Chapter 49
After the earthquake, people didn't have much time to calm down. The silence after the earthquake was soon broken by desperate cries and calls for help. Before the earthquake, there were quite a few people in the small square where they were. They were lucky. Although some were injured by flying rocks, they were not in danger of death, and they were not crushed under buildings. It was just that they couldn't recover from the disaster for a while.
Almost all the people who could come to this small square were residents of the surrounding area. It was okay for those who were alone, as they had nothing to worry about as long as they were still alive. But those who had families, before they had time to relieve the discomfort after the violent earthquake, had to climb up from the ground with weak limbs, and fell to the ground before they could run two steps. Their limbs were covered in blood, but they seemed not to feel any pain. They got up and continued to struggle towards their homes.
Some people were calling out to their companions. Some seemed injured and were panicking and asking for help. As more and more people woke up, Mu Nan could no longer lie still. He sat up and touched Qin Huai's hands and feet. Qin Huai held his hand and comforted him, "It's okay. Nothing happened. You're not injured at all, except that you're a little dirty."
Mu Nan breathed a sigh of relief and looked around, but the visibility was too low and there was no moonlight. Even though his eyes had adapted to the darkness, he could only see some vague outlines. He couldn't tell who was who unless he got closer: "Where are they?"
Qin Huai shook his head: "I don't know. We just ran over here, so nothing should happen. Do you want to drink some medicine to relieve the heat? It's too hot and there's no wind."
Mu Nan shook her head, took out a bottle of summer heat medicine from the space under the cover of her bag and handed it to Qin Huai: "You drink some, I can't drink it."
Qin Huai drank a bottle himself. He had to bear it. If anything happened to him, Mu Nan would be even more scared. So even though he couldn't drink it anyway, he still forced himself to drink a bottle.
Mu Nan took out a bottle of ice water from the space and gave it to Qin Huai to sip and cool him down. The smell of the anti-heat medicine was a bit strong, so he had to drink some water to dissipate it, otherwise he was afraid that someone would notice them if they got close to him. While people were not paying attention to others at the moment, Mu Nan took out two small hand-cranked fans from the space, but his body was sticky, and the sweat mixed with mud and dust was like a layer of concrete on his skin. The wind from the fan could not relieve the heat at all.
At this time, Qin Huai and the others heard a voice that sounded like Xu Ming calling them, and replied: "This way, we are near the flower bed!"
After a while, Xu Ming groped over and asked, "How are you? Are you injured?"
Qin Huai said: "No, what about the two of them?"
Xu Ming said: "There's nothing going on over there. It's just that they haven't recovered yet. I'll go tell them and ask them to come over."
Qin Huai and the others were near the flowerbed in the small square. At least there was a high wall behind them, so they could lean on it. It was safer than lying directly in the middle of the square, so as not to be stepped on by the panicked crowd. Soon the three of them came over, each of them looked like they had just been unearthed, with their noses and eyes completely invisible.
Because I couldn't see the other person's condition clearly, I could only ask, "How is he? Are you hurt?"
Mu Nan said: "No, I just got dizzy. Are you all okay?"
Jian Chu seemed to have a lot of dirt in his mouth and nose, and he kept wiping his nose and mouth: "It's okay, I really survived a disaster. I don't know how our family is doing. With such a loud earthquake, I'm afraid our house is gone." It's a pity that there is still some stored food at home that has not been eaten. If I had known earlier, I should not have saved it and eaten it slowly.
Thinking of this, Jian Chu narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction of the small night market: "Are your cell phones still usable?"
Mu Nan said, "It's almost time now. There are still a few hours until dawn."
Jian Chu: "I'm not asking about the time. Our phones fell down and can't be turned on now. I want to find something to illuminate."
Mu Nan unzipped the backpack and found a palm-sized flashlight inside. He pressed it and it illuminated the area, so he handed it over: "Here."
Jian Chu took it and got up immediately. Yu Zibai looked at him and asked, "Where are you going?"
Jian Chu said, "Give me the bag. There are several stalls in front. I'll go see if I can find anything." Apart from anything else, the clothes stall and the Zihaiguo stall were what he was thinking about.
Many people had not recovered from the earthquake yet. Those who could move a little bit wanted to go home to check the situation. Those who could not move waited for rescue. People like Jian Chu's first reaction was to search for things immediately. Mu Nan was shocked. Thinking about what he was doing in his previous life, he should have just run down from the 17th floor, waiting for arrangements with everyone in fear and anxiety. How could he think of searching for things? He was completely confused. He was able to run down from the upstairs alive, but his legs were already weak due to exhaustion.
Seeing Jian Chu, who immediately became energetic after recovering from the shock, Mu Nan really admired him. A person like him should have lived a good life in his previous life.
