"Thank you, but it's fine. I can get in the water." Tang Mo quickly took off her jacket, revealing a black, long-sleeved, full-length swimsuit underneath.
She had picked up the swimsuit at a supermarket, intentionally choosing one several sizes too large. The loose-fitting garment looked bulky, completely concealing her slender figure.
Tang Mo neatly placed her jacket and shoes on the boat before getting into the water barefoot.
Since she had chosen to come fish, she wasn't going to be precious about it. In the apocalypse, there was no rule that said men had to give way to women. Girls who acted high and mighty were always the first to die.
As expected, the early autumn lake water was bone-chilling. Even though she was fully clothed, Tang Mo shivered the moment she stepped in. She immediately circulated her spiritual power to warm herself.
After her spiritual power completed a full circuit, Tang Mo felt much more comfortable. A pleasant warmth spread through her body, and she no longer felt the icy water.
'Who said spiritual power was useless? It was clearly an essential tool for both comfort and combat. Honestly.' Tang Mo inwardly defended her precious spiritual power.
In her hand, Tang Mo held a makeshift miniature fishing net, fashioned from a canvas bag. She had cut finger-sized holes all over it to let the water drain out when she scooped up fish.
As she scanned the water for fish, she also kept a careful watch on the others to see if they were having any luck. For safety, the small boats stayed relatively close together, all within her line of sight.
To be fair, the university did stock the lake with a considerable number of fish fry every year. But no matter how many they added, it was nothing compared to the sheer size of the lake.
After ten minutes, nobody had even seen a fish. Their initial enthusiasm for the task had waned considerably, and they began to slack off.
'This won't do,' Tang Mo thought. 'If everyone doesn't actively fish, when will my abnormal treasure show up?'
'If this plays out like my last life, and I only find it after the officials announce its existence two months from now, my chances of getting it will be much lower.'
After a moment's thought, Tang Mo decided to use a bag of breadcrumbs she'd picked up from a supermarket.
They were an ingredient for making fried food. She didn't actually have any fish food, but 'fish should like this stuff too, right?'
Leaving the packaging in her Space, with a mere thought, a large handful of breadcrumbs materialized in Tang Mo's hand.
She clenched her fist, submerged it, and slowly let the breadcrumbs seep out into the water through her fingers.
Tang Mo walked in circles, appearing to be actively searching for fish while covertly scattering the breadcrumbs over a wide area.
It seemed it wasn't just humans who were starving; the fish were famished, too. The scent of food quickly drew them to the area.
"I see fish!" a boy next to her shouted in surprise.
Everyone in the water immediately looked in his direction. Sure enough, more than a dozen golden-red carp were swimming there, seemingly fighting over something.
"What are the fish doing?" everyone wondered, puzzled.
"Maybe they're just playing," Tang Mo said with a slightly embarrassed laugh.
'Looks like I can't put so much out at once next time.' Having never raised fish before, she had no idea breadcrumbs would be this effective.
At the sight of their prey, everyone's motivation came flooding back.
Several people formed a circle to surround the school of fish, brandishing their assorted tools: bedsheets, plastic bags, and even a badminton racket.
Later, during a break, Tang Mo couldn't resist asking the boy with the badminton racket why he'd chosen it as his tool. The boy explained shyly that he planned to use it to stun the fish.
'Well…' Tang Mo didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 'I guess that's one way to do it.'
It really was a case of "different strokes for different folks."
Thanks to everyone's teamwork, they managed to catch eight of the carp. Although many got away, it was a welcome surprise for a group armed with bedsheets and badminton rackets.
"Here, use this to dry off." As Tang Mo climbed out of the water and returned to the shore, Tang Lianjie hurried over with a towel, trying to curry favor.
"Thank you, but I don't need it." Without giving him so much as a second glance, Tang Mo walked right past him to her backpack and pulled out a large bath towel.
She wasn't cold at all, having been enveloped in her spiritual power the whole time. Her short hair was convenient; it hadn't even gotten wet. All she had to do was wipe the water from her swimsuit.
Tang Lianjie was left standing there awkwardly, his hand still extended with the towel.
A dark look flashed in his eyes. 'Tch, who does she think she is, acting so pure and lofty? Just wait. Next time, I'll dangle a couple of packs of instant noodles in front of her and see how proud she is then.'
Tang Lianjie wasn't actually bad-looking. He was slick and well-dressed, looking quite dapper on the surface.
