Chapter 172

They knew that generally no one would come out during the day, unless they were the kind of people who came to the newspaper office with the determination to die. But usually such people would not live in their area. Those who could live here were all okay, and those who had a little bit of conditions were reluctant to die. So after being tired for a whole night, those who still had homes to return to went back to rest. Those whose houses were burned down and who had no place to live temporarily were also arranged to stay with the neighborhood committee.

Before going to bed, Mu Nan put plasters on himself and Qin Huai. Before falling asleep, he was thinking that he should take out the dumbbells in the space. It seemed that it was not enough to just run every day to exercise his physical strength.

Mu Nan did not sleep well that day. Sometimes he was chased by a man on a motorbike, and sometimes he was trapped in a house on fire. The most outrageous thing was that despite the big fire, Qin Huai was standing in the well and waving at him, saying that there was water in the well and asked him to come down quickly.

In the dream, he jumped down immediately, and only woke up in a cold sweat with a feeling of "OMFULLY FUCKED". The last dream was so scary and weird that it felt like it could escalate into a supernatural event at any time.

Qin Huai, who woke up half an hour earlier than Mu Nan, saw that he had woken up with a dazed look on his face, and wrung a towel for him: "Did you have a nightmare?"

Mu Nan looked at Qin Huai and shuddered involuntarily. He couldn't look Qin Huai in the eye for the time being. The image of him standing in the well and waving was too shocking and scary.

He covered his face with a cool towel, dispelling the heat from his cheeks and the sticky sweat from his forehead. This sleep was even more tiring than no sleep at all. Mu Nan got up limply and prepared to take a shower. Before entering the bathroom, he saw Qin Huai walking towards the kitchen. He remembered that he had said yesterday that he would fill up the refrigerator today, and there was nothing left in the refrigerator, so he followed Qin Huai into the kitchen.

Qin Huai took out the last few eggs from the refrigerator and said to Mu Nan who was restocking the refrigerator, "Would you like some fried eggs?"

Mu Nan nodded and hummed weakly. Qin Huai put down the egg, turned around and used the back of his hand to feel the temperature of his forehead. It was normal, warm and not hot. Then he said, "If you didn't sleep well, go to bed after you finish eating."

Mu Nan shook his head and refilled the egg rack on the refrigerator door, put a few bottles of beer underneath, and restocked the Coke and Sprite. He didn't put too many vegetables in, as they would not taste good if left for too long. He put them out just in case Qin Huai wanted to eat them while he was sleeping and couldn't get them right away. He also put out some side dishes and cleared out the empty sauce bottles. Over in the freezer, he filled it up again with prawns, steak, steamed buns, shrimp dumplings, and ice cream.

After tinkering with the refrigerator, Mu Nan finally woke up from the nightmare that lasted all night. He yawned and watched Qin Huai start to fry eggs. He was too lazy to wash his face or brush his teeth. He leaned on the kitchen counter and said, "Is there any news today? I haven't checked my phone yet."

Qin Huai: "It has come out, but it's not official news. There was a lot of commotion here yesterday. The houses that caught fire and the deaths of the farmer's family couldn't be concealed, so all kinds of news are flying around today, but the official has not said anything yet."

Mu Nan sighed: "I don't even dare to think about what this world will be like tomorrow. How desperate must others be?"

Qin Huai stretched out a hand and rubbed his head, while shoveling the eggs in the pot and flipping them over: "What can we do? The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and we live day by day. If we can't make it, we can go to the mountains and become savages. It's not a big deal. Okay, go take a shower, and breakfast will be ready after you're done."

After taking a morning shower to wash off all the stickiness on his body, Mu Nan turned down the temperature of the air conditioner. It was quite hot during the day, and it would be too uncomfortable to use the temperature for sleeping at night. He sat on the small stool feeling refreshed, checking his phone, ready to ask about Daniu's situation. When Daniu notified them yesterday, the video was shaking badly, and they couldn't see the situation on his side clearly. Before going to bed, Daniu did report safety in the group, but he was too tired to ask about the specific things. He didn't know if Daniu had time now.

Qin Huai brought in breakfast, a fried egg with coarse salt, a bowl of eggnog, a few slices of fried luncheon meat, and a hand-pulled pancake, with a cold dish of hot and sour potato shreds, refreshing kelp shreds, and a small dish of kimchi on the side. Mu Nan wanted to eat it in a roll, so Qin Huai made him a roll, but it was a pity that the eggnog was hot. It would have been more comfortable if it was iced.

When he opened the group chat while eating breakfast, he saw that the chat history was already 99+. It seemed that the people next to him had woken up early and were asking about the situation of the big guy in the group.

