Chapter 68
The previous incineration resulted in piles of corpses, but the current incineration results in piles of rats. Several stretchers covered with white cloth were carried in one after another from a distance. The people on them all died of illness, not the earthquake. Now, almost all the bodies that could be removed had been cleared out, as the rest were buried too deep. The collapse of dozens of floors had piled up the dead at the bottom, and it was too difficult to dig out the bodies with manpower alone, unless some large bulldozers or cranes could be found.
While the bodies were being burned, the soldiers saw a group of people in protective clothing walking towards them. Their hearts began to beat fast with excitement. No matter whether they were rescuers or survivors, they had not seen people from outside the area since the earthquake. It was obvious that they were from somewhere else and might be able to bring more news from the outside world.
But what was disappointing was that the people who came to ask for help brought even worse news.
When arranging the distribution of supplies before, their entire city had troops stationed in communities, with a company arranged for each community. Because Mu Nan and his team were in the city center, the headquarters of the entire stationed army was located here, and the others were stationed in scattered companies. Therefore, after the earthquake, only their headquarters had the conditions to contact the outside world, and other places did not have satellite communication equipment.
The group of people coming here are from the army in the area south of Jiangqiao. There are 20 people in the group, walking across the bridge. After the earthquake, when they waited for a long time for rescue, their superiors had a hunch that something was wrong, so they made the same decision as the military here. No matter what the situation outside is, they must first save themselves and do their best to rescue all the survivors from the earthquake zone. However, the plague over there broke out faster than here. They have run out of ammunition, food, and medicine. If they continue to endure, everyone will die together, so some people were arranged to grope in the direction of the military. If it hadn't rained for a few days in the past two days and the weather had turned gloomy, they would not know how long it would take for them to walk like this day and night. Now they finally saw the people from the military, but the tragic scenes they saw along the way made them full of fear and anxiety, without the joy of being saved. Maybe this time, they really can't survive this plague.
Even though they were searching for edibles all the way, most of the time had to be spent on the journey. Only when they were ready to stop to avoid the sun and rest would they search around. Anyway, they would eat anything that could be imported. If the people they picked were not in strong physical condition, they would have collapsed long ago after eating so many different foods and being so tired.
Knowing that they had not had a proper meal for a long time, the regiment commander from the military headquarters took them to the cafeteria for a hot meal.
Several people ate with red eyes. The leader of the team choked up and said, "We couldn't find any food over there. Some of our brothers died of exhaustion or starvation."
They were all his own soldiers, so the commander would not feel good after hearing this, but what could he do? He knew the situation outside the city very well. The supplies they had now could not last too long, especially the medicines. If they continued to stay here, more people would die. If they wanted to survive, they would probably have to leave. Even if they left, the number of people would probably be reduced to only one tenth.
Hearing the sound of the large wardrobe being moved in the elevator, Mu Nan sighed softly: "Are these people really not afraid of being beaten? I'll go see how many people are coming up this time!"
Qin Huai grabbed his head and pushed him back onto the bed: "Stay in the room and don't move." Then he opened the door and went out to check the situation.
Because the move made quite a noise, the three families living there all came out, but they all stood at the door and had no intention of stopping them. Qin Huai opened the door and saw a man in military uniform sticking his head out. He looked around and smiled when he saw Qin Huai: "Your safety factor is really high."
Qin Huai frowned slightly, but still stepped forward: "Captain Shi, are you looking for me?"
Seeing that they were acquaintances of Qin Huai, Jian Chu and the others naturally did not stay in the corridor. Anyway, as long as they were not those who wanted to live here, it would be fine. Daniu was afraid that Qin Huai could not move the wardrobe by himself, so he said before entering the house: "I will restore the wardrobe later."
Qin Huai thanked him and then looked at Shi Yuanfei.
Shi Yuanfei wiped the sweat off his face. He was afraid that he might have some disease, so he didn't get too close. After the others entered the house, he said, "I have some news to tell you. The military is preparing to relocate to the university town, but not all of them are leaving. Many sick people can't leave, and the elderly and children with their families may not be able to endure the hardship of migrating. And we don't know what the situation is in the university town, so a group of people will go there to investigate the situation. I am one of the people who are leaving."
Then he took out a note from his pocket and handed it to Qin Huai: "This is a soldier under my command. He is a left-behind person. If you have any questions, you can find him. I told him about you."
Qin Huai took the note and asked, "Just the army leaving?"
