Chapter 190

The carriage with soft seats had eight people in a row, with an aisle in the middle and four seats on each side. The seats were quite spacious, and they sat two by two. The seven of them fit in a row, and a single young man was also arranged to sit there.

Mu Nan and the Song Jia brothers sat opposite each other, while Xu Ming and Jian Chu sat together. It was not known whether the single young man had social phobia and could not communicate with others or was just a workaholic. After sitting down, he took out his computer and kept typing.

Mu Nan whispered to Qin Huai, "Is he your colleague?" He felt that people who kept typing on the computer and couldn't understand characters should be doing the same job as his brother.

Qin Huai shook his head: "I am the only one in the department I am in who accepted the dispatch this time."

There were originally two people, but the other one was a bit old and not in good health. After the final comprehensive evaluation, it was suspected that he could not adapt to the environment in Tibet, so he was temporarily retained.

According to his observation, the current situation should be that people leave in batches, and talents in various fields are mobilized from all over the country, including technical workers, construction workers, scientific research and medical workers, etc. The best ones are gathered first to build a refuge city suitable for human survival, and then the subsequent personnel are gradually mobilized. While building the refuge city, an orderly evacuation work is carried out.

Otherwise, the country should have a population of hundreds of millions. If the news of the refuge city spreads, everyone will flock to the refuge city to escape the disaster. Not to mention whether the refuge city has been built to the level and can accommodate so many people, just the journey to the refuge city would probably be a living hell.

It is predictable without having to think about it that if the situation really came to that, order would be lost, and people would lose their basic principles of being human. People would scramble and plunder, and some might even take advantage of the chaos to start some kind of separatist movement. In the face of various natural disasters over the years, the efforts made by the government would almost instantly vanish, and all the efforts would be in vain. I am afraid that nearly half of the existing survivors would be killed or injured.

Once order is broken, it will not be easy to put the country together again.

Another point is that if a nationwide chaos occurs, it will be a huge waste of resources. Their current living environment can no longer withstand the slightest waste, so gradual transfer in batches is the best way.

I just don’t know which batch they are in now and how complete the refuge city is.

Perhaps it was because those who were transferred this time were people who had some achievements in certain fields. Although high intelligence cannot fully represent quality, most of the high-level intellectuals have good quality. From getting on the bus to sitting down, they were very orderly and relatively quiet. If they needed to change seats, they would communicate with others politely in a low voice.

The most important thing is that everyone’s living environment should be good. At least Mu Nan didn’t see anyone who was so dirty that they hadn’t taken a shower for more than ten days. Although it was hot and they sweated profusely after walking a little, the smell was not too bad and could be blocked by wearing a mask. Once they entered the car, with air conditioning and ventilation, they could even take off the mask.

Mu Nan leaned on the small table in front of him and sighed softly: "It seems that everyone should be able to get along well along the way. I didn't meet some very bad people."

Song Jia also put one hand on the table to support his head and said: "As expected, people with high education and ability are different. Look at their quality."

If it were the people who had taken refuge from the previous flood and sandstorm, they would have probably started arguing over a vent or a window seat. It wouldn't be like this, where the people behind waited patiently without rushing because the people in front had more luggage and blocked the way a little.

Mu Nan noticed Qin Huai chuckled and quickly moved over to him: "What are you laughing at?"

Qin Huai took out a wet towel and wiped the sweat off his forehead and the sticky heat on his face, saying, "This kind of person is only suitable for casual encounters. You won't like him after a while."

Mu Nan was puzzled: "Why?" It's always more comfortable to interact with polite and decent people than some street scoundrels.

Qin Huai didn't tell him why, but Mu Nan soon knew why, because those people were so indifferent.

Just like the young man sitting next to Xu Ming, he hasn't spoken a word since he got on the bus. He's either typing on the computer or resting with his eyes closed with headphones on. But some people just don't like to communicate with strangers. Mu Nan himself has such a personality. If it were him, he would definitely ignore everyone with headphones on, so he didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

What made him feel indifferent was that the gentleman sitting in the seat in front of them looked on indifferently when a child ran over and fell. However, when he saw that the child's mouth or teeth hit the ground and his face was covered in blood, his first reaction was not to look at the child, but to quickly pick up the bag on the ground to see if it was dirty.

