I Am a Salted Fish in the Interstellar Era - Chapter 4

Shi Yu woke up to the sound of a piercing alarm, which she had never heard except on the annual commemoration day of the Lierweya battle.

For a moment, Shi Yu was dazed, thinking the commemoration of the Lierweya battle had just passed a month ago.

Then, a message forcefully popped up on her smart brain, and a serious male voice sounded.

“All residents of Sea Blue Star, please pay attention! All residents of Sea Blue Star, please pay attention! Sea Blue Star has encountered an invasion by an unknown species, all residents must immediately follow the government-issued evacuation guidelines and proceed to the nearest shelter! I repeat…”

Shi Yu instantly snapped to alertness, glanced at the evacuation guide popping up on her smart brain, and immediately opened the window. Sure enough, the low-altitude lanes were banned from entry, and the high-altitude lanes were full of hovering cars, with mechas flying above them at a faster speed towards the direction of the incident.

Shi Yu suddenly had an extremely ominous premonition, something she had only experienced twice before, once before the apocalypse and once before she was betrayed and traveled through time.

She immediately stuffed all the food in her house into her spatial bag, which had become her instinct when facing danger.

After packing the essentials, she used the fastest speed to deplete all her federal coins at the nutrition liquid vending machine in the resettlement area, regretting the 80% remaining stock of the machine. Holding her now fully packed spatial bag, she followed the government-issued evacuation guide to the nearest shelter.

Such a large-scale evacuation indicated that the invading species was numerous and not easy to deal with.

Shi Yu thought back to dealing with zombies before her time travel, feeling a heavy heart. However, the technology of the interstellar age was far advanced beyond her previous era, and zombies were easily dealt with.

She felt that her joyful life as a salted fish might very well come to an end, and the entire situation was distressing.

But escaping was more important at the moment.

The distance between her settlement area and the nearest shelter was not short, and those living in the settlement area didn’t have hovercars. The few available hoverboards were quickly snatched up, leaving the rest to run out in panic, fearing that lagging behind would mean losing their lives.

Shi Yu also ran with the crowd.

She hadn’t run far before suddenly feeling a massive force coming from the building beside her. In the blink of an eye, the building was smashed to rubble by a mecha, with countless debris flying down from the sky.

Shi Yu happened to stand right in the middle of the dense debris, as a thick steel rebar almost swept towards her.

The people fleeing with her unanimously let out piercing screams, with the vast majority standing frozen in place, unsure of what to do.

Shi Yu took a step back, lowered her head, and concealed the fleeting golden light in her pupils.

At the same moment, the steel rebar twisted in direction with unbelievable force, clearing all the debris coming towards her.

At this time, no one noticed why they hadn’t been crushed to death; those who had narrowly escaped death unleashed even more terrifying screams after the debris fell to the ground.

Shi Yu covered her ears and continued to run with the crowd.

She had brought with her the ability to control all metals, a metal-related superpower, otherwise, she would have been lying dead on the spot.

For some reason, she could feel the surging power inside her body when using her abilities, yet it felt restrained. She didn’t want to break through this restraint, but unfortunately, she had no clue how to.

While Shi Yu was lost in thought, an even more terrifying scream nearly pierced her eardrums.

The small, light mecha that had just crashed into the building was no accident. Following it, a green mantis over ten meters tall, wielding scorpion tails and dual blades, charged forward.

Damn! What kind of monster is this!

Shi Yu’s pupils dilated, and her legs took off before her brain could process the situation.

This… feels much harder to deal with than zombies!

As the mecha got up and clashed with the green mantis again, Shi Yu suppressed the collapse in her heart and quickened her pace.

But she had only run a few steps when a wet tentacle rose in front of her, and a leech-like, pitch-black monster opened its mouth full of fine, sharp teeth.

Whoosh!

Buildings toppled, and many of the fleeing people fell into the gaping maw of the monster.

The fine, sharp teeth closed, and the elongated monster chewed, with bright red blood seeping from its sharp white teeth.

It had been too long since she’d seen such a bloody scene. Shi Yu suppressed the nausea rising in her stomach, while simultaneously activating the distress signal on her smart brain and running back like mad.

The monster seemed not to focus on her, chasing another group of people with its wet tentacles instead.

At this time, Shi Yu’s smart brain received a map from the government of Sea Blue Star.

It was a topographic map of Sea Blue Star, with many areas marked in red, indicating places invaded by unidentified species.

Shi Yu’s settlement area happened to be one of the red areas. The refuge she was heading to was surrounded by four red areas, and the red areas were still expanding, making her chances of getting there almost zero.

Without hesitation, she focused on another refuge further away, which had only one small red area nearby, currently not showing any signs of expansion.

Having made up her mind, Shi Yu followed the shortest route calculated by her smart brain.

She hadn’t run so desperately in a long time, feeling like she was back in the apocalyptic days, exhausted from running.

This feeling was absolutely terrible!

Unbeknownst to Shi Yu, although she had been running frantically, the fatigue in her body was increasing at a very slow pace, completely inconsistent with normal physical exertion.

If she underwent a physical fitness test immediately, she would find that all her body’s indicators were wildly fluctuating.

Soon, she ran out of the resettlement area, but this did not mean safety.

She wanted to check if the map had been updated, but found a red triangle exclamation mark in the bottom right corner of her brain-computer interface, a sign that communication was impossible.

All communications on Sea Blue Star were controlled by orbital satellites outside the planet. Unless the satellites were damaged or their signals were blocked, it was impossible for communication to fail.

Either of these scenarios would be adding insult to injury for the current situation on Sea Blue Star.

Shi Yu didn’t have time to think too much and could only rely on the recent map, which was still accurate for the time being.

The streets outside the resettlement area were also severely damaged, full of potholes, and behind a collapsed building, there was a body of a creature that looked like a spider but was drenched, split in half, with disgusting green liquid all over the ground.

She didn’t foolishly go over to look but observed the ground and continued running towards the direction of the shelter.

In an era where hovercars could reach speeds of 10,000 kilometers per hour, the distance between cities was negligible. But once you lose your means of transportation and have to rely on your legs, distance becomes a terrifying constraint.

Shi Yu didn’t get far by nightfall and was so exhausted that she had to gulp down a tube of nutrient fluid to feel better.

The night was not suitable for traveling. After weighing her options, she planned to rest in a nearby building for the night, conveniently next to a shopping mall.

Perhaps the experiences of the apocalypse left an indelible impression on her, as she instinctively thought of scavenging for supplies in the mall.

But as soon as she stepped into the mall, an energy gun was pointed at her temple.

Without thinking, Shi Yu raised her hands, “I’m a compatriot! Brother! Don’t shoot!”

She glanced sideways without seeing what the person looked like, and a cold voice sounded in front of her, “Don’t move.”

The cool, clear tone was like pine snow on a mountain peak, compelling and authoritative, with an unquestionable command in the tone.

Shi Yu immediately looked over and, upon seeing silver hair, clapped her hands to her head and exclaimed, “What a coincidence, Yuyan!”

Her exaggerated voice made the young man glance sideways, and Shi Yu smiled with narrowed eyes.

It’s an acquaintance. How about moving the gun away?