5: Fuel exhausted, target viaduct

"Cough... cough, cough..."

The modified Yamaha engine at the stern, which had only recently been fused, completely fell silent after letting out a few final, dry coughs.

The moment it lost power, the "Black Iron Assault Boat," which had been cutting through the waves, was immediately swept up by the surging undercurrents.

Its speed plummeted, and like a beast suffering a sudden cardiac arrest, it drifted clumsily on the pitch-black water.

[Warning: Out of fuel. Power system is offline.]

Jiang Ran looked at the needle on the dashboard, which had dropped completely to zero, but he didn't panic.

Because less than fifty meters directly ahead of him, a massive shadow had already obscured the sky.

It was an approach bridge of the North City Elevated Bridge.

"Good luck, the momentum is just right."

Jiang Ran gripped the tiller, using the boat's last bit of forward inertia to struggle with the direction.

He guided the black iron along the current, slowly brushing against a thick concrete pillar protruding from the water at the edge of the elevated bridge.

*Thud.*

A soft, muffled sound.

The black iron's hard gunwale lightly bumped against the exposed rebar next to the pillar.

Jiang Ran quickly grabbed a rope he had prepared long ago and skillfully secured the boat to the rebar.

Then, taking a deep breath, he stepped onto the slippery concrete slope and scrambled up onto the section of the bridge deck that hadn't been completely submerged.

However, when he finally stood upon this elevated bridge that once represented a city artery...

...the sight before him made his heart sink.

The imagined scene of "luxury cars everywhere and supplies all over the place" did not appear.

This wasn't a parking lot; it was a graveyard of steel.

This cross-river bridge had clearly suffered severe geological shifts or impacts when the flood hit.

The bridge deck sat at an eerie angle, with several fractures visible.

By the faint light of the lightning, Jiang Ran saw that the bridge deck was covered in shocking brake marks and scratches.

The guardrails had long been riddled with holes from impacts, with entire sections missing.

Clearly, a horrific multi-vehicle pileup had occurred here the moment the floodwaters rose.

Most vehicles had lost control in the panic or, because of the bridge's tilt, had slid into the abyss like dumplings into a pot, swallowed by the surging flood.

Only a few extremely lucky—or perhaps extremely unlucky—cars remained on the bridge deck.

Some lay overturned in the middle of the road.

Others had their front halves hanging over the edge of the broken guardrails, dangling precariously over the precipice.

A single gust of wind would send them plunging into the black, stagnant water below.

"It's even worse than I thought."

Jiang Ran tightened his trench coat and picked up a solid iron bar.

Carefully treading on the shattered glass and car parts littering the ground, he walked toward the nearest black sedan.

The air was thick with the scent of decay—a mix of corpses and dead fish.

The car was overturned by the roadside, its windows already shattered.

In the driver's seat was only a shriveled corpse held by a seatbelt, swaying slightly in the wind and rain.

Jiang Ran didn't shrink back because of the dead.

He didn't need gold or silver treasures right now; he only needed even a single drop of combustible liquid or a mouthful of drinkable water.

"I hope there's some harvest..."

Jiang Ran used the iron bar to pry open the deformed trunk lid.

*Crack.*

With a rusty snap, the severely deformed trunk lid was forced open by Jiang Ran using the iron bar.

A musty smell wafted toward him.

By the faint light of the lightning, Jiang Ran quickly rummaged through the items inside the car.

The car's owner seemed to have left in a hurry; the trunk was stuffed with a mess of clothes and documents.

But in the apocalypse, these things were worthless.

He searched every corner and finally found only a flattened plastic bag in a corner.

Inside the bag was a package of biscuits that had already become damp and soft.

And half a bottle of mineral water that had been forgotten for who knows how long.

The bottle had slightly deformed from exposure to high temperatures, and there were even a few strands of unknown flocculent material floating in the water.

But Jiang Ran didn't mind at all.

He quickly unscrewed the cap, tilted his head back, and carefully took a small sip.

The water was warm, with a strong plastic taste and even a bit of a sour tang.

But the moment the liquid flowed down his parched esophagus, Jiang Ran felt his burning stomach...

...finally receive a measure of relief.

"This little bit of stuff is only enough to maintain my energy for half a day."

Jiang Ran tightened the cap on the remaining water and stuffed it firmly into his inner pocket.

Then he poured the broken biscuits into his mouth, even licking the crumbs off the packaging until it was clean.

Having addressed his minimum physiological needs, the main event was next—fuel.

Jiang Ran walked over to the car's fuel tank cap.

But he didn't look for a tube to siphon the oil; his current status was "Captain," not an oil thief.

He walked to the guardrail of the elevated bridge and glanced at the black iron parked dozens of meters below on the water's surface, issuing a command in his mind:

"Targeting vehicle directly above. Extract fuel."

[Command confirmed.]

On the calm water below, the hull of the black iron jolted.

*Swish!*

A silver metal tentacle, only as thick as a finger, suddenly shot out from the boat's core.

Like an agile silver snake, it climbed rapidly along the slippery concrete pier.

In the blink of an eye, it had climbed onto the elevated bridge deck dozens of meters high.

The tentacle slithered accurately to the private car, its tip instantly hardening into a needle-like shape.

*Puchi!*

With a soft sound, the tentacle pierced straight through the car's metal fuel tank casing and stabbed inside.

