◎Happy 58th Day: New Spring◎
Jiang Muyun had also experienced several locust plagues after the end of the world.
She was inexperienced the first time but was lucky because there was a survival base organized by the military nearby that was willing to unconditionally accept her into the base for temporary refuge.
At that time, communication between various places was cut off and social order had collapsed. Many soldiers who were in similar situations as Zhao Jiahao and Li Anxuan chose to join forces with their comrades to resist the natural disaster after their troops were disbanded.
In the end times, professional soldiers generally have much stronger survival abilities than ordinary people, and the Chinese people have a higher degree of trust in soldiers than in other privately formed survival teams.
Gradually, some armies that were dispersed in natural disasters reorganized themselves, established survival bases, provided shelter for ordinary people, and became new official organizations scattered among the people.
It was in such a base that Jiang Muyun escaped the first wave of locust plague.
Jiang Muyun looked out at the sky. It was still calm and there was no sign of any movement.
It's always better to be cautious. Jiang Muyun always prefers to believe in such things.
She drove the two chickens and Xiaobai back into the cave, pulled the rope used for communication, dressed neatly, put on a thermal blanket to block out the light, and headed towards the big cave.
When Qin Shiwen heard the sound of the rope being pulled, he wondered if he had heard it wrong.
She checked the time again and again. It was now past two in the afternoon, the hottest time of the day. Standing in the sun for a few minutes could result in sunburn.
When Qin Shiwen was walking out of the cave with a thermal blanket, he happened to meet Qin Shiwu who was sitting next to him.
"Do you know what happened?" Qin Shiwen asked.
Qin Shiwu shook his head and said as he walked away, "I don't feel well. If it wasn't urgent, I wouldn't rush to call everyone out at this time."
Their assembly signal was agreed upon long ago, so there is no possibility of pulling the wrong one.
With this idea in mind, everyone gathered quickly.
To prevent sunburn, everyone went out with a thermal blanket.
The thermal blanket is said to be heat-insulating, but its shiny surface reflects sunlight, reducing its impact on perceived temperature and protecting against sunburn. It's not exactly thermal insulation, but it's excellent sun protection. Because of its small size and light weight, and given previous extreme cold weather experiences, everyone picked up a lot of them at the Nanshan warehouse.
Wu Xingyue knew that she was physically exhausted, so she brought some Huoxiang Zhengqi water with her before going out. The first thing she did after arriving at the cave was to open the lid and drink half of it. After retching a few times, she finally had time to ask everyone what happened.
"Locusts?" Zhou Ying thought thoughtfully after hearing this. "It's certainly possible. Those two chickens in your house look unusual."
With the speculation about the mutation of leeks and the obvious excessive cleverness and human nature of Dabai and Xiaobai, the view that animals and plants began to mutate and evolve after abnormal climate has been accepted by everyone.
Zheng Xiang peered outside under the scorching sun. Aside from the exceptionally bright sun, there wasn't anything unusual. "Since those two chickens like to eat those small flying insects, perhaps locusts are also on their menu. That's probably why Dabai and Xiaobai aren't as sensitive to this as the other two chickens."
No one here is a zoologist, and no one knows what the direction of mutation is for the four cubs in the family. We can only guess based on common sense.
Jiang Muyun wasn't quite sure either: "In any case, we must make preparations first, otherwise it might be too late when we see the locusts."
The locusts before the apocalypse were omnivores. After the apocalypse, they may have mutated or were extremely hungry. Not only would they take a bite of edible things, they would even take a bite of inedible things.
With their current door, it is definitely not enough to stop the locusts from biting.
"We fumigate the surface of the thermal blanket with realgar, and then nail it to the door. Remember to put the orange side facing outwards." This was the method Jiang Muyun learned in his previous life at the military base to fight against locust plagues.
Thermal blankets are typically made of PE aluminum film, and while they don't insulate themselves, the orange side isn't as reflective as the silver side, making them less of a target at night. To a locust, it's just a hot, hard, and unpleasant-smelling piece of metal that grates on its teeth.
