Chapter 63
Qin Huai was holding a small crossbow, and the corridor was pitch black. He concealed it intentionally, so even Yu Zibai didn't notice that he had something in his hand. Seeing that they finished registering and went downstairs, Qin Huai naturally did not show it and turned around and went home.
Seeing that Mu Nan was still hiding at the door and looking out, he pushed him in: "We are here to check the residents and collect supplies."
Mu Nan: "They are so fast, they swept down from the upstairs so quickly?"
Qin Huai said: "Of course the speed is faster when there are more people. Each person is responsible for one household. There are only five households on one floor. It will be cleaned up in no time."
Mu Nan asked curiously, "Don't the people living in the camp know about their actions? Those who originally lived here didn't even come back. The rice and water in the house alone can last for a while. Isn't it better than going out to dig through the ruins to make a living?"
Qin Huai: "Just because our building didn't collapse doesn't mean that everyone was lucky enough to escape. Don't forget that there were still many people who were at the cooling point and haven't returned yet, so maybe some of those who closed their doors can't come back anymore."
Most of the camps are divided into residential areas. If the neighborhood committee is still there, the people in the community will be responsible for the survivors in their respective communities. Otherwise, they all rely on the military to manage them, and they don't have to do anything else. There are not enough people just to be responsible for the survivors. Because a statistics was done when the survivors came for resettlement, it is easy to match the residents of the buildings that have not collapsed. If the head of the household is still there and is not injured, they can go home. There are many sick people in the camp now, and being able to move back to their own homes, even if there is no water or electricity, is better than staying in this high-risk infection area.
For those who cannot find the owner of the house, some people who look healthy will be temporarily assigned to live there. Otherwise, if people gather together, the disease will be passed from one to another, and eventually everyone will die.
Some of the lower floors were easier to allocate because the military was in charge of the dispatch. Even if someone sneaked into a house where no building had collapsed to search for things, they would not dare to impersonate the owner unless they were sure that the owner was dead. As a result, there were not many cases of impersonation or two people fighting for one house, and the allocation went relatively smoothly.
When it comes to living on high floors, some people are willing to do so, as they think it is safer to live high up and away from the ground where corpses are piled. Others are not so willing to do so, as they think the floors are too high. Even if it is 40 degrees Celsius outside, people can recover by climbing the stairs and taking a rest. But now the temperature is over 50 degrees Celsius, and if you climb to the 20th floor you might die of the heat. Therefore, they are not willing to live there at all.
The military people did not force us and we registered voluntarily. As for those whose heads of households were still there, they had no right to control whether we returned home or not. However, most of us wanted to go back, even if there was no water or electricity. After all, home was home and it was safer than living outside. We had not been back before because, on the one hand, the floors were high and we had not recovered from the earthquake, so we did not have the strength to climb the stairs. On the other hand, we were worried that the building would collapse. We had run down here with great difficulty, but what if the earthquake was not over yet? There was a possibility that aftershocks would come again after several days. Therefore, even if we had food and water at home, we did not dare to go up.
But now more and more people in the entire camp are getting sick. They don’t know whether the building will collapse, but if they continue to stay in the camp, infection is probably a matter of time.
Almost all the personnel that could be assigned were assigned. Soon, more than half of the people in their camp were gone. After the densely populated survivors were dispersed, the medical team finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although the number of sick people did not decrease and continued to increase, without dense population gathering, the invisible pressure would be reduced a lot. However, the people dispersed, but the speed of the spread of the disease did not slow down. As time passed, the stench from the ground became stronger and stronger. Looking at the soldiers who fell down because of contact with too many corpses, the military chief in charge of their area became more and more silent. Sometimes he really wanted to just burn all the ruins with a fire, but reason prevented this crazy idea. He could only tell himself again and again that he would hold on a little longer and the difficulties would definitely pass.
The difficulties in the outside world were not laid out in front of Mu Nan's eyes. To Mu Nan, they were just distant things. However, their building had indeed become much busier in the past two days, with many people going up and down. When some people passed by their floor, they would look on and sigh when they saw the big iron gate. It seemed that they also had the idea of finding a security door for the floor where they lived. However, not all neighbors on an entire floor were easy to talk to. When there are many people, there are many ideas, and they may not be able to work together.