Until the child's mother ran over and took the child away to treat the wound, and the staff on the car came over to clean up the blood on the ground, the man did not change his posture during the whole process except for reaching out to take a bag.

The people around him acted as if nothing had happened. They didn't pay any attention or talk about anything. They were either resting with their eyes closed or concentrating on what they were doing.

The quiet atmosphere, which Mu Nan originally thought was of high quality, suddenly changed in an instant. He even felt that such silence was a little scary.

Song Jia, who was sitting opposite him, naturally noticed the noise over there, but because no one was talking in the car, only the sound of a child crying in the distance, it seemed uncomfortable for them to talk loudly, so he couldn't help but lower his voice and asked: "Do you feel like everyone in this car is a robot without emotions?"

Mu Nan nodded in agreement: "Maybe this is the difference between geniuses and ordinary people?"

Song Jia shrugged. He didn't understand the world of geniuses anyway. Since kindergarten, he was a poor student who gave his teachers headaches. If it weren't for Qinhuai's help, he really wouldn't have been able to come into contact with such a genius.

But it is really like what Qin Huai said, this kind of cold and distant yet decent politeness makes people feel comfortable in a brief contact, but after a long time, it is no longer that matter.

Thinking of this, Song Jia couldn't help but carefully glance at Qin Huai who was also looking at the computer. If Mu Nan wasn't by Qin Huai's side, Song Jia felt that Qin Huai should also be this kind of naturally indifferent person.

Perhaps Qin Huai noticed his gaze and was about to look up, but the next second his attention was diverted by Mu Nan, who was fidgeting with his sitting position next to him. His originally expressionless face almost instinctively showed a gentle smile when he looked at Mu Nan.

As Song Jia looked at them, he turned his gaze to Jian Chu, who was across the aisle from them. Over there, Jian Chu and Yu Zibai were leaning against each other, looking at their phones, not knowing what they were looking at. From time to time, they would look up and whisper something to each other, then smile.

I don’t know if it’s because the stench of love is too strong, or if this kind of love that is treated uniquely and specially is too beautiful, Song Jia feels that he is not as straight as he used to be. At least when he saw Qin Huai smiling at Mu Nan just now, what he thought was that if he could find such a deep love, it would be fine even if the object is of the same sex.

Realizing that his idea was not right, Song Jia poked his elder brother with his arm and whispered, "Brother, what would you do if I found you a brother-in-law?"

Wu Zheng glanced at him, his expression calm but with a hint of ridicule towards singles: "You can find it first, then we can talk."

Song Jia rolled his eyes. We are all single. Who are we looking down on?

I sat in the carriage for nearly two hours. I guess the carriage at the back was loading goods. After the cargo boxes were full, the announcement of departure was made.

Mu Nan had already taken a nap lying on the table, but the table was hard and his sleeping position was wrong. When he sat up, his shoulders ached. Qin Huai rubbed his shoulders and said, "Take off your shoes and lie down on my legs. It's too tiring to lie like this."

Mu Nan rubbed the numb part of his face: "How long are we going to stay in this car?"

Wu Zheng on the other side said, "Thirty hours is the minimum."

Hearing this number, Mu Nan was even more confused: "It takes so long. It only took us three hours to get to the capital before. Even if the conditions are not good now, it should take about the same time if it is tripled or 5 times longer. How come it has increased tenfold? It shouldn't take that long to drive there, right?"

Qin Huai: "Driving is more energy-consuming. With so many people, how many cars are needed? Moreover, the trains can only run at night, and they have to find places to hide from the sun during the day. The reason why the underground trains have been so long is because they are connected to the subway tracks. This should be the original plan. The subways will be rebuilt, but the tracks will be used for both purposes. Each province and city will start construction according to the plan, and then the connections will be opened. There will be regional transportation within the city, and cross-provincial transportation outside. When the train tracks are connected, each province and city will have direct trains to the capital, and then go to Tibet from the capital."