Chu Buwen hid from the locust plague in an abandoned cellar. "Remember to throw the mosquito nets and other miscellaneous items at the door down the mountain. Seal up all the cracks in the door with something tight. Glass, metal, or stone are best. If, and I mean if, it really comes to that, it's impossible, just roll up a straw and hide in the reservoir."
The reservoir is underground, so it won't be directly exposed to the impact of the locusts. Locusts are afraid of water, so if you really have to face a locust swarm, underwater is definitely the safest place.
Zhou Ying found that she had been reminiscing about the past more often since the apocalypse. "Not only do we need to apply realgar to the surface of the insulation blanket, but we also need to use something like floral water to isolate the door from odors. The disinfectant we used before will also work."
The entrance of the cave was originally irregular in shape. When they made the door before, they wrapped the wooden board with a quilt, and then wrapped a layer of waterproof membrane on the outside, using the plasticity of the quilt to fill the irregular shape.
But now there is a locust plague. The extremely hungry locusts might really tear the membrane and eat the cotton, and then drill into the cave through the gaps. Then we will be in big trouble.
Jiang Muyun thought about it and realized that she was not the only one who had found wine before. She reminded him again: "Alcohol can be used, but if it is wine, it is best not to use it."
The liquor sold on the market is distilled liquor and should not contain sugar. However, there is no need to take the risk at this time.
No one present cared about alcohol, and the bottles they had salvaged were so soaked and stained that they were unrecognizable. If they had sprayed the door with sugary flavored liquor to save alcohol, they would have been feeding the locusts.
Zhao Jiahao suddenly had an idea: "I heard locusts are edible. Is that true? If there really is a locust plague, should we catch some and use them as food reserves?"
Qin Shiwu: "What good things are you thinking? When locusts swarm and collide with each other, they secrete hydrogen cyanide in their bodies, which is poisonous. If you're unlucky, we'll have to meet again in the next life. If you just want to die a full death, you can leave some."
Jiang Muyun had heard of popular science in his previous life, and in this respect, locusts before and after the apocalypse were not much different: "The green locusts are edible, but the huge swarms of locusts that swarm during a locust plague are poisonous. If this is really a locust plague, we can wait until the main force has passed and then see if there are any edible ones to bring back."
Li Anxuan reminded him, "To be on the safe side, put away the solar panels as well. If they get damaged, the loss will be huge."
Chu Buwen nodded: "I'll go put the bell away as well."
The locusts certainly couldn't chew up the big metal bell, but it would be a huge loss if the bell was knocked down the mountain and broken by them.
After a few words, they finalized the plan, and agreed that Wang Qingqing and the others would carry back the two life rafts placed in the cave.
During this period, the outside world was calm. Not only were there no locusts, but even the mosquitoes that had been flying all over the sky a few days ago were nowhere to be seen.
Until they divided the realgar powder and went back home to nail the thermal blankets, there was no sign of anything unusual outside.
The first thing Jiang Muyun did after returning home was to take the solar panels back home and then paint every corner of the hole with bacteria and disinfectant.
The smell of the bacteria-killing poison was very strange, but Jiang Muyun himself could tolerate it, but it was a pity for Xiaobai, who had a sensitive sense of smell.
When she was painting the wall at the entrance of the cave, Xiaobai huddled in the innermost part of the cave, almost crying.
After painting the wall, Jiang Muyun covered the entire door with a thermal blanket coated with realgar powder, and fixed the edges and corners with nails.
Jiang Muyun had previously erected a sunshade at the entrance of the cave using membrane cloth, modeled after the side tents used on cars. One side of the membrane cloth was nailed to the top of the cave, and the other side was supported by two steel pipes.
Now, in order to protect his own front door, Jiang Muyun wants to dismantle the steel pipes that support the awning, let the hanging membrane cover the entire door, and then cover a layer of thermal insulation blanket on the outermost layer of the membrane to provide double protection for the door.
When Jiang Muyun was dismantling the steel pipe, Xiaobai suddenly barked twice, and then Jiang Muyun saw two chickens break open the door and run out, flapping their wings and rushing behind Jiang Muyun.
