◎Happy 145th Day: Shelter◎
The layout of the capital's suburbs is somewhat similar to that of South City.
The scenic spots in Nanshi are concentrated in the western suburbs, and Anshan in the capital is also a cultural and tourism area with a large number of attractions.
The theme park is less than five kilometers north of Anshan. Along the way, several people held binoculars and observed the surroundings, trying to find any signs of survivors, but unfortunately they found nothing except a piece of yellow sand.
The journey was much smoother than they had imagined. After careful calculation, it only took them one day and one night to reach the outskirts of the capital.
Although it is normal for the capital to have a distance of thirty to forty kilometers from the outer ring to the inner ring, Jiang Muyun does not think that there will be survivors in the city center given the current situation of the capital.
If there is, it is a place that ordinary unidentified survivors like them cannot enter.
If you are unlucky, you will become one of the "three thousand" who are wrongly killed.
They couldn't have carried Professor Chen all the way and then used a loudspeaker to play the message "We are escorting a national treasure-level scientist back to Beijing, please do not shoot" on a loop in the city center, right?
Rather than rushing into the city when it was getting dark, Jiang Muyun thought it would be better for them to take a stroll along Park Avenue first.
Of course, Jiang Muyun was not sure that their current location was Park Avenue.
However, when they passed by the theme park, they located themselves by a small hill in the park with only the tip of the hill showing above the sand, so even if they were off the mark, it would not be too far off.
However, by the time they had walked the entire Park Avenue and were almost reaching the capital's South Fourth Ring Road, they had not seen any signs of human activity.
Not only that, as time went on, Xiaobai and the others became more and more irritable.
They don't look like they want to go any further.
Xiaobai even dropped his work and ran to Jiang Muyun, pulling at her clothes and trying to pull her back, humming in anxiety.
This was the first time Xiaobai showed such obvious resistance along the way.
"Don't worry about what happened in front, let's go back first." Jiang Muyun said decisively.
She pressed her pounding heart, and a feeling of unease began to spread.
Jiang Muyun's intuition told him that what made Xiaobai and the others feel uneasy was most likely the reason why the survivors in the capital had taken collective refuge.
Even the survivors living in Anshan had to leave their homes for shelter, so what about them? Where should they hide?
When Xiaobai heard the keyword he wanted, he turned around and ran back dragging the kayak without thinking.
Jiang Muyun forced himself to calm down and said to Xiaobai, "Xiaobai, go back to the mountain we passed by before."
In any case, Anshan, which was once inhabited and experienced two explorations by Dabai and them, must be safer than other places now.
After searching in vain, the few people were forced to return to Anshan.
Strangely, they had a smooth journey.
Only Xiaobai and the others acted quite impatient and restless.
But the more this happened, the more uneasy Jiang Muyun felt.
Xiaobai was forced to stop running and circled around Jiang Muyun, and Dabai in Jiang Muyun's arms also began to scratch everywhere.
Jiang Muyun tried to communicate with Xiaobai, and asked Xiaobai to give some prompt information by "nodding if yes and shaking his head if no".
Xiaobai can usually understand simple questions like "Which direction does the danger come from?" and "Is it a natural disaster or an animal?"
But today, Xiaobai was completely immersed in his own emotions. He just kept conveying his fear to Jiang Muyun and trying to take Jiang Muyun away from here.
How could Jiang Muyun dare to let Xiaobai and the others run out at this time?
Looking at the way they were running back frantically just now, you can tell that even they themselves don’t know where is safe, and they just want to be as far away from the capital as possible.
If Jiang Muyun and others were not there on the road reminding them to change direction, who knows where they would have run to.
As smart as they are, they're only about as smart as normal human children. It's perfectly normal for them to thrash around when they're panicking and scared.
It's not a peaceful place outside now. Every step taken by Jiang Muyun and others has been carefully planned. If they rush around blindly, they might end up falling into quicksand.
