When Qiao Qingqing and the others came down, Wang Jiaxin was carrying a bucket of potatoes. Seeing that the three of them only had three suitcases, she was surprised and asked, "Don't you want anything else at home?"

"It's too late. Don't do it."

The family reunited at 101 and felt relieved when they looked at each other.

"It's good that the family is together, it's okay." Qiao Songzhi patted Qiao Qingqing's hand and pulled her to sit down.

On the surface, all the luggage appeared to be only five boxes. Qiao Qingqing arranged the boxes and everyone sat together.

"Have some water." Qiao Songzhi took out the kettle and poured them some water. "Drink it. We've all had some water and rested."

Qiao Qingqing drank two glasses of water. Fearing that her family members might get heatstroke, she avoided others and made a pot of Isatis root tea, asking everyone to drink a glass.

"It's so hot! The fire next door is so big. How many floors has it burned to?" Shao's father poked his head out, surprised. "It's only been a short time, and it's already on the fifth floor!"

"We can't stay in this building any longer. I think it's dangerous."

There is no way to put out the fire, and the fire will sweep away everything that can burn around. In her previous life, Qiao Qingqing had seen too many fires, and she even saw half a block on fire. She ignored the scorching sun in the afternoon and ran out of the fire zone on her own. It was after that that she fell ill and was rescued by the soldiers. When she entered the survivor base, her first residence was a ruin after the fire. The shantytown was built by many survivors. For safety, they would come and spray fireproof paint regularly until the abnormal high temperature weather ended.

The high temperature lasted for more than two years in her previous life, and Qiao Qingqing didn’t know how long it would last in this life.

Mother Shao was worried: "Then where should we go?"

"Now that the water has receded, there are abandoned houses everywhere. We can just find one that is far away from the community as a temporary place to stay." Qiao Qingqing put away the kettle. "The sun is shining brightly now, so we must take protective measures."

She opened a suitcase and took out sun-protective clothing, hats, parasols, etc. and asked her family to equip themselves with them.

"Qingqing, are you leaving now? Where are you going?"

Hearing Grandma Wang's anxious question, Qiao Qingqing thought for a moment and said, "I plan to find a place to stay nearby, such as Qinghui Supermarket, to spend the hot afternoon first, and then leave after the sun sets—"

Wang Jiaxin asked hurriedly, "Where to go next? To the library or other shelters in Four Seasons Community? Those armed police soldiers disappeared after the temperature rose. Will they be in other shelters?"

"I'm not sure. Let's find a place to stay first."

Jinyuan Community is already like a furnace. The fire not only makes the already hot environment worse, but also makes residents of other buildings worry about their own safety.

When Qiao Qingqing and the others were leaving, they saw many people looking in from the windows or balconies. The high temperature distorted the air and the expressions on people's faces were unclear.

"It's so hot, Mom."

"It's almost time. It won't be hot in a moment." Shao's mother coaxed Shao Shengfei.

Shao Shengan held a suitcase in each hand, and Qiao Qingqing held an umbrella for him, and the two of them walked in front.

The ground gave off a smell of high temperature, decay and fermentation. Qiao Qingqing stumbled and when she stood firm she found that it was a human palm bone.

"I'm fine." Qiao Qingqing's tone remained unchanged in the face of her husband's question. She raised her voice and said, "The ground is messy, walk slowly and don't fall!"

Fortunately, Qinghui Supermarket is not far away. You can get there by just walking out of the community gate and crossing the road.

The door of Qinghui Supermarket was locked, but there was a corner missing on the side. They went in through the glass door with the missing corner. A rat suddenly jumped out, not afraid of strangers at all, and pounced on Qiao Qingqing.

"mouse!"

Qiao Qingqing was quick-witted and kicked the mouse away.

The fat rat hit the wall, fell down, rolled twice, and quickly crawled into the darkness.

"What a big rat! It looks like a cat!" Shao's mother looked horrified.

"Let's just go to the first floor. Although the environment is bad, at least it's shaded." Qiao Qingqing said softly.

They settled down temporarily at the former first floor of Qinghui Supermarket. Shao Shengan pushed open the door of the warehouse on the first floor of the supermarket and said, "Let's go inside so that people outside can't see us."