Jiang Muyun quickly caught the one closest to her, and when she turned around, she found that the other chicken had something moving in its mouth.
If Jiang Muyun had seen an insect of this appearance before, he might have called it a grasshopper. But now, the only word that came to his mind was locust.
This locust is undoubtedly brown, poisonous, and cannot be eaten.
But the two mutant chickens from Jiang Muyun's family were not afraid at all. With the aura of a poison king, they swallowed the food in just a few bites.
Jiang Muyun lost his food supply.
With the warning from this advanced individual, Jiang Muyun looked in the direction the two chickens were looking, and the slight abnormalities on the horizon became very obvious.
It's moving.
Jiang Muyun paused, and his hands moved faster.
The height of this mountain is only about 200 meters. If there is no obstruction in the middle, the maximum distance visible to the human eye is about 200x height (m).
In other words, she saw a swarm of locusts here, and the swarm of locusts was about 40 kilometers away from the mountain where they were.
The flying speed of ordinary locusts is around 10 kilometers per hour. She had heard in her previous life that the speed of mutated locusts is more than twice that of ordinary locusts.
By this calculation, it only takes more than an hour.
Jiang Muyun didn't bother to slowly untie the knot. She used a sharpened engineer shovel as an axe, cut the rope in two or three strokes, then poked two holes at the bottom of the membrane and tied the steel pipe that had just been removed to the bottom of the membrane as a weight.
The large swarms of locusts had not yet arrived, but a few scattered, particularly fast-moving ones had already arrived.
The two poison kings of Jiang Muyun's family are particularly talented in this aspect. With a flap of their half-bald wings, they can catch those locusts that are not flying properly in the sky and insist on rushing down to try to eat Jiang Muyun.
Jiang Muyun set up the front door of his house as quickly as possible, grabbed a handful of realgar powder and raised his hand, and the door was instantly filled with dust.
Although it is wasteful, it is much less labor-intensive than applying it slowly.
Take care of the gate and the mosquito net.
There were not many mosquitoes in the mosquito net these days, so Jiang Muyun packed up the entire mosquito net and the insect corpses she had previously put in a plastic bag and threw them down the mountain to prevent them from attracting locusts to her doorstep.
The small nest where the two chickens lived also needed to be cleaned and disinfectant was used to cover up the smell of their life.
After doing all this, there were no longer more locusts outside than the two chickens could catch.
Jiang Muyun shook the bacteria and epidemic prevention solution twice and sprayed it at the door, briefly clearing a space.
Jiang Muyun quickly lifted the awning and walked into the house through the crack in the door. Even so, she brought in several locusts that bravely reunited for food.
After Jiang Muyun entered the room, he took advantage of the fact that he had not taken off his gloves, turned on the light, and slapped them all to death.
Thanks to the awning outside that provided a layer of protection, Jiang Muyun dealt with the few locusts stuck in the crack of the door after entering, and no more locusts were seen scratching the crack of the door.
Jiang Muyun pulled the rope, erected all the movable bolts on the outside, and firmly locked the door panel.
To be on the safe side, she carefully stuffed realgar powder into the joints between the quilt and the cave.
The two chickens came in faster than Jiang Muyun.
They were pulled several times while fighting locusts outside, and they didn't dare to run around in the cave. They stayed between the door and the gauze curtain and fed each other.
When Jiang Muyun stuffed the realgar powder into their mouths, the two of them had already eaten all the locusts that were crawling on each other's bodies, and they also cleaned up those that were beaten half to death by Jiang Muyun.
Jiang Muyun has already accepted the reality that he can only look at these two animals but not eat them. Now he actually feels strangely relieved that they can hunt for food on their own.
After Jiang Muyun changed his clothes and took a shower, the two chickens began to sway in front of him.
Jiang Muyun picked them up and saw that they were bleeding.
It must have just been catching some snacks outside and was bitten by a group of snacks.
Is this asking her to give him medicine?
Jiang Muyun was not exaggerating, it was just a small wound. If they had come a little later, the wound would have scabbed over.
But considering that these two had just made great contributions, Jiang Muyun decided to indulge the children.