Yu Zibai also stood up: "I'll go with you."
Jian Chu didn't let him. Instead, she threw the two self-heating pots she had bought in her bag at Yu Zibai: "You watch the things. I'm just going to take a look. I may not get anything. Too many people will attract attention. Now I'm going to take a look quietly. Others may not realize what I'm doing. If there are too many people, others will react and there may be some disputes. After all, the stall owner may be right next to us."
How could Yu Zibai feel comfortable letting Jian Chu go alone? A wave of earthquakes had just passed, what if there was another aftershock? He refused to agree no matter what. Qin Huai said, "We'll take care of the things. It's better for the two of you to go together." He cleared out one of their backpacks and handed it to Jian Chu, "One bag each, you can pack more when you have a chance."
Jian Chu nodded: "Okay, you wait here."
The two men walked forward a few steps, and their backs disappeared in the thick dust. Only a small flashlight could be vaguely seen, and soon that light also disappeared in the fog.
Mu Nan exclaimed: "He is really amazing."
Qin Huai said: "I hope you can be like him. When you encounter a crisis, you can make the most favorable choice and decision for yourself in the first place, adapt to the worst environment as soon as possible, and live well. It is more important than anything else."
Mu Nan muttered: "That depends on whether one person survives or both survive."
Qin Huai touched his dirty face and said nothing. Mu Nan was quiet for a while, and then couldn't help asking, "Should we go to help with the rescue? I think I heard someone shouting for help."
Qin Huai looked at him: "Are you not dizzy anymore?"
Mu Nan didn't try to hold back: "I feel dizzy, dizzy and hot." His head was still swollen and he wanted to vomit, so there was no way he could recover so quickly.
Qin Huai let Mu Nan lean on him: "Then take a rest. There are not many buildings in the small square. Even if you are injured, it is probably because of the flying rocks. The ones who really need rescue should be the residential areas. Let's take a break and go over to take a look later."
Seeing Xu Ming remained silent, Mu Nan asked, "Do you have any family members you need to contact?"
Xu Ming smiled silently and shook his head, but said nothing. He leaned against the flower bed, as if he had not yet recovered from the earthquake.
Mu Nan stopped talking when he saw this. Although it was very hot, he still stuck close to Qin Huai.
Qin Huai reached out and held Mu Nan's hand, and wiped the dust off his face with his other hand, but his hands were dirtier than his face, and the more he wiped, the dirtier they became. Qin Huai looked at him and smiled: "Lean on me and sleep for a while. The days to come may not be so peaceful."
Mu Nan had been anxious and hadn't slept well because of the earthquake. After all the exhaustion, the dust had settled after the earthquake, so he relaxed a little and fell asleep quickly leaning on Qin Huai. After sleeping for about an hour, he was awakened by the sound of talking. It turned out that Jian Chu and the others had returned.
Just as Jian Chu had thought, when the earthquake was so strong, the stall owners had no time to take care of their stalls and fled outside in a hurry. Now they were lying somewhere and had not yet recovered. Therefore, some stalls were crushed by the flying debris, and some were scattered on the ground. When they passed by, they didn't see anyone. Those who could move were struggling to run home, and those who couldn't move were lying on the ground groaning. Jian Chu carefully used a small flashlight to illuminate and searched through the stalls one by one. He didn't even look at the clothes and stuffed them into his bag without shaking out the stones. He collected anything he thought was useful first.
And they were lucky enough to find two boxes of scattered Zihai pots on the ground. They originally wanted to look for more, but they were worried that their behavior would be seen by others. Although it was pitch black everywhere and there was thick dust, what if someone heard any noise? So they hurriedly took the things they found and hid them next to them. After emptying their backpacks, they planned to go look for more. There were not many opportunities to pick up equipment on the spot, so every bit they could grab was a bit better.
After two trips back and forth, some people had already started to react. They shared the same mentality as Jian Chu and the others, intending to see if they could take the opportunity to pick up something good. As more people started searching, Jian Chu and the others stopped searching and returned to Qin Huai and the others.
When they made their last trip, Mu Nan had already shaken out and folded up the clothes. They were all summer clothes, relatively light and thin, and didn't take up too much space when folded together. As for the other things that Jian Chu had picked up, such as the self-heating pot, a box was quite large. They picked up two boxes, each box had eight boxes, and they couldn't fit more than a few boxes into one bag.
In the end, it was Yu Zibai who had foresight and turned over a piece of cloth from the previous stall and wrapped the things that could not fit in like a bundle, which made it easier to take out and prevented people from seeing what was inside.
It was almost three o'clock when the sky got a little brighter and they could see someone at least ten steps away. They then picked up their things and prepared to go back to the community to check the situation.
