Chapter 67: Northern Plateau

Now thinking back, Hexi Town is closer to the water than the suburbs of Lucheng. It rains every day now, and it is spring when everything is revived. The temperature is rising again. Logically, there shouldn't be so few insects. Even before the disaster, mosquitoes and reptiles were everywhere in normal cities.

"Living things naturally have the ability to seek good fortune and avoid evil. The fact that there are fewer mosquitoes there should be related to the fact that the strange fish nearby can come ashore." Chen Yuezhen analyzed, "The fishing boats won't go too far, so the male strange fish that was accidentally caught should be in the waters near the town."

Think about it from another perspective. Their "wives" have all gone to the shore to lay eggs. If their cubs don't come out for a day, it's impossible for them to swim to other waters.

Fish are creatures that eat a wide variety of food, including insect eggs and insects. They can also come ashore and kill the insects in just minutes.

"So the bugs predicted that the town's environment was not conducive to ecological development, so they sought to avoid danger and moved to another place to grow and develop, right?" Shu Fu's words made Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen laugh.

Looking back now, they were able to escape from the town this time because of luck. No one expected that the red liquid they took from Tangping's small building could actually suppress the strange fish. No one knew what the ingredients in it were...

When thinking of Tang Ping, one can’t help but think of other residents in the town.

Previously, they were frightened by the strange fish schools all over the mountains and the half-eaten corpses, and subconsciously thought that there was no one alive in the town. But now think about it, although the houses in the town are not that sturdy, some people have sealed the windows for safety. As long as they guard the door and wait for the strange fish school to retreat, they may still have a chance to survive.

In addition, another large ship in Malaysia can carry more than a hundred people. The bottom and hull of the ship are made of steel. It is completely different from the wooden boats rented to residents. The hull is also high, so even in the water, strange fish cannot jump up.

As long as the team members and townspeople can successfully escape onto the boat, they should be able to survive.

"But there's one thing I don't understand. When we left the town, why didn't those little strange fish jump into the water to chase us?" Although Chen Fa felt fortunate at the time, he also found it very strange.

The fish were chasing them on the shore with great enthusiasm, but they stopped in front of the water. It sounded like a fairy tale.

"The most puzzling thing is that the female fish came ashore to lay eggs," said Shu Fu, who was also reviewing the whole incident. Undoubtedly, the appearance of the fish was the beginning of a new disaster. Aquatic organisms had mutated, and many things could no longer be viewed by the previous standards.

"In fact, animals are simpler than humans. These scenes that seem horrifying and shocking to us may just be for their survival." Chen Yuezhen pondered for a moment and said slowly, "People were attacked and disappeared at night only after the town had two teams, right? What changes happened in the town, or in the nearby waters, at that time?"

Chen Fa knew the team's affairs best, and he quickly thought of it: "Fishing?"

"Well, as more and more people come to town, the demand for fish increases after everyone's food is consumed. Those strange fish can even eat people, so even the biggest fish can be eaten. The other fish in the water may be the food for the strange fish. The fish in the nearby waters have been caught in large numbers, affecting the food source of the strange fish. In order to lay eggs smoothly and provide enough nutrients for the hatching of the small fish, the female fish naturally have to go ashore. After all, they are mutated and can go ashore..."

What Chen Yuezhen proposed does sound very likely, so if we speculate on the issue of the little monster fish not going into the water from the perspective of biological survival, we may be able to find the answer.

"They don't go into the water because they can't survive if they go into the water?" Shu Fu pondered. "Think about it the other way around. Adult fish can live in the water and on land at the same time because, in addition to gills, they also have lungs that can go ashore to breathe. And these young fish - it's very likely that they haven't grown gills yet?"

"It could also be that the gills or tail fins are not fully developed yet, so they are not ready to go into the water yet." Chen Fa added, "Just like tadpoles, when they are young, they can only survive in the water and can only go ashore after they grow up."

All three of them felt that these guesses were basically not the correct answers, and were not far from the real answers.

I don’t know if the same strange fish has appeared in other places in Hua State. This kind of fish has amazing reproductive capacity. If it is allowed to grow up, Hua State may really suffer a fish disaster.

At this moment, they all felt the inconvenience of being out of the Internet. If there was Internet in Hexi Town, they could check online about the strange fish and perhaps get more information.