"Come here, I'll disinfect you two." Jiang Muyun found a bottle of iodine from the space.
It just so happened that her two chickens had been semi-free-range since they came to this mountain, and now they were at home, so they had to be disinfected.
Just as Jiang Muyun was pouring iodine into the spray bottle, there was a sudden muffled "bang" at the door, which scared Jiang Muyun so much that her hand trembled and the iodine splashed all over her hand.
When Jiang Muyun was wiping his hands in the cave, it was dark outside.
Billions of locusts were starving and rushed forward with their heads down. The buzzing of their wings was as deep as thunder, and the black mass covered the sky and the sun.
Even though Jiang Muyun had sprinkled a large amount of realgar at the door, he still couldn't stop the locusts from rushing forward and being squeezed against the door by their companions.
Fortunately, Jiang Muyun's door opened outwards, and the door panel was larger than the cave entrance.
The harder the locusts charged, the tighter the door panel was pressed.
As long as the entire wooden board is not broken, Jiang Muyun doesn't have to worry about locusts flying in.
Judging from the situation, the muffled sound caused by the banging on the door outside will not stop for a while.
Jiang Muyun wiped the iodine off his hands with concern, and then, in accordance with the principle of waste recycling, he used the paper used to wipe the iodine to wipe the wounds on the two chickens thoroughly, and then sprayed them with iodine to disinfect them.
Jiang Muyun stood at the door and listened to the situation outside for a while. The buzzing sound of the wings was mixed with a barely perceptible clicking sound.
The sound was very soft and could not be heard clearly through the door wrapped in a quilt, but it was definitely there.
Jiang Muyun carefully reviewed the items outside the door in his mind, confirming that nothing was edible. The aluminized insulation blanket was also very tear-resistant, so it wouldn't be bitten open by the locusts in such a short time.
Thinking about the mutant locusts' diet, Jiang Muyun applied another layer of bacteria and plague killer around the entrance of the cave.
The muffled sound outside continued until the next night. Jiang Muyun had not slept much before that.
She was neither frightened nor disturbed by the noise, but was annoyed by the dull and continuous noise.
It's like you're sleeping soundly in the middle of the night, and someone keeps tapping the mattress next to your ear and occasionally scratching a blackboard with their fingernails.
The noise was not loud and could not disturb someone like Jiang Muyun who could sleep anywhere.
But it's really annoying, and it makes me feel furious.
Jiang Muyun tried to wear earplugs, but she didn't know if the earplugs she bought were of poor quality. Not only did they fail to block the sound, but they also made the sound more fragmented and dull when it entered her ears, which had a fundamentally counterproductive effect.
Playing music is even more useless.
Music that's so loud it drowns out the noise outside isn't the kind you'd want to sleep to. Soft music, on the other hand, seems to contribute to this mental pollution.
Jiang Muyun could only listen to radio dramas with headphones on, trying to divert his attention.
Unexpectedly, the plot of the radio drama was so exciting that she was so alert that she couldn't sleep most of the night. Her mind was full of "the princess hung on the city wall for three days", "the princess died", and "the princess became the queen".
The next morning, Jiang Muyun took off his headphones with lifeless eyes, got up and drank three glasses of ice water to calm himself down.
The princess disappeared from her mind, and the scratching sounds outside occupied Jiang Muyun's brain again. She felt that her heart was beating to the rhythm outside the door.
Not to mention the three kids at home, it was literally a mess.
Fortunately, the fur of these three cats had almost fallen out due to the high temperature, so even if they fluttered around, the fur would not fly everywhere. Otherwise, Jiang Muyun would have to help them remove their hair manually to completely get rid of the trouble of alopecia areata.
By the evening, the banging on the door finally stopped, and Jiang Muyun took the opportunity to have a good sleep.
Because she knew that new torture would soon begin.
The sound of banging on the door has stopped now because there is a thick layer of locusts outside the door, as well as the corpses of a group of locusts that were smashed by their companions acting as a buffer. Naturally, when the locusts behind hit the door again, the noise is not as loud as before.
But that doesn't mean the torture is over.
