Chapter 76 Chapter 76 [VIP]

The Bai family, young and old, managed to survive in peace in this apocalyptic world not solely through their own efforts. It was the basket of dried, shrunken sweet potatoes secretly sent by my aunt's family during the famine; it was the news the village chief's family braved in the dark to deliver on the night of the attack; it was the villagers guarding the dike together on a rainstorm night, sharing a pot of hot porridge mixed with wild vegetables on a snowy day—it was the warmth of each other that gave everyone a chance to breathe in the face of despair.

"Let's go check on a few familiar houses first." The uncle's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper. He looked ahead, the wind-swept gravel hitting his face painfully. "Let's go, let's save whoever we can."

Bai He nodded, and he and Su Xing followed suit, stepping out of the house one after the other. The dark clouds overhead hung incredibly low, like a waterlogged black cloth about to sink, suffocating the chest and making even breathing painfully difficult. The dirt road beneath their feet had long since been soaked by the rain, and with every step, they sank half a finger deep into the mud. As they pulled away, they could hear the mud gurgling.

Heart-wrenching cries grew closer, mingling with the rumble of collapsing buildings, like a hammer hitting my heart. Just as I turned a small hill, I heard a child's heartbreaking cry: "Mom! Mom!" Bai He rushed over. He saw that the wooden house built on the slope had collapsed under the pouring mud, the beams snapped in two, and thatch and broken wood buried half the foundation. A woman and her child were hiding in the triangle formed by a table and cabinet. She half-crouched, her back against the broken wooden pillar, holding the child tightly beneath her. A thorny branch was still stuck in her arm.

Several people immediately set to work. Bai He and Su Xing worked together to remove the rocks weighing down the table and cabinets, while the uncle used a hatchet to chop through the tangled thatch. After finally clearing the debris and lifting the broken beam, the woman suddenly groaned, blood oozing from the corner of her mouth—her ribs had been broken. Not wanting to delay, the men carefully dragged the woman and child out from underneath. The child, aside from crying and frightened, had no obvious injuries, but the woman's face was pale, and her breathing was trembling.

"The child is fine, just frightened." Su Xing quickly examined the child and turned to the woman, pressing his fingers on her chest and abdomen, his brow furrowing ever tighter. "Her internal organs are damaged, so she must go to the district hospital for treatment. The herbal medicine I have here can only temporarily stop the bleeding and relieve the pain."

In recent years, metal has decayed exceptionally quickly in the air. Generators and medical equipment have largely become scrap metal. Only two hospitals in the district are operating on backup power, and those with internal injuries are the only ones to be sent there for effective treatment. Su Xing also dug out styptic powder and bandages from his medicine cabinet, quickly bandaged the woman's wound, and fed her a pain-relieving herbal syrup. "Let's find a safe place to stay first. I'll contact the village rescue team later to see if they can arrange a vehicle to take her there."

As they were talking, they heard Zhang Yan's shouts in the distance. They looked up and saw Zhang Yan carrying Old Lady Zhang on his back. The old lady's face was ashen and dusty, her trouser legs dripping with mud, and her hair was matted with grass and sand. Zhang Yan cursed as she ran, "What a bunch of beasts! If Jiahe and I hadn't rushed over, you would have been crushed in that shabby house!"

When he got closer, Zhang Yan put the old lady down and wiped her face. Blood seeped from between his fingers, mixed with mud and water, leaving hideous marks on her face: "You are well fed at home, why do you have to go to the Huang family to work like a slave? You're so lucky that you can crawl out alive this time!" This was his only relative. When he was digging through the rubble with his bare hands, his nails were all torn off. He didn't dare to stop for a second when moving bricks and stones, for fear that the old lady would die if he was a step slower.

Old Mrs. Zhang, who had always been tough and stubborn in front of him, seemed to have lost all her bones at this moment, and the hand on Zhang Yan's shoulder trembled slightly. She looked at Zhang Yan's bleeding fingertips, her lips moved, but no words came out. In fact, she went to the Huang family to be a nanny, firstly because she knew that her personality would make Zhang Yan unhappy when she was with her, and secondly, she wanted to save more food - Zhang Yan and Jiahe had been running to the disaster area frequently in recent years, which was too dangerous, and she was afraid that something would happen to them one day. But just now, when she was buried in the rubble, she heard the Huang family members running away with the little food she had saved. She shouted until her throat bled, but no one responded. She felt very regretful. She still had a lot to say to the child and regretted not taking good care of him.