Qin Huai and Mu Nan had towels, but they did not put them back after taking them out. They just covered their mouths and noses as they walked to avoid inhaling too much dust. Xu Ming and the others took off their clothes, shook them clean, and tore them open. After all, they were their own clothes and did not mind their own smell. They just used them as makeshift masks to cover themselves. They could also change into the clothes they had found in the ruins.
The situation in the small square was much better by comparison. When they walked onto the road, they saw that the entire road was cracked in the middle. If they didn't pay attention to their feet, they would really fall into it. They didn't know how deep the crack was. Those people in the small square who later came to their senses and rushed home, did they all return home safely, or some accidentally fell in? Anyway, when they shone the flashlight, they couldn't see the bottom.
The closer they got to the residential area, the louder the miserable cries. The few people who had originally felt a little relieved because they had found some food, now couldn't help but feel heavy again. Three of the seven buildings in their community were directly collapsed by the earthquake. One building was right behind the three collapsed buildings and was therefore crushed. Another building was directly cracked in half and looked like it was about to collapse. Only two buildings were still standing, one of which was the building where Mu Nan and the others lived.
It is said that the building where Mu Nan and his colleagues live is the first batch built after the reconstruction. At that time, I heard that because it was the first batch, it had to pass the review from above, so the materials used were very real. However, many people just thought it was a rumor. After all, as long as the houses are delivered, they have to be reviewed no matter which batch they are in. But now seeing these only two buildings from the first batch that have not collapsed, it seems to confirm the rumors of that year.
Of course, they are not the only ones left here. There are also houses that have not collapsed in several nearby communities, but most of them have collapsed. They don’t know the situation outside now. Except for the people in the community who have set up their own rescue team, no one has come to take care of them after several hours.
The first group to be called in for the cleanup was the neighborhood committee. The committee had only two floors, so even if it collapsed it was easy to clean up. The key point was that many supplies were stored in the committee, such as generators and gasoline. In the pitch-black situation, even rescue would be greatly hindered, so the first thing to do was to clear out the supplies in the committee, use the generators to generate electricity, and turn on the lighting in the community.
However, the community can no longer be considered a community. If the building they are familiar with was not still there, they would not even be able to recognize where they are standing. Ruins like mountains block the way, and beneath these ruins, there are countless lives buried, still waiting for rescue, or cold and mutilated bodies.
Seeing this scene, Jian Chu, who had been calm and composed all the time, turned around and vomited. Even though he had prepared himself mentally along the way, he still couldn't bear it when he saw this scene that was like hell on earth. When he thought that they were almost trapped down there, he suddenly felt a chill.
Xu Ming was a little bit stronger, probably because he was a doctor, so his psychological quality was always better than that of ordinary people. Yu Zibai's face was also grayish-white, and he seemed to be trying his best to endure it, looking at the piles of rubble in front of him with red eyes.
Qin Huai subconsciously hugged Mu Nan and gently stroked his back, worried that he, like Jian Chu, could not bear such a scene. However, Mu Nan just blushed slightly and whispered, "Brother, I'm fine. I've seen these scenes in my dreams."
Qin Huai hugged Mu Nan tightly with heartache, not even daring to ask whether she had been there with him in his nightmares.
The crowd waited for a while at the intersection, and then dragged their heavy feet to the community, seeing that it was getting brighter and brighter, and the sun would come out if they didn't go in. There were people sitting or lying on the ground along the road, and they were covered in black, and it was impossible to tell whether it was blood from injuries or dust mixed with sweat. Some were obviously a family huddled together like they had survived a disaster, some looked stunned and obviously hadn't recovered from the earthquake, and some were obviously unable to bear such a blow, their minds were a little unclear, and they were huddled up and trembling.
Going further inside, a space had even been cleared, with corpses lying on the ground. The corpses were covered with curtains that had been pulled out from the ruins and were originally used to block the sunlight. Some people's dead white arms were exposed, and some people's mutilated legs were not covered. The flesh and skin that had lost the soles of the feet were like minced meat draped over the white bones of the calves. One could imagine how these corpses were pulled out of the ruins.
Seeing this scene, Jian Chu, who had vomited until there was nothing left to vomit, could not help but dry heave again. Mu Nan turned his head away and dared not look, his face pale as he covered his twitching stomach. In his previous life, he had adapted to such scenes again and again, and became numb little by little. Now everything was happening again, and even though he had been mentally prepared, he still couldn't resist the physiological reaction.
Qin Huai quickly patted his back: "Don't hold it in if you want to vomit, it's okay."
Mu Nan shook his head and followed Qin Huai to quickly leave the dead body pile area. He saw some people who seemed to have returned from outside. A community worker wearing protective clothing asked them to come over to register their house number, how many people were in their family, and whether everyone was there. After they finished registering, he guided them: "Go to Yunshang Supermarket. There is a temporary resettlement point over there. You go there first, and follow the arrangements for the rest."