Qiao Qingqing took out the disinfectant, and Shao Shengan carried her on his back and sprayed the warehouse from inside to outside. Then she took out the beds, and everyone finally had a place to sit or lie down.

Qiao Songzhi looked up: "What's that on the ceiling?"

Everyone looked up and saw that the ceiling was mottled with black, and there were clusters of white things growing in every corner.

“It looks like a mushroom, right?”

“Cockroaches are crawling on it.”

The environment here was so bad that Qiao Qingqing had to take out another outdoor tent, assemble it on the bed, and everyone got in together.

"Okay, it's lit now."

Qiao Qingqing hung a flashlight on the tent and encouraged her family, "The summer camp has begun!"

Shao Shengan applauded: "Qingqing will be the captain, and I will be the deputy captain."

Qiao Songzhi smiled and raised his hand: "Then I will be the logistics team leader."

Father Shao was obviously at a loss. He looked around and hesitated for a moment: "Then I will start the fire? I will be the fire captain."

"Then I'll cook. My old tricks are enough." Shao's mother touched Shao Shengfei's head.

Shao Shengfei was still holding his bucket. He looked at his parents, then at Qiao Qingqing and the others, and asked expectantly, "Can I go fishing? I haven't gone fishing for a long time."

"Okay, if there's a chance I'll take you to the river to fish," said Shao Shengan.

"OK!"

Qiao Qingqing smiled and took out the food: "Eat a little bit, then lie down and rest for a while, we have to travel tonight."

Mother Shao looked at her face and said distressedly: "Why is your face covered with dust? Let me wipe it for you with a towel, and then you can eat."

"No need." Qiao Qingqing casually turned her head and wiped her face with her clothes. "This is fine. Mom, when we are outside, we can't be too clean. It's safer to look like other people."

Mother Shao understood and sighed: "Today's incident is really unlucky. How could there be a fire next door?"

"Don't worry about that. Let's eat first. Eat." Shao's father said, his stomach growling with hunger.

"This noodles looks good, everyone, come and eat quickly." Qiao Songzhi hurriedly greeted.

It was too hot, and the tent was too stuffy to bear. Qiao Qingqing took out two buckets of ice and then took out the solar fan that she had charged before to blow it, at least to lower the temperature.

They had a simple meal of noodles. It was already past three in the afternoon. Qiao Qingqing suggested that everyone take a rest. Before lying down, everyone drank a bottle of Huoxiang Zhengqi water.

Qiao Qingqing sat next to her mother on the left and Shao Shengan on the right, and felt particularly at peace.

Isn’t this the end of the world? Natural disasters and accidents follow us everywhere. No one can completely control everything. All we can do is to take things as they come, try to adapt, and keep moving forward.

She closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep. She wanted to have a good sleep. She had to live her life to the end. However, although her body was exhausted, her spirit was extremely excited. She opened her eyes helplessly and looked at the top of the tent.

What’s the next step?

Go to the library? Go to the Four Seasons Community? Or go to the gym?

She didn't want to go to these places. After the ice melted due to the global warming, more survivors would surely flock to those places. Now was the time when diseases were prevalent. After the flood receded, countless human and animal corpses were left behind, countless garbage was piled up on the ground, bacteria multiplied at a high speed, and rats, cockroaches, flies and other creatures multiplied explosively, spreading viruses and bacteria. At this time, places where people gathered were actually more dangerous.

Instead of going to these shelters, it is better to stay away from the burning neighborhood and find an empty house farther away to live in.

But she had an idea in her mind: should she go directly to the survivors' base from her previous life?

Hesitant in her heart, Qiao Qingqing turned her head to look at Shao Shengan, intending to talk to her husband after he woke up.

On the other side, the Wang and Chen families went up and down more than a dozen times and barely managed to move their important belongings down.

"What should we do next? Should we find a cleaned up first floor in another building and live there?" Wang Jiaxin asked after panting.

"Qingqing and the others left, saying that the neighborhood will no longer be safe, so let's leave too."

Chen Binggang's wife asked hurriedly: "How can the community be unsafe? If this building is not suitable for living, can't we just move to another one?"

