With her banner of "rather miss it than let it slip," Jing Shu really did save a few people, though some had been trapped underwater for other reasons.
Along the way, she happened to finish an 800 virtual coin bounty. The client needed a full set of mall equipment hauled up. Because of the layout, the salvage boat's machinery could not reach inside, and the gear was far too heavy to move by hand underwater. Even with oxygen tanks, you would need seven or eight professionals to drag it through all those twists and turns. In that lightless water, it was a nightmare.
This was where the amphibious shark submarine shone. Its agility was perfect for weaving in and out, and its 280 horsepower could tug serious weight. To keep things simple, she triple checked that there were no creatures or cameras nearby, stashed the load into her Rubik's Cube Space, then brought it near the surface and shipped it out.
The Rubik's Cube Space was a full-on cheat, saving her a lot of diesel.
Time slipped by. The temperature plunged from 37°C down to just a few degrees. The dim day was about to sink into pitch black, a sign that this day was nearly over, yet she had not found even a single nest of leeches. If she could at least locate one nest, she could take it home to raise.
"Did I use the wrong method again? Should I just go solo and start a carpet search?" She doubted herself and was ready to call it a day.
"Wrap it up, wrap it up!"
"Everyone who has surfaced, stay up, line up and report headcount. Each group, report today's search area and results, mark the salvaged zones on the map, then we hold a quick meeting." Liu Xing wiped sweat from his brow. Another day done, another day of danger without disaster.
At the blast of the horn, everyone stopped diving and clambered up. No more action. She was about to leave when a shout caught her ear.
"Team A10, where is Team A10? All three are missing. Does anyone know how long they have been gone?"
"Not sure, haven't seen them for a while."
Jing Shu's eyes lit up. "Which direction?"
"Six o'clock, a former large underground supermarket."
She shot off in a streak.
Large underground supermarkets were usually already emptied. Today's salvage plan did not include that location at all.
Which meant only one thing. This was off the books.
"Something's fishy."
She swept the aisles in the amphibious shark submarine, moving fast. The place had been stripped so clean that even the shelves were gone. Whenever she bumped into something, she rammed through anyway. The submarine was only really useful this year. Later she would barely need it. Besides, she had bought it with a few bartered honeysuckle units, cheap enough that she did not feel bad about knocking it around.
Her floodlights cut through the murk while she watched closely. No sign of anyone. She passed the snacks zone, the housewares zone, vegetables, preserved foods, and was just about to reach the fresh market when she spotted dense, sprawling clumps of something.
It was rotted, swollen scraps of meat, possibly from humans or some creature. The scraps teemed with carrion scavengers. This had probably been the fish-killing station and live fish tanks before the apocalypse. The stink and heat would have drawn flies and maggots, then other unknown creatures. After the flood, all kinds of bugs gathered here.
Thinking of unknown creatures reminded her of an invasive species that would appear later. They craved blood and meat, drank blood, ate flesh, and their bodies were covered with necrotic rot. Every one of them carried countless carrion scavengers. After soaking, they looked like masses of white rotten meat.
Their biggest traits were living in packs, spreading viruses, and picking carrion scavengers off each other's bodies for food. When they encountered humans, they attacked in a frenzy. During migration in her previous life, she had run into swarms of such creatures.
The earliest infections spread from Australia's so-called "zombie deer." The virus then jumped to other species, ones more like wolves. She even suspected they had evolved from wolves.
"It should not be this early," she muttered. That species should not appear for years yet, only later migrating south with everyone fleeing the cold.
Besides the carrion, she found even more red nematodes, drawn by the scent. They never turned down energy. They ate vegetables, they ate meat.
With so many red nematodes here, the leeches that exploded in number whenever food was available had swarmed in.
"This time it is a giant nest. No wonder those three never made it back. If even one of them had gone up to call for help, the other two might not have died here." One slow day, one haul that could feed you for three years.
The scene was grimly familiar. Three people were tangled together, leeches crawling over every inch, and in one of the dead hands lay a blood mushroom.
So they had found blood mushrooms. Unfortunately, when there are thousands upon thousands of leeches in the water, they do not politely stay put just because you keep your distance.
As soon as one leech found a target, countless more would surge in. In water like this, she would never stick her head out. There was a reason she never left the submarine.
In the middle of the leech swarm stood clusters of blood mushrooms, plump and bright, no fewer than a dozen. Her heart leapt with joy. This time she did not touch anything directly. She moved the whole thing wholesale into the Rubik's Cube Space to see if the blood mushrooms could reproduce. She even transferred the surrounding water into the space.
The three were beyond saving. She sent the bodies into the space along with the leeches, the blood mushrooms, and a ball of red nematodes. She scooped every last leech from the area, not letting a single one slip by. Altogether, the leeches and red nematodes occupied 6 cubic meters in the space.
Then she separated the three dead and tethered them to the tail of the submarine. In a flash, she rushed out. Right, living people could not enter the space, but the dead could be placed inside temporarily.
Eager to get home and inspect her haul, she fishtailed the submarine and dumped the three back onto the boat. Liu Xing's eyes filled with tears. He nearly knelt to her, then seeing that the three were truly dead, he sobbed with relief and barked, "Quick, settle them and see they are properly buried."
She was shaking with excitement too.
Back at the villa, she went straight to the second floor, locked the door, and began a careful observation of this food chain. The leeches packed tight around the blood mushrooms at the center. The red nematodes were pinned outside the ring by the leeches.
At last, she understood how the leeches were surviving. Their mouthparts had evolved. They were directly devouring the red nematodes.