Human bone cart
Xiaoshui pouted and her eyes are still watery, but she didn't make a fuss during that time and was very strong.
She saw her grandfather standing a little ahead of the line, talking to the people around him using his hands and feet, and touching other children's heads. She wondered why he couldn't stay with her at this time.
"Sister Xiao Ding, is it really true that no one can leave the village?"
"Well, now listen to grandpa. It's safest to find a place to hide." Ding Can bent down and wiped the dust off her nose.
When she woke up in the morning, no one had time to comb her hair, so several tufts of hair on top of her head were sticking up.
Such a young child has not yet been to school. Even if he has experienced it, he certainly does not understand the dangers of an earthquake. But he also knows to be careful not to trouble others and just follow quietly behind the adults.
The air-raid shelter mentioned by Lao Wang was actually marked on the hand-drawn map given yesterday. It was originally a check-in point that the visiting team would pass by. If it weren't for the loss of life and the earthquake, it would have been on their itinerary today.
The journey was supposed to take only half an hour, but because of the earthquake, many rocks were lying across the road, and there were also many deep pits of varying sizes on the ground. People didn't dare to get too close, and it took a lot of time to walk around them.
There was ample food supply there, so there was no need to bring too much luggage. Everyone traveled light, and some people even set off without taking anything.
Soon, the entrance to the air-raid shelter came into view.
The entrance of the cave is only two meters high and can accommodate one person. After entering, there is a downward passage.
No one had been here for a long time, and weeds half a person's height had grown at the entrance. No wonder Lao Wang asked some people to bring farm tools with them before leaving. They cut the weeds clean in a few strokes, allowing the cave entrance to be better exposed to everyone.
Although it is located below the ground and has a long and gentle slope, special features were made during its original construction.
There are no closed gates or shelters, but even in heavy rain, the water can be cleared quickly without causing water accumulation.
The village chief walked to the front with a flashlight. Because there was an echo, he didn't need to speak loudly, and everyone present could hear him clearly.
"The conditions here are a bit tough, but as long as there are no more earthquakes after today, it should be safe. I'll go out and look for rescuers. Maybe by the time we leave, rescuers will have already arrived."
The earthquake could not have occurred only in Nanhu Village. Such strong tremors were felt here, and the surrounding towns must have been affected a lot. The buildings there are densely populated, so the impact of natural disasters will be greater.
If we carry out post-disaster relief, it should not take too long to spread outward from the township center to reach Nanhu Village.
When they found that there was no one in the village, they naturally thought that they had taken refuge in the air-raid shelter, and they would follow the trail to find them.
"Everyone, find a place to rest first. A few of you come with me to the warehouse to bring out bedding and food to share."
Several strong young men followed Lao Wang to a large room nearby, which was the so-called warehouse. There were several very large moisture-proof boxes in it, which could ensure that the things would not get damp for at least half a year.
The situation was special, and everyone didn't mind the harsh environment. They quickly laid some cotton pads on the straw mats.
Hanging on the wall is an old-fashioned electric light connected to a backup power source, which can operate normally even if there is a large-scale power outage in the surrounding area.
Dim lights filled the entire air-raid shelter. Although they had experienced a major earthquake, the villagers were largely uninjured, with only minor scratches. So even in this situation, no one was particularly worried.
It is the busy farming season now, and everyone should have been working in the fields, but now that they have some time to relax, some people are happy to have some free time, so they just lie down, close their eyes and prepare to take a nap.
Ding Can was not feeling sleepy at all. She just sat down cross-legged against the wall and had just drunk a few sips of water. Xiaoshui came back from somewhere and leaned against her. There were still a few grains of mud on his sleeves.
"Stop running around and sit down so I can braid your hair."
She took out two hair ties from her pocket. Since she had no comb, she could only simply gather her hair with her hands. Although the conditions were a bit difficult, she still carefully tied two stylish braids.
"It looks really good. My mother-in-law wouldn't do it like this." Xiaoshui looked at the freshly taken photo on her phone, her head tilted when she smiled.
Ding Can straightened her head again: "Your parents went out to work, so you live with your grandparents."
"No," Xiaoshui shook her head. "When I was very young, they went to town and died in a car accident. There are only photos of them at home, but I look at them often. So I don't have no parents like some people in the village say. They just left early."
When she was very young... Ding Can looked at her. She was obviously still just a child now.
