She groped along the internal wall, half walking, half swimming in the chest-deep water, allowing the current to carry her forward. As a southern city, Nanjing boasts a complex and extensive underground sewage system. In the post-apocalyptic era, this vast sewer system was backfilled with seawater, turning it into a perilous subterranean river. It wouldn't be surprising to find sharks patrolling amidst the algae growing on the riverbed.
Not knowing how long she had been soaked in water, Ban Xia finally felt a ladder.
She seized the opportunity to climb, hauling her waterlogged body up step by step, mustering all her strength to push open the manhole cover overhead, and flopped onto the ground like a pile of mush.
After all that, she could no longer move.
