Chapter 59 Sweeping the Building

Shi Jun glanced at Bai Xiao and, seeing she had no intention of speaking up, took it upon himself to explain. 'A rubber dinghy made of Hypalon material isn't afraid of sun exposure or low temperatures. It's both anti-aging and corrosion-resistant. Most importantly, with the current urban flooding, who knows how many sharp debris, broken stones, and pollutants are in the water. It can withstand all of that. Compared to Xu Zhen and his crew's PVC-material rubber dinghies, it's countless times more durable.'

With such a good item, their last worry about venturing out vanished.

As soon as they stepped out, Bai Xiao saw Cheng Ru was also there. Zhao Fangzhe explained upon noticing her look, 'Xiao Ru also wants to come along. More people mean more strength.'

Bai Xiao truly didn't mind. If Cheng Ru wanted to go, she could. Although Bai Xiao didn't like this cousin of hers, she didn't exactly hate her either, treating her more like a half-stranger.

Shi Jun's wife, He Yuping, actually wanted to go too. However, their daughter was only six years old, and the couple really couldn't bear to leave the child home alone.

The rubber dinghies weren't very heavy. Shi Jun and Zhao Fangzhe insisted on carrying one each downstairs. Feeling awkward about freeloading her tools, they compensated by putting in more physical effort. Bai Xiao and Cheng Ru had no choice but to carry the bags and paddles, following behind them.

At this time, people were either at home or crowded on the eighth floor at Xu Zhen's place registering to borrow boats. They made it all the way to the Third Floor connecting corridor without any obstruction and smoothly launched the two dinghies into the water.

Bai Xiao and Shi Jun took the lead, with Zhao Fangzhe and Cheng Ru following behind.

Along the way, residents in the buildings lining the street saw them going out by boat and excitedly opened their windows to call out to them.

Some wanted to borrow boats, others were pleading for help—all sorts of requests. The group uniformly pretended not to hear, focusing solely on paddling. The shops along the street were already submerged, leaving nothing worth searching.

After discussion, the four decided to follow the main street toward the business district office buildings, hoping the companies there might still have supplies.

The residential area was about five kilometers from the business district. The average water depth was now six meters. Although visibility was poor in the heavy rain, fortunately, Yunzhou City wasn't a mountainous city but a coastal plain city, so the roads were relatively flat.

Except for a few difficult spots, the current wasn't too turbulent on most of the route. The only danger was the occasional drifting obstacles. The journey wasn't exactly easy, but it wasn't terribly hard either.

After drinking the body enhancement potion twice, Bai Xiao's physical strength and endurance were already on a completely different level. Shi Jun, having served in the military before, also had strong physical fitness, but he was still slightly inferior to Bai Xiao.

Zhao Fangzhe and Cheng Ru were in a very different situation. Although Zhao Fangzhe usually exercised, he was still not as fit as Shi Jun. Cheng Ru was even worse off. She had just recovered from a serious illness and had gone hungry for half a month not long ago. Her body hadn't fully recuperated. After just ten minutes of paddling, before they had even covered a kilometer, her arms were already sore and heavy, unable to lift properly.

Whenever her strength faltered, Zhao Fangzhe's side would exert more force, causing the boat to veer. They had already bumped into obstacles several times. Luckily, they hadn't hit anything very sharp; otherwise, even the sturdiest rubber dinghy risked being punctured.

Zhao Fangzhe was also somewhat regretting agreeing to bring her along. But now they were in the middle of nowhere, with no way to send her back. He could only grit his teeth and try his best not to fall behind.

After Bai Xiao and Shi Jun paddled ahead over ten meters, they looked back and saw the other two hadn't kept up. Observing the boat constantly pulling toward Zhao Fangzhe's side, they realized Cheng Ru's physical strength couldn't keep up, slowing them down.

The two had no choice but to stop temporarily and wait for them to catch up.

'I'm sorry,' Cheng Ru said, her face pale from the rain's impact. She knew she was holding everyone back and was afraid of being resented.

Apologies were useless, and no one truly blamed her. The other three discussed briefly and decided to change the formation.

