The sun blazed down on the humans below, sending out wave after wave of dizzying heat. The people now understood what the most valuable of all truly was: water. The blue ocean churned before them, despairingly undrinkable; this terrible realisation was akin to, or perhaps more than that of being stuck in a desert. Luckily, there was no wind, or else the direction of the lifeboats wouldâve been even more difficult to control. On the other hand, it was also quite unfortunate as it made rowing a much more laborious task. No matter which way the people turned to, all they could see was the boundless expanse of seawater.
Li Shao and An Li had some of the best physiques among the group. An Li, being a model, was required to maintain both a strict diet and plenty of cardio exercises. Li Shaoâs vocation, instead, meant that he constantly needed to be on the balls of his feet, running all over the place regardless of the weather. Xia Yi was a nameless actor, so the company had no reason to provide him a car. As his assistant, Li Shao wouldâve been immensely satisfied if the companyâs financial affairs department didnât make his life difficult whenever he applied for reimbursement for plane and other transportation tickets.
When heâd first boarded the cruise ship, one of his regrets had been not bringing enough money. Now, he was thankful for his lack of foresight.
He could report the loss of a credit card, but what could he do about physical money?
Clearly, Li Shao didnât reflect about the value of money in an apocalypse.
âIâm never going to sail on a boat again!â Li Shao muttered to himself.
The chief mate of the Thalassa Goddess was young, well-built, and short-tempered. He scowled upon hearing Li Shaoâs words, but due to his nervousness about the groupâs abilities, he didnât dare say anything too nasty. Instead, he remarked sarcastically, âReally? Well, the engines are dead too⊠Maybe boats are the safest way of travel and people would only die quicker if they were in cars and planes!â
Before Li Shao had a chance to retort, An Li felt a chill go down her spine.
How many flights were there around the world? How many of them happened to be in the sky at that very moment? It would be a disaster even if a plane crashed into the runway right after take off, much less those Boeing passenger planes that were flying at an altitude of tens of thousands of meters.
In the past few days, this very ocean had already buried countless souls.
Yet it may have been better to sink into the sea. If those huge planes crashed into bustling cities⊠Fire trucks wouldâve been useless, all rescue impossible, and with the intense radiation, there was little chance for the raging fires to be extinguished. On top of that, almost all families nowadays used either liquid or natural gases. Kerosene <sup>1</sup> Also known as âjet fuelâ or âaviation turbine fuelâ was colourless and performed its task well⊠There was no telling how many people would be killed in the following explosions.
Maybe there was still tap water that could be accessed by faucets, but there was absolutely no electricity left. Those who were smart enough would find every container they had and fill it up with water since once the pipes ran dry, the utility companies wouldnât be working again. The people would be forced to either fight over bottled water and drinks, or travel to the nearest lakes, ponds, and rivers.
Gosh, I forgot that a large amount of radiation seeped into the outside water.
âDammit!â An Li cursed.
Countries with a functional military could barely maintain order in selective areas, however most Southeastern Asian countries were made up of island clusters. Now that planes and ships were all but useless lumps of metal, An Li dreaded to think how these people fared under such excruciating circumstances.
ââŠplaces with human civilisation would be in utter chaos, but uninhabited islands wouldnât have any fresh water⊠If they did, people wouldâve settled there already.â
âAn-Jie, donât be so down. We have superpowers now â whatâs there to be afraid of? Nobody would dare bully us!â
An Li restrained her urge to kick Li Shao into the ocean.
How could this guy be such a simpleton? No wonder his special ability was only great physical strength!
âIdiot! Do you have any idea how many days itâd take for us to find an island? Three? Five? A week? If we run out of food and get washed ashore on the brink of death, forget abilities, could you even lift a finger by then?â An Li harshly tapped her templesâ they hurt like hell. With her powers came migraines so painful she wanted to bang her head against a wall. Pressing down her anger as much as possible â which certainly hadnât helped her headache â An Li continued, âPlus, did you forget how you so bravely hid behind me when you first saw a gun? Itâs not China over there, with such strict gun regulations. You should be celebrating that weâre not in the desert and trying to make it to the Middle East. Even some of the kids know how to shoot a gun there!â
Missiles couldnât be launched because the entire controls system was down, but guns that only required a quick pull to the trigger werenât affected at all!
