Chapter 194
The next time he met Daniu was a year after Qin Huai and his team came to the underground city. Qin Huai's job was to be in charge of system security defense. This was not just about setting up programs on the computer. Sometimes he would follow the relevant technical departments to each connection point to check the situation for on-site inspections. It was during the inspection that he met Daniu from the construction team.
Daniu was also surprised that he would meet Qin Huai by chance. He had been in Tibet with the engineering team for almost half a year and already had a job and a house here. He had also tried to find Qin Huai and others on the missing persons system, but the entire underground city was too big. The urban area of the underground city that had been opened was almost ten times the size of Kangyun residential areas, not to mention that there were many places that were under construction but had not yet been opened.
Although the system here is very complete and finding people is not too difficult, Daniu had just arrived and the engineering team was very busy, so he searched the missing person system briefly, but when he didn't find anyone, he put the matter aside for the time being, thinking that when he was not so busy at work, he would go to the household registration office to check carefully. Unexpectedly, he met her by chance.
However, both of them were busy with work and it was not convenient for them to reminisce and talk much, so after exchanging contact information, they went about their own business. When they were free, Daniu found Jian Chu's dessert shop based on the address provided by Qin Huai.
The noodle shop was previously called Youjia Noodle Shop, and now the dessert shop was probably too lazy to think of a name, so it’s just called Youjia Dessert Shop.
Business is much better now than when it first opened. One reason is that more and more people come here. After that batch, you can see a lot of new faces here every once in a while. Soon their houses are full. Some people are paying a lot of money to share a house online. They are probably people who work nearby but can't find nearby accommodation because they came late.
As more people came to the company, and the delivery business that Yu Feng had jointly invested in was also on the right track, many people could place orders online, and business naturally flourished.
Because the cost of making desserts is relatively high. After all, both sugar and dairy products can be considered high-end luxury products. They are costly and expensive. If they fail to succeed, they will lose everything. People without a certain amount of financial resources dare not try it at all. Opening a store to sell cakes and steamed buns is more secure than selling desserts.
If Jian Chu didn't like to do this and had the confidence from the deposit he had made with Qin Huai, he wouldn't have dared to try it just because of the prices of the raw materials.
Fortunately, they have finally made it through and are making a lot of profit every month. Not to mention, Yu Zibai has also been successfully employed by the bank. Although he is still a contract worker now, he has good benefits. Their family conditions are not as good as Qin Huai's. The rent is waived directly, and the house will be directly under his name after working for him for a certain number of years.
Yu Zibai's unit waives 30% of the rent and utilities, and the monthly food quota is also slightly higher. Although he does not have a quota for family members like Qin Huai, after all, he is only a contract worker. But if he persists and takes the exam to upgrade, his salary will increase again when he becomes a regular employee.
Therefore, Yu Zibai's salary alone can support the lives of two people now, and Jian Chu has no more pressure in running this shop. Without pressure, everything is much easier. From time to time, he will launch some welfare products with small profits but quick turnover. In addition, there are not many dessert shops now, so the business is naturally becoming more and more popular.
When Da Niu came, many people in the store were buying small cookies. This was Jian Chu's weekly benefit. One or two dollars could buy a small bag of cookies or candies. The quantity was not much, but the price was not expensive.
One or two dollars is not that difficult to come up with considering the current salary in the underground city. After all, those who can come to the underground city basically have jobs, and those without jobs at least have a working pillar at home. They may be reluctant to spend six or seven dollars on small cakes or small biscuits at original price, so it is also good to buy a small bag of them for one or two dollars on such welfare days to try.
The welfare provided by Jian Chu every Monday makes the dessert shop especially busy every Monday. Mu Nan and Song Jia will come to help. Of course, they don’t ask for any salary. They have also eaten a lot of the desserts made by Jian Chu. Some of the new product samples and the occasional unsold small cakes are basically shared by them. Anyway, they have nothing to do at home, so it’s a good time to come out and help out.
Mu Nan had sharp eyes. He saw someone walking towards this side through the glass door before Daniu entered the store. He quickly pushed Song Jia, who was collecting money and issuing receipts, and said, "Daniu is here."
As soon as Song Jia looked up, Daniu just pushed the door open and came in. He quickly waved at him: "Daniu! Come on, come on, it's just right that you're here, come and help."
Daniu followed Song Jia's instructions and walked to the backstage. Mu Nan said, "One receipt and one pack of biscuits. I'll go to the back to help Jian Chu pack them."
