After confirming all of this, Su Li was surprised to find himself far calmer than he had imagined he would be.
Staring at the bloated, hideous female corpse lying face-down on the ground before him, a realization dawned in his mind.
This world had become completely different. Not only could a monstrous flood submerge an entire city, but corpses could also reanimate, and there was even this mysterious "Spiritual Source."
"Everything has changed. Is this still the world I once knew? I can no longer explain what's happening with common sense."
"I wonder if this female corpse's reanimation is just an isolated incident, or if all corpses will undergo this transformation. If every corpse does, then this city will become extremely dangerous. Who knows how many people this great flood has drowned... This city is home to millions of people..."
The thought of that number sent a shiver down Su Li's spine, a creeping dread washing over him.
He had no idea how many of the millions in this metropolis had managed to escape alive, and how many had been submerged, turning into corpses.
"This place is clearly unsafe. I need to find a rescue team as soon as possible." Clutching his hammer and cleaver, Su Li glanced back at the fallen female corpse. He felt a flicker of relief that, despite its immense strength, its movements were stiff and clumsy—otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Su Li realized the situation was far more terrifying than he had anticipated. He quickly returned home, locked the security door behind him, and carried the cleaver and hammer into the bathroom. Standing before the mirror, he examined the wound on his forehead.
The injury was slightly swollen, but it was only a minor scrape—nothing serious. A faint, cool sensation emanated from the wound, and in just a short time, the broken skin had already begun to close. The speed of his recovery was astonishing.
He took a towel and carefully wiped away the nearly dried blood that had trickled down his face from the wound. Then he cleaned the cleaver and hammer, only to notice the water from the faucet growing weaker and weaker, until it finally dwindled to a slow drip.
"The water's really shut off." Su Li sighed, though he wasn't surprised. Fortunately, he had boiled plenty of water earlier and filled several bottles, along with two basins—one large, one small—so he wouldn't have to worry about a shortage for now.
As for the water outside, it was everywhere, but who knew if it was clean or if it carried parasites and bacteria? Su Li dared not use it.
With the cleaned knife and hammer in hand, Su Li picked up the bundle of quilts and clothes and headed out.
Reaching the rooftop, he set the quilts down and looked around. With no obstructions to his view, all he could see was an endless expanse of water stretching out like an ocean, with no horizon in sight. It was as if the entire world had become a realm of water.
"What kind of terrifying flood could cause something like this?" Su Li clenched his fists tightly.
He then gazed at the nearest building rising above the water—another thirty-story structure, only about forty or fifty meters away. Staring at its exposed upper floors, he wondered if there were other survivors like him inside.
"No matter what, I have to find a way to check it out," Su Li thought to himself.
Afterward, he set the quilts on fire, producing a thick plume of smoke.
Watching the smoke rise into the air, Su Li reasoned that if there were survivors in that building, they would surely see the billowing smoke and might respond.
But after waiting a full half-hour, he saw no signs of life from that building, let alone any reaction. Eventually, he gave up waiting and headed back down the stairs.
As he descended to the thirtieth floor, his eyes swept casually across the area, and suddenly a thought struck him, making him stop in his tracks.
The stairs leading to the twenty-ninth floor were completely submerged, and the water level was about to reach the floor of the thirtieth level.
"I clearly remember that when I first came here, the water was still four or five centimeters below this floor. Now it's almost touching the ground. In just this short time, the water has risen several more centimeters... Is it still slowly rising?"
This discovery sent a chill through Su Li's scalp. It meant that the thirtieth floor he was currently on wasn't safe. The water level could change at any moment, potentially flooding even this level.
A sense of urgency gripped him.
"No, I have to finish the raft as soon as possible. Who knows what other changes are coming?"
Feeling the pressing danger, Su Li wasted no time. He rushed back down the corridor in quick strides and began working on building the raft.
Aside from the door to his own bedroom, he removed the other two wooden doors from his home, deciding to lash them together to form a simple raft.
He estimated that these two doors could support his weight without sinking in the water.
He remembered that as a child in the countryside, people would stand on a single wooden door and use a bamboo pole to glide across the water. If he combined two doors, it should work.
Next, he lifted the mattress and pried off the wooden planks beneath it, one by one.
He laid these planks horizontally across the two doors and nailed them down securely. With that, a simple raft was complete.
Since there was no rope at home, he found bedsheets and duvet covers, cutting them into long strips with scissors, then braiding those strips into ropes.
The day passed quickly, and he managed to braid several long ropes. He tied one of them to the raft and set the others aside for later use.
By the time he finished, the sky had darkened. Su Li ate two pieces of bread to stave off hunger and walked over to the balcony window.
He wanted to make sure all the windows were closed. Night was about to fall, and the female corpse he had encountered during the day—mobile and aggressive—made him feel unsafe here.
Just as he reached the balcony, he suddenly spotted a corpse floating in the water just outside the window.
The corpse was face-down in the water, so he could only see its back. It drifted only a meter or two from his balcony window.
Su Li's heart jolted, and his face turned grim. He clearly remembered that this corpse hadn't been there during the day. Where had it drifted from?
"Damn it, this corpse isn't going to reanimate too, is it?"
Staring at the floating body so close to the window, Su Li felt increasingly uneasy. Finally, unable to bear it, he grabbed the drying pole, opened a window, and extended the pole toward the corpse, trying to push it far away.
The moment the pole touched the corpse, the body's head suddenly jerked upward.