Chapter 980: Can't Survive for Long
Lin Sanjiu hunched over, her heavy footsteps soaked in water and intermittent gasps accompanying her as she made her way through at least ten paddle boats. The long spear on her back, along with the bag containing her Special Item and weapons, felt increasingly heavy. Despite weighing only a dozen kilograms, they now seemed to press on her, making her feel dizzy and lightheaded.
With a thud, she stumbled and sat on a plastic seat, attempting to regulate her breathing.
This paddle boat had a flat yellow canopy on its front, thankfully not another annoying cartoon animal. It looked relatively intact and clean, seemingly capable of lasting the ten minutes it would take to return. However, when Lin Sanjiu glanced at it, she buried her face in her hands and let out a long breath between her fingers.
She had no idea how to distinguish anymore.
She had just stepped on a severely damaged boat a while ago, yet it remained stable after several tens of seconds. On the other hand, several boats that looked brand new and pristine, without a speck of dust, left only ripples and bubbles on the lake's surface after she passed by.
How could one discern anything from this?
After Philibert issued the order earlier, only the round-faced man had questioned why he didn't kill her. The middle-aged gentleman was quite candid, calmly replying, "It's not time yet."
It seemed that this statement made his fellow group members finally realize what he was planning. What Lin Sanjiu could think of, they could think of as well. Since the real danger would arrive at the 29th minute, any further discussion or arguments were pointless. For those who still clung to the hope that the pocket dimension would end if Lin Sanjiu died, they just needed to hold on a little longer. For those who began to doubt and prepare to fight for boats, the most important task now was to find the four sturdy boats.
Philibert might have some tracking item with him. Shortly after he left Lin Sanjiu's sight, Natasha's startled cry came from the dense cluster of paddle boats in the distance. Not long after, she raised her voice intentionally but reluctantly, making her words clear to everyone, "Um, I found two things related to the boats underwater. One is a broken plastic panel, green in color. The other is a detached pedal that is already rusty. Apart from that, I swear, I didn't see anything else."
As for which part of the boat the plastic panel came from, Natasha couldn't say.
Although Lin Sanjiu now had two additional filtering criteria, she couldn't help but feel a little anxious. She completely discarded paddle boats with missing pedals or green ones with cracks, not wasting a second on them. However, even after filtering out these two types of boats, the remaining number of paddle boats was still significant.
Fortunately, the relentless movement of the six people caused more and more paddle boats to sink into the water.
What had been tightly packed like a graveyard, making it impossible to see the water's surface, now appeared as if someone had casually created gaps. The continuously pouring lake water engulfed and diluted the boats, gradually expanding the area of the lake between the boats.
"Not right!"
After about three or four minutes, a sudden cry came from behind Lin Sanjiu—a cry filled with trembling fear, making it difficult to identify the person.
She quickly turned around and saw, several rows of paddle boats away on the water's surface, the figure of Zao Peng poking his head out of a panda-themed boat.
"We can't go on like this!" the woman who resembled a class monitor shouted. "If we keep going, we'll all be trapped!"
With dozens of boats missing, Lin Sanjiu could also see the shadows of the others in the distance. Surprisingly, the man with the drooping face named Lewis was now very close to her. From the blue boat behind her right side, he raised his voice and asked, "What are you talking about?"
"Stop, listen to me, stop immediately!"
Zao Peng didn't have time to respond; she shouted with all her might, waving her hands continuously. Lin Sanjiu looked around and heard the footsteps in the boats gradually coming to a halt, causing a few boats to sway. It suddenly dawned on her, and she took a deep breath.
"Don't you see," Zao Peng's voice trembled with a mix of helplessness and panic, "we've sunk so many paddle boats that many areas on the lake surface are no longer connected!"
The lake grew quiet, followed by a low curse from an unknown man.
If the paddle boats couldn't connect, it meant they would be trapped in the boats that hadn't sunk yet. Even if they could move by stepping on the boats, no one knew how far their current boat could take them. What if it started sinking in an isolated area?
The continuously pouring lake water had already raised the water level to over 1.6 meters. If Lin Sanjiu fell into the water now, it would submerge her chin—typically, a person's head was at least 20 centimeters long. With Lin Sanjiu's height of around 1.78 meters, standing in water above 1.6 meters would only prevent water from entering her nose.
At this moment, only Lin Sanjiu, Philibert, and the round-faced man could still wade through the water and reach the next boat. People like Lewis, who was just over 1.7 meters tall, would be unable to breathe as soon as they entered the water—let alone the fact that the water level was still rising.
"Wait, wait," Natasha's voice trembled as she called out, "My boat seems like it won't hold up anymore..."
And it wasn't just her boat that couldn't hold up.