Not every part of Lucheng city has internet access. There is definitely internet access in the areas where the three major forces are based, because there is electricity. It is hard to say about other places.

Chen Fa had heard from the team that they had exchanged with before that there was internet in the trading station, like wifi, which could be used for free. Although the speed was very slow and there were all kinds of card problems, it should be no problem if they wanted to check some information.

**

On the third day, Shu Fu and Chen Fa packed two backpacks and prepared to enter the city.

Originally Shu Fu planned to go alone, mainly because she didn't know what to do there. If she was alone, she could just walk around and find a place to surf the Internet.

But she asked Chen Fa not to go, but Chen Fa didn't respond. He just crossed his arms and looked at her sideways. After she cut her hair short, her expression was particularly domineering every time she didn't speak. Shu Fu was defeated and nodded: "Go, go, let's go together."

They had too much stuff, including boat bags, hanging machines, and other travel bags containing camping supplies, first aid kits, weapons, and a small amount of water, so it was finally decided that Chen Fa and Shu Fu would go into the city, while Chen Yuezhen would stay behind to guard the supplies.

There was no one around, but just in case, Shu Fu left the nail gun to her and taught her how to install straight nails and how to use it. In addition, he also left her the lock picking stick and stun gun. The stun gun was running low on power, but it could still be used two or three times at full power.

However, the complete range of melee and long-range combat tools made the two people feel more at ease.

As for the intimidating fire axe and multi-purpose shovel, they were brought by Shu Fu and Chen Fa.

"Run if the situation is not right. These things can be thrown away. The most important thing is to stay alive. If you are unlucky enough to get injured, use the first aid kit. Use the things in it in large quantities. Don't be stingy!" Shu Fu didn't lack these supplies and didn't want to see Chen Fa's grandmother risking her life for these things, so she kept reminding her before leaving.

"Why are you more talkative than me?" Chen Fa sighed. If you didn't know her, you would think she was Shu Fu's grandmother.

Since the two of them were going to the trading station, they naturally had to put some things in their backpacks. Shu Fu put a medical kit in her backpack. This medical kit was relatively large, and she had never opened it directly in front of Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen because she had to "take out" some necessary things from it from time to time.

It also contained some light food, such as biscuits and bread, and a foldable water cup, which contained half a bottle of mineral water that Shu Fu had filled.

After a few days of consumption, they only had half of their food left, so if Shu Fu saw any food suitable to carry when she went to the trading station this time, she also planned to exchange some for medicine.

Chen Fa said that in today's Lucheng, apart from fuel, medicines are the most valuable and are sold by the pill.

Just like she had previously privately asked for medicine from people in the exchange team, the agreed price was an entire travel bag of canned water supplies in exchange for three cephalosporin and two ibuprofen.

Although the other party has certainly raised the price, it also indirectly illustrates the value of the drug today.

The backpacks that the two people packed were not too big. This time they both carried the backpacks close to their bodies in front of them and wore raincoats on the outside to prevent prying eyes and to prevent the bags from being snatched.

It takes about two to three hours to walk into the city, depending on road conditions and weather.

However, the two will rush back before dark, not only because of Chen Yuezhen, but also because the city area is even less safe after dark.

The loss of the official Lucheng was beyond Shu Fu's imagination. She had been staying in a cave in the uninhabited area for the previous two months, and the town she had come ashore from before was a small town with a simple population. This was the first time she had witnessed a dilapidated and decaying city with her own eyes.

Some of them were like... the cities that had been attacked by artillery fire that she had seen in videos and photos in her original world.

The streets were littered with dirty garbage mixed with mud and water, broken branches due to heavy rain, building debris, tattered clothes, abandoned and broken cars... All this garbage was mixed together in a haphazard manner, and new weeds were growing on top of it.

The glass windows of most buildings were shattered, leaving gaping holes. Human corpses could be seen in the corners of some collapsed walls.

The corpse had been soaked in rain water for a long time and had rotted and was infested with worms. Whenever Chen Fa and Shu Fu saw it, they would stay away from it.

Both of them wore masks, but the smell around them still faintly came into their noses through the masks. However, after experiencing that disgusting stench of decay, this level of smell was nothing.

The two of them were alert to their surroundings and tried to choose a path that was easier to walk on. When they came across a collapsed area of ​​​​ruins, they used each other's strength, one person carried the other up first, and then the person who went up pulled the person below up, and they worked together to pass through.

