◎Happy 114th Day: Social Terror◎
Jiang Muyun and others set out from home just as it was getting dark. The road was sandy, which somewhat affected their speed of movement.
Then a few people lined up to complete the formalities to enter the transfer station, rented a car and settled the supplies. After going through the whole process, when they arrived at the Nanshan Trading Area, it was already past three in the morning.
At this point, it will be dawn soon, and the Nanshan Trading Area has long passed its peak time.
But it is the best time to inquire about the news.
The West Suburb Transfer Station had just been built, and it was not just Jiang Muyun and the others who had just arrived. The other survivors also didn't know much about the transfer station. Everyone was in urgent need of exchanging information with each other.
Now that the peak trading season has passed and it's not time to go home yet, people who have some free time always have to find something to do.
For example, take this opportunity to chat with strangers around you and make friends everywhere.
Even if everyone knows in their hearts that the other person is not a good person, it does not stop them from being affectionate and calling each other brothers and sisters on the surface.
Jiang Muyun and his companions neither asked for a guide from the base nor contacted Captain Yu and the others. They just blended into the crowd like an ordinary group of survivors who came to do business.
While they were discussing the recent deal, Li Anxuan slipped over to listen in. While they were cursing Lan Xing for leaving them no chance of survival, Zheng Xiang chimed in.
Jiang Muyun somehow managed to detect the Xiangshi accent in the group, so she spoke in Supu Mandarin, pretending to be from the same hometown as them. She insisted that she had grown up in the north with her parents, who had returned to Xiangshi before the temperature dropped significantly. She searched south from the north, but ended up lost and ended up in Nanshi.
Jiang Muyun smiled bitterly and said, "I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to return to my hometown in Xiang City again in this lifetime. The way I live, I might die on the road one day. I don't have any bad intentions, really. I just heard the same accent as my parents, so I wanted to ask you about the situation in Xiang City. At least it gives me some thoughts."
Jiang Muyun talked about the hardships he had experienced on the journey to find his relatives. He described it in such detail that it was obvious that he had suffered a lot on the way. He frightened the group of middle-aged men and women.
The leader of the opposing team was on guard at first, but later sighed with regret when looking at Jiang Muyun. She said that her daughter was about the same age as her and was attending university in the north when the disaster happened. She thought that there was heating in the north at least, so she did not bring her daughter back.
"Who knew it would end up like this?" The dark-skinned middle-aged woman's words were full of sadness, but her face remained expressionless. "Everyone in our caravan has family members in the north, and we'll all be heading north in the future."
Jiang Muyun understood the elegant meaning of the music and immediately started chatting with people about the situation in the north.
She had never been to the north, but she had come into contact with survivors from the north in her previous life and they had exchanged some basic information. Her own experience on the road was much richer than that of these new caravans.
As the two sides chatted, Jiang Muyun was able to give a lot of practical and effective suggestions.
The Xiang City caravan did not spend as much time on the road as Jiang Muyun, but they were doing business to earn travel expenses. They usually did not just focus on rushing on the road, and they also knew more about the real-time situation in the area from Xiang City to Nan City.
It was indeed impossible for both sides to start opening up to each other in just a few words, but because of their extremely high initial favorable impression of Jiang Muyun, they did not mind saying a few more words when the other party talked about these things that had nothing to do with their interests.
Jiang Muyun also talked about a lot of news they had learned about other regions.
Jiang Muyun and the others chatted aimlessly until dawn. Seeing that the survivors in the trading area were preparing to leave, Jiang Muyun took the opportunity to say goodbye to the Xiang City caravan.
As luck would have it, when Jiang Muyun was looking for other companions in the trading area, he ran into Chu Buwen arm in arm with a few big brothers with northern accents. It looked like they were just one drink away from becoming sworn brothers.
Li Anxuan is not as outgoing as Zhao Jiahao, but people like him who seem to be quiet can sometimes gain the trust of others more easily and reduce their vigilance.
Especially since Li Anxuan is a former professional soldier.