Listening to the noise outside, Jian Chu sighed at home: "Fortunately, we went up and smoothed the walls of the two houses where the security doors were removed. It must have been done in a few days. Otherwise, if they saw that the security doors were removed from their own doorsteps, they would have come to make trouble. Fortunately, Qin Huai remembered that those houses did not return before the earthquake. I guess the residents who were assigned to them don't know whether they have security doors. Hey, what on earth does Qin Huai do? How can he remember so many things and pay attention to these things?"
Yu Zibai said: "It's not strange that capable people will always remember every aspect of their lives inadvertently."
Jian Chu rolled over on the bed, thought for a while, picked up the intercom and said to Yu Zibai: "I saw a lot of discs at Mu Nan's house last time. It should be okay if I borrow two from him, right?" He just always felt as if he was bothering his neighbors with everything. Since they knew each other, it was always the neighbors who helped them, but they had nothing to give back, so he felt a little guilty.
Yu Zibai's breathing stagnated. Seeing Yu Zibai holding the intercom and looking at him with a tangled expression, he looked away somewhat unnaturally. Although it was only a few seconds, he had a struggle in his mind for a long time. In the end, he pretended to be calm and responded: "It should be nothing."
Upon hearing this, Jian Chu quickly got up and sat down, then pressed the intercom: "Mu Nan, Mu Nan, calling Mu Nan."
The other side responded quickly: "I'm here, what's up?"
Jian Chu: "Can you lend me two discs to watch? I'm so bored and can't go out."
Mu Nan: "Sure, come over and choose for yourself."
Jian Chu quickly put on his slippers and walked over to the balcony.
Mu Nan took out a whole box of discs. Although he downloaded a lot of TV series, he also bought a lot of DVDs. These things are extremely cheap to buy. No matter how long or popular the TV series is, a disc costs only three or five yuan. There are both domestic and foreign ones. What he took out was only a small part of the space in his space, which were considered some of the more classics.
Qin Huai was sitting on the bed typing on the computer, while Jian Chu and Mu Nan were sitting on the floor choosing discs. Seeing Qin Huai typing non-stop, Jian Chu curiously whispered to Mu Nan, "What is your brother doing?" There was no internet here, so what could he be typing on? Was he writing a diary?
Mu Nan said, "My brother is making a game. He made me a refined version of Snake."
Jian Chu was immediately shocked: "Your brother is so amazing, he can even make games, what else can't your brother do?" He can fight, cook, has a smart brain, and can make games. Is there really such a perfect person in the world?
Mu Nan chuckled and said, "Except for giving birth, my brother knows everything else. He studied this in college, but he didn't study making games, he studied software programming. But he attended some game production classes, so he knows a little bit."
Jian Chu sincerely exclaimed: "It's amazing that a programmer can still maintain such thick black hair."
Jian Chu picked out two discs of Hong Kong dramas, the kind with hundreds of episodes each, which could be consumed in several days.
Seeing him coming back, Yu Zibai didn't know what he was busy with, and didn't come over for a long time. It was not until Jian Chu plugged in the power cord of the laptop and put the disc into the computer that he waved to Yu Zibai: "What are you busy with? Come over and watch it together."
Yu Zibai hummed, took a deep breath, and then got on the bed. He was feeling a little restless and uneasy, but suddenly: "..."
The four words "Heart of Greed" on the computer screen shattered all his fantasies that shouldn't have existed at this moment.
Mu Nan stuffed a grape into his mouth. He liked to eat summer black seedless grapes the most. Although the skin was a bit thick, the flesh was sweet and not sour at all. He sucked a grape and put the grape skin in a specially prepared plastic bag. He sighed, "I can't eat the grape skin. It feels a bit wasteful."
Qin Huai: "You can eat it if you want."
Mu Nan shook his head: "I don't want to, it's too thick and astringent. Just put it in the bag like this. When the bag is half full, pour a little water in it. I saw on the Internet that it can be used as fertilizer after fermenting for half a month."
