◎Happy Day 119: Earthworm Population Density◎
The two looked at each other in the darkness with the faint light that seeped in from somewhere.
Jiang Muyun signaled Chu Buwen to listen carefully, and then bent his knuckles and knocked on the floor.
Chu Buwen shook his head at Jiang Muyun.
The knock that Jiang Muyun just made did not cause any reaction from the group of creatures under the floor, and the frequency of the vibration did not change at all.
However, the floor of the floating house was very thick, and it was covered with layers of various insulation materials. It was possible that the sound of Jiang Muyun's knocking did not reach the bottom at all.
Jiang Muyun sat up straight and quietly pulled out the gun from his waist.
Boom.
The gun handle hit the floor.
This time, Jiang Muyun used a lot of strength, and the noise was quite loud, but Chu Buwen still shook his head.
The group of creatures below still did not react.
Jiang Muyun whispered, "It should be moving in the sand."
The materials used for floating houses are not heavy in themselves. Even if they are wrapped with a lot of insulation cotton, they are not as hard as regular buildings.
If those creatures were stuck to the bottom of the floating house when Jiang Muyun knocked just now, they would definitely feel the sound of the floor being knocked. It is impossible for them to have no reaction at all.
But Jiang Muyun didn't try again.
She knocked on the floor to determine the location of the creatures. It was enough to get the information, there was no need to alarm others.
Jiang Muyun's knock did not alarm the creatures under the sand, but it did alarm the soldiers on duty in the next room.
There was a noise coming from the wall panel next to the next door. Jiang Muyun knocked three times according to the signal they had agreed on in advance to indicate that something unusual had occurred.
Before Jiang Muyun could figure out how to pass on this information, a commotion broke out in the camp. The sounds of "uh ah uh ah" and indistinct breathing made the originally quiet camp lively and full of vitality.
Jiang Muyun was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized: "It's over, could it be that those geese are making a fuss?"
The perception of mutant animals is usually quite sharp. Without Dabai and Xiaobai, Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen would have found it difficult to detect the movement coming from underground.
It was just that Dabai and Xiaobai were smarter. After they realized something was wrong, they just woke up Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen. But the group of geese that looked very brave might not be so smart.
The tremors under Jiang Muyun's palms suddenly became noticeable.
The two men immediately turned over and squatted, putting on the thermal insulation clothing they had prepared in advance, putting the sun hats placed beside them on their heads, and using the sun masks to cover their entire faces except for their eyes.
Jiang Muyun put on sunglasses and opened the tightly closed door a crack.
It was just past noon, the hottest time of the day. As soon as the door opened, the horrific heat from outside rushed in like a knife.
The place where they were was a flat wasteland.
Six floating houses were placed in two rows, door to door, forming a temporary camp.
A rope net is laid on the ground between the two rows of floating houses. The edge of the rope net is connected to the floor of the floating house. Materials that are not afraid of high temperatures, such as sleds, are piled on the rope net to reduce the possibility of material loss in the event of an accident.
A huge, light-proof membrane cover was fixed to the roofs of the floating houses on both sides by windproof ropes, forming a simple awning in the middle of the two rows of floating houses, and making the temperature at the doors of the floating houses slightly milder than other places.
When Jiang Muyun went out, he just saw eight big geese living opposite rushing out of the door, and then in less than half a second they were pushed back into the room by the heat wave outside.
"What happened?"
With a few muffled creaks, the doors of all the floating houses were opened.
"There must be something underground." Jiang Muyun said while controlling the volume.
Captain Yu was surprised and asked, "Underground?"
Everyone subconsciously looked down at their feet.
No way?
Jiang Muyun said, "Judging from the movements we observed earlier, it should be a group of creatures. Each one is not very big—I mean, not big compared to mammals."
There is a clear difference between the noise of a swarm of locusts hitting a door and the noise of a swarm of grasshoppers hitting a door.
Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen had been blocked by various strange creatures in their previous lives, and they were quite experienced in judging the number and size of the creatures based on the amplitude of the door panels or other barriers.
If Jiang Muyun were to judge, the creatures currently moving about underground should be individuals the size of ping-pong balls, and there would definitely be quite a few of them.
At least the bottom of the floating house where she and Chu Buwen lived was probably already crowded.
Jiang Muyun reached for the engineer shovel in her bag and tried to move the sand under the floating house a little to see if she could dig out a lone object. At least she had to know what was digging in the sand.
Others were not as calm as Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen.
The deputy beside Captain Yu rubbed his arms.
He would rather fight a mutant elephant head-on than face a swarm of unknown creatures that would crawl out of the ground.
The goose farmer finally calmed his geese down and said to the company commander with a worried look on his face, "That's right. My geese were just trying to peck at the floor, and when they couldn't, they started rushing out."
The deputy's face became even more sad.
I know, I know, no need to emphasize it anymore.