People like Captain Yu and Meng San, who retained some military style after the end of the world, are actually very easy to identify.
With this kind of relationship, Li Anxuan was able to find the right target and people to gather information from, saving a lot of time on getting close to them, and he had his own topics to talk about.
Zheng Xiang is outrageous.
She found her schoolmate.
It was a group of survivors composed of college students who were on campus before the apocalypse.
When Jiang Muyun found Zheng Xiang, the other party was still actively inviting Zheng Xiang to join their He City University base.
After everyone left, Jiang Muyun whispered, "Aren't you and Wang Qingqing all from Nanshi University? What's the situation at Heshi University?"
Zheng Xiang was a little embarrassed: "I cited literature from a professor at Heshi University in my graduation thesis, and I also read the papers of several graduate students he supervised."
Jiang Muyun was shocked: "Just like that, you managed to get into the alumni group?"
Zheng Xiang glanced sympathetically at the soon-to-be freshman Jiang Muyun. "What's so difficult about that? It's university, after all. We can talk about the milk tea shop closest to the playground, the tomato scrambled eggs in the cafeteria that only have tomatoes and no eggs, and the Yifu Building at X University, which is a relief. Plus, I can even call out the names of the professors and graduate students. It's normal for people to treat me as an alumnus, right?"
Zheng Xiang thought for a moment and added, "Unless I'm so mad that when I tell someone about a certain senior brother, he's actually there, then I'll admit it."
When the sun was about to rise, Jiang Muyun and others rushed back to their own territory.
A group of social terrorists returned home with a full load before dawn, and Zhao Jiahao and Zhou Ying, who stayed behind, had already cleaned up their temporary residence.
As soon as they entered, Zhao Jiahao and Zhou Ying blocked the entrance with a quilt nailed to it to temporarily serve as a door, trying to maintain the current temperature in the cave for as long as possible and isolate it from the scorching sunlight outside.
Jiang Muyun and the others have already developed their tolerance to heat and cold. Now they sit on the ground in the innermost part of the cave, leaning against the cool mountain wall. They feel that the heat from rushing back all the way has dissipated a lot.
"Now let's talk about what we have learned." A dim light was on in the cave, and Jiang Muyun spread out the list of supplies they brought among the people.
According to the information they heard tonight, when the rainstorm and fire broke out in Nanshi, different disasters occurred in other areas at about the same time, causing the collapse of order in various places.
Some places were hit by major earthquakes, and some places were hit by super tsunamis.
Those who were luckier were those who encountered a super hurricane accompanied by tornadoes and thunderstorms, and there were many survivors and supplies.
If you are unlucky enough to encounter an extinct volcano eruption, no supplies will be left wherever the magma passes. However, some volcanic rocks and magma minerals will be processed and sold by local survivors in exchange for some survival supplies.
The latter looks extremely miserable, while the former's luck is relatively better.
A city was first hit by a super hurricane that could blow off roofs, and then dozens of super single tornadoes appeared at the same time, accompanied by thunderstorms. It is easy to imagine that the scene was more doomsday-like than that of Nanshi.
There were even more unfortunate places that experienced heavy rain for several days just like Nanshi.
But the rain was accompanied by the buff of severe acid rain, and acidic flash floods broke out as it continued to fall. Many people were melted alive by the acidic flash floods and rain.
There were also cold waves that were several times more severe than what Jiang Muyun and others had experienced. People were warming themselves by the fire at home, but they didn't expect that the cold wave would extinguish the fire. Living people turned into ice sculptures in a second, and they might not even realize how they died until they died.
The daily necessities that are common in Nanshi are like treasures to the areas affected by the volcanic eruption.
In areas that suffered heavy casualties from the cold wave, it is possible that large quantities of pre-apocalyptic food remain unspoiled.
Coastal cities were indeed severely affected by the tsunami, but people can distill their own fresh water and process sea salt, and they can also catch some non-toxic seafood and sell them - provided that they don't get eaten by mutant fish.
In recent years, many people have not used up all the salt they have, so naturally they will not set their sights on sea salt.