Jiang Muyun and his companions managed to calm the cubs down and set up camp at the door of a house at the foot of Anshan Mountain, where the cave entrance faced north and there was only a cloth strip tied on the door. They were ready to break into the house and seek refuge at any time.
Until they finished all this, nothing unusual happened around them.
Only around the camp, Xiaobai and his friends dug one pit after another.
If it weren't for the panic shown by Xiaobai and the others, this night would be no different from all the nights they had spent before.
In the dim night, a group of people sat together, trying hard to suppress the surging emotions in their hearts.
Jiang Muyun flipped through a few maps and sat by the fire, repeatedly checking the area around Anshan. "From the perspective of evacuation, is there any place around here that's safer than Anshan and more suitable for emergency shelter?"
Professor Chen, wearing reading glasses, marked the locations of several research institutes in the capital that she knew on the city map. She also circled the locations of some shelters with a higher level of confidentiality that she knew of.
Nanshi is not some paradise on earth, and all of them have had experience of seeking refuge.
There are only two options for seeking refuge in the apocalypse: digging a hole in the mountains or digging a hole underground.
The former can be ruled out because the person just ran away from the mountains.
The latter... the latter is not very likely!
The more Jiang Muyun investigated, the more he became frustrated.
The sand layer in the capital is at least thirty meters high. Can the survivors live in the sand, or can they directly dig through the sand and enter the original city shelter?
And you can imagine, if the buildings on the ground have collapsed like this, how many of the buildings underground can survive?
Jiang Muyun's brows were knitted tightly together, and he kept turning the pen in his hand unconsciously: "It's impossible that all subway stations in the capital are built according to the standards of the White House shelter!"
Otherwise, how could all the survivors in the capital be accommodated with only a few high-standard shelters that could withstand a horrific earthquake?
Chu Buwen was also anxious.
He was examining the city plan map, trying to find some valuable information.
It should be said that no one here is not anxious.
The only difference is that some people can suppress their emotions, stay calm and continue thinking, while those who are inexperienced, such as Gao Liang, know that they cannot calm down and speaking now will only cause trouble, so they simply squat aside and rub the little ones, trying to calm them down.
Gao Liang held Xiaoguai in his left hand and Xiaobai in his right hand, and as he was rubbing them, he found something wrong.
Little Lazy is sleepy.
In fact, ever since the temperature dropped to the point where they had to wear down jackets, Xiao Lan has been feeling listless.
After all, it is a golden python. It is its biological instinct to hibernate in winter. It has just been relying on its strong physique and instincts after mutation to go against it.
But now it's sleepy.
Xiao Lan's whole body was curled up into a ball, his head nodding. Occasionally, he would fall asleep and then suddenly wake up after a while. Then he would stick his head out to see what was happening with Jiang Muyun and the others, and twist his body as if trying to get rid of sleepiness.
This was originally a very normal thing.
But Gao Liang looked at Xiaoguai who had the words "want to rebel" written on his face, Tutu who always wanted to rush out and run away with his master on his back, and Xiaobai who kept staring at Jiang Muyun with tears in his eyes and just wanted to cry in Jiang Muyun's arms. Gao Liang felt that Xiaolan's reaction was too abnormal.
Xiaolan is also a mutant animal. There is no reason why Xiaobai and the others are so panicked while Xiaolan can sleep peacefully.
Jiang Muyun and the others who were struggling with the map had not yet come up with a conclusion when Gao Liang told them to take a look at Xiao Lan.
"It's indeed abnormal." Jiang Muyun murmured.
Some information flashed through her mind, but Jiang Muyun failed to grasp it immediately.
A gust of cold wind blew. Jiang Muyun held down the map that was rustling in the wind. Suddenly, he looked up at Gao Liang and asked something completely unrelated: "Gao Liang, are you cold?"
Gao Liang was stunned by Jiang Muyun's question. He stood there for two or three seconds before rubbing his arms and saying, "It's quite cold."
Captain Yu was puzzled: "What's wrong?"
