Chapter 238: Port, Cargo Ship

「Half a month later,」 the fishing boat entered another stretch of sea. Through her binoculars, Evelyn Ford saw an abandoned port surrounded by water.

After the fishing boat drew near, Ronan Kendrick went down first to take a look around.

"There’s no one here, but the smell is overwhelming. It’s acrid."

The place was more like a junkyard. Evelyn saw numerous shipping containers strewn about haphazardly, and a sharp, spicy, putrid stench filled the air. After getting a whiff of it, Wyatt Vaughn had already started vomiting. Evelyn told Quincy to move the boat further away while she and Ronan went down to check on the situation.

Miles Vaughn and Peter Owens wanted to help, but their injuries hadn’t fully healed yet.

"You two should find some cloth to cover your mouths and noses first. The smell here is intense, and there might be sources of infection. If we find anything, you can receive it from the deck."

Evelyn grabbed a hemp rope and slid down. Ronan, who was standing on the kayak, immediately caught her.

It was the same kayak Wendy and Officer Graham had used. It was high-quality and still usable.

Evelyn and Ronan both put on masks. The water was filthy, with many corpses and all sorts of garbage floating on the surface.

"We’ve reached Syler," Evelyn said, pointing at the foreign text on a red shipping container. "This city is Somerhall, one of their third-tier cities."

The two of them went ashore. Evelyn took out a pair of leather gloves and a stick. The ground was covered in black, frozen mud mixed with chunks of ice. A light rain was falling. The port had collapsed, leaving only a few hundred square meters intact.

The containers at the port were mostly empty and covered in a layer of ice. However, behind them was a rusty cargo ship that hadn’t been unloaded yet. Evelyn and Ronan exchanged a look and walked toward it.

The cargo ship was in the water on the other side, carrying seven or eight containers.

They climbed onto the cargo ship, and Evelyn tapped a container with her stick.

"There are three people in the wheelhouse. They’re all dead," Ronan said suddenly.

The containers had "EMERGENCY" markings on them. Evelyn suspected they were relief supplies from Syler that had been washed here by the flooding.

Evelyn went into the wheelhouse for a look. Based on the state of decomposition of the three bodies, they had been dead for no more than four months.

There were some documents in the wheelhouse. They were indeed official papers from Syler, clearly stating that the cargo was to be transported to a place called the United Base. These were supplies for the leadership.

’It seems Syler wasn’t too severely affected before the great flood.’

"Ronan, let’s go see what’s inside the containers."

"Okay."

Ronan opened the first container. It was filled with winter coats. Syler was also an island nation with a small territory, surrounded by the sea, and cold all year round.

The second container held instant noodles, ham sausages, canned goods, salt, and cooking oil.

The third container was full of cotton quilts.

"Evelyn, there’s gasoline and diesel here."

Evelyn hurried over. Barrels of gasoline were stacked inside.

Gasoline is a mixture and doesn’t have a fixed freezing point, so it wouldn’t have frozen solid.

Evelyn collected all the gasoline into her space, leaving only half of the diesel behind.

She also put the clothes into her space. They didn’t need any more clothes on the boat right now; bringing them aboard would just make the cabins more crowded. However, some of the cooking oil, salt, quilts, medical supplies like gauze, and food could be taken back.

’As for this cargo ship,’ she thought, ’once the bodies are cleared from the wheelhouse, I can take it into my space too.’

Evelyn did another sweep of the port, collecting a few intact containers she found. There were also bicycles and lifebuoys floating in the sea. The foul, fishy stench at the port was so overpowering that Evelyn was starting to feel dizzy.

"Ronan, let’s take the supplies back."

"Alright." Seeing that she looked unwell, Ronan quickly walked over.

"What’s wrong?"

"The smell is too strong. I’m dizzy."

Ronan cut his finger and held the bleeding digit out to Evelyn.

"The water is full of rotting corpses. The air is thick with germs and viruses."

Evelyn put his finger in her mouth. The taste of blood spread through her mouth, and after about two minutes, she felt much better.

"Let’s go."

After moving the goods to the edge of the port, Ronan used the kayak to ferry them to the fishing boat, which was a short distance away.

"Ronan, where’s Evelyn? Quincy, Mr. Vance, and Mr. Lowell have passed out!" Officer Graham asked anxiously when he saw Ronan return.

"Evelyn’s still at the port. They probably passed out from the stench. Let’s move the supplies first, and we’ll have Evelyn check on them later."

"Just bring the boat to the port. It’ll take forever if you keep ferrying things back and forth like this."

"There must have been an explosion at the port before. The smell is intense, and there are a lot of corpses over there. You guys won’t be able to stand it," Ronan said, his brow furrowing slightly.

Officer Graham waved his hand dismissively. "We’ll just have to bear it. It’s too much work for you to haul everything trip by trip."

"Fine. I’ll come up first." After climbing aboard, Ronan immediately told Peter Owens to steer the fishing boat to the edge of the port.

"There’s this much stuff?" Officer Graham was surprised. He and Ronan got down to lift the supplies while the others received them from above.

"Why did you bring the boat back? The smell is really bad over here," Evelyn said, looking at Ronan in confusion.

"Mr. Graham said it was too slow using the kayak. Quincy and the others fainted from the smell."

With everyone helping, they quickly finished moving everything from the port. Once aboard, Evelyn went to check on Quincy and the others. It was nothing serious; they would wake up on their own after a few hours of rest.

The fishing boat left the port and continued on its way.

About two hours later, the seawater became much clearer, and the stench slowly faded.

The three who had fainted gradually came to, and Evelyn finished taking inventory of the supplies.

It had been a bountiful harvest, and everyone was in high spirits.

"I can’t believe we found diesel, instant noodles, and ham sausages! The quilts are a bit damp, but they’re all new." Quincy was so overwhelmed by the sight of all the supplies after waking up that he was practically tongue-tied.

"Country C is right next to Syler. Should we head there?"

Evelyn nodded. "Yes. Both countries are surrounded by the sea, so they have plenty of ports."

Hearing this, the others became incredibly excited.

"That’s great! If we circle around them, we should be able to find a lot of stuff."

The storage hold was already piled high with supplies. As everyone’s injuries improved, they worked with even more enthusiasm.

The group found another port that hadn’t been submerged. There were even some survivors living there. Seeing the fishing boat approach, the survivors began waving their hands, begging to be taken away. Evelyn had Peter Owens keep the boat moving.

「Three days later,」 the fishing boat entered the waters of Country C.

Many of Country C’s forests hadn’t been flooded, and there were likely survivors living in the mountains. But Evelyn and her group weren’t philanthropists on a rescue mission. Finding no supplies, they simply bypassed the area and left.

A flock of black birds landed on the surface of the sea, gnawing on the rotting corpses in the water.

After a few cries, the flock flew toward the fishing boat. Evelyn took out her stick to bat them away. One of the birds landed on the deck and spat out a severed finger.