Qin Huai: "You can just throw it into a soil pot without adding water and it can be used as fertilizer."
Mu Nan asked in confusion: "Really? Then why does the internet say it needs to ferment for half a month?"
Qin Huai didn't understand, and he had never farmed before, so he guessed, "Maybe we need to neutralize some of the substances in the peels that are bad for the soil. Anyway, the peels can be used directly as fertilizer. When I was a child, I saw your aunt cut up the banana peels you ate and threw them into the vegetable bowl as fertilizer."
Mu Nan said "oh" and peeled a grape and put it to Qin Huai's mouth. Qin Huai ate one and shook his head: "Eat it yourself, it's too sweet."
Mu Nan sighed softly: "You can't do that. You have to take a certain amount of fruits and vegetables every day, otherwise you will get constipated."
Qin Huai stroked his head and said, "Thank you so much for your concern and for worrying about whether I am constipated or not."
While the two were making noise on the bed, the iron door outside was knocked again. Mu Nan hurriedly put all the things into the space. Qin Huai walked to the door and looked out through the peephole of the security door. It was the security door at the stairs next door that was knocked. Yu Zibai had come out to check. Qin Huai pushed Mu Nan into the house: "Stay at home with the door closed, don't come out to join in the fun." After that, he put on a mask, took the crossbow outside, opened the door and went out.
Yu Zibai stood at the door and looked at the burly man outside, and asked cautiously: "Excuse me, what can I do for you?"
The man raised the key in his hand and said, "I have exchanged rooms with the resident of room 3 on your floor. Please open the door."
Yu Zibai glanced at Qin Huai, who frowned and said, "Is this floor number three?"
The man outside didn't seem to mind their vigilance. Although he looked ferocious, he responded to their questions in a friendly manner: "Yes, my last name is Zhang. I live on the fifth floor. He has an elderly person at home who can't climb so high, so he switched places with me. Please open the door."
Qin Huai nodded to Yu Zibai, who walked over and opened the security door, but quickly stepped back, fearing that the man would suddenly attack him.
After the man came in, they saw that there was a woman following him. The woman reached out to move something from the stairwell in. The man quickly went over and gently pushed the woman away: "Let me do it, this thing is too heavy, you stand over there, don't get too hot."
Judging from the caring look of the man, she should be his wife. The woman is quite pretty and thin, which doesn't quite match the style of this rough man. There are a lot of things behind the two of them, including several suitcases and several large bags wrapped in cloth that look like bed sheets. They packed them up from the fifth floor and climbed one floor to take a rest. I don't know how long it took to move so many things.
After piling all the stuff in the corridor, the man took the initiative to close the security door. While shaking off the sweat on his face, he sighed: "I didn't expect that you guys installed this thing on this floor. It's pretty good. I feel more at ease sleeping in the middle of the night. This house is worth it! My last name is Niu, and everyone calls me Daniu. We'll be neighbors from now on. Although I don't know how long we can live in this shabby house, just let me know if you need any help."
Although Yu Zibai had not let down his guard, he did not want to hit a smiling person. Although the man looked fierce, he was still quite polite, so he replied: "Hello, my last name is Yu, this is the one who lives over there, last name is Qin, you can see, there are anti-theft iron doors installed on both sides, just to prevent someone from sneaking in. Stealing things is secondary, but we are afraid that the sick will come here to poison, so if you can't open the iron door, don't open it. The situation outside is already like that, we can only try to be careful ourselves."
Daniu nodded in agreement: "That's right, that's right. We are not afraid of anything else, but we are afraid that someone who is sick will come here and cough a few times, and touch the door handle a few times. It is safer to have more anti-theft doors. You young people really think well!"
Seeing that this big guy didn't seem to be a difficult person to get along with, Qin Huai turned around and went into the house. Although another stranger had come, he couldn't stop them from coming in. He just hoped that this person could really be as easy to get along with as he had met before.
Qin Huai told Mu Nan about this when he got home. Mu Nan was a little surprised: "Change house? Then the Zhang family will live downstairs and never come back?"
