Chapter 250 - 142: Electrofishing

Chapter 250: Chapter 142: Electrofishing

The morning patrol in Sector F-6 was as quiet as ever.

The scorched black fields lay silent under the still-scorching late-summer sun. The distant river channel reflected a blinding glare, its surface placid and still. It was as if the savage fish that had leaped to attack yesterday, and the shadows that patrolled beneath the surface, were nothing more than an illusion.

Xu Mo and Zhang Yun maintained their efficient, unspoken understanding. Their route, observations, and reports—everything proceeded by the book.

Zhang Yun’s spirits were clearly much better than the day before. He would occasionally exchange a few brief words with Xu Mo about the weather or the progress of the distant construction site. The subtle rift between them, caused by Xu Mo’s unusual behavior yesterday, seemed to have been quietly melted away by the morning’s steamed buns and a few honest words.

The peace lasted until the afternoon. As their patrol route once again brought them near the middle section of the river, the scene before them made both men stop in their tracks.

The originally empty and desolate riverbank was now surprisingly bustling with activity.

Several trucks and trailers bearing the Jiang City Engineering logo were parked at a safe distance, twenty to thirty meters from the riverbank. Unloaded from them were diesel generators of various sizes, coils of black insulated cable as thick as an arm, and some metal equipment that the two couldn’t name but which looked heavy and professional at a glance.

A dozen or so workers in uniform deep blue overalls and hard hats were setting up equipment in a tense yet orderly fashion, under the watch of several armed soldiers.

Along a nearly hundred-meter stretch of the riverbank, they unrolled the thick cables. At regular intervals, they carefully pushed a strange-looking, heavy, long pole into the water.

The air was filled with the distinct smell of diesel engines warming up, mixed with the scents of metal and rubber.

"What... are they doing?" Zhang Yun asked in a low voice, his hand unconsciously resting on the grip of his gun, his eyes wary.

Xu Mo also frowned slightly, observing carefully. ’Judging by the scale of the operation, this clearly isn’t a simple survey or sample collection.’

’Those generators are powerful, and the cables are far beyond the specifications for normal electricity use.’ A guess was forming in his mind, but he couldn’t be sure yet.

The two of them didn’t approach rashly. According to patrol regulations, when they encountered another department on a mission, they were required to observe and stand guard from a distance. Their job was to ensure their own patrol area remained secure and to be ready to provide support or assist with an evacuation if requested.

A middle-aged man who looked like the on-site supervisor was holding a megaphone and shouting at the busy workers. His voice, carried intermittently by the wind, drifted over: "...Check the insulation! Reconfirm the safety distance! Are the downstream warning signs up yet? ...Hurry up, we need to clear this section of the river before sunset!"

Xu Mo’s hearing was far better than a normal person’s. He caught a quiet instruction the supervisor gave to a technician next to him: "...the voltage is calibrated, the water’s conductivity is excellent..."

’Voltage... Clearing...’

Xu Mo’s eyes narrowed. ’So that’s it!’

’Before, when facing the threat in the river, all I could think of was shooting them, catching them with nets, or in extreme cases, using explosives. I never thought outside the framework of individual confrontation or limited-area clearance.’

Now, witnessing this operation and hearing the word "voltage," he suddenly realized his thinking had been constrained by his perspective as an individual survivor.

’This is the apocalypse, true, but Jiang City is a massive entity with a population of a million. It’s begun to restore its industrial and organizational capabilities! To solve problems, they can deploy power on a civilizational level, completely beyond an individual’s imagination!’

’Electrofishing... In peacetime, it’s an illegal act that destroys the ecosystem.’

’But here, facing a river teeming with deadly mutated creatures that threatened the water supply and all riverside activity, this is the most efficient and direct method of physical clearance!’

’A high-voltage current could instantly cover a large area of water, indiscriminately killing all aquatic life within range. It’s especially effective against fish, which rely on muscle and nerve activity. No matter how sharp their mutated teeth are or whether they can shoot jets of water, their nervous systems are instantly destroyed in the face of a powerful current.’

’Simple, brutal, but effective,’ Xu Mo silently assessed, feeling a hint of self-mockery for his previous mindset.

’I’ve really been constrained by my experiences surviving as an individual in this apocalypse. I’d forgotten that the resources and the sheer forms of violence a collective can bring to bear could be so... different.’

Just then, a small commotion seemed to start on the opposite bank. It might have been the patrol team they had encountered before, or perhaps someone else, watching with curiosity.

In the middle of the river, near one of the electrodes, a shadow under the water seemed to be startled. Two water jets, as thick as an arm and incredibly fast, shot out, heading straight for a worker on the bank who was operating equipment!

"Look out!" The soldier on guard and the supervisor shouted almost simultaneously.

The worker was clearly well-trained, or perhaps there was a contingency plan in place. The instant the water jets broke the surface, he dove sideways into a roll, narrowly avoiding the attack. With two THWAPS, the jets struck the dirt where he had just been standing, leaving two pits.

"Son of a bitch, it still dares to show its face? All units, prepare!" the supervisor cursed, then roared into the megaphone, "All non-essential personnel, move further back! Execution team, countdown! Three, two, one—power on!"

"VMMMM—!!!"

A deep, teeth-grating hum came from the several diesel generators connected in parallel. Then, it was as if an invisible, immense force had suddenly seized that hundred-meter section of the river.

"BZZZT—CRACKLE!!"

Fine, blue-white electric arcs, visible to the naked eye, instantly began to leap and spread wildly across the water’s surface between the submerged electrodes, like a net of death being cast and then drawn tight in a single moment.