Probably because yesterday was quite stressful, Daniel was given a day off today, so he had time to answer their questions.

Mu Nan scrolled to the top of the message and read it from the beginning, then relayed it to Qin Huai: "More and more people who ate fish and were admitted to the hospital died. They said that they did an autopsy and found that their brains were empty, like dense spider webs. Daniu didn't know the details, but he heard from his colleagues that it was a prion. He didn't know if it was contagious, but people who had eaten fish kept dying. Some people had already had initial headache symptoms, so they went crazy and wanted to drag more people to die with them."

Qin Huai frowned slightly: "So the ones who caused trouble yesterday were the ones who were sick?"

Mu Nan nodded: "That's what Daniel said. What is a prion? I haven't even heard of it. It shouldn't be contagious. We've already found out what kind of virus this person has been infected with. If it's human-to-human, then the higher-ups would have already notified us a long time ago. It's impossible that there's no news at all now."

"Whether it is contagious or not, don't go out during this period and don't come into contact with strangers."

Mu Nan was still a little worried: "Does everyone who eats fish get this? If we all eat fish and nothing happens, will they get suspicious?"

Qin Huai shook his head and said, "Not everyone who eats fish will have problems, otherwise Shi Yuanfei would have come to us long ago. It should be that some of the fish have problems, and the rest are simply rotten. You can see on the forum that many people who have eaten fish are communicating with each other. At least some people are safe and sound and have no symptoms."

It is estimated that Jian Chu and his friends have been keeping an eye on some group chat forums during this period, and they should have seen someone saying that the fish they ate was not bad. So in the eyes of Jian Chu and his friends, they were just lucky to get to eat fresh fish, but it was not an isolated case.

Most of the families here are well off and can afford to eat fish, so except for those who took advantage of the chaos to snatch fish from other people's stalls, those who paid for the fish at that time all lived in the nearby districts. Therefore, if there was any movement, there would definitely be news in their community group. After seeing this kind of news so many times, they have a certain degree of immunity to it. Therefore, their neighbors on both sides seem to be in good condition these days. It seems that they have slowly let go of the matter and are not so concerned about it anymore.

The fish they ate that day were from Mu Nan's space, and they were very fresh. Originally, Qin Huai was worried that if all the fish in that truck were rotten, it would be hard to say what would happen. But in the past few days, he observed that the fish in that truck were indeed bought in exchange for kickbacks, so the fish they bought were all dead or about to die.

Therefore, some fish that were not dead were directly frozen. After thawing, they were just ordinary dead fish, not rotten or spoiled, at most not so fresh. Some people ate this kind of fish, so it seems nothing has happened so far. Some people ate dead fish that had already shown signs of decay, but they were probably just rotten, so it was okay to eat them.

Only a small number of people got into trouble. Although the existence of this small number of people is a panic for all those who ate the fish, as long as it is not all of them, they are safe.

Probably no one would have thought that a mere incident involving seafood could develop into such a serious matter.

The group was still chatting, and Daniu didn't know much information, but because the neighborhood committee was a channel for receiving information, he knew more than them.

Some of the people who caused trouble yesterday were fish-eaters who had initial symptoms. They took advantage of the chaos and snatched a few fish from other people's stalls. They were reluctant to throw them away, thinking that they could cook them thoroughly and eat them as they pleased. It was clearly their own greed that led to them blaming innocent people for the consequences of their greed.

There are indeed two farm owners living in District 2. There are many people who have contracted private farms. Now indoor fields are being built one after another in the far suburbs. Some contractors simply live on the farm and build a house next to it. Anyway, they are all within the scope of the farm, and the higher-ups will allocate a piece of land for self-built houses.

But building a house also requires workers. Some people have invested all their assets in the farm, hoping to harvest some food and make some money, and then hire someone to build a house. Therefore, they currently still live in District 2 and have not moved to the farm.

There are soldiers patrolling the farms where people live, because it concerns people's future food rations. Even privately contracted farms are within the scope of military patrols, so those who want to retaliate dare not go there because they know they can't afford to offend.

Some of them still live in District 2 because they have no money to build houses, but those people have nothing to do with the fish sellers. It’s just that they did not struggle with poverty and disease, and now they are able to run farms and create capital. So in the eyes of those who are already sick, they are in the same group. So since they are going to die anyway, they might as well drag more people to die together.

This led to the incident last night.

In addition to those who fell ill and went to extremes, there was another group who had joined the commotion before and had tasted the sweetness of robbing at the farm, so they joined in the action again this time. Perhaps it was the victory of the first gathering that made them feel that as long as there were enough people, they would not be arrested even if they were arrested. So, with the idea of ​​seeking wealth and fame in danger, they joined in the commotion again.