Even though factories could no longer produce ammunition and firearms, survival was still of the utmost importance in the apocalypse. People who were stingy with these life-saving tools would probably die even quicker.
âFish!â The captainâs sudden cry startled the groggy people on the boats.
Li Shao quickly stretched out to see. Right there, on the ocean surface miles away, were several beautiful white lines extending towards their direction.
Those were waves, but there wasnât any wind in the air.
âAmazing!â With hoarse voices, the people excitedly searched for something to fish with.
âIs it a school?â An Li asked anxiously. Of her share, anything prone to spoiling had already been consumed, leaving only sealed bottled water and canned food. Having fish meant that she could save these products, which would be of great value no matter where they went, further raising their chances of survival.
When the group was dividing up the food earlier, An Li didnât use her ability to take extra; at most, sheâd picked out some of the better items. It wasnât because she was altruistic or had a good sense of morality, but the fact that she knew her own limitations. An Li only had one pair of hands, and while Li Shao was strong, it wasnât as if the lifeboat had an unlimited weight capacity.
So after the group of more or less a hundred people took their share, what little was left was given to those whoâd stayed onboard to wait for the rescue team.
An Li didnât believe theyâd ever see it come.
âGiven the waves, it could be a school of fish. Not⊠sardines, no⊠Although small fish do like to gather into schools, this appears to be a big fish attacking fish schools from underneath the seaâŠâ
âAhhh!â
A scream interrupted the captain.
It was a woman dressed as a waitress. She was on the same lifeboat as Li Shaoâs group and also possessed special abilities, which was the reason An Li had brought her along â not because said ability was particularly powerful or anything, but due to its uniqueness.
The woman had very good eyesight and could see minute details from far away.
âWhat is it, A-Min?â
âS-sharks! I can see their f-fins breaking the surface!â
An uproar rippled through the crowd as the trembling people hastily pulled their oars back into the boats.
The streamline of waves grew closer.
The chief mate saw the fins and glared at A-Min. âOnly call it after youâve seen them clearly! Those arenât sharks! Canât you even tell the difference between triangles and curves?â
âShe wasnât wrong for being alarmed! Though these arenât sharks, theyâre going to give us even more trouble than sharks!â The captain had experienced many things throughout his life. Li Shao couldnât help but grow nervous too as he watched the colour drain out of the manâs face.
âItâs marlins!â
Excluding the sailors, no one here had more than common knowledge about the sea. Several people were still wondering what in the world âmarlinsâ were while others further up ahead could see the big, dark brown fins and sharp tails cutting through the water. They were extremely fast, arriving in proximity within seconds. The people didnât even have time to pick up something to protect themselves with.
âAre those torpedoes?! So damn fast!â
âCan you eat these fish?â
âDumbass, itâd be a miracle if they donât knock our boats over! Eat them? Can you even catch them?!â
âTsk, we could if there were sturdy nets. But we didnât bring them!â
It wasnât that they didnât bring the nets; the Thalassa Goddess didnât even have them. Why would a luxury cruise ship be stocked with fishing nets that required heavy machines to operate?
Though the captain trembled, he didnât move.
The big, dark brown fins were coming straight at them. There was no place to hide.
When the waves drew closer, the ones who lacked special abilities cowered, attempting to reduce their contact with the radiation-infested waters, or at the very least, not choke on it.
Still, soon enough, screams were heard on one lifeboat.
Li Shao whipped around, only to see all eight people on that lifeboat crouching down as if theyâd turned mad. Water was spurting out from a large hole on the bottom.
Another screamâ this time, the victim wasnât just a lifeboat. A man wailed as fresh blood flowed from his leg and mixed together with the seawater. The man did have an ability; he could also control fire, just to a much weaker extent.
But everyone had seen the almost-six-meters-long, strange-looking fish, with their long and curved fins, extremely sharp mouths, their upper jaws half a finâs length, like a sword. It was clear how the lifeboat was destroyed.
Water soon surged in, the hole impossible to plug. The people withdrew from the sinking boat and desperately swam to other lifeboats.
These marlins were gone as quickly as they came. Other than the one that was counterattacked by someone who wielded an ability and was now vainly flopping around in the ocean, half-cooked, the remaining streamlines had disappeared into the distance. Marlins were aggressive creatures by nature and accustomed to living over ten meters below the surface. Judging by their panicked movements, it didnât look like they were determined to attack the lifeboats. Instead, it was as if they were being chased by something even more terrifying.
