18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 414

Outside the yacht's window, a chaotic swarm of creatures burst from the ocean, relentlessly hurling themselves against the glass. Another barrage hit, their slender bodies and large, cicada-wing-like fins clinging to the glass for several seconds before dropping away. It was only then that Stella could see clearly-they were flying fish! Wherever she looked, the entire surface of the sea was alive with them. They leapt out of the water to meet the rising dawn, their wings unfolding as they soared through the air...

Stella had seen it on TV, a visual feast that left viewers marveling at the ocean's wonder and power. But experiencing it firsthand was enough to make her skin crawl. The two of them hurried out of bed, rushing toward the deck. The door leading to the deck was closed, and the burly Cooper was relentlessly scratching at it. Rosie, quick on the uptake and already there before the others, clutched a shotgun in her hands, her expression wary and serious.

"It's the Exocoetidae family," Jasper explained to his sister, "a type of fish that can fly." Rosie had never seen such a maritime spectacle, and the idea of flying fish instantly delighted her. Cooper flung the door open with a burst of energy and dashed out, barking loudly! Something was off; the sound seemed panicked. Stella and Jasper were just a step behind. They hadn't reached the door when Rosie's smiling face suddenly changed, and she raised her shotgun and fired.

The two of them raced over in alarm. Cooper, usually more ferocious than a pit bull and fearless in a fight, was now frightened, scurrying back with his tail between his legs. "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..." "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..." The flying fish were flopping all over the deck, with more than a dozen bursting in, spreading their wings and diving toward Rosie and Cooper. Had they gone mad? Were they possessed? Stella was stunned. Seeing one of the fish lunge for Cooper's snout, she pulled out her samurai sword and charged, slicing through the air.

desperately. The sight was ghastly, enough to make one queasy. Not only had they grown several times in size, but their vitality was also astonishing. Describing them as zombie fish wouldn't be an overstatement. Stella, who had never flinched in the face of human foes, now found herself trembling at the sight of these zombie fish, especially upon seeing the deck swarming with them. Packed tightly together, they struggled and leapt incessantly. In that moment,

humans battled the fish. Just as they killed off a few, more fish flew in. The ground was a mess of hopping fish, and the air was thick with flying bodies-it was complete chaos. Amidst the frenetic killing, a heap of bodies accumulated, with no end in sight. Jasper swung and knocked away several fish,

thud, thud! Bang, bang, bang! Tens of thousands of flying fish migrating through the area crashed and flailed everywhere, with at least a thousand or two landing on the deck and never making it back to the sea. Their ferocity was now fully exposed as they thrashed about, continually slamming against the door, which felt as though it might give way at any moment. The corridor was drenched in blood, the smell of fish pervading the air. "Good grief, killing fish is harder than killing people," Stella panted, her adrenaline spiking as she anxiously asked, "Rosie, Cooper, are you guys okay?" Both were splattered with fish blood, and it was unclear if they had been injured. Rosie quickly checked herself while Cooper, his

out from a cramped corner on the lower deck. She checked him over thoroughly, relieved to find no wounds. With the flying fish's lethal wings and serrated teeth, it would have been easy for Cooper to have been marked. What if an infection led to a virus? It was unlikely, but they couldn't be careless. Physically unharmed but emotionally shattered, Stella soothed him, "Smart move, Cooper. Those fish are toxic; just one touch,

the fish on the deck, let them be as fierce as they wanted; without water, they were bound to die eventually. Let them have their moment of ferocity. Being cautious wasn't necessarily a bad

The fish on the deck had turned into a sea of carcasses. Cooper stayed put while the trio, donned in protective gear, cleaned the yacht, sweeping all the fish bodies back into the sea. Don't underestimate the mess fish carcasses

the thought of their billion-dollar yacht being wrecked by a passing school of silverfish was another. The mutated silverfish's

silverfish were typically large, and they were generally docile species. Now, they behaved like escapees from an asylum. Jasper, no expert himself, couldn't explain it. "Maybe last time it was an inland sea, with fewer mutant creatures." That was the only explanation they had, but