Su Li felt both excited and a little regretful.
With his strength enhanced, Su Li gained a certain confidence. Now, even if he encountered the One-Eyed Frog again without utilizing the terrain, he believed he had the power to fight it. Staying put no longer served much purpose. He finally decided to leave the apartment first thing tomorrow morning to look for other survivors and a way out.
After making the decision, Su Li found he couldn't fall back asleep. He lay on the sofa, eyes open in the darkness. It was already past 3:00 AM, with only two or three hours left until dawn. He decided to leave as soon as the sun rose.
During the following hours, although several corpses were piled up in the living room, no Corpse Beasts appeared.
Su Li didn't stay idle. Since he couldn't sleep, he got up, searched his cabinet for various clothes and sheets, and used scissors to cut the clothing and bedding he didn't plan to take into long strips. He then started braiding rope.
He had already braided a lot of rope, but he felt it wasn't enough. He decided to braid more to be prepared while he still had time.
By the time the sky began to lighten, Su Li had braided a large quantity of rope, which he piled onto the sofa. He then took the iron hammer and walked into the living room, where he began smashing the balcony window frames.
He decided to launch the raft directly from the balcony window. Since the raft was wide, the window frames would block it, so he had to smash them out.
With Su Li's current strength, he easily smashed away the obstructing window frames. He stopped only after confirming the raft could pass, then returned to the bedroom and carried the raft, which was made of two wooden doors, into the living room.
Afterward, he took down the last wooden door in his home, the bedroom door.
He had too many things to take, and two wooden doors were too small. Su Li decided to enlarge the raft. The larger the area, the more stable and safer it would be on the water.
He put three doors together, but Su Li still wasn't satisfied. He opened the security door, entered the apartment at the end of the corridor where the young couple had lived, and took two more wooden doors from there.
With five wooden doors laid side-by-side, Su Li was finally satisfied. He then used iron nails to secure numerous wooden planks horizontally across the five doors, and used the ropes he braided last night to wrap and bind them, ensuring maximum stability.
After a full hour of work, Su Li wiped the sweat from his brow, a satisfied look on his face.
Though the raft couldn't compare to an actual boat, it looked sturdy enough for now and wouldn't easily fall apart. If he could find more nails or wire later, he could reinforce it further.
He had used up all the iron nails he had collected earlier.
Next, Su Li boiled a kettle of water, tore open his last packet of instant noodles, added a sausage, and prepared them with the hot water.
He decided to have a hearty breakfast before setting off and leaving the apartment.
Using the leftover tap water in the basins, Su Li brushed his teeth, washed his face and hands, wiped down his body, and changed into a clean set of clothes, making himself look much more energetic.
He had no idea what he would encounter on this journey. Su Li couldn't predict the future, and as he looked at the apartment he had lived in for over a year, he felt a faint, indescribable sense of reluctance to leave.
After finishing the noodles, Su Li let out a long breath and lifted the raft from the floor.
The raft, made of five wooden doors and numerous planks, was heavy. It was only thanks to Su Li's current immense strength that he could lift it; an ordinary person wouldn't have been able to move it at all.
Su Li, however, lifted it with ease. He maneuvered it through the balcony opening, slowly pushed it outward, and finally shoved it completely. The raft slid off the balcony and landed on the water outside, splashing water up.
Su Li stood at the balcony edge, watching the raft float steadily on the water.
He was very satisfied. A thick rope, specially reinforced by Su Li, was tied to the raft. At the end of the rope were three bricks Su Li had found on the roof, serving as a makeshift anchor.
He pulled the rope tight, bringing the raft close to the balcony edge, and secured the rope to the handle of the security door, which was very close to the balcony.
Su Li then began loading his supplies.
First was the storage box filled with cooled boiled water. Su Li carefully carried it to the balcony edge and placed it on the secured raft. When the heavy box was placed on one side, the raft dipped down, and the opposite end tilted up slightly, though the lean wasn't severe.
"This box full of water isn't light. It only tilted slightly. Good thing I used five wooden doors, or I would have been in trouble."
Su Li was delighted. He climbed onto the raft himself. The raft was quite large and floated levelly on the water, greatly satisfying Su Li. He then moved the storage box to the center of the raft and used rope to tightly tie it to the ropes already securing the raft, ensuring the box was stable.
Following this pattern, Su Li successively brought out his filled travel backpack, oil, salt, seasonings, rice, some clothing, extra rope, and—seeing that the raft still had room—also brought the LPG tank, stove, and kettle, all of which he tightly secured to the raft.
He took a suitably sized wooden board and bound it to a clothes drying rod to serve as a paddle.
As for the One-Eyed Frog's corpse, since the Corpse Beasts had been chewing on it, Su Li dared not eat it and chose to abandon it.
Untying the rope from the security door handle, Su Li took one last, long look at the living room. He boarded the raft and pushed off the balcony. The raft, laden with supplies, stirred up water and slowly began to drift away.
Su Li stood on the raft. Unlike a boat, with all the supplies loaded, the raft rode low in the water. The water was almost covering the surface of the raft, and Su Li's shoes and socks were quickly soaked.
But this was unavoidable. After all, Su Li couldn't build a real boat; making this simple raft was the best he could do.
"Good thing I don't get seasick," Su Li thought to himself. Standing on the raft and pushing his homemade paddle, he, having never paddled a boat before, found the raft just slowly spinning in place instead of moving toward his target.
Su Li didn't panic. He observed the patterns and after several attempts, gained some insight. The raft finally began to drift slowly forward.
His first destination was the nearest building to his own.
That building was also a 30-story tower, with only the top floor exposed above the water, about 40 or 50 meters away from his location.
Su Li paddled with both hands, his cleaver and hammer carried close by. He maintained a high level of vigilance against his surroundings.
(End of Chapter)