Qin Huai said, "That should be the case. Is there anyone with the surname Niu on the fifth floor? I don't think I've seen anyone like that."
Mu Nan recalled for a moment and said uncertainly, "I haven't seen him in the community group before. He didn't seem to talk much. But in the trading group, there was a guy named Three Cow Heads who talked. At that time, he seemed to want to exchange water for eggs with someone. He said his wife was not in good health and wanted to exchange eggs for his wife's health. I don't know if it was him."
Qin Huai: "It doesn't matter whether they are or not. They have already moved in. Anyway, they have their doors closed, so there shouldn't be many opportunities for contact. You should be careful. The person knocking on the door again may not be Jian Chu and his friends. Don't open the door easily."
Mu Nan nodded, and seeing that there was nothing to do outside, he lay back on the bed again, then took out a plate of French fries from the space. The French fries were still bubbling with oil when he took them out. When Qin Huai fried them before, he put them into the space as soon as they came out of the pan. He didn't like to eat soft French fries, he liked those with a crispy texture. He also took out a bottle of tomato hot sauce, which was a little spicy and tasted better than pure tomato sauce.
Qin Huai came out after washing his hands and saw him lying on his side with a plate of French fries in his arms, eating while watching cartoons. He couldn't help but smile: "Eat less, you just ate some grapes."
Mu Nan looked down at the fries on the plate, then looked up at Qin Huai: "Don't save these. People will get tired of eating sweet potatoes and potatoes in the future. If you want to be full and easy to feed, you can only eat sweet potatoes and potatoes. After all, potatoes can be grown on Mars."
Qin Huai said with a smile: "That's a movie."
Mu Nan dipped a French fry in the sauce and fed it to Qin Huai's mouth: "The fact that a movie like this can be made is enough to show the strong survival ability of potatoes. Otherwise, why don't people make a movie about growing rice on Mars?"
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn are the three things that will be the main food for people in the future. There is also millet, but it is not very palatable and is very drought-resistant. Later, it was ground into powder and mixed together to make corn tortillas, which also became the most popular staple food for people for a period of time. At least before his death, one Singapore dollar could buy a half-pound corn tortilla, and as long as a brick-moving worker was willing to work hard, he could earn three to five dollars a day, which was enough to support a family.
Before he died, people had just survived a severe cold spell, and a new order was gradually being established. If the weather remained extremely hot and cold in the future, life would actually be manageable. I just don't know if the future will ever be peaceful.
Qin Huai got on the bed and slapped Mu Nan on the butt with one hand: "You are the only one who has a lot of crooked ideas. Move over. You have taken up the entire bed."
Mu Nan moved the French fries around, from lying horizontally to lying vertically, leaving half of the space for Qin Huai: "How can this be considered a fallacy? It's such a convincing fact."
Qin Huai: "Nannan, your hair has grown longer again, do you want to get it cut?"
Mu Nan reached out and scratched it, then looked back at Qin Huai's head: "Come on, you cut it for me and I cut it for you. I think if I cut it a few more times, I can open a shop and earn money from my craft."
Mu Nan moved a small stool and sat beside the bed, and spread a disposable tablecloth on the floor, so that the broken hair on the floor could be gathered together after being shaken off, and would not fall all over the floor and need to be swept.
Qin Huai is also good at handwork. When he first cut Mu Nan's hair, it was as rough as if it had been gnawed by a dog. Now he can use several kinds of scissors to cut a little bit of style for him, so that it is not a short stubble close to the scalp. When Qin Huai was cutting his hair, Mu Nan looked in the mirror, and asked uncertainly: "Brother, have I gained weight? Why do I feel that my face is a little rounder?"
Qin Huai glanced at the person in the mirror and poked his shoulder blade with his hand: "It's all bones, where is the fat?"
Mu Nan frowned: "I run every day now, so I eat a lot. Although I am exercising, I consume more. Maybe it is because of this that my absorption is better. It's over. I can't eat anymore. Others are pale and skinny, but I am white and plump. That looks too delicious." You have to know that as long as there is a disaster, there will inevitably be two-legged sheep.
Mu Nan glanced at him again. Although she was still cutting his hair seriously, she couldn't help but smile: "It's really delicious. It looks delicious."
