The Water Rat King had killed Ding Longyun's two companions, but Ding Longyun had killed it in return. This "Soul Devour" must be the special skill gained from slaying the Water Rat King.
The two quickly moved everything from the raft up. When Ding Longyun spotted the gas canister, his eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, "Good heavens, this gas canister still works?"
"Of course," Su Li nodded.
"Haha." Ding Longyun laughed and said, "All the residents in this building use piped gas, but it's been cut off now. I haven't had a hot meal in days. With this, we can finally eat something warm. Come on, hurry up and follow me upstairs. The ground floor is flooded—no one can live there."
Ding Longyun grew anxious, urging the two to head upstairs quickly.
"We can move the stuff later. Let's go."
Su Li hummed in agreement and followed him with Xu Xuehui, stepping out of the apartment. They were immediately met by the stairwell.
Ding Longyun led the way, carrying the gas canister. Su Li hauled the storage box filled with boiled water, while Xu Xuehui walked in the middle with the large bag of snacks.
Ding Longyun had strengthened his stomach, so he wasn't afraid to drink the outside water. But Su Li and Xu Xuehui couldn't—at least not yet, he dared not try. So this water was crucial to him.
The place reeked of blood. Corpses of beastly creatures were scattered everywhere, and signs of destruction were visible all around. Clearly, a fierce battle had taken place here. Recalling Ding Longyun's mention that there had been four people here before, with three now dead and only him surviving, Su Li could imagine how brutal the fighting must have been.
Su Li was curious about Ding Longyun's current level as a Source Spirit user. He wanted to ask several times but held back, since they had just met and weren't familiar yet. Prying into personal matters seemed inappropriate.
Asking about "Soul Devour" earlier had already felt a bit rude to Su Li, but luckily Ding Longyun didn't mind and explained it in detail. This made Su Li feel that Ding Longyun was straightforward and honest—someone worth befriending.
When they reached the top floor, Ding Longyun used a key to open one of the security doors. Pushing it open, Su Li noticed that all the furniture had been cleared out, and the windows were sealed shut, turning the place into a warehouse-like room filled with essential supplies.
Su Li saw rice, flour, oil, salt, pots, stoves, ropes, instant noodles, bread, alcohol, drinks, and various other items. The next room was piled high with clothes, shoes, socks, and blankets. In short, there were all kinds of supplies—food, daily necessities, and clothing. Though the quantity of each item wasn't huge, the variety was incredibly rich.
"These three floors have twenty-four households. Almost everything useful from these homes has been gathered here."
Ding Longyun introduced this with a hint of pride on his face. "As long as these things don't mold or spoil, they'll last us quite a while. Too bad..."
He paused briefly, a trace of regret showing. "We can't stay here long."
Su Li's heart stirred. "Why? Even if the water level is slowly rising, at this rate, it would take a long time to flood the top floor."
Ding Longyun shook his head. "It's not about the water level. It's these monsters."
"Monsters?"
Ding Longyun sighed. "Yeah, I've been figuring out some patterns these past few days. The monsters that appear seem to be getting more and more terrifying. If it were just me, I wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. But now that you two are here, it's better."
He perked up and said, "By the way, what levels are you both? I'm Level 3, just eight Source Spirits away from another upgrade."
Su Li had been wanting to ask about his Source Spirit level and was surprised he brought it up voluntarily. He smiled slightly. "I'm only Level 2, far behind you."
Ding Longyun wasn't just a Level 3 Source Spirit user—he was only eight Source Spirits away from breaking through again. In contrast, Su Li was still at Level 2, needing fourteen more Source Spirits to advance.
"As for Xuehui, she's just an ordinary person."
"Oh." Ding Longyun nodded. "That's fine. We'll catch a few zombies for her to kill later. That's not hard."
Su Li knew he was referring to the beastly creatures as zombies.
"There are plenty of clothes, shoes, and socks here—all kinds. Feel free to pick whatever you want."
Su Li and Ding Longyun were soaked through. After changing into dry clothes and shoes, Ding Longyun went to the kitchen, connected the gas canister to the stove, lit it, and was as excited as a child. He then found a pressure cooker and laughed, "We'll have some fragrant white rice soon."
Su Li opened the storage box filled with boiled water.
Knowing Xu Xuehui was an ordinary person and dared not use the outside water, Ding Longyun took some water from the box to rinse the rice and started cooking. Meanwhile, Su Li went downstairs to bring up all the supplies they had just moved.
Occasionally, Su Li glanced outside. Through the building's windows, he could faintly see dark shapes surfacing in the water around them. He even spotted a beastly creature poking its head out of the water, but it didn't approach or climb up to attack—it just submerged again.
Clearly, this place wasn't safe. He began to understand what Ding Longyun had meant earlier.
Because the building he had stayed in before didn't have this situation, nor did it have beastly creatures surfacing as frequently as they did now.
Soon, the aroma of rice wafted through the air. Su Li took a deep breath. He hadn't had a hot meal in days, and the scent of rice was more enticing than any delicacy in the world.
Once the rice was cooked, Su Li brought a table from the next room. Xu Xuehui wiped it clean with a cloth. Ding Longyun, like a magician, pulled out fermented tofu, beef jerky, chili sauce, ham sausages, salted duck eggs, vacuum-packed chicken feet, and braised duck legs from the pile of supplies, laying them all out on the table. It looked quite lavish.
Xu Xuehui couldn't help but swallow her saliva.
"Haha, does this feel a bit like home? After staying here for days, this is the first time it feels like a proper meal."
Ding Longyun laughed heartily, found three sets of bowls and chopsticks, and filled three large bowls with rice.
Su Li remembered he still had a few cans of beer he had brought earlier. He quickly fetched them and handed one to Ding Longyun.
Back when he was working, he had drunk countless amounts of alcohol during business dinners and negotiations. Back then, Su Li had reached the point where he dreaded the sight of alcohol. But now, after a few days without it, he suddenly found himself missing it.