"Boom boom boom boom..."
"Buzz buzz buzz..."
The mutated locusts all over the sky looked particularly terrifying under the moonlight!
The locusts, once only four or five centimeters long, were now each a full fourteen or fifteen centimeters! Every time their powerful hind legs struck the windowpane, it made a thumping sound. The mutated locusts outside the window were all attracted by the light from the house!
“Woof woof woof woof!!——”
Several locusts tried to get in through the cracks in the door that let in light and the cracks in the window that was not closed tightly, but were torn into pieces by Xiaoqi and the others.
"Turn off the lights! Turn off the lights quickly!" Qin Suyun reacted quickly and ran towards the window, closing the glass window that still had a gap.
He Zhennan ran towards the light switch in the living room with a serious expression and quickly turned off the lights in the living room. He Zhennan then quickly ran towards the kitchen and bathroom, ran over as fast as he could, and quickly turned off the lights on both sides.
Recently, since all the big guys in the village have moved into caves, Qin Suyun and He Zhennan are no longer as cautious as before when using electric lights in their home.
Nowadays, there is plenty of sunlight every day, and the solar panels store more electricity than can be used up every day, so the two of them did not save electricity on such a small thing as a light. However, it was precisely for this reason that countless mutant locusts flying at night saw it and flew towards Qin Suyun's house in unison.
The two of them quickly turned off the lights in the house, and then checked in the dark by the moonlight to see if the doors and windows were closed.
However, these locusts that covered the sky and the sun did not leave the Qin family directly. They were still lying on the windows of the Qin family, trying desperately to find a place to get into the house. Since they could not find a gap to get in, these locusts flapped their wings impatiently and crawled around.
"What's going on? Why don't these locusts disperse?" Qin Suyun looked at the glass window that was now covered with locusts and there was not even a gap to be found, and her face looked a little unhappy.
"Let's try turning off the air conditioner..."
He Zhennan frowned, reached out to turn off the air conditioner next to him, and hugged the slightly uneasy Qin Suyun, "Don't worry, although these locusts have increased in size and strength after mutation, they can't break through the glass window and get in from the outside..."
"The temperature outside is around 50 to 60 degrees Celsius, both day and night. I think these mutant locusts can't stand it..."
The air conditioning made the overall temperature of their house significantly lower than outside, so it was normal for the locusts to move here due to the temperature.
In fact...
Apart from this, He Zhennan could not find any other excuse to explain why these locusts refused to leave.
As the saying goes, there will be a locust plague after a long drought. Locust plagues are almost always accompanied by severe droughts.
In fact, before the locust plague came, Qin Suyun and He Zhennan had already thought about the possibility of a locust plague, but they did not expect that this locust plague would come much earlier than they imagined.
In the pitch-black night, the sound of locusts slamming against the glass windows and the all-encompassing buzzing of their flight filled the air. This rustling sound was interspersed with a continuous, unending crackling noise outside the courtyard wall, the sound of locusts being electrocuted by the electric wires on the wall as they flew by.
These noisy sounds are particularly clear in the dark and silent night.
Listening to such sounds, Qin Suyun and He Zhennan sat in the living room and couldn't fall asleep.
Hei Douwei leaned beside Qin Suyun, his soft, furry tail swaying back and forth, occasionally brushing Qin Suyun's arm as if to comfort her and reassure her.
As time passed, the temperature in the room became higher and higher, and Qin Suyun's forehead began to be covered with sweat. Most of the locusts that had been clinging to the window disappeared, and they followed the large group to fly to other places.
The moonlight in the dark night once again shone into the house through the gaps in the window.
Qin Suyun stood up, walked a few steps to the window, looked at the locusts all over the mountains, and sighed deeply.
The buzzing and rustling sounds outside the house, coupled with the colliding sounds of glass, and the extremely high temperature inside the house, made it difficult to cool down even with the fan. Qin Suyun could hardly close her eyes the entire night, and He Zhennan, Dahei, and Heidou also failed to get a good rest.