The features she had seen when she was a baby had long since disappeared as she grew up. I'm afraid she only started to remember things in the past two years.
"Xiao Shui, you should live your life well too. Don't worry about what others think. Just be happy."
Xiao Shui nodded: "Yes, I am very happy every day now."
She turned her head, rummaged through her small schoolbag, then pulled something out and handed it to herself with a clenched fist.
Ding Can subconsciously opened his hand to take it, thinking it would be candy again like before.
Something fell into her palm. She focused her attention and moved it away, only to find that it was actually a few pieces of bone fragments. She twitched her lips, and seeing Xiaoshui's eager gaze, she didn't dare to show too much disgust.
But he looked at Yang Qi on the other side with a pleading look, trying to find an answer.
After seeing Yang Qi nod, he took a deep breath. Thinking that he was now holding a handful of human bones that had been passed down from who knows when, he made a very ugly expression towards Xiao Shui.
"I was in such a hurry to leave home this morning that I didn't even have time to bring my candy jar with me. Luckily I just found these. Aren't they beautiful? Consider them a thank you gift to my sister for helping me braid my hair."
Ding Can really couldn't agree with this. He wondered who cultivated this little girl's unique aesthetic taste. Could it be that she had seen bones so often in the village since she was a child that she really regarded bones as daily decorations?
Putting the bone in her pocket, she then asked, "Where did you find it?"
"Just now, when Grandpa and the others went to move the quilt, I was just strolling around by myself and saw it in a small hole."
After Xiaoshui said this, she drew a turning route on the ground with her finger to show them the direction.
As Ding Can was estimating the route to go out, he looked up at the door, but saw Zhai Ting walking along the wall, then turned into the passage and disappeared inside.
"Why did she go out by herself? Could it be that she was still thinking of leaving Nanhu Village as soon as possible?" Gao Wenwen also noticed.
But they were heading deeper into the air-raid shelter. Something occurred to him, "I was so focused on keeping up with the main force all the way here that I didn't notice how Zhai Ting was doing. Could she be having mental problems again?"
He was clearly fine when he asked the village chief to borrow the coffin first.
"Don't forget, she was aware of Cheng Jialu's photo-taking. Perhaps the curse also came with him, but it will take a shorter time to be fulfilled on her."
Cheng Jialu heard about the whole thing of filming the bone cart from her own mouth. Before he had the chance to ask about the details, she became abnormal, and then many other things happened.
Now that I think about it, there really is no chance for me to calmly talk to her about anything.
Perhaps there is something they have overlooked.
"Let's follow and see."
Before leaving, Ding Can told Xiaoshui to stay here and not run around, then took a flashlight and followed him out.
After walking out of the shelter, several people appeared in a long and narrow passage of the air-raid shelter. The light was dim and Zhai Ting was not walking fast. Her back cast a long shadow on the ground under the light.
Yu Fu narrowed his eyes: "I'm beginning to think that her walking posture is a bit like Cheng Jialu yesterday."
Cheng Jialu's mood and state were a little off before the accident, and the same thing happened to Zhai Ting, but because it was mixed with the pain of her boyfriend's death, it didn't attract much attention.
Ding Can didn't want the previous night's incident to happen again in front of him, so he quickened his pace.
We first passed by a warehouse where supplies were stored, and not far ahead, we saw the small hole where Xiaoshui said the bones were found.
She described it as small, and she was right. Only children could walk in more freely. Even someone like Zhai Ting who maintains a good figure and has slender hands and feet would move very slowly when walking sideways.
The situation became even more bizarre.
She walked slowly along the corner of the wall, but stopped precisely in front of the gap.
Then she squeezed in as if she was possessed by something. By the time Gao Wenwen stood in front of the gap, she had already walked nearly half a meter.
"Don't go in, you won't be able to get out, and no one can save you. There are rocks on both sides!"
This reminder obviously had no effect. Zhai Ting still had a dazed expression, as if she hadn't heard him at all, and her movements were slow and firm.
Gao Wenwen shone the flashlight deeper inside and discovered that there was actually another world inside.
There were some bones scattered on the ground, which had just caught Xiaoshui's attention. And through a narrow crack several meters long, it seemed to be connected to another area.
He was curious about what the scene would be like over there, but the flashlight still made it difficult to see clearly.
This was further confirmed shortly afterwards, because after Zhai Ting continued to move forward with perseverance, she finally reached the very end of the narrow crack.
Then his body tilted and he fell down.
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