Chapter 90 Ancient City
A flash of inspiration came to Jiang Qian's mind, and she suddenly realized something.
Huang Liping looked at her daughter, with helplessness and tolerance in her eyes.
"Although you secretly wanted to get a few more people together to give yourself more courage, do you think the other people on the bus didn't have the same idea?"
"Every event is the result of countless forces and individuals working together. Everyone who gets on the bus must have considered every aspect before getting on. They knew what they would face once they got off the bus, but they still decided to go. That was their choice. Regardless of whether the final result is good or bad, you shouldn't blame yourself."
Jiang Qian lowered her head, her voice hoarse, "I know, but it still hurts."
As she spoke, tears fell drop by drop, soaking a small area of the floor.
"It's okay, cry if you want to." Huang Liping looked at her daughter. "After crying for a while, get a good night's sleep and cheer up tomorrow. If you have regrets this time, do better next time."
…
Jiang Qian opened her eyes drowsily, sat up in bed, and felt a little pain in her eyes.
I glanced at the phone next to my pillow and saw that it was already past ten in the morning.
When she changed her clothes and walked out, she saw Jiang Dong's family of three having dinner.
Ren Ru saw her get up and called out, "Sister, go wash up first. I'll go heat up the food."
Jiang Qian rubbed her face and said, "Okay, where are my parents?"
Jiang Dong swallowed the porridge in his mouth, "The cab! Mom saw that we woke up and went in to accompany Dad. We just woke up too. I guess we didn't sleep well in the car the night before, so we have been sleeping until now. You know what, sleeping in bed is so comfortable."
"Oh." Jiang Qian didn't ask any more questions. She went into the bathroom, washed up quickly, and came out again.
Ren Ru had already served the rice and placed chopsticks in front of her.
Jiang Qian looked at the golden millet porridge in the bowl and was a little surprised. "Do we still have millet?"
"Not much left." Ren Ru said, "There were only a few left when I saw them a few days ago. These are probably the last ones."
Jiang Qian drank a mouthful of porridge, nodded, and asked, "How much food do we have left?"
Jiang Dong picked up a piece of greens for his son and replied, "I estimate it will last for two months."
They already had plenty of food, and later found some at the airport, and also exchanged a lot with people from Xiaozhao Village. But after so many days, even if they ate sparingly, the family of five still consumed a lot.
"I see Mom always looking at the leftover rice and flour before cooking and getting worried." Jiang Dong whispered, "If it weren't so inconvenient for us to get on and off the bus, I'd be thinking about finding a job like everyone else, even scavenging for supplies. We can't just sit there and eat up all the food."
Although the train could generate crystal cores, they didn't plan to use the proceeds for anything else unless absolutely necessary, intending only to use them for train upgrades. They were trapped on the train, unable to disembark, and naturally had no other income. Even the crystal cores they had previously obtained had been mostly used up by the time they disembarked.
If you only go out and don't come in, you will inevitably feel anxious and panic.
Jiang Qian also realized this. After all, she was the one who kept all the crystal cores in the house, and she knew it best.
"I have to find a way to make a living."
Now the route between City A and City B can already use the automatic driving function. Even if the train can stop at more stations in the future, there will actually be only a certain section of the route that requires manual operation each time, which does not prevent some people from freeing up manpower to do other things.
But even though she wanted to find a job, Jiang Qian didn't want her family to be too far away from this train. After all, as far as she knew, there was no place safer than on a train.
But getting on and off the train without attracting attention is indeed a headache.
They went down there once the day before yesterday and didn't find a chance to return to the lounge until last night. If they need to get off the bus for work in the future, do they have to be so sneaky all the time?
Even if you can avoid being discovered once, it is unrealistic to keep it secret if it happens too many times.
Jiang Qian rubbed her forehead while thinking.
…
At around eleven o'clock, the train arrived in City N.
After all the passengers in the carriage got off, Jiang Weimin and Huang Liping also came out of the cab.
