◎Happy 64th day: So big◎
This heavy haze that came with the east wind is just like the acid rain a few days ago. It looks mild and gentle, but it is actually killing people invisibly.
Now Jiang Muyun has protected himself tightly, so his respiratory tract will not be affected for the time being.
The biggest problem she had to face was the yellow and black smoke blocking her way home.
"We can't stay outside." In just a few tens of seconds, smoke and dust covered the art city, and visibility dropped rapidly. Chu Buwen looked back, but no matter how he wiped his goggles, he could hardly see Jiang Muyun's figure.
Even without the apocalypse, acid rain, or other major mutations, prolonged exposure to such an environment would be extremely damaging to the respiratory tract. Furthermore, with the acid rain just over, who knew if there were any deadly substances mixed in with the smoke and dust?
The intact houses that are currently vacant are all leaking on all sides, with no windows or doors. It may not be possible to find materials to block the doors and windows in the short term.
They had no way of clearing out a safe house for temporary refuge, and had to return to the cave as soon as possible.
But the visibility outside was so low that it was like they were traveling with their eyes closed.
If they were on a familiar and flat city road, they might be able to barely identify the direction and find their way home by following the buildings on the roadside.
But the place they were going to was in the suburbs of Yi City. After leaving the city, there would be a long stretch of road with no buildings.
Perhaps due to the magnetic field disturbance, the compass was spinning like crazy most of the time. Normally, we could tell the direction by sight, but now, following our instincts, we were probably going to be stuck in a maze.
Jiang Muyun fumbled to find a roll of parachute rope from his bag, squatted down and tied one end of the rope around Xiaobai's waist, and tied a cloth strip around Xiaobai to cover his mouth and nose.
"Can you find your home?" Jiang Muyun whispered in Xiaobai's ear.
Xiaobai rubbed against Jiang Muyun and took a few steps forward.
Jiang Muyun estimated that the rope was about two meters long, and wrapped the excess part around the front of the car, pushing the car forward along the force transmitted from the rope.
"Xiaobai knows the way. Follow me and watch your step." Jiang Muyun could only vaguely see the figure in front of her. She took a few steps forward before confirming Chu Buwen's identity.
Jiang Muyun untied a piece of the parachute rope from the front of the car and fumbled to tie it to Chu Buwen's handlebar.
With the current visibility, not even a ghost can be seen three meters away. If Chu Buwen gets separated from Jiang Muyun, the best way is to find a nearby shelter to hide and return to the cave to meet up after the haze passes - if he can still stand up after breathing haze of unknown composition for several days.
Xiaobai walked in front to lead the way. Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen turned on the flashlights and used the light beams to investigate the road conditions ahead.
Chu Buwen followed behind Jiang Muyun, and the front and rear wheels of the two bicycles were almost touching each other.
Xiaobai suddenly stopped and whimpered threateningly towards Jiang Muyun's left side.
“Be careful!”
As Chu Buwen stretched out his hand, Jiang Muyun fell backwards. A long black object passed in front of Jiang Muyun, followed by the sound of metal colliding.
Jiang Muyun dodged in time and was unharmed, but Chu Buwen had a blood mark on his arm.
Jiang Muyun decisively untied the umbrella rope tied to his car: "Xiaobai is looking for someone."
The bundle of parachute rope was fifteen meters long, one end was tied to Xiaobai and the other end was tied to Chu Buwen's car.
If fifteen meters is not enough for them to catch the person, then there is no need to waste any more time.
Jiang Muyun and the others couldn't see anyone, and neither could they see anyone on the other side.
He just happened to live nearby and heard the sound of bicycle wheels turning, so he used a picked up bow and crossbow to randomly try it in the direction of the sound, just to try his luck.
Although Xiaobai's sense of smell was disturbed by the smoke and dust, the sound of the other party's movement was enough for it to identify the direction.
After determining the direction, Xiaobai used his hind legs to lunge forward, directly smashing the thin wooden board that the man used to block the window.
Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen followed the direction of the parachute rope and the sound, and saw the situation inside the room clearly before the smoke and dust rushed into the room.
The cloth covering Xiaobai's mouth and nose was already a little crooked, but Xiaobai never bit the man. He just used his claws to scratch the man's throat until it was bloody and he hid aside and watched the man struggle.
When Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen arrived, the man was still breathing and was trying to aim his crossbow at Xiaobai.