Bai Xiao took a safety rope from her bag and had Zhao Fangzhe tie it to the bow of their dinghy. Then she instructed them not to sit side-by-side, with one person paddling on each side, but to switch to sitting front and back.

Bai Xiao and Shi Jun's boat would lead the way, pulling from the front. Zhao Fangzhe would focus on steering his boat's direction, and Cheng Ru would paddle when she could.

After resting twice along the way, they finally, after a bit over an hour and with some nerve-wracking moments, reached the business district.

The four found a building with a large corridor window, smashed the glass, and climbed in one by one. They carefully cleared the broken glass, then pulled the rubber dinghies up using the ropes.

Looking at the dinghies on the floor, they were hesitating whether to split into two teams—one to guard and one to search—when Bai Xiao directly pulled out an electric air pump from her bag. This pump was dual-purpose, capable of both inflating and deflating, much faster than manual ones. Under their surprised gazes, Bai Xiao began deflating the rubber dinghies.

In no time, the dinghies were deflated and shrunk to a single layer. Shi Jun and Zhao Fangzhe each folded one up and carried it. Just like that, the four began searching through the offices along the corridor.

The office building had clearly been looted before, likely during the first few days after the fog cleared and the rain started, by people from the surrounding area.

Seeing this, everyone was somewhat worried they had come for nothing. Bai Xiao found a courier cart in one office. She pointed to several boxes of bottled water stacked at the office's Gate Tower.

'Although this place has been searched, water wasn't cut off until a few days ago. Everyone was focused on food. These offices more or less have some bottled water. Even if we don't find food, it won't be a wasted trip.'

Finding courier carts in companies was common. The group soon found a few more. Without a detailed plan on how to gather supplies, they each took a cart and started looting separately.

They discovered that although most company pantries had been emptied, there were still overlooked items, especially in employees' workstations. Their drawers contained varying amounts of bread and snacks. With over twenty floors in a building, the total quantity found could be quite substantial.

Bai Xiao wasn't overly concerned about food and water. After collecting roughly a cart's worth of supplies, she found a hidden corner to temporarily store them, then continued exploring.

The office building housed all sorts of companies. She specifically headed for bosses' offices, hoping to find some uncommon items.

It must be said that bosses' offices had a higher probability of yielding good finds. Expensive watches, jewelry, and gold were commonplace. Earlier, in the reception room of a financial company's boss, she even discovered two wine cabinets full of red wine. Some offices had cigars, along with high-end perfumes, unopened custom skincare products, anti-wolf batons, stun guns, high-end survival kits, exclusive emergency packs, gas masks, portable water filters, and so on.

Bosses had varied hobbies. Whatever they possessed was either custom-made items not commonly seen on the market or premium versions of common goods. Bai Xiao stored anything she found useful in her storage space.

Finally, in a large Security Personnel company, she discovered a hidden button under the boss's desk. Curious, she pressed it. A secret compartment beside it opened with a click. Inside was a handgun, with over a dozen oil-paper-wrapped boxes next to it.

Each box was about the size of a cigarette pack and felt heavy in the hand. Bai Xiao unwrapped the oil paper to reveal a metal box. The box was engraved with the text and logo of a shooting club. It had a clasp. She pressed it lightly, and the lid immediately popped open. Inside weren't bullets but a whole box of smooth, silver-gray metal beads. By the look of it, there were about one to two hundred.

Only then did Bai Xiao realize this wasn't a real handgun but an air pistol with an appearance completely mimicking a real one.

Even though it wasn't a real gun, she was still extremely delighted. An air pistol paired with steel beads, even if it couldn't kill with one shot, could easily injure someone. Moreover, its appearance was strikingly similar to a real gun; just brandishing it would have immense deterrent power.

The gun was housed in a black leather holster. The leather was soft and glossy, clearly of considerable value.

She gently pulled the gun out. This handgun was only slightly larger than a palm, entirely black with a matte metal texture. The body was compact, with clean, streamlined contours. The grip had an electroplated matte finish, giving it a substantial feel when held.

Excitedly, she stored both the gun and the 'ammunition' into her storage slot. This was the biggest haul of the trip!