But the development this time was obviously beyond their plan. They originally thought that they were going to rob a group of rich people, and then run away immediately after robbing the rich and helping the poor. However, they didn't expect that those people would break down the door and not steal things, but beat people directly. After beating the house until the floor was covered with blood, they also set the house on fire.

After realizing that this was not a simple robbery, some people were timid and ran away first.

Some people were overwhelmed by the atmosphere at the time and thought that this was the starting point of their gang life. Not only were they not afraid, they also felt like they were like the ones in the Young and Dangerous movies, extremely awesome. As a result, they were arrested before they could even last half a night.

As for the two men who smashed the oil bottle on a motorcycle, they were sick. When they were taken away, they were dying but still breathing. However, it was already worse than being alive. There were large areas of burns on their bodies, and there was no medicine that could be used. There was no way to relieve the pain or reduce the inflammation. Every breath they took was accompanied by extreme pain, but they could not die for the time being.

The two men burned several houses along the way. Some people ran out in time, while others kept their doors and windows closed and didn't hear any noise outside. By the time they discovered the fire, the fire had already surrounded the houses. Now the water supply was cut off, so the only way to put out the fire was to go to the water station to get water. In the blink of an eye, several lives were lost.

The final fate of these two people was what they deserved.

The commotion last night became the focus of attention of the entire residential area. The announcement was issued quickly, and when the sun was about to set in the afternoon, the verdict came out. The arrested criminals were sentenced according to the severity of the crimes committed by the principal and accomplices. There would be no death penalty. Now, as long as a person is a laborer, even if he is sick and dying, as long as he can get up, he will go and move bricks to rebuild.

Those who committed minor crimes also had to work to atone for their sins, and they would have to work for the same length of time that they were sentenced to.

In addition, relevant records will be left on the ID cards of the offender's immediate family members, and they will be treated differently from ordinary people when looking for jobs or receiving assistance in the future.

People who have made contributions to the country, such as medical staff, scientific researchers, and even technical workers with outstanding contributions, will receive special preferential treatment. If they sacrifice, their children and relatives will also receive additional preferential treatment. Similarly, if the offender is punished, their children and immediate family members will also receive special treatment.

It would have been impossible to implement this kind of collective responsibility in the past, but now, we can only rely on this method of collective responsibility to restrain those who are walking on the edge of morality.

Watching the community groups and forums that have become particularly lively following the government's announcement, Mu Nan sighed, "This has its pros and cons, but it can only be said that special times call for special treatment. For example, those who can't survive and want to drag everyone down with them seem to be mostly lonely. Even if they have family, their family relationships may not be that good, or they may even have no contact with them. But they are labeled as relatives of prisoners because of this. It's really unfair."

Not to mention the distant ones, their neighbor has a very bad parent. Mu Nan: "For example, Yang Jing's parents, if they commit a crime, then Yang Jing will be implicated. Do you think Yang Jing is wronged?"

Thinking of this, Mu Nan suddenly felt that this incident had not happened to him, so whether in the group or on the forum, most people applauded this move. When this irreversible helplessness happened to him, he would feel how unfair it was: "So this matter can only restrict those who still have a conscience and morality. Those who really don't care about anything can't be restrained by collective punishment."

Qin Huai was listening to him talking, and soon he saw the chat in the group and exclaimed, "Brother, there will be a credit value on our ID cards in the future."

Qin Huai had never heard of this before. He turned his head and asked, "What is it?"

Mu Nan continued to dig up the news, but it was probably just hearsay. The specific people in the group didn't seem to know much, but one thing seemed certain: "It's in terms of work, social contribution, and some aspects that we can't think of for the time being, just like the payment software we used before, loans and the like will assess credit, it's roughly the same idea, but there may be more things to assess, and if the credit value is below a certain value, some behaviors will be restricted, such as renting a car and buying gasoline."

If there really is an additional credit value model, then you don’t have to think about why it was introduced. Last night, the two people changed the policy of their place of residence on their own.

Mu Nan flipped through the forum and found that a lot of information had been dug up about the two people who set the fire yesterday.

As for work, these two people have jobs. Many industries are recovering now. The rise of some factories, the development of new urban areas, and the reconstruction of urban areas are all progressing slowly. As a means of transportation for humans, vehicles are naturally indispensable. Many vehicles were crushed in the previous earthquake, but some were only slightly damaged. Some people towed back many scrapped cars from the urban area, dismantled the parts and reassembled them into usable cars.