When most people have run out of salt, not to mention processed sea salt, even freshly dried coarse sea salt will be highly sought after.
There is no way. The salt lakes have been destroyed by successive natural disasters. Most areas are unable to mine well salt and rock salt. Only sea salt is the most convenient and has the lowest cost.
At this point, no one cares whether the rough sea salt is healthy or not.
It is always healthier to consume a small amount of coarse sea salt than to go without salt for a long time.
There are also the tenacious oil crops in the northwest, the coal mines in the north China, the animals in the more bizarre jungles in the south after the end of the world, and various products made from their fur and oil, which can all be seen in the trading area of the western suburbs transfer station.
The only drawback is that it is expensive.
It's because these things have passed through countless hands before arriving in Nanshi.
If you want to do long-distance business, the greater the profit, the higher the cost and risk. If you are not careful, you may end up losing both people and supplies along the way.
Once these caravans have accumulated enough capital and experience in business, more merchants will travel long distances.
As for now?
People are still more keen on selling goods at low prices and high volume, selling the goods quickly, and then reselling them one by one.
Caravans coming from Xiang City like the one Jiang Muyun encountered are extremely rare cases.
If they didn't have the intention to go north, they would definitely not have taken the risk of traveling so far at this time.
The same thing happened to the caravan from the north that Chu Buwen encountered.
It was also because they were very precise in choosing people to talk to, specifically targeting caravans coming from afar, that the information they gathered was so comprehensive.
With this information, they will know who to negotiate and what price to pay in subsequent material exchanges.
However, it is not the right time to start exchanging supplies.
Nowadays, people tend to have a bit of a foolish mentality, thinking about whether they can make a fortune by finding someone who doesn't understand the market, so it's not easy to negotiate the price.
After a while, when everyone has a general understanding of the situation, the caravan that was waiting for the fool will either successfully leave, or they can negotiate again when they can no longer wait, and they will definitely get a better price.
Anyway, they have a room in the transit station, and except for Meng San and Captain Yu, no one in the entire transit station can afford to wait more than them.
They can take advantage of this time to complete the setup of their own security system.
Jiang Muyun decided to visit Captain Yu in Nanshan the next day, and as a small shareholder of the transit station, he wanted to express his gratitude to the technical expert who designed the weapon storage box.
The technical boss was a skinny old man, and he just told Jiang Muyun to call him Old Man Li.
Old man Li's eyelids drooped, his back was hunched, and he looked listless. He stuttered and his pronunciation was unclear. It was very difficult for him to talk to others, so he didn't like to speak much.
Jiang Muyun knew that Old Man Li had a little granddaughter. The reason he set a trap for the group of people at the Western Suburbs Base was because the other party held his granddaughter's life in their hands, so Jiang Muyun specially brought a bag of half-melted fruit candy.
When Jiang Muyun and others cleared the Western Suburbs Base, it meant saving the lives of both his grandfather and his grandson, so he accepted almost all requests from the transit station.
Jiang Muyun only came to ask about suitable traps to set up, so Old Man Li naturally told her everything he knew and refused to accept her offer no matter what.
Seeing that Old Man Li was stuttering and unable to speak clearly, Jiang Muyun was so anxious that the veins on his forehead popped out. He stopped pulling to avoid making the old man anxious and hurting himself.
She peeled off the candy wrapper and placed it on the table, saying as she did so, "This is my way of paying my tuition. Please don't push it in my mouth. If it falls on the floor, it will all be wasted."
When Old Man Li heard this, he immediately stopped.
Jiang Muyun didn't peel too many candies to avoid them melting and being wasted. Seeing that Old Man Li no longer stuffed candies into her hands, she stopped tearing off the candy wrappers and put the remaining ones on the table in Old Man Li's house.
The gift had already been accepted, so there was no point in worrying about the remaining candies. Old Man Li immediately stood up and said that he could help them arrange it directly, and he had no problem teaching them on the spot.
Jiang Muyun didn't dare to let such an old man do such hard work. As long as the old man was willing to teach on the spot, Jiang Muyun was already very satisfied.