"Go... go to the village office building and bring the things back." The old lady's voice was hoarse, her eyes were filled with hatred and fear, and turbid tears fell on Zhang Yan's clothes, "They took away all the dried vegetables I dried this year and the herbs I saved..." She had feelings for the dog, and she had taken care of the Huang family wholeheartedly for several years. She got up before dawn to cook every day and helped take care of the children at night, but when she was in trouble, they didn't even want to help her.

"Oh, I get it." Zhang Yan sighed. He no longer cared about pursuing Cai Gan. He looked up and saw Bai He and his group. His eyes suddenly lit up: "Doctor Su! Please help me check on my grandma! She seems to be unable to move her feet!"

Su Xing quickly put down his medicine box and lifted the old woman's trouser leg. A tangled smell of dirt and blood hit him—her ankle was swollen like a purple eggplant, several bloody wounds embedded in mud and sand. The skin around the wounds had turned blue-black, clearly from being hit by a heavy object and then rubbed in the mud. "No bones, just a sprained tendon and some minor skin injuries." Su Xing also dug out dried Panax notoginseng and dandelion from the box, quickly crushed them on a stone, mixed them with some strong liquor to make a paste, and wrapped a clean cloth around the old woman's ankle. "Go back and rub the swollen area with the liquor. Change the medicine every day, and don't let it get wet. You'll be able to walk in five or six days."

Zhang Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead, which had mixed with mud and water and left two white streaks on his face. Hearing Bai He say they still had to go to the village center to rescue people, he clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. He looked from his grandmother to the ruins in the distance, his face full of hesitation—he wanted to save people, but he was worried about the old lady.

"You take grandma back to the safe cave at home and hide there. I'll go with them." He Jiahe sent the old lady to Zhang Yan. He had just followed Zhang Yan to rescue the old lady and wanted to send her back together, but when he heard the noise here, he turned back. "Sheshui Village has always been united. If we don't help now, who will help us next time something happens to us?" After saying that, he turned around and followed Bai He's footsteps. Zhang Yan looked at his back, gritted her teeth, and carried the old lady towards her home.

As they walked toward the center of the village, the smell of blood in the wind grew stronger, like a thick, impenetrable fog that enveloped them, making even breathing choke. As they passed Uncle Bai Hui's house, they heard bursts of sobbing, hoarse and desperate, the piercing pain palpable even through the wind: "I've lost my mother, and now my father..."

Bai Changqing's heart skipped a beat, and he paused. He squinted his eyes and looked into the ruins - he saw two cousins ​​slumped on the broken bricks, crying, their bodies covered in dust and blood, and one of them had a makeshift straw bandage on his arm. Not far away, Bai Zhuo was holding a child and coaxing him gently. The child in his arms had his eyes wide open, his body stiff and motionless, unable to even cry out, his little face pale, and his lips chapped. Bai Zhuo's eyes were red, and his voice was hoarse as he coaxed him repeatedly: "Don't be afraid, baby, Daddy will change it for your favorite lollipop... Daddy will go buy you the biggest one..."

Bai Zhuo's wife, standing nearby, was pale, her forehead stained with mud and blood, and she looked terrified. Seeing Bai Changqing and his group approaching, and especially Su Xingye, her eyes suddenly lit up. She rushed over as if grasping at a life-saving straw, not caring about the marks her knees made on the muddy ground. "Doctor Su! Please save the child! He's been like this since the strong wind yesterday that caused the yard to collapse. He won't speak or move, and he doesn't respond to any calls!"

Su Xing quickly squatted down, gently touching the child's cheek with his fingertips. He then felt his pulse—it was fast and weak. His pupils were larger than a normal child's, clearly a victim of extreme shock. "It's a stress reaction. The child is too young to handle such a shock." He fished out a small porcelain bottle from the medicine cabinet and poured out some light brown powder made from calming herbs. He mixed it with water from his kettle and fed it to the child little by little. "Calm yourself first. Come see me at the village clinic later. I'll prescribe some calming herbs for him. Don't let him get frightened again. He'll be back on his feet in a couple of days."