Shi Yuanfei shook his head. "No, we will take away some people who are not sick and can withstand the migration. If you want to go, you can go with me. The university town is vast and sparsely populated. Even if it collapses, the casualties will not be more serious than here. Moreover, an area has been cleared there to build a solar power station. If the situation is good, a new urban area may be built there. But the first thing to ensure before entering the new urban area is health. But now I am just guessing. If the collapse over there is more serious than here, everything needs to be rebuilt. I am afraid it will take a year to build a new urban area."
But given the extent of the current spread of the epidemic, it is still unknown how many survivors there will be in a year.
Qin Huai: "When are you leaving?"
Shi Yuanfei: "Ten days later, so I came here to tell you that the news of the migration will be announced soon. Those who are willing to go together will have to register with the military. But good health and strong physique are the first consideration. We can't take sick people with us. If you want to go together, just register directly."
He wears a mask when he goes out to check the situation, which shows that he has a strong sense of protection. Although we can't see his face, his eyes are clear and he is full of energy, so his physical fitness should be fine.
Qin Huai said: "Can we still get a car if we are on foot? The people who went there probably won't come back unless there are any accidents."
Shi Yuanfei nodded, "Of course we'll go on foot. If we can stay here, who would want to go through the trouble of migrating? You know, we don't know what we'll encounter along the way. The plague isn't just here. With such a severe earthquake, I'm afraid there will be plagues everywhere. So if you want to leave, you have to think carefully. The hardship on the road is imaginable. Once a person is overly tired, he or she will easily get sick. If you accidentally get infected, you might die on the road."
Qin Huai: "I have a lot of belongings. It's not easy to take a solar generator with me. If I go with you, what should I do with these things?"
Shi Yuanfei was stunned: "You have such a good thing at home, no wonder you are so clean and refreshing, without any sweat smell."
After he finished speaking, Shi Yuanfei pondered and said, "If you want to leave in the first batch, you definitely can't take these things with you. You can only hand them over to the military. By then, if the university town can be stabilized, the military will move there in batches, and all the equipment will definitely be moved over. After they are moved over, you can go to the military to get your things."
The two stood in the corridor and talked for a while. Qin Huai heard the movement coming from his door and looked back. Shi Yuanfei knew that he had a younger brother at home. He was afraid that his brother would be worried because he had been out for too long, so he said, "Think about it carefully. You can come to me anytime these days."
Qin Huai nodded, and after watching Shi Yuanfei leave, he didn't wait for Da Niu to come out, but directly pushed the wardrobe back to normal.
As soon as he entered the room, Mu Nan came over. Qin Huai asked Mu Nan to stay away and disinfected his body. Then he rolled up the mask and threw it in the trash can at the door.
Mu Nan said: "I heard everything. Are they going to evacuate?"
Qin Huai: "It's not an evacuation, but we're probably going to start building a refuge base."
Qin Huai took out Mu Nan's little notebook which recorded some events and times. He saw that it said that a private base would be established in April. Now it was the beginning of March, which meant that the private base would be established in about a month. After another half a month, electricity would be available here for a short period of time. It would start snowing in June, and this snow would last for more than half a year.
That is to say, there are two problems at hand. One is the extent of the plague outbreak here. Can they resist it by staying indoors? You have to know that the outbreak of this plague can be spread by reptiles, even fleas and mosquitoes. Although there may not be no plague in the university town, the spread speed in a sparsely populated area is definitely not as fast as in a central area like theirs. Another is whether the houses in the refuge base can be successfully occupied before the heavy snow. If there is a construction site that has not been built, it will be even more dangerous when winter comes.
Seeing Qin Huai staring at the little notebook without saying anything, Mu Nan asked, "Brother, are we going together?"
Qin Huai didn't say anything. He really preferred to go together. As long as they could find a place to live, they could survive the hot summer or cold winter with just a little bit of effort. But they couldn't resist the plague. Another thing was that the protection of their floor was too good. People upstairs and downstairs knew that they had solar generators. When more and more people got sick and food became less and less, they would definitely be the first target for others. Apart from anything else, those who got sick could increase the possibility of being infected by just sprinkling some blood, spitting some saliva, or even throwing some feces at their door. This kind of thing was not just possible, but would definitely happen. In this world, there were many people who would drag the jealous people to die together even if they couldn't get good things.
His original plan was to follow the army. When this area lost control, it would be the most dangerous. Those who looked strong would become targets of everyone, because if you have ability, you might have more supplies at home. Those who looked weak would also become targets. Killing and eating meat was the most normal thing in years of famine and natural disasters. Unless you joined those people and became a part of them, it would be impossible to stay out of it.
But what he was hesitating about now was not anything else, but whether Mu Nan had the physical strength to withstand the entire hiking process.