Qin Huai asked, "Where is the cooling point?"
The man shook his head: "It has collapsed. All right, hurry over there. It will be dawn soon."
It seems that even if the house didn't collapse, they can't go back upstairs. They have built a fence under their building, probably because they are worried that aftershocks will cause the house to collapse again. They can only walk towards the Yunshang Supermarket along the road marked with bundles of ropes along the way. Otherwise, with the current extent of the collapse, they really can't find the direction of the Yunshang Supermarket.
The Yunshang Supermarket also collapsed, and the degree of collapse was not light. However, because a hotel not far from the supermarket used to be a military guesthouse, it was later directly turned into a temporary military dormitory. The troops responsible for distributing supplies in this area lived in it. After the earthquake, the military directly surrounded the supermarket. There were still a lot of goods in it. When they cleaned it up, they would be resources that could survive. Later, seeing that the houses in front collapsed very seriously, they arranged a group of people to quickly build rescue tents and put up sunshades, directly occupying all the available open space and roads.
It was also because this area was already under demolition at the time, and the residents of those densely packed old communities had basically moved away, so the houses here collapsed, and there was no one and nothing inside. The victims could be temporarily resettled here without having to worry about dead bodies in the collapsed buildings not being cleaned up in time and being exposed to high temperatures and causing plagues, so this was the first resettlement point.
When Qin Huai and his group came over, a man in military uniform registered them. Seeing that they were all men and none of them looked injured, they gave them a tent outside. The use of tents was planned. Although men and women were not important at this time, they were planned based on families and wounded. If there were any injured, they would be placed in a tent with a military doctor on duty. As for the few who were not injured and could be rescued later, they were placed in the tent outside, which made it convenient for them to enter and exit.
Several people held the handwritten bed numbers and sighed in their hearts that the military was so fast and had planned the system so quickly. But when they entered the tent, they found that there were at least thirty or forty people living in one tent. It was a large tent covered with green cloth. The so-called bed numbers did not really mean there were beds, but an area marked out on the ground. As for whether you lie down directly on the ground or find something to cushion yourself, it depends on what you have in your hand.
In the previous life, Mu Nan was arranged like this from the beginning, so he was not surprised at all. He found the corresponding number and sat down directly. He was tired, dizzy, stuffy and hot, and didn't want to move after sitting down. Probably because they were worried that there would be no air conditioning during the day, and so many people would be afraid of being overheated in one tent, so they generated electricity over there, pulled the wires over, and put three large fans in one tent, which blew air to circulate the air. It was hot, but at least it wasn't suffocating.
They didn't have anything to move, and there was nothing to be particular about, so they just lay down on the ground. After experiencing such a terrible earthquake and almost vomiting all the way, Jian Chu was already exhausted. When he closed his eyes, he didn't know whether he fell asleep or fainted.
Qin Huai was still sober. Although Mu Nan's face was dirty and dusty, and the sweat had turned it into black marks, making it hard to see his original complexion, his slightly furrowed brows were obviously uncomfortable, so he gently rubbed his brows with his fingertips and whispered, "We'll go home tonight, just hold on."
Mu Nan opened his eyes, moved towards Qin Huai, and whispered in the same voice: "I'm fine, I can do it." He had survived in his last life, so there would be no problem in this one.
Qin Huai wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "No need, we will go home tonight. Just listen to me."
Since there were no aftershocks and the house did not collapse, there was no need for them to stay outside and suffer this. Although it would be better to follow the crowd, there would definitely be some people besides them who would rather stay in their homes without electricity and water. After all, staying outside now is no better than staying at home without electricity and water.
They can hide in the house during the day, and whether to rescue or search at night, we will see then. It just so happens that after returning, Mu Nan will not be allowed to go downstairs. Judging from the arrangements on their side, it seems that they are planning to exchange labor for food. He does not want Mu Nan to go to the ruins to rummage through things. Under the premise that most shops have been emptied and closed long ago, the things buried in residential buildings are not important to them. He would rather not have to touch some corpses for this.
Seeing that Qin Huai had made up his mind, Mu Nan stopped objecting. He really wanted to live back home more than outside. It wasn't that he couldn't stand it, but he didn't want Qin Huai to suffer outside. At least when they were home, they could use the air conditioner and ice cubes to cool down, and they didn't have to drink water secretly. "Okay, let's go back secretly at night."
Qin Huai smiled and said, "Close your eyes and go to sleep. It will be dark by then."
Mu Nan obediently closed his eyes. After a long while, he slowly loosened his grip on Qin Huai's hand and gradually fell asleep. Although it was very hot, it was not enough to overcome his physical fatigue.
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