Chapter 9 Cracks

The surroundings returned to calm in an instant, as calm as if nothing had happened.

Zhao Yeqing's heart was still pounding. If it weren't for the rubble on the ground and the fallen trees around, she might not have believed it was true.

She has never experienced an earthquake in her life. The closest she has ever been to an earthquake was when an earthquake hit a city when she was in elementary school. She took out the pocket money she had saved for a long time and donated it to the disaster area.

In her previous understanding, earthquakes would make people sway from side to side and unable to stand steadily. But after experiencing it personally this time, she realized that it was actually a shaking that made people feel dizzy. She was still dizzy at the moment.

The tree that fell behind the house was an old fir tree, nearly twenty meters high. Fortunately, the homestead was dug wide enough to prevent fire, otherwise the tree would have fallen and hit the roof directly.

She had no idea how to deal with such a natural disaster and could only think about leaving the area around the house as quickly as possible to avoid secondary damage caused by aftershocks.

She quickly went upstairs to pack a simple survival bag containing clothes, fire food and medicine, and went downstairs to get the tools.

I still remember some of the popular science knowledge about earthquakes that I learned in school, but it hasn't completely passed through my smooth brain.

She remembered that she seemed to have to stay in an open area, and the most open area around was the unused residential land next to the house, so she sat down on a small stool ten meters away from her home.

Only then did she remember to take out her cell phone to call Feng Chunyan when she sat down, but when she took out the phone, she found that there was no signal. She held the phone high and walked around the house but failed to get any signal.

It was probably that the nearby signal tower was damaged in the recent earthquake. Not knowing what the situation was outside, Zhao Yeqing had a bad feeling.

If she knew the situation, she could still stay here. If she didn't get any news from the outside world, she would be a little panicked. If there were aftershocks or even a bigger earthquake, she wouldn't even be able to ask for help.

Looking at the time, it was 4:13 in the afternoon. Zhao Yeqing rode her tricycle. She wanted to go to the town first.

The small road was full of broken branches. After clearing the roadblocks, we drove onto the mountain highway. The road conditions were basically not affected except that the soil was bulged out in some places.

But it was not until Zhao Yeqing drove the tricycle onto the main road and went less than a kilometer forward that the scene before her made her feel cold all over.

A dark, bottomless crack measuring several dozen meters wide cut the road into two sections. Concrete blocks on the road section were still falling down, and the falling stones made no sound at all.

One end of the crack extends to the mountain, and the other end winds back for an unknown distance.

Zhao Yeqing seemed to have lost her own voice. Her hand holding the accelerator had become limp and she had no strength left. Looking at the crack, which was of unknown length, she felt a fear she had never felt before.

After finally regaining some strength, Zhao Yeqing turned around and stepped on the accelerator. She wanted to find the end of the crack so that she could get out from there.

——

An hour later, she was in complete despair.

The crack meanders upwards and stops at the edge of a cliff. This cliff is a precipice in the Meishan Mountains. It is so high that it is impossible to descend without professional equipment.

This meant that the roads on both sides were cut off and she was trapped!

She took out her cell phone but still had no signal. One end of the crack was on the edge of a cliff, and the other end extended into the mountains. The Meishan Mountains were very long, and the pristine ecological reserve was full of wild animals such as snakes, insects, rats and ants. She didn't dare to risk a long journey until the last moment.

Zhao Yeqing had prepared for the worst on the way, and now he is much calmer than at the beginning.

After getting off the car, Zhao Yeqing sat down on the road, rubbed his sore eyes, and looked around in a daze.

This was a loneliness she had never felt before, as if she was the only one left in the world.

As it was getting darker, she had no choice but to turn back.

When she got home, she remembered that there was an old radio in her grandparents' room, the door of which had never been opened.

When she opened the door, the furnishings in her grandparents' room were still the same as before, as if her relatives were waiting for her there. It was familiar and warm, and she couldn't suppress the grievance and helplessness that filled her heart, and her eyes turned red.

I picked up the things that had fallen on the ground due to the earthquake just now, and opened my grandfather's wooden cabinet. The old-fashioned wooden cabinet made a creaking sound when it was opened.

The radio was well preserved, wrapped in cotton cloth, and except for some paint peeling on the corners, there was no dust at all.

Stretch the antenna and turn the knob on the radio, adjusting it carefully bit by bit until the crackling sound is mixed with the stuttering human voice.

'Don't panic, wait for the rescue team in the open space, temporary rescue points have been set up in various places. Repeat, the national earthquake disaster situation is still being counted, please don't panic, wait for the rescue team in the open space, temporary rescue points have been set up in various places...'

Zhao Yeqing tried to adjust several frequency bands and found that only this one could receive the information, so he left it alone, allowing it to continue and repeatedly broadcast the same announcement.

She came to her senses and quickly counted the supplies she had.

She checked the daily necessities, including the paper towels, sanitary napkins and toiletries she had bought earlier...they should be enough for a year. She opened the refrigerator and wanted to carefully count the remaining food. Water dripped onto the ground through the refrigerator door.

No way?

She tried turning on the light, but nothing happened.

There's a power outage.

Cold drops of water fell on Zhao Yeqing's hands. She pursed her lips and took a deep breath.

What does it mean when it rains it pours?

She resigned herself to her fate and sorted out the food in the refrigerator. The vegetables were almost finished and could only last for two days at most. It would take at least another half month to harvest the vegetables she grew. There were still more than ten pounds of meat left. She didn't have a refrigerator and the temperature in the mountains was relatively low. The meat could be stored at room temperature for three days, and should last another day in the cellar. However, to be on the safe side, she still wanted to air-dry the meat. She didn't want to take the risk of wasting it.

Rice, flour, grain, oil and other things were difficult to carry, so we didn’t buy much. Potatoes and sweet potatoes in the cellar could also be used as staple food. At that time, Wang Chao was asked to use a small truck to carry...

Mini truck!

Only then did Zhao Yeqing remember the small truck that she had driven to a low spot on the side of the road to deliver goods to the village store.

I took the car keys and rode to the place before the tricycle. The small truck parked in the low-lying area was covered with leaves and branches, and the car was sunk deeper than before due to the earthquake.

Zhao Yeqing struggled to open the compartment of the small truck, and it was actually still a little chilly inside. There were not many goods in the compartment, mostly snacks and spicy strips, and some daily necessities like paper towels. There would be no rice or flour when delivering goods to the village, as the rural people produce and sell their own goods, and most of the goods in the truck were daily necessities and snacks and drinks that children liked.

I opened the small freezer in the corner and saw quite a bit of ice cream inside, only slightly melted.

She couldn't help but smile, this was the main purpose of her trip.

At that time, she noticed that this refrigerator was not connected to the power supply in the car, but to the outdoor power supply next to it, which was connected to the two solar panels on the roof of the car.

The display screen on this outdoor power supply shows that it can store two kilowatt-hours of electricity. There is not much left now, but as long as there are solar panels, this machine is enough to ensure emergency power.