Qin Suyun lay on the sofa and thought for a while, then reached out and tugged at He Zhennan's arm. "This isn't a solution. We don't know how long this locust plague and high temperature drought will last. Let's clean up the basement and live there. If necessary, we can also dismantle the two air conditioners in the second-floor room and reinstall them in the basement."
The Qin family's basement is very large, and the space inside is much larger than the current living room. Although the basement is full of supplies, as long as they can clear out half of the space, it will be enough for everyone to rest in the basement.
He Zhennan rolled over on the straw mat beside the sofa, locked eyes with Qin Suyun, and chuckled, "You want me to help you clean out the basement? Aren't you afraid that once I know how much supplies you have, I'll kill people and steal their treasures?"
During the time He Zhennan lived in the Qin family, he never went to the basement.
"Don't be afraid..." Qin Suyun smiled, not caring whether He Zhennan could see her expression in the darkness. "If you wanted to rob supplies, you would have done it long ago. Why wait until now?"
There was a big iron lock hanging on the door of her basement, but this iron lock could stop ordinary thieves, but it could not stop He Zhennan. With the other party's ability, if he wanted to find an opportunity to get in, there would be at least dozens of ways to enter and exit at will, if not hundreds of ways.
"Since you're not worried, let's do as you say."
In the darkness, He Zhennan reached out and touched Qin Suyun's cheek, curling the corners of his lips, but the curve on the corners of his lips never lowered from beginning to end.
Qin Suyun didn't say anything, but her slender hand tightly grasped the other person's broad hand.
The temperature in the darkness was a bit hot, and the palms of the two people's tightly clasped hands were covered with sweat.
Just when Qin Suyun thought they would just wait like this until dawn, He Zhennan, who was lying on the ground, whispered, "I know you like to grow some vegetables and fruits on the third floor. Go ahead and plant whatever you want to eat. I can also help you dig the ground and weed. You don't have to worry about others finding anything at home."
The man's low voice revealed three parts of caution, three parts of confidence, and three parts of uneasiness.
Qin Suyun's heartbeat slowed down by He Zhennan's sudden words, and her heart subconsciously began to beat violently.
Even in the darkness and the clamor of the outside world, Qin Suyun could clearly hear the thumping of her own heartbeat, a heartbeat filled with panic and anxiety. She could clearly feel He Zhennan's gaze on her cheek, and he was also waiting for her answer...
Qin Suyun's throat was a little dry. She didn't know when He Zhennan discovered something was wrong, nor did she know what exactly He Zhennan discovered was wrong, and whether she should tell him about the jade dew and the jade pendant.
The two of them had been together for quite a while, more than half a year in total...
However, Qin Suyun didn't know how to start the conversation as she wanted to expose all her secrets to others.
The atmosphere around the two of them was a little stiff, and even Dahei and the others, who had been lying next to them and gasping for breath, seemed to be able to feel it. Dahei and the others, who had not fallen asleep yet, subconsciously turned their heads towards Qin Suyun and listened to the two of them talking.
Black Bean's eyes glowed a faint green in the darkness, his gaze fixed on He Zhennan's neck. His muscles tensed, as if he could pounce and bite He Zhennan's neck off in the next second. He had never fully trusted this human. There was only one person in this world he trusted, from the beginning to the end.
There was a constant rustling and buzzing sound from the flying locusts outside the house, and the occasional crackling sound from the power grid was very harsh, but He Zhennan and Qin Suyun could only hear each other's breathing and heartbeats.
Perhaps it was because He Zhennan saw the atmosphere in the room and was silent for too long. He felt that the person opposite him might not say what he wanted to hear. He said with a bit of disappointment but pretending to be relaxed: "You don't have to think too much. I just think it's a bit of a waste to leave the third floor empty..."
He said this just to make the atmosphere between the two of them less awkward. In fact, He Zhennan had already had some guesses about some things on the third floor these days... But since Qin Suyun didn't want to say it, He Zhennan didn't want to force her, so he changed the subject and told Qin Suyun about his own affairs.