âHurry up!â The captain realised how futile his shouting was the moment the words left his mouth. They were stranded at sea with nothing but crudely-made oars. What could they defend against?
Everyone, including the injured, crawled aboard other boats. Since the food was almost all consumed, it was just possible for every lifeboat to carry eleven people. It wasnât that the groups suddenly awoke some sort of epiphany about âsharing is caringâ â no, it was the fact that the two sunken boats just so happened to have carried ability wielders. The normal people didnât want to nor could refuse them.
âEveryone shut up! Donât make a sound!â The captain shouted one last time before motioning for Li Shao to stop rowing.
Nobody was an idiot; they all mimicked the captain, not even daring to breathe too loudly.
The atmosphere was gravely still.
The first to react was still A-Min. She opened her mouth but her hand quickly flew up to stifle whatever noise she was about to make. Her eyes bugged as if she was witnessing something horrifying. The dark blue ocean wasnât clear, so the others on the same boat could only follow A-Minâs line of sight, staring into the deep, bottomless water.
It seemed like that terrifying thing went right past their boat.
An Li saw that A-Minâs trembling settled down a bit. After a few more moments of silence, she quietly asked, âIs it gone?â
A-Min nodded and was about to say something when a gigantic spout of water erupted from the ocean. An enormous shadow followed, splattering water everywhere. There was no need for A-Min so say anything moreâ everyone saw the terrifying creature. It was thick and long, its silver and bright red fins shaped like jagged teeth. The half-cooked marlin was now in its mouth, and the creature dove back under almost immediately. Amidst the splashing waves, An Li could only glimpse at the creatureâs tall and intricate bristle crown, and its two bright red feelers.
Li Shao almost fell over.
What was this? A dragon?
The looks were somewhat similar, but this creature was too ugly to be a dragon!
Anyone that looked towards their direction could clearly see the ginormous and horrifying shadow gliding below the lifeboats. Its head and tail extended out a long way and it was as wide as their boats. Everyone who managed to catch a look at it shook uncontrollably.
What do you mean, Plesiosaur? Loch Ness Monster, who? This?! This!!
The captain would rather have fainted. After all these years of sailing, few stories remained unheard; however, even those who didnât sail often knew that those whispered mysterious shadows tens of metres long could simply be clusters of algae. Floating shadows were always something that scared people easily, but seeing this firsthandedâŠ
According to legends, there were many types of sea monsters. One was octopuses with many tentacles, like the kraken, and others were giant sea snakes that were related to dinosaurs.
Sailors always laughed at the absurdity of these stories because no sea snake could possibly grow that big. It would more likely be an eel or oarfish!
Wait, thatâs right!
The captain suddenly jolted up. âDonât worry! This is a giant oarfish! They only appear at the surface of the sea when theyâre about to die!â
Everyone stared at the captain in disbelief, their teeth chattering; not even the chief mate believed what was just said.
Look at how aggressive this sea monster was. Does it look like it was dying?
Beneath the surface, infrasonic waves were being transmitted.
ââŠCeto? Are you lost again? Did you see the marlin that disappeared?â
The extremely long shadow quickly swayed back and forth. From above the water, it looked quite impressive as its S-shaped body changed from waving back and forth to left and right, giving the impression of a dragon about to fly into the sky.
But in reality⊠âQuiet, Iâm figuring out which direction to head towards~â It then shot out, hot after the marlinsâ trail.
When the shadow finally disappeared, no one on the lifeboats had any colour on their faces. They all collapsed where they were, unable to move a muscle.
âCeto, should I remind you that youâre not poisonous either?! If you donât go fast, Siren will eat youâŠâ
âItâs because a group of humans robbed the marlins that weâre chasing, Abyss!â
âWhat?!â
âDonât worry, I snatched the fish back~â
The octopusâs eight tentacles continuously poked at the marlins that were trying to escape, forcing them to swim to even shallower water. When it saw the ridiculously long oarfish, its eyes, followed by its head, looked downwards. âWait, whereâs the fish?â
ââŠI ate it.â
1
Also known as âjet fuelâ or âaviation turbine fuelâ