◎Happy 141st Day: Champion of Staying Up Late◎
Jiang Muyun and others parked the boat under a building that looked like an office building, and asked Xiaolan to go back and look for fish.
This time, Xiao Lan took a long time, so long that Jiang Muyun was sure that even if the school of fish chased out in the middle of the night, they would not be able to get here within ten hours at their speed. Only then did everyone feel completely relieved and prepared to rest here for a night.
They first removed the rope nets and outboard motors wrapped around the wooden platform, untied the kayak from the platform, and then carried the kayak upstairs through the floor-to-ceiling window that had become a black hole.
As for the big wooden platform and the bags of mutant fish, everyone was too lazy to deal with them, so they could only tie them up in the half-flooded office downstairs and let Xiao Lan sleep with them.
The fact that the land is vast and the population is sparse in the apocalypse is not just talk. Captain Yu climbed to the top floor with great difficulty and got wet in the rain for half a day before he came to the conclusion that there were indeed no traces of any survivors in the small town.
At the same time, Jiang Muyun was picking up wood in the building with Gao Liang and several others.
There were a lot of scattered wood in the building, but the wood on the lower floors must have been soaked in water and was still too wet to start a fire. They could only pick up wood from upstairs and burn it, and they had to peel off the paint on the outside of the wood first.
Everyone is familiar with this job. When the plants on the mountain had not yet grown, everyone relied on chopping furniture and peeling paint to make fire and cook. Peeling paint is a traditional craft. Picking it up again now is a way to reminisce about the past.
Chen Cheng took Professor Chen and Xiaobai to find a suitable place to sleep in the building.
Now that the weather has turned cooler, they naturally cannot live in those large offices that are drafty on all sides.
Chen Cheng finally found a room with only one window, which looked like an archive room, as their bedroom for the night.
The room was large and had double doors. After clearing out the tangled documents inside, there was enough space for them to move in the kayaks and other supplies.
Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen used the old method to block the window. Behind them, Chen Cheng took the magnesium rod and rubbed it lightly, and the flame jumped up.
"Change your clothes before going to bed." Jiang Muyun rubbed his temples: "Don't catch a cold."
When I arrived at the resting place but couldn't fall asleep immediately, it was even more difficult than the journey before.
Chu Buwen opened the travel bag, took out the clothes that he and Jiang Muyun had sealed tightly in waterproof bags and handed them to her.
The weather is just a little cold now, and it is not the time to add a down liner. If they are wearing a coat, they just need to change the close-fitting short-sleeved shirt inside into a long-sleeved one.
Everyone went to other places to change clothes one after another. Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen, who had changed their clothes early, started doing carpentry work.
They would use the legs of tables, chairs and benches they picked up, and nail them together to make a rack. They would then place the rack next to the fire, hang the wet clothes on top, and let them dry overnight until they were almost half dry.
After changing his clothes, Captain Yu walked back barefoot, holding his shoes. Seeing Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen working there, he simply put his wet shoes next to the fire, sat down cross-legged and knocked with them.
Jiang Muyun handed him a few nails and said, "Be gentle and don't nail them too hard. The wooden platform hasn't been dismantled yet, and I don't know how many nails we can get back. This is all we have now, so we have to be frugal."
Lieutenant Yu raised the crowbar as a hammer, knocking as he went, "I know, I know. Don't you know what I've done?"
The words sounded so pitiful that Jiang Muyun felt a little sorry for him. He said in a gentle voice, "Isn't the outboard motor still working? It's still usable. It can definitely get us from here to the capital, and then back to Nanshi."
Company Commander Yu had a vicissitudes of life expression and a distant gaze: "I hope so..."
Jiang Muyun patted his shoulder, looked up and shouted to Chen Cheng who was making the bed beside him: "Remember to put an extra blanket under your grandma tonight."
"I know." Chen Cheng carefully spread a plastic sheet on the ground, and then placed a moisture-proof mat and a blanket on the plastic sheet to prevent the blanket from getting dirty.
Gao Liang and Zhou Fei brought back a few buckets of water to filter.
No one has the energy to take a shower now, but it is still necessary to wipe off the mud and sand on the face and body.
Tang An checked the time and asked, "What time do we leave tomorrow? No, today?"
Jiang Muyun twisted his neck and said softly, "Go to sleep first. Have a good rest today. When you wake up, take a shower and clean yourself up."
Captain Yu said cautiously, "Let me be clear. I'm actually very happy after hearing about our itinerary for today. But for some reason, your tone makes me a little scared."
Jiang Muyun let out a long sigh, then said dissatisfiedly: "Why are you like this? What's wrong with my tone?"
Gao Liang thought for a moment and said, "Your tone is very similar to when you told us that we should all stay awake before leaving the polluted waters."
Jiang Muyun reflected deeply on himself: "Are they similar?"
Zhou Fei nodded: "Not very similar, exactly the same."
Jiang Muyun was silent for a few seconds.
These few seconds of waiting made everyone tremble with fear.
Jiang Muyun sighed softly, "How could someone hear this?"
Gao Liang's tears welled up in an instant: "Sister, what do you mean by this?"