Before Grandma Wang could say anything, her daughter-in-law Zheng Xiuyi spoke up: "Let's go. If the fire can't be put out, the whole community might catch fire."

"I can't do that——"

"Let's go, it's too hot here." Grandma Wang stood up and shook a little.

Her children and grandchildren quickly supported her. She held her granddaughter-in-law Zhou Ling's hand tightly, her eyes reddened, "It is our Wang family who has let you down. We are moving away now. We can only hope that Jiale and Jiale will come back to see us when they return home."

Zhou Ling's eyes suddenly popped out: "I really don't want to leave. What if Jiale comes back and can't find us? What should I do..."

"The most important thing is to be alive. Listen to grandma. Let's go now and find a place to get out of the sun. Don't let the child get hurt by the sun."

Everyone in the Wang family carried something on their backs and left the Jinyuan community step by step.

Although she had a parasol, Grandma Wang still felt dizzy, her eyes were all white, and she couldn't breathe. While the young people were moving the luggage, Grandma Wang looked after the children. She held the hand of Jiale's only remaining child, bent down slightly and tilted the umbrella towards the child to prevent the child from getting any sunlight. When she felt dizzy, she kept blinking her eyes hoping that she could see the road clearly. She wanted to see the road clearly.

The child's hand was suddenly grabbed tightly and he screamed and was about to fall. Grandma Wang instinctively held the child back, but she herself lost her balance and fell down.

"Grandma!" Wang Jiaxin hurriedly dropped her things and came to help.

"It's okay, I'm fine, cough cough." Grandma Wang stood up with the help of Wang Jiaxin and Uncle Wang. She coughed a few times and said, "Keep going, I'm fine."

The team continued to move forward. Grandma Wang, with her back to the others, pulled out a piece of black iron from her palm, gritting her teeth and not daring to make any sound.

The Chen family had not yet made up their minds. Zheng Xiuyi wanted to leave. In her opinion, she had been neighbors with the Wang family and the Qiao family upstairs for many years. She had not gotten along much before, but after the natural disasters in the past two years, she felt that their character was reliable. She and her mother-in-law had two daughters. What else could they do if they did not follow reliable neighbors?

"But, but your father-in-law hasn't come back yet. He will come back. We won't be able to meet him if we leave now!" Chen Binggang's wife said anxiously.

Zheng Xiuyi pursed her lips and said after a while: "Mom, I also believe that Dad is still alive. Maybe they encountered an accident on the road and will come back later... But now we have to leave. We can't go back home. The Wang family has more people. It will be safer for us to follow them. Think about it! Do you remember the robbers who came to the community and climbed through the windows to rob people a few days ago? If we don't leave with the Wang family now, what will we do in the future!"

Chen Binggang's wife cried: "But your father-in-law hasn't come back yet."

Zheng Xiuyi closed her eyes and said, "Mom, if you don't leave, I'll take Chen Yu and the others with me, and we'll divide the things. You just stay here and wait for Grandpa!"

Seeing that her daughter-in-law really started to divide the things, Chen Binggang's wife was terrified and hurriedly stopped her: "How can you take care of two children by yourself? Why don't you listen to me? Why don't we stay and find a neighbor to stay with us until your father-in-law comes home? When your father-in-law comes back, no one will dare to bully our family!"

"Mom!" Zheng Xiuyi shook her hand off, "Now I can only rely on myself! I can't wait for my father-in-law to come home! Chen Yu, hold your sister tightly, let's go!"

Chen Binggang’s wife stood there crying, but finally she picked up her things and chased after him crying.

Zheng Tiehui was unable to rescue any supplies. It was not the first time that he had suffered such a loss. He had suffered losses in business in his early years, but never had he suffered such a loss that made him so depressed. He felt like a trapped beast, and his eyes were red.

When Zheng Liangying woke up, her voice was as hoarse as a broken gong. She felt chest tightness, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting.

"Where's my brother?"

Mrs. Zheng's tears dried up: "Your brother, your brother is gone!"

"It's good that you woke up. Let your mother hold you, and we'll leave now." Zheng Tiehui was afraid that the truth about the fire would be discovered by others. In fact, outsiders would never guess that the fire was set by his son, and would only think it was an accident. But Zheng Tiehui was guilty and always worried about revenge if others knew about it. He just looked down from the window and saw that everyone in 801 next door and the Wang and Chen families downstairs had left.

