Jiang Linhai asked worriedly, "Sisi, should we give them a warning?"

Jiang Si shook her head. "Looting supplies is the norm in the apocalypse. As long as we’re better off than they are, we’ll attract envy. Warnings are useless—what’s meant to happen will happen."

Everyone sighed. The torrential rains were over; things were supposed to be getting better.

Setting the yacht and steamboat on fire just by throwing torches wasn’t going to be easy.

Qiu Lei and his men were trying to figure out what to do. As the floodwaters gradually receded, several cars and trucks were exposed on the riverbed. They scavenged all the supplies from the vehicles, then pried open the fuel tanks and collected several containers of gasoline.

With this gasoline, they could pour it on the water around the yacht and steamboat, and it would burn up in an instant.

Everything was ready; they just needed the right opportunity.

After observing them for a few days and confirming that Jiang Si’s group was small, Qiu Lei and his men strapped on the gasoline and set out under the cover of darkness.

Unfortunately for them, Qin Shen was on watch that night.

Qin Shen spotted them while they were still far off and woke everyone up.

Jiang Si went up on deck. A quick scan with her infrared binoculars revealed ten people.

Jiang Si told the others their positions. Once the intruders were in range, they could open fire.

Qiu Lei avoided the traps they had dug themselves. There was a small ditch just a hundred meters from the yacht.

If they poured the gasoline into the ditch, the current would carry it to pool around the yacht and steamboat.

Just as they were about to pour the gasoline, a sudden RUSTLE— Flocks of birds burst from the reeds into the night sky. Mists of black, white, and yellow drifted over the water, carrying a stench even more foul than gasoline.

Thinking they’d been discovered, Qiu Lei yelled to his men, "Run!"

They took off at a run, and in that same instant, the pitch-black sky lit up as if with a crimson dawn.

Birds, dragonflies, bats... A dense swarm of them suddenly filled the night sky, a horrifying sight.

Lu Zhifeng saw elk gathering and leaping among the reeds, while moorhens circled, refusing to land. He sensed something was wrong. Frowning, he said, "This isn’t right! Moorhens can’t fly for long, but they’re staying in the air, like they’re desperate to get away. Could there be an earthquake coming?"

The words were barely out of his mouth when Niu Niu pointed at the water and cried out, "Dad, look quick!"

Everyone looked down. The once-calm surface of the water was now bubbling violently, as if being boiled from below. Mists of different colors rose from it.

Everyone was stunned. ’Is it really an earthquake?’

Such a strange phenomenon had to have a cause.

Jiang Si made an instant decision. "Everyone, grab your emergency packs!"

’If it’s an earthquake, we have to get off the boat.’

They had just ducked into the cabin and shouldered their pre-packed emergency bags when the sky suddenly blazed as bright as day.

"BOOM—"

The earth shook and the mountains swayed. A violent shockwave shattered the cabin’s tempered glass.

The yacht rocked violently, as if it would capsize at any moment.

The searing heatwave that followed the shockwave was overwhelming. No one could stand. Jiang Si shoved Shen Baoying to the floor, shielding her head for a full half-minute before the shockwave began to subside.

Jiang Linhai crawled over to Jiang Si and whispered, "Sisi, what’s going on?"

Jiang Si lifted her head and glanced outside. Fiery embers drifted through the air like dandelion fluff. To the northeast, the sky was a sea of blood.

Jiang Si was stunned. ’The meteor shower... It’s so much earlier than I expected!’

Jiang Si got to her feet and saw the river level dropping rapidly. The iron chains mooring the yacht to the posts were pulled taut, and the vessel was on the verge of being dragged down.

Jiang Si’s pupils contracted. She yelled to the others, "A meteorite strike! It’s causing the ground to collapse! We have to get off the boat, now!"

’So that was a meteorite!’

’No wonder it made such a racket!’

Everyone scrambled off the boat, but Jiang Si ducked back into the storeroom, sweeping everything inside into her space.

She took all the plants they had been growing, but she had to painfully abandon the livestock they had just acquired.

Jiang Si then ran to the steamboat and cleared it out as well. When she returned to the yacht, she found Qin Shen waiting for her.

Jiang Si felt a subconscious pang of guilt. ’He didn’t go into the cabin and see the empty storeroom, did he?’

Qin Shen’s expression was unreadable. "Let’s go!"

Jiang Si breathed a sigh of relief. ’He must not have noticed.’ "I just had to grab a few things," she said. "Let’s go!"

"RUMBLE... RUMBLE... RUMBLE..."

The horizon flashed with red light, as another brilliant meteor streaked across the sky.

Jiang Si’s heart lurched. ’This is exactly how it was in my past life. More meteorites will keep falling, one after another.’

’But last time, they didn’t start falling until after the electromagnetic fields had stabilized.’

’Humanity’s communication systems had partially recovered then, so when people learned the north was safe from the impacts, survivors began migrating there.’

Jiang Si leaped from the boat. With a loud SNAP, the iron chain broke. The yacht and the steamboat were instantly swallowed by the mire.

Jiang Si’s heart ached!

’That was her one and only luxury yacht!’

’And the two steamboats she’d gotten for free were gone with it!’

But there was no time for regrets. The flying embers had set the reed beds ablaze, and the air was filled with a choking smell.

They had to get out of there fast, lest a meteorite fell on their heads.

Navigating the burning reed field was difficult enough, but they also had to watch out for the traps Qiu Lei’s men had dug.

To avoid choking on the thick smoke, everyone put on helmets and wet masks. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Suddenly, the sky above them blazed!

Jiang Si looked up and screamed, "Run! A meteorite is coming down!"

Everyone sprinted for their lives, wading straight through mud pits and stomping through patches of fire!

More and more molten rock rained down from the sky, a literal shower of fire.

This meteorite was huge. Jiang Si feared they couldn’t outrun it, that they would be incinerated where they stood.

Suddenly, Qin Shen shouted, "To the right!"

He was the one who had scouted the terrain, so everyone immediately followed his lead, scrambling to the right.

As they ran, they broke free of the reed beds and saw a hill ahead, one composed of solid rock.

’If we’re lucky, there might even be a cave to take shelter in.’

Jiang Si’s eyes lit up. She pointed to the hill. "Everyone, faster!"

It was a race against time.

Overhead, sparks the size of fingertips grew to the size of fists, then basketballs... A deep, humming RUMBLE filled their ears, a sign that their time was running out.

Jiang Si didn’t dare look up; she just focused on running forward.

Other survivors began to appear alongside them, all sprinting for the same goal.

An old man fell, abandoned by his family right before the rock face. They were only a few steps away, but terrified by the descending meteorite, not one of them turned back to help him up.

Jiang Si grabbed the frail old man and yanked him to his feet. Qin Shen shot her a glance, then effortlessly scooped the man into his arms and dashed for the shelter of the rock face in the final, critical second.

"BOOM—"

Fireballs the size of several basketball courts slammed into the reed beds. The massive shockwave, like a nuclear detonation, threw Jiang Si hard against the rock wall.