"We were sitting by the fire the whole time. Gaoliang was the only one further away, so he's more sensitive to temperature fluctuations than we are." Jiang Muyun stood up suddenly. "We were heading north along Park Avenue, and Xiaobai and the others started acting strangely just before entering the city. So, we subconsciously assumed they were afraid of the city."
Jiang Muyun looked towards the direction of the capital's urban area, as if asking a question, or perhaps talking to himself, "But are they really afraid of the urban area? Is it the urban area or the place Xiaobai and the others don't want to go near..."
"It happens to be in the same direction as the city center - north." Chu Buwen closed the city planning map in his hand and let out a long breath.
In the midst of the white mist, Chu Buwen said the words that no one wanted to hear.
"It's a cold wave."
It was the cold wave that forced the survivors to rush out of their homes for shelter.
As Chu Buwen finished speaking, a strong wind suddenly rose from the ground, as if echoing his words.
The fire was suddenly suppressed by the cold wind, and everyone fell into darkness for a moment.
The cold wave in the dry season has no ice walls, snow or fog, and no dark clouds in the sky.
Because the rainy season had just passed, the moisture in the sand was frozen before it had time to evaporate, and the sand and dust became much more docile than usual.
It is silent.
Jiang Muyun felt a sudden sharp pain on her cheek. She raised her hand and wiped her cheek, and found a few grains of sand on her fingertips.
That's all.
It is normal to walk in the yellow sand for hundreds of miles and have sand and dust carried by the wind.
Even though a cold wave is approaching, the density of sand and dust in the wind does not show any obvious abnormalities.
The sound of his heart pounding exploded in his ears. Jiang Muyun closed his eyes slightly, and all the chaotic thoughts retreated from his mind.
"Let's go." Jiang Muyun took a deep breath. The cold air hit her nose and the tingling sensation spread all the way to her brain, making her extremely sober at this moment.
I don't want anything anymore.
Nothing was left except the supplies placed in the kayak and their backpacks.
Jiang Muyun said calmly: "Go to the nearest subway station."
Chu Buwen had already called back Chen Cheng's pink-feathered parrot, and then pointed to the right front and said, "About 1.3 kilometers ahead is Anshan Park North Station."
Not only Jiang Muyun, but Chu Buwen also reacted.
They had fallen into a misunderstanding before.
Yes, subway stations really can’t withstand a major earthquake.
But who says shelters can only be buildings that survive earthquakes? Buildings built after the apocalypse are just as effective.
It is indeed difficult for humans to dig through dozens of meters of sand from top to bottom and build any buildings under the sand, but what if they directly open up a passage connecting the upper and lower parts?
Jiang Muyun took off his gloves and stretched out his hand to feel the current temperature.
It was almost time, the temperature was dropping rapidly, and they were getting closer and closer to the subway entrance.
After arriving in the capital, Jiang Muyun once thought about a question.
If the leadership in the capital hadn't been completely wiped out, what had they been doing all these years? Why hadn't they heard of any directives or support being sent from the capital to the rest of the country?
What is holding them back and preventing them from taking care of other things?
Jiang Muyun had the answer at this moment.
It's a refuge.
It is a shelter large enough to accommodate tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands or millions of survivors in the capital.
There are too many things in a country's capital, like the research institutes with extremely high protection levels circled by Professor Chen, that cannot be hastily moved after a disaster.
Even before the end of the world when human and material resources are abundant, moving the capital is not something that can be done easily.
What’s more, in this apocalyptic world where people have lost contact and are suffering everywhere?
If these things need to be moved, where should they be moved?
Who can guarantee that nothing will go wrong during the transfer or at the new resettlement site?
Compared with so many unknowns, they might as well stay where they are and stay in places that have experienced the test of earthquakes.
Since we have to stay, these places cannot become isolated islands.
"It's better to renovate the former underground buildings than to dig tunnels with bare hands when resources are scarce, right?" Jiang Muyun became more and more certain of his guess as the cold wind whistled past.
