Not every city had become a lake city. In some places the water level had never been that high to begin with. With the heat climbing day after day, the flood kept shrinking. If they could get back before the water fully receded, they might manage. If they could not, they would have to abandon the ship, and with no vehicles left for them, they might even have to walk.
Lan Jin hurried to ask, "Ling Jiang, when we left J City, the water was more than twenty floors high, right? After we got back this time, did you check again? Is it still that high now?"
Ling Jiang waved a hand. "If you mean the very beginning, no. At first it was around the eighteenth floor. It rose later because of a few rounds of freezing rain, then a few blizzards on top of that. All kinds of reasons piled together, and it ended up over twenty floors."
If Ling Jiang had to list each change in detail, it would be hard. Building heights varied, and their ship had not sailed close to their own community. Still, the drop was obvious. By Ling Jiang's guess, it was now around twelve or thirteen floors.
They could not forget something else either. Even during the coldest weeks, they had gone out to collect supplies. Many places never had water that high at all.
Maybe thinking of the same thing as Lan Jin, Ling Jiang said, "We should head toward wherever the water still is."
Then Ling Jiang turned to Shen Zhiyan. "How bad was the flooding in R City?"
N City was not much better off than J City. Along the way they had seen stretches where the water ran high. Even so, Shen Zhiyan said R City had been manageable, and once the level fell, H City was not as bad as they had feared.
Ling Jiang muttered, "I hope when we finish the mission and go back, the ship can still move on the water."
Shen Zhiyan smiled. "Even if the temperature keeps soaring, no one is maintaining the drainage systems anywhere. If the drains do not run, the water will hold until we make it back to the base."
"If you say so, I can relax a little."
…
Sitting here to cool down and chat, everyone felt less irritable than before.
Lan Jin checked the time on the watch. Somehow more than forty minutes had slipped by. She said, "At this pace, they should be on their way back."
Ling Jiang said, "Our first pass was slow. Their second pass will be faster. But that does not mean they will come back to this exact spot."
Right. Why had they all assumed the team would return here, then settled in to wait?
Once that thought hit, no one could sit still.
Just then, voices drifted toward them from far off.
"It's here. The same place as before. I remember this spot."
"Yeah, the road we just walked."
"This flower. I remember this flower. I scratched it with my nail when we passed."
"Why are your hands so itchy. You dare pinch plants around here?"
As the voices came closer, Shen Zhiyan could not hold back and shouted, "Brother, Shen Zhiyu, can you hear me?"
Hearing Shen Zhiyan, the few who had been checking landmarks broke into a run.
They crossed the road and stopped before and behind the small wooden cabin. Everyone froze. They had heard the voices clearly, but they could not see a single person.
Ling Jiang called out, puzzled, "Lao Gao, Xiao Huang, where are you? You said you were here already. Why can't I see you?"
Lao Gao sounded just as confused. "Sister Ling, where are you? I hear your voice, but I don't see you."
Shen Zhiyan called, "Brother, where are you? Did you make it back?"
From above came Shen Zhiyu's voice. "I'm back. All of us are back. We're standing next to Professor Pei's bones, but… I don't see any of you."
Shen Zhiyan blurted, "We're also standing by Professor Pei's bones. How can we not see each other?"
Shen Zhiyan swept an arm through the air, feeling around. Nothing.
So what had gone wrong to make this happen?
Lan Jin asked, "At the cabin door, besides Grandpa Pei's bones, do you see anything else?"
Lan Jin meant the ice Ling Jiang had created to cool them. If they were all in the same layer of space, they should be able to see the ice.
Zhou Zhiye answered, "No. Nothing at the cabin door. But I can clearly feel the temperature dropped a lot."
Lan Jin let out a breath. "Then it fits. We were too hot just now, so Ling Jiang used her ability to raise ice all around us. If you feel the air getting cooler, we're still in the same layer."
"You do know how to enjoy yourselves," Captain Zhang joked.
No one had time to answer Captain Zhang. Almost at the same moment, Lan Jin and Zhou Zhiye said together, "So it's an illusion trick."
Zhou Zhiye added, "The only thing near us that stands out is that cabin. Lan Jin, call down a lightning strike and destroy it."
Captain Zhang cut in at once. "Wait. Isn't that too risky? What if the cabin isn't the cause?"
Zhou Zhiye said, "Everything here is suspicious, and the cabin is the most suspicious of all. It's only a cabin. If we think this place is dangerous, we should verify fast and move on with the mission."
"That sounds reasonable."
But—
Captain Zhang did not even finish stopping them. While Lan Jin and Zhou Zhiye were mid-argument, Lao Gao had already formed an orb of power in his right hand. Lao Gao hurled it into the cabin and shouted, "Down!"
Ling Jiang reacted first. She grabbed Lan Jin and Shen Zhiyan and dragged them to the ground. The blast hit a heartbeat later. Fire flared out of the cabin. The wooden house shattered to pieces, and the clearing was razed to the ground.
For a long time, everyone heard nothing but ringing. Only after a long while did their senses come back.