Upon learning the child was alright, Bai Zhuo breathed a sigh of relief. His legs gave way, and he sat down on the ground, his back against the broken wall, gasping for air. He had once been known for his recklessness, fearless and unfazed, but ever since having a child, he'd developed a soft spot and shouldered a responsibility. When questioned by several people, he recounted the story of his great uncle, Bai Hui, in fragments: "When the wind started, my two cousins ​​were so busy grabbing food from the house, thinking of protecting their wives and children first... By the time they remembered my uncle, he'd already been hit on the head by a falling brick... By the time we pulled him out, he was already dead..."

Bai Changqing listened, feeling upset. When they were young, the two families were close, and his uncle would often give him candies and cakes. Later, because of the division of land, houses and grandparents' inheritance, the two families quarreled and only had face left. In the past two years, due to the serious disaster, his uncle was afraid of being left alone, so he often took the initiative to show his goodwill. During the holidays, he always sent some dried vegetables to his house, and sometimes secretly gave Sui Sui a cake. His cautious look was heartbreaking. Who would have thought that the person would be gone just like that. He thought that his father always valued feelings. Two years after his aunt passed away, he still often stared at her photo. If he knew that his uncle was gone, he would definitely be sad for several days.

He asked about Bai Zhuo's father again, and Bai Zhuo shook his head: "My house is on the edge of the village, close to the woods. It's made of stone bricks. Although it shook, it didn't collapse. My parents were just a little scared. I just sent them to a safe place in the woods."

Without further delay, the group headed back toward the village center. The closer they got, the more dire the scene became: some houses had collapsed, leaving only their foundations. People, still trapped under piles of broken wood, were trapped, their hands cold and exposed. A woman sat in the mud, clutching her dead child, her eyes frighteningly empty. The child's face had already turned blue, yet she still gently patted the child's back, humming a lullaby. Others frantically searched through the rubble, calling out the names of their loved ones, their voices hoarse. The blood blisters on their hands, mingled with mud and sand, were a horrifying sight. The wind whirled the dust and cries, enveloping the cries and sobs, making even breathing feel heavy.

However, occasionally you can see heartwarming scenes: someone used a door panel as a stretcher and carried an old man with a broken leg to the health center. The shoes of the stretcher bearers were torn and their heels were bleeding, but they did not dare to stop for a moment, and kept shouting "Hold on, we'll be there soon"; someone squatted in the mud, picking up the scattered dried vegetables and wheat grains, and put them in a cloth bag, which would be sent to the resettlement site for unified distribution later; there was also a woman who was so thin that she was out of shape, holding a half-melted candy in her arms, which was the one her son had not finished eating before he died. With trembling lips and a face full of heartache and reluctance, she stuffed the candy into the mouth of a crying child who had lost his mother, and whispered "Eat it, you won't be sad after eating it."

These past few years, the hardship of the apocalypse had lasted too long. He'd seen countless fights over a piece of steamed bread, countless heartless acts of opportunism and looting, even some secretly hiding their loved ones' food to save their lives. But now, looking at the figures supporting each other in the ruins, at those who had survived the disaster but didn't dare smile for too long, turning back to help others, Bai He's heart, which had been hardened for years, actually warmed a little.

Su Xing had barely taken a few steps when he was grabbed by the arms by several blood-soaked men. "Doctor Su! Check on my husband! He's been hit by a beam and hasn't woken up yet!" A woman knelt on the ground, clutching his trouser leg tightly. "Please, save him!" Another man squeezed over, holding an unconscious child in his arms. "My mother has fainted! No matter how I shout, she won't respond! Doctor Su, please check on her first!" Several pairs of hands gripped him tightly, their nails practically digging into his flesh. He was swept inside by the crowd. He turned and waved to Bai He, his voice swallowed by the wind. All that could be heard was his mouth moving, "You go first, I'll be there soon."