Chu Buwen turned over and jumped into the room, kicking the crossbow-arrow in the man's hand away, and Jiang Muyun followed up in time to finish him off.
The situation inside the room was a bit scary. There was blood splattered on the ceiling and walls, and even some of it splashed on Xiaobai.
The man's death was horrific, his eyes were wide open, blood was gushing from his mouth and nose, and all the exposed skin was an abnormal bright red.
"Something's wrong." Jiang Muyun had already put on another mask while speaking, and took out an alcohol wipe to wipe Xiaobai.
"It's not Xiaobai's problem. The person who died before didn't have this symptom." Chu Buwen also took out another mask from the bag, carefully fiddled with his trouser legs with the tip of his shoe, and found that the skin under the man's clothes was also abnormally red.
"Let's go first. It will be troublesome if it is contagious." Jiang Muyun tied the cloth strips for Xiaobai again. Xiaobai couldn't wait to jump out of the window and stood by the window, whimpering a few times as if urging him.
Seeing that the yellow smoke was already coming in through the window, Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen did not stay any longer and did not even touch the supplies that the man had left in the house.
If the man's death hadn't been so bizarre, they might have taken over the house and taken shelter there. Blocking a window was much easier than following Xiaobai back home.
But now that we know that the man is obviously wrong, who would dare to stay here any longer? It’s not like we want to die.
After leaving the window, Chu Buwen immediately reached back into his backpack and took out the first aid kit.
There was too much smoke and dust outside, and Chu Buwen had not originally planned to deal with such a small wound now, for fear of being contaminated by the poisonous smoke and dust and making things worse.
But now, rather than wound infection or mild poisoning, he was more afraid of contracting some unknown virus and bringing it back.
Chu Buwen lifted his sleeves and sprayed iodine spray on the wound. Jiang Muyun had already opened a pack of dressings and immediately put it on Chu Buwen after disinfecting it.
At this time, they didn't care about wasting it. They used the remaining spray to spray themselves from head to toe. Even Xiaobai couldn't avoid it.
After disinfecting themselves, the two followed the parachute rope to find the bicycle, and Jiang Muyun tied the parachute rope back to his own bike.
They couldn't see the road conditions clearly and didn't dare to ride away, so they could only push their bikes and follow Xiaobai to slowly explore the way.
Fortunately, the road conditions improved a lot after leaving the city. Although the two of them didn't dare to ride a bike, it was no problem for them to push the bike and jog occasionally.
Xiaobai made a clear turn while leading the way.
Jiang Muyun could vaguely hear someone in front of her calling for help intermittently, but she couldn't see the person because of the visibility.
I don’t know if there really is someone in distress and calling for help, or if there are people with ulterior motives taking advantage of the low visibility to set up traps on the roadside to defraud people.
Xiaobai led them around there directly.
This should have been a good thing, but Jiang Muyun felt a pang in his heart.
Xiaobai is indeed very smart, but even Jiang Muyun can only guess the situation in front without seeing it. How can Xiaobai possibly tell whether it is a trap?
Xiaobai's deliberate avoidance reminded Jiang Muyun of the man who had attacked them in Yi City before.
Xiaobai had the same attitude towards the man's blood at that time.
Fortunately, apart from this little episode, they didn't encounter any living creatures along the way. At most, they heard the sounds of biological activities.
By the time Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen found the familiar foot of the mountain, it was already dark, perhaps because of the smog.
Jiang Muyun focused the light of his flashlight and swept it back and forth under his feet to confirm the safety of his landing spot. The smoke and dust were faintly green under the light.
Fortunately, they had made a killing today and were planning to return early, so they had already walked some distance when the heavy haze started to rise. Otherwise, they might not have been able to leave the city by dark.
In the current situation, the pulley system is definitely useless, and it would be very dangerous to walk blindly on the mountain road with a heavy load.
Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen decided without hesitation to hide the supplies they found today at the foot of the mountain and just carry the car up.
It doesn’t matter if other things are lost, but the car cannot be lost.
The two men struggled to find a sunken pile of rocks at the foot of the mountain, threw all their bags in it, and then felt around for movable rocks, trying to use them as a cover.
"It's almost done, let's go up first." Jiang Muyun took a breath, the mask could hardly block the pungent smell.
Chu Buwen was always very good at using ropes. In a few seconds, he made two loops on the bicycle. After the two put down their backpacks, they could carry the bicycle on their backs like a backpack. This way, they could free up their hands to keep their balance.