The time of this Monday was also perfect. Tomorrow is Chinese Valentine's Day. Coincidentally, today is a welfare day, and many people come to buy just to eat for the festival tomorrow. Originally, the sales volume for the welfare day was fixed, and there would be no need to restock after it was sold out. But thinking that tomorrow is Chinese Valentine's Day, if I can eat something sweet on this day, maybe it will increase my sense of happiness. Seeing that many people are buying, Jian Chu simply opened another pot and is now weighing and packaging it.
With the help of Daniu in the front and one more person in the back to package, the atmosphere suddenly became relaxed. They were so busy that the store was almost sold out. Jian Chu then hung up a sold-out sign and closed the store. Then he took a small cake and handed it to Daniu: "Qin Huai said he met you before and exchanged contact information. He also wanted to ask why you haven't come to see us yet."
Da Niu took the small cake without hesitation. He didn't like sweets very much, but this was because he used to have everything he wanted to eat. Now, he has nothing but whatever he wants to eat, so he loves the things he didn't like very much. Besides, they had known each other for so many years, so there was no need to be polite, so he ate it happily.
After praising Jian Chu's cooking skills, Daniu said, "I only rest one day a week, but I came here when I wasn't resting. When I first came here, I took a look at the surrounding environment. Your place is really nice."
Song Jia asked, "Where do you live now?"
Daniel: "I live near the power plant, not far from where you are. It's very convenient to get there with just one subway transfer."
Mu Nan: "My brother said you were in the engineering team. Aren't you in the Self-Defense Force? How come you were transferred to the engineering team? Are they short of people in the engineering team and need to transfer people from the Self-Defense Force?"
Daniu shook his head. "It wasn't a transfer. I resigned and went to the capital. When I left, my captain gave me a contact number. It was a former comrade of his who worked in engineering. They happened to be recruiting people at that time. I had a good physique and the captain's connections, so I joined their engineering team. After working for a few months, I followed the team to take on the underground city project, and now I'm here."
Jian Chu asked curiously, "That means you left on your own and it wasn't arranged by the higher-ups. What about the Cai family, and Yang Jing and the others?"
"They were still in Kangyun at the time. I asked them if they wanted to leave together. There were too many people in the Cai family, so it was not easy to leave. It was not convenient for Yang Jing and the other girls to go with me, so they stayed in Kangyun and waited for arrangements from above. Now I don't know how they are doing, whether they have come here or are still in Kangyun. Anyway, when I left, the situation in Kangyun was not very good."
After all, this was the place where he had lived for so many years. With a little curiosity, Song Jia quickly asked, "What do you mean by not very good? Is the sea flooding here?"
Daniel: "That's not the case. But a few months after you left, a massive tsunami hit the coast, killing many people. A large area of land was swallowed up, and many people fled here. There were too many people, many of them were sick and injured."
We are all experienced people. After such a large-scale disaster, epidemic prevention is definitely the first step, if we are not careful, the entire residential area will be filled.
"At that time, I saw many people with black spots on their bodies, and those with black spots were taken away, but no measures were taken to isolate the contacts. I didn't know if it was some unknown infectious disease, but as the sea water spread to more and more land areas, I thought it would be better to leave early. Regardless of whether I could find you in Tibet, at least I could go to the capital and escape to Tibet as soon as possible if something happened. So I came."
Mu Nan and the others were all a little scared after hearing this: "What are those black spots? Is it some infectious disease again?"
Song Jia shuddered: "No way? Do you want me to live?"
Jian Chu said: "It has been said that the glaciers are melting and the ancient viruses are being unsealed. Do you think it could be those frozen viruses?"
Song Jia clasped his hands together and said, "I hope the underground city will always be peaceful and safe."
Daniu was not worried: "We should be assured of this. Just look at the repeated inspections when we came in, the stripping and examination, the blood tests and the isolation. Those with problems must have been isolated long ago. As long as we control the people who come in and the food and water sources in all aspects, even if there is any unknown virus, the safety of the underground city can be guaranteed to a great extent."
Mu Nan looked at Daniu and asked, "How long has it been since you came in and last went out?"
Anyway, they have never gone out since they came in, but they don't have much need to go out. They have stable jobs and comfortable living environment. It may be that the people in the underground city are still relatively sparsely populated, so food is much more abundant than outside. Many things that are almost extinct outside can still be found in the underground city, such as puffed snacks, milk drinks and the like. How can you buy these outside?
If you have no worries about food and clothing, there is naturally no need to go out, and you don’t know much about what the situation is like outside.
Daniel said, "It's been at least three or four months. Before I came in, things were actually a bit chaotic outside. At that time, many people knew about the underground city. Some people were afraid that they would be abandoned by the government as rumored, so they simply went out to find a way to survive and crowded into the capital. However, we didn't know if those people were healthy or had any infectious diseases. They were isolated outside the residential area. More and more people gathered, and the weather was hot. Their bodies were already exhausted from lack of food and clothing. Many people died outside, and their bodies couldn't be handled in time. Just imagine what would happen if this terrible situation continued."