The locusts, which are said to leave no grass growing when they pass through their territory, do not just eat grass.
On the afternoon of the third day, rustling sounds outside the door occasionally came into the cave.
Those were the locusts that were clinging to the door before the later locusts started eating.
The mutated locusts are not afraid of the toxins produced by their own kind.
When they have almost eaten all of their own kind and there is no buffer left, the sound of banging on the door will start again, tormenting people over and over again.
The noise outside will not stop until the locust army has completely passed through the border, or most of the locust swarm has been killed and no longer forms a swarm.
In the apocalypse, there are generally two ways for locust swarms to die: either they encounter a large area of poisonous plants, or they eat too fast and have no time to reproduce, and then starve to death.
Seeing that the outside is now barren and empty, and the size of this locust swarm, it is impossible to wait for them to be destroyed. We can only stay in the cave and wait for the main force of the locust army to pass by.
Jiang Muyun spent a whole week in this state of being able to sleep only when he had time.
Jiang Muyun regretted countless times that he was too careless and did not consider the locust plague when preparing supplies.
Otherwise, she would definitely download something like the Great Compassion Mantra to calm herself down.
On the eighth day of the locust plague, Jiang Muyun just woke up and opened his eyes.
She has figured out a pattern in the past few days. Generally, the movement outside will last for more than 30 hours, and then it will be quiet for about seven hours. When the locusts on the outer layer are almost eaten, a new torture will begin.
Jiang Muyun timed herself to turn on the third episode of the radio drama about the princess hanging on the wall. After listening to a few episodes, she saw that the three cubs at home were always huddled at the door. She was worried that something had happened to her door, so she took off her headphones and prepared to go over and check.
Jiang Muyun was stunned as soon as he reached the door.
It had been four or five hours since she woke up, and it was still quiet outside.
It can't be said to be quiet, it can only be said that the noise is much smaller.
It was so small that if she didn't listen carefully, she could hardly hear anything outside.
Jiang Muyun immediately realized what this meant.
This swarm of locusts has passed!
At least most of them have left.
Jiang Muyun suppressed his restless hand and decided to wait another day.
Even though the locust army has left, there will still be a lot of locusts outside. To be safe, it's better to wait a little longer. It won't hurt to wait a little longer.
Jiang Muyun walked around in the cave for more than half an hour. After making sure that no one was scratching the blackboard outside, he immediately cheered excitedly and arrogantly set up a table of spicy noodles.
This week's endless blackboard scraping wasn't a refuge; it was a practice!
The kind that makes her completely free of worldly desires!
Not to mention spicy strips, she finds food with a slightly stronger flavor unappetizing, and even the sound of her own chewing is annoying.
This week she either drank porridge with a blissful mind or drank ice water, and her three children at home all became anorexic children.
Jiang Muyun opened up a new world by making bread and spicy strips, and did not forget to open cans of food for his three cubs to celebrate.
With the extra food he'd gotten at the pet store in the Plaza, Jiang Muyun was even willing to give the two chickens a portion of canned fish—the kind Xiaobai wouldn't eat, finding the very smell disgusting. Judging by the packaging, it looked like canned cat food, and Chu Buwen had grabbed quite a bit, but unfortunately, Dabai preferred the braised pork.
Seeing the two chickens eating canned fish without even raising their heads, Jiang Muyun thought of the oysters that Xiaobai had ruined.
She felt that she knew the preferences of these two chickens.
Jiang Muyun ate and drank his fill today, and rediscovered his worldly desires. He munched on potato chips while watching variety shows, and drank a glass of sparkling wine. He slept soundly at night.
The next morning, Jiang Muyun opened the door. The light from outside came in for less than three seconds, and then Jiang Muyun decisively closed the door.
The two chickens and Jiang Muyun took a few steps back at the same time. Only Xiaobai, who had been a few meters away from the door, wagged his tail leisurely.
The last time Jiang Muyun smelled such a heady smell was when she went down the mountain to catch insect bait.
Even the mask couldn't block the sharp stench that pierced my nose.