Mu Nan understood what this meant. What was being built below was not just a track, but also a survival passage for people to escape in the future. This country's plan was really a huge chess game. Without the courage to make decisions, it would be impossible to make such a time-sensitive survival decision.

However, this is also thanks to their strong infrastructure capabilities. Even in a life-and-death situation, looking around the world, apart from their country, few countries can accomplish such a large-scale operation in such a short time with limited resources.

So this route is not a direct one, it has many twists and turns, and the speed probably cannot be too fast, so it is normal that it takes so long. Anyway, they don’t have to walk, and there is air conditioning, so it doesn’t matter if it takes longer. Compared with the previous hiking, this migration is easy and enjoyable.

Unfortunately, although the car started moving, it was underground and it was pitch black when looking out the windows next to it. At most, a few track lights flashed by. After watching for a while, Mu Nan lost interest.

Qin Huai was working, and Wu Zheng was sleeping on a chair. He couldn't fall asleep the last time he took a nap, so he simply put his phone on the table, and he and Song Jia each put on an earphone, hugged a pillow, and lay on the table to watch a movie.

The first few hours were pretty good. After watching a few episodes of TV series, it was time to eat. Meals were not provided on the bus, but they were for sale. The prices were definitely more expensive than in the residential area, mainly steamed buns and corn tortillas. If you wanted something a little savory, there were fried noodles and fried rice.

A serving of fried noodles or fried rice costs ten yuan. Mu Nan saw someone ordering one, but the white color was as if there was no soy sauce in it. It was probably just a little oil and salt. Not to mention the fried noodles, it seemed like the finished product was put in the microwave to heat it up and then it was directly rolled into a lump. It really made people lose their appetite.

They can no longer count on meals on the train, although they didn't expect it in the first place. The taste of the meals on the train was average in the past, but at least they had instant noodles to make up for it. Now they might as well eat steamed buns, which are paired with Qinhuai's pork chili sauce, and are much more delicious than fried rice and noodles.

Because the entire carriage was very quiet, although there were people talking in low voices, like them who had families with them, or some colleagues who were obviously talking about work, but they all spoke in carefully low voices, which made Jian Chu and the others feel embarrassed to speak loudly, as if they were thieves.

Mu Nan asked quietly, "How many steamed buns do you want?"

Jian Chu made a “two” gesture at the person next door, and Mu Nan handed over a bag of steamed buns, which contained exactly six buns. He then stuffed the buns with hot sauce and passed them to Jian Chu and the others.

Before setting off, they had agreed that Jian Chu and his team would make corn tortillas with sugar fillings, which could be kept for at least two or three days, and Wu Zheng and his team would make steamed buns, enough for the first two days, as the steamed buns would not last long and would easily go sour in the hot weather.

Then he and Qin Huai prepared the sauce. The pork sauce was made by Qin Huai himself, and it tasted no worse than beef sauce. Fortunately, he was able to buy some pork later, otherwise Qin Huai might only be able to make mushroom sauce.

Although his waist hurt from sitting on the first day, he managed to get through it. The second day was even more difficult because the car was not running very fast and it was not a straight track. There were many turns and he got really carsick. Qin Huai stopped working and let Mu Nan lie on top of him, massaging him to relieve his pain.

Mu Nan was not the one who suffered the most from motion sickness. The one who suffered the most from motion sickness among them was Yu Zibai. He vomited until only acid water was left. Not to mention eating, he even felt sick when drinking water.

Jian Chu, who was standing by, found his miserable appearance both funny and distressing: "I heard that people who get carsick have strong brain balance, just like those who get altitude sickness. People with strong bodies are more likely to get carsick than those with weak qi and body."

Yu Zibai leaned back in his chair, completely unable to open his eyes. He vomited so much that he couldn't even swallow his motion sickness pills. It was miserable.

Hearing Jian Chu's words, Mu Nan struggled to get up: "Is it true?"

