Jiang Si hooked a Weasel Crocodile, clubbed it to death, and tossed it back into the water. With a SPLASH, a school of Weasel Crocodiles of various sizes leaped up, their sharp teeth tearing the dead one to shreds. The blood in the water drew even more of them.

The larger Weasel Crocodiles that arrived too late for a piece of the meat opened their fanged maws and swallowed several of the smaller ones whole.

’Jiang Si had intended to kill the Weasel Crocodiles to stop them from breeding, but who would have thought they’d even eat their own kind?’

The number of Weasel Crocodiles in the water was definitely more than what the two giant ones they had killed the other day could have produced.

The thought of so many more dangerous, large Weasel Crocodiles lurking hungrily in the water was terrifying.

Jiang Si immediately said to the others, "Don’t touch the water’s surface. It’s too dangerous. There must be more, especially large, Weasel Crocodiles in there. We need to seal the first-floor stairwell with cement later."

The words had barely left her mouth when a bloodcurdling scream suddenly echoed from the village.

Jiang Si raised her binoculars and saw a man struggling in the muddy water, surrounded by piranha-like Weasel Crocodiles.

His shrill cries, accompanied by the sight of blood spreading in concentric circles, were a horrifying sight.

Soon, the man vanished completely beneath the surface. Only then did people dare to emerge from their houses, braving the downpour to catch the Weasel Crocodiles that had been lured over, using all sorts of contraptions.

’Jiang Si didn’t want to assume the worst of people, but watching the scene unfold, her gut told her the man had been pushed in as bait.’

Watching a person get devoured by Weasel Crocodiles right before their eyes, an indescribable gloom fell over everyone’s faces.

Jiang Chengwu, also looking through binoculars, saw the rescue soldiers from the shelter casting nets to catch the Weasel Crocodiles. He asked, puzzled, "Aren’t Weasel Crocodiles poisonous?"

Jiang Si shook her head. "Weasel Crocodiles are indeed poisonous, but not their whole bodies. The toxins are concentrated in the internal organs and roe. The roe especially has the highest concentration and can easily be fatal. But the meat itself is not toxic. As long as you don’t puncture the gallbladder, can tell the males from the females, and avoid eating any developing roe, it’s edible."

"The fact that the rescue soldiers are catching them in such large numbers probably means they’re out of other food."

"But even though they’re edible, cases of accidental poisoning are bound to happen."

Zhang Qingzhi sighed. "Well, that’s still better than starving to death. It’s a way to survive, I suppose."

The smaller Weasel Crocodiles were easy to catch, but the larger ones had learned from being ambushed by humans multiple times. They had grown smarter.

They would lie in wait patiently at the bottom, then leap out suddenly for a fatal strike when prey came near.

Many people were dragged into the water. Before the rescue soldiers could even fire their guns, the Weasel Crocodiles had already killed them.

And those weren’t even the biggest ones.

Jiang Si and her family spent two days completely sealing off the first floor. The torrential rain, far from subsiding, grew even more ferocious, like a waterfall crashing down from the sky.

Jiang Si and her family stood on the stairs, repeatedly coating the ceiling with waterproofing material, but they still couldn’t stop the water from seeping through.

To keep water from pooling on the second floor, Jiang Si had no choice but to chisel a drainage hole in every room.

Even so, the water on the second floor still rose past their ankles.

To avoid bacteria, they all wore protective suits and tall boots, living on the search-and-rescue boat Jiang Si had taken out.

The boat was small, just big enough for everyone to have a bunk to sleep in.

Big Black and Little Black lay on the cabin floor, where Grandma had put down a dog bed for them.

For meals, Jiang Si would enter her space, whip up something simple, and then bring it out for everyone.

As long as the house didn’t collapse, life on the boat was quite comfortable.

But soon, their comfort was brought to an end by the surging floodwaters.

The sand and silt accumulated from the sandstorms had blocked the village’s drainage, and the muddy water had already risen to the second-floor windows.

Because the rainfall was so heavy, they had no choice but to chisel a few more drainage holes in the house.

The indoor temperature dropped sharply, becoming not much different from outside.

They had to sleep with an extra blanket.

But that wasn’t the biggest crisis. Jiang Si discovered Weasel Crocodile fry in the water flooding their home.

They were ferocious, purely carnivorous fish that displayed intense aggression despite being tiny.

Jiang Si led her whole family in scooping up the fish with hand nets and putting poison in the water, trying to eradicate the Weasel Crocodiles completely.

BANG! BANG! BANG!—

After a series of gunshots, there was a BOOM—

A grenade had suddenly exploded. Even with the torrential rain, the sound was clear.

This was the first time the rescue soldiers had used grenades.

Jiang Si had a bad feeling.

She raised her binoculars and was stunned by the scene before her.

Dozens of giant Weasel Crocodiles, each one to nearly two meters long, were circling a house on the verge of collapse, hunting prey.

Their prey included their own kind, as well as helpless and panicked humans.

The people screamed in terror, calling for the rescue soldiers to blow up the Weasel Crocodiles. If a grenade hit its mark, it was fine. But if it missed, the creatures would use their steel-like, scaly backs to viciously ram the battered house, again and again.

Small Weasel Crocodiles could be killed with guns, but the ones over a meter long and weighing hundreds of kilograms had scales so tough they could be made into arrowheads. Bullets couldn’t pierce them, and ordinary people stood no chance.

People tried to escape the dangerous buildings on homemade boats, but as soon as they hit the water, they would vanish in an instant.

Even the rescue soldiers didn’t dare come out in their lifeboats to conduct rescue operations.

Jiao Weisong was beyond anxious. If the rain kept up like this, everyone would be devoured by these mutated Weasel Crocodiles.

He looked toward the village’s blocked drainage outlet and ordered his soldiers to blow it open with grenades and explosives at any cost.

As long as the water drained, they would be safe.

Jiang Si didn’t think Jiao Weisong would succeed in blowing open the drain and was already planning to leave when a strange pain started in her chest, her stomach—all over her body.

It felt like being pricked by needles—a dense, irritating pain that was still within a tolerable range.

’Jiang Si figured the energy stone was acting up and that the pain would pass if she just endured it.’

But she never expected that by the latter half of the night, her whole body would feel like it was on fire. The piercing, bone-deep agony was like being sliced by a thousand knives.

Jiang Si groaned in pain, and everyone immediately got up, grabbing fluorescent lamps and surrounding her. "Sisi, what’s wrong?"

Jiang Si’s face was pale, veins bulging on her forehead. Her damp hair was plastered to the sides of her face, making her look as tragically beautiful as a mermaid stranded on the shore.

She forced herself to sit up and swallowed five painkillers. She was just about to open her mouth and reassure everyone that she was fine.

When a sharp pain suddenly struck her chest, her words of comfort turned into a helpless scream.

Having never seen Jiang Si in such agony, Shen Baoying’s eyes instantly filled with tears. "Sisi, where does it hurt?"

Having survived ten years in the apocalypse, Jiang Si was practically half a doctor, but even she had no idea what was happening to her.

Fearing something might happen to her, she forced herself to remain rational and began pulling out all sorts of food and essential supplies from her space. But before she could get everything out, her vision went black, and she collapsed, unconscious.