Another thing, the mountain they'd left was far from the city. The ships had been moving across the water for a full day and night and still hadn't reached their destination.
Captain Zhang called over the team members from R City. He asked, "You're sure we didn't take the wrong route? We've sailed this far. We should've seen a residential zone by now, shouldn't we?"
"It's this area. We're close. R City is too big. Back when we evacuated residents to the base, it took a lot of effort to guide everyone there. Give it another two or three hours. We should arrive."
Truth was, the ships were already passing over a residential district. The terrain here was low, so even though the water had receded, the buildings were still submerged. There would be no survivors here. The nearest living residents would be in the city center among the tall towers.
Captain Zhang nodded. "All right."
Progress was smooth. As the R City members had said, after two or three more hours they saw a residential area in the distance. There might not be anyone there, but reaching it was good news. Mission was mission. Whether or not there were people, they would follow procedure.
Captain Zhang took out a loudspeaker, recorded a message, and set it to loop over the ship's broadcast.
To search for survivors, the ships slowed to a crawl.
The problem was the unknown things in the water. Ship noise could already attract them. With the loudspeaker blaring, it was worse. In no time, something slammed into the port side hard enough to nearly roll the ship.
Bang.
Lan Jin was flung out of bed in the cabin. Just before she hit the wall, she flashed into her space and narrowly avoided impact.
Lan Jin had a space. Others did not.
As the ship almost capsized, bodies crashed into walls. Then the ship's inertia threw them back the other way. After several heavy knocks, even iron bones couldn't take it. Rest was out of the question. Someone pounded on the door. Lan Jin stepped out of her space, landed steady, and opened up.
"What happened? I almost got killed," Lan Jin said.
From next door, Shen Zhiyan answered, "Same here. Good thing I can move. If I'd hit that wall head on, my nose would be flat."
Lan Jin said, "I was on my side. My left arm won't even lift."
Others were in the same shape. A few had split their heads and were digging for the first-aid kit.
Zhou Zhiye said, "Let's get to the deck. We need to see what can hit a ship like that."
Lao Gao rubbed his right arm. "It's the usual stuff, but that hit was huge. Maybe the loudspeaker ticked them off?"
"Who knows. Let's look," someone muttered.
They headed for the deck. The scene there wasn't great either. Because of the heat, only a couple of people had been on patrol, but it wasn't empty. Shen Zhiyu and Zhang Ye were up there.
One had a decent ability. The other had strong physical skills. Working together, they shouldn't have been in trouble. Besides them, there was Captain Zhang, who had just set the loudspeaker and was waiting to see if anyone responded.
Shen Zhiyu and Captain Zhang looked battered but okay. The problem was Zhang Ye. He had gone straight over the side. There hadn't even been a struggle. he simply didn't surface.
Shen Zhiyu stared at the spot where Zhang Ye had gone under, watching for a long time without seeing so much as a bubble. That was bad.
"Could Zhang Ye have been eaten?" Captain Zhang said, frowning hard.
"But if eaten, there'd be a gulp and bubbles," someone said. "Maybe Zhang Ye got tangled."
Shen Zhiyu had never taken his eyes off the water. From the instant Zhang Ye fell in to the moment the surface stilled, Shen Zhiyu had watched the whole time. "Zhang Ye wasn't swallowed whole. The strangest thing is this. He is a plant user. If he had grabbed my hand, he would've come up. I think he panicked and forgot to use the ability."
Silence fell. Then Lan Jin hurled lightning around the ship in a full ring. The discharge cracked the water into white spray. Everyone on deck was soaked through.
Lan Jin said, apologetic, "Sorry. I rushed it. I figured it might be close, so I kept it tight."
No one blamed Lan Jin. She was trying to save someone. Getting wet didn't matter.
But it was strange. With that much voltage, something should have floated up. Nothing did.
Captain Zhang's worry spiked. "Lan Jin, one more time. Stronger. Something's not right."
Lan Jin didn't ask why. She threw another wide arc into the water, bigger than before. Near and far, nothing showed. Whatever had hit them didn't take a shock.
She frowned. "Don't tell me that thing's immune to electricity."
Shen Zhiyan stared. "Other than rubber, what doesn't conduct?"
"Capacitors," Huang Jinghe said seriously. "Storage devices can absorb and release charge."
Lan Jin squinted. "And what's that got to do with the thing in the water? You mean the creatures can absorb my lightning, then use it on me? Forget the apocalypse. Before the apocalypse, did we ever have that?"
"I don't know," Huang Jinghe said. "It's beyond what I know. Otherwise why didn't the lightning hit?"
"Why else? It moved too fast. It ran," Lan Jin said.
"And Zhang Ye?" someone asked.
"Dragged along. Taken," Lan Jin said bluntly. "Instead of talking, can't we turn on the underwater gear? Isn't this ship high-tech? Don't we have sonar and cameras?"
Lan Jin remembered they had used the system on the way here.
Captain Zhang set down the radio and said, "Checked. Underwater, around us, there's nothing."
Which meant the thing that rammed them had simply run.