He carried his son's body on his back. He felt heavy-hearted as he lost his son in middle age and his entire career and family fortune.

Having nothing left again, can he really make a comeback?

People in other buildings also watched the fire nervously.

"The whole building is on fire. Oh my god! Will it burn to our side?"

"Oh my god! Look, the fifth floor of Building 6 is on fire! Is that fire? Is that fire? How come there is a fire there?"

"Hurry up and dig the dirt to put out the fire. Do you want our building to burn down as well?!"

The Wang family, and the Chen family who followed closely behind, all chose Qinghui Supermarket as their base.

"It's locked here, and the footprints came from here." Wang Jiaxin pointed to the location of the warehouse and was about to knock on the door when he was stopped by Grandma Wang.

"If Qingqing and her family are inside, they must be resting with the door locked. Don't disturb them!"

Wang Jiaxin withdrew her hand awkwardly.

It took them a long time to find a place to sit down. The children were drowsy from the sun, so Grandma Wang touched their faces and said softly, "Go to sleep. When you wake up, the sun will set."

"Grandma, I'm hungry."

Wang Jiaxin said: "I won't be hungry when I fall asleep."

Grandma Wang took out a handkerchief from her pocket and opened it slowly with shaking hands. Inside was half a potato cake. She pinched the potato cake into several pieces and stuffed them into the children's mouths: "Hold it in your mouth, chew it slowly and swallow it slowly, and you will be full."

Wang Jiaxin turned her head to wipe her tears.

As the sun went down, the direction of Jinyuan Community had become a sea of ​​fire, and more and more people fled the community, carrying large and small bags. The fire here also attracted the attention of other people, and those with bad intentions wanted to fish in troubled waters, and rushed here as soon as the sun went down.

Qiao Qingqing was quite experienced in surviving a disaster. She set an alarm clock and woke up before the sun went down, then woke up her family and had a filling dinner together.

Before leaving, she put away all her things. Shao Shengan carefully checked the ground with a flashlight, leaving no trace of life behind, which would make people speculate about their family's living standard.

"The fire in the community is really big, and it's still burning!" Shao's father and others stood at the entrance of the supermarket, shocked.

In the warehouse, Qiao Qingqing and Shao Shengan were alone together, and she wanted to discuss something with him.

"Although the time points in this life are different, the survivor base should have been established during this period. I went to my hometown to look for my mother and uncle, but I couldn't find them. Later, I walked back to Huacheng and fell ill on the way. I was rescued by a group of soldiers who were searching for supplies outside. The survivor base had been established for a long time at that time. After I recovered from my illness, I asked around and found out that the survivor base was probably built after the water receded."

"Where is the survivor base established?"

"Xicheng Dong'an District."

Shao Shengan calculated: "It's quite far from here, about 300 kilometers away? It used to take six hours to drive there. Why did you choose that place?"

"I heard that the local garrison base in Xicheng is in a mountain in Dong'an District. I also heard that there is an arsenal and a coal mine hidden there. There must be more considerations, but I don't know."

"It makes sense if there are arsenals and coal mines." Shao Shengan asked her what her plan was. "Do you want to settle down at the base in advance?"

He hit the nail on the head. Qiao Qingqing turned her head and asked Shao Shengan for his opinion.

"Your opinion is my opinion. I will listen to you."

She smiled bitterly. "You make me feel very stressed. Well, I did want to go there earlier to reserve a spot. The outside world is not suitable for living alone. We need the order of the base to protect ourselves. Although the base is not completely safe, it is better than fighting alone outside."

Shao Shengan thought of what Qiao Qingqing said yesterday, the woman who was kept in captivity, those beasts that had lost their humanity... The world outside the base was in chaos and human nature was degenerate.

"Okay, let's go then."

"It's still very hot now. If we go to Xicheng Dong'an District now, the journey will be very tiring."

Shao Shengan touched her head and said, "But if we wait until the temperature drops, we will miss the opportunity, right? Have you hesitated before but didn't say it?"