Xiaobai was already a little anxious. When Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen were hiding the supplies, it kept turning around.
After waiting for a long time for the two to get up and prepare to leave, Xiaobai immediately ran in the familiar direction impatiently.
The mountain road was difficult to walk on, so Jiang Muyun had to pull Xiaobai to control its speed.
After walking a few steps, Jiang Muyun's flashlight scanned a reflective spot.
Due to the obstruction of smoke and dust, the reflective spots were not obvious, but the location of the reflective spots was not far from them.
Jiang Muyun had an idea in mind, and she said to Chu Buwen, "Let's go over there and take a look first."
Jiang Muyun shone the flashlight in his hand in the same direction again.
Chu Buwen also saw the reflective spot. His voice was muffled by the mask: "Hold Xiaobai first. I'll go over and see if it's the road sign they made."
Xiaobai is too strong, and Jiang Muyun may not be able to catch him if he really runs. It would be very troublesome if he got injured and the smoke and dust outside got on his wound.
Chu Buwen stepped very carefully, and it took him some effort to touch the reflective point.
It was a piece of thermal blanket cut into strips and tied to the parachute cord with the silver side facing outward.
Chu Buwen followed the direction of the parachute rope and found that it was indeed leading up the mountain.
"This should be the signpost they made. Come over here and feel the rope!" Chu Buwen deliberately lifted a layer of mask to raise his voice.
This signpost must have been put up after the smog came. Following the rope at least leads to a path that humans have just walked on, which is easier than following Xiaobai jumping around on the mountain.
Jiang Muyun pulled Xiaobai and signaled Xiaobai to follow him.
The parachute rope that guided them was tied with a thermal blanket at regular intervals. Even if Jiang Muyun occasionally had to let go of the rope to maintain balance, he didn't have to worry about not being able to find the rope.
Jiang Muyun followed the rope's instructions and stepped forward, saving her the trouble of constantly trying and groping.
Chu Buwen followed Jiang Muyun, and every time he climbed up a little, he would reel in the rope.
"That's quite thoughtful." Jiang Muyun touched a knot while climbing, and when he climbed up, he found that the rope was forked here.
Obviously, one refers to the cave where Jiang Muyun lives, and the other refers to where Chu Buwen lives.
Chu Buwen stopped beside Jiang Muyun and was speechless. He just felt that his companions on the mountain were moving really fast.
He not only tied the thermal blanket and found the way, but also took the time to give them separate instructions. He helped them in a very physical sense.
"Here." Jiang Muyun thought Chu Buwen didn't speak because he didn't touch the rope, so he pulled one of his hands and pressed it directly on the knot: "Go back and make sure to disinfect it and check the wound."
Jiang Muyun thought for a moment and said, "Don't take this piece of rope. If there is anything wrong with the wound, just follow the rope to my side. I brought a lot of those special medicines we saw in Nanshan before."
Chu Buwen had mixed feelings: "I know, it should be fine, don't worry."
This wasn't the time to talk, so Jiang Muyun waved his hand, turned around, and continued forward with Xiaobai. Within a few breaths, Jiang Muyun's figure completely disappeared in the smoke and dust.
The rope led all the way to the awning support of Jiang Muyun's house. The solar panels that were originally placed outside the awning were also considerately put away and were now covered with cloth and leaning against the door.
Jiang Muyun didn't rush to open the door. She went to see the two chickens first.
The two chickens were obviously poisonous. They squatted in the nest without any fear. They just tilted their heads when they saw Jiang Muyun.
Jiang Muyun envied the physique of these animals, while working tirelessly to add food to the foundation of his family's breeding industry.
She didn't know how long it would take for the haze to dissipate, and she didn't want her own breeding business to fail, so she could only leave some extra food for the two of them just in case.
After taking care of the foundation of the industry, Jiang Muyun first found a bottle of disinfectant from the space and disinfected himself and Xiaobai all over the body. Then he put the cloth that originally covered the solar panels on the door, and then quickly walked into the cave through the crack of the door with the solar panels and Xiaobai.
The first thing Jiang Muyun did after entering the cave was to pull the rope buckle mechanism and use the buckle on the outside to lock the door tightly. Only then did he take off his mask and breathe deeply.
Jiang Muyun turned on the light by the door and used the flashlight to shine around the cave. After making sure that there was nothing in the cave that shouldn't be outside, he began to change his clothes with peace of mind.
