Chapter 24 Chapter 24 Preparation
*
After taking a nap in the tent, Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao got up early around ten o'clock in the morning. After eating something to fill their stomachs, they packed their backpacks and prepared to go out.
The city is not like the wilderness where few people live. Gu Mengran was actually worried about his grandfather staying alone in the camp. But the weather was too hot. The old man couldn't sleep yesterday because of the heat. Today, he had two dark circles under his eyes, as if he had stayed up all night and ran ten miles. He looked haggard.
Gu Mengran couldn't bear it, so he had to let his grandfather stay in the camp to rest. He left a chainsaw and a bottle of pepper spray, and also took out the few neck fans and gave one to each of them.
The breeze gently blows on the neck, bringing a slight coolness.
Surrounded by a heat wave, the effect of this breeze can only be said to be better than nothing.
It was hot, unbearably hot. They struggled forward in the heat, walking from the fork in the road to the busy main road. The T-shirts of Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao were almost soaked.
Traveling requires transportation. This trip was mainly to find a car. They needed an air-conditioned car that could carry at least 15 people, with seats that were not too hard and could be used for sitting and sleeping...
All right.
It’s actually a bus, a bus that meets all the requirements.
There are few buses in the city. I saw a lot of buses along the way, but I didn't see a single bus. The hot weather gave Gu Mengran the illusion that he could take the bus, but when he looked through the window at the hard seat, his butt hurt.
The massive collapse of buildings made it impossible to tell east from west and north from south. The city was so unrecognizable that even locals would get lost, let alone outsiders who were unfamiliar with the area.
Gu Mengran also wanted to go find the bus station, but considering his grandfather who stayed in the camp, he didn't dare to go too far. They tried to avoid detours and walked slowly along the main road.
Hard work pays off. After walking for nearly an hour or two, the two were exhausted and out of breath. Finally, they found an intact bus near a collapsed overpass.
The blue and white medium-sized tourist bus was long but not high, and was fully loaded with 35 people. The cars parked randomly on the roadside were not locked, and it was obvious that people were in a hurry to escape when the earthquake occurred, and even the doors were not closed.
After the inspection, the two entered the car through the front door with strong flashlights. Whether the car can be used is not only determined by its appearance, but also by whether it can be started successfully.
The doors and windows were not closed, and the car was filled with thick fog. The two men groped their way to the dashboard in the dim light, and Liang Zhao sat in the driver's seat and tried to start the car.
Gu Mengran knew nothing about buses and was unable to help, but since he had nothing to do anyway, he walked into the car with a flashlight and checked the car for any hidden dangers.
The 35-seat bus, except for the driver's seat, the remaining 34 seats seemed particularly crowded in the cramped compartment. The aisle was narrow, and Gu Mengran walked sideways inside, scanning the light in his hand back and forth, and he actually saw a lot of personal belongings on the seats.
The luggage rack above the seat was also packed full with suitcases, backpacks, woven bags...almost nothing was left to be taken away.
Gu Mengran couldn't help wondering, are the tourists on the bus still alive? With supplies so scarce now, if they are still alive, why don't they come back to pick up their luggage?
"Bang!"
Gu Mengran came to his senses when his toes kicked a hard object. He thought someone had put the luggage in the aisle, and subconsciously moved back to the light source and looked down.
However, just this casual glance made Gu Mengran's stomach churn and he almost vomited his breakfast.
A bloody male corpse was lying upright in the aisle, his legs still stuck in the gap between the seats, twisted like a pretzel, and his body was lying in the aisle in an extremely distorted posture.
There were messy footprints on his light blue shirt, and it was obvious that he had been trampled to death in the chaos. There were multiple wounds on his exposed skin, and his head and face were not spared.
After fermentation at high temperatures, the corpse was highly decomposed. Its stomach was swollen like a ball, its festering and melting skin occasionally rose and fell, worms could be seen wriggling, and turbid mucus spread along the aisle, leaving no one in the cramped carriage unscathed.
The protective mask seemed to be ineffective in an instant, and the strong stench penetrated every pore, continuously pouring into the nasal cavity. Gu Mengran's legs went weak and he almost fell to the ground.
"What's wrong?"
After tinkering with it for a long time, the bus started successfully. Liang Zhao was about to call Gu Mengran to come and take a look when he vaguely heard a strange noise coming from behind him.
Without getting a reply for a long time, he quickly got up and went to the carriage to check, but before he had taken a few steps, Gu Mengran ran towards him, grabbed his arm and staggered out of the door.
He rushed out for nearly a hundred meters in one breath until the car blended into the thick fog and completely disappeared. Gu Mengran took off his protective mask, squatted on the side of the road, and couldn't help retching.
"Ugh, ugh, cough, cough, cough..."
Frightened and retching, Gu Mengran's face turned pale. Liang Zhao frowned, quickly took out a bottle of water from his bag, unscrewed the cap and handed it to him.
Gu Mengran took it but didn't drink it. Liang Zhao took off his mask and squatted beside him with a worried look on his face. He put his hand over his shoulder and half-huggled him, gently patting his back, "It's okay, it's okay."
No need to ask, the faint stench of corpse in the air tells it all.
Gu Mengran felt so uncomfortable, as if someone was scratching his throat, and he couldn't help but retching. He couldn't vomit anything, which made him feel very uncomfortable, and the smell was very persistent, like a corpse lying on his back -
Wait, Gu Mengran suddenly paused and looked down at his shoes.
Sure enough, the sneakers that were originally just a little dirty became shiny, especially the toes, which were covered with a layer of light yellow transparent mucus.