Jiang Muyun leaned against the mountain wall and calmed down for ten minutes. He soaked an ordinary mask with floral water and put on a layer of N95 mask on the outside. He covered himself so tightly that it was a little difficult for him to breathe. Only then did he dare to open the door and walk out.
Things in front of the house always have to be cleaned up, otherwise she is afraid that the things in front of the house will be pickled if left there for a few days.
The engineer shovel that Jiang Muyun had previously used to physically kill insects made a comeback.
After waving away a few locusts flying around in the air, Jiang Muyun saw something moving under the thermal blanket. He slapped all the locusts that had crawled in to death through the blanket.
She cut off the top of the awning, which was just enough to wrap the locust remains shoveled out by Jiang Muyun.
We can't just throw this bunch of things away. They're all organic matter, and who knows what they'll ferment into. We can only bury them.
Jiang Muyun chose a place far away from their caves to dig a hole.
It was obvious that all the traps they had set up on the mountain had been destroyed, so there was no need to worry about anything. The soil here looked quite thick, so it should be easy to dig.
As Jiang Muyun was digging, Chu Buwen also came. His purpose was similar to Jiang Muyun's. He also dragged a bag of locust remains to bury.
After a while, Jiang Muyun heard Qin Shiwen calling her.
Qin Shiwen and Qin Shiwu were standing halfway up the mountain carrying a large bag of half-dead locusts. They were wandering around looking for a grave for them when they saw Jiang Muyun working below.
The noise outside died down and everyone came out to move around.
Wang Qingqing's luck was incredible. The locusts were flying towards the front door of Jiang Muyun's house, and she hadn't slept well for several days.
The cave chosen by Wang Qingqing and his friends was on the other side of the mountain, which was just right for the locusts. As long as they blocked the door and scattered the medicine, everything would be fine. Except for the first day when they were too worried to sleep, the four of them played mahjong at home every day for the next few days.
Wang Qingqing clutched her chest and said in fear, "Thank goodness the locusts have dispersed. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to play mahjong for a few more days. We haven't dared charge our phones these past few days, for fear of running out of power and turning on the lights."
Jiang Muyun, who was just eating vegetarian food and chanting Buddhist scriptures at home, sniffed and was choked by the strong fragrance of the floral water and cried.
After everyone cleaned up the doorsteps of their homes, they also had to clean up the broken limbs and arms in other parts of the mountain.
The people who had difficulty breathing due to the masks began to sigh when they thought about the scale of the project.
Jiang Muyun knocked a straggler locust down from the sky with a shovel, and everyone laughed it off and called it a good shot.
Jiang Muyun kept his head up, squinting his eyes and didn't speak for a long time.
Chu Buwen raised his hand to help her adjust her hat: "What's wrong?"
Jiang Muyun pulled back his outer mask to breathe a little, then asked, "How long have we been out?"
Chu Buwen lifted his sleeve and looked at his watch: "It's half past seven now. I left home a little after four o'clock, so it's about three hours."
Jiang Muyun was really suffocating. The smell outside was not as pungent as when she first went out, so she simply pulled down her mask, revealing her face which was flushed from suffocating.
Jiang Muyun raised his hand and fanned the air. "According to previous patterns, the sun usually comes out around six o'clock. We've been stuck in the sun for over an hour, and we haven't gotten heatstroke or sunburned. This can't be a coincidence or human evolution, right?"
Everyone had already walked forward for a distance. Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen fell at the end of the team. Jiang Muyun was smiling while speaking, and his eyes looked at Chu Buwen with some excitement.
Chu Buwen stared at Jiang Muyun for a moment before reacting.
Even though the climate in the end times was extreme, it never changed from summer to winter or from winter to summer overnight.
This means that at the junction of winter and summer, the outside world will enter a relatively safe period suitable for human activities.
Just like after the previous extreme cold, humans briefly resumed work and production.
After the end of the world, most people call the period between winter and summer the New Spring.
In her previous life, Jiang Muyun sought refuge nearby when disasters struck, and rushed on her journey whenever the new spring arrived. That was why it took her ten years to walk this journey of more than a thousand kilometers.
And now, the new spring seems to have arrived.
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