Global Flood: I Survive on Duckweed

Chapter 60: Chapter 60: Cherry Tomatoes, Satellite Positioning

When they reached the driver’s seat up front, they saw that the rain lashing against the glass had indeed lessened a bit!

”It looks like it really is!” The surprise was evident in Lu Jiamei’s voice.

Xin Wan was just as excited. ”Is the heavy rain finally going to stop?”

”What if the sky is just taking a breather?” Qin Haonan suddenly blurted out.

Lu Jiamei and Xin Wan both glared at him. ”Jinx!”

Qin Haonan ducked his head and muttered quietly, ”You can’t see any stars. There must still be a lot of dark clouds...”

Seeing the annoyed looks from Lu Jiamei and Xin Wan, Qin Haonan immediately stopped muttering.

”You have to give people a little hope,” Lu Jiamei sighed, her voice trailing off.

”I think life is already full of hope right now!” Qin Haonan immediately said with a laugh. ”Following the Boss, we’ve got food, we’ve got water, and he keeps us safe. I’m satisfied, at least.”

Lu Jiamei paused, then scolded him playfully, ”Are you implying that we’re not satisfied?”

”I never said that!” Qin Haonan replied with a grin, flatly denying that’s what he meant.

”It would be so great if the heavy rain really stopped,” Xin Wan said, her face full of hope as she watched the downpour lessen.

”Even if the heavy rain stops, we’ll probably have to keep living like this for a long time,” Qin Haonan shrugged. ”The whole world is underwater now!”

”Always the realist, aren’t you,” Lu Jiamei shot him a look. ”We can’t control the big picture, so let’s just get back to work. I’m going to check if the container has shifted.”

Xin Wan nodded and went back into the main part of the cabin to continue cleaning.

Lu Jiamei used a flashlight to check the container’s position relative to the Duckweed below. After confirming it hadn’t shifted, she went back inside the cabin.

”Jiamei, look what I found!” Xin Wan, who was clearing away some clutter to the side, suddenly exclaimed in delight.

Lu Jiamei rushed over. In Xin Wan’s hand were two shriveled, withered cherry tomatoes!

”I found them in this cloth bag. They were hidden really well!” Xin Wan explained, pointing to a bundle nearby.

The bundle was full of women’s clothes. It must have belonged to the woman who was tortured and killed by the Lvzhi Country people.

Even though the two cherry tomatoes were shriveled beyond recognition, the sight still made both Lu Jiamei and Xin Wan’s mouths water.

”These cherry tomatoes should have seeds inside, right?” Xin Wan asked, a little uncertain.

Lu Jiamei nodded. ”They should. We’ll know for sure when the Boss wakes up and takes a look.”

Xin Wan carefully set them aside. This was their hope for being able to grow their own supply of cherry tomatoes in the future!

The two women rinsed the cabin’s interior with rainwater a good seven or eight times and tore off all the fabric seat covers.

By the time they finished cleaning the cabin, two hours had already passed.

After all that work, both of them were tired, but Lu Jiamei still got up and went outside to check on the container again.

After all, the container held the rice paddies Ren Yuanyang was cultivating—it was their main food supply.

”You can make do and get some rest here for a while,” Lu Jiamei said before heading out.

Xin Wan nodded. The resting spot on her speedboat was occupied by Ren Yuanyang, so she could only stay here to rest.

Xin Wan reclined on a seat by the window, staring up at the cabin ceiling.

Suddenly she saw a camera in the corner and immediately got up and went outside.

Lu Jiamei, just back from her inspection, saw Xin Wan emerge and asked, puzzled, ”Why are you out here?”

”Jiamei, there’s a camera in the speedboat’s cabin!” Xin Wan said, lowering her voice.

Lu Jiamei froze for a moment, her expression turning serious. She led Xin Wan

to the driver’s seat to search for where the surveillance footage was stored.

The Lvzhi Country’s writing system used many characters from the Dragon Country’s language, so through a mix of guesswork and deduction, they actually managed to find where the recordings were stored.

But they soon discovered that the surveillance had been turned off a few hours before the fight happened!

”It was turned off?” Lu Jiamei’s brow furrowed.

”Hmph. They were obviously about to do their disgusting business and didn’t want it recorded,” Xin Wan snorted coldly.

Qin Haonan added, ”With their perverted personalities, they wouldn’t be afraid of being filmed at all!”

”Perhaps the Feixiang needed more test subjects, and these guys were supposed to bring them back,” Lu Jiamei theorized. ”But they clearly couldn’t control themselves and defiled the ’subject.’ They didn’t want their superiors to find out, so they just turned off the camera. Afterward, they killed her and threw the body overboard. If their superiors asked, they could just claim they accidentally hit the switch and fudge their way through it.”

The other two nodded in deep agreement.

Xin Wan frowned slightly. ”But wouldn’t the camera feed be transmitted in real-time to the Feixiang Aircraft Carrier? If they turned it off, surely someone on the Feixiang would have noticed.”

Lu Jiamei paused, thinking for a moment before shaking her head. ”Probably not. Transmitting surveillance footage in real-time requires a stable network connection, and satellite communications are unreliable right now.”

Lu Jiamei knew from her time on the large ship that satellite communications were spotty at best.

She paused before continuing, ”Besides, if the Lvzhi Country’s satellite network was working perfectly, they wouldn’t need to use that unknown software to communicate. And if that were the case, they probably would have caught up to us by now.”

’If they had a choice, those large ships would never use software from an unknown source to communicate.’

Qin Haonan paused. ”Caught up to us? We’re on the move. It shouldn’t be that easy for them to find us, right?”

”If their satellite network was working, that would most likely mean the global positioning system is also functional. As a military speedboat, this vessel would definitely have a tracking system,” Lu Jiamei explained.

At this, understanding dawned on Qin Haonan, and he started to worry. ”Then doesn’t that mean we’re still at risk of being found? Satellite communications might not be completely down, after all!”

Lu Jiamei nodded slightly. ”For now, it certainly seems that way.”

”Shouldn’t we report this to the Boss?” Qin Haonan suggested.

”Right. I’ll go wake the Boss,” Lu Jiamei said, heading outside at once.

’It’s been three or four hours, and no pursuers from the Feixiang have shown up. Their tracking system is probably down. But what if it’s just intermittent? What if they can’t check this boat’s position in real time? That could explain why they haven’t come for us yet. It’s possible!’

’With a threat like this hanging over us, we have to wake Ren Yuanyang and figure out a plan.’

Lu Jiamei jumped onto Xin Wan’s speedboat and called out softly, ”Boss, wake up!”

Ren Yuanyang was a light sleeper. Hearing Lu Jiamei’s voice, he immediately sat up, put on his raincoat, and pushed open the cabin door. A cool sea breeze rushed in to meet him.

The cool air instantly chased away the last traces of sleep from Ren Yuanyang’s eyes.

”Huh. The rain seems to have let up a bit, but the wind feels stronger,” Ren Yuanyang noted, his brow furrowing slightly.

Lu Jiamei nodded. ”It has. Boss, we found something...”

Ren Yuanyang’s heart skipped a beat as he listened to Lu Jiamei’s report and her theories; it was a possibility he hadn’t considered. He quickly composed himself, thought for a moment, and then said, ”They haven’t come looking for four hours. Their tracking system might already be down.”