Just like that, two hours later, the two finally entered the city center.

This area used to be a busy downtown area with many shopping malls and shops, but now it has become a supply point occupied by different teams.

People began to appear around them, including survivors like them who were hurriedly walking in raincoats, survivors who were fighting for something unknown, and some refugees who were sitting on the street in the heavy rain.

Some of them were sick and had no medicine to treat them. They sat on the street with numb faces wearing worn-out rain gear or plastic film, or hid in the doors of dilapidated shops that had run out of supplies. Some were alone, or a few people relied on each other. Most of them were elderly or women, and some were women with children.

Of course, there were also some thin men. Some of them were half-lying there, motionless, allowing the heavy rain to soak them, as if they were dead. Others huddled in places sheltered by buildings, looking at the survivors passing by with gloomy eyes, as if they were looking for a target.

Shu Fu and Chen Fa both wore black masks on their faces, and their rain hats half covered their eyes, but from their figures, they could still be seen as two young women. However, the fire axes and sawtooth shovels in their hands could not be ignored. There seemed to be some suspicious blood stains on them, with a fishy smell.

This was Chen Fa's idea. The two weapons with strong visual effects were not cleaned. The stains of strange fish and internal organs on them had already solidified and could not be washed off without rubbing hard with tools.

The two of them knew that these stains were caused by killing fish, but others would not know that. They would only think that they had killed people with this weapon. Even if they wanted to attack them, they would have to think twice before taking action.

What's more, except for the refugees, those who travel in Lucheng now all have their own teams, even those who come from other towns in the suburbs for exchange and trading.

The refugees who have experienced the beatings of the apocalypse will carefully identify their targets and act within their capabilities even if they want to take action.

The closer we got to Trading Post No. 3, the more refugees we saw sitting in the dilapidated buildings on the street. But compared to what we had seen before, the refugees nearby looked obviously different, and their eyes were much more lively.

They were silent. Some would suddenly kowtow and beg for alms when survivors who came to exchange passed by. Others stared at everyone coming from the direction of the trading station. They were waiting for quarrels, conflicts, and fights to happen. Once there was any sign of trouble, they would rush in and take advantage of the opportunity to pick up bargains.

There seemed to be a fire on two streets nearby. All the houses collapsed and it was pitch black everywhere. Chen Fa had never been to Trading Station No. 3 and only passed by it once. When he came back this time, he didn't recognize the roads nearby.

However, Shu Fu had a national map downloaded on her phone. According to her account, she and her companions traveled so far north, so it was not surprising that she had a map. Although it was a pre-disaster map, now that she knew her destination was the museum, the route was still easy to identify.

They changed direction, bypassed the fire area, and soon saw a bus stop.

This is a rest stop in the city. There is a large open space inside that serves as a parking lot. There seem to be two buses parked in the parking lot. From a distance, it can be seen that many of the windows are broken and the bodies of the buses are rusted. They are probably broken down and cannot be driven, so they are left here.

Once the windows of this type of car are broken, it can no longer shelter from the wind and rain. When a storm comes, the inside is like a river. Therefore, even refugees look down on this type of car. They would rather choose a building with broken doors and windows. At least there are twists and turns inside the building where they can find a place to shelter from the wind and rain.

Shu Fu couldn't help but take a few more glances as she passed by. They had now left the flood area, and would have to travel by land wherever they went from now on. Whether she would get stuck in a maze or not was not the question for now, but if they could have a car now, their journey would be much easier.

With a car, you can carry more supplies and you don’t have to be exposed to heavy rain all the time, making it convenient to go anywhere.

Chen Fa seemed to see through her intention and said, "One car is good, but the two cars here, even if they are not broken, the fuel in the tanks must have been drained. Without fuel, even if the car can be driven, it is just scrap metal."

During the most chaotic period in Lucheng, many people died, so many cars were left behind. Those who escaped later were unable to drive away these cars, not because they didn't want to, but because the fuel in most of the cars had been drained away.

Collect cars with intact windows and good performance, empty the fuel tanks of damaged cars or cars with too little load... Some forward-looking teams have already done all this.

After turning around the bus station and walking for more than ten minutes, they finally saw the museum where Trading Post No. 3 was located.