

According to Old Bill, they were about a day’s journey from the nearest Floating Island Market. However, food was running low, so they would need to take some time in the next few days to catch some fish.

Time flew by, and soon it was evening. The distant sun, like a perfectly round egg yolk, was slowly setting.

Shen Feng placed his inflatable raft in the middle of the pirate ship’s deck. He lay back on it, enjoying the sea breeze and watching the clouds fill the sky, feeling an indescribable sense of comfort.

Just then, a violent splashing sound erupted beside the boat.

The next moment, a dolphin leaped from one side of the pirate ship, traced an arc through the air, passed directly over Shen Feng, and plunged back into the sea on the other side.

Immediately after, the surrounding sea surface erupted with whitecaps as thousands of dolphins leaped from the water. They looked like silver shuttles, gilded with the golden-red light of the setting sun, leaping and bounding alongside the pirate ship!

The dolphins continued to leap forward, making a cacophony of clicks and whistles, like a flock of birds.

And then, a large flock of birds, mostly seagulls, truly did appear in the sky, rapidly circling toward them.

Seeing this, Old Bill shouted excitedly:

"The dolphins are hunting! A school of fish! We’re not far from a school! By the Savior! That’s a floating scrap field! Right ahead!"

Shen Feng sat up and looked ahead. A few kilometers away, an immense, continuous belt of floating objects stretched across the sea, its true size impossible to gauge.

The floating objects were all man-made plastic trash.