Jiang Muyun squatted cautiously in the floating house and used an engineer shovel to stir the sand at the door.
Chu Buwen squatted sideways on the side, holding the large stainless steel basin they used to make ice. No matter what Jiang Muyun dug out, he could cover it with the basin.
Captain Yu looked at the two men's actions and stopped walking out of the room. He also asked someone to bring an engineering shovel and a stainless steel basin and dig down from the door.
"Woo."
Xiaobai suddenly hummed a few times.
Jiang Muyun turned around and saw that Xiaobai had shrunk to the innermost part of the floating house, even with his face turned away, unwilling to look outside.
Dabai huddled under Xiaobai, and the cat and dog's actions were almost identical, as if they wanted to write the word "disdain" on their faces.
Little pink, poisoned, disgusted.
Putting these keywords together and combining them with the description of this place by the people at the Dawn Base, the answer to what kind of creatures are moving in the sand at this moment is obvious.
Jiang Muyun stopped digging sand.
She whispered in Chu Buwen's ear, "I think I know what's wriggling underground."
Chu Buwen stretched out his index finger and twisted it stiffly a few times in front of Jiang Muyun's eyes.
Okay, the answer is the same.
Jiang Muyun saw the same helplessness in his eyes.
Jiang Muyun murmured as he shifted the sand, "Honestly, it's a bit disgusting."
As Jiang Muyun spoke, he felt a different touch from the tip of the shovel and pushed it out.
Chu Buwen promptly used a stainless steel basin to catch the things that Jiang Muyun picked out, leaving it no chance to drill back into the ground.
When the people at the Dawn Base were describing this peculiar soil, they had specifically said that the special toxin first came from the earthworms living here.
The creature that Chu Buwen was holding in the basin should be considered an earthworm if you ignore its appearance.
It was about the thickness of a little finger, about ten centimeters long, and bright red with a greasy sheen. It looked like it had teeth in its mouth, but they were too small for Jiang Muyun to see clearly.
It seemed a little scared after being dug out of the sand and exposed to the air. At first, it tried to crawl towards Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen, and the links on its body became sparse and dense as it crawled.
After struggling for a while, it began to curl up as if giving up.
When the whole earthworm curled up, it was about the same size as Jiang Muyun had judged, about the size of a ping-pong ball.
These earthworms were not hidden very deep. Jiang Muyun had guessed it in advance and was extremely careful when digging, so he only got out one.
The unlucky guy who raised geese across the street was as reckless as the geese he raised. With one shovel, he picked out seven or eight geese. Each of them twisted its body and tried to get closer to him, making both the geese and the man scream.
Lieutenant Yu had no choice but to ask someone to find a plastic bottle to put the earthworms they caught, and did not argue with the man.
That man was only twenty years old this year. Before the apocalypse, he had just started high school and was the apple of his family's eye. Later, when the apocalypse came and his family was wiped out, he relied on his few big geese to live a very smooth life and had not suffered much hardship at all.
How could any ordinary survivor possibly stand up to these giant geese? He was leading a group of such men. The last time he fought someone was when he was in junior high school, fighting with the school thugs. How calm could he be expected to be?
If the base had not had insufficient transportation capacity this time, Captain Yu would not have been able to bring him out.
Knowing that the things underground were earthworms, Jiang Muyun was not afraid that the noise from the other side would startle them. He turned his head and asked, "Captain Yu, have you ever encountered this kind of earthworms when you came here to dig the soil before?"
Captain Yu had a complicated expression. "I've come across it before, but the colors back then weren't this... innovative."
At least the earthworms they encountered at that time were only a little redder than normal earthworms, not as crystal clear as they are now. They even looked a bit fantasy, quite like the rare and exotic beasts in fairy tales.
Jiang Muyun asked Chu Buwen to put the basin farther away to prevent the mutated earthworms from suddenly attacking again, and then he used an engineering shovel to dig a few times in the open space in front of the door.
Nothing was dug out.
Jiang Muyun looked back at Xiaobai who was huddled inside, then turned to the company commander and said, "Brother, do you think there's a possibility that the place we're looking for is right under our feet?"
Harder textures in the desert often indicate higher water content in the sand.
With the three-year drought outside, apart from the vast ocean that can withstand the drought, only some mutant plants with well-developed root systems and tenacious vitality can squeeze out a little water from the soil.
The plants and animals raised by Xiaofen have mutated in special directions. The earthworms raised can move through the scorching sand. Jiang Muyun speculates that the plants rooted near it can also survive the drought, causing the water content of this piece of sand to be higher than other places. This is also reasonable.
Captain Yu had never felt the movement in the floating house, but he could calculate the density of earthworms under the sand from the shovel of the goose farmer.
If the place they were looking for was really right under his feet, then he would probably have no choice but to retreat in tears.
None of the poisoned people at the Dawn Base have survived so far.