Jiang Muyun threw the half-wet T-shirt in his hand onto the wooden rack, and said in a relaxed and cheerful tone: "What I mean is, eat well and sleep well now, because we have to hurry on our way later."
Chu Buwen, who had quietly cooked a small pot of seaweed soup, poured a bowl for Jiang Muyun and explained to everyone, "Winter is coming soon. We must hurry up and hurry, otherwise we'll be stuck on the road. No one wants to store food for the winter in a place they're not familiar with, right?"
That must be what no one expected.
No one was surprised by the temperature drop.
At the beginning of the rainy season, the sun disappeared, but the temperature did not drop. It was still hot. In fact, because the air was humid and sticky, the heat became more unbearable than the dry season. Even breathing required more effort.
But as time passed, this suffocating feeling of heat gradually faded away, and even Xiaobai and the others began to grow some stubble.
We have all experienced several winters and summers, so when the temperature gradually returned to normal, we had a vague premonition in our hearts.
I just didn’t expect that this new spring season would pass so quickly.
It has been less than half a month since they left home, and the weather has already begun to turn cooler.
Or maybe it's not just the weather that's changing, but also because they're all heading towards higher latitudes?
In any case, this is not good news for Jiang Muyun and others.
Winter comes earlier in the north than in the south, which means they have less time.
Calculating the distance, they have now completed most of the journey.
If we don't count the subsequent turn east into the sea, the straight-line distance from their current location to the capital is only more than 300 kilometers.
With this distance, if they gritted their teeth and hurried on, and took a gamble that the road conditions later on were not too bad, it would be possible for them to reach the capital before winter came.
They all brought thick clothes when they went out, but not many, basically thermal underwear, cashmere sweaters, and a down jacket or down liner.
These clothes are enough to cope with normal low temperatures.
As for the unusual ones, it’s useless to wear them more.
Given the post-apocalyptic winter temperatures, even if they wrapped themselves up like a ball, they would still be frozen to the bone after going out for ten minutes.
If they are unlucky and encounter a cold wave on the way, they will turn into ice sculptures no matter how much they wear.
If you want to survive the winter, you have no choice but to store food and carbon and stay indoors for the winter.
So they had to reach the capital before the clothes they brought with them became insufficient.
Otherwise, they would have to wait until the long winter was over before they could go to the capital.
Or they might take the risk and be stuck on the road forever, never even thinking about returning to the capital in their lifetime.
"I thought saving the world meant fighting monsters and leveling up, battling all sorts of villains, and outmaneuvering the evil forces intent on stopping our journey north." Gao Liang, pitifully weak and helpless, huddled on a moisture-proof mat, hesitantly said, "In the end, it turned into a competition to stay up all night."
"The reward for this year's champion of staying up late is a medal of achievement that will go down in history, right?" Gao Liang felt that he was almost scared awake by Jiang Muyun.
Before he graduated, he stayed up all night playing games in an Internet cafe for two nights. The next day, as soon as he lay down in the dormitory, he was told that the legal studies teacher would take attendance in this class, and all the grades for those who were absent or slept in class and couldn't answer the questions would be reset to zero.
At that time, he felt like the sky was falling, and every second he sat in the classroom, he felt like he was about to die suddenly.
He once thought that nothing could defeat him after enduring those few hours, but only today did he realize that the young student had never received a real beating.
Gao Liang choked up and said, "If I die suddenly on the road, don't forget to report me when you get to the capital. At least let me leave my name in the history books."
Jiang Muyun gently comforted him: "Go to bed early. Even if we have to rush on the road, we will arrange for people to take turns to rest. How could we let you die suddenly? Don't let your imagination run wild."
Gao Liang nodded with tears in his eyes: "I believe you won't let me die suddenly, I won't have any crazy thoughts."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Jiang Muyun said disapprovingly, "I'm telling you not to imagine yourself leaving a name in history."
"If the environment in the apocalypse can really be improved, it will be in Professor Chen's name. What does it have to do with you?" Jiang Muyun said cruelly.
Gao Liang fell asleep in resentment. Before going to sleep, he claimed that if he died suddenly and turned into a ghost, he would definitely come to find Jiang Muyun first. He slept until two o'clock in the afternoon. Even the sound of Jiang Muyun and others going downstairs to dismantle the wooden platform could not wake him up.
When Gao Liang opened his eyes, he found that there was no one in the house. There was only a burning fire and supplies, indicating that everyone did not abandon him and go on their way.
Just as Gao Liang got up with a confused look on his face and was about to go out to look for someone, Jiang Muyun and his group came back with a pile of wooden boards.
"Oh, has he woken up or turned into a ghost?" Jiang Muyun teased as soon as he entered the door.
Gao Liang sneered: "With the resentment and obsession I had this morning, if I had turned into a ghost, you would have been gone long ago."
Jiang Muyun put the planks in her arms on Gao Liang and said, "You're awake now. Let's get to work. Tie the planks to the boat and we'll take them with us."
Gao Liang glanced at the heavy wooden board in his arms. It looked familiar, as if it was carved directly from the same thick wood they had used to nail the wooden platform. The length and width matched.
