Gong Xiaojun continued, "We women shouldn't be content to depend on men for survival. We can be completely independent—we're not accessories to anyone."
Xu Xuehui listened nearby, nodding constantly, showing support for Sister Gong Xiaojun's words while sneaking a couple more melon seeds.
Su Li smiled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Gong Xiaojun's suggestion. "Is that so? Let's talk about it later."
After lunch, the once clear sky gradually darkened, the sun obscured by thick clouds.
"It looks like the weather's turning. Should we still go this afternoon?" Ding Longyun glanced at the sky, seeking Su Li's opinion.
Su Li said, "Let's wait and see. It looks like it's about to rain."
Gong Xiaojun raised her delicate brows slightly. "The city's already flooded. If it rains now, the water level will only rise further."
Su Li replied, "Hopefully it won't rain."
But things didn't go as hoped. Soon, the sky was filled with dark clouds, the daylight completely fading. Lightning flashed within the clouds, followed by thunderclaps.
Heads appeared along the corridors and windows of the Purple Wind Building's many floors, all looking outside.
Since the fifteenth, when the city was submerged by the flood, the weather had been clear until today—this was the first change.
Su Li, Ding Longyun, Gong Xiaojun, and Xu Xuehui stood together on the corridor, with Qi Mengyu and Zhong Rongrong quietly accompanying them nearby.
By now, Su Li had secretly concluded that Ding Longyun and Zhong Rongrong were involved, since they'd eaten lunch together, exchanging glances that anyone not blind could see were far from ordinary.
"This guy moves fast, and he's got some taste..."
Su Li thought silently, watching the dark sky and guessing that the coming rain would be heavy.
After about five or six minutes, the rain finally began to fall.
It was a torrential downpour. In an instant, countless ripples appeared on the distant water's surface, and the world turned a hazy white. Many people hurried to close windows, then watched the rain through the glass.
"What a heavy rain—this scenery is truly rare," Ding Longyun said with a soft sigh.
They stood on the thirty-eighth-floor corridor, looking down at the endless expanse of water. In the midst of the pouring rain, faint dark shapes could be seen in the distance—buildings protruding from the water, now bathed in the downpour, with thin white mist rising from the distant surface.
From their vantage point, the rain was majestic, the scene grand.
Gong Xiaojun said, "This rain is really heavy. The water level's probably going to rise a lot."
Ding Longyun chuckled. "Look down—it seems those creatures can't resist the excitement either. They're surfacing one after another."
He didn't need to point it out; Su Li had already noticed. Since the rain started, the water's surface had grown restless. Corpse beasts emerged, stretching their necks as if welcoming the rain's baptism.
At first, only one or two appeared sporadically, but soon more and more surfaced. Undercurrents churned beneath the water, and besides the corpse beasts, other monsters gradually emerged.
These monsters varied in size—some Su Li recognized, others he'd never seen before. They surfaced, seeming excited, lifting their heads to face the rain as if in celebration.
It was an unprecedented sight. All thirty-two people across the eight floors of the Purple Wind Building stared in stunned silence.
They couldn't count how many monsters had surfaced. From near to far, dark shapes surged—the number was almost unimaginable.
The city had been flooded not long ago, yet so many monsters had already appeared in the water?
"Oh my god—"
"The number is terrifying..."
"If they all charged over, they'd swallow the Purple Wind Building whole."
"What if these monsters rush at us?"
Amid the panicked cries, the monsters, seemingly lost in frenzy, began to shift noticeably, gathering toward different directions.
And where they gathered, there was always a building protruding from the water.
The Purple Wind Building was the first in their path.
Seeing this, everyone's face changed.
"Damn it—who was the jinx who said these monsters would charge at us?" On the thirty-third floor, seven people had gathered. One burly, dark-faced man cursed loudly.
On the thirty-first floor, six people remained, closest to the water. Suddenly seeing the vast swarm of monsters converging on the Purple Wind Building, their scalps tingled, and their first instinct was to rush for the stairs.
"Get upstairs fast!"
If those monsters really stormed the building, they'd be the first to suffer. They dared not stay on the thirty-first floor.