Jiang Qian was making lunch, Ren Ru was washing the dirty clothes that the three of them had taken off yesterday, and Jiang Dong was scratching his head while helping the children with their homework.
Although it was the end of the world, given the conditions, the family didn't want to give up on their child's education. Giving the child something to do was better than constantly having him face the reality and cruelty of the end of the world.
Huang Liping came out and went to help her daughter. Jiang Qian saw her and asked, "I just saw that there are quite a few people coming by bus today?"
Huang Liping said, "Yes, some come to look for people, some come to work, and some come to look for supplies. Alas, they are all forced by life."
Jiang Qian drained the washed vegetables and poured the drained water into the empty bucket next to her, which she would then use to water the seedlings or flush the toilet.
"Does the rescue team need more people?"
"Yes, why not?"
Huang Liping replied, "I heard the rescue team cleared two more communities yesterday. The scope is constantly expanding, so there's always work to be done. The rescue team is short-staffed, so right now they can only focus on the nearby large supermarkets. The items in those smaller supermarkets are completely unattended, so anyone can go find them if they want. But those shops that have been searched by others, the unwanted items that have been soaked in water and rotted, need to be cleared out as soon as possible, otherwise, with summer coming, it's easy for bacteria to grow."
Jiang Qian nodded, and suddenly thought of something, "Have the resettlement locations for the residents of the community been announced?"
Huang Liping shook her head. "I haven't heard anyone on the bus mention it, and I don't know where my in-laws were transferred to. Sigh!" She glanced outside and said, "It's a pity that it's not convenient for us to go down. If we could, we could go down and ask around from time to time."
Jiang Qian also felt a little regretful. "I'll think of a way to deal with this."
Is there any job that allows me to get on and off the train normally without attracting attention?
With a "ding" sound, the rice cooker next to me rang.
A flash of inspiration came to Jiang Qian's mind, and she suddenly realized something.
…
K City.
Inside a building in the ancient city, some people were arguing over a local map.
"The new resettlement site should be built here. Xiadu County is all plains with vast land. We can directly cultivate the land there. Only if there is enough food can so many people survive."
"But Xiadu County is so low-lying. The entire county is located in the lower reaches of the Kangding River. Most of it was flooded during the previous heavy rains, and now we don't know if the water has receded. There's also the possibility of epidemics following the floods. In this situation, should we voluntarily return?"
"I think it would be better to locate it near the granary on the outskirts of the city. This would save a lot of manpower in dispatching food..."
"But there are few buildings nearby. Do we need to rebuild it?"
"Staying in the ancient city is pretty good. It's located on high ground, so the heavy rain didn't have much of an impact. Plus, the walls are thick. As long as we clear out the zombies in the inner city and seal the four gates, it'll be the perfect fortress. There's already a ready-made house, so we don't even need to build new ones. Isn't that great?"
"But the city has limited supplies, and we've almost run out of them these past few days. To maintain stability, we need to find a place that can support our sustainable development. Otherwise, if food runs out and the food transportation routes are cut off, with so many people in the city, chaos will sooner or later break out! The city is taking in more and more residents now, so are we going to have people going to the granary to bring food back every day? Wouldn't that make the journey even more dangerous? Every time we leave the city, we've lost people!"
…
Everyone had their own reasons, and after arguing for a long time, there was still no result and no one could convince anyone else.
The man in the corner put down his teacup and sighed.
"It would be great if we had a train station here too. At least we could get on a train and not have to worry about being attacked by zombies on the way out."
City K is just south of City N and borders City N. The entire City N is like an inverted U shape, wrapping City K in the middle.
As high-ranking officials in City K, they naturally maintained ties with rescue centers in nearby cities for strategic cooperation and mutual assistance. With frequent correspondence and collaboration between these locations, the news of the train's appearance in the three ABN cities couldn't have been hidden from their old neighbor, not to mention that the previous notice regarding the train hadn't been intended to conceal anything.
【Author’s words】
Sorry, today's chapter is a bit short. The next chapter will be the day after tomorrow.
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