Chapter 437: The Tide Beneath
The rain had softened to a steady drizzle by the next morning, but the floodwaters showed no sign of receding.
From the rooftop, the city looked like a drowned relic of the past.
Buildings stood like broken pillars rising from an endless stretch of murky water.
Debris floated lazily between them. Cars, furniture, pieces of broken walls, and sometimes... things that no one wanted to look at too closely.
Yet, amidst this grim scenery, there was movement.
Life, and perhaps, danger.
Leng Pan stood at the edge of the rooftop, her eyes sweeping across the water below. Her brows were slightly furrowed, her instincts restless.
The last few days since the hailstorm stopped, she liked to come up to the rooftop to observe what was happening around the base.
Today was no different.
She needed to clear her head and had come to the roof because it was peaceful and water didn’t scare her.
Even if she got rained on, her ability was only getting stronger.
However, today she felt that something wasn’t right with the flood water below.
Behind her, footsteps approached.
Lu Zhen walked over, holding two cups of steaming tea. He handed one to her before standing beside her, his gaze following hers.
Drinking hot tea in the middle of falling rain. The apocalypse had really changed people.
"Baby, you’ve been staring at the water for a while now. What’s up with it?" he asked curiously.
Leng Pan accepted the cup but didn’t drink immediately.
"The fish are too active," she replied.
Lu Zhen didn’t dismiss her concern, instead, he observed carefully.
He had noticed that something was different about the fish the previous day when they went fishing.
The surface of the water rippled constantly, and not just from the rain, but also from the movement beneath.
"You think something’s wrong?" he asked.
Leng Pan nodded slightly.
"You remember in the ancient Earth, floods weren’t just disasters... they were also catalysts."
Lu Zhen’s eyes darkened immediately when he heard that.
Yes, how could he forget that?
Floods were the catalysts for evolution.
Creatures adapted quickly in extreme environments. Especially those already affected by external energy.
And unlike the extreme heat or cold, the floods carried everything from the meteorites that had been forgotten on the ground.
Because of the water, any elements that could speed up evolution or spread the zombie virus further were dissolved into the flood water.
Lu Zhen understood immediately what his wife was worried about.
"The fish..."
"They might not be as harmless as we think."
At that moment, hurried footsteps echoed behind them.
"Commander Leng! Commander Lu!"
They turned to see Xu Man rushing toward them, slightly out of breath.
"What is it?" Lu Zhen asked.
"Something’s happening below," Xu Man said urgently. "The people fishing near the east side of the compound... something attacked them."
’Was it starting so fast?’
Both Leng Pan and Lu Zhen thought at the same time.
"Attacked? By what?"
"They said... it was fish." Xu Man replied but his words trailed off towards the end.
Who would believe that someone was attacked by fish and not even a shark, but a normal fish?
Within minutes, Leng Pan and Lu Zhen were on the eighth floor, where several survivors had gathered near the window exit.
The atmosphere was tense.
A few injured individuals were being pulled inside, their clothes soaked both in the rain water and blood
And their expressions were pale.
"What happened?" Leng Pan asked as she approached quickly.
One of the men, whose arm was bleeding, looked up at her.
"There’s something in the water..." he said shakily. "At first, it looked like fish...well, it is fish. But they started... attacking us for no reason as we were fishing."
"Attacking how?" Lu Zhen asked.
"They moved in groups... fast... too fast. They bit through the nets... some even tried to jump into the boats."
Another survivor added, "Their teeth are sharp like piranhas. But their bites are more powerful."
"Yes, it felt as if we were attacked with blades." Another survivor added.
Leng Pan’s expression turned serious.
"Were there many?"
The man hesitated for a moment as if thinking about the situation.
"Yes...too many." He finally replied.
Without wasting another second, Leng Pan turned to Lu Zhen.
"We need to check it out ourselves."
"I am coming too." Lu Hao’s voice sounded from behind them.
He had arrived silently, his expression calm but alert as he observed the water outside.
Lu Tao, who had followed closely behind, immediately raised his hand.
"I am coming too."
"No," Lu Zhen said firmly. His younger brother just loved to follow crowds.
Lu Tao frowned. "Why not? I can help too!"
"You can help more by staying here," Leng Pan said calmly.
"Coordinate with the research team. If these creatures have evolved, we need to understand how and why."
Leng Pan didn’t believe for a second that the creatures had evolved in one night because of gases seeping out of meteorites.
Someone must be using this as a cover.
Lu Tao gritted his teeth but didn’t argue further.
"...Fine." Who asked him to be the youngest?
A few minutes later, Leng Pan, Lu Zhen, and Lu Hao stepped onto a motor boat and moved out into the flooded streets.
This time they didn’t use a rubber boat because they wanted to be able to run in case of an emergency.
Fighting in the water wasn’t a good idea. Especially for Lu Zhen who had a fire attribute superpower.
Assistant Yao had also followed his boss into the boat just as they were about to leave.
He was now at the helm showing them directions.
He had already found out where the first attack happened.
"Where did the attack happen?" Leng Pan asked.
"Just ahead," he replied, pointing toward a cluster of partially submerged buildings.
As they approached, the signs of an attack became clear.
Broken nets floated on the surface and a capsized rubber boat drifted nearby.