[Extracting chemical energy...]

[Obtained low-quality gasoline: 3.8 liters... Injecting.]

Although it was less than 4 liters of fuel, for the black iron whose tank was currently empty, it was life-saving blood.

As the fuel was siphoned through the tentacle and injected into the boat's fuel tank...

Jiang Ran saw the fuel needle on his retina finally pull away from that fatal red line and twitch slightly.

"This little bit of fuel is only enough to circle around the area a few times."

Jiang Ran looked at the drained, still worthless scrap car and shook his head.

If he wanted to evolve the boat and live like a human in this vast ocean, he had to find more valuable prey.

Just then, a gust of wind blew past.

From above his head came the sound of metal grinding: "Creak—creak—"

Jiang Ran instinctively looked toward the sound, his gaze piercing through the curtain of rain to land on the very edge of the broken bridge.

The next second, his pupils constricted.

On that section of broken bridge deck suspended halfway in the air, a white van was perched precariously.

A blurred TV station logo was printed on the vehicle.

And most eye-catching of all, a massive white satellite dish, like a pot lid, sat atop its roof. A news broadcast van!

The wind grew stronger.

The wind, mixed with rain, whistled through the gap in the broken bridge like the wailing of ghosts and howling of wolves.

Jiang Ran stood in a safe zone about a dozen meters from the break.

Letting the cold rain pelt his face, his eyes were locked onto the white broadcast van hanging halfway in the air.

It was a heavy live broadcast van modified from an Iveco chassis.

The tires on the left side of the vehicle were completely suspended in the air.

The entire vehicle looked like a giant that had failed at a game of seesaw.

Creaking in the wind and rain, it was ready to plunge into the surging flood dozens of meters below at any moment.

And on the roof, that massive white dish-shaped satellite antenna was a glittering gold mine in Jiang Ran's eyes.

[High-value target detected: military-grade communication module/satellite array]

[Distance: 20 meters (Within vehicle devouring range)]

The system's prompt box lit up on his retina.

"No need to go over there."

Jiang Ran looked coldly at the precarious vehicle, a chilling arc curling at the corner of his mouth.

Since he already possessed the "mechanical core," he had long since moved beyond primitive physical scavenging.

He didn't recklessly crawl over to take a risk.

Instead, through his consciousness, he directly connected to the black iron moored on the water below the bridge.

"Lock onto target."

With a thought from Jiang Ran...

...the black iron, parked on the water below with its rope tied to the bridge pier, jolted.

The mechanical core inside the hull, like an awakened heart, began to throb violently.

"Hum—!"

Accompanying a low-frequency hum that only Jiang Ran could hear, the black armor on the hull's surface suddenly liquefied and split open.

[Command confirmed: Remote capture.]

"Snap—!"

At that moment, the rebar supporting the broadcast van on the bridge deck finally reached its limit and snapped with a sharp crack.

It had lost its final support.

The several-ton broadcast van's front end immediately dipped, and with a massive amount of inertia, it tumbled and slid toward the abyss below!

"Now!"

A sharp light flashed in Jiang Ran's eyes.

Swish! Swish!

Several thick silver metal tentacles, like giant monsters hunting in the deep sea, suddenly shot up from the shadows beneath the bridge!

Defying gravity, they climbed rapidly along the concrete bridge pier, so fast that only afterimages could be seen.

At the critical moment just before the broadcast van completely fell...

*Puchi!*

A tooth-aching sound of metal being pierced rang out.

Three silver tentacles accurately pierced the broadcast van's chassis and roof.

Like a skewer of barbecue, they froze the massive object in mid-air!

The immense pulling force caused the black iron below to suddenly sink.

The waterline instantly went over the deck.

But then it stubbornly floated back up, like a crocodile that wouldn't let go once it had bitten its prey.

The broadcast van hung twenty meters above the water, swaying violently as the tentacles tightened, letting out clanging metal sounds.

It demonstrated the terrifying power contained within those seemingly slender silver tentacles.

Jiang Ran stood on the bridge, looking down at the scene as if watching his pet capture its prey.

"Eat it."

He calmly issued the command.

The news broadcast van hanging in mid-air had now become a sacrifice for the black iron's evolution.

As Jiang Ran's command was issued, the silver tentacles piercing the vehicle's body suddenly erupted with a blinding light.

"Zzzt, zzzt—"

There were no flames, only the subtle sound of matter being forcibly decomposed.

The massive vehicle body began to "weather" at an alarming speed.

The white paint on the vehicle's surface peeled off and vanished, revealing the metal skeleton underneath.

Next, the steel plates, the engine, and the chassis beams...

...all turned into countless tiny flows of metal particles, pouring frantically back into the boat's hull along the tentacles.

[Captured precision electronic components... Gold +50g, Silver +200g, Rare earth elements extracting...]

[Captured military-grade satellite signal transceiver module... Reconstructing.]

Jiang Ran didn't just focus on the metal data scrolling across the system screen.

His gaze was fixed on the interior of the disintegrating vehicle.

For him now, a piece of bread was sometimes worth more than a ton of gold.

"Wait!"

Seeing the vehicle cabin about to completely collapse, Jiang Ran's eyes suddenly narrowed.

Through the shattered window, he saw a corner of yellow packaging peeking out from the passenger-side storage compartment.

"That's... compressed food!"