Ding Longyun spoke while pushing the raft, moving quickly through the water.
Su Li thought that Ding Longyun's observation about the unusual occupancy was something he had also noticed but couldn't explain. Seeing Ding Longyun pushing the raft in the water for so long, Su Li felt a little guilty and said, "Brother Ding, come on up. I can paddle the rest of the way."
As he spoke, he took the wooden paddle and began to row.
Ding Longyun shook his head, smiling. After a moment's hesitation, he admitted, "Actually… I get a little seasick, ha."
Su Li was completely taken aback that Ding Longyun, who was so proficient in water, would get seasick.
Seeing Su Li's astonished expression, Ding Longyun laughed and said, "Honestly, I don't understand why either. I've been seasick since I was a kid. That's why I worked hard to learn how to swim. I thought if I learned to swim, I wouldn't get seasick anymore. Turns out, the older I get, the worse the motion sickness gets. But even though it didn't cure my seasickness, at least I learned to swim, and it's certainly coming in handy now."
Su Li nodded in deep empathy. With the city suddenly submerged by an unprecedented flood, having strong swimming skills meant a greater chance of survival. His earlier tumble into the water, where he choked and nearly drowned, was simply due to his lack of proficiency in the water. If he had been a better swimmer, he wouldn't have been so helpless.
Knowing Ding Longyun suffered from motion sickness, Su Li didn't insist that he climb onto the raft.
Although they were rapidly closing in on the building ahead, Su Li remained highly vigilant, guarding against any sudden accidents.
Ding Longyun pushed the raft, and they quickly arrived at a balcony, which he nudged steadily against the edge.
Su Li picked up the bricks tied with rope and tossed them onto the balcony first.
"I'll stabilize the raft for you; you guys go up first." Ding Longyun was very helpful. He swam over and held onto the edge of the balcony.
Su Li nodded in thanks. He first vaulted onto the balcony and noticed that the floor inside was already submerged by three or four centimeters of water. The water level had been slowly rising over the past few days, making the 30th floor completely uninhabitable.
With his feet on solid ground, Su Li quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Being inside the building was much safer than floating on the water; at least his mind felt at ease.
He first secured the rope to the side, then gestured for Xu Xuehui to come over.
Xu Xuehui carefully approached and held out her arms to him.
Su Li took her arms, and with his help, she also climbed over the balcony railing.
Su Li then returned to the raft to start moving the various supplies.
He planned to stay here temporarily and wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, so all the supplies needed to be moved upstairs.
Xu Xuehui stood by the balcony, receiving the items, though she couldn't handle the very heavy ones.
Ding Longyun surfaced from the water, used his hands to grab the balcony edge, and climbed up as well.
"You rest, little girl. Let me take over." Ding Longyun smiled, taking the large storage box filled with cooled boiled water that Su Li cautiously handed over. He asked curiously, "What's in here?"
"It's all cooled boiled water. It's clean and safe to drink. We can even heat it up if we have the means," Su Li explained.
"Cooled boiled water? You're resourceful, bringing this much water, haha! But it wasn't really necessary." Ding Longyun laughed.
Su Li's eyes lit up. "The tap water here hasn't stopped working?"
Ding Longyun easily set down the storage box, which held 170 L of water, then shrugged. "What are you thinking? The water, electricity, and gas have all been shut off for a long time. But the outside is nothing but water. The one thing we aren't short of is water. Did you really need to bring it?"
Su Li looked at Ding Longyun with some surprise. "You mean this water? You drink this water?" He gestured to the boundless water outside, thinking about how many corpses were soaking in it, what kind of filth it contained, and what bacteria and parasites might be present. He genuinely dared not drink it.
Ding Longyun nodded. Seeing Su Li's astonished expression, he smiled. "I know what you're thinking. It's fine, really. You just need to enhance your stomach. Looking at you, have you not enhanced your stomach yet?"
Su Li was taken aback. The options for his previous two advancements had indeed included enhancing his stomach, but he chose to enhance his lungs once and his muscles once, bypassing the stomach both times.
Seeing Su Li shake his head, Ding Longyun explained, "You need to enhance your stomach at least once. That way, our stomachs can adapt to drinking cold water and eating raw meat, at least ensuring we won't get sick from it. Even though food isn't scarce right now, who knows how long this will last? Clean food is finite. Sooner or later, we might be forced to eat the meat of these monsters. A normal person's stomach probably couldn't digest that."
Su Li understood and nodded. He then asked curiously, "I saw you attacking that Water Rat Beast just now. It didn't have any external wounds, so why did it suddenly die?"
"Water Rat Beast? You call those giant rats in the water Water Rat Beasts? Haha, that's a fitting name. Are you asking about this?" Ding Longyun said, raising his right hand and clenching it into a fist. Su Li saw a faint, ephemeral substance flowing over the surface of his fist. It appeared for only a moment and vanished before Su Li could get a clear look.
"This is called 'Soul Devour'. I acquired it after killing a super huge rat. That big rat was very similar to the ones just now, but two or three times bigger. It was probably their leader. That thing was vicious."
"There were four of us living here originally. Two of them were killed by that thing. I was lucky and managed to deliver the final fatal blow. That's how I gained this ability called 'Soul Devour.' Using this 'Soul Devour' attack doesn't damage the surface skin, but it can directly destroy the brain inside. The information I received about it is vague, calling it an ability to devour the soul, hence the name 'Soul Devour.' But as I understand it, it's like that old saying about striking a cow through a mountain—no damage on the outside, but everything inside is destroyed."
Ding Longyun's expression was a mix of pride and wistfulness as he finished speaking.
Pride in the strange and powerful nature of the "Soul Devour" ability, and wistfulness over the deaths of his former companions at the hands of that giant rat.
Listening to Ding Longyun's explanation, Su Li finally understood.
Ding Longyun did not have the "Peering Rune," so he couldn't view the monsters' data. Therefore, he didn't know the creature he killed was called a Water Rat Beast and simply referred to them as giant water rats. The giant rat that was two or three times larger than the Water Rat Beast was likely the Water Rat King—the evolved Elite species of the Water Rat Beast.
The Water Rat King was an Elite Spiritual Source Beast. Based on Su Li's previous experience, killing an Elite Spiritual Source Beast carried a certain probability of acquiring a special skill. His "Peering Rune" and "Gluttony Fangs" were both special skills acquired from killing Elite Spiritual Source Beasts.
(End of Chapter)