"Speaking of which, there's something you might not know, and I've been hiding it from you for a long time... The reason I brought Dongzi, Pang Xiong, Cui Wen, and the others to Wanxi Village this time is mainly because I hid a batch of munitions here before the earthquake. If I didn't have these weapons, I probably would have returned alone, without Dongzi, Pang Xiong, and the others..."
In the darkness, the man's somewhat lost yet pretendingly relaxed tone echoed in Qin Suyun's ears, making her feel a little distressed. Qin Suyun pursed her lips...
In this world, there are ruthless people like Chen Zhou, and there are also good people like Zhao Xingguo. She tried to believe once more that He Zhennan would be such a good person...
So, just as He Zhennan was whispering about the batch of weapons, a soft female voice sounded in his ears.
"Okay... Let's eat strawberries tomorrow. Strawberries taste pretty good, and I have a lot of strawberry seeds saved."
"Okay." The man smiled in the dark.
……………………
Most of the crops in the glass house on the third floor were unfortunately destroyed in the flood.
Only some peach and mango trees were left alive, probably because they were planted in planting bags and flower pots, which made these crops completely different from the fruit trees planted in the yard. There was not much soil in the flower pots, and after the flood rose, a lot of the soil in the pots was washed out by the flood. These peach and mango trees themselves were soaked in the flood for several months.
Qin Suyun was very surprised that they were able to survive the flood.
After returning home, in order to avoid being discovered by others, Qin Suyun did not use the jade dew collected from the jade pendant every day. She collected all the jade dew and put it into a bottle.
so……
Now, all the fruit trees in the glass house on the third floor are wilted and have basically no vitality. Not to mention bearing fruit, even their survival is in question.
The fruits that the parrots at home eat are either dried fruits that they saved a long time ago, or wild fruits that they picked from the mountains. No wonder the two big parrots at home only like to eat nuts.
Now that she had made up her mind, Qin Suyun no longer hid it. Although she did not tell He Zhennan the origin of the jade dew and its relationship with the jade pendant, early the next morning, Qin Suyun picked a full basket of cabbage and green peppers, as well as a basket of bright red strawberries from the third floor.
Qin Suyun cooked at home these days, and the food she ate was either some mutated carrots and potatoes that tasted terrible, or dried vegetables that she had prepared earlier.
She hadn't eaten this fresh, juicy and delicious bok choy for a long time, and even the black beans hadn't eaten these vegetables and fruits for a long time.
Seeing the basket of red strawberries in Qin Suyun's hand, Zhazha's neck was so happy that it almost twisted into an S shape. The big parrot flapped its wings and walked back and forth excitedly on the armrest of the chair.
"Strawberry gaga!... Gaga gaga gaga! Strawberry! I want to eat strawberries, strawberries! Gaga gaga!..." Zhazha flew excitedly to Qin Suyun's shoulder, stretched his neck and wanted to pick one from the basket in Qin Suyun's hand. However, before he could move, Hei Dou, who was staring at him hungrily, slapped him to the ground with a claw.
He Zhennan, who had just brought out breakfast from the kitchen, subconsciously narrowed his pupils when he saw the two baskets full of fresh vegetables and fruits. Then a gentle look appeared in his eyes. As for the fresh vegetables and fruits that others had been eager for and had not seen for several months, he just glanced at them lightly and then retracted his gaze.
What made He Zhennan happier than the food was that Qin Suyun was willing to start to truly trust him. In the past few months, the other party had been suppressing these things, and it was really unfair for him to live a hard life with them.
Being stared at so directly by the person she likes, Qin Suyun scratched her cheek uncomfortably and handed over the two baskets of fruits and vegetables in her hand. "We don't have much time today, so these are all we have. After we clean up the basement in a couple of days, we'll tidy up the third floor. Put these out at noon first. Black Bean and the others really like to eat them."
"Meow!~" Hearing Qin Suyun mention its name, Hei Dou moved its ears and rubbed its furry cat head against Qin Suyun's waist.
Qin Suyun felt warm in her heart as she rubbed the soft cat's head. She hadn't made any delicious food for Dahei and Heidou these days, and they still needed her protection, so they often went up the mountain to hunt by themselves.