The restless Xiaobai found a way to vent his anger, and the three cubs, who had just grown a bit of fur, ran in the wind.
After being woken up, Xiaolan forced himself to cheer up and tried to keep up with Xiaobai and the others.
The cold wave came silently. She didn't know how the country detected the arrival of the cold wave in advance and notified the survivors on Anshan to evacuate in a hurry.
But judging from the traces on Anshan, the survivors were both panicked and forgot to even pick up the fallen tables and chairs, but also calm and had time to lock the door after leaving.
Jiang Muyun had reason to guess that the entrance to the shelter was not too far from Anshan.
And it's not far away by foot.
Otherwise, these survivors would definitely be rushing to get on their way and would definitely not have the time to pay attention to trivial matters like whether the door is locked or not.
Subway stations and subway entrances are the places most likely to be rebuilt as shelters for ordinary survivors.
Under the threat of the cold wave, the little white ones moved extremely fast.
In just a few tens of seconds, Jiang Muyun looked back at Anshan and they were almost close.
A layer of white frost formed on Jiang Muyun's scarf. Jiang Muyun covered his mouth and nose with the scarf to prevent choking, and said to Xiaobai in the loudest voice: "Go to the front and find something under the sand."
The wind is getting stronger.
Jiang Muyun could clearly feel that the temperature around her was dropping rapidly.
A cold wave is coming.
"We can't stay on the boat anymore." Jiang Muyun's ears were filled with the howling of the wind. She had to shout at the top of her lungs to ensure that everyone could hear her.
I don’t know if it was Jiang Muyun’s illusion, but she seemed to have lost control of her facial features.
"The entrance to the shelter is nearby. We must get off the boat and move around." Jiang Muyun, whose face was frozen stiff, didn't know what she was shouting. She just felt that she was having difficulty breathing.
In a cold wave like this, it doesn’t matter whether you wear one more or one less piece of clothing.
This is not a temperature that humans can withstand by just wrapping themselves in blankets and huddling in place.
They have to get moving.
Constantly active.
Until they find a refuge and knock on its door.
Jiang Muyun lowered her head and gasped for a few times. Suddenly, she heard Chu Buwen's voice taking over hers: "I'll count to three, and then we'll jump off the boat together."
Jiang Muyun, whose ears were buzzing from the shouting just now, breathed a sigh of relief.
"three."
Jiang Muyun turned back to look for Professor Chen and found that Chu Buwen's actions were almost the same as hers.
"two."
Captain Yu pulled Chen Cheng over.
"one."
Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen hugged each other, holding Professor Chen in their arms, one in front and one behind, and rolled into the sand.
"Get up quickly, don't stop." Captain Yu's hoarse voice rang out in the wind. Jiang Muyun reached behind her waist, but found that the goggles hanging around her waist had disappeared at some point.
Jiang Muyun could only take out a new one from the space and put it on, and finally he could open his eyes normally in the strong wind.
Professor Chen was wrapped in layers of thermal blankets and wool blankets, to the point where his movements were affected. Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen climbed out of the cold sand, struggling to maintain their balance in the strong wind, and helped Professor Chen, who was wrapped tightly, up from the sand.
Jiang Muyun turned on the flashlight.
When jumping off the boat, everyone's hands and feet might have been frozen, so their movements were not smooth. Even with Chu Buwen counting, no one was able to land in almost the same place.
The distance between Zhou Fei and Jiang Muyun, who were the farthest away, was estimated to be about fifty or sixty meters.
Everyone gathered towards the light.
But the wind was so strong and the temperature was so low that even walking upright became extremely difficult.
Everyone could only try to lower their center of gravity, hunch over to move their already stiff hands and feet, and stumble towards Jiang Muyun.
Can't stop.
Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen supported Professor Chen on his left and right as they walked in the sand.
Professor Chen's knee joints already had problems, and now it is even difficult for him to bend them.