Seeing this scene, Gu Mengran miraculously stopped retching. He hurriedly took out a pair of clean shoes from the space, changed them with the help of Liang Zhao, and threw them far away.
He has lived two lifetimes and has seen corpses before, but he has never worked in a funeral home, so his psychological quality is not that strong.
A corpse in a state of advanced decomposition is disturbing no matter how many times you see it.
Gu Mengran gulped down half a bottle of water, and used the remaining half to wash his hands and face. The sticky heat was driven away, and the fan around his neck brought a light coolness, and Gu Mengran finally felt reborn.
His overly pale face could not hide his haggardness. Gu Mengran stood up, waved to Liang Zhao, and put on his protective mask again. "Let's go. We can't take that car anymore. Let's hurry and find another one."
He raised his foot and tried to leave, but his wrist was suddenly grabbed.
Gu Mengran turned around and saw Liang Zhao looking at him solemnly, his deep eyes filled with unrelieved sorrow.
After staring at each other for a moment, Liang Zhao lowered his eyes and looked away. At the same time, he let go of Gu Mengran's hand and said softly, "We have been walking for too long. It is not safe for Grandpa Meng to stay in the camp alone. You go back first and check the camp. I will go find the car."
This person is really... exactly the same as in the previous life!
Liang Zhao was probably worried about him because he guessed what he had seen in the car, but this guy was always like this. He would not let him embarrass himself, nor would he show concern openly. He would only beat around the bush to keep him away from danger.
Gu Mengran is no longer the Gu Mengran of the past. He chuckled and agreed immediately, "Okay, I'm tired too. But how are you going to bring the car back after you find it? Carry it back or drive it back in the thick fog?"
Liang Zhao pursed his lips, thought carefully and said softly: "I can remember the location and come back to find you."
"It's so hot, aren't you tired of running back and forth?"
“Not tired.”
"Okay, then I'll go back first. Bye!" Gu Mengran said as he walked back.
The footsteps continued. After walking a few meters, Gu Mengran turned around suddenly and saw Liang Zhao following closely behind him. He burst out laughing and said, "What? Do you regret it?"
"No." Liang Zhao looked at him seriously, "I'll send you back first."
A heat wave hit, and the sticky heat was like sweet honey. Gu Mengran's heart trembled slightly. He no longer had the intention to tease Liang Zhao, so he turned around and walked in another direction.
"You must be kidding. I don't want to go back. I can walk and jump. I can go with you to find a car and I can go forward and backward with you. Liang Zhao, I am now..."
No longer a burden to you.
*
At 4:30 in the afternoon, Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao arrived at the camp safely.
Meng Gaoyang had been waiting for a long time. Just as the two of them entered the tent and hadn't had time to put down their backpacks, the old man came rushing with news: "Teacher Wei has been here, and they have discussed it - let's go, come with us!"
With these words, today's efforts will not be in vain.
After returning to the space to take a shower and have a simple lunch, Gu Mengran put all the sleeping bags and tents into the space, and walked out of the city with his grandfather and Liang Zhao with backpacks on his back.
The vehicles were successfully found, a bus, an off-road vehicle and a mountain motorcycle.
There were too many building debris in the city, so the road out of the city was definitely not driveable. Gu Mengran couldn't take out the car in front of others, so he could only take some effort to park it on a smooth road outside the city in advance.
After crossing the mountains and hills and getting out of the city, the three of them walked for more than half an hour, finally bypassing the congested road and coming to a wide and flat national highway.
Seeing that there was no one around, Gu Mengran got on the national highway without any hesitation, parked the SUV and the bus on the side of the road, and asked if they had taken a detour.
They didn't leave in a hurry. They filled up the gas for both cars. Then Gu Mengran took out two outdoor power supplies and two air purifiers from the space and asked his grandfather and Liang Zhao to install them in the cars.
Others include induction cookers, electric kettles, pots and pans, rice, flour, grain and oil...
Stuff them all into the trunk.
Since we are in a hurry, the food is mainly fast food. But after all, we are traveling with a group of children, so we can improve the food occasionally. In case they need to drink some hot water or something, we can't do without it completely.
Food is easy to spoil in hot weather, so Gu Mengran only took out a small amount of instant food and milk to show off. Others were not willing to search their trunks out of courtesy. They just needed to know that there were some, and how much exactly... enough!
Besides that, water.
There is not much mineral water in the space, so Gu Mengran took out five bottles of mineral water and two bottles of orange juice. Don't throw away the bottles after drinking the water, just wash them and fill them with mountain spring water in the space.
You have to prepare some snacks for children. Gu Mengran didn't know what the children could eat, so following his grandfather's advice, he put together two full boxes of nuts, candies, candied fruits, seaweed... all sorts of things.
The trunk was almost full, but Gu Mengran still felt like something was missing. His eyes swept across the bright orange juice, and his eyes lit up instantly. Fruit, there was still a lot of fruit in the space!
Apples, pears, grapefruits, cantaloupes... Gu Mengran picked some long-lasting fruits and put them in the car. With the air conditioning on, they should not go bad in a short time.
When preparing supplies, I never thought I would encounter children. There was not a single piece of clothing that children could wear. In the summer, you have to change when you sweat. Gu Mengran thought for a moment and took out a box of adult T-shirts.
Worst case scenario, you can wear it as a skirt! Worst case scenario, you can use it as a blanket when using the air conditioner.
With all the food, clothing and daily necessities in place, Gu Mengran got off the bus contentedly, "Grandpa, you'd better take good care of the bus! Let's go to Liang Zhao and pick up the kids from school."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