On the top floor, the thirty-eighth, Su Li, Ding Longyun, Gong Xiaojun, and the others watching from the corridor saw the sudden change and were all shocked.
"Get down there." Su Li moved first, dashing downward.
Gong Xiaojun followed close behind.
Ding Longyun was about to chase after them when he remembered something and called back to Zhong Rongrong and Qi Mengyu, "You two, hide in the room."
Zhong Rongrong and Qi Mengyu were panicked. Seeing the distant horde of monsters surging toward the Purple Wind Building, fear spread. They were ordinary people—too scared to follow the group down, yet unwilling to hide in a room. They stayed in the corridor, peering through the windows to check the situation.
"Su Li, what if all those monsters really charge up? Do we stand a chance?" Ding Longyun asked anxiously.
Su Li descended the stairs, speaking calmly, "There are a lot, but most are low-level—nothing to fear. Have you forgotten your 'Air Missile'?"
Ding Longyun's eyes lit up. "How could I forget that? My 'Air Missile' is perfect for dealing with clustered monsters."
"Don't use it recklessly yet. I feel something's off about their behavior. Let's see what's happening first before acting." Su Li reached the thirty-fourth floor, where many had already gathered, including those from the lower three floors who'd rushed up the stairs.
Seeing Su Li, Ding Longyun, and the others, they looked tense and hopeful.
After all, these were the ruthless ones who'd killed Tao Bingjun and his crew last night. But even the strongest person could only take down so many against that dark, pressing mass of monsters below.
With that thought, despair crept back onto their faces.
"Brother Su." Xu Haishui approached, looking nervous.
Su Li nodded at him and looked outside.
"Something's off—they're just gathering around the building, not charging up." Ding Longyun had been considering where to fire his "Air Missile," but now noticed countless monsters clustered around the building, bobbing in the water. Some had entered the thirtieth floor, but none had climbed the stairs or scaled the outer walls.
That was strange. If they truly intended to attack the Purple Wind Building, countless monsters should have been climbing up by now.
"It seems their target isn't us," Gong Xiaojun suddenly said.
Su Li nodded. "Right. I don't know why they've gathered around us, but their target isn't us—at least not for now."
The tense, panicked atmosphere eased slightly.
Many people leaned out to look around. Indeed, the countless monsters below just clustered there, not climbing up to attack.
"What a huge island!" Xu Xuehui suddenly exclaimed.
"A huge island?" Ding Longyun looked at her in confusion.
"An island... floating," Xu Xuehui gestured, trying to explain, but everyone exchanged bewildered glances. The more she explained, the more confused they became.
Su Li frowned slightly, gazing into the distance.
The wind howled, carrying the torrential rain, which grew heavier. The monsters' strange behavior made everyone sense that something big was happening, though no one knew exactly what.
A heavy, oppressive tension filled everyone's hearts.
Finally, through the wind and rain, Su Li spotted a blurry dark shape on the distant water.
It was massive, slowly becoming clearer.
The people gathered on the corridors or at the windows all noticed.
"What's that?"
"Look—that dark shape seems to be moving?"
"Oh my god, it really looks like an island—"
Amid the rising shock, Su Li's face grew serious. Ding Longyun's mouth hung open as he muttered, "Holy crap... what the hell is that..."
Now, everyone could see clearly. In the pouring rain, what floated slowly into view from afar was indeed a small island, with gray-black rocks visible on its surface. It drifted on the water, about the size of a standard football field.
Could it be that the countless monsters, excitedly reveling in the rain, had scattered because of this floating island?
"Did the flood wash away a chunk of mountain rock, and it's been drifting here over the past few days?" Xu Haishui mused, voicing his guess.
Ding Longyun shot him a look. "Since when does mountain rock float in water?"
Xu Haishui replied, "You never know. Some rocks are full of air bubbles and aren't dense—they can float."
The murmuring grew louder as everyone speculated about the floating rocky island drifting in from afar.
Gong Xiaojun frowned. "If it's just a floating rock island, why has it scared these monsters so badly?"