Every one of the six people in the group stayed in the cave for the next few days. When they couldn't go out during the day, they would prepare their next place to live. At night, they would turn on the lights and follow Old Man Li to learn how to set traps.
Old man Li’s idea of setting the trap is very interesting.
It has both the meticulousness and rigor of traditional traps and the adaptability to local conditions of the wild traps that Jiang Muyun and others have seen after the apocalypse.
The previously unpredictable trap of tampering with the tree bark was an idea that Old Man Li came up with on the spur of the moment after observing the condition of the trees on Nanshan Mountain.
However, according to Old Man Li, he was forced into a corner at the time and had no choice but to work for the people in the Western Suburbs Base, but he didn't really just let it go.
The juice of the poisonous mushrooms smeared on the bark is extremely poisonous if you ingest it directly. If you just smear it on the tree and then rub it on your hands and make them bleed a little, it will basically have no effect.
At that time, the West Suburbs Base was in a hurry and there was no time for a thorough inspection. In addition, when Old Man Li told them about these poisonous mushrooms, they had directly tested the toxicity on humans, so the other party did not doubt it too much.
Jiang Muyun imitated Old Man Li's movements and buried a trigger. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Do you know much about the poisons in the mountains?"
Old man Li forced a smile on his withered face, which looked a little strange under the light from the overhead lamp: "At my age, I have to think of some way to protect my girl."
Jiang Muyun could never look down on this old man who had been able to deal with the people from the Western Suburbs Base for so long and had survived until now after causing a lot of casualties on the other side.
This is also the reason why she brought a valuable gift when she visited the house for the first time, and the gift was specifically given to the liking of the other person's beloved granddaughter.
Old man Li stood up, his whole face back in the light, and he regained his usual honest and kind face. "The world is not good now. If you don't mind my nagging, come and walk around the mountain with me in a few days. I will tell you about the things there."
Jiang Muyun smiled and said, "We are really lucky that the old man is willing to teach us. I'm just worried that you will be burdened."
Old man Li waved his hand and said, "At my age, it's time to walk around in the mountains more often to avoid breaking my bones."
Setting up a warning system within the autonomous region is a huge project. After setting the traps, they have to dig a reservoir. It is impossible for several people to just put down their work and follow Old Man Li all over the mountain.
After a discussion, a few people decided to take turns, going to one place every day and taking pictures with their mobile phones. They would then take the theoretical class together and go to see the real objects when they had time later.
After they had learned how to set up several types of traps on the mountain and the only thing left was the physical labor of repeatedly setting up the traps, their study of apocalyptic poisons officially began.
The first class was taught by Jiang Muyun, the class representative who took the initiative to apply for this course.
The teaching location was set in Nanshan at Jiang Muyun's suggestion, because Jiang Muyun expressed his interest in the several traps on Nanshan.
Nanshan is now the main trading area and is heavily guarded. Of course, it is not a place where ordinary survivors can stroll up the mountain.
But Jiang Muyun and Old Man Li both had special identities in the safe zone. They didn't bring any knives or guns, nor did they bring any kerosene, so it was naturally no problem for them to observe the traps and conduct on-site teaching in the mountains.
Moreover, Jiang Muyun was a very reasonable person. He specifically emphasized to the guards that they should tell Captain Yu and Meng San, fearing that it would make things difficult for them.
Old man Li took Jiang Muyun's words seriously.
Jiang Muyun said she wanted to see in person some of the ingenious traps set up on Nanshan Mountain, and Old Man Li didn't mind being her tour guide.
Even if I dismantle the trap and show it to her, it's no problem.
As for the fact that they originally said they came out to identify poisonous creatures, have the poisonous creatures on Nanshan been almost cleared?
He had just said that at the time, essentially to repay a favor, not to actually teach. So, he could just tell Jiang Muyun whatever he wanted to know.
Jiang Muyun followed Old Man Li to dismantle and reassemble the trap, secretly congratulating himself in his heart.
I have tried my best to ensure the long-term stability of the Xijiao Transfer Station.
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