"Yes. If there hadn't been this fire, I would have suggested that we go to Xicheng first in three months." Going there at the beginning of the survivor base is definitely beneficial, such as being able to occupy a place with a better location and environment. If you go there later, the structure will be basically set, and if you want to get a house with the same conditions, you will have to pay more "currency" than in the early stage. Currency can be gold, jewelry, food, daily necessities, medicine, etc.

"Who would have thought that the community would suddenly catch fire... I was thinking when I was taking a break just now, it's better to do it now than to wait for a better day. Since I've left home, I might as well go straight to the future survivors base."

There is no perfect thing in the world. If you take care of one thing, you have to give up the other. If you want a more stable future, you have to endure hardships now. Shao Shengan thought clearly.

"People cannot be content with pleasure. Temporary hard work in exchange for a stable future is all worth it."

"If we decide, we have to adjust our schedule first." Qiao Qingqing has experience going out in hot weather. "The best time to go out is after sunset and before sunset the next day. Before the hot weather eases, it's best for us to stay out at night to minimize the threat of high temperature and sunlight. At the same time, we have to wear protective clothing to resist pollution on the road and it's best not to get sick."

"Okay. Then let's go tell our parents right away. We need to think about what to say—"

"I've thought about it. Just tell her directly. That place was a military base before the apocalypse. It must be the safest place now. After experiencing an incident where someone broke into the house and robbed it in broad daylight, I believe my parents would prefer to live closer to the military base." As for her mother, she would tell her mother directly.

The family discussed together and finally decided to go to Xicheng. After some preparation, the family set off.

"Qingqing and the others left." Wang Jiaxin looked at the gate. "They said they were going to Xicheng. They said there used to be an army there, so it must be safer now. It's so far, should we go?"

Uncle Wang yawned, "It's too far. We can just go to the library. They are so stupid. It will take them ages to walk to Xicheng, which is so far away."

"Grandma, what do you think?"

Grandma Wang tried hard to open her eyes, but she still felt that fatigue had imprisoned her body. She felt weak all over and even opening her eyes was extremely difficult.

"Grandma, you have a fever!"

"fine……"

Wang Jiaxin fed her some water, but Grandma Wang took a sip and then turned her head away and refused to drink.

"The medicine I borrowed from upstairs is still there, as well as half a pill of antipyretic medicine. I'll find it out..." Wang Jiaxin was in a panic. There were too many things and they were so mixed together that she couldn't find the precious medicine box for a moment.

Grandma Wang swallowed hard to moisten her throat: "Don't look for me anymore, I don't want to eat, I just need to rest for a while, Jiaxin, don't bother me, I'll just take a nap, just take a nap."

Wang Jiaxin didn't listen, but she finally found it.

"Grandma, you eat."

Grandma Wang sighed, "Help me up, I'll eat by myself."

After taking the medicine, Grandma Wang said she wanted to sleep, so Wang Jiaxin asked the same question again.

She thought hard and said after a while: "It's too far, too far. You should go to the library. The road is not easy to walk on. You should walk slowly." After that, she fell asleep.

"Jiaxin, go back to sleep for a while. I'm still too tired to walk." Wang Jiale's cousin said, "I'll carry grandma on our back when we set off."

"Yeah, it's quite far to walk to the library, so you should rest well before going."

Uncle Wang and his wife were too tired to get up. Everyone was exhausted from moving today. Wang Jiaxin also felt sore muscles and her temples were throbbing. She lay down again after hearing that and closed her eyes tiredly. She told herself that it was okay to be a little tired. Fortunately, most of their belongings had been rescued. They could rest for a while before starting again... She fell asleep vaguely and didn't notice that Grandma Wang opened her eyes again.

No one helped her, she couldn't sit up, she just tilted her head and looked at everyone again, not sure if it was because the vision in the room was blurry or her eyes were blurry, she felt that everyone was just a blurry shadow in her eyes. But she still smiled, the faces of her family had long been engraved in her heart.

She fumbled to wrap the half pill in her hand into a handkerchief, stuffed the handkerchief into her granddaughter's hand, then folded her hands on her stomach and closed her eyes. The palm of her right hand had ulcerated and festering, emitting an unpleasant odor.

No one expected that a few hours later, when Wang Jiaxin woke up her family, she touched Grandma Wang's cold body.

"grandmother!"