"Why bring these things?" Gao Liang asked puzzledly.
Jiang Muyun pried off a few nails that were originally nailed to the wall and motioned Gao Liang to look outside: "Of course, it's for future preparation."
I looked down from the window with a high-precision probe. Wow, although the rain was still falling, the water level was dropping at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Originally, the floor below them was half flooded, but now it seems that after people go down, the water will only reach their calves at most.
Gao Liang hissed, "No way, are we really going through a swamp later?"
Jiang Muyun seemed to be in a good mood: "Then you are overthinking it. The situation is not that bad. Just look at the direction of the water flow."
The rain hasn't stopped here yet, but the water level has dropped so much and the water is still flowing so clearly towards the northeast.
In this situation, it is not accurate to say that the rainy season in the north has passed.
To be precise, the dry season in the north has arrived.
Everyone here has personally experienced the power of the drought season after the apocalypse.
swamp?
I'm afraid that by the time they drive their kayaks to the ocean area at the same latitude as the capital, and then turn from the ocean to inland, the land will have returned to its desert state.
If they continued their journey at that time, Xiaobai and the others would inevitably have to go back to the dog sledding business and drag the kayak across the sand.
Considering Captain Yu's fragile wallet and his heart which was even more fragile than his wallet, Jiang Muyun decided to cut a few pieces of wood and take them with him. When the time comes, he will use these boards to nail a simple cart to prevent the raft from being damaged by the sand and dry air.
Otherwise, Jiang Muyun was afraid that Captain Yu would perform a scene of Yu Baoxu crying in Qin Ting for them on the spot.
Jiang Muyun casually folded up the dried clothes on the wooden rack and stuffed them into a waterproof bag. He said with a hint of regret, "It's a pity we can't go directly north. We have to take a detour. Otherwise, with this distance, Xiaobai and the others could reach the capital in three or four days."
Even though the north has entered the dry season, there is still a transition area between the water level of more than ten meters and the desert.
If they were not sure they could wade through the unknown area of wet quicksand or swamp, they would have to take a detour.
The kind that works day and night.
Fortunately, there are many high-rise buildings here, so they should not have been affected by the tsunami. Otherwise, Jiang Muyun might not dare to sail close to the coastline.
"Pack up and set off, young man who is ready to save the world." Jiang Muyun patted Gao Liang's shoulder.
Now they are really racing against time and cannot afford to waste even a moment. Even though it is already two o'clock in the afternoon, they have to walk as far as possible before it gets dark.
Xiao Lan seized the last opportunity, took the initiative to run several times with the net bag, and caught eight full bags of fish.
There was no way to tie it to the kayak, so it twisted its tail and asked Jiang Muyun to tie the fish net to its body.
Jiang Muyun tied the rope around Xiaolan and caressed her white belly lovingly.
This poor child must be so hungry all the time.
I just don’t know how many days these fish can survive after entering the sea.
But looking at his own cubs crying for food, Jiang Muyun felt that he was worrying too much.
These fish may not survive until they are returned to the sea.
What surprised Jiang Muyun was that even with the attraction of such a group of prey, the fish still had no intention of chasing out. They stayed in the polluted waters and never took a step out.
These mutant fish brought out by Xiaolan don’t look like they will die if they are put into ordinary fresh water.
At least by the early morning of the third day, before Jiang Muyun and others entered the boundary between salt water and fresh water, the fish in the net bag looked lively and energetic.
Jiang Muyun saw Xiaobai, Xiaolan and the others were about to eat the last bag of fish, and suddenly stopped them. Then he used two net bags to catch two mutant fish respectively and tied them to the stern of the raft.
"These fish have strange habits. Since we're already carrying the pollutants, why not take the fish with us?" Jiang Muyun said, "If they can survive, we'll take them alive to the capital. If they can't, we'll decide whether to take their bodies or just throw them away, depending on the temperature."
It was quite cold today, so Professor Chen had already put on a sweater. If they were quick enough, they might be able to get the mutant fish to the capital before it deteriorated.
Chu Buwen reached out to tie a knot in the net to prevent them from giving the two fish too much freedom and causing them to scurry and do something bad to the kayak. He casually replied, "Or we can just take a specimen with us, depending on the humidity."
Captain Yu looked at the group of mutant fish that had been eaten clean and shook his head and sighed, "Look at you guys, you insisted on eating humans. Now you see, fish die for food, and even after death, they can't rest in peace."
Jiang Muyun watched Xiaobai and the others finish their breakfast. Professor Chen had almost finished packing, so he slung his bag over his shoulder and said, "Let's go. There may be rip currents in several places along our route today. Let's follow the coastline and walk through the freshwater areas while the water on the shore remains."
There are few buildings blocking the way near the coastline, and it is unlikely that any survivors would dare to settle down here. If all goes well, they can even go straight north.
Jiang Muyun held the map and began to whisper devilishly: "Starting today, we will enter the semi-no-man's land and officially start the night travel plan. Are you ready?"
"Come on." Chu Buwen stretched his shoulders back and said seriously, "It's time to show you the strength of the champion of staying up late."
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