He couldn't see it in the heavy haze just now, but now that he was in a clean place and under the light, Jiang Muyun could clearly see the layer of smoke and dust accumulated on his body.
It is not accurate to say it is smoke and dust.
When Jiang Muyun used a towel to clean the black ash on his neck, he could clearly feel the dust clumping and a slightly sticky feeling.
This feeling was even more obvious when she was giving Xiaobai the initial cleaning.
Jiang Muyun even felt that the dirt scraped off Xiaobai's body was shiny.
Jiang Muyun cleaned himself up and prepared to take a shower, then pulled the rope in the cave to tell others that he was back.
She rubbed her body twice with soap to get rid of the discomfort.
Xiaobai was acting out of character today. Not only did he not play with the water or make trouble during the bath, he also cooperated very well with Jiang Muyun and let him rub from head to toe two or three times. He even showed his teeth and asked Jiang Muyun to clean his mouth.
Jiang Muyun held Xiaobai's paw and washed it for the third time. As she washed, she sighed, "Baby, you're so obedient that it scares me."
Xiaobai has bitten many people and made them bleed when he was catching thieves. In the past two days, when I took Xiaobai out, he also bit and caught many people, but never did he show such disgust as today.
The only reason Jiang Muyun could think of was that the people he met today were carrying germs.
At first, the man didn't look unusual, so Xiaobai might not have been able to tell for a moment. Only after he took a bite did he feel something was wrong, so he asked Jiang Muyun to clean it up.
The second attacker was even more obvious, and Xiaobai was unwilling to bite him.
As for the unlucky guy whom Xiaobai had never met in the haze, he took a detour from a few meters away, and his behavior couldn't be more obvious.
Jiang Muyun felt that if the haze dissipated quickly, she'd better go down the mountain to look for the body of the unlucky guy and see what was going on.
Seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune is one thing, but simply avoiding without obtaining information from the outside world is not enough.
If that person's physical condition is really similar to that of the attacker, it proves that there is indeed an epidemic spreading in this area, and their subsequent action plans need to be adjusted.
It’s a pity that this heavy haze was intermittent and it took a week to completely disappear from the art city.
With the current temperature outside, the corpse would have turned into rotten flesh in a week and nothing would be visible. Jiang Muyun had no choice but to give up.
When Jiang Muyun opened the door, he felt that the whole world was covered with a layer of black fog and everything was covered with a layer of dirt.
There is no other way. With this layer of dirt piled up, I am afraid I will fall to death when going down the mountain. I'd better clean up the mountain first.
These dirts are obviously harmful to the human body. Jiang Muyun didn't dare to throw them away after cleaning them. He could only put them in plastic bags and pile them together.
Fortunately, she covered the door when she came back, otherwise the door would have been pickled.
Jiang Muyun had just finished cleaning his own door when the two chickens went out for a stroll. Jiang Muyun saw them pacing around with their wings folded, looking like leaders inspecting him.
Jiang Muyun weighed the taste of common mutant animal meat and eggs in his mind for a long time, as well as the difficulty of obtaining them.
She herself had a source of protein, but her companions did not. She couldn't just take something out of her space and put it in front of everyone, saying, "Friends, you've worked hard, let's replenish our energy."
So Jiang Muyun finally swallowed his anger and let the two leaders inspect everywhere. He even took advantage of the two leaders' inspection to clean the chicken coop for them. He also sincerely invited the two leaders to come for inspection. If they were not satisfied with the inspection, Jiang Muyun had to redo it.
Jiang Muyun thought, are you satisfied this time? If you are satisfied, then quickly make a nest for me and stop eating all day.
When you two have a second generation, or when I catch a litter of rabbits and the breeding industry has a second choice, I will definitely cross the river and destroy the donkey after it has done its work, so that you two will know what cruelty is.
"Yunyun, were you all right on the road?" There was no awning or stone platform in front of Qin Shiwen and Qin Shiwu's house, nor were there two chickens asking their parents to go back to work, so they cleared the house quickly and simply followed the road towards Jiang Muyun.
Jiang Muyun tied up the plastic bag in his hand and put it aside: "Luckily, nothing happened. What are you two doing?"
When Jiang Muyun turned around, he saw that Qin Shiwu and Qin Shiwen's walking posture was not right.
Qin Shiwen laughed out loud when he heard this: "One night, we were sleeping outside. My brother didn't tie his trouser legs tightly when he went to bed, so a bug got in and started moving around on the bottom of his shoe."
