Yu Fen rubbed his aching shoulders and arms, which felt like they were about to fall apart from the beating. He looked at himself and then at the heavily guarded security door in front of him, and asked in a hoarse voice, "What's wrong? Could there be a monster in here too?"
Upon receiving a cold glance, Yu Fendun suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
Cheng Zhen hesitated for only two seconds before knocking on the door. After a long while, she heard a weak, childlike voice, seemingly leaning against the door, respond: "Who are you?"
It sounds like a child who is not even five years old.
A low, scolding voice followed, and the child ran off into the distance. A clear, cold female voice rang out: "Who are you looking for?"
Cheng Zhen paused, feeling a sudden jolt in his heart. He clenched his fist to suppress the unease before speaking, "I am a member of the city's guard. Have you encountered any danger?"
"No."
The woman's voice remained cold and devoid of warmth, showing no panic or helplessness one would expect from someone entering the apocalypse, nor any joy or excitement upon hearing that they were the city's defense forces.
Yu Fen felt that something was very wrong, extremely wrong!
But surprisingly, the usually shrewd Captain Cheng simply grunted an "uh-huh" and left without saying another word.
Just like that, you left?
He stood there dumbfounded for a moment, then immediately chased after them: "No, Captain, there's clearly something wrong with this family! Aren't you going to interrogate them?"
Cheng Zhen continued walking briskly downstairs without stopping for a moment, only slightly turning her head to speak to him: "What are you interrogating?"
"Of course, we'll interrogate them to see if they are..."
"Can you still sense the presence of mutated plants in this building?"
Yu Fen subconsciously shook his head: "No...no, just because we can't feel it doesn't mean it's not there..."
“That was you.” Cheng Zhen gave him a look of utter disdain, like that of a king. “It wasn’t me.”
Hey!
I know you're impressive! But do you really have to be so infuriating?!
At home, Jiang Wan made sure everyone outside the door had left before turning around and looking at her obediently standing twin sister with strong disapproval.
The twin brother stood silently in front of his sister, in a protective posture, and looked at his mother in silence.
"Mom, I know I was wrong, please don't be angry..."
Knowing she had made a mistake, Jiang Xiaoxin obediently lowered her head to admit it, held her hands together in front of her, and peeked out from behind her brother, asking cautiously, "Mommy, Xiaoxin knows she was wrong, please don't send me and my brother away, okay?"
Jiang Wan felt a pang of pain in her heart. In her past life, she was dedicated to finding the twins' biological father, and she would always say to them when they misbehaved, "If you keep doing this, I'll send you away right away!"
Even my usually naive younger sister can be so sensitive now, which shows how much these words hurt them!
Jiang Wan reflected on her actions, then softened her expression, squatted down in front of the two children, and tried to make her attitude gentler: "Mom won't send you away. In this apocalypse, the three of us can only rely on each other."
Upon hearing the first half of her sentence, the two little ones were overjoyed and excited, and they clasped their hands tightly in front of her.
Jiang Wan: For some reason, I feel like she's actually superfluous?
She coughed lightly to shake off her inappropriate mood and continued, "But you must remember, this is the apocalypse. People, plants, and animals are all different from before. So if someone knocks on the door, you must not open it, understand?"
"Yes." Jiang Xiaoshu nodded solemnly, making a promise.
Jiang Xiaoxin hesitated for a moment, then nodded, her eyes still looking at her expectantly.
"What does Xin Xin want to say?"
"What if Mom knocks on the door and you don't open it? The nursery rhyme says that you can only open the door when Mom knocks..."
Jiang Wan said seriously, "No, Mom has her own key, so no matter who knocks, you can't open the door."
Jiang Xiaoxin nodded as if she understood, and said "Oh".
Jiang Xiaoshu lowered her head thoughtfully.
The crisis at Yincheng Yazuo Building 1 has been resolved, but the commotion in the community did not completely disappear until three days later. During this period, the community's loudspeaker kept broadcasting: "Please move all indoor potted plants to open areas in the community. It is forbidden to place any plants indoors."
Jiang Wan's home has no potted plants, so she and her two children stayed home for three days without leaving the house.
Every day, she cooks three meals for the twins, does housework, plays and exercises with them. In these three days, the two little ones have become much more dependent on and closer to her.
The weather is extreme, with outdoor temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius, making it extremely uncomfortable for people.
But at this very moment, Jiang Wan had no choice but to go out.
The neighborhood committee of Yincheng Yazuo has knocked on the door for the third time: "Please follow the team out of the city to dig for crystals, homeowner of unit 1-1701."
To avoid digging for crystals, one must provide proof of employment. Even if she is an employee, she is still required to go out to dig for crystals every weekend, unless she is a researcher, doctor, teacher, or certain high-ranking officials.
People who go out of the city to dig for crystals gather in groups of neighborhoods and are provided with transportation. Each person needs to pay 3 crystals per month, so a family like Jiang Wan's must pay 9 crystals to leave the city.
If they don't pay the crystals, they can only leave on their own, but this will expose them to all sorts of dangers outside the city. They might not be able to return alive once they leave the city, because groups leaving the city together are protected by the city guards.
Jiang Wan had already dressed the twins and given each a backpack containing a small oxygen cylinder, which they could use if they felt short of breath or uncomfortable.
When Mi Mang, the neighborhood clerk, saw her finally open the door, she suppressed her annoyance and handed her a form with a smile: "Please sign here. You can postpone this month's crystal payments, but you must pay them in full within the next three months."
After saying that, she winked playfully at the twins and said with a grin, "Your children are so beautiful!"
Jiang Wan raised her eyelids and glanced at her, but did not respond. She hesitated for a moment, but still signed her name on the form.
She has an oxygen-storage RV, and Jiang Xiaoshu has purification abilities. They seem capable of acting independently. However, the unknown dangers outside the city are numerous, and Xiaoshu's abilities are very weak. She doesn't want the two children to take risks, and she also doesn't want their abilities to be exposed to others.
Moreover, in this world where civilized order has collapsed, she dared not leave her two children alone at home.
Therefore, she can only choose to give out these 9 crystals every month.
Mi Mang had been urging her for three days, and originally thought she would be difficult to deal with, but she was surprisingly cooperative. So he breathed a sigh of relief, smiled, and said, "Let's go, we're about to leave."
Meanwhile, Cheng Zhen was holding a list and was in a frenzy:
"Damn it! If they knew how important these botanists were, why didn't they protect them beforehand? Now they're all dead! Do they expect me to go down into the ground and dig them out?!"
Yu Fen weakly reminded, "There are two more..."
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