Mu Nan didn't know what Qin Huai was struggling with, he just sat quietly beside him waiting for Qin Huai's decision. In fact, he didn't know what the place they lived in became like. He had only followed people to the private base in early May. At first, the people here didn't know about the so-called private base. Later, waves of people went there. Some joined the recruitment team of the private base, and then followed the recruitment team back to promote the base. As a result, more and more people went there, and fewer and fewer people here. The weather was hot and there was always no electricity, and the situation became more and more chaotic.
He lived alone and was naturally a little scared in such a chaotic place, so he followed others to the private base. Apart from anything else, the private base was always slightly better than this unmanaged place. It was a pity that the private base survived too short a time. Those people probably didn't expect that summer would pass and winter would come without warning. The summer dried up the land, and the winter froze the land, making planting impossible. The rebuilt areas were all focused on heat prevention, so they were caught off guard.
If the snow had not been so deep and the temperature had not been so cold, forcing many people to stay in the private base with no way to go anywhere, the private base might not have been able to withstand the first year, so when the high temperature came back, the private base was ruined.
In this life, he never thought about going to the private base. He just wanted to wait for the army to move to the refuge base and then go with them. He didn't go there in advance because he didn't know the situation there during the earthquake. Here, he at least knew that the small square didn't collapse. As for the hard journey from here to the base, Mu Nan didn't care about it. In his previous life, he didn't exercise, but he followed people to the private base. The private base was a resort outside the third ring road, which was farther away than the university town. He walked there. In this life, he exercises every day. Although his physical fitness has improved a lot, it is not worse than in his previous life.
Qin Huai said: "Tell this to the people next door."
Mu Nan: "Should we go then? Or should we wait and see whether they go or not and then decide?"
Qin Huai shook his head and made a decision. "Let's go. It will be very hard on the road. If we can't hold on, we don't have to fight hard. We have a map in our hands. They will leave traces when they walk there, so it doesn't matter if we can't keep up with their speed. We will walk slowly behind them and don't have to be too stubborn."
Mu Nan nodded: "Okay, don't worry brother, I'm sure there will be no problem. It will not only be soldiers, but also many people. With so many people, the speed on the road will not be very fast. I'm afraid we have to be very careful when eating on the way. No, I'll take out the sushi and cut it into smaller pieces, and cut the fried cakes into smaller pieces, and try to put them in one mouthful without being discovered!"
As soon as the intercom was called, the people next door responded quickly. They probably had been waiting for them since they saw Shi Yuanfei coming up.
Jian Chu walked over from the balcony and asked directly: "Did the soldier just now want to talk to you about something? Is there any new situation outside?"
Qin Huai said: "They are going to the university town and will take some people with them. The university town is vast and sparsely populated. They are probably planning to rebuild a new urban area. The people who go first will be the first wave of land reclamation team."
Hearing this, Jian Chu looked at Yu Zibai, he actually hadn't thought about leaving here, nor did he think that the army would find a place to build a new urban area. He thought that the reconstruction work would be carried out slowly. Although the process would be hard and long, they worked hard to maintain the environment they lived in and tried to increase the protection to the highest level. But if even the army withdrew, what would they do?
Yu Zibai asked, "Did you say when you're leaving?"
Qin Huai: "In ten days, the notice should be sent out soon. The first group to leave together will be the vanguard, so there are some requirements for physical fitness. The elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled are not allowed. They don't know what the situation is over there, so it's completely unknown. If you choose to go, you must think carefully. Once you leave, the house here will definitely be gone."
Jian Chu couldn't help but say, "We spent so much effort on the door, isn't it all in vain?"
Mu Nan said: "It's not in vain. At least our corridor is clean now. Think about the situation upstairs. There are so many people. It's terrible."
Jian Chu said: "What about you? What are your plans?"
Mu Nan glanced at Qin Huai and did not hide it: "We want to go together. Once the army withdraws, you can imagine what this place will become. The new urban area will definitely be expanded outward bit by bit. Although the city will recover sooner or later, it is unknown how long it will take to rebuild it to our side. Since the higher-ups have made this decision, they must have made a lot of plans. Anyway, the government is still there, so just follow them. How bad can it be as bad as us being in the center of the epidemic area?"
Mu Nan said, "Think about it. You don't have to go with us just because we leave. Don't worry too much about using electricity. I'll leave the battery with you. The power supply will be restored here in a while."
Jian Chu: "What did the soldier say today?"
Mu Nan nodded vaguely. Shi Yuanfei probably didn't know when the power supply would be restored here. Although the electricity would not be available smoothly in the later period, it would still be possible to fully charge a battery every day.
