Book of Fate, Repairing the Breach

Yu Yuan narrowed his eyes at the earth-yellow card in his hand. It looked remarkably like a Fate Card, except that "Inside Information" was written on it.

The appearance of the Inside Information card was a pleasant surprise. An item that provided intelligence on a specific event could be enormously useful to him.

There were far too many things he wanted to figure out.

How the Thug Faction was divided, how its groups compared in strength, which ones were enemies, where the rooms matching the bald man's three keys were, and where Brother Biao kept his hotel key card.

But Yu Yuan knew he had only one Inside Information card. He had to save it for a critical moment if he wanted to get the most out of it.

Just then, on the Fate Card page of the Virtual Light Screen, the book beneath the Wooden Box holding his Fate Cards opened. Yu Yuan had thought it was merely part of the background. The open page had four card slots.

The Inside Information card vanished from his hand and appeared in the first slot, fitting snugly into place.

The book then closed and returned to its previous appearance. Yu Yuan could sense that he could open it and retrieve the Inside Information card at any time, which put him somewhat at ease.

A line of text slowly appeared on the previously untitled book: Book of Fate.

Clearly, as something derived from a Fate Gift, the Inside Information card had an inherent connection to the Fate Cards.

Yu Yuan stopped dwelling on it. There was no point. First, he had to survive his current predicament.

The Inside Information card had not come cheap, either. It had cost a full 500 Survival Points.

With him trapped in the Hideout, Yu Yuan had not checked the new Fate Gifts. He planned to choose one after the typhoon passed.

After all, choosing a Fate Gift meant having to complete a Fate Card task. Under the circumstances, that would be no different from seeking death.

He picked up the day's freshly published newspaper. As usual, it contained two Rock Quality news items.

[Greenforest City Daily]

Date: Day 4 of the Wasteland Calendar

Weather: Typhoon Bu Qiuxing is approaching. Its eyewall is currently making landfall. Maximum winds are expected to reach force 13. The eye is expected to arrive around 11:40 a.m. and last for four hours.

Temperature: 22°C–28°C

Publisher: Wasteland Fate News Agency

[Neighborhood Life Section]

Quality: Rock Tier

Danger Level: Low

All the Enforcers at the Black Shield Police Department feared Commander Lawrence. They feared his interrogation methods and his cruelty toward enemies and traitors alike.

Driven by that fear, Enforcer Soda secretly approached Commander Lawrence and expressed his wish to serve him. He also used Fries's death to drive a wedge between Lawrence and Carmen.

But Soda did not know that Lawrence already suspected Enforcer Carmen of deliberately failing to send help to Waterfront Street in time, resulting in his younger brother being killed by an enemy in the Sewer.

Lawrence intended to make Carmen and everyone at Marauder Prison die with his brother. Whoever had killed Fries had to die too.

Yu Yuan was taken aback. He had only killed one person in the Sewer: the bald man. He had never expected the man to have a brother who was a commander.

No wonder he had been so arrogant.

"This Lawrence is a threat too. If he finds out I'm in the Sewer, he'll tear the whole place apart. One more problem." Yu Yuan recorded the information in his notes.

The first item, about the typhoon, also demanded his full attention.

"Green Forest City will enter the eye at noon... and it'll last four hours."

Click to view.

This information was crucial to Yu Yuan. He knew that no matter how fierce the wind and rain were beforehand, the weather would calm immediately inside the eye. The sun might even come out.

Within an hour at most, the rainwater would drain from the Sewer and the water level would drop. That would be his chance to repair the breach.

But the situation proved far worse than Yu Yuan had expected.

Five hours later, Yu Yuan stared at the water, now up to his knees, and felt a pang of helplessness.

Everything beyond the second high flood barrier had been completely submerged.

An hour earlier, he had found some stone bricks elsewhere to plug the breach. But it had widened again, and even the sandbags could no longer stop the water from pouring in.

In just one hour, the water had reached his knees. The speed of its rise frightened even Yu Yuan.

He checked the time: 11:50 a.m.

"We should be in the eye by now. There's still time!"

Half an hour later, the water had dropped to his calves. Yu Yuan let out a long breath.

"Finally... it's going down!"

But he knew the real work was only beginning.

He went to the exit, bent down, and moved the blast-resistant sandbags blocking the breach. The rainwater that had flooded the Air-Raid Shelter Level rushed out through the widened opening.

Yu Yuan saw that the breach was now more than four times its original size. No wonder the sandbags had failed to hold back the water.

The water level in the Sewer had dropped by half as well. He let the remaining rainwater drain while he hurriedly took the stone bricks he had found earlier out of Taotao Cave and set them nearby.

He returned to the Hideout, poured Quick-Drying Cement into a bucket, and brought it back to the exit.

He had not spent the past few hours idle. He had listed the Tactical Sword from the bald man on Taotao Cave and traded it for two bags of Quick-Drying Cement and some construction materials.

By the time all the rainwater had drained from the Air-Raid Shelter Level, less than three hours remained before the eye moved past Green Forest City.

Yu Yuan wasted no time. He quickly mixed the cement in the proper proportions. This time, he had learned his lesson.

Instead of sealing the opening directly, he lay on the ground and reached through the breach to spread a ring of cement along the Air-Raid Shelter Level's outer wall—the ceiling of the Sewer. Only then did he pick up the stone bricks and seal the breach.

Once the layer of Quick-Drying Cement hardened, it would form a protective barrier. It would not withstand the rushing water for long, but Yu Yuan would be more than satisfied if it held for even an hour or two.

In less than thirty minutes, the breach was completely sealed. Yu Yuan breathed a temporary sigh of relief.

"That should do it, right?"

Fish Abyss Shelter Resource Management Log

Date: Day 6 in the Wasteland

Location: East City District 13, Green Forest City

Food: Canned Beef ×8, canned fruit ×3, military rations ×6, bottled water (500 ml) ×3, chocolate bars ×28, Camel Cigarettes ×8 packs, Marlboro Cigarettes ×9 packs...

Medical: Vehicle first-aid kit ×1, medical backpack ×1

Supplies: Car engine ×1, spark plug ×1, car air-conditioning compressor...

Weapons: Kukri ×1, Glock 17 Pistol (9×19mm Luger FMJ, 48 rounds) ×2, S&W Model 500 revolver...

Tools: Multipurpose pliers ×1, multipurpose tool kit...

Containers: 60 L outdoor Oxford Cloth backpack ×1, backpack ×1, canvas shoulder bag (damaged) ×1