But she had to take her own steps.
Once you stop, it may be forever.
The crowd gathered, even though Jiang Muyun's arm had lost feeling.
Her brain sent movement commands to her arm, and she clearly saw her arm twist and slide, transferring the backpack from behind her back to her chest, but Jiang Muyun could not feel its presence.
Jiang Muyun gestured to Chu Buwen to support Professor Chen, while he lowered his head and continued to walk forward mechanically, while using his disobedient fingers to open his backpack.
She wanted to take out some thermal blankets from her bag.
But she had no feeling in her hands.
She had no idea what she was touching.
Jiang Muyun was too lazy to search with the light, so he simply took advantage of the cover of his backpack to take out a stack of life-saving blankets from the space and distributed them to everyone.
Jiang Muyun didn't know what the temperature was now, but the outer packaging of the life blanket had been frozen to a brittle state.
Very thoughtful.
Otherwise, with her current finger flexibility, it would be difficult to open this ziplock bag.
Jiang Muyun simply put the backpack in front of him, held down the scarf with one hand, pinched the ziplock bag with the other hand, bit a corner of the ziplock bag with his teeth, tore it open directly, shook out the thermal blanket in the ziplock bag and wrapped it around himself.
My teeth are almost frozen off.
Jiang Muyun thought.
But if my tooth fell out now, I probably wouldn’t even notice it, right?
This is a good way to extract teeth after the apocalypse.
Unfortunately, her wisdom tooth had already caused her pain and had been removed before the end of the world. Otherwise, she would have taken this opportunity to dig it out from its original location, causing it to die suddenly without her knowing, which would have been a revenge for the pain it had caused her for so long.
It’s a pity when you think about it this way.
Jiang Muyun could no longer feel the effect of the thermal blanket, but she could hypnotize herself.
Just consider it useful, useful enough to restore her mobility.
Jiang Muyun didn't know whether the thermal blanket was useful, but her self-hypnosis was really effective.
Just a few seconds after wrapping himself in the thermal blanket, Jiang Muyun felt that he was no longer so cold.
Chu Buwen's unclear voice came from Jiang Muyun's ear: "Follow me, there seems to be something over here."
Did Xiaobai and the others discover something?
This was Jiang Muyun’s first reaction.
"Is there a way?" Jiang Muyun asked.
Even her exhalation now seemed to be squeezing out the little heat in her body.
Jiang Muyun subconsciously wanted to reach out to cover the scarf, but found that the scarf had been frozen stiff.
Fortunately, it is the dry season now.
Although the cold wave in the dry season came silently, the air was dry at this time. At least she didn't have to worry about the frost and snow formed by the water vapor in her nasal cavity and mouth blocking her respiratory tract when she opened her mouth to speak.
Chu Buwen nodded. The sound was muffled by the scarf and it was difficult to make out what he said. Jiang Muyun only vaguely heard the word "Little Lazy".
Chu Buwen also knew how difficult it was to convey information through sound at this moment, so he simply used a flashlight to point the direction to Jiang Muyun.
Jiang Muyun looked along the beam of light and saw that the inconspicuous golden strip in the yellow sand was slowly forming a circle around itself, and then twisting its body as hard as it could, trying to push away the yellow sand there.
Anyone who sees the little sloth's movements can feel how hard it is twisting its body.
But it was too cold now. Even if it used all its strength, its movements were as clumsy as a rusty mechanical part.
Jiang Muyun felt that he should be smiling.
Yes, when it comes to finding things under the sand, the big guy Xiaolan is indeed the most convenient.
The two beams of light from the flashlights in Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen's hands shone on Xiaolan, and they turned and walked towards Xiaolan at the same time.
It has only been two minutes since they jumped out of the car, and everyone's thoughts are a little frozen.
Rather than telling people with words, it is better to lead them directly with actions.
As long as the direction of the light beam changes, everyone will instinctively change direction and head towards the light.