Bai He nodded in response, then turned and followed his uncle to Chen Lixin's home. The two families were distant relatives, and their interactions had been frequent over the years. Chen Lixin's family grew a lot of vegetables, and they often sent fresh ones to the Bai family. Any extra herbs the Bai family had would be left for the Chen family. The once bright little villa had lost all its luster: large pieces of blue and white tiles had peeled off, revealing the moldy cement underneath, and there were several cracks on the walls. The doors and windows were completely rotten, with shattered glass scattered all over the floor, gaping black holes. Inside, the wardrobe and table were smashed to pieces by the storm, with broken wood and bedding scattered across the floor. Chen Lixin's wife's favorite sewing machine was now a twisted pile of scrap metal. In the once tidy yard, plastic bottles, rotten vegetable leaves, and rags were tumbling in the wind. Even the hen he had raised lay lifeless in the corner.

Aunt Li was squatting at the door, clutching a torn sack with a few shrunken carrots sticking out. She stared blankly at the mess inside, not even noticing the people approaching. It wasn't until her uncle patted her shoulder that she slowly raised her head.

"Aunt Li, are you okay?" The uncle spoke in a low voice, afraid of scaring her.

Aunt Li's eyes were a little dazed, and it took her a few seconds to recognize the people: "Oh, it's you... No one is fine, but the house is completely destroyed, and the food is blown away and buried. What should we do..." Her voice trembled, and she almost muttered to herself at the end. Tears fell down her cheeks and hit the mud ground. They were absorbed in an instant, leaving no trace.

The uncle squatted down and looked at the carrots in her hand. He felt bad too. "It's good that everyone is okay. We have no food left. We can find another way. The resettlement center in the village should be able to distribute relief food. If that doesn't work, I still have some food stored at home. I'll give you some first."

Aunt Li's tears suddenly welled up even more violently. She covered her face, her sobs muffled in her hands, like a blocked bellows: "Why does God treat us like this... Life was just getting better a couple of years ago, and my son was old enough to get married. I was thinking of finding him a girl this year... Now everything is gone, everything is gone!"

Uncle and Bai He exchanged a glance, speechless. Over the years, although the climate hadn't improved and minor disasters still occurred from time to time, under the district's management, people had reclaimed wasteland and built biogas digesters, finally bringing some hope to their lives. But a natural disaster shattered all their efforts.

They continued walking forward in silence, and not far away, they saw Wang Fuye's figure on the roadside - the old man who always liked to wear a blue cloth shirt, holding a pipe in his hand, and talk about carpentry with Grandpa Bai, now sat stiffly in front of his collapsed house like a rotten dead tree.

His house had completely collapsed, with bricks and beams piled on the ground, along with broken tiles and rotten straw, exposing even the foundation. Wang Fuye sat on a bluestone slab in front of the rubble, his body covered in blood. Some had dried, forming dark brown scabs, while others were still seeping out. He held his wife tightly in his arms. The old woman's lower body was buried in the rubble, with only her upper body exposed. Her face was pale, her lips purple, and she was clearly dead.

"Uncle Fuye." The uncle walked over and called softly.

Wang Fuye seemed not to have heard, remaining in the same position, his arms tightly embracing his wife, his head resting on her shoulder, his eyes fixed on the ruins before him, motionless. He slowly turned his head until several people approached him. His sunken eyes were as hollow as two dry wells, and even focusing them took a long time. He stared at the people in front of him, his lips moving, before he managed to squeeze out a sound for a long time—each word was coated in the smell of blood and a bit hoarse: "It's gone, it's all gone, why am I still alive?"

He raised his hand, his knuckles turned white from the force, and there were bloodstains on his hand from being scratched by tiles. He spoke incoherently: "When the wind blew, I grabbed her arm and ran desperately, trying to hide in the safe cave, but my legs were not strong enough. I had cold legs when I was young, and I couldn't walk when it hurt... I couldn't pull her up, so I watched her being pressed underneath, calling my name, and her voice became smaller and smaller..." At this point, his voice suddenly stopped, and a "ho ho" sound came from his throat, as if something was blocking it. He couldn't even cry, but tears flowed down the corners of his eyes and fell on his wife's clothes.