Mu Nan felt that he had a physique that would not allow him to gain weight. After all, he had eaten a lot since he was a child, but he had never been fat. In addition, this time in his previous life was his thinnest because the environment outside made it impossible for him to swallow food. Maybe this time he had experienced it once and had a higher level of acceptance, or maybe it was because Qin Huai was by his side, so he felt at ease and it did not affect his appetite much. Therefore, he did not restrain himself. But not losing weight does not mean that he can gain weight. He was locked in the room and starved, and when he went out he was as thin as a stick. But he gained weight, and it was not like it was not noticeable if he wore more clothes in winter.
Qin Huai pinched his chin and turned his head to look at him: "You haven't seen the sun for a while, so you're a little whiter, but you're not fat. Eat without worry. If you really gain weight, those cosmetics you bought will come in handy, such as shadow sticks and bone-shaving creams."
Mu Nan raised his chin and rescued his face from Qin Huai's hands: "That's called contouring cream, not bone-shaving cream. It sounds too scary."
Qin Huai laughed: "Not bad, I've watched a lot of beauty videos these days. At least I can tell what the things you bought are."
Facts have proved that what Qin Huai said was right. It was probably because he had not seen the sun for too long at home, and his skin turned pale. When a person becomes pale, he looks like he has gained weight visually. After Mu Nan weighed himself, his weight did not change much. A fluctuation of one or two pounds was within the normal range. Seeing this, Mu Nan breathed a sigh of relief. It was too much for him to take the initiative to lose weight when others were not full.
Xu Ming walked to the bottom of the building with the few things he had. There were some rice, flour, and some water. These were the supplies sent down from above. As a doctor in the medical team, he had more canteen points than the average person. He couldn't finish all of them by himself, so after accumulating some, he now exchanged them all for food, which would be enough for him to eat for ten days or half a month while staying indoors. Combined with the food he had stored at home before, he should have no problem surviving for a month or so.
After finally climbing to the 17th floor, he found that his floor was actually equipped with an iron door. However, he knew at a glance that it was done by his two neighbors. Only they could do it. However, it is indeed safe to install it like this now, to prevent thieves and prevent infection. He raised his hand and knocked, and shouted inside. Now the world is quiet, and the house can hear any shout, so Yu Zibai came out quickly. Seeing that it was Xu Ming, he was a little surprised: "Are you coming up to rest, or will you never come down again after coming up?"
Xu Ming said: "I can't go down. I have no problem dealing with some external injuries, but when it comes to epidemic diseases, even if I know a little about medicine, it will be useless."
Yu Zibai said, "That's good, I'm glad you're back. By the way, we have a new neighbor on this floor. The Zhang family has switched with a resident on the fifth floor. It's probably the old lady from the Zhang family. It's inconvenient for her to climb the stairs, so she moved to a lower floor."
Xu Ming smiled when he heard this: "The Zhang family really suffered a great loss."
Yu Zibai: "What?"
Xu Ming said: "Soon, high-rise buildings like this will have to install solar power generation, but the elevators need to be repaired. Elevators that are not damaged by the earthquake can be used to generate electricity. If they are damaged, then we can only blame ourselves for our bad luck. There are no spare parts to repair them now. Our two buildings are the only ones that have survived intact, so the damage to the elevators should not be too serious. By then, there will be corpses everywhere outside and the virus will be rampant. Moreover, the most dangerous virus at that time will be airborne. Tell me, which is safer, living on a low floor where you can see the collapsed ruins or living on a high floor of more than ten or twenty floors?"
Yu Zibai frowned when he heard this: "Then I hope the Zhang family won't come back to make trouble."
Xu Ming shrugged: "Let them make a fuss, it has nothing to do with us."
Seeing Xu Ming was exhausted, Yu Zibai said, "You go back first. I'll find the power board and run a line through the bathroom window. I'll bring the air conditioner to you later."
Xu Ming nodded: "Okay, I'll go back and have some sleep and isolate myself for a few days. If there's nothing else, we'll contact each other." If there was anything, there would be no need to contact each other.
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