Before, when people from the South 1 Base came to dig the soil, they stood on the ground and protected themselves well, so the earthworms couldn't even get close to them.
Now if they want to dig, they have to dig from the sand down, and they have to stand in the sand pit to work.
Normal earthworms have no teeth at all, so there is no question of whether they bite or not. However, this group of earthworms, which look very unscientific, are different.
Judging from the density of the earthworm population and the enthusiasm of the earthworms towards them, they hope they will be eaten by the earthworms later.
Captain Yu clutched his chest in pain and struggled, "Does your Xiaobai react to this place?"
Jiang Muyun looked at Captain Yu sympathetically and said, "Let him try."
Xiaobai hated this unknown element that caused the earthworms to mutate, and immediately hid away when he saw Jiang Muyun trying to dig up the earthworms.
At this moment, Jiang Muyun asked Chu Buwen to throw the earthworm back to the ground, then turned back and held Xiaobai and bargained with it for a long time before reaching a deal with it at the price of six big white steamed buns, and asked Xiaobai to look for a place nearby with a stronger smell that it hated.
Except for earthworm colonies.
Xiaobai flicked his tail and ran out quickly to the place sheltered by the awning. Then he kicked his hind legs and jumped into the house. He turned around in the house again, and finally sat down obediently in front of Jiang Muyun, slapping the floor with his tail.
Captain Yu was not giving up: "What does this mean?"
Jiang Muyun rubbed Xiaobai's bald head.
Did they know from the beginning that this was the place they were looking for?
Jiang Muyun recalled Xiaobai's behavior of flirting everywhere on the way here.
Although Xiaobai always harassed his fellow dogs who were pulling carts when they first set out, he was very well behaved during the rest of the journey, and would only run to the front and stroll around a few times when he was really bored.
Even if Xiaobai knew the way, it was impossible for him to recognize the place they were looking for from such a distance, right?
Jiang Muyun thought about the news he had seen about pet dogs being abandoned and having to travel across several cities to find their way home, and he felt a little uncertain.
Jiang Muyun glanced at Xiaobai, who looked well-behaved and innocent, and asked Chu Buwen in a low voice, "Does the base cafeteria have white flour buns?"
Chu Buwen watched the entire bargaining process between Xiaobai and Jiang Muyun, and he immediately knew what Jiang Muyun was planning.
Chu Buwen also lowered his voice: "Yes, I have checked it out. It's the kind made of fine white flour, exactly the same as before the apocalypse. The only difference is that it's very expensive and you have to order it in advance."
Jiang Muyun felt relieved.
Since the cafeteria has it, this thing can be counted as their daily expenses at the base and reimbursed by the company commander.
Jiang Muyun decided decisively to trust his own son without having to empty his own pocket.
Our Bai is not the kind of guy who pretends to be ignorant and deliberately negotiates with his sister to cheat her for steamed buns!
Jiang Muyun poked half his head out seriously and said to Captain Yu next door, "What I mean is that this place is indeed where we're looking. Xiaobai doesn't like that toxin, or that unknown element, so he's been very listless since he first got here. Do you remember when he shared all his food with the other mutant dogs? Our Bai used to eat everything without leaving anything behind."
Captain Yu was bewildered: "Is that true?"
The owner of a mutant dog across the street proudly said, "I remember that. My dog's rations are all dried insects. This morning, he shared some mushrooms with Xiaobai next door, and he brought back the leftovers to give to me."
The goose farmer couldn't help but ask curiously, "Have you eaten it?"
The mutant dog's owner choked up and said nothing. Captain Yu was inconsolable. "Does it matter whether they eat or not? What matters is that if the earthworms are all moving around in the sand, how can we dig up the little pinkies while ensuring our own safety?"
The person and the goose opposite simultaneously retracted their necks and squatted there miserably, pretending to be quails.
Jiang Muyun shoveled the engineer's shovel into the sand and said, "This matter is both easy and difficult to handle."
Jiang Muyun could dig out earthworms from under the floor of the floating house with just a shovel, but he couldn't dig them out from places not covered by the floor.
Obviously, even though these earthworms have mutated, they still prefer coolness to heat and are afraid of it. They are so afraid that they dare not drill into the sand that has not been exposed to the sun but is not protected by the floating house.
If they had not set up camp right above the earthworms' heads, thus securing this shady spot, they might not have drilled out of the soil and dived into the sand in broad daylight.
In that case, why don't they just move the floating houses that provide shelter for the earthworms and dig them up during the day when the earthworms are afraid to go out?
The only problem is that when the earthworms are afraid to go out, it is difficult for humans to work outside.
"But compared to all this..." Jiang Muyun patted the sand at the door and said sadly, "I think we should first consider how to safely dismantle the camp and move it to a place farther away from the little earthworms."
If they stay here until night, and these earthworms are able to move freely in this area, then they will have no point in living.
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