The Westside Ranch was to the west of the low-rise buildings, which were surrounded by a vast field overgrown with weeds. According to Robin Grant’s memory, they only had to head west, get on Expressway 902, take the first exit onto the on-ramp, and it would be less than a third of a mile’s walk from there.
But when the group spent half the day reaching the on-ramp at the first exit, they discovered the entire area below it was submerged in water, having transformed into a massive lake.
The on-ramp had become a precarious bridge over the lake.
The ramp was only wide enough for a single bus and curved sharply. Fortunately, Flora Bloom and the others were on foot, so there was plenty of room for them to walk abreast.
They hadn’t been walking for long when they saw a break in the ramp ahead. The road was inexplicably sheared in half, the fractured surface perfectly smooth.
The group moved forward to investigate. The area below should have been a low-lying suburb of Argent, but it had now become a reservoir-like lake. The water was level with the ramp, and it rippled like a true lake or river, its waves lapping at the pavement beneath their feet.
Suddenly, a fish with wings and shimmering scales leaped from the water. It hung in the air for a human-like second before dropping back in and swimming away.
"Is that... a carp?" Flora Bloom asked, uncertain.
"Looks like it. But do carp grow wings?"
As a professor and expert, Micah offered his opinion, though his specialty wasn’t biology.
"This looks like evolution. Some organisms undergo this process to adapt to specific environmental pressures."
Flora Bloom wasn’t particularly concerned about whether fish could grow wings. She was more worried about the fact that there were fish in this water, which was neither a river nor a lake.
She recalled how before the apocalypse, floods in some areas had led to long-term waterlogging disasters. Urban residents had to use boats and wear life jackets just to get around.
Some "good Samaritans" had even fished from their own homes during floods. More enterprising sorts used large wooden tubs or bathtubs as boats, lying in them to scoop fish directly from the water. They brought home massive hauls of fish, shrimp, and crabs every day.
This proved that even if it wasn’t a lake or river, once an area flooded, the water would teem with life. That was what worried Flora Bloom.
They had seen a carp with fins evolved into wings. What else was down there?
Flora Bloom summoned the sauries from her dimensional space. ’It was smart to keep some of them after releasing the others into the sea off the coast of Morhaven.’
And so, the school of sauries dove into the water. A moment later, she received their feedback through her mental link.
Just as she’d suspected, it had become an entire underwater world down there. Things would be fine if the creatures hadn’t mutated or evolved, but in this apocalypse, an un-evolved, un-mutated living creature was rarer than an endangered species—perhaps even nonexistent.
At least, Flora Bloom had yet to encounter one.
"What now? Getting to the ranch seems impossible!"
Flora Bloom gave a cunning grin.
’In the water, as long as it wasn’t a massive swarm of creatures, nothing could stand up to her school of sauries.’
Before long, the surface of the water began to churn with bubbles.
The others backed away in alarm, but Flora Bloom remained perfectly still. Lex Cross stood guard in front of her.
Flora Bloom glanced over her shoulder. "Don’t be afraid. It’s just my sauries coming back."
Flora Bloom watched the massive bubbles roiling on the surface. She was startled at first, too, until a gigantic crab floated up, belly-first.
The crab was truly enormous. A closer look suggested it had been an ordinary river crab before its evolution. Now, its carapace was over twenty meters wide, and its two hairy pincers were the size of buses.
If she had encountered such a crustacean behemoth in any other river, Flora Bloom would never have remained standing so calmly on the pavement.
It was simply too large, its shell too tough; it would be incredibly difficult to break through its defenses. Her sauries had besieged it for a long time without managing to pierce its massive, hard carapace. In fact, it had caught several of her fish in its pincers and snapped them in two.
But this was the area beneath the on-ramp, formerly a city thoroughfare of varying widths, cluttered with urban fixtures. A crab that large would have had immense difficulty maneuvering here, to say nothing of its current state—flipped upside down.
"I’ll go claim it!"
"Flora!" Lex Cross started to call out, but she had already summoned Vert. Grabbing onto its leg, she was carried over to the giant crab’s underbelly.
The instant Flora Bloom’s hand touched the crab’s shell, she silently thought, ’Collect.’ The next second, the massive crab vanished into her dimensional space, and a new consciousness joined her mental link.
"Master."
"Come on out."
The giant crab was not the inky black of a normal river crab but a faint, cyan-blue. Its eight legs and huge pincers were tipped with a deep, dark blue.
It had been in Flora Bloom’s space for only an instant before reappearing on the water’s surface, this time right side up.
Flora Bloom stood on the giant crab’s back, a brilliant smile on her face as it carried her back onto the on-ramp.
Lex Cross glared at Flora Bloom, his face dark. "You need to be more careful! Let me handle things like that!"
Flora Bloom giggled and ran to his side, taking his hand. "Oh, come on, it was just easier for me to do it! See? I just have to touch it to bring it into my space. It would’ve taken you all forever!"
For the first time, Lex Cross felt a pang of powerlessness. ’If my strength was fully restored, if my own internal space was open, she wouldn’t have to do all this herself.’
"Next time you do something this dangerous, you have to talk to me first. Understand?"
"I know, I know! Come on, let’s get on its back. It’ll take us to the Westside Ranch."
Both Micah and Robin Grant thought that with the water level so high and the flooding so deep, the Westside Ranch was likely long gone.
But Flora Bloom refused to give up. "Let’s go check it out anyway. There are several ranches in that area, right? Plants grow more vigorously in the apocalypse, so maybe a few dairy cows survived the flood? Besides, the odds of creatures evolving are high. Even if the cows evolved, it’s fine as long as they’re still cows."
In the apocalypse, the meat of evolved creatures was not only more fragrant and delicious than ordinary meat when cooked, but long-term consumption could also improve a person’s constitution and replenish their Spiritual Energy.
At Flora Bloom’s urging, everyone climbed onto the giant crab’s back. Then, following Robin Grant’s directions, it began swimming toward the Westside Ranch.
The reason Flora Bloom insisted on going was because of the herd of water buffalo that had surrounded them back at the low-rise buildings.
Water buffalo can swim, so it was understandable that they had followed the floodwaters to find them. But it also proved, indirectly, that there must be other survivors at the ranch.
They were all cattle, but the water buffalo had the added skill of swimming, which allowed them to escape, only to have their good fortune exploited by her.
’So if there are dairy cows, some of them must have survived. It’s not that they can’t swim, but cows that aren’t used to water are afraid of it.’
’It’s just like with cats and dogs—some are natural swimmers, while others are terrified of the water.’