They have lived here peacefully for almost a year, their days were very quiet, some went to work, some opened shops, and when they had nothing to do they would get together and ride their bicycles around the streets. Because they could not see the situation outside, and were not aware of the harsh environment and the pressing pressure of survival, they almost forgot what kind of baptism the outside world was suffering.
Now that I have met the big guys and learned about some of the situation outside, I realized that it is not that life has gotten better, it’s just that they entered heaven early, but there are still more people who are still struggling in hell.
I chatted with Daniu for a long time, talking about the things he had come into contact with outside before he came in, and the friends who were still in Kangyun after they left, until Qin Huai and Yu Zibai both got off work. Knowing that today was Monday, they would definitely help in the store, so they came directly to the cake shop after get off work, and when they saw Daniu, we had another lively chat.
If Daniu hadn't said that he had to go to work tomorrow and couldn't stay out too late today, and that he had to transfer to the subway back home in a limited time, they would have planned to treat Daniu to a meal outside. They had finally seen each other after a year, so it was naturally worth a big meal.
Although they were unable to have dinner together this time due to time constraints, they have agreed on the next time they will have dinner together. At that time, they will not go out to eat. Although there are restaurants outside, the prices are expensive. They can eat more by buying vegetables and cooking at home with that money.
Knowing that Qin Huai would come to the store after get off work, Mu Nan took Song Jia's car when he came, and took Qin Huai's car when he went back.
It was almost seven o'clock, so the light on the ceiling of the underground city was gradually dimming, and the street lights were lit one by one. Mu Nan put his arms around Qin Huai's waist and sat on the back seat of the bicycle, looking at the lights on the houses on both sides of the road. He thought this kind of tranquility was beautiful before, but now, he felt inexplicably heavy.
Qin Huai heard him sighing behind him and turned his head slightly: "What's wrong?"
Mu Nan said in a muffled voice: "The situation outside doesn't seem to be good."
It's not just not good, it's very bad. Mu Nan doesn't know the situation outside. He has never had much contact with the outside world since he came in. His life is very simple every day. Although there is a lot of information on the Internet, most people who come in have little chance to contact the outside world, and those who can contact it will not be talked about on the Internet, so the content of the chat is basically around the inside of the dungeon.
But he is responsible for security defense, which is not something that can be accomplished by just making some software. It also needs to be combined with the external situation. Among other things, it is to predict what level of defense will be needed to withstand the impact of tsunamis and flash floods once the sea level rises in the future. This requires constantly updating external information and conducting research and experiments.
In addition, the number of people that the entire dungeon can accommodate is constantly updated. To update these data, we need to evaluate the approximate number of people outside.
In this year alone, coastal cities in nearly five provinces have been engulfed. The speed at which the sea level rises due to melting glaciers is much faster than previously predicted.
According to the latest forecast above, there will be heavy rainfall in some areas in a few days. This rainfall will be a good thing for some inland areas that have been dry for a long time, but it will be a disaster for areas that have been flooded by sea water.
Right now, from the initial input of tens of thousands of people per week into the underground city, to now hundreds of thousands or even more per week, the population explosion has accelerated the construction of some projects that were originally short of manpower, but at the same time, the existing materials cannot keep up with the speed of the population explosion entering the underground city.
So even though they are living in peace here now, the situation is not necessarily optimistic.
Qin Huai explained these things to Mu Nan while riding his bike home. Mu Nan felt panicked: "Then we won't have to run away again in the future, right?"
Qin Huai smiled and said, "This is already the last refuge. How can we forget where to escape? Escape from the earth? Don't worry. Although the situation is very bad, it will not affect our current life too much. There will be a shortage of supplies and prices may be a bit higher. But we came early and the area we chose has long been perfected. Even if the gates are opened to let more people in, it is impossible to fill us with people. Polarized life is inevitable. Even if we are in the same underground city in the future, some people can live a luxurious life, while others are still in danger. So don't think about what is happening outside now. There will never be a day when the world is united in this world."
After hearing what Qin Huai said, Mu Nan could only try not to think about it anymore. He just hoped that Xiao Zhu, Yang Jing and the others could come earlier, and that Qin Bing would not be assigned rescue missions because of the disaster outside. Although this was inevitable as long as Qin Bing did not retire, he still hoped that everyone he knew would be safe.
There were also his brother's classmates who told Wang Xiaoli before they left that he should take his wife north and then into Tibet if he had the chance. He didn't know how they were doing now, or whether he would be able to see them again in his lifetime.