Qin Huai fed him two sips of water: "What do you mean it's true?"

Mu Nan: "People with good health are more likely to suffer from altitude sickness than those with poor health?"

Qin Huai: "We will distribute altitude sickness adaptation medicines in advance, so don't worry, lie down and take a nap, hold on a little longer, we will be there soon."

Mu Nan closed his eyes again and lay on Qin Huai. There were small plums in his space, the kind that were especially sour, but he had no way to take them out. He could only eat these snacks secretly. After all, all these years had passed and these things were long gone. There was no reason to take them out, so poor Yu Zibai could only rely on his perseverance to endure.

They endured three whole days on the high-speed train, and when they were used to it and no longer had motion sickness symptoms, they arrived in the capital.

I originally thought that I would at least rest in the capital, take a day off, replenish some food, and see what the residential area in the capital looks like.

Unexpectedly, as soon as we got off the train, we were taken to another car, which seemed to be an aerobic passenger car. Each person was given a box of medicine with simple packaging and no instructions. There were seven pills in total, and they were told to take one pill a day when they were notified.

Mu Nan looked at it for a long time but couldn't figure out what it was, and didn't know if it tasted good or not. Qin Huai asked him to put it in the space and put it away: "Even if it doesn't taste good, you have to drink it. It seems that this way of transporting people has been used for several batches and has become a process."

Mu Nan said: "That is to say, when we get there, we should be able to enjoy the achievements of our predecessors, not rebuild and reclaim the land?"

Qin Huai shook his head: "It shouldn't be. If we start rebuilding and reclaiming the land now, it will be too late. Half of the urban area in Bei'an has been washed away by the sea."

Bei'an is their neighboring province. Bei'an's downstream city is a whole province away from Haikou. The coastal cities have been submerged long ago, and now even Bei'an has been half swallowed up. It won't be long before they reach Kangyun.

Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to start rebuilding now. Maybe the refuge city has already started preparations after the earthquake.

Generally speaking, Qin Huai's guess is still very reliable. When the vehicle drove west along the flat road that seemed to have been repaired later, it could be seen that this route to Tibet should have been opened for a long time.

So the drivers were familiar with the route. There were rest stops every few meters. The rest stops were large dormitory rooms that could accommodate twenty or thirty people. They were just ordinary bunk beds on wooden boards. Anyway, they would just rest for a day and then leave. And they knew that complaining was useless, so everyone accepted it calmly.

The nights here get dark late, and it's still light around 7 or 8 in the evening, but we continue on the road after the sunlight is not as strong, driving without stopping all the way until we reach the second rest stop at 5 or 6 the next morning. We don't stop for even a minute in between, so we have to suppress our physiological needs.

By the time the driver informed them that they could start taking the medicine in advance, it was already the sixth day of traveling non-stop on the bus.

Although you don't need to walk by yourself, and the car has air conditioning, although the temperature outside is too high and the car is still quite hot even with the air conditioning on, it is still acceptable to fan yourself with a small fan. However, driving for more than ten hours a day is also very tiring. In addition, it was dark, and except for the road illuminated by the headlights in front, the sides of the car windows were pitch black, let alone seeing any scenery.

Mu Nan had been kneaded into a ball of pickled vegetables by the rush of the journey, and said with a sullen look: "This is my first time in Tibet, I didn't see the purest scenery, but I did feel the huge size of this Tibetan area."

The car seemed to be driving on the road with no end. If it was daytime, we could see the surrounding scenery and it would seem nice to drive along the way. Unfortunately, it was too dark at night, without any light at all. All we could see was darkness, which made people feel tired.

Fortunately, they did not feel tired for too long. They finally arrived at their destination on the ninth day after getting on the bus. It was too dark around, so they could not see clearly whether it was a mountain or a plain. They could only see that the bus drove into a place that looked like a tunnel, and drove for a long time, passing through one gate after another like those in science fiction movies, and finally arrived at an indoor square.

