Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 903 - 393 Rowing Against the Current (Part 1)_2

Chapter 903: Chapter 393 Rowing Against the Current (Part 1)_2

Two hours into the boat journey, 10 kilometers had passed, and they were about to leave Central City, still 35 kilometers away from their destination, the Southwest Train Station Distribution Area of West City.

The boat stopped for drone reconnaissance. The drone operator, Shana, picked up the walkie-talkie: "Attention, everyone, we’ve got big trouble." The water’s surface visibly displayed irregular turbulence, resulting in vortices everywhere. Although the vortices were small, their formation indicated that there were two or more opposing currents interfering with each other.

This was the overpass section of the city’s elevated roads, with half of the interchange above water and the other half submerged. The estimated maximum depth here reached seven meters. The fleet needed to pass through a two-kilometer open area to enter the district of West City. The open area lacked the protection and buffering of buildings and had become a convergence zone for water flows, with an unknown number of currents meeting here.

In Day After Tomorrow City, the southwest is high and the northeast is low, the closer it gets to the southwest direction, the shallower and faster the water. This overpass was like a low-lying area, receiving not only the floods from the southwest but also the undercurrents rebounding from the seabed. As seen from the scattered debris, their drift directions were irregular, with two planks drifting in opposite directions within ten meters of each other. For this reason, one-meter-high waves would form due to the collision of water currents.

Lin Wu picked up the walkie-talkie: "Let’s go."

Without other options, Shana pointed the hook gun towards a building two kilometers away: "Start the engine, move out."

As the two groups of boats entered the area, it was clear that the vessels were affected by the currents. Shana shouted, "Full power, rush through!"

Shana, after all, wasn’t Maya; her operational skills were weaker, and this command led to a severe consequence. The two groups of boats had different loads, which wasn’t a big issue, but when combined with the currents and other factors, it caused the 2 groups of rubber boats to drag the makeshift boat to a dead stop, immediately veering to the right. The makeshift boat itself had no power and was being dragged forward while drifting to the right.

This caused the makeshift boat to inadvertently tighten against Group 1’s boats, causing Group 1 to start spinning as a result. The two helmsmen of Group 1 made different moves, with Su Shi’s boat immediately shutting off its engine to go with the flow, avoiding resistance. Snow Egg’s boat tried to stabilize, putting full effort into turning the rudder. This back and forth exerted too great a pull, breaking one of the connecting wooden bars between the two boats, followed by a second, third...

As the wooden bars were torn and snapped, Group 1’s two boats collided briefly before separating to the left and right.

Snow Egg’s boat was the main boat, connected to the makeshift vessel, and was thus immediately dragged away by it, leaving Su Shi’s boat behind. Shana attempted to extend the hook gun, but it was too late, as Su Shi’s boat was over 30 meters away from Snow Egg’s boat. The key was that both Snow Egg’s boat and Group 2 boats couldn’t stop there, as there was no chance to reconnect.

As the saying goes, misfortune never comes alone; a wave less than two meters tall rolled up. Group 2 boats, being tied together, shook and successfully passed through. But both of Group 1’s boats were capsized by the surging wave.

This was bewildering for everyone. Continue? Snow Egg’s only option was to grasp the net rope of the boat and follow its movement, while Su Shi’s boat was completely abandoned. Stop? If we don’t go, the makeshift boat will drift away, pulling Group 2 along with it.

Lin Wu decisively picked up the walkie-talkie: "Swim opposite."

Stone asked, "What does ’swim opposite’ mean?"

"Just follow me."

So-called "swim opposite" meant circling around the accident site, lowering speed to a minimum, controlling the makeshift boat while giving Group 1 time to rescue themselves.

The first to be rescued was Snow Egg’s boat. Shana cut the rope connecting Snow Egg’s boat to the makeshift boat, and with Maya’s collaboration, they flipped the rubber boat over and climbed aboard. Maya took control of the outboard motor in sync with Lin Wu circling, drawing close to Stone’s boat.

Xiao Wu hooked Snow Egg’s boat, and with backup materials and Snow Egg’s and Shana’s help, they connected Snow Egg’s boat to Stone’s boat. Once the three boats were unified, Su Shi’s boat had also been righted, and now it was time for the four boats to become one.

The Four-In-One formation had two drawbacks: during the journey they would tug on each other. Even if the four helmsmen could maintain the same direction, the currents would not allow them to do so, along with the differential in thrust. The second disadvantage required a relatively wide water surface as it restricted the helmsmen, significantly reducing the fleet’s maneuverability.

But of course, the advantage was stability.

Four-In-One was Plan B, and the second step of Plan B was to connect all boats with the makeshift boat. Whether to cross this water area and then connect or to stop and connect on the spot wasn’t a question at all. While Shana was thinking, Lin Wu had already made the decision. He called out and, along with Maya, who was the best swimmer, dove into the water and took a rope to the makeshift boat, which was more than ten meters away.

With Xiao Wen’s help, each of the four rubber boats had a rope connected to the makeshift boat.

During this process, Shana finally took on the full command, using the walkie-talkie to issue detailed orders loudly in the pouring rain. Under Shana’s leadership, the fleet safely passed through the interchange area and reached a five-story building nearly completely submerged.

Su Shi and Snow Egg used electric drills to make holes in the walls, inserted expansion screws, and then secured the five boats to the expansion screws. Everyone got off the boats and took a temporary rest on the rooftop.

Stone set up a simple tent that could fit four adults, Xiao Wen took out a waterproof box from a waterproof bag; inside were nine large rice balls wrapped with some smoked meat and pickled vegetables. Everyone was soaked through, but no one complained; many lay on the ground, stretching their upper bodies into the tent to grab the rice balls and start eating.

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