But his clothes, his style, his whole vibe—it was all so greasy and flashy that it was off-putting. He just didn't seem like a good person.
If it weren't for his connections, he never would have been made the second-in-command.
Tang Mo remembered that Tang Lianjie would go on to cause a lot of trouble, and some high-up in the university administration would always be there to clean up his messes.
His "connections" were just a bit of minor influence from his family. They had plenty of money, but in this new world, that little bit of power meant nothing, and money was just a string of useless numbers.
Only the university leaders, still trapped on campus and clueless about the real situation, took him seriously. The world outside had changed completely.
Tang Mo wasn't afraid of him. She preferred to keep a low profile, but that didn't mean she'd let herself be bullied. If Tang Lianjie dared to provoke her, she wouldn't mind giving him a little "surprise."
The rest of the fishing trip wasn't nearly as successful. The group only caught five more fish the entire afternoon, a pitifully small haul.
Tang Mo preferred to quit while she was ahead. Luring the fish with breadcrumbs once a day was enough; any more would look suspicious.
Thirteen fish in total. Tang Lianjie clearly thought it wasn't enough; he wore a sullen expression the entire way back and didn't say a word.
But when they met up with An Yang's group, they learned that while their team of less than a hundred people had caught thirteen fish, An Yang's team of several hundred had only managed to catch three chickens and two rabbits all day. That immediately put his mind at ease. For the next few days, he was even in a visibly better mood around everyone.
The haul was pitifully small, but the university administration remained surprisingly calm.
Everyone knew this was just busywork for the restless students to keep them from causing trouble. There was never any real plan to achieve self-sufficiency through hunting and fishing.
The next day, everyone did get a taste of the food they had worked so hard to obtain.
Or rather, they got a taste of the soup made from it.
To make the most of it, the university had cooked all the meat into soup: one pot of fish soup, one of chicken, and one of rabbit.
Regular students only received a small bowl of broth; only those who had participated in the hunt were given any meat. But whether there was enough meat to go around, or if the student leaders had secretly kept some for themselves, was anyone's guess.
"Ugh, just this tiny bowl of soup. We'll have to fill up on water back in our rooms to feel full," Li Lanlan complained, finishing her soup in a few gulps. She stared wistfully at the students who were eating meat.
But what no one could have predicted was that a month and a half into the apocalypse, people at the university started getting poisoned from drinking the water!
It wasn't just a few, either—more than thirty people were affected.
Because the university was so isolated from the outside world, the campus hospital was utterly helpless against this new ailment. The administration had no choice but to use its connections to contact the outside, and in return, they received shocking news.
The tap water was no longer safe to drink!
Apparently, many people had been hospitalized for poisoning over the past few days. Since everyone was eating the same government-issued relief food, after extensive testing, experts finally concluded: the problem was the water.
The soil had degenerated, contaminating the riverbeds long ago. Now, over a month later, the contamination had thoroughly seeped into the groundwater, as well as all major rivers, lakes, and oceans.
Therefore, no matter how clear the water appeared, it was no longer drinkable. Filtering, disinfecting, and even boiling were all ineffective at removing the harmful substances.
The water contamination was only just beginning. For now, only people with weaker constitutions who drank large quantities of water were showing symptoms. But as time went on, the pollution would worsen. At first, it took drinking a lot of water to cause organ failure and death within a week.
Later on, just a few sips would be enough to kill a person in a single day.
Furthermore, the toxin's effects were irreversible. Like the most potent pesticide, once ingested, even immediate stomach pumping was of little use. All one could do was wait to die.
This meant that from now on, humanity's survival depended on bottled water.
The experts had only just reached this conclusion and had not yet made a public announcement.
"What? We can't drink tap water anymore? Then we can't even fill our stomachs with water?"
"Exactly! You can tough it out without food, but how is anyone supposed to live without water?"
Compared to the initial crop failures, this widespread water contamination was far more difficult for people to accept.
Fortunately, ever since the apocalypse began, everyone had been drinking water from the campus water supply room, not the bottled water reserves in the warehouse.
The administration urgently called another long meeting with all the student leaders. In the end, they came to a decision: starting the next day, the daily ration would be half a bottle of mineral water per person.
At that rate of consumption, the university's reserves would last for about half a month. As for what would happen after that, they could only leave it to fate.
A look of despair settled on everyone's faces. For the first time, they truly realized they had been backed into a corner with no way out.