Staff members wearing protective clothing and tight masks came over and asked them to line up. They entered a room, scanned the barcodes on their wristbands and swiped their ID cards. After passing, they entered another room, took off their clothes, were checked from head to toe, and had their fingerprints recorded and blood drawn. After completing all this, they would receive a room card from the staff and be quarantined for observation for seven days.

Mu Nan looked at the room card in his hand and couldn't help asking, "Is it one room per person? Can I be quarantined with my family?"

The staff member shook his head and said, "After you pass the observation period, you can meet your family members after you come out."

This was probably the regulation from above, and it was also for their own safety. Mu Nan had no choice but to follow the staff's instructions and carry his bag to find his room. He felt a little regretful. If he had known they would be separated, he should have put more things in Qin Huai's bag.

But he was just in case something unexpected happened on the road, so Qin Huai's bag was filled with food. Thinking of the detailed inspection just now, Mu Nan recalled the things in Qin Huai's bag, there should be nothing that cannot be taken out.

Behind him, Qin Huai was putting the checked items into his bag one by one. He didn't even have two pieces of clothes in his bag. Besides the computer, there were only a few boxes of steamed buns, various sauces, and large packages of sealed dried meat and other items. As for the inspectors' looks, he didn't know whether they were surprised or indescribable. He didn't have time to pay attention. He was just thinking that if this refuge city was so strict, how could he get the supplies prepared for Jian Chu and the others out safely.

Qin Huai had no objection when he heard that he had to be isolated for seven days. He just asked, "Is there internet here? If we can't leave the room to meet, we should be able to contact people online, right?"

Then, Mu Nan, who was lying bored and playing a stand-alone game in a room with only a bed, a desk and a bathroom, was knocked on the door by the staff and handed a mobile phone card.

He thought it was just another observation procedure, like filling in information or something, but he didn't expect that once the card was installed on the phone, it actually connected to the Internet, and then a video call came in. Mu Nan clicked it and saw Qin Huai's handsome face. He was immediately surprised and said, "Brother! Wow, the service here is so good. We can't meet in person, but they still gave us a card to connect to the Internet."

Qin Huai on the other end of the video smiled and said, "Are you stupid? This is in exchange for the bag of dried meat you stuffed into my bag."

Mu Nan immediately laughed out loud: "I see, I thought as long as we come in here, we will be given basic necessities. Brother, which room are you in? I'm in room 518, are you far from me?"

Qin Huai: "I'm next to you. We are queuing up for the checkup, so the isolation rooms we are assigned should be next to each other."

Mu Nan quickly ran over and knocked on the wall, then looked at the camera: "Did you hear me knocking on the wall?"

Qin Huai smiled and said, "I heard it. I'm right next to you."

Qin Huai said, although he knew that Mu Nan was very alert, he still reminded: "I have asked, the food we handed in in the city before is recorded here. Do you see the tablet on the table? Stick your ID card on the groove at the back and it will read your information. There are no free quarantine meals here. You can buy what you want to eat through the tablet, but the corresponding money or rice will be deducted from your account. Although the food may not be delicious, you have to bear with it. When you leave the quarantine point and have a place to live, I will make you what you want to eat."

What this meant was that Mu Nan should not touch anything in the space. He was not sure whether these isolated rooms were monitored. Even the bathroom might not be safe, so he had to be careful.

Mu Nan naturally understood what Qin Huai said and nodded repeatedly: "I know, brother, how is this internet charged? Is it based on traffic or days or something else? Can we keep it on all the time? I don't want to be locked up in the house alone."

No matter what the charge was, Qin Huai could afford it, so he said, "Then leave it on. Turn it off when you go to bed to give your phone a rest."

Mu Nan lay on the table and looked at the camera: "I don't know what kind of place we will go to after we leave the quarantine point. The control here is very strict. But it's good this way. At least those who can come in are healthy. Brother, do you think we won't live under various surveillance all the time in the future?"

Considering the strictness of their inspections along the way, it seems possible.

Qin Huai: "Don't worry, it won't happen, Nan Nan. Maybe your previous comic about the underground city has really come true."