The chubby guy named Zhong Mountain immediately got angry: "Ma Ji, say that again and I’ll beat you up, believe it or not?"
"Afraid of you? This isn’t on land; can you even hit me?"
"You’re asking for it."
The two started arguing. The boy with the calm face in front frowned and shouted, "Shut up, all of you! We’re all on the same raft, what are you arguing about?"
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a piece of hard bread, and handed it to Ma Ji, saying, "Have some to take the edge off."
Ma Ji was overjoyed and quickly said, "Ni Qi, can you make it bigger? We can share it among us."
Ni Qi frowned and said, "Making it bigger only increases the volume; the internal substance and energy won’t increase."
"We could still chew more with it," Ma Ji insisted.
Ni Qi grasped the hard bread, and immediately a glow from his superpower appeared in his palm.
With the light of the superpower wrapping around it, the bread started expanding visibly.
Eventually, the bread, originally the size of a fist, grew to the size of a basin.
Ni Qi said, "Everyone take some to take the edge off."
Ma Ji quickly divided the bread into four equal parts, each getting a good-sized piece.
"Hey, Ni Qi, if your superpower could actually magnify the bread’s calories, we could just stay inside a building, never worrying about food. Why go through all the trouble to get to Yangshan?" Ma Ji said, dipping the bread in water from his insulated cup.
Ni Qi replied, "That’s impossible. The calories in the bread are fixed; no matter how big it gets, the energy remains the same."
"Then why does your strength increase when you make yourself bigger?" Zhong Mountain, the chubby guy, asked.
Ni Qi explained, "That’s because my internal superpower provides the energy, so my strength increases. But it actually releases the energy all at once, making me weaken quickly."
Zhong Mountain suddenly understood, saying, "No wonder you usually make yourself smaller; I’ve rarely seen you get bigger."
As they ate the bread, they chatted.
Ma Ji asked, "Hey, do you think there’ll be people on Yangshan already?"
Zhong Mountain scratched his head, saying, "Probably, no reason why we would be the only ones thinking of heading to the mountain."
Chang Yan, who hadn’t spoken, interjected, "There must be. Yangshan might already be overcrowded. When we get there, let’s first try sneaking in quietly."
She didn’t lower her binoculars, still scanning the surrounding waters.
Ni Qi said, "Chang Yan, let me take over for a bit. Have something to eat and rest."
Chang Yan nodded, lowered the binoculars, and handed them to him.
Her bright eyes were like a deer’s, exceptionally lively.
Ni Qi took the binoculars and scanned the surrounding waters.
Ma Ji and Zhong Mountain also stayed vigilant, watching the water.
Looking at Yangshan in the distance, Ma Ji couldn’t help but click his tongue, "Now I understand the saying ’looking at the mountain tires the horse.’ It looks so close, but we’ve been paddling for so long and we haven’t arrived yet."
Zhong Mountain said, "If Xiaolin hadn’t had an accident, her water control ability would have definitely helped us."
As soon as the name ’Xiaolin’ was mentioned, everyone fell silent.
Hatred flashed in Ni Qi’s eyes as he said, "We’ll avenge Xiaolin sooner or later. One day, I’ll return to Sunshine New City and kill everyone there."
Zhong Mountain, hearing this, added instantly, "Count me in too!"
"And me!" Ma Ji shouted immediately.
Talking about their enemies dampened everyone’s mood.
Chang Yan said softly, "We can’t go back to Sunshine New City now. They have too many superpowered individuals; we’re no match for them yet."
"We’re still too young. Give us some time. When we grow up and our superpowers strengthen, we’ll go back and avenge ourselves."
"We’ll avenge our parents and our classmates!"
"Yes!" Ma Ji and Zhong Mountain nodded heavily.
Suddenly, a shadow flickered underwater.
Ma Ji’s expression changed immediately, shouting, "Watch out, there’s something under the water!"
Zhong Mountain quickly grabbed the edge of the raft, saying sternly, "Hold on tight, don’t get knocked over."
Boom!
Before he finished speaking, the raft jolted violently as if something had hit it fiercely from below.
Their faces turned pale as they clung to the raft tightly.
Ni Qi roared, and his hands suddenly turned enormous, like two huge fans.
He frantically paddled the water on both sides of the raft. With a loud splash, the raft was propelled forward quickly by the massive hands.
Zhong Mountain and Ma Ji, also abandoning their food, started paddling desperately.
Ni Qi shouted, "Chang Yan!"
Chang Yan’s eyes flashed, watching the water intently.
Suddenly, a powerful wave of spiritual power emanated from her eyes.
The mutant creature underwater began to tremble violently and leaped out of the water with a splash.
It was a massive fish over two meters in length, with blue and white skin and a mouthful of sharp teeth, but its eyes were bloodshot, and its body twitched uncontrollably.
Chang Yan immediately shouted, "Hurry, I can’t kill it; just severely injure it."
"Go, hurry!"
The three boys paddled the raft with all their might.
The raft sped through the waves.
Soon, they escaped the attack range of the mutant fish.
Another invisible crisis averted; the young people sighed in relief.
Chang Yan asked, "How many times has this been?"
"More than twenty times."
"The frequency is too high. Who knows how many more mutant creatures this flood has brought."