During the day, the sun outside was still so bright that it made people dizzy. Without air conditioning, the temperature in the room rose quickly.
When the sun had heated all four walls of the house to a temperature hot enough to cook eggs, the mutated locusts that had been clinging to the walls and windows and refused to leave began to flap their wings and leave one by one.
Qin Suyun took a look during lunch and saw that the mutant locusts that had originally densely covered the entire window were now only two or three left.
Faced with this situation, Qin Suyun and the others could only speed up the cleaning of the basement. Qin Suyun asked Dahei and the others to help her, while He Zhennan went to dismantle the air conditioner in Qin Suyun's bedroom on the second floor and the air conditioner in Heidou and the others' original room. The wind power of these two air conditioners installed in the bedroom was relatively low. The space in the basement was too large and the temperature outside was high. If they wanted to live comfortably, they had to use two air conditioners together.
Qin Suyun cleaned up a large area in the packed basement, and He Zhennan quickly installed the two air conditioners. Everything else was fine, except that a lot of locusts got into the house during the air conditioning and installation process.
These locusts rampaged around the house. Some flew directly to the ceiling and firmly grasped the fan, while others jumped onto the cabinets and walls.
Qin Suyun frowned and looked at Zhazha, wanting the two birds in the house to catch all the locusts in the house for her.
As long as Zhazha is careful and doesn't knock over other things in the house, it should be easy to catch these locusts.
However, what Qin Suyun never expected was...
As soon as she opened her mouth to make this suggestion, the whole bird Zhazha flew to a distance of three meters away from Qin Suyun, and started to scream strangely with its hoarse voice.
“No! No! … Gaga ga … No! I won’t! I won’t! …”
The veins on Qin Suyun's forehead jumped. "As a bird, shouldn't you catch insects? Or is it that as a bird, you can't even catch insects?"
"I don't eat bugs...burp!" Zhazha burped aggrievedly. When he was in the zoo, he never ate these messy, gray, disgusting bugs.
So, it would rather die than eat those insects.
As a pet parrot that never eats insects, Zhazha felt extremely wronged. His small eyes were filled with accusations. What if he ate these ugly things and became ugly himself? How could these two-legged creatures not consider him at all?
Wronged!
Qin Suyun rubbed her aching eyebrows. There was nothing she could do. Finally, Qin Suyun and He Zhennan got two net bags together to clean up the locusts flying around the house.
It's because the big black beans are so big. Apart from the insects that fly to the ground, Qin Suyun can ask them to help deal with the rest of the locusts that fly to the cabinets, walls and ceilings.
At night, they turned on a light in the corridor on the second floor to attract the locusts in the corners of each room and caught and dealt with them. Then they returned to the basement to rest.
This locust plague lasted for a long time, a full half month.
At first, everyone was terrified by the locust plague. But after two or three days, everyone thought about the economic effects that the locust plague could bring. The collected locusts could be dried and ground into powder to supplement protein, and directly fed to livestock at home to make them fatten up quickly. Especially those who raised chickens and ducks at home were so happy that they couldn't stop smiling.
Qin Suyun and He Zhennan did not forget to join in the fun of such a locust feast. Compared with others who had to catch locusts in the daytime under the sun, it was much easier for them.
I randomly found an empty room on the second floor, blocked the gap in the door, put on long clothes and long pants, opened the window and turned on the light.
In just one or two hours, two large sacks could be collected. Together with the locusts knocked down by the electric fence, the livestock and poultry raised at home ate them with relish. Even the hens laid two eggs a day instead of one.
But after the locust plague passed, the world outside had turned into a barren yellow, and the vast expanse of yellow was so dazzling that it made people dizzy...
Except for those plants with bad smells or poisonous properties that were not completely eaten, the rest of the green vegetation was reduced to only some bare branches. Even the huge camphor tree in the village that blocked out the sun had not a single leaf left.
This mutated locust is really powerful.
Everyone couldn't help but sigh when they saw this. If they hadn't harvested the crops in the fields in advance, they might not have had anything to eat this time!
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