These two people work in a car repair shop, and even their motorcycle was assembled by themselves using parts they disassembled from a pile of scrap metal.

Because of their skills, their wages are not low, so they are willing to spend money on themselves, so they buy the fish with their own money. As a result, they eventually get sick. The daily pain tells them that their lives are coming to an end. They have accumulated too much dissatisfaction and resentment towards the world. From a dirty auto mechanic who was despised for smelling of gasoline when taking the bus, to a high-tech worker now, they are going to die after just two days of good life.

If anyone were to climb out of the trough and then fall again just after reaching a high point, they would probably go crazy.

There was a heated discussion online about what happened last night. Any forum you opened would be filled with related topics. Whether it was the comics section, the film and television section, or even the food section, there were people talking about this. Mu Nan didn't want to read any more after seeing so much, so he simply threw his phone aside and continued the painting he hadn't finished yesterday.

Qin Huai turned his head and recognized that the painting was of himself. He immediately smiled and put his arms around the man's waist. His chest pressed tightly against Mu Nan's back, his chin resting on his shoulder, and he whispered, "You never painted me before."

Mu Nan tutted: "You haven't drawn enough. I drew all your previous profile pictures."

"That's a Q version, it doesn't count. I've never drawn a sketch like this before."

Mu Nan didn't say anything. The Q version was simple. As long as you could capture the three-quarters of the similarity, you wouldn't go wrong if you made the other details cute. But realism was not so easy. If the details, light and shadow, angle, and charm were not right, the painting would not look like the original. As long as there was even a little bit of similarity, the whole painting would be ugly.

Mu Nan couldn't accept that he had drawn Qin Huai ugly. In his heart, Qin Huai would always be the most handsome one, so he didn't dare to draw him before. Even if he did, it was done secretly. But he was never satisfied with it. He didn't want to leave something he was not satisfied with as a black history. Therefore, throughout his student days, he didn't draw a picture of Qin Huai that he was satisfied with.

But in fact, among all his human body sketches, he only drew Qin Huai, but Qin Huai didn't know it.

There are several sketchbooks in his space, all of which are of Qin Huai, including those in his memories, his imagination, his youthful campus style, and his business elite style. He never drew anyone again until he could no longer imagine what the grown-up Qin Huai would look like.

Thinking about it, Mu Nan felt a little regretful, so he tilted his head slightly and said to Qin Huai: "I regret that I didn't draw you well when I was in school. I had so much time to draw you when you were playing basketball."

Qin Huai kissed him gently on the lips: "Why didn't you want to paint at that time?"

Mu Nan smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "Because the drawing is not good, I want to draw you better."

"At that time, my painting skills were not good, and I learned it amateurishly. No matter how I looked at it, I was not satisfied. I thought that when I could paint better in the future, I would paint you then. You said before that you would choose a club when you went to college, and it would be the basketball club if nothing unexpected happened. I think I would definitely not be able to get into your school. At most, I would get into an art school. But it doesn't matter. Choose the one that is closest to you. When you play basketball, I will carry my drawing board and sneak into your school. By then, my painting skills will definitely improve, and I can paint you when you play basketball."

At that time, they always felt that there was still a lot of time and they were still young.

Thinking of his childish thoughts in the past, Mu Nan sighed softly: "If only I could go back to that time, I would definitely draw many, many pictures of you."

Qin Huai kissed all his unfinished sighs into his lips: "No need to go back to that time, when it's calm outside this time, I'll play basketball for you. Wearing a white shirt and jeans, I must still look like I did when I was a student."

Mu Nan poked Qin Huai's cheek: "You are almost 30 years old, how can you be so embarrassed?"

Qin Huai grabbed his hand, put it in his mouth, and bit it gently: "No problem, of course I'm sorry, Nan Nan, I can show you whatever you want to see of me."

Mu Nan swallowed and listened to Qin Huai's words, his mind full of the image of him wearing a high school uniform. This special period between youth and maturity is also the best period of life. However, what he thought of was the scene of taking off Qin Huai's high school uniform during that period.

Just imagine Mu Nan and he will fail.

In high school, taking off his brother's clothes, damn, what a thrill!

Seeing that Mu Nan's eyes looked a little strange, Qin Huai moved closer: "What are you thinking about?"

Mu Nan quickly shook his head and looked at him innocently: "I didn't think about anything!"

I must not tell you about the little drama in my mind. If I do, I will probably die in bed even if I use my toes to guess!

However, Mu Nan didn't say anything, and the angry look in his eyes, which he could no longer control, directly ignited Qin Huai.

What to do if there is a fire? You can only close the door and turn on the light to put out the fire.