Yu Zibai said, "Let's think about it. This is not something that can be decided all at once. Can we tell Xu Ming about this?"
Qin Huai: "Of course."
To Yu Zibai's surprise, when Xu Ming learned about this, he nodded without hesitation and said, "I'll go with the team."
Jian Chu quickly asked, "Decide right away? Don't you want to think about it more?"
Xu Ming shook his head. "If you can leave, there's no need to stay. You've been staying upstairs. The security inside and outside the door is tight, so you can't see the situation outside. There are dead bodies everywhere, rats and feces. When the army gradually withdraws, there is no order here. Think about what you will face later. No one will clean up the ruins, and no one will make plans for the surrounding living environment. Food will run out one day. This is not an earthquake in a certain area. You can live a new life after leaving here after this period of time. Maybe there will be no order in the future. If you don't follow the government army at this time, what can you do in the future. Moreover, although the first batch of migrants are groping in the unknown, it may not be an opportunity. Maybe the houses in the newly built urban area will be better than here, and they may even be given priority when there are fewer people."
Jian Chu sighed: "I'm afraid there will be ruins everywhere and we will have to build a house with our bare hands."
Xu Ming smiled and said, "Then just build it with your bare hands. It's not that difficult. The ancients were able to develop step by step to today. We, who stand on the shoulders of giants, can't be worse than them. And most importantly, there are many schools in the university town. Even the residents around there rent their houses to students. There are not many locals. The extreme heat has closed the schools a long time ago. There are almost no people there. If there is an earthquake or collapse, just stay away from the place where the dead are buried, and don't stay in the center of the epidemic area."
Although people tend to follow the crowd, it must be said that Xu Ming's analysis is indeed very reasonable. What can they get by staying here? It's just temporary stability. When the army withdraws, this stability will no longer exist. The most important thing is that the food they have stored at home can only be consumed for a month at most. After eating, they can't dig out the ruins. Where can they find food? They can only follow the government. Thinking of this, Yu Zibai and Jian Chu no longer hesitated. If they want to leave, then they will leave together.
After making the decision, Qin Huai went downstairs. Mu Nan took out the ugly protective suit with a gas mask and said, "Brother, wear this. It's safer."
Qin Huai said, "Just wear something thin. If you walk over there in something thick like this, you'll probably get dehydrated from the heat."
Mu Nan had no choice but to take out the thin ones and put on several layers of shoe covers for Qin Huai. Although he did not go downstairs, it was not difficult to imagine how dirty it was downstairs. When he left here in his previous life, almost every step he took was on unspeakable things.
Qin Huai deliberately chose to go there during the day because he was worried that he would not be able to see anything clearly at night and might miss a step. He would not be able to remove the bodies from the rubble. There were no lights here at night, and it was pitch black and unsafe. Although it was a little hot during the day, it was not a big problem as long as it was not at noon.
Seeing Qin Huai coming over with tight protection, Shi Yuanfei couldn't help but be curious about how many good things Qin Huai had prepared at home. However, he was just curious. Shi Yuanfei was also very happy to confirm that Qin Huai would go with him. He admired capable people. Not to mention, Qin Huai's reminder before the earthquake saved many of his soldiers. This alone was enough to make him grateful.
Although the road ahead is unclear, Shi Yuanfei holds high hope. It is true that if a tree is moved, it will die, but if a person moves, he will live. If he just stays here blindly, then the future will be truly uncertain.
In addition to informing them of his decision, Qin Huai also inquired in detail about the distribution of food on the road, whether they should bring their own dry food or hand in rice for unified distribution. He even brought a map and asked about the preliminary planned route. He had to make all the preparations as much as possible in case Mu Nan didn't have the physical strength to keep up, then they would have to go on their own.
Shi Yuanfei knew that Qin Huai was a meticulous person, so he patiently answered some of his questions: "You can bring your own food or hand it in. There is no mandatory rule. If you hand it in, you will eat it with my soldiers. The food is definitely not very good. We will only bring some dry food that can be stored for a long time, otherwise it will be difficult to preserve in hot weather. As for what you hand in, we will look at the details when the time comes. If it is not too little, there is no need to make up for it. If there is more, I will try my best to return it to you."
Qin Huai nodded: "Then the day before we set off, you can arrange for someone to come up and drag away the generator and food. We will try to travel as light as possible. No one has ever experienced the hardship of trekking and migrating. We don't know if we can bear it. Captain Shi, please take care of us on the way."
Shi Yuanfei smiled and said, "I'm sure you'll be fine. With your physique, it would be a shame if you didn't join the army."
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