A chill seeped back into Lin Sanjiu's shoes, creeping over her feet. She lowered her head and noticed that the boat she was on had tilted slightly, and water was slowly seeping in from the bottom. With a splash, she sat down in the water and felt around the cabin, but she couldn't find where the damage was. From the outside, the boat seemed to have no reason to sink!
With a determined bite of her teeth, Lin Sanjiu jumped into the water from the cabin. The lake instantly engulfed her vision. The pleading cries from Natasha, the creaking of the sinking paddle boat, and the shouts of the others in the group were all faint and distant, submerged by the waves.
Until with a loud splash, she resurfaced from the water.
The announcement had said that when the water level reached 1.8 meters and submerged a person's head, all posthumans who fell into the water would be forcibly drowned. But as long as the water level hadn't exceeded their height or reached the top of their heads, this rule didn't take effect. So even if they temporarily sank into the water, they could still stand on the lakebed and resurface. Lin Sanjiu wiped the water off her face, gasped for breath, and looked up, pushing through the resistance of the water, heading towards the next paddle boat while also glancing in Natasha's direction.
The Eastern European girl's face was probably covered in tears. Amidst her distinct sobbing, there were also labored gasps. From the slowly sinking paddle boat, she was desperately clinging to the handrail, trying to climb onto the roof—fortunately, her boat was a flat-top boat, not a cartoon animal-shaped one that couldn't even stand.
"Yes, step on the boat first. The boat is so high," the round-faced man shouted from somewhere, "Even if it sinks, it's okay. As long as it doesn't reach the top, you won't die!"
"There's a boat next to you," Zao Peng also offered a suggestion, "Once you stabilize yourself underwater, try to swim to the boat beside you..."
Drenched from head to toe, Lin Sanjiu climbed onto another paddle boat, feeling her heart pounding against her sternum and her mind in a state of turmoil. She couldn't understand how this pocket dimension should be cleared—this was a pocket dimension released by posthumans, different from the ones affected by the Great Deluge. Why did it seem like everywhere led to a deadly situation without providing any clues?
Just as she was feeling anxious and frustrated, she heard Natasha squeeze out a plea from between her teeth, "Please, can someone step on a boat and come rescue me? I don't want to fall into the water, I don't want to!"
"This pocket dimension doesn't allow two people to be in the same boat."
Philibert's voice suddenly sounded, deep and accompanied by the buzzing sound of a paddle boat cutting through the water. A swan-shaped boat approached the area where several people were gathered. "Don't you remember what the announcement said? 'Four people survived, so there are only four intact boats'... This is a clear indication, one person per boat."
Even Natasha abruptly fell silent. The group remained quiet for a few seconds until Lin Sanjiu, suppressing the chill in her heart, shouted to Zao Peng, "How long has the pocket dimension been active?"
"It's been almost 27 minutes!" Zao Peng gasped for breath, as if unaware that she was answering an enemy's question. She was currently standing on a boat, paddling towards several other paddle boats clustered together. She wasn't the only one; except for Natasha who fell into the water, everyone whose boat hadn't sunk was desperately moving towards other boats.
Lin Sanjiu bit her lips until they turned pale.
The boat she had climbed into didn't show any signs of sinking for now, but to be safe, she had to immediately move towards the next boat. However... she didn't dare.
In two minutes, Philibert would start his killing spree. Even though he had said that he had already decided to kill her and Lewis, one fact couldn't be ignored: he had less than a minute to act. Otherwise, when the 30th minute arrived, everyone would have to mortgage their Special Items, and he would lose his advantage. Lin Sanjiu didn't believe that he would waste such a precious opportunity to kill her if she managed to create distance between them. But Zao Peng, Lewis, and the round-faced man seemed unaware of this. They were currently being drawn closer by a group of paddle boats. If she were Philibert, she would definitely choose to strike at the group gathered together. It would be much more convenient that way.
As if confirming her suspicions, the middle-aged gentleman paddled straight towards the group.
She must take a different path, even if it meant taking a risk. Lin Sanjiu made up her mind, immediately sat down, grabbed the steering wheel, and pedaled the paddle boat. She still had some room for risk because the water level hadn't yet reached the top for her. She could take a detour and get as close as possible to the other paddle boats that hadn't sunk.
Natasha's boat had already disappeared from sight, only half of her body still visible above the water's surface. She shouted to someone, "Please! At least help me bump a boat over here, okay?"
Seeing no one responding immediately, she seemed a little desperate. Natasha looked back at the middle-aged gentleman, who was getting closer and hastily turned around, waving to a paddle boat not far away. "Hey!"
Lewis raised his head from that boat, and a metallic cross suddenly shimmered on his forehead, as if it had emerged from beneath his skin. Slowly, his body slid down from behind the steering wheel, falling into the cabin and finally into the water.
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