While your feet are moving, your hands can't stop either. Every part of your body should move as much as possible to prevent your body from freezing.
But their movements cannot be too large, otherwise they will consume unnecessary calories and make the body hypothermia worse.
Previously, Jiang Muyun wanted to prevent them from getting too far away from the possible shelter entrance, which resulted in Xiaobai and the others not being able to reach the shelter entrance alive even if they found the shelter. She made the decision to jump off the boat when the temperature dropped to the point where it was unbearable for the human body.
Just as Jiang Muyun said, if the shelter was really converted from the original subway station, then the entrance must be near the original subway entrance, which is also near where they are now.
Jiang Muyun and the others were only a few dozen meters away from the area circled by Xiaolan. The three little white cats, whose movements were also stagnant, had already gathered around Xiaolan and were making anxious whimpering sounds towards the sand layer below.
It was not only Jiang Muyun and the others who were unable to open their mouths in the cold wind, but also the little white cats who had not yet grown enough fur for the winter.
Being forced into a corner, Xiaoguai even let out a long whimper from his throat.
As soon as it made this sound, Xiaobai couldn't help it.
The howling of the two wolfs rose and fell in the cold wind. If it wasn't so inappropriate, Jiang Muyun would have wanted to give them the Northern Wolf King Award.
It’s just that the howling of these two wolf kings is a bit inappropriate, as if they were whimpering with their mouths covered after being kidnapped.
Jiang Muyun didn't know if it was because of the disturbance caused by these two wolf kings, but she felt like she had some tinnitus.
Jiang Muyun mechanically moved closer to where Xiaobai was.
If this continues, she can only take out the floating house from the space and see if starting a fire in the floating house can save her life.
Based on Jiang Muyun's experience, it is probably not possible.
At most, it can delay their death by a few minutes.
Then she must remember to put the floating house back into the space before she dies.
Otherwise, when the cold wave passes and people in the shelter come out and see the floating house, it will probably become one of the ten unsolved mysteries of the capital of the apocalypse that will be passed down to future generations.
Jiang Muyun's body suddenly felt heavy as his thoughts raced.
Chu Buwen gestured for her to support Professor Chen, who was already in a semi-comatose state, and then he raised a crowbar that he had taken out from somewhere and hit the silver-white spot exposed in the yellow sand hard.
Not a trace was left.
They didn't even know if the knocking sound could reach behind the door.
Jiang Muyun, who has been to Nanshan Arsenal several times, dares to guarantee that this door is definitely a close relative of the main gate of Nanshan Arsenal.
Chu Buwen also knew that the material of this door was unusual.
But he had to keep knocking.
Even if the cost is worsening his hypothermia.
Jiang Muyun was helpless.
Seeing Chu Buwen's posture just now, she thought Chu Buwen was in good condition.
Now he seems a little delirious.
Jiang Muyun used the last bit of his rationality to control himself and not directly pull out the gun from the space.
She put the flashlight on her shoulder and fumbled to pull out the pistol on her waist. She couldn't control the force of the movement and broke several of her knuckles.
Jiang Muyun shook the flashlight and used the beam of light to signal Chu Buwen to move aside.
Then he pointed the gun at the edge of the silver-white metal door and pulled the trigger tremblingly.
Bang bang bang.
The three gunshots were particularly harsh in the cold and dark weather, leaving three gray marks on the silver-white door.
Three short, three long, three short.
After firing nine bullets, Jiang Muyun thought that if the noise couldn't be transmitted inside, they would have to change rifles and continue.
I hope that they won’t be treated as robbers and dealt with as the Beggar Gang version.
The author has something to say:
It's almost finished, and I'm thinking about the sequel.
The tentative extra chapters are [Going Home for the New Year], [The Happy Tenth Year - After the Successful Mass Production of Soil Improvement], and [Where Did the One Hundred and Eight Treasures Go]? They are all short stories that I plan to publish as soon as possible. If they can't fit in one chapter, I will put them in the preface as a small drama.
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