By the time they got home, the rare emotion had been almost blown away by the wind caused by the speed of the car. Even if the sky fell outside, as long as they were still alive, they had to live their lives as usual. So when Qin Huai parked the car in the yard, Mu Nan had already gone into the kitchen to wash his hands and start cooking.
The world is big, but being well fed is the most important thing.
The person that Mu Nan was thinking about was actually only separated from him by a piece of land. They were underground, while Cai Jia and Yang Jing were on the ground.
After Da Niu left, Cai Wentao kept thinking about leaving. His family, including the elderly and children, certainly would not leave as gracefully as Da Niu, but they would also feel a little uneasy if he did not leave.
Later, a new disease broke out there. Although a notice had been issued saying that the virus had a very low infectious rate, people were still panicked. Those people had black or brown spots of varying severity on their bodies. Some were in conspicuous places, such as the neck and back of the hands, while some were in places that could be covered by clothes. These spots that could be covered made people a little scared, after all, it is hard to guard against.
Although it has been said above that this currently unknown spherical virus, which can only be referred to by its shape, is not likely to be transmitted from person to person unless there is overly close contact such as blood, people are still afraid of it. Just looking at the appearance of the infected person's skin makes people dare not approach.
The most terrifying thing is that the source of the virus has not yet been figured out. Some people speculate that it is sea water. Those who are sick have fled from coastal areas. Because of this, more and more people are hurriedly fleeing to the capital with their families without a clear goal, the better to stay away from the sea.
Too many people gathered, and the chaos that the authorities had been trying to avoid finally happened.
In an inconspicuous corner of the crowd, a few people with messy hair, dirty black clothes, and mud all over their bodies were hiding in the corner. Just now, not far from them, a few strong men snatched the black steamed buns from the shop in front and walked away.
No one dared to say anything, and no one dared to stop it. They could only be careful to hide themselves and the food on them.
Xiao Zhu huddled up in a ball hiding among a group of adults. He was almost nine years old this year, and was thin and small, like he was six or seven years old. Huddled up in a small ball, he was not noticeable.
Guo Hui stood in front of Xiao Zhu. Cai Wentao carefully picked out a piece of dry biscuit from his clothes and quickly stuffed it into Xiao Zhu's mouth. Xiao Zhu quickly covered her mouth and swallowed quickly, fearing that she would be discovered if she was a step slower.
After eating a small piece, Xiao Zhu stopped eating. This was his food for the day. Others also tried their best to hide and stuff food into their mouths, but they couldn't eat too much. One bite would last for the day.
They had long been starving to the point of being nothing more than a bag of bones. The dirt on their bodies was not to hide themselves, but because they really had no conditions to do so. Even to drink water, they had to save urine, let alone wash themselves.
They originally thought that earthquakes, wildfires, floods and epidemics were the most difficult times for them, but they didn't expect that life could be even more difficult.
Cai Wentao regretted more than once, regretting why he didn't just decisively follow Daniu. If they had left at that time, would they not be in the situation they are in now, facing the possibility of dying on the road at any time?
But it was too late to regret. Apart from waiting and following the crowd to try to find a way to survive, they had no way out.
What's more, because they left relatively early, they have now entered the Tibetan area. I heard that there are people behind them fleeing this way. Many people in front of them have starved to death due to lack of food, and I can't imagine how miserable the people behind them will be.
There is a magnificent and thick city wall in front, with isolation and protection fences erected outside. Everyone is waiting in line outside, and only a certain number of people are allowed in every day. There are many entrances to the Tibetan area like this, but each entrance is controlled layer by layer. I heard that the inspection is very strict, and people with plaques on their bodies or those with obvious diseases are not allowed to enter.
The Cai family and Yang Jing and the others have been waiting outside for more than a week. They don’t know when it will be their turn, but there is nothing they can do except wait. However, this wait is too painful.
They were hungry and had no water to drink. Every day I heard people crying and shouting in despair, especially those who had finally got a place in line but were refused entry due to some physical reasons. It was the despair of seeing the way out right in front of them but not being able to get in. It was really too depressing.
Sun Sisi, whose round face had become pointed, shed silent tears as she listened to the desperate cries. Tu Juan, who was standing by, slapped her. Her dry lips were so dry that they could bleed when she spoke. She said in a hoarse voice, "Save some water. Why are you crying?"
Sun Sisi lowered her head and asked in a low voice: "Can we still survive?"
Yang Jing held her skinny, scarred and dirty hand in his palm, as if to comfort her, and as if to comfort himself: "Yes, just hold on a little longer, just hold on a little longer."
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