"It was nothing serious at first, but when he stood up, he was accidentally stepped on and died. The poison needle was embedded in the sole of his foot. I almost went blind trying to dig it out." Qin Shiwen said as he gestured, "And then there was this huge bump on the sole of his foot. The insect was poisonous. He cut it in a cross shape to squeeze out the poisonous blood. The wound hasn't healed yet."
Qin Shiwen's face lit up as he spoke, but he could imagine how difficult it was to bring someone with limited mobility back from South City. No wonder they'd been gone for so long.
Jiang Muyun's eyes fell on Qin Shiwen's waist.
Although she was wearing clothes on the outside, it was obvious that her waist had become thicker.
"It's just a flesh wound. It hurts for a while, but it will heal after a while. It won't affect my movements." Qin Shiwen lifted the hem of his clothes, revealing the gauze underneath. "I ran into a bunch of Voldemorts. Luckily I have eight-pack abs, otherwise my intestines would have fallen out."
Qin Shiwu comforted his sister: "Don't be afraid, organs like the intestines will automatically return to their original position after being stuffed back into the stomach."
Qin Shiwen pointed at her brother and said, "Did you hear that? He told me the same thing when he was stitching me up. If I hadn't had eyes, I would have believed him."
Qin Shiwu ignored her and took out a pistol from his pocket and handed it to Jiang Muyun: "I was unlucky this time and ran out of bullets. Fortunately, I rode back and dug up a lot of good stuff. Come to my place and look through it later. It's just rent."
Qin Shiwen had a piece of gauze wrapped around his waist, and Qin Shiwu had a dressing taped on his brow bone, looking extremely miserable.
But the most eye-catching thing is Qin Shiwu's feet.
After clearing the mountain, everyone ran to comfort the two wounded soldiers and strongly demanded to see how powerful the mutant insects were.
Wang Qingqing argued confidently, "This is the first time one of us has been injured by a mutant animal. I think we need to learn from this lesson and absorb the experience so that we can be more prepared in the future. Teacher Qin, you can give us a first aid lesson. The teaching materials are readily available."
However, when everyone saw the "such a big" bag that Qin Shiwen mentioned, they forgot all about the first aid teaching.
The swelling has disappeared, probably because the poisonous blood has been squeezed out.
But the red circle, which was as standard as if drawn with a compass, still clearly showed everyone the size of the bag.
Qin Shiwen looked at them and laughed several times, and continued to gesture to them while chirping: "Do you know how small that bug is? It's so tiny, I can even use my fingernail as a homestead for it!"
Qin Shiwu was furious: "The first time you fired a gun within three meters, you aimed at the head but hit the foot. Why didn't you say anything?"
Qin Shiwen: "So you see, such an inconspicuous little bug can be so poisonous. Everyone must be careful when going out in the future. The disinfection of the house must also be strictly in accordance with the standards instructed by Doctor Qin. Don't take it lightly."
Although the geese's cries of "geese, goose, goose" became louder, the two injured people were also cared for with love by everyone.
Not only were they not allowed to participate in the cleaning work at the foot of the mountain in the past few days, but after Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen discussed collecting wood in advance, they were only responsible for processing the wood on the mountain and removing the non-combustible parts.
But soon, everyone's love for the two injured people shifted.
Two more miserable wounded men returned.
Zhao Jiahao and Li Anxuan were pulling the rope they used for communication at the foot of the mountain. The sound was three short and three long, and it was a very regular pattern. It was the distress signal agreed upon by the few of them.
If you are injured and unable to go up the mountain, or encounter a special situation and need help, you can send this signal and the people who stay on the mountain will go down to provide support.
Jiang Muyun blurted out after seeing their expressions, "Did you two come back from participating in a real-life CS:GO game? Or did you rob the military arsenal?"
Zhao Jiahao smiled bitterly, "Half and half. In the Blue Star version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, we both started cheating and got out by using a bug."
Li Anxuan still had half of his arm in a sling. "The military personnel in Hai City encountered earthquakes and tsunamis during their evacuation. A large amount of weapons were lost, and the surrounding areas were affected. Now there's a bit..."
Li Anxuan thought for a moment and found a more appropriate term: "Warlords fighting each other, that's about it. Fortunately, there aren't many survivors, so the chaos is limited to that area and shouldn't affect South City."
Li Anxuan sighed. There were